JC Butterfly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 8, 1999
July 26th -- Brenda (27) Janet (27)
9:00 a.m. "Owwwwww I feel good nanananana I knew that I would" James Brown serenades us awake. We feel refreshed and excited to start out the day.
We have NSYNC blasting (hopefully not *too* loud) on the cd player in the room. That was one of our favorite features! We also really appreciate the double sinks since we take an incredible amount of time getting ready.
The closet was a great size and held all four of our upright suitcases nicely without crowding the hanging clothes. The lights above the mirror are perfect for applying make-up and even more helpful is a magnifying mirror attached to the wall.
We hadn't received our Loews first amenities the night before so we called down to the front desk to claim them for tonight. They apologized and said they had been sent to the room we originally were assigned to. They promised we would receive them tonight.
We ate pop-tarts in the room and headed off to Universal Studios. The lines weren't too bad to get in and we decided to take it slow. We wandered into a few stores, finally making our way into the Lucy gift shop. We were there only a few minutes when "Lucy" herself came in with Ethel and they were perfectly in character as they interacted with everyone--what a hoot!
As we left, a character trolly arrived with Popeye/Olive Oil and Fred/Wilma/Barney. We got our pictures taken with them and they were all a lot of fun.
Then, it was off to Jaws, the ride I was really looking forward to. We were able to use Express entrance and the wait was less than 5 minutes. That was probably good because our "tour guide" was horrible! She wasn't a very good actress but that's probably because it seemed clear that she would rather be anywhere but at work that day (I didn't catch her name). It was pretty exciting to see Jaws attack the boat for the final encounter but not as "scary" as I might have hoped.
We did enjoy getting our picture taken with the shark outside the ride and Janet's looks especially realistic with her arm hanging out of its mouth.
We went off to see Twister. Helen Hunt gives a welcoming invite to the show. I can't say the same for Bill Paxton. We had just rented the movie before coming and were amazed at all the details they encorporated into this show. We especially loved the cows coming at us. A very enjoyable experience. We did get a bit wet but enjoyed it since we were off into the heat again.
Then over to Kongfrontation. One of my favorite movies of all time is King Kong with Jessica Lange. I was disappointed that her character wasn't encorporated at all into the experience. I think if this ride moved a bit faster it could achieve a "scarier" status. As it was it was mildly amusing.
We spent quite a while looking around New York and having our pictures taken with various backdrops. Then the Blues Brothers came out singing about "Shaking their Tail Feather" and got everybody dancing and having fun. They were quite good actually.
Then we headed off to the Alfred Hitchcock show. I haven't seen most of his movies so the initial montage of various scenes wasn't very meaningful to me. I have seen "Psycho" and was very impressed to see the house and how they did some of the special effects for the movie. I also really enjoyed the audience participation afterwards and got a great picture of us standing on the torch of the statue of liberty.
We were getting pretty hungry so we stopped over at the Monsters Cafe. I love old monster movies so I had a great time sitting in Dracula's lair. Janet ordered 1/2 chicken and thought it was very tasty with fries and corn. I had cheese ravioli and was pleased that it was very fresh and brought out to my table. Prices were reasonable (for a theme park) too. The most expensive stuff are the drinks. I brought my own gatorade with me and simply asked for a cup of ice, this was no problem.
After lunch we headed over to the Horror Make-Up show. This was one of our favorite things! We loved looking through sketches and artifacts from the Mummy Returns in the lobby area. Then we were glad to be seated in an air-conditioned theater for an absolutely hilarious show.
They selected an audience member who didn't really want to be selected but was a good sport about the whole thing. There was lots of "blood" and "screaming" but everyone (even little kids) was having a good time.
Then we wandered over to the Animal Planet Show. Another great find. We arrived about 5 minutes before show time but were still able to get some pretty close seats. The animals and their trainers did such a great job and it was extra nice that they all stick around after the show for pictures and questions.
As we left the show we saw Shaggy, Scooby, and the Mystery Machine. Got our pictures taken and were impressed at how "in character" Shaggy was.
Next we were off to Men in Black. I had forgotten every single tip I had ever read on these boards except to "fire constantly". I scored 160,000 on my first try and thought that was pretty impressive. I really got a kick out of the end of the ride after we had been "neuralized" when the annoucer asks, "Are we alone in the universe? Of course we are!"
For our final activity at universal for the day we went on Back to the Future. We really should have skipped this one since neither of us like simulated rides. We ended up just closing our eyes for most of it to avoid getting too sick.
After this it was like 5:00. We were hot, tired, and a bit sick so we headed back to the room. I can't say enough times how wonderful it was to have our room be less than a five minute walk away . . . this is priceless!
We watched some t.v. in the room then it was time to shower & prepare for City Walk. I am not someone who enjoys dancing very much. I almost never drink and I am usually in bed by 11:00. So this was going to be an assault on our system in many ways.
We arrived at the Groove at 9:00 p.m. because NSYNC was going to be there as a fund-raiser for their charity. By 9:30 the place was pretty packed and we had staked out a place on the second floor balcony just outside the Green Room. We didn't drink a darn thing because we knew we'd just have to go to the bathroom all night. I picked some really stupid shoes to wear too because they were really cutting up my feet. We were standing directly under a speaker so it was INCREDIBLY loud and the music wasn't really to our liking. By 10:30 we weren't really enjoying ourselves but were determined to stay for NSYNC.
At 12:00 the guys finally started to arrive. I had literally been standing in the same spot for 3 hours. If we had moved we would have lost our place and not had a chance for a view. It was painful. The guys entered from the 3rd floor right by the Blue Room which was completely off limits to us mere mortals. They spent the next hour in there and we couldn't see a thing. One of the members occaisionally came out and waved down to people but for the most part they kept to themselves.
Since I didn't know what the Groove looked like, I was pretty sure that they wouldn't be able to just stand around with the fans (they'd get mobbed) but I guess I had hoped they'd be a bit more visible.
At 1:40 we finally left because we were exhausted. The walk back to the hotel didn't seem so short now. There were definitely signs of drunkeness down at the City Walk but I suppose, who cares at that time of nigtht? (can you tell I'm not a party person?)
So we fell into those heavenly beds until the next morning
Brenda
9:00 a.m. "Owwwwww I feel good nanananana I knew that I would" James Brown serenades us awake. We feel refreshed and excited to start out the day.
We have NSYNC blasting (hopefully not *too* loud) on the cd player in the room. That was one of our favorite features! We also really appreciate the double sinks since we take an incredible amount of time getting ready.
The closet was a great size and held all four of our upright suitcases nicely without crowding the hanging clothes. The lights above the mirror are perfect for applying make-up and even more helpful is a magnifying mirror attached to the wall.
We hadn't received our Loews first amenities the night before so we called down to the front desk to claim them for tonight. They apologized and said they had been sent to the room we originally were assigned to. They promised we would receive them tonight.
We ate pop-tarts in the room and headed off to Universal Studios. The lines weren't too bad to get in and we decided to take it slow. We wandered into a few stores, finally making our way into the Lucy gift shop. We were there only a few minutes when "Lucy" herself came in with Ethel and they were perfectly in character as they interacted with everyone--what a hoot!
As we left, a character trolly arrived with Popeye/Olive Oil and Fred/Wilma/Barney. We got our pictures taken with them and they were all a lot of fun.
Then, it was off to Jaws, the ride I was really looking forward to. We were able to use Express entrance and the wait was less than 5 minutes. That was probably good because our "tour guide" was horrible! She wasn't a very good actress but that's probably because it seemed clear that she would rather be anywhere but at work that day (I didn't catch her name). It was pretty exciting to see Jaws attack the boat for the final encounter but not as "scary" as I might have hoped.
We did enjoy getting our picture taken with the shark outside the ride and Janet's looks especially realistic with her arm hanging out of its mouth.
We went off to see Twister. Helen Hunt gives a welcoming invite to the show. I can't say the same for Bill Paxton. We had just rented the movie before coming and were amazed at all the details they encorporated into this show. We especially loved the cows coming at us. A very enjoyable experience. We did get a bit wet but enjoyed it since we were off into the heat again.
Then over to Kongfrontation. One of my favorite movies of all time is King Kong with Jessica Lange. I was disappointed that her character wasn't encorporated at all into the experience. I think if this ride moved a bit faster it could achieve a "scarier" status. As it was it was mildly amusing.
We spent quite a while looking around New York and having our pictures taken with various backdrops. Then the Blues Brothers came out singing about "Shaking their Tail Feather" and got everybody dancing and having fun. They were quite good actually.
Then we headed off to the Alfred Hitchcock show. I haven't seen most of his movies so the initial montage of various scenes wasn't very meaningful to me. I have seen "Psycho" and was very impressed to see the house and how they did some of the special effects for the movie. I also really enjoyed the audience participation afterwards and got a great picture of us standing on the torch of the statue of liberty.
We were getting pretty hungry so we stopped over at the Monsters Cafe. I love old monster movies so I had a great time sitting in Dracula's lair. Janet ordered 1/2 chicken and thought it was very tasty with fries and corn. I had cheese ravioli and was pleased that it was very fresh and brought out to my table. Prices were reasonable (for a theme park) too. The most expensive stuff are the drinks. I brought my own gatorade with me and simply asked for a cup of ice, this was no problem.
After lunch we headed over to the Horror Make-Up show. This was one of our favorite things! We loved looking through sketches and artifacts from the Mummy Returns in the lobby area. Then we were glad to be seated in an air-conditioned theater for an absolutely hilarious show.
They selected an audience member who didn't really want to be selected but was a good sport about the whole thing. There was lots of "blood" and "screaming" but everyone (even little kids) was having a good time.
Then we wandered over to the Animal Planet Show. Another great find. We arrived about 5 minutes before show time but were still able to get some pretty close seats. The animals and their trainers did such a great job and it was extra nice that they all stick around after the show for pictures and questions.
As we left the show we saw Shaggy, Scooby, and the Mystery Machine. Got our pictures taken and were impressed at how "in character" Shaggy was.
Next we were off to Men in Black. I had forgotten every single tip I had ever read on these boards except to "fire constantly". I scored 160,000 on my first try and thought that was pretty impressive. I really got a kick out of the end of the ride after we had been "neuralized" when the annoucer asks, "Are we alone in the universe? Of course we are!"
For our final activity at universal for the day we went on Back to the Future. We really should have skipped this one since neither of us like simulated rides. We ended up just closing our eyes for most of it to avoid getting too sick.
After this it was like 5:00. We were hot, tired, and a bit sick so we headed back to the room. I can't say enough times how wonderful it was to have our room be less than a five minute walk away . . . this is priceless!
We watched some t.v. in the room then it was time to shower & prepare for City Walk. I am not someone who enjoys dancing very much. I almost never drink and I am usually in bed by 11:00. So this was going to be an assault on our system in many ways.
We arrived at the Groove at 9:00 p.m. because NSYNC was going to be there as a fund-raiser for their charity. By 9:30 the place was pretty packed and we had staked out a place on the second floor balcony just outside the Green Room. We didn't drink a darn thing because we knew we'd just have to go to the bathroom all night. I picked some really stupid shoes to wear too because they were really cutting up my feet. We were standing directly under a speaker so it was INCREDIBLY loud and the music wasn't really to our liking. By 10:30 we weren't really enjoying ourselves but were determined to stay for NSYNC.
At 12:00 the guys finally started to arrive. I had literally been standing in the same spot for 3 hours. If we had moved we would have lost our place and not had a chance for a view. It was painful. The guys entered from the 3rd floor right by the Blue Room which was completely off limits to us mere mortals. They spent the next hour in there and we couldn't see a thing. One of the members occaisionally came out and waved down to people but for the most part they kept to themselves.
Since I didn't know what the Groove looked like, I was pretty sure that they wouldn't be able to just stand around with the fans (they'd get mobbed) but I guess I had hoped they'd be a bit more visible.
At 1:40 we finally left because we were exhausted. The walk back to the hotel didn't seem so short now. There were definitely signs of drunkeness down at the City Walk but I suppose, who cares at that time of nigtht? (can you tell I'm not a party person?)
So we fell into those heavenly beds until the next morning
Brenda
