PlutosRHM55
Currently: No HHN Depression
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2010
Normally I don't update this close together but I have something important to say...
Remember how I said that I may or may not have big news?
Well, it's finally official!
I am super duper flippin' excited to tell y'all that this coming January I will be packing up my East coast lifestyle and spending a few days on the West coast which will primarily include
DISNEYLAND!!!!
Yes, Timmy is finally going to Walt's park FOR THE FIRST TIME. I can't believe it's actually happening especially with how quickly it came to be.
You can read all about that on my latest PTR: Bring It On, West Coast! East Coast Prepares For An LA & Disneyland Encounter
You can do that now or after this update. I'll just tell you now that it's going to be LIT. I honestly can't even properly evoke my excitement through this keyboard ASGHGOLJVOSUGAOUGOAGGH
Ok maybe I can.
Anyways.... ON TO THE UPDATE!!!!!
The Grinch Hates Hugs: A Thesis On Problematic Faves
December 26th, 2016
The title kinda gives this one away so I'll just jump right into it but we were going to visit THE GRINCH! And this wasn't just the usual furry-faced Grinch they had everyday, this was the Jim Carrey Grinch. Like over-the-top, meme famous, Christine Baranski-loving Grinch is who we were meeting. I was so excited! I had seen many a video of meets with him and I'm just not sure I was ready for what was to come.
Spoiler alert: I was not ready. At all.
The Grinch meets in a little gift shop area, I think underneath their little version of the PeopleMover (I can't remember what it's called). When we got over, we saw some Team Members, more official looking ones blocking the queue. I thought the worst. We still marched on because I was going to do all I could to meet the Grinch. Lucky for us, we walked up and asked if he was still meeting and they said, "Yes!" and moved aside to let us into the make-shift queue. They were actually still making the line and they told us later that we had just barely made it before they closed the line. What luck!
The days of hard work and play were starting to catch up with me. My throat was feeling not too good and I just really wanted a nap, but I wanted to make the best of this little staycation I had going on. The crankiness was coming out as the Fam started complaining about going to yet another M&G. I promised them that this was a good one, but I just was over it and it made the wait rather quiet, letting us simmer a bit before meeting our favorite Christmas hating Santa. We all grew up reading The Grinch and watching both the original cartoon and the live action extended version. I even own a Grinch doll that was bigger than Alyssa when I first got it. One way or another, this was going to be worthwhile.
The wait moved rather slow. The Grinch is quite the character! At one point while we were still outside, he brought out someone's bag and tried to give it away. It was crazy. Again, we really weren't ready for this.
Fast forward to finally meeting the Grinch. The family before us finished getting their photo and walked away. He screamed, "NEXT!" Immediately, we walked up to get in line for an initial family photo. I was hoping to be closer to the Grinch than winging my family members. I tried to sneak in then got yelled at by my family that ended with the Grinch also nagging me. I stood in the position that was asked of me and we got our photo.
After he kicked my mom and my sisters away, like he literally threw them. It was great. I, of course, wanted a separate photo. I thought it would go smoothly but... Well... I'll let the pics tell the story...
So I tried to give him a hug for the photo. He wasn't about that though and pushed me away. We took a second photo, me just cuddled up. After it was taken, he turned to me and hugged me, shaking me saying "How do you like it? How do you like it?" Oh my gosh, I was dying. Then, as you can see in the last photo, he kicked me out. Like really kicked me. Seriously, greatest moment of my life and gave me the energy to finish off the night.
I'm not sure what much else happened after this. I think we might've gone to just take a look at the Lost Continent since that land completed the loop from Hogsmeade, but I have no picture proof, nor do I remember doing anything over there, which is fine. It's mostly shows anyways and we just didn't have time for that. We wanted to get back over to Universal to do a few more things so we headed to the front of IoA.
Before we left, my mom had our ride photo on Forbidden Journey along with a few other items bought sent to the front of the park. It kinda led us on a wild hunt to find it because we all were struggling to remember what the Team Member had told us. It led us eventually into the photo place at Port of Entry.
There my mom was asking about where to pick-up stuff sent to the front of the park, but also the photo package they had at Universal. We had a good sum of photos taken of photos at that point. She asked the guy about how the deal worked and unfortunately, he mentioned an important detail that she forgot. We tried to remind her and it turned into a huge tirade between us four while trying to talk to this guy. Eventually, knowing we'd be leaving soon, we decided it really wasn't worth it to get the photo package. He directed us to where to pick up our stuff and we were on our way. We picked up the stuff we had sent to the front, took another quick bathroom break and headed on back over to Universal Studios.
There were no lines over there so we basically waltzed right on into the park. I realized as soon as we got in that we had yet to do the ET ride. We're all big ET fans and this is one ride my mom remembers from when she was very young. I've ridden it before and I thought it was the better version of Peter Pan's Flight (but that one has really grown on me throughout my program). We had to make sure we got this one under our belt.
Before we did, it was time to stop for dinner. Springfield had a lot of choices so we ended up at a food truck. I ended up getting tacos here. I think Alyssa got some fajitas without certain ingredients. I forget what everyone else got. To give you an understanding of our reactions, I almost forgot to include this section because I was not a fan. The tacos were a bit sweet and just felt very artificial. I mean, I guess that fits with the theme of being kind of a trashy, gimmicky land. That vibe just doesn’t fly with my taste buds. Once we were done, we continued onward to E.T.
The park was starting to die out by now so there was little wait for this. I mean, all the waits in general were shockingly far less than the last time I took a day trip to Universal, quite surprising considering how insane it was/is over back at Disney World. We basically flew through the E.T. queue. An added bonus: THE ET NAME THING WAS WORKING. We actually got to give our names and do all of that. It's usually not working so I was super excited about that. We also got to see some more of the effects in the queue. I was really LIVING for E.T. The ride itself, we didn't get front row, which is what I got to do my first time (right behind E.T. actually) and was a bit disappointing. It still was really fun and he did a pretty good job of saying our names at the end. E.T. saying Siobhan was far better than most who attempt it.
My mom was living for the ride. My sisters thought it was cute, but didn't rave about it like the other attractions. It's a classic tho. After, we ended up in the E.T. gift shop where we did some browsing. I was trying not to buy more things, but...
I'm sorry but he's so flippin cute to me! I think one of my sisters got a shirt, can't remember which one or what it looked like. I got a smaller E.T. than the one I held, which I'm so happy to have. I had an E.T. when I was younger that had a beating heart and could talk. Loved him so so much. After that, we continued on our way.
We decided now was a good time to take one final break. We sat on the big concert field they have out in front of Rip Ride Rockit. Also, the place where some of the house queues are for Halloween Horror Nights (this year it was the line for The Exorcist house). There was nobody out there so it was really nice to have our space. It was coming to the end of the night so we had to decide when we wanted the Mears shuttle to come and get us. We ended up deciding now was a better time than ever since you usually have to call at least an hour prior. We called and they gave us a list of times. I don't remember exactly what time we chose but I'm thinking it was either 10:30 or 9:30, which ended up giving us more time until we had to be in the parking lot.
We were right next to Rip Ride Rockit. I wasn't too keen on riding it considering the height of the first drop, but I decided why not? It probably was the last ride of the night so I guess it was now or never. The line was also fairly short and the locker area didn't seem crazy packed so we were in and out of there. We raced through the line to the first merge point where the Team Member was having a grand time. He was having my sister play a hand game, which was confusing but helped pass the time. Eventually he let us through and not long after we were loaded onto the ride. Our ride photo was pretty classic:
For those who have never ridden before, it's a pretty cool ride. When you are loaded onto the ride, you have a screen on the lap bar that allows you to choose a song that you will listen to while riding. I chose "Hella Good" by No Doubt, my elementary school faves (I saw Gwen Stefani in concert for the first time in the months before I left for my DCP), which I highly recommend for this ride. It's a banger and lit this coaster ride UP. HOWEVER, the coaster itself is JERKY. Like REALLY JERKY. I usually don't have issues with coasters (I think Space Mountain is a thoroughly enjoyable ride), but this... it hurt. I don't get how they couldn't have made this one smoother or maybe cushion it up a bit more. Definitely a one-and-done if I ever decide to ride it again, which I would, but only once. I don't need to deal with a headache for the rest of the day. My family would concur with that and this essentially ended the night for us in terms of riding rides together as a family.
When we got off, we ran into some issues. We used one locker for all our stuff and my finger wasn’t scanning. We had to call in a Team Member to help us. They fixed it for us pretty quickly. I had to show my ID to prove that it was my locker and all was well. We then bought our ride photo after to find out there was also a video. Sadly, due to it being nighttime and dark out, there was no video. Phooey. Oh well, we still had that fab photo.
Quite a bit of night was left over for us so we decided that doing something we really enjoyed earlier again was the best way to go. No need to end on a bad note. Fortunately for us, it was practically next door. Granted, doors are overrated for this place.
Continued Here
Remember how I said that I may or may not have big news?
Well, it's finally official!
I am super duper flippin' excited to tell y'all that this coming January I will be packing up my East coast lifestyle and spending a few days on the West coast which will primarily include
DISNEYLAND!!!!
Yes, Timmy is finally going to Walt's park FOR THE FIRST TIME. I can't believe it's actually happening especially with how quickly it came to be.
You can read all about that on my latest PTR: Bring It On, West Coast! East Coast Prepares For An LA & Disneyland Encounter
You can do that now or after this update. I'll just tell you now that it's going to be LIT. I honestly can't even properly evoke my excitement through this keyboard ASGHGOLJVOSUGAOUGOAGGH
Ok maybe I can.
Anyways.... ON TO THE UPDATE!!!!!
The Grinch Hates Hugs: A Thesis On Problematic Faves
December 26th, 2016
The title kinda gives this one away so I'll just jump right into it but we were going to visit THE GRINCH! And this wasn't just the usual furry-faced Grinch they had everyday, this was the Jim Carrey Grinch. Like over-the-top, meme famous, Christine Baranski-loving Grinch is who we were meeting. I was so excited! I had seen many a video of meets with him and I'm just not sure I was ready for what was to come.
Spoiler alert: I was not ready. At all.
The Grinch meets in a little gift shop area, I think underneath their little version of the PeopleMover (I can't remember what it's called). When we got over, we saw some Team Members, more official looking ones blocking the queue. I thought the worst. We still marched on because I was going to do all I could to meet the Grinch. Lucky for us, we walked up and asked if he was still meeting and they said, "Yes!" and moved aside to let us into the make-shift queue. They were actually still making the line and they told us later that we had just barely made it before they closed the line. What luck!
The days of hard work and play were starting to catch up with me. My throat was feeling not too good and I just really wanted a nap, but I wanted to make the best of this little staycation I had going on. The crankiness was coming out as the Fam started complaining about going to yet another M&G. I promised them that this was a good one, but I just was over it and it made the wait rather quiet, letting us simmer a bit before meeting our favorite Christmas hating Santa. We all grew up reading The Grinch and watching both the original cartoon and the live action extended version. I even own a Grinch doll that was bigger than Alyssa when I first got it. One way or another, this was going to be worthwhile.
The wait moved rather slow. The Grinch is quite the character! At one point while we were still outside, he brought out someone's bag and tried to give it away. It was crazy. Again, we really weren't ready for this.
Fast forward to finally meeting the Grinch. The family before us finished getting their photo and walked away. He screamed, "NEXT!" Immediately, we walked up to get in line for an initial family photo. I was hoping to be closer to the Grinch than winging my family members. I tried to sneak in then got yelled at by my family that ended with the Grinch also nagging me. I stood in the position that was asked of me and we got our photo.
After he kicked my mom and my sisters away, like he literally threw them. It was great. I, of course, wanted a separate photo. I thought it would go smoothly but... Well... I'll let the pics tell the story...
So I tried to give him a hug for the photo. He wasn't about that though and pushed me away. We took a second photo, me just cuddled up. After it was taken, he turned to me and hugged me, shaking me saying "How do you like it? How do you like it?" Oh my gosh, I was dying. Then, as you can see in the last photo, he kicked me out. Like really kicked me. Seriously, greatest moment of my life and gave me the energy to finish off the night.
I'm not sure what much else happened after this. I think we might've gone to just take a look at the Lost Continent since that land completed the loop from Hogsmeade, but I have no picture proof, nor do I remember doing anything over there, which is fine. It's mostly shows anyways and we just didn't have time for that. We wanted to get back over to Universal to do a few more things so we headed to the front of IoA.
Before we left, my mom had our ride photo on Forbidden Journey along with a few other items bought sent to the front of the park. It kinda led us on a wild hunt to find it because we all were struggling to remember what the Team Member had told us. It led us eventually into the photo place at Port of Entry.
There my mom was asking about where to pick-up stuff sent to the front of the park, but also the photo package they had at Universal. We had a good sum of photos taken of photos at that point. She asked the guy about how the deal worked and unfortunately, he mentioned an important detail that she forgot. We tried to remind her and it turned into a huge tirade between us four while trying to talk to this guy. Eventually, knowing we'd be leaving soon, we decided it really wasn't worth it to get the photo package. He directed us to where to pick up our stuff and we were on our way. We picked up the stuff we had sent to the front, took another quick bathroom break and headed on back over to Universal Studios.
There were no lines over there so we basically waltzed right on into the park. I realized as soon as we got in that we had yet to do the ET ride. We're all big ET fans and this is one ride my mom remembers from when she was very young. I've ridden it before and I thought it was the better version of Peter Pan's Flight (but that one has really grown on me throughout my program). We had to make sure we got this one under our belt.
Before we did, it was time to stop for dinner. Springfield had a lot of choices so we ended up at a food truck. I ended up getting tacos here. I think Alyssa got some fajitas without certain ingredients. I forget what everyone else got. To give you an understanding of our reactions, I almost forgot to include this section because I was not a fan. The tacos were a bit sweet and just felt very artificial. I mean, I guess that fits with the theme of being kind of a trashy, gimmicky land. That vibe just doesn’t fly with my taste buds. Once we were done, we continued onward to E.T.
The park was starting to die out by now so there was little wait for this. I mean, all the waits in general were shockingly far less than the last time I took a day trip to Universal, quite surprising considering how insane it was/is over back at Disney World. We basically flew through the E.T. queue. An added bonus: THE ET NAME THING WAS WORKING. We actually got to give our names and do all of that. It's usually not working so I was super excited about that. We also got to see some more of the effects in the queue. I was really LIVING for E.T. The ride itself, we didn't get front row, which is what I got to do my first time (right behind E.T. actually) and was a bit disappointing. It still was really fun and he did a pretty good job of saying our names at the end. E.T. saying Siobhan was far better than most who attempt it.
My mom was living for the ride. My sisters thought it was cute, but didn't rave about it like the other attractions. It's a classic tho. After, we ended up in the E.T. gift shop where we did some browsing. I was trying not to buy more things, but...
I'm sorry but he's so flippin cute to me! I think one of my sisters got a shirt, can't remember which one or what it looked like. I got a smaller E.T. than the one I held, which I'm so happy to have. I had an E.T. when I was younger that had a beating heart and could talk. Loved him so so much. After that, we continued on our way.
We decided now was a good time to take one final break. We sat on the big concert field they have out in front of Rip Ride Rockit. Also, the place where some of the house queues are for Halloween Horror Nights (this year it was the line for The Exorcist house). There was nobody out there so it was really nice to have our space. It was coming to the end of the night so we had to decide when we wanted the Mears shuttle to come and get us. We ended up deciding now was a better time than ever since you usually have to call at least an hour prior. We called and they gave us a list of times. I don't remember exactly what time we chose but I'm thinking it was either 10:30 or 9:30, which ended up giving us more time until we had to be in the parking lot.
We were right next to Rip Ride Rockit. I wasn't too keen on riding it considering the height of the first drop, but I decided why not? It probably was the last ride of the night so I guess it was now or never. The line was also fairly short and the locker area didn't seem crazy packed so we were in and out of there. We raced through the line to the first merge point where the Team Member was having a grand time. He was having my sister play a hand game, which was confusing but helped pass the time. Eventually he let us through and not long after we were loaded onto the ride. Our ride photo was pretty classic:
For those who have never ridden before, it's a pretty cool ride. When you are loaded onto the ride, you have a screen on the lap bar that allows you to choose a song that you will listen to while riding. I chose "Hella Good" by No Doubt, my elementary school faves (I saw Gwen Stefani in concert for the first time in the months before I left for my DCP), which I highly recommend for this ride. It's a banger and lit this coaster ride UP. HOWEVER, the coaster itself is JERKY. Like REALLY JERKY. I usually don't have issues with coasters (I think Space Mountain is a thoroughly enjoyable ride), but this... it hurt. I don't get how they couldn't have made this one smoother or maybe cushion it up a bit more. Definitely a one-and-done if I ever decide to ride it again, which I would, but only once. I don't need to deal with a headache for the rest of the day. My family would concur with that and this essentially ended the night for us in terms of riding rides together as a family.
When we got off, we ran into some issues. We used one locker for all our stuff and my finger wasn’t scanning. We had to call in a Team Member to help us. They fixed it for us pretty quickly. I had to show my ID to prove that it was my locker and all was well. We then bought our ride photo after to find out there was also a video. Sadly, due to it being nighttime and dark out, there was no video. Phooey. Oh well, we still had that fab photo.
Quite a bit of night was left over for us so we decided that doing something we really enjoyed earlier again was the best way to go. No need to end on a bad note. Fortunately for us, it was practically next door. Granted, doors are overrated for this place.
Continued Here
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Omg, a Snape wand sounds super cool. I'd want one! 
(I apologize for my extreme neediness that made its appearance in that comment)
