Welcome Home, You've Arrived!!!!! A June 2014 Trip Report and Video

[Teknik_DC2]

As we made our way back towards Adventureland for our Jungle Cruise Fastpasses we stopped again to take some photos for Magic Maker with the Castle. The hub was jammed packed at this time though as the Parade was getting ready to start. We had plans to watch this another night so we weren’t concerned with it at the time.











We were soon at the Jungle Cruise and walked right on using the Fastpasses. This was the first time I’ve actually gone on the Jungle Cruise after dark. Although it’s a little more erie I think the ride is better during the day. This is also another ride that is better in Florida then California. Daniel really enjoys it as he likes seeing the Animals but I think he had a hard time seeing them at night. Still it was another fun little ride.




After this ride we decided to call it a night. We would be back later in the trip to spend the late night in Magic Kingdom so we decided to leave to go get checked in to our next hotel. We would need all the sleep we could get as tomorrow would be the earliest day of our whole trip. Kiera’s family left to go back and get the Luggage from the All Star Sports while we waited with Kiera’s Grandma as she did some shopping. I took the opportunity to take some night photos of the Castle and Main Street while we waited. Celebrate the Magic started just as we left the park for the night.











We were able to catch the Monorail and before we knew it we had returned to our car. We would be leaving Disney property for a few days as the next few days of the trip would be at the Universal Orlando Resort. For the night we would be staying at the Best Western across from Wet and Wild just off International Drive and across the freeway from Universal. We got the room for I think $42 a night thru Hotwire. Kiera and I are actually a fan of this hotel as we stayed here last year as well before our cruise and plan to stay again in the future when visiting Universal. Its cheap, clean, quite, and nice. The rest of Kiera’s family arrived not long after us with Dinner from Subway for everyone.

 

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After the long day at Magic Kingdom everyone fell asleep quickly. We had a very early morning ahead of us as we would try to use early entry for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter tomorrow at Islands of Adventure. That’s right. Tomorrow morning we would be checking in to the Royal Pacific Hotel. It would be our first time staying on site at Universal.

 

[wiscbugs]

Great to see the updates...I was afraid this report was going to end up like the last one. I always love all of your pics!

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Great to see the updates...I was afraid this report was going to end up like the last one. I always love all of your pics!

Yeah sorry. I just got really burnt out from writting. Especially after doing that video as well. But with another trip to Orlando planned in December I now am motivated to try and complete this one before that trip. Thats why i'm doing the large full day updates now instead of the small mulit part updates like I originally planned.

I should have that other trip report updated by then too. Believe it or not I actually finished that other one on another website. I just need to copy everything over to here.

Anyways thanks for following.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 4: Islands of Adventure

Our 4th day started out very early as we wanted to be checked out of the Best Western by 7am so that we had time to get over and checked in to the Royal Pacific and still take advantage of the early entry at 8am. As with most things though that didn’t happen as we checked out closer to 8am.



Good thing we weren’t too far from the Royal Pacific. Within minutes we were pulling and I was getting our rooms checked in. I think we paid like $190 a night with our Annual Pass discounts making them the most expensive hotel we’ve ever stayed in. We chose to spend one night here so that we could get 2 days of the Unlimited Express Pass. Since this may be the only time Kiera’s family makes the trip we wanted to make sure we made the most of it.




The rooms wouldn’t be ready until later in the day so we dropped our luggage off at Luggage Services and with our Express Passes in hand we made our way down to the boat dock where we made it right in time to catch one of the Water Taxi’s to CityWalk. Once again the boats were an incredible perk about staying on site and the scenery around the Royal Pacific is beautiful.










Once we got to CityWalk we made our way towards the gates of Islands of Adventure. We obviously wouldn’t make it for all of the Early Entry though as we entered the gates with only 10 minutes left. Still we made our way around back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter which was the #1 Kiera’s family wanted to see while in Orlando.




Kiera’s family was in awe as we walked thru the Arch and in to Hogsmead. It was like a dream come true for her siblings who are huge fans of the books and movies. Since the General Public hadn’t been let in yet we decided to do the Olivanders wand shop for our first attraction. We only had a 1 show wait to it really wasn’t bad at all. Everyone was just in awe with the area as we waited in line. Especially when they saw Hogwarts Castle. We soon were admitted in to the wand shop to watch a Young Wizard have there Wand choose them. There must be a new policy on Flash Photography as our last 2 trips it wasn’t allowed (it was on trips prior). This is a fun little show that’s worth seeing. I hear the lines are much shorter now thanks to the larger Diagon Alley version.







Our next stop was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Since it was the only attraction that doesn’t use Express Pass we figured we would get it done early so that there was still a short wait. The park had opened by this point so the Forbidden Journey had a posted 45 minute wait. But we really only waited about 20 minutes.

 

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Of course wither you ride or not you must see the que for this ride. It seriously is an attraction unto itself with so much to see and intricate detail. Soon enough though we were boarding the ride. Kiera and I waited with Daniel in the Child Swap room while everyone else rode. When they came off everyone was had huge smiles on there faces. They were very impressed with the attraction. Whats nice about Universals Child Swap program is that they will let anyone reride with the waiting party. So all of Kiera’s siblings got to come with us again when it was our turn to ride. Something they would do on pretty much every ride in the resort.








After the ride everyone decided that it was time for a snack. They wanted to try Butterbeer which is probably the most delicious beverage ever conceived. Kiera and I prerfer the frozen version the best to that’s what everyone else ordered as well. We will typically order it from the Hogshead Pub or Three Broomsticks restaurant as you can usually find shorter waits there then at the Butterbeer carts. The drink was delcious as usual and everyone now had the addiction.







Although it wasn’t too late in the day yet everyone started to get a little hungry since no one ate breakfast. So we left the Wizarding World and entered Jurassic Park where we grabbed some food at the Burger Digs located in the Discovery Center. This seems to be tradition for Kiera and I as we always seem to eat here. They have an open topping bar so Kiera and I will usually split a Double Cheese Burger that she can take a patty and dress up from the toppings bar. So theres a little savings to be found.





After finishing lunch we continued looking around the Jurassic Park area and even watched the River Adventure Splash down. We didn’t plan to ride though at this time as we would do the wet rides later in the day.





For those that don’t know there is a large new attraction being constructed next to Jurassic Park. So the East side of the section seemed so different now that the trees had been thined out so much (or even removed completely) to make way for the new ride. I look forward to seeing the progress in person when we return later this year. For those that don’t know the new attraction is rumored to be the return of King Kong and will be a Skull Island type setting.




Our walk thru Toon Lagoon was much like Jurassic Park as we walked past the rides and glanced at the surroundings. Again we would return here later in the day though to go on the Water rides. Something Kiera and I hadn’t done since our initial visit to the resort 5 years earlier in 2009.





Finally we made it to Marvel Superhero Island and to rides that wouldn’t get you soaking wet. Our first ride here would also be our first to use the Express Pass on. And its my personal all time favorite ride. The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. With the Express Pass you do miss most of the que and story set up however it was nice to be on the ride in practically no time. The ride was amazing and flawless as usual and it left everyone else in the party scratching there heads of if they preferred Spiderman or Forbidden Journey more. I of course took a spin on it a 2nd time with those that waited in Child Swap.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

The next attraction was the Incredible Hulk coaster. This would be the first time Kiera’s siblings would ride a “big” coaster like this as we have nothing compared to it back home. The wait was pretty much nothing again thanks to Express and it was another fun although very rough ride. I rode this back to back with Child Swap as well and that probably wasn’t the best idea. I was pretty shaken and hurting afterwards lol. Still it’s a must ride every time.






With a headache from the Hulk I was glad that we had easy and mellow rides ahead of us. At this point Daniel still hadn’t gone on any rides himself so we walked over to Storm Force which is there version of the Tea Cups. He didn’t like this ride at all last year so we hoped that maybe he would this year he would. As the ride started he was all smiles. But once it really picked up speed those smiles turned to terror and he grasped on to Kiera for dear life. He was pretty releaved when it was over haha.








Up next was Seuss Landing and our biggest Heart break of the trip. When we came in September of last year Daniel’s favorite ride was the Cat in the Hat. He rode that multiple times and loved every minute of it. And he didn’t forget it. When he saw the Cat in the Hat building he litterally started running to it yelling “Cat in Hat, Cat in Hat” over and over. Unfortunatly though he wouldn’t be able to ride it on this trip. In the months leading up to our trip there was an accident on the ride and Universal put a height requierment of 36 inches on the ride. Daniels was an inch too short. He was devastated over the fact that he couldn’t ride and its still sad for me to talk about it today.







So to keep him distracted from Cat in the Hat I took him over to go on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. He wasn’t the biggest fan of the ride last year and I still don’t think he cared much for it. But overall he did better. I guess we will try again next time we go.





After we were done with the Spinner many of the Seuss Characters were out so we took Daniel over to the Meet and Greets. He did pretty good with all of them. They are more recognizable to him since we’ve been reading a lot of Dr. Seuss books to him lately.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

When we were done with the Characters Kiera went with her family to go ride the Cat in the Hat while I took Daniel over to the “If I Ran the Zoo” playground area to keep him distracted from everyone else going on Cat in the Hat. This plan worked as he loved playing in the area and I’m pretty sure he was the only kid in there.







When the family was done with the ride we meet back up and left Seuss Landing continuing on to the Lost Continent. Since we had Express Passes we figured we might as well do Poseidon’s Fury. This walk thru attraction usually isn’t on our must do list but its worth checking out at least once as there are some cool special effects. Honestly if they would just update the video and CGI effects it wouldn’t be too bad of an attraction. The water vortex itself is incredible to behold. Although the last scene of the show malfunctioned and the room didn’t drop back down at the very end.







With the majority of the dry rides now done we decided it was time for the wet rides. So we made our way back thru the Wizarding World and eventually in to Jurassic Park back to the River Adventure. I’m sorry but I’m not sure why I didn’t take any more photos in the Wizarding World or Jurassic Park.



We practically walked on to the River Adventure with Express and were on our way. This is one of my favorite rides and a do not miss. Getting wet is even hit or miss as in the fall and winter months I’ve rode and barely got a speck of water on me. However I had gotten mildly wet in the spring and this being the first I’ve rode in the summer. Well we got pretty soaked. That didn’t keep me from riding it again with the child swap though.

One wet ride was down so we made our way back in to Toon Lagoon and towards our next water ride. Duddly Do Right’s Rip Saw Falls. I mentioned before that this is a ride we hadn’t been on since 2009 so I looked forward to it. Once again with the Express pass we pretty much walked right on to the ride and were on our way. I remember this ride soaked us back then and it did so yet again. However it seemed we got much more wet on the smaller drops throughout the ride then we did on the large one at the end. This ride is good but it has the potential to be so much more. The drops are hand down the best of any Log Flume ride I’ve ever been on. The ride is thrilling and fun and has a good layout. But the story and theme is what kills it with so much empty space and no themeing. If they carried the theme and story thru the whole ride like Splash Mountain does it would be so much better. Since I was now soaking wet I went on the ride again a 2nd time with those who sat out in Child Swap with Daniel.







It was now time for our final ride of the day. And possibly the wettest of them all. Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. This is another ride that we hadn’t been on since 2009 but I named it the best Raft type ride I had been on and I hoped that still held up. And I’m happy to say it did. This ride is so much fun but unless you wear a poncho you will not walk off the ride with a dry spot on you. It was so fun that a group of us went again a 2nd time since the ride was a walk on even for standby. If you don’t mind being wet don’t miss this ride.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

While we rode the Rapids again Kiera took Daniel to play at the “Me Ship, The Olive Oil” play ground. He had a blast playing on the slides and running around the boat while Kiera’s dad got a kick of spraying people on the ride with the free water guns.






Now that we were soaked to the bones we decided to call it a day a the parks and head back to the Royal Pacific where I got a text about an hour earlier saying our rooms were ready. So we made our way back thru Toon Lagoon and Marvel Super Hero Island taking some photos along the way. What was so great about staying on site was how quickly we could get back to the hotel and out of our soaking wet clothes. We were able to get on a Water Taxi right away and were back at the hotel in no time.











After retrieving our luggage from Luggage Services we made our way to our rooms on I think the 5th floor that faced Cabana Bay and the Freeway. The rooms were large and spacious and I’m pretty sure that’s the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept on. The room was expensive. But it sure seemed worth it. The rooms were very nice. The nicest we’ve ever stayed in.










Since we were damp from the water rides we decided to go down and spend some time at the Royal Pacific’s Pool It too was so big and easily the largest pool I’ve seen. The pool area had a ton of people in it but I never felt like it was too crowded. Daniel loved the large splash pad play area and playing in the shallow water but honestly the pool water seemed to be a bit colder then it should be for a Resort like this. The Hot Tubs on the other hand though were very warm and very relaxing to sit in. That’s where we actually spent most of our time.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

When we were done at the pool we were pretty hungry since we hadn’t had dinner yet. So we once again hoped on the Water Taxi and made our way back to City Walk to try and find some food for dinner. I was seriously loving these perks of staying on site as everything was just a boat ride away. We ended up getting dinner from Panda Express located in the food court area. We made It just in time before they closed. We will likely hit the food court up more often as we were surprised that all the places in there had pretty much the same pricing as there non theme park resort locations.















After dinner it was back to the Hotel where most everyone was tired and ready to sleep since we did want to try and make it to the Early Entry tomorrow for the Wizarding World. Well that was everyone except for Kiera’s Mom and I. We actually left the hotel to go find a Walgreens to pick up a perscription for Kiera’s Grandma that she forgot to pack. I also had to run back to the Best Western where we stayed the night before. I didn’t realize until the battery in my camera died that I had left the 2nd battery and the battery charger plugged in to the wall and left it in the room when we checked out. Unfortunatly I was told I had to return while Housekeeping was there as they held on to the items until they were claimed. I wouldn’t be able to get back there during the day to check for a couple more days. it’s a good thing I always pack 2 cameras.

We soon returned to the hotel and after a quick showered I too crashed in the bed. Which was so comfortable that I fell right asleep.

 

[wiscbugs]

Love all the updates again!

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 5: Universal Studios Florida

It was another beautiful morning when Day 5 began. I was up so early today that I even saw the sun rise. Our stay at the Royal Pacific was coming to an end and it was incredible. Its sad to think the amount of money we spent was a waist cause we spent so little time at the hotel. But it was well worth it. I mean the Unlimited Express pretty much made it worth it alone. To this day the Royal Pacific is the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in. It was sad to say goodbye after only 1 night here as I wish we had more time to spend. Once everyone was up and going I checked us out of our hotel rooms and we again dropped our luggage off at Luggage Services to be held until we were done at the parks that day. I had to take some things to our car though and thats where these photos come from below.














Unlike the pervious morning we were up and going and would make it to the majority of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter early entry. However also unlike the pervious morning we barely missed the Water Taxi and it would be about a 15 minute wait for it to come back. Although most of Kiera's family was fine to wait for it to return we wanted to make the most of early entry. So Kiera, Daniel, Myself, and Stirling decided to speed walk it to Citywalk using the walkway along the water. The walk took only about 8 minutes to take and was very pretty.










As we entered the park this morning I picked up a couple Lanyards for Kiera and I to hold our Annual Passes and Express Pass for the day. Port of Entry was open to anyone wanting to enter even though the park hadn't officially opened yet. It wasn't until we were about to enter Seuss Landing where Team Members were standing to check our Hotel Keys and make sure we were elegible for the Early Entry. A quick glance and we were on our way to the Wizarding World.




It was pretty nice seeing the Wizarding World so empty. Since it seemed like we almost had it all to ourselves we decided to do the rides we missed out on yesterday first. So we went to the Dragons Challenge Coasters. Since the park hadn't opened yet there was no point in using the Express pass so we walked the full que where Stirling and I were still able to get the front row of the Horntail (Ice or the blue track) with no wait. If your willing to wait it out this is seriously the best way to ride these coasters. By the time Stirling and I were done with our ride the rest of the group had made it to the park and to Dragon Challenge and we rode the front row again before the park opened.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Next up was Flight of the Hypogriph which ironically enough we ended up with a longer wait using our Express Pass instead of just being the regular line. This ride might just be a kiddie coaster but it is still quite fun and would be considered a major ride at most local parks. Plus the views of Hogsmead are incredible. Then we took a quick ride again on the Forbidden Journey using the Single Riders line.














Since today the focus was to be the Universal Studios park we then left Islands of Adventure to make the walk to the Studios shortly after the parks opened to the general public for the day. Typically you can bypass long waits at the entry to the studios by taking the side enterance by the Blue Man Group theater. So thats the way we went, walking along side Rip, Ride, Rockit only to find that the enterance wasn't open. I guess this is something that doesn't open until later in the day. So back to the front of the park we went to the main enterance.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

With the Express pass being availible at every attraction in this park (at the time) we didn't feel a need to start hitting rides right away. So we grabbed some breakfast sandwiches from the Beverly Hills Boulangerie (one of the best values in the resort) and relaxed a bit before the busy day began. We then noticed that the Despicable Me float was out and the Characters were meeting right outside. We tried to hurry out as this is one the only chance to meet some of the characters from the movies but we only made it to Vector before they packed up and went away.




Doc Brown was also out meeting on his New Bike and being a big fan of Back to the Future I always have to meet him as well.




Our first ride in the park would turn out to be the longest we had all day. And you probably guessed right if your think it was Despicable Me: Minion Mayham. Even with express we waited about 30 minutes. Inside our group split between those doing the regurlar ride vehicles and the stationary seating (where Daniel had to be since he was too short). The ride is alot of fun for how simple it is. Daniel even enjoyed it this time and even kept his glasses on. But he loves the Minions and Despicable Me. We were again sad to not find any Minions meeting when you get off the ride like they were last year. This is a fun ride that shouldn't be missed if the wait is short. Kids will love it.











After Despicable Me we walked across the Street to Shrek 4d which was a walk on. They had both Theaters running so they were dedicating one theater just to Express. The show was the same as always. Honestly we've seen this enough now that the novelty of it has worn off. Especially since Daniel will watch it on Netflix (yes the show footage is avalible to watch on netflix). Kieras family seemed to enjoy it too. Honestly this is probably on our skip list now. Disney does these 3d shows much better. Heck Universal has one that is much better just a few hundred feet down the street.



Next up it was time the first Thrill ride in the Studios. The Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit Coaster. And it obviously hasn't killed us yet. The wait was short with Express and the family was on in no time while we waited in the Child Swap area. Much like the hulk the Rockit can bang you around so nobody else wanted to ride againg right away with Kiera and I. Of all the times i've been on this coaster this had to be the worst. When I pulled the lap bar down I pulled it way, way too tight so it was sitting under my ribs. I pretty much had to push my feet down and lift by butt out of the seat for the entire ride to stay comfortable. My chest hurt so bad afterwards that I seriously thought I had bruised a rib or something. Thats a mistake I will never make again.








After a restroom break we made our way to the next attraction that would be Twister. If you hadn't noticed yet in some pictures today (and the rest of the trip) we rented a Wheel Chair for Kiera's Grandma to help her get around. All the Walking and standing was taking a toll on her. She was fine to stand in the lines though as we usually parked the wheel chair outside the attraction. However many rides insisted that we bring it with us in the line. Twister was the first that we did.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

It was nice when they had us bring it though as we always got to go to the very front of the show group. So we were the first in the Twister building and got to have a close up and personal interaction with the Great Bill Paxton. It was pretty erry walking thru the 2nd preshow room with nobody in front of you. Although the negative part was in the actual show we were put in an area where the floor didn't drop below us. Something I really was hoping would get quite the reaction out of Kena. Twister isn't the greatest attraction but with its time limited we try to see it at least once on our trips. Its almost the last of its kind being a large special effects show with practical effects instead of CGI.









Now in the New York section of the park our next ride would be on my favorite ride in the park. The Revenge of the Mummy. And yet again with Express it was a walk on. This ride is a perfect mix of Dark Ride and Coaster. Infact It is my favorite Indoor Roller Coaster. It like Twister is one of those rides that relies pretty much on complete practical effects and is thrilling from start to finish. It turned out to be a favorite of everyone in Kieras Family as well. The best part is we didn't tell Kena that it was a roller coaster. She thought it was just another dark ride lol. Needless to say she wasn't happy with our joke.






After the Mummy we decided to take a bit of a rest. We grabbed some waters from a nearby stand (remember water is free from any fountain drink location) and just looked around some of the shops and took in the New York scenery.









Then it was time to go to one of the Studios newest attractions. Transformers the Ride 3d. This ride is incredible as I think i've already discribed earlier. Its the same ride system as Spiderman and although its amazing and a do not miss ride I still think Spiderman is leagues better. Again it was nice having the Express to bypass the long standbye line and board the ride vehicle in practically no time.





Walking towards the San Fransisco area of the park we could see the Dragon attached to the top of Gringots in the distance. Work was visably progressing from when Kiera and I came a few days earlier and the 2nd wing had been attached to the creature. Our fingers were crossed that we would see a soft opening by the end of our trip. No stop in San Fansisco is complete though without a stop by Diagon Alley's former tenant. JAWS.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Finally we were out our next attraction which is Disaster. This is the old Earthquake ride which takes you thru multiple preshow rooms as if you were touring a Movie Studio. They even cast people from the audiance to take part in the show which makes for a lot of fun. The Launey character in our show was great and one of the best we had seen. Very energetic and entertaing. This was another ride where we got to take the Wheel Chair with us thru the whole attraction and so we got to enter to rooms first. Although that ment it was hard to see some of the stuff in the 2nd and 3rd preshow rooms. This is another ride we do every time but mostly because its one without a height limit so Daniel can do it too. Its likely not one i'll shed a tear for when the day comes and it leaves. Its a nice attraction to go on to get out of the sun or rain for a bit.





After Disaster Kiera's family saw the London Facades for the first time. We spent a little bit of time here as they tried seeing over the fences and taking photos of the new Harry Potter area. We eventually followed it all the way around to the Fear Factor live theater where we could here work taking place from within. Again our fingers were crossed that we would see the walls come down and soft openings take place before our trip ended.










Next ride up was Men in Black: Alien Attack. This shooter dark ride is what I consider to be the best shooter ride there is. Partnered up with an incredible que that really pulls you in to the Men in Black world. The ride is a decent lenght and uses Animatronic Aliens for the targets instead of Card Board cutouts or screens like Disney does with there shooters. Unfortunatly though unlike Disney this shooter still has a ride height so Daniel had to sit out another ride as we did Child Swap. But that ment most of us rode twice. The ride again was a family favorite and a do not miss.







The next area of the park we entered was Springfield U.S.A. or basically the Simpsons land. But before doing the main Simpsons ride we were all pretty hungry and ready for Lunch. So we went to my favorite place in the whole Studios to catch a bite to eat. That place is Fast Food Blvd located right in the heart of Springfield. It has about a dozen different food options all inspired from the TV show. Many family members tried the Krusty Burger which I had last year and really enjoyed. Today though I just tried the Meat Likers Pizza and Kiera got a wrap. Both of which were pretty good.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

After our filling Lunch we then headed back up to the Simpsons Ride. This simulator is also a lot of fun and up until Star Tours 2.0 it was my favorite motion simulator ride. Even today the ride holds up really well for not being in 3d. Its a do not miss in my opinion. So long as your not prone to motion sickness anyways as this ride can really do you in. Still saddens me a bit though that we lost the Back to the Future ride for this. But then again then we wouldn't have the whole Simpsons area.








When we were done with the Simpsons ride Daniel decided to make friends with a Squral while Stirling and I ran up the exit ramps to the top floor of the Simpsons ride to see if we could see the Dragon in Diagon Alley. We could also see the Halloween Horror Nights tents. We then spent a little time looking at all the details that make up the great theming in Springfield.










Outside of Springfield is KidZone and we made our way to the E.T. ride again. As you recall we took Daniel on this for the first time and needless to say he wasn't a fan of it. So being the awesome parents we are we took him on it again. He was fine throughout the whole que until it was time to board. When we sat down on the back bench he started to freak out and held up the ride vehicle for a moment. They almost didn't let him ride because he was fighting it so much. Evnetually we tried a different seat that wasn't a bench where the lap bar sits tighter. He was actually doing much better right a way as he probably thought having is very own seat was really cool. The forest part of the ride still scared him a little but he really liked the Green Planet portion. We are intersted to see how he does next time we go.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

At this point in the day our group split up for a bit. The day was winding down and we really only had one attraction left that we wanted to do. So the girls took Daniel down the Curious George goes to Town play area (sorry no pictures) while the boys went to Terminator 2 3d. Terminator might be the only attraction that I hadn't seen yet in the Orlando Parks so I was excited for it. I had seen it back in 2008 at Universal Studios Hollywood though. This 3d show is easily the best there is and a ton of fun. Especially if your a fan of the Terminator films. To this day the film still holds up and the use of live action actors really makes it a one of a kind experiance.







We meet back up with the girls afterwards near E.T. As we were leaving kidzone though Daniel saw Sponge Bob meeting at his store and he really wanted to see him. So we went and got in line and were lucky enough to be one of the last families Sponge Bob meet for the day. Daniel shocked us when he ran up and gave Sponge Bob a big hug and was really cute the whole time. Surprising because he hadn't done that with any character yet and also because he has never seen an episode of Sponge Bob Square Pants.




The park was about 40 minutes away from closing and the starting time of the Cinematic Spectacular Show on the Lagoon. We walked over to the Lagoon from Central Park and found a good spot to view the show from since its something that shouldn't be missed. With less then an hour to go until we no longer had and Express pass and Kiera's parents being a bit worn out from the day they stayed with Daniel to wait for the show while Kiera and I with Stirling and Kena ran back to go on Despicable Me again. At this time Kiera still had never experianced the ride from a moving seat and I figured this would be our last chance to do so with how long the waits get. We walked right on with the Express and still made it back before the show started.





About 5 minutes later the Cinematic Spectacular began. The location we got was pretty much the same spot that we always watch it from. We really love this show especially since we got to be in the park for its very 1st public preview nearly 2 years earlier. We really looked forward to sharing it with the family but this night was not the night to do it. Even the public preview didn't have as many issues. For one there were some major issues with the sound in the area we were in making it echo pretty badly. Second there was some sort of screen problem as well. The screen image was backwards which I think ment one of the projectors wasn't working. The image wasn't very clear ether. Lastly the Fireworks on top of the Disaster building didn't go off. The show was still good with its unique mix of the Water Curtain screens, Fountains, Lasers, and Fireworks but it unfortunatly didn't leave us in awe tonight like it has in the past due to the problems. We never watched the show again on this trip.











With the ending of the show Universal Studios was officially closed for the day and we exited the park with thousands of other people. After a short wait for the Water Taxi we caught a final ride back to the Royal Pacific to retrieve our luggage.




With the cars loaded up we grabbed some quick food for dinner from a drive thru that I can't remember and then made the nearly 30 minute drive to our final lodging location of the trip located out near Davenport. Since the remainder of the trip would be mostly Disney we thought it would be best to stay closer to Disney. And with the large family on this trip we found the best option was to all pitch in on a vacation Town House. We were able to get a 3 bedroom, 3 bath Townhouse at the Encantada Resort for just I think $109 a night. And the Townhouse and Resort were very nice and in great shape. It was a little further then we thought it would be but the great value made up for the extra 5-10 minutes of drive time. The townhouse was very recommend and with a large group its the best way to vacation. We even had our own private pool in addition to what the main resort offered. Getting in was easy with a coded gate and then a code to get in to the house itself. No keys required. We loved feeling like we were at home and didn't have to pack as much since we had a washer and dryer and a full kitchen for meals.

 

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After settling in and deciding who would take which bedrooms we all retired to bed. The plans for tomorrow would be to go back to Universal Orlando to check out the final day of the Mardi Gras celebration. Since we had already seen all the attractions in each park thanks to the Express Pass from staying at the Royal Pacific we figured tomorrow would be an easy day. So we would sleep in a little and take our time getting to the parks.

 

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Day 6: Universal’s Mari Gras

After 3 fast paced and very early morning days in a row it was nice to finally be able to relax a bit and take our time leaving the Townhouse. We would once again be heading over to the Universal Orlando Resort as today was the final day of the Mardi Gras celebration. Since we had been to the resort over the past 2 days and had Express Pass we had already seen everything so today would mostly be rerides. On the way to the parks we stopped at a Publix to get some food for breakfast as well as some sandwiches for lunch.

When we eventually made our way to the parks I took advantage of the later start to stop by the Best Western we stayed at a couple nights before to check on my left behind Camera Charger and battery. To my relief they did have it and so this would be the final day I would be using our back up camera. Kiera switched cars so that she could get free parking for her parents with her Premium Annual Pass (the whole reason we upgraded it) and soon enough we were parked on the top floor of the structure with great views of the resort. Then we made our way down to and thru Citywalk.











We would be starting our Day of at Islands of Adventure today since most of the Mardi Gras events weren’t until later in the evening over at the Studios. Plus Islands had more rides that we wanted to do again.













Being a Saturday and not having Express anymore (I’m sure Mardi Gras didn’t help ether) the parks were noticeably much busier. So we would utilize the Single Rider lines as much as possible. Our first ride of the day was Spiderman which had over an hour wait posted. We did Single Rider though and got on in about 25 minutes. The great thing about Single Rider is your still allowed to do Child Swap as well. Some rides even still let us ride as a group since we were doing Child Swap despite us being adimate that we were fine still going as Single Riders.