I had bedknobs on my bed
as a kid. Does anybody have
those anymore?
I think I did. A lot of good they did me.
I quickly checked Uni's website
and found that the last blackout
date had ended... one week ago.
Well, that just saved me $285!
Whew. That probably took 3 years off your life.
Since we were so close, we
just decided to walk from the
hotel to the park.
It's about a ten-minute stroll.
We got in line for rope drop
and there weren't too many
people in front of us.
Maybe... 4-6 people at each tapstyle?
Nice. Is rope drop not a thing there?
And... a word about the wait times.
A Universal Express Unlimited pass
will run you about $90... per day!
Each!
Good thing I don't have a large family or anything.
The cheapest on-site resorts start
at $85/day while Royal Pacific
rooms start at $230/day.
So staying at a "deluxe" Universal
resort costs $145/day more than
their least expensive resort.
But!
Two Universal Express Unlimited
passes cost $180/day.
So if you want the passes...
it's actually cheaper to stay
at the deluxe resort.
Wow. Go figure! Oh, I guess you did.
We never waited more than five minutes
to ride any ride, except one or two where
we maybe waited ten minutes.
So comparing our experience to
the posted wait times...
Those passes easily paid for themselves.
Yeah, it sounds like it. (starts taking notes)
When you first walk into
Diagon Alley... you stop
dead in your tracks.
You're not just in a
Theme Park anymore.
You are actually in the
same land that Harry trod upon.
Very cool. It looks amazing.
I mean... if the entrance is
that impressive...
what will the ride be like???
Looks amazing on the inside, too. Is it worth going through the regular line or is the express line sufficient to see the details?
You climb and then descend
almost vertically before
immediately doing a spinning loop.
We're not crazy enough to do that!
Okay. We are. We did.
It was pretty fun, but also
pretty rough.
We were glad we did it,
but just as glad to have survived.
The vertical elements do not appeal to me. At all.
Circle of life.
A mouse eaten by a cat
eaten by a dog eaten by
a lion.
Heh. That's funny.
I love the Iron Maiden
that's been child proofed!
Love it!
Like a fair amount of Uni's
rides, Minions is a motion
simulator.
But it's a fun one.
We both liked it.
Next up was Transformers...
Funny how one motion
simulator does not equal
another.
Transformers was quite possibly
our least favourite ride in
the park.
In both parks.
Wow. What was the problem with that one?
As for the ride... I think if
Diagon Alley wasn't there,
then this may well have been
our favourite ride in the park.
We turned around and re-rode
that one too!
Still taking notes....Mummy and Gringotts good. Transformers bad.
The ride was... not bad.
Not in the same league
as Mummy, but better
than Transformers.
You get in a bus and
you drive to the various
scenes that take place.
I had heard not-great things about that one. So a "meh" is better than that, I guess.
And... she beat me.
I don't know how.
But she did.
I'm sure it was either a glitch
or I had a faulty gun.
There can be no other explanation.
They really need to do a better job of maintaining their equipment.
While we waited, I noticed
the TV screens were showing
various Simpson-y ads.
Those are awesome. The Simpsons might be the most consistently funny show of my lifetime.
The Simpson's ride was fun,
if a bit nausea inducing.
That sounds worrisome, though. Is it that bad? Lots of spinning or something?
And to travel back to
the Wild West for a bit...
Is that from Back to the Future?
I had an overwhelming urge
to make a crank call while in Moe's.
Ever do that when you were a kid?
(Before call display... ahem...)
"Is your refrigerator running?
Better go catch it!"
Ah yes... that and other equally
intelligent lame duck gags.
We were such rebels.
Hooligans! A menace to society!
By the way, I'm looking for a man named Jass. First name Hugh.
I escaped without getting
pooped on.
Always a good thing.
The number one goal in those shows is to avoid #2.
<C-R-A-A-A-C-K-K-K!!!!>
The show was abruptly cut
short with a very close
(and very loud!) lightning strike!
Moments later, the skies opened
up and it began to pour.
Gotta love Florida weather.
Was it 4:00 p.m.?
Then she stopped...
"Playtex? I mean Latex...
Playtex is a whole other monster."
She said it. Not me.
Don't shoot the messenger.
If a Dad had said this, it would have resulted in loud groans and rolled eyes.
Her response was:
"Watch it. I don't have to
be nice to kids...
this isn't Disney."
Now that's a good one.
This ride was okay.
Again, not the best,
but not the worst.
Seems to be a lot of that going on.
And every 10 minutes or so,
the dragon belches out
a rather large gout of fire!
Awesome!
and... sorry for not getting that shot. I had decided to come back later with the good camera and... I was too tired to do it!
TR fail.
Well, it's an awful lot of fried food.
Is that supposed to bother me?
And another little stop at
this ode to the former Jaws ride.
I miss that ride. Last time I was there was when I was in college, which....was a long time ago. Jaws was a fun one.
Sorry, single girl. But I'll choose
to leave the couple alone.
Which would you have chosen??
Yeah, I'd probably have left the couple alone as well.
The weird thing was the dad.
He stood in the tub the whole time
they were there (about 10 minutes?)
and was on the phone talking
loudly the whole time.
Ugh. What is with people? Maybe you all could have joined in on the conversation.
Did you see it in this chapter?
Did you see all three???
Apparently your buddy is a fan of public transportation and beer, but not crowds.