Hijinks & Shenanigans but not much Mayhem@The Dark Side+Disney, Despicable 10/7

[natebenma]

No problem! I completely understand and your job sounds really interesting! Besides, I haven't had much to update lately. Just (not so) patiently waiting for next week!

I know! I can't imagine how excited you are going to be for the next week!

I have a couple more updates coming right up. I may finish Universal before you go. Not sure if I will get to Islands of Adventure, though.

 

[natebenma]

We didn’t spend much time in the San Francisco area of Universal Studios. We ate lunch at Lombards Landing on our first afternoon, but now with Amity/Jaws gone, we usually make our way to Men in Black via the Springfield route. We have never seen Beetlejuice’s Rock and Roll Graveyard Review, which I know I would enjoy, but the boys just do not like to go to shows. We did Disaster once on our previous trip in 2011 and it was okay, but we weren’t compelled to go back on this trip, even though the Christopher Walken hologram effect is spectacular.

Speaking of Christopher Walken, his reading of “Where the Wild Things Are” on You-Tube is the funniest thing I have ever seen on that site. Admittedly, I don’t spend much time there. But look it up and watch. I promise you won’t regret it. I had tears streaming down my face I was laughing so hard!

It was quite a surprise when we ended up here for lunch:




(stock photo from my Photoconnect CD)


Based on reviews I have read about Richter Burgers, I figured that there was a reason, or perhaps it was a warning that the restaurant is across the street from:





How did we end up here???

Originally our plan was for lunch at Thunder Fall Terrace at IoA. Everyone raves about this place and we wanted to eat outside overlooking the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride. The timing would be perfect, we would be done with the attractions we wanted to do by around 11 or 11:30 and ready to eat. Unfortunately, we were wet from water rides we had just done, and Nate wanted to go back to the Hard Rock to change into dry clothes before lunch.

Plus, he saw that Richter Burgers had a mix your own soda option at the restaurant. He wanted to experience that.

So we returned to the resort, changed and by the time we got to Universal, it was around noon. We were starving!

Line to order was pretty long, and then the wait for the food was probably another 15-20 minutes.







We ordered 2 Cheeseburger Baskets, 1 Double Cheeseburger Basket and 1 Chicken Sandwich Basket, 2 Bottles of Water and… a Cherry Coke. Total $40.85 after the 10% AAA discount.







So what happened to the mix your own soda? Well, it was something like $10 for the refill mug that you use to do this and we were not going to pay that much for a soda.

There were two cool things about this place. There is a fixings bar where you can add various items like pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. to your sandwiches. I didn’t get a picture of this, though. Also, the San Francisco Candy Store is connected to Richter Burgers so after our meal the boys each went over to pick out a treat.

Nate selected a ginormous chocolate covered rice krispie treat ($3.95) and Ben got a caramel apple ($4.95) and they both shared with each other, and with us.











Everyone liked their sandwiches, and I have to say, the meal was much better than I expected it to be.


But I still wish we had dined at Thunder Falls Terrace that day!


Next up: More Than Meets the Eye!

 

[natebenma]

The headline attraction at Universal this summer was Transformers: The Ride 3-D

I think my sons have seen the Transformers movie(s), but I don’t think my husband and I have ever watched them. The storyline was hard for me to follow (something about an “All Spark” that seems to be important) and I had trouble keeping track of which ones where the good bots and which ones were not. I did figure out that the big blue one is good, as is the silly yellow and black Bumble Bee.

The biggest issue, though, is that the ride was down, A LOT!

A couple of times we were in line when it shut down or we got the intercom message that there was some sort of disturbance with the force causing a delay. We would often walk by the building, and when you didn’t see anyone in line, you knew it was down again.

Nevertheless, the effects in the ride are really good and it was worth checking out. My husband and younger son rode once on our first afternoon at US, Nate and I were able to try it one other time on our last night visit.












This is the outside of the building. It was not all that impressive to me, but again, I am not familiar with the movie. It looks like my local Sam’s Club from the outside.











This may give you an idea of the line:





Here are a couple of pictures from the queue line. There are television monitors on the wall with breaking news helping to tell the storyline. The “All Spark” is missing or is under threat or something like that.







On one of the sides of the building, there is an area for a meet and greet with various Transformers- sorry this picture is so blurry!





As I mentioned earlier, the ride is worth it, if you can catch it while it is open, but honestly, I prefer the characters, effects and storyline of the Spiderman ride at IoA more.


Next up: Rip Ride Rainbow!

.

 

[RAPstar]

Cheese and rice (Krispie treats)!! That thing is huge!!

 

[-Hope-]

Food looks yummy! I think a lot of the time when we have low expectations of a restaurant we can just be pleasantly surprised because we are expecting something so much worse than mediocre. :

You guys continue to amaze me with all you get accomplished! You must have been exhausted- but in the best way possible- at the end of this trip.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Hi Dee just found this wee report over here today and thought I'd join in because guess what????????????Yip we're going to universal next year
Couldn't persuade other half to stay onsite but UK are doing quite good ticket offers for next year (14 day admission for £109) and hotel runs a bus to there so it should be fine. We will just do less daily and go a few extra times (if that makes sense). Must check out the lunchtime dining options though Finnegans will definitely be our first meal there!

 

[natebenma]

Cheese and rice (Krispie treats)!! That thing is huge!!

I know, right???

The rice krispie treat was massive! And only $3.95!

Yum!

Food looks yummy! I think a lot of the time when we have low expectations of a restaurant we can just be pleasantly surprised because we are expecting something so much worse than mediocre. :

You guys continue to amaze me with all you get accomplished! You must have been exhausted- but in the best way possible- at the end of this trip.

The boys continue to say how much they enjoyed the burgers there. I don't know that I would run right back for lunch there- there are so many other options- but at least I am not as scared as I was before about eating there.



We are pretty hard-core in the parks. Always have been. It comes at a price, though. We have very limited downtime and very little (sometimes no) pool time. But we love it. The boys, especially the teenager, are getting better about being able to keep up with my husband and me.

:

Hi Dee just found this wee report over here today and thought I'd join in because guess what????????????Yip we're going to universal next year
Couldn't persuade other half to stay onsite but UK are doing quite good ticket offers for next year (14 day admission for £109) and hotel runs a bus to there so it should be fine. We will just do less daily and go a few extra times (if that makes sense). Must check out the lunchtime dining options though Finnegans will definitely be our first meal there!

So glad to hear about your upcoming plans! You know I will help you out in any way I can!

Too Funny- I was just getting ready to post the past few links on this report over on my main trippie. You can probably imagine that it is driving me crazy that organizationally, I am combining my reports of the two parks there. My husband told me he hates the way I am doing it, too.

Oh well.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

So glad to hear about your upcoming plans! You know I will help you out in any way I can!

Too Funny- I was just getting ready to post the past few links on this report over on my main trippie. You can probably imagine that it is driving me crazy that organizationally, I am combining my reports of the two parks there. My husband told me he hates the way I am doing it, too.

Oh well.

Truthfully I'm in awe that you manage to fit writing a TR in at all given the busy life you lead and the speed the BC/YC FAQ thread moves

Just starting to do a bit of research on universal now We are going in July which will mean its going to be crazy busy but like I say we will have decent tickets so that should help. Going to start reading Harry Potter to the youngest so he has a clue what that's all about. He loves watching Simpsons with his big brother (on the understanding that he never repeats Barts behaviour ) and he's still young enough to appreciate Seuss Landing/Curious George play area. So excited

 

[Seeker615]

Awesome trip report and pics!

Did you do the Universal Photopass? If so did you like it?

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Started reading the Harry Potter books to my youngest last night! I'm so enjoying this-I'd forgotten just how good they are

 

[natebenma]

Awesome trip report and pics!

Did you do the Universal Photopass? If so did you like it?

Thanks so much!!!

Yes, we did the Photo Connect and loved it! Since I am only on the Universal part of the report so far, I only have a few of the ride pictures posted (Mummy and Men in Black). I didn't realize or we didn't bother doing any at E.T.

We don't do character greets, but we did a few family photos at the park entrances.

I think I have close to 50 photos plus the stock pictures on my CD. Plus one free 5x7 or 8x10 print was included in the $39.95 I paid. It may be up to $49.95 now.

The only pain was when we had to wait in line for a quick photo swipe because the sales people were explaining the program to others.

I posted a few pictures on one of the PhotoConnect threads on the Universal Theme Park board.

Started reading the Harry Potter books to my youngest last night! I'm so enjoying this-I'd forgotten just how good they are

Love the Harry Potter Series! My husband finally read through them last year, and he has started re-reading them on his 2 hour (each way) commute.

The Wizarding World is set mostly around books 3 and 4.

 

[natebenma]

The most extreme ride at Universal Studios is Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, a music themed steel rollercoaster, one of the tallest and fastest in Orlando. You ascend to the first drop of the ride in a completely vertical position lying flat on your back! Then you ride through a variety of twisty loops and spirals, but apparently you never go upside down. The very best thing- the in-seat speakers that allow you to customize your ride and select a song to listen to during your ride. There are 30 selections (10 each) in the categories “Classic Rock/Heavy Metal”, “Country” and “Rap/Hip Hop” But the even MORE best thing!!! If you press on the Rip Ride Rocket logo on the music selector, a keypad will appear and you can select a hidden bonus track!

LynneG provided me a list of the secret codes before our trip. I have posted the selections on the first page (Post #7) of this report.

Up until this summer, this ride was not eligible for the On-Site Express Pass. As a result of that, and the fact that this is a very intimidating ride, none of us tried this in 2011.

Nate, my thrill junkie, was determined to ride it on this trip. When we found out that they recently started offering express for this line, there were no more excuses!

We didn’t have a chance to go on RRR on our arrival day. On our first full day at the parks, we started out at IoA, then returned to the Hard Rock to change and take a quick break before heading to the studios.

We did … and then it was time.

First, Mark and Nate rode together. They LOVED it.

Then it was my turn. Nate rode with me.

We loaded pretty quickly. When we were strapped in and it was time to select a song, I had trouble figuring it out. I knew of the 3 categories, Classic Rock was the only one that appealed to me, so I pressed that option. Then a bunch of songs choices appeared, none of which interested me in the least, and I guess I took too long to select, because I ended up with ZZTop (Note- when I asked Mark what song he picked, it was ZZTop too, so he screwed up as well)

Anyway, the ride was AWESOME!!! The vertical ascent is definitely disconcerting, but the ride is very smooth and super fun!

We waited at the photo counter so we could add the ride picture to our account. Here, they don’t scan your card, they give you a piece of paper with a code number and if you have to log into a special account to get the picture. I swear, I waited longer in line to get the code than I did to ride the ride. Nate was really annoyed. There were people in line in front of us who were getting prints of their ride, or ordering a video or some other nonsense that took FOREVER!

I rode two more times the next day. We went to Universal after our dinner at Bubba Gumps. Mark and Ben returned to the Hard Rock and Nate and I stayed to play a little longer on our last night. We rode Rip Ride Rocket. This time, when we were about to load, one of the seats was out of order, so it took extra time to get us into our seats. By the time I was locked in and ready to make a selection it was either too late or I was rushed. I ended up with some hip-hop/rap thing: Get Busy.

We rode again later that night, after dark. We were seated and locked in without any trouble. I pressed on the logo and the secret key pad appeared.

I pressed 9-0-2

Rainbow Connection

It.Was.Awesome!

I don’t think I can describe what it was like to see all the neon from City Walk and all the rides lit up in the theme parks while listening to the inspiring words of Kermit the Frog.

"All of us under its spell. You know that it’s probably magic!

The lovers. The dreamers. And me."


Let’s Ride:






























Next up: Despicable Line!

 

[-Hope-]

We aren't coaster people but you make it really tempting!

I'll be MIA for the next week while we're on our trip but will catch up when we return.

 

[RAPstar]

Next time you go (or anyone going soon), I think "Night on Bald Mountain" is one of the best hidden tracks to ride to. I will definitely be doing it a few times next week since it goes hand in hand with HHN!

Great update, Dee! Looks like there was a storm brewing. How many times did it rain this trip?

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

OMG that coaster looks amazing! Love your wee face in the photo Wonder if I can persuade anyone in my family to go on this we me??? Love that you figured out how to get your own tune

 

[natebenma]

We aren't coaster people but you make it really tempting!

I'll be MIA for the next week while we're on our trip but will catch up when we return.

I can't wait to hear about your fantastic trip!!!

Rip Ride Rockit was a lot of fun, but I don't know that I would suggest it as a starter coaster. See how you do on Flight of the Hippogriff!

But for all of the twists and loops, RRR is VERY smooth!

Next time you go (or anyone going soon), I think "Night on Bald Mountain" is one of the best hidden tracks to ride to. I will definitely be doing it a few times next week since it goes hand in hand with HHN!

Great update, Dee! Looks like there was a storm brewing. How many times did it rain this trip?

Thanks for the song tip! There's another Muppet song, too, "Moving Right Along", so I think I have to do that one first.

You have to love when your car service driver tells you on the way to your resort from the airport that a tropical storm (I think it was Dorian) was expected to hit that afternoon!

Especially after suffering through our Tropical Storm Fayecation back in August 2008.

We were actually in ET during what must have been a quick, but intense downpour. The sidewalks were flooded when we came out.

Our arrival day and the next day were not too bad. We dodged some rain, heavy at times on our last full day at US/IoA. We had more trouble later in the week during our visit to Disney.

OMG that coaster looks amazing! Love your wee face in the photo Wonder if I can persuade anyone in my family to go on this we me??? Love that you figured out how to get your own tune

RRR really is a blast! My husband really wanted to ride it at night and he is very sad that he didn't have a chance to. Especially when I told him how awesome it was!

 

[natebenma]

One of the new to us attractions at Universal Studios was Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. This attraction is across from Shrek, in the spot where Jimmy Neutrons attraction was.











The queue for this attraction was brutal!!! The standby line was always at least 75 minutes, and frequently even longer. Even with the express pass, we waited around 45 minutes.


During the summer, Universal Studios opened at 8 am for onsite guests, an hour before the scheduled opening so that
people could go on Transformers and Despicable Me with shorter wait times, but we always used our early entry at Islands of Adventure/Wizarding World.

It was a cute experience, but because of the wait, we only did this once.

Now, unfortunately, my husband and I havent seen the movie. Ben has, not sure about Nate. But I do know the general idea. Gru (Steve Carrell) is an evil villain with a plan to steal the moon with the help from his yellow minions and 3 unsuspecting orphans. But the orphans end up touching Grus heart and I think he ends up adopting them.

In the queue line, there are monitors with information about minions, and some quizzes and some messages from Gru.







Then you go into a pre-show room that I believe is modeled after Grus mansion in the movie





This thing is really cool, but I couldnt get a non-blurry picture

It is a lion with a dog in its jaws, a cat in the mouth of the dog, a mouse in the mouth of the cat, and I cant tell from my picture if the mouse is biting anything.














After this room, there is another preshow room, set in a laboratory, where Gru transforms the audience (us) into minions.


This is the description of the actual ride from the Universal website:

After making it through "Minion training" things don't go as planned! Within moments, you're launched into an unforgettable trip through Gru's super-villain laboratory. Gru, Margo, Edith, Agnes, and the mischievous Minions race along with you through every zany twist and turn.


At the end of the ride, you come out to an area where you can participate in a minion dance party.


This was a station outside of the ride where you could make a postcard to send to your email. Ben and I did this while waiting for Mark and Nate when they went on Rip Ride Rocket.

 

[-Hope-]

My kids loved Despicable Me! It was the only ride in the Studios they wanted to do twice. I love all of your pics of the queue. It was a cute area and you captured a lot of the details. Love the e-card. We completely missed that!

 

[natebenma]

I really would have liked to do Despicable Me a second time, but there was no way we were going to wait in that line again!

The queue area was very impressive, even though I was not familiar with the movie. I tried to watch it the weekend before our trip, but ended up falling asleep. Despicable Me was on last night and I watched about half of it. It was cool seeing the same details in the movie that were in the attraction.

Now I want to go back!!!!!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

The queue for despicable me looks so cute-really looking forward to doing this with my youngest son (6yrs) next summer Love the postcard at the end too-always nice to find something fun awaiting your return home