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Day 2 – 5 Oct 03 Universal Studios
We woke up early to get breakfast going and get everyone through
the showers. After eating and getting ready we say a quick prayer
for a fun and safe day and head out the door. We drive to Universal
Studios and park in the Spiderman area. During the walk we had to
tell the kids many times not to run. I guess the excitement was
too much for them to simply walk to the park. We got to the gate
early and paid for the tickets. Usually we get the tickets before
we go to save money but they had a military special that can only
be purchased at the gate. I got in free, 5 family members got in
for about $50 each and the last ticket for my 8 year old was $80.
Each person had to sign the back of their own ticket. Security I
guess.
After the gates opened we headed for Jimmy Neutron. A great attraction.
The seats move and you wear 3-D glasses. It is a fun show and the
kids thought it was great. On to Shrek 4-D. This is a great attraction.
You wear 3-D glasses but you also get to feel a few things. For
instance, in one part of the show spiders are on the screen, they
drop down and you feel them around your feet and ankles. This took
me by surprise and it made me jump. (I hate spiders) I have to say
that the 3-D shows are getting better. We headed over to T2. Still
a great show even though it is showing its age a little bit in comparison
with the newer 3-D shows. My kids thought the massive amounts of
smoke that fills the theater at the end was the coolest thing. You
literally can’t see your hand in front of your face. We used
the “express pass” for this one and was able to get
to the front of the line. We looked around a little bit at the Lucy
exhibit. This is real nice. The kids thought it was boring since
they really didn’t know who she was. I grew up watching the
reruns. Then it’s on to ET. We waited in the regular line
for this one but it didn’t take too long. I always love the
atmosphere of the line inside the building. Feels like you are outside
at night in the forest. The designers did an incredible job with
this. This kids loved the ride. They thought it was real cool to
“fly” above the city. After that we went to Animal Planet
Live. This is a good show for the kids to watch and I think that
adults will enjoy this too. My wife and I did. My daughter Sam really
loved this since she is crazy about animals. We also went on Woody
Woodpeckers rollercoaster. It’s a nice little coaster for
the kids. I went with them so they had an adult with them, not because
I liked a kiddie coaster. You all believe me right?
We hit the Back to the Future ride next. This is always a popular
ride so we decided to get the express pass for it. Now the ticket
said come back at 3:10 and my watch said 2:05. So we went to MIB.
While in the line my wife asked me what time the express pass ticket
said. After I told here she told me to check my watch again. I had
completely forgotten that we were now on eastern time and my watch
was still on central time. After adjusting my watch we realized
it was time for the express passes. So we got out of line and headed
back to Back to the Future. A great ride as always. Since there
were seven of us we had a car all to ourselves. I still don’t
like the fact that it jerks you around so much, but I guess that’s
just me. The kids loved it. Of course they were calling each other
“butt head” for a while afterwards.
We finally make it to MIB: Alien Attack. This is an awesome ride
and I recommend it to everyone. You are trainees and are put through
the rigors of MIB agent training when you are tasked with helping
shoot down escaped aliens. My advice is to always shoot right between
the eyes of the aliens. You will hit more often that way. Also,
I was able to rack up more points by shooting some aliens multiple
times. Yet another tip would be to keep the trigger squeezed. Every
tenth shot will give you more points even if you don’t hit
anything. During one point in the ride you can shoot the other car
riding next to you which is your competition. It will spin around
and they will have a harder time shooting. During the final encounter
with the big alien you are suppose to hit the bonus button to give
you extra power. I didn’t and ended with only 96,750 points.
Katie got 105,000. So she was the big winner. When the ride is done
Will Smith comes on a screen and tells which team won. You also
find out what ranking you are. The first time we went through we
were ranked as “Bug Bait”. We went again and this time
Katie told me about the bonus button and when to push it. I ended
up with 315,500 points. Which no one else was even close to. I rubbed
that in for a while.
We tried to get on Jaws but it was down for rehab. This was a slight
disappointment. We liked this ride but oh well better luck next
time. We were hungry so we got some lunch. Turkey legs. We all sat
on a bench and ate turkey legs. We must have looked like a bunch
of cave people, each with a turkey leg in one hand just chomping
away. Alex couldn’t finish his so naturally I finished it
for him. They are ok but my wife almost got sick when we went on
Jimmy Neutron again later in the day. She said that she could feel
the turkey leg trying to come back up. So I teased her of course.
I asked her if it tasted better the second time, pretending like
I was about to puke and asking her if she wanted another turkey
leg. The kids then found some wigs. They all tried some on and we
took pictures. Sam grabbed a huge wig of curly hair. She said I
could use it to relieve my high school days. (Hardy har har)
We went on Earthquake. In the pre-show they select some people
from the audience to help in the demonstration. My oldest and youngest
daughters were picked. The scene was from U-571. Three people were
in the conning tower of the sub, Sam included. They were to be put
in a scene from the movie and Jessie was supposed to pull a rope
and send rain down on them. When she pulled the rope the water dropped
on her instead of the people in the conning tower. Everyone laughed
and she thought it was great. I got it all on tape and they had
a great time. The ride part was still good but needs to be updated
a little.
We then walked over to Twister. We always liked this one. A great
show. We waited for a while but the attraction was down so we were
unable to see it. We went to Jimmy Neutron and Shrek again to wind
down the day. On the way back to the room we have a tradition of
asking everyone what their favorite attraction was. I can’t
remember what everyone said but the general consensus was that MIB
was the best. We ate dinner and went to bed tired after a full day
of fun.
I have to mention the crowds. Being October I expected the crowds
to be at a minimum. The opposite was true. I couldn’t believe
how crowded it was. I guess all the promotions the parks are doing
to drum up business are working. It was crowded almost to the point
of being July levels.
Tune in next time for: Islands of Adventure.
Day 3...
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