GrumpyOne
Stresspuppy
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2000
The rest of my trip reports are in the WDW trip reports section
Cast:
Grumpy: Me, a 32 year old technical instructor for an alive and kicking dot com. Six trips to Disneyland and third to WDW
Goofy: 43 year old DW, Comp Sci student. Three trips to DL, 20th trip to WDW
Bashful: 7 year old DD. Two trips to DL, 2nd trip to WDW
Monday brings me to Islands of Adventure. I'm a big roller coaster fan and had to visit here. My DW isn't a coaster fan and DW is too short for the big three so they went to DisneyQuest.
I get dropped off at Citywalk at about 7:45am. We followed the signs to Citywalk but were in the wrong lane when we saw a sign for guest drop off and couldn't get over. We ended up in the entrance to the regular parking area where they guided us to guest drop off.
I found Citywalk to be kind of odd. It reminded me of Downtown Disney but with less direction. Anyway, I continued through Citywalk to the fork of Universal and IoA and went on to IoA. At 8am I disover that the multi-day pass I bought at the Universal store at the airport, the one the cashier said worked for Early Entry because the one day didn't, doesn't work for EE. Boy am I cheesed off! I go over to guest services and explain that I purchased this ticket because a Universal employee said it would work for early entry and that if I had known it wouldn't, I would have just bought the one day ticket. They give me a pass to get in and I'm off!
Now that I'm inside the park, let's get my bearings set. Marvel is over to my left and The Lost Continent is way to my right, past Dr. Seuss land. Discovering that Marvel has one ride open, Spiderman and that the only other area open is Seuss makes my EE riding easy. I do Spiderman twice in a row, getting lost in the queuing area the first time through. They have too many lanes open and little guidance. I'm sure this isn't much of a problem during the day though. Spiderman is a good ride the first 1/2 and a great ride the second half. You're in a car sitting on the ground. It can tilt and move but it doesn't fly. The second half of Spidey has you totally confused as to where you are. I'm convinced that someone would find it difficult to step out of the car and have their balance. They just wouldn't be expecting the ground where it is.
I take a ton of pictures during the rest of EE and in fact the whole day. Once EE gets close to ending I decide that I want to do Hulk first then take on the dragons! I get in line for Hulk and am watching them run tests from the loading platform while I wait in the front row line. At 9:05 I'm off on my first Hulk ride. It starts off going up the hill like a "normal" coaster but half way up you're launched as if from a catapult. There weren't any major drops, it's all speed. The biggest drop is near the end and is fairly shallow. It's right after this that they do the picture. If you want the picture, in addition to the 7x9 w/fancy frame ($20) & 8x10 ($16?) with plain frame, they also have a 7x9 with plain frame ($11) that they hid behind the register.
After Hulk I rode Dr. Doom and I was a bit annoyed. Anything that says "Fearfall" should have something about falling! The intense part of this ride is being shot up. After that, it's cake.
After Dr. Doom's, I decide to get a fast pass for Hulk and like what I see. There are two times to choose from! One beginning at 10:15am and one beginning at 12:45. I choose the earlier one but being given a choice of fast pass return times is something Disney could take a lesson from. Anyway, now that I have my FP for Hulk later on, I'm off to Fire and Ice!
This castle has great theming! It's the only example of great theming that I saw at IoA but it was good! There wasn't a line until you got to the loading area but I must've spend 15 minutes in the queue taking pictures and examining everything. Once at the platform I randomly pick a dragon, Ice which was to the right, and hit the front row line. I knew I wanted to do front row on each of Fire and Ice and back row as well but time constraints allowed back row on only one dragon, Fire.
The dragons were great rides! The effects on turns did seem stronger from the back and during the "near miss" you see other people's feet coming at you. The feeling of a collision isn't as strong when riding in the front row but you get the excitment of seeing what's about to happen. There was a definate preference for Ice over Fire, just based on the size of the line. The front row had long lines compared to the other rows and sometimes the last row got long as well. The longest I ever saw the other rows get was a one train wait. When exiting, if you want to ride again, look for a sign pointing you back to ride the other dragon. You don't have to walk all the way through the castle to ride again.
It's getting close to time for my Hulk fast pass to expire, I spent a lot of time taking pics in the Lost Continent, so I hurry back and find that the standby line is listed at 20 minutes but has to be shorter. I do my FP anyway, that's what I hurried over here for and am hustled right into a seat.
Lunch was at Captain America's and if he wants to fight crime, he needs to look in his own restaurant! I know, expensive bad food is what yuo expect in a park but still. I kept the plastic Coke cup my drink came in. The only want I can be happy about that meal is if I think I got a souvenir with it.
It's now about 11:30 and I don't get picked up until 3pm. I've only seen 1/2 the park, more properly 3/5ths of the park, and there's an hour to go before the Sinbad show. Off to see the rest of the park!
I walk over to Toon Lagoon and check out two two major rides there. Dudley's Rip-Saw falls seemed to be down but Popeye's Bilge Barges were running. If you've been on the Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom then you've been on this ride. You just seem to have a bit better chance of getting wet.
Next up was Jurrasic Park where I spend several minutes trying to get the perfect shots of people coming down from River Adventure. When people come down the drop they create a huge splash and I managed to get several shots of the sprays. From what I saw, it was the same ride as the one in Universal Hollywood.
On my way to the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad I can't recall if I got a good shot of the near miss so I grab one. I now wish I had thought to get it when the dragons were going through. Doh! Arriving at Sinbad early, some employees are going through a routine with guests as to what they should do. There were several very amusing parts to this that I don't want to give away but one thing that bothered me was that an employee from Jurrasic Park, still wearing her JP themed uniform, started participating. It kind of distracted from what they were doing and it made clearer why Disney doesn't allow CMs to go from one land to another in themed uniform.
Sinbad was a stunt show and it was great! I'd say that any girl should like this show simply because the princess isn't one who sits around and gets rescued. Instead, she competes with Sinbad and the woman playing the princess was very talented in her choreography execution. The humor was well done as well. The show started at 12:30 and ended at 1:00. The center and front rows are "you may get wet".
After the show, I head back over to Hulk which I ride three more times. I also rode Dr. Doom's again and look through the shops some. I'm basically eating up time before I have to go. Here is when I discover that Universal needs more fans on the Hulk. If you are in the front row of the car coming into the station then you get a breeze. But the tunnel is kind of long and there are no other fans! Universal needs more fans for people waiting for the train to move forward to the landing.
I was planning on leaving at 2:45 but my foot is hurting, it seems my moleskin fell off, so I make my way out to Citywalk. I hit several stores which have touristy stuff, nothing I'm interested in. I'm also looking for someplace I can get something to drink but I'm only seeing bars! Once I cross the moving sidewalks I see two candy machines and looking down to the guest pickup area I see a coke machine. Saved! I go down to the Coke machine and it's broken! Okay, back up and start walking toward the parking garage. I find two more candy machines and behind them I see two Coke machines. Each 20oz. bottle is $2. Why are there so many candy machines?!? A very short while later my DW picks me up and we're back to the resort before going to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue.
Hoop was a great show! We went to the early show and needed to be there at 5pm. Right before walking in I got out E-Ride night tickets for Tuesday. You start off being escorted to your table which is assigned based on when you reserved it. We were on the second floor but were able to easily see the stage. We just couldnt eat and see at the same time. The show is a series of humorous skits and singing and dancing mixed with some audience participation. Theres one point where the room is divided right down the middle and the middle table has ½ the people on one side and ½ on the other. There was a honeymooning couple at that table and they had lots of fun with that scenario. The food was decent, ribs, fried chicken, salad, bread, and strawberry short cake. We waddled home after that show.
Highpoints: The coasters, Hoop
Low points: The blister I got from the moleskin falling off causes more problems tomorrow.
How our plans fared: Everything was fine. DW & DD got to spend 4 hours at DisneyQuest and they said they could have stayed longer. This was supposed to be an easy day for scheduling because tomorrow will be long.
Cast:
Grumpy: Me, a 32 year old technical instructor for an alive and kicking dot com. Six trips to Disneyland and third to WDW
Goofy: 43 year old DW, Comp Sci student. Three trips to DL, 20th trip to WDW
Bashful: 7 year old DD. Two trips to DL, 2nd trip to WDW
Monday brings me to Islands of Adventure. I'm a big roller coaster fan and had to visit here. My DW isn't a coaster fan and DW is too short for the big three so they went to DisneyQuest.
I get dropped off at Citywalk at about 7:45am. We followed the signs to Citywalk but were in the wrong lane when we saw a sign for guest drop off and couldn't get over. We ended up in the entrance to the regular parking area where they guided us to guest drop off.
I found Citywalk to be kind of odd. It reminded me of Downtown Disney but with less direction. Anyway, I continued through Citywalk to the fork of Universal and IoA and went on to IoA. At 8am I disover that the multi-day pass I bought at the Universal store at the airport, the one the cashier said worked for Early Entry because the one day didn't, doesn't work for EE. Boy am I cheesed off! I go over to guest services and explain that I purchased this ticket because a Universal employee said it would work for early entry and that if I had known it wouldn't, I would have just bought the one day ticket. They give me a pass to get in and I'm off!
Now that I'm inside the park, let's get my bearings set. Marvel is over to my left and The Lost Continent is way to my right, past Dr. Seuss land. Discovering that Marvel has one ride open, Spiderman and that the only other area open is Seuss makes my EE riding easy. I do Spiderman twice in a row, getting lost in the queuing area the first time through. They have too many lanes open and little guidance. I'm sure this isn't much of a problem during the day though. Spiderman is a good ride the first 1/2 and a great ride the second half. You're in a car sitting on the ground. It can tilt and move but it doesn't fly. The second half of Spidey has you totally confused as to where you are. I'm convinced that someone would find it difficult to step out of the car and have their balance. They just wouldn't be expecting the ground where it is.
I take a ton of pictures during the rest of EE and in fact the whole day. Once EE gets close to ending I decide that I want to do Hulk first then take on the dragons! I get in line for Hulk and am watching them run tests from the loading platform while I wait in the front row line. At 9:05 I'm off on my first Hulk ride. It starts off going up the hill like a "normal" coaster but half way up you're launched as if from a catapult. There weren't any major drops, it's all speed. The biggest drop is near the end and is fairly shallow. It's right after this that they do the picture. If you want the picture, in addition to the 7x9 w/fancy frame ($20) & 8x10 ($16?) with plain frame, they also have a 7x9 with plain frame ($11) that they hid behind the register.
After Hulk I rode Dr. Doom and I was a bit annoyed. Anything that says "Fearfall" should have something about falling! The intense part of this ride is being shot up. After that, it's cake.
After Dr. Doom's, I decide to get a fast pass for Hulk and like what I see. There are two times to choose from! One beginning at 10:15am and one beginning at 12:45. I choose the earlier one but being given a choice of fast pass return times is something Disney could take a lesson from. Anyway, now that I have my FP for Hulk later on, I'm off to Fire and Ice!
This castle has great theming! It's the only example of great theming that I saw at IoA but it was good! There wasn't a line until you got to the loading area but I must've spend 15 minutes in the queue taking pictures and examining everything. Once at the platform I randomly pick a dragon, Ice which was to the right, and hit the front row line. I knew I wanted to do front row on each of Fire and Ice and back row as well but time constraints allowed back row on only one dragon, Fire.
The dragons were great rides! The effects on turns did seem stronger from the back and during the "near miss" you see other people's feet coming at you. The feeling of a collision isn't as strong when riding in the front row but you get the excitment of seeing what's about to happen. There was a definate preference for Ice over Fire, just based on the size of the line. The front row had long lines compared to the other rows and sometimes the last row got long as well. The longest I ever saw the other rows get was a one train wait. When exiting, if you want to ride again, look for a sign pointing you back to ride the other dragon. You don't have to walk all the way through the castle to ride again.
It's getting close to time for my Hulk fast pass to expire, I spent a lot of time taking pics in the Lost Continent, so I hurry back and find that the standby line is listed at 20 minutes but has to be shorter. I do my FP anyway, that's what I hurried over here for and am hustled right into a seat.
Lunch was at Captain America's and if he wants to fight crime, he needs to look in his own restaurant! I know, expensive bad food is what yuo expect in a park but still. I kept the plastic Coke cup my drink came in. The only want I can be happy about that meal is if I think I got a souvenir with it.
It's now about 11:30 and I don't get picked up until 3pm. I've only seen 1/2 the park, more properly 3/5ths of the park, and there's an hour to go before the Sinbad show. Off to see the rest of the park!
I walk over to Toon Lagoon and check out two two major rides there. Dudley's Rip-Saw falls seemed to be down but Popeye's Bilge Barges were running. If you've been on the Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom then you've been on this ride. You just seem to have a bit better chance of getting wet.
Next up was Jurrasic Park where I spend several minutes trying to get the perfect shots of people coming down from River Adventure. When people come down the drop they create a huge splash and I managed to get several shots of the sprays. From what I saw, it was the same ride as the one in Universal Hollywood.
On my way to the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad I can't recall if I got a good shot of the near miss so I grab one. I now wish I had thought to get it when the dragons were going through. Doh! Arriving at Sinbad early, some employees are going through a routine with guests as to what they should do. There were several very amusing parts to this that I don't want to give away but one thing that bothered me was that an employee from Jurrasic Park, still wearing her JP themed uniform, started participating. It kind of distracted from what they were doing and it made clearer why Disney doesn't allow CMs to go from one land to another in themed uniform.
Sinbad was a stunt show and it was great! I'd say that any girl should like this show simply because the princess isn't one who sits around and gets rescued. Instead, she competes with Sinbad and the woman playing the princess was very talented in her choreography execution. The humor was well done as well. The show started at 12:30 and ended at 1:00. The center and front rows are "you may get wet".
After the show, I head back over to Hulk which I ride three more times. I also rode Dr. Doom's again and look through the shops some. I'm basically eating up time before I have to go. Here is when I discover that Universal needs more fans on the Hulk. If you are in the front row of the car coming into the station then you get a breeze. But the tunnel is kind of long and there are no other fans! Universal needs more fans for people waiting for the train to move forward to the landing.
I was planning on leaving at 2:45 but my foot is hurting, it seems my moleskin fell off, so I make my way out to Citywalk. I hit several stores which have touristy stuff, nothing I'm interested in. I'm also looking for someplace I can get something to drink but I'm only seeing bars! Once I cross the moving sidewalks I see two candy machines and looking down to the guest pickup area I see a coke machine. Saved! I go down to the Coke machine and it's broken! Okay, back up and start walking toward the parking garage. I find two more candy machines and behind them I see two Coke machines. Each 20oz. bottle is $2. Why are there so many candy machines?!? A very short while later my DW picks me up and we're back to the resort before going to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue.
Hoop was a great show! We went to the early show and needed to be there at 5pm. Right before walking in I got out E-Ride night tickets for Tuesday. You start off being escorted to your table which is assigned based on when you reserved it. We were on the second floor but were able to easily see the stage. We just couldnt eat and see at the same time. The show is a series of humorous skits and singing and dancing mixed with some audience participation. Theres one point where the room is divided right down the middle and the middle table has ½ the people on one side and ½ on the other. There was a honeymooning couple at that table and they had lots of fun with that scenario. The food was decent, ribs, fried chicken, salad, bread, and strawberry short cake. We waddled home after that show.
Highpoints: The coasters, Hoop
Low points: The blister I got from the moleskin falling off causes more problems tomorrow.
How our plans fared: Everything was fine. DW & DD got to spend 4 hours at DisneyQuest and they said they could have stayed longer. This was supposed to be an easy day for scheduling because tomorrow will be long.
IOA is eye candy thoughout!
