After the very long walk back to our car and the very quick 10 min drive back to our condo we go for a relaxing swim at the condo. Sorry no pics. You're just going to have to trust me that this is what we did. I think we just ate leftover Pearl's for dinner as I have no food pics either.
I think we head back to the parks at around 5:30. We decide to check out the US side of things.
We all agree we want to do ET. No dips for DD12 although she is a little nervous. I tell her it is just like Peter Pan. She claims Peter Pan had a dip.
The queue is dark so pictures did not turn out well. This is the best I was able to get. It said there was a 30 minute wait and it turned out to be a bit longer.
They also say you can't take photos while on the ride which most of the rides have this policy. I am beginning to understand why the Universal trip reports do not have many photos. I find that most of the queues are difficult to take photos and even rides that would normally be easy to photograph they say no photography.
DD12 decides that she likes the ride.
As a matter of fact this turns out to be one of her favorites.
Next up is Men in Black because it is a ride that we knew we would all like. I must say I did like it but Buzz Lightyear is still preferred. I even like Buzz more than Toy Story Mania. The spinning was better but the items you were shooting were not. Just my opinion and I know a lot of people would disagree with me regarding TSM vs Buzz. I don't think we had a wait on this ride.
After this we see Transformers has a 60 minute wait. I had been reading it is usually 90 so we decide to go for it. It does have a decent queue. I think we end up waiting about 50 minutes. It moves quickly. I will say by the time we were done the wait was down to 45.
The kids really liked it. I must say it was very similar to Spiderman with different action heros. I must say that I preferred Spiderman. I felt like I just had metal being thrown at me in Transformers. There is at least a better variety of the type of characters in Spiderman.
After this we see The Mummy has a 5 minute wait. No way DD12 is going to do this one. I also had her watch a youtube video. We run through the very long and empty queue and walk on the ride.
We love love love The Mummy!!! Great effects and a fun coaster. I am glad I didn't watch the video. I liked the surprises in the coaster. I won't give away any spoilers but this was without a doubt one of favorite rides not just for this trip but this would include WDW and any other parks we have experienced.
DD12 and DH had fun in the gift shop while we were on the ride.
Of course DS and DD19 want to ride it again so DH gets to ride with them.
I discover these in the gift shop.
Yes they are really crickets and yes it appears that their primary function is to be eaten.
Also in The Mummy gift shop:
It is getting close to closing. We are tired so we head out. We decide not to stay for the Cinematic Spectacular. After all it is only our first day we will have plenty of time to get that in. DS was also disappointed that we did not get to ride Rip Rocket but he knows we will be back.
Sorry, another bad pic but this was the best one I got of this iconic symbol.
One thing I would like to note is that I used
Undercover Tourist's crowd calendar. This was a level 6 day with both US and IoA listed as green days. (I just noticed that the website now has it as a level 7 day.) I will have to say that it was the least busy of any of the days we attended.
The big question I am leaving you with is...Will we make it to opening the second day???