You can take the girl out of Disney, BUT……… - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
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We go on to the joy and through the tears
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
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To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I think, although I could be wrong, that Poseidon and Triton are the same person, but one is from Greek mythology and one is from Roman mythology.
Just getting caught up on all of your updates! I'm enjoying them even more after my recent trip to IoA. I'm hoping to get motivated enough to do a mini-TR for my trip.
Ok, I did google it and found that Triton is Poseidon's son.
These signs always cracked me up! I love Universal Studios. Islands of Adventures had just been built when I was there last and we didn't get to go. I'm glad I went to the Alfred Hitchcock ride while it was there! I love how when your in line for the rides they really make you feel like your in the movie. Like in E.T. your in the forrest, Twister your in old house that looks like it had been hit by a tornado, MIB they have you waiting in the lab. Just a awesome place!!!!
These signs always cracked me up! I love Universal Studios. Islands of Adventures had just been built when I was there last and we didn't get to go. I'm glad I went to the Alfred Hitchcock ride while it was there! I love how when your in line for the rides they really make you feel like your in the movie. Like in E.T. your in the forrest, Twister your in old house that looks like it had been hit by a tornado, MIB they have you waiting in the lab. Just a awesome place!!!!
I hear so many people who went last just as it was built or almost open. Thats when I went last too. I could see it, but it still wasn't finished. That trip I was with a ex boyfriend and we had planned to come back the next year and go there....but we didn't last too much longer together, so I hadn't been back since
I hear so many people who went last just as it was built or almost open. Thats when I went last too. I could see it, but it still wasn't finished. That trip I was with a ex boyfriend and we had planned to come back the next year and go there....but we didn't last too much longer together, so I hadn't been back since
Yeah, you must've been there at the same time as us. It was hard to be so close to IOA and not be able to go inside! The pictures are great! Awesome job!
Love the pix. Can't wait to get there in September. Only doing one day at US/IOA.
You can get a lot done in 1 day. I was really impressed with everything we did that day, and it was a busy time too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karadisney
Yeah, you must've been there at the same time as us. It was hard to be so close to IOA and not be able to go inside! The pictures are great! Awesome job!
It was sad not to be able to go and then it took me several years after that just to get to Florida again.
We came upon the mummy and we decided we wanted to do it…well “we” meaning Skip and I.
I figured this would be too intense for Claire so Skip headed off in the single riders line and Claire and I just roamed the immediate area.
We used the restroom and waited under an awning they had near here.
At some point in time Claire had asked me why no one had ever told her about Universal. I thought that was so funny……… Like we had been hiding this place from her for all these years. She really liked this place!
Soon Skip called and said he was out and we met up with him and I took a turn on the Mummy. Again, this ride is just really cool, very different than Disney rides. It was a bit of a roller coaster, but it would stop here and there and show Mummy scenes. I loved it….BUT Claire would’ve hated it. It would’ve been too intense of a ride for her and too scary as well.
Skip and Claire were still sitting under the awning when I got off and we took off to find the Simpsons. Of course I took more pictures on the way.
I don’t know who this statue is, but he had a bird on his head with bird poo dripping down….poor guy.
Here is Richters burgers…the place I had been told was NOT very good. Skip said he was going to go and eat there, but he didn’t of course….
This bird was walking along with us and when I turned to take his picture he turned away, like he was pretending he wasn’t really walking with us.
We checked out Disaster, but the line was pretty long at this point. The last time I rode it, it was called Earthquake. It was pretty cool, one of the rides I clearly remember liking from previous trips.
Wait? Are we in Disney?
This area is where Jaws used to be. You could hear the construction going on behind the walls. This is a really bad picture, but they had people blowing bubbles in the walkway and they were just having a great time. Skip said that would be a great job to have.
They did leave the shark up!
Claire wasn’t too impressed with him, so we didn’t stop to get a picture there.
On the other hand…when I took Paige and Michael many years ago, they had no fear of the shark what’s so ever…they even got a little cozy with him.
We passed Fear Factor…ICK. I hate this TV show, and was disappointed to hear they brought it back.
And there it is…..The Simpsons….
But wait! There’s Men in Black too. Let’s hit that one first.
We had to put our bags in a locker for this one. Again the process is fairly easy, but crowded. You have to use a computer screen to get your locker. I found that if you use your fingernail rather than you actual fingertip, the touch screen responds better. I did have to wait in a line to get to the screen, each locker section has one, and when you return, you have to go back to that screen to get your locker open. You need to remember your locker number and they also do a finger scan.
We got in line, which wasn’t too long, I think maybe a 40 minute wait was posted, but the time went much faster. I am guessing we waited 20-30 minutes. A lot of it was walk through. They had some really cute queue areas. It was like you were really walking through the MIB agency.
We joked a bit while waiting too. Early that morning while waiting for the wand show, there was a guy, an older lady and a couple of teen girls in front of us in line. We assumed that the lady was probably the Mother in law. They started talking about men and Black and the MIL had never seen the movies. The guy proceeded to tell her about it….in every detail possible. He started at the very beginning of the movie and gave her every scene…play by play. Skip was laughing and joking about it while we were behind him, and it was hard not to laugh. I could see the MIL’s eyes glaze over at one point. A little later a TM had come over and said that if people needed to use the restroom, they could get out of line as long as one person in the party stayed……the WHOLE family went, except for the guy. Skip found that hilarious. He figured they were happy to escape and was guessing they would never come back. They did, but just as the guy reached the front of the line, LOL!
So while waiting in the MIB line, we joked a bit, and pretended like we were giving each other a play by play of the movies, making up stuff of course!
I got some tips on this ride as well. First off I was told to hold my gun button down the whole time and it would score. (This ride is kind of like Buzz lightyear, where you shot at things for a score). I did this and scored a big fat zero. Now I haven’t relooked at my tip sheet, but maybe I had remembered wrong? But this didn’t work for me and I swore I had a faulty gun. Then at one point you are told to hit a red button. Hit this button as soon as you hear him say it and keep holding it…and you will score big…this DID work for me. I hit it before the other 2 and I got the big score and took the lead and won….but only because I got mega points from the red button. Claire was mad because she didn’t even hear him say to hit it, so I told her next time I would help her. Skip only tapped his. I think only one person per car is awarded those points, so be quick to hit it…and blow your family away!
After MIB, I ran back out to get our bag and had to wait in line for the computer so I could get the locker open. I had like 5 people in front of me, and then they all walked away…seriously, why does a group of 5 all have to stand in the crowded locker area AND all stare at the screen. It’s much easier if you send 1 (or in my case 2 because Claire is nosey) to the locker and just get in and out as fast as you can.
We made another pit stop at the bathrooms near there and walked over to the Simpsons.
I think it was posted as a 20 minute wait and we hopped right in line. Look how tired someone is.
Another photobomb! And a very unflattering picture of me. I guess all those nachos puffed my tummy out, because it does NOT look like that…I swear!
Skip loved this queue because they play Simpson cartoons. It prepares you a bit for the theme of the ride. It shows different clips and commercials that relate to the ride and just general Simpson characters. There is also a part that pays tribute to the Back to the Future Ride. I shows how Doc got some loan to keep the building and a Simpsons character comes back in time to help Doc save it, but runs over the loan officer, so now Doc has to sell the building to Krusty. …(for those who don’t know, the outside queue has television screens all throughout the line and fans blowing as well) I was happy to see that….as I said before, Back to the Future is one of my all-time favorite rides and movies.
Claire had watched the Youtube video over and over at home and talked how “this” was the ride she wanted to ride, but once we got there she was scared. She thought we would be taking big drops and we reassured her it would be fine, but she was EXTREMELY nervous through the whole queue. She never believes me when I tell her things will be fine, and she didn’t believe Skip because he never even watched the video or been on the old ride before.
Before we knew it we were walking into the prep room.
They had several screens around the room and each screen would take turns talking, some about the ride, some more like a commercial. Skip laughed so hard and watched Apu. He would just sit there and wait till it was his screens turn to talk, but he would blink and just kind of look around. Skip found this hilarious.
After this little show we were led into our preboarding rooms where it gave you a bit more of the story on a video screen.
It told you how Homer’s family won a chance to be the first to ride this crappy roller-coaster at Krustyland…Basically he was set up by Side-show Bob, who wants to kill the family.
Now I have a question before I go on for anyone who is a Universal expert. I read online that Back to the Future had two rooms with screens, one in front and one in back. I have rode Back to the Future two or 3 times and this trip we rode the Simpsons 3 times….I have never gone to the back of the building for a ride. I have gone to the upper level and the lower level, but always at the front of the building. Is it true there is a 2nd screen somewhere?
This is what it says on Wikipedia….”The buildings for Florida and California had completely different layouts. In Florida the two arenas were back to back. Designers found that this led to some operational problems so the California building was designed so that the arenas were on opposite ends of the building with the queue and pre-show in between them.”
Ok….. Back to our regularly scheduled Trip Report…. We entered the next room and got in our car, which is supposed to be like a roller-coaster car. You can set your bag off to the side on the floor. We were in the front seat this time around.
We were soon lifted up and enjoyed the ride. For those who don’t know, it’s kind of like Soarin’…in a way….. It’s a HUGE screen, bigger than Soarin’, and it has the feeling that you are actually riding what you see, but it’s a simulator. There are several other cars loaded (2 levels of them in fact) and viewing the same screen, but unless you are looking, you wouldn’t even realize it. You feel like you have this place all to your own.
This ride is AWESOME! It has a few scents floating around at appropriate times and it is great fun. I do caution that you may get motion sickness. I tend to and could feel it. I actually took a bonine pill while waiting in line to help ward off the sickness. I also found after riding it 3 times over the course of our trip that sitting in the front seats made me less queasy than sitting in the back. Skip even mentioned that sitting in the back seat made him a little queasy too and he never has motion problems. Now don’t be scared off…Do ride this, but take the precautions prior to riding. I would suggest to actually take bonine earlier in the day.
We got off all smiles and Claire and Skip both declared this the best ride EVER!!!!! Claire said she was nervous for nothing and just loved the ride. Skip was amazed at how we felt like we were actually doing what we saw, yet were just in a car that was moving us around.
There is a part at the end of the ride where they say that this is the part you get your picture taken and a flash goes off. I wasn’t sure if they actually took your picture or if it was part of the story, but I have read online after I got home that they do take your picture….where this is displayed at, I never found.
We made a stop off after the ride for Claire to take a phone call.
The phone has someone talking, but I’m not sure what it said, but Claire was making faces.
We wandered over here to look at the fence.
I tried to get Claire to lean up against the fence and pretend she was in trouble too, but she refused. She did however pretend to be helping Bart use the spray can.
We then took another sit down break and Skip went off and refilled the mug.
I got up to join him after he came back and someone yelled at me to get my attention. They let me know I left my bag…..the bag that Skip was in charge of! Thanks goodness the kind person let me know, and I let him know my husband was supposed to be carrying that bag and if he had not said anything, it would’ve been left there for sure!
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I'm glad I went to the Alfred Hitchcock ride while it was there! I love how when your in line for the rides they really make you feel like your in the movie. Like in E.T. your in the forrest, Twister your in old house that looks like it had been hit by a tornado, MIB they have you waiting in the lab. Just a awesome place!!!! 
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