It's all about Rides and Rocks (the trip that nearly wasn't) TR starts page 6

[Aussie Wendy]

Tuesday 28 Oct Discovering there is a lot more to Universal than HP

Part 1 Minions

There was less need to rush today so didn’t set the alarm until 7am. Cereal and coffee in bed then caught the boat and arrived at 8.30am (it opened at 8am today).

I keep finding interesting things to photograph as we make our way around RPH like these masks



And a Cambodian-looking panel



Some pics from the boat ride in daylight:

At the dock



Close up of the plane



View of the beach



IOA lighthouse



Citywalk





Hard Rock Cafe



Universal



This morning we hit the popular rides at USF first and did some exploring.



We did not ride Rip Ride Rockit!



Monsters Café



Minions!



There was lots of props from Halloween Nights scattered about such as this candle:



We started our rides with Despicable Me which was a fun 4D show and had a piccie with a minion afterwards but the dance party people talk about didn't seem to be happening this early. The Minion had only just arrived as we walked out.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 2 Encounter with a Decepticon in the streets of New York

We spent a lot of time exploring the streets around New York and San Francisco – great detail and with the HNN overlay like The Purge in situ, it gave us an idea of the detail that they have in place for HNN.



















Then I rode The Mummy – DH declined today. I didn’t need EP as it was a walk-on this early. It was great fun but I should have got the ride photo attached straight away (no-one was there when we came out and I couldn’t even see it up on a board) as later they were unable to find it.



Next we went to Transformers.



You can see how quiet it is from the lack of people in the queue!



We were in the front row and that was very good although I found it a bit hard to focus on the action. Transformers ended up being DH favourite ride of all and we managed to ride a couple of times over today and tomorrow.

We had a lot of fun in the Meet and Greet with Decepticon afterwards. He was seriously scary, making lots of menacing remarks to us and after us appeared to terrify a 10 year old girl whose parents insisted they do a M&G – it was funny to watch actually though probably not for her.



Another one of Decepticon.



Later when we walked past Bumblebee was out.



This morning we headed around to Shrek 4D. Another fun movie though not many special effects really. There was no-one about yet for a M&G so we came tomorrow but for consistency here are a couple of the pics I had taken then - DH isn’t in to meeting characters really (though he led the way to Transformers which amused me!) I had a lot of fun cheeking Shrek and Donkey made a big deal of my being from Brisbane.





In the shop




Exploring our way down to the waterfront and found these flashbacks from the ‘70’s:



Streets of San Francisco



And the waterfront



DH gets close with an old friend (echoes of our first 1984 visit to Universal in LA)




They have random mini-parade events here. Don’t know this Bunny Hop.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 3 Super excited BTTF and the Simpsons!

Now it was off to Simpson’s Boulevard (DH is forever quoting them - there is a quote for every occasion he claims) but as we were walking through I saw Doc Brown was out so I had to race over for a M&G with the DeLorean as this was on my “must do at all cost” list. Neatly I had my Dr Who Back to the Future cross over T shirt on so that made for a good conversation opener.



Another view of the DeLorean (and Doc Brown gets cosy with a young thing). Who will be re-watching the trilogy with me on October 21??



The train



Views looking back at the San Fran waterfront





Then I could relax and enjoy Springfield USA



Bumblebee’s Cart



Lard Lad Donuts



Chief Wigum



Jebediah Springfield



Me with Duffman



Duff Brewery with Edgy, Remorseful and Dizzy.



DH with Surly, Queasy and Sleazy



Homer and Lisa M&G



Simpson's Ride





We rode the Simpson’s Ride – I was a bit anxious as people do report feeling ill on it but generally we are fine on simulators, and we were on this – I had to shut my eyes just once or twice briefly when I felt a bit dizzy and DH said he did the same. As a big Simpson’s fan he really enjoyed the story line.

I wasn’t real impressed with all the carnival games scattered throughout Universal and was surprised by all the parents shelling out more $ to let their kids play them at I think, $5 a pop.



The Kwik-E-Mart



And some sample products:

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 4 Getting wet

Moe’s Tavern.



Inside





Krusty Burger



And inside



Cletus' chicken shack. (Many of the facades join on and inside there is connected seating and access to the range of food outlets. We didn’t eat in here in the end so didn’t take any pics).



They had closed the line for the meet and greet with Sideshow Bob and Krusty when we walked past unfortunately. Annoyingly every time we walked past they weren’t out as this was the other M&G I really wanted. Next time!!



We were now getting hot and hungry and the plan was to ride the water rides at IOA before lunch so we caught the Hogwart’s Express (of course) over to IOA, delighted as today the platform 9 ¾ special effects were working as they weren’t yesterday so I managed to snaffle a pic of DH walking through. Yes amazingly despite all this it was still only 12.30ish when we queued for the train!

At IOA first we donned our disposable poncho’s and rode Jurassic Park. I thought the big drop might be scary but it felt less of a drop than Splash Mountain though it is longer??? It was fun and we were glad of the poncho’s!

This pic was taken yesterday



A quiet lagoon by Jurassic Park



Showing the splashdown



Us – Takes me to duck! Love the expression on DH's face!



Leaving our stuff in the JP lockers we hightailed it over to Popeye’s Bilge Rat Barges. They were great fun and I could re-ride these many times and yes, we got soaked. DH especially as his poncho was a bit short.





We decided we were too hungry to wait and do Dudley Do Right and our locker time was soon to be up so we headed back – took a pic along the way though.




And here is me still drenched from Popeye miming my screams as we dropped!



While we were on our way through yesterday after having our fill of Hogsmeade we actually lingered and took quite a few pics in Toon Lagoon so here are the pics from yesterday.







Inside the ShipMeOlive where from the top deck you can spray guns on the barges going past



More Toon Lagoon pics







Views back to Lost continent and Hogwarts Castle peeking up

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 5 Lunch at Mythos

Back to this day we left our now wrecked ponchos by a bin and got our photo attached to our Photopass with much difficulty (as I had forgotten our number) and headed over to where else but…





We were seated by the window and had an amazing lunch here. I had a non alcoholic banana daiquiri and the infamous Pad Thai, not too hot, creamy and divine. DH had the risotto of the day which was served with beef tips and said it also was very good. I loved the butter that came with the bread:



Inside-reminded me of Parc Guell in Barcelona - the undercroft.



Pics of our meals. Yes I do still look like a drowned rat.



My Pad Thai



DH beef tip risotto



Some more detail inside





View of Mythos from across the lake



Full now we started on the return trip to our room for a nap and swim, via the Hogwart’s Express to USF as we hadn’t rode it in that direction yet. It isn’t quite as entertaining as the other direction but still very good.

Back in USF, we walked back to the entrance from the London Waterfront by a different route past the voodoo hut from HHN where they had to tone down the show as it was considered too realistic.



Past the more or less disused Garden of Allah



Around now we got lost and found ourselves in Woody Woodpecker’s Kid Zone





So I had to ride ET. OMG I was in love. This was Peter Pan but twice as long and just as good. Even the queue through a dark forest is great and you get to escape with ET and fly up to his planet with him in the bicycle in front of you til you reach his planet then he disappears. Here are some pics including a few internal ones stolen from the internet as you can’t take pics inside:

ET entrance



Walking through the trees



ET’s “phone”



ET



Showing the ride vehicle on ET’s planet



These pictures were taken the following day when we re-rode and I was press ganged into posing with ET as they were so quiet (and staff were bored I think!)





This day we had a look at Woody Woodpecker Kids Zone while we were here. The water play area (Curious George Goes to Town) looks great if you have small kids and we were surprised how quiet it was.





Outside a Day in the Park with Barney

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 6 Evening at IOA

We finally got back to the hotel by around 4pm. DH napped, I had a dip, then around 6pm we walked back to IOA so I could ride Forbidden Journey while the ride queue was shorter.

The pool




Along the way walking to CityWalk



Margaritaville. I had intended eating here but lingered too long on the Porch of Indecision and didn’t happen.





The new Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar – not yet open when we were there



We finally actually enter IOA directly not via the train.



Port of Entry













IOA shut at 7pm today so we went straight up to the castle and all kwelled up I did the ride. To start with I thought this was fine but there was a patch where the ride got very swooshy and I was very glad I had taken drugs. I didn’t mind the bit where you are laid backwards. I was a tad disappointed the special effects weren’t as good as I imagined (dangers of build up I guess, the spider and the dementor seemed quite far away) but it might also depend where in the ride vehicle you are – I was on an end. I really needed to ride it again two or three times to notice more detail but by the end I knew I couldn’t ride twice in a row. I would ride again whenever we go back, suitably Kwelled! And it was fun and a very different type of ride.

Entry to FJ the day I rode



My ride pic from Forbidden Journey



Decided I didn’t want to ride Flight of the Hippogriff straight on top of FJ either so we did some shopping for souvies and gifts and as the park was closing made our way out.

Lost Continent Poseidon’s Fury at sunset



Mythos at sunset




The Christmas store was alluring but apart from some Grinch Xmas decorations not a lot captured my attention, unlike the Disney Xmas store.



Back at RPH and we were hungry. We had debated about stopping in CityWalk as we passed through but it was quite busy with convention events and we ended up at the hotel so settled down by the pool to watch the evening poolside movie (Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-rabbit, which we hadn't seen before) with a huge plate of Nachos to share from the pool grill bar. It was a huge serve and very, very good and a nice way to end the evening.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Wed 29 Oct Last hours at Universal

Part 1 Hooray for Hollywood

Made a slow start this morning packing up. Checking out was fast. Had our luggage stored and took some last photos of the hotel. It really is very pretty and with lots of eatery choices (we never got to try Tchoup Chop either) we would stay here again in a second.I wish we had longer to explore Hard Rock Hotel and Portofino Bay as well.

I liked this carpet outside our room



The ship’s water spout. Never saw it blowing when we were at ground level – always in the parks!



It was much later when we got into USF today and busier than it had been. We walked through New York again to re-ride Transformers and did the M&G with Shrek and then made our way through the streets of Hollywood to ride Terminator and watch The Make-up Horror Show.

Some pictures of Hollywood













Beverley Wiltshire



Inside Silver Screen Collectables I think



The Terminator made me want to re-watch the movies but the show is pretty slack as reviews say.

Inside the shop after riding Terminator



Look what else we found!!





When we came out a mini Minion parade was on and Dora seemed super excited by it.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 2 What is scarier Seuss or clowns?

We really enjoyed the Horror Make-up Show.













Also enjoyed browsing the displays and props from horror movies in the foyer afterwards. Recognise any?







Clowns have to be the most scariest creatures alive – and we expose our children to them!!



I think it was from here we made our way to Men in Black.





I was totally hopeless with the lazer pointer and this has to be the dopiest expression on DH’s face!! I think I prefer Buzz the best of all, though I know everyone loves Toy Story Midway Mania; I like that too.



From here we headed back in to Diagon Alley to do some shopping and I re-rode Gringotts as a single rider as I loved this ride so much. We decided to eat at the Leaky Cauldron again (boring I know but we were hungry and that was where we were). It was crowded and we sat with a young couple from Atlanta Georgia. He was a marine and owned some sort of gun range that he said Australians loved, where you get to shoot all sort of guns and “call in if you are ever passing as I’d love to take you out”. PIO with her new experience might want to have a go – lol!

It was fun as always to chat to people with very different lifestyles. No food porn as we were eating cheek to jowl virtually and I admit I was a tad embarrassed pulling out a camera at such close quarters. I had the cottage pie platter with blue cheese dressing which was very nice and DH had bangers and mash which he said was good.

After this was when we watched the Tales of Beedle the Bard before finally bidding farewell to Diagon Alley for the last time and wandering back through the Studios, re-riding ET and getting pics en route. In retrospect we should have lingered a while longer as we only just missed the parade. I also would have liked to have seen the Blues Brothers Show but we never seemed to be in the right area at the right time – too busy in Harry Potter worlds!

It was now 3pmish and we walked along the river past the Hard Rock café to reach the entrance to IOA for some last rides. I wanted to re-ride Trolley in the Sky that we first rode day 1 and ride Flight of the Hippogriff I had so far missed out on. I also hoped to watch Poseidon’s Fury (til I discovered it was closed this day).

While it was Monday we first rode Spiderman and got some piccies outside, here are the pics from that day:





The Hulk roller coaster, definitely not these whimp’s cup of tea

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 3 “Dr Seuss, Dr Seuss”

Seuss Landing - all the pics taken over the three days.









Cat in the Hat – we enjoyed this ride Monday and it had enough spin for us not to want it any spinnier!



Seuss playground





Trolley in the Sky



Views over Seuss Landing





Views over Port of Entry



Views to Superhero Island



Views to Mythos



Nearly back



Riding the Caro-Seuss-el



Circus McGurkus Cafe





Entering the Lost Continent





Poseidon’s Fury





Mystic Fountain-lots of fun watching people jump as he talks to them and getting squirted with water



One last piccie of Mythos because I love this structure so much




Exiting IOA for the last time

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 4 Farewell Universal Studios

By the time we got back to RPH it was almost 5pm. We had a last refreshing tropical drink from the foyer dispensers and collected our luggage. A taxi driver was outside who said he would take us to our new hotel for the night, La Quinta Inn North (almost across the road) for $12 so we agreed.

This was quite nice even though it had only received average ratings on TA. In comparison to our stays later in the trip it was not up to the Comfort Inn standards but was cheaper! It was fine for the night and in a handy position on I-Drive, almost opposite the water park and next to minigolf with baby alligators and a bus stop.

Pic of our room





We took a pic of the alligators on our phone as it fascinated us but can’t find it. We went for a walk and found a Walmart just down the street. Had fun browsing and ended up buying some Lean Cuisine meals to heat in the room’s microwave for dinner, followed by chocolate brownies. Very nice! Tomorrow we pick up the hire car from the hotel opposite (that we didn’t stay in as it gets totally slammed by everyone) and drive ourselves over to Kennedy Space Centre.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What fantastic updates!


Absolutely. If BttF trilogy is playing on the 21 October, I think I'll be watching it.
A shooting range in Atlanta? Whereabouts is it?



Isn't Universal fun? I'm incredibly jealous that it was so empty when you were there. DH and I agreed that we need to go back there and spend 5 days in the USO area. That way, we can pop in and out of the parks and enjoy Universal City Walk and the resorts as well. 5 days will be major Mickey cheating time.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I agree, awesome update. All the Universal pics are bringing back such happy memories.

I loved the ET ride also. It is so cool in there and smells lovely. I found it very relaxing.

I was also quite a big fan of Men in Black, but I think it's because I read a cheat before our trip. If you aim for the small aliens up in the windows, you get way more points than the big, obvious aliens. DH couldn't understand how I'd got such a huge score (he's way better at these things than me) until I came clean and admitted I'd gone in with an advantage. He wasn't impressed.

 

[lffam]

a Great read and bringing back so many great memories. We stayed in the same Universal resort.

I am very impressed and envious of the quality of your pictures, in particular the parade ones. they are so clear, sharp and they nighttime ones are extra impressive with little or no motion. I haven't been able to achieve that all the time with mine, and I love my parades. I could look at your photos for hours! thanks so much for sharing

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks everyone for reading along - I love reliving a trip through a TR and after time has passed it's nice to revisit and remind yourself of all the good times along the way! Iffam I was quite pleased with several of the pics given most of the time we were just using a point and shoot digital camera on auto not messing about with settings or trying for that 'perfect' pic. I now have to shortlist KSC then all the road trip pics, many of which will be familiar topics to many but hopefully some new sights in there too, since most Aussie's like seeing the wider world as well as Disney.

 

[lffam]

Thanks everyone for reading along - I love reliving a trip through a TR and after time has passed it's nice to revisit and remind yourself of all the good times along the way! Iffam I was quite pleased with several of the pics given most of the time we were just using a point and shoot digital camera on auto not messing about with settings or trying for that 'perfect' pic. I now have to shortlist KSC then all the road trip pics, many of which will be familiar topics to many but hopefully some new sights in there too, since most Aussie's like seeing the wider world as well as Disney.

I really picked a bad nick on here cause it looks like "Ilfam" but its meant to be "LFFam"-ily - being our initials of the family!!

anyway wow point and click that amazing. We went to the Boo Too You Parade also and my pics are no where near as sharp and clear as yours. I will have to look at chating my camera maybe.

I look forward to your KSC report. We coudln't fit it in last trip, but have slated it for the day before we sail on the Fantasy for our December trip.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Iffam your TR came out while I was still overseas so have only now got round to reading it. I see I commented on your Osbourne lights pic. Just wanted to say I love your WL pics but have commented on your TR!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Apologies LFFAM-capitalised so I remember it!! So you have locked in Fantasy for next December then, I must have missed it in the reading of the discussions you were having on which cruise to take. Where did you end up deciding to stay for the land part of the trip?

 

[lffam]

Apologies LFFAM-capitalised so I remember it!! So you have locked in Fantasy for next December then, I must have missed it in the reading of the discussions you were having on which cruise to take. Where did you end up deciding to stay for the land part of the trip?

no need to apologise, user error on my part!

Yes we have locked in the Fantasy 19th-26th Dec. I did have bit of a "oh what about this" moment after I paid the deposit, but thats all passed now and its locked in.

Rather than taking your thread OT here is link to my plans as they stand now

and just to add that for WDW we are awaiting booking window to open in the next couple of days for Boardwalk Villas.

 

[lffam]

Iffam your TR came out while I was still overseas so have only now got round to reading it. I see I commented on your Osbourne lights pic. Just wanted to say I love your WL pics but have commented on your TR!

I've said it before, but I just loved the WL. We will go there on our next trip to see the lobby decorated for Christmas. I know doing that will make me wish that we were staying there again though!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thursday 30 Oct Kennedy Space Centre

Part 1 Our first encounter with rocks: Moon Rock

Breakfast was a reasonable choice of cereal, yoghurt, bagels, muffins and waffles. Walked across the road and collected our Alamo rent-a-car from its outlet at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel, a Volkswagon Jetta. Drove it over to La Quinta Inn and loaded up and checked out.

An internet pic of the exterior of the hotel



I had planned a no-stress route to get DH used to driving on the LH side again, avoiding tricky intersections so we drove south straight down Universal Blvd which was empty, and an easy merge onto the Martin Anderson Beachline Expressway over to KSC. It took about an hour to get over there and a pleasant easy drive. I liked the causeway but pics taken from the car window are blurry.

Entrance plaza



Gates. Historical moment here – for the first time since his birthday in September, DH got a senior discount!! I keep telling him he’s an old man now!!



We hopped on the bus tour out to the Apollo and Saturn V Centre first while it was quiet. It was hard to appreciate the scale of the Vehicle Assembly Building being out all on its own – it is 160.3m tall and encloses 3,665,000m2 of space.



The trip was interesting hearing about the changing role of the Centre now the shuttle program is ending. Shuttle supply runs to service the International Space Station are being taken over by commercial interests together with tourist and commercial trips to near space and they will continue to use some of the facilities, I presume for a price. KSC is now changing its focus to the exploration of deep space.

We also learnt about the huge wildlife refuge area around the Centre. We briefly, very briefly! saw a baby alligator and a bald eagle nest (numbers of the latter are growing now the bird is protected). Deer, manatees, sea turtles, river otters and lots of native and migratory birds are also found here.

This is a heron on the waterbank



Once at the Saturn Centre we watched the first Apollo 8 launch in a reconstructed control room and a simulation of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Learnt lots of new info for us, and appreciated the skill of Armstrong and Aldrin (who overrode the computer’s dodgy decision of where the Lunar Module should land and landed it safely manually). Let us also not forget the guy everyone forgets because he had to stay in the Command Module in orbit around the moon, Michael Collins.

The control room



Man on the moon



Then it was out into the main area to see a reconstruction of a Saturn V rocket used by the Apollo missions between 1966 and 1973. It was pretty impressive – so huge! Saturn V was launched 13 times from KSC with no loss of crew and remains the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket ever operational. The parts on show are mostly from a rocket built for the original Apollo 19 mission that was cancelled.





Stage 1



Junction



Stage 2



Stage 3




The Command Module (on the floor)



And inside



Afterwards we looked around the exhibits like James Lovell’s space suit (Apollo 8)



An unused Lunar Module (LM 9)



The Apollo 14 Command Module



And we touched some real moon rock



Then it was back to the main area for some lunch (limited options as only one café was open as the other was being refurbed and we didn’t fancy waiting to be served hot food and miss the next film). Thirty mins later we headed in to watch the Imax film on the Hubble Telescope.

Some examples of paintings in the foyer by teens we liked, I think the result of a competition. Anyone else see a Hidden Mickey?





You can’t be a minute late or you have to wait to the next showing. This film was very good and included pictures from the last repair mission in 2009 starring Mike Massimo (also featured in Bog Bang Theory if you are a fan as we are! OT he was the first person to use Twitter in Space!)