DH and myself woke up about 7:30 and DH called the valet to pull up the car. He went to the McDonalds nearby to get breakfast for all of us and brought it back to the room ( after 5 days at disney with 4 kids the food budget was a little strained and we didnt want to shell out the 13 bucks each for breakfast at the HRH) Got the gang up and ready ate our Mc Donalds and headed out for the walk to IOA about 8:45. We had already purchased tickets so we pretty much walked right in to IOA and headed directly to the Hulk. The 4 brave ones rode hulk twice while myself and DS-11 went to Storm Force acceletron(sp?) I really really tried to make myself go on hulk but i just couldnt do it! ( I have ridden Rockin Roller coaster and thought i would die during that ride) I think i was able to force myself on that one only because i couldnt see what i was in for! Anyway, once again i chickened out on hulk. The FOTL worked great and we were on our way to my favorite ride Spiderman in no time. I actually like the new FOTL access better now than the way it was in January. I hated missing the entire queing area theming just to get on fast. Now you get to see some of the theming and you still get on really quick. We rode spidey twice in a row. (you have to get off and go back thru express again tho) and yes i did feel just a little guilty passing all those people in line but after waiting in line at Disney this was heaven! I'm amazed that so many people go to Disney and are so unaware of what Universal has to offer. I love them both and we always do both when we go. Anyway, onward and upward well here comes the one and only argument of the day, the two 14 year olds stop in at the arcade and they have a game called Dance Dance revolution which is extremely popular at home( Illinois). DisneyQuest did not have this game and they were slightly disapointed about that. So now they want to stay and play this game and we are only 1/2hour into our park touring!!!!! DH looks like he will have a meltdown ( lets shell out $40 bucks to play in the arcade) but agrees to let them play a couple of times before we move on.We promise them that at the end of the day we will come back and let them play more and that seems to make them happy. So now the brave 4 are headed to Dr. Dooms fearfall while myself and DS-11 head to Spidey for yet another ride. ( Cant i just stay here and ride spidey all day LOL) When the brave ones get off they tell me how cool the ride is and that its not at all scary and I should really ride it. YES i walk back to Dr. Doom and watch it a couple times and admit it doesnt look all that bad and maybe i will try it. DH takes DS -11 for a coke while DS-14,Friend-14 and Friend 11 get in line for Dr. Doom. We use our FOTL access and in a few mins we are being seated for Dr. Doom, now I am very very nervous and keep asking them how fast the launch up is and they keep telling me how fun it is and not scary. And then WHOOSH and up we go. And now i am screaming something i cannot repeat here. And down we go and up again and down again. I WAS PETRIFIED BEYOND BELIEF!!!!!. We get off and i am shaking like a leaf and we start walking to meet DH and DS-11 and i am so shaky i trip over the curb and fall down. I wasnt hurt but it took 15 mins to feel normal again. So i dont think i will be riding Dr. Doom again anytime soon but at least i can say that i rode it once and thats good enough for me. This gave the teens fuel to tease me for the remainder of the trip. We stopped for some drinks and then prepared to get wet on the water rides. Rode the barge and Ripsaw falls (love the drop on that one its kinda different then most ) and then we headed to Jurasic Park because we wanted to ride all the water rides at once while we already wet. Jurasic was shut down temporarily and so we moved on and decided to come back later. The one and only ride we waited for was Pteradon flyers no express for this it takes a long long time. But we had never ridden in and wanted to give it a try. Cute ride for smaller kids but not worth such a long wait. The ride only lasts about a minute. Headed over to the lost continent and did Poseidon and yes i think it has improved a bit from the old show.
We always liked it anyway. The brave ones headed for dueling dragons while myself and Ds hit the shops. They were able to ride both sides twice in just a few minutes with the FOTL and then we all stopped at Enchanted Tavern for lunch. This has become a tradition at IOA and we have eaten here each time. A really decent quality and quantity of food for the money in my opinion.
Sat outside & ate lunch and waited for the visit of the Wizard. He wasnt here this time but on past visits has stopped at our table each time and always gives the kids a laugh, Wizard: How old are you? DS- says 11, Wizard: I was 11 when i was your age. We missed not seeing him but had a great lunch and threw our scraps to the fish in the water below. Even saw a big water turtle out there but he didnt have a chance against the fish and birds. Headed to the Unicorn coaster and rode that with the brave ones complaining that this is a woosy coaster. But they rode it for me and DS-11 ( the chicken ones). Unicorn is about as much as i can
handle and i enjoyed it. Pretty fast for a little coaster too. Went to the Sinbad show and really enjoyed that one. Tops some of Disneys shows in my opinion and the actors really look like they enjoy what they are doing!Kids were mighty impressed with the fire scene and jumps into the water from high up. Next we spent some time at the talking fountain ( the kids love this)he even squirted me! Lots of funny comments were made while we there. Kids were throwing coins in the fountain after which the fountain would reply "Thank You and heres
something for you" and promptly squirt them. Good fun and a little break from touring too.
We headed into Seuss land and rode Cat in the Hat ( which made me and DS-14 slightly dizzy.
So we sat out while they others took another ride. Did i mention how nice it is to be able to reride the rides you really want to without waiting? We did a few more of the rides here but couldnt convince the kids to ride the Carosel ( too babysish mom). We went back to Marvel Island and the brave rode hulk yet again while the chicken rode spidey. I think i rode spidey 6 times during this day and no i still wasnt tired of it. We were all tired and had done everything we had wanted to do so DH and myself grabbed a coke and sat on the curb while the kids headed into the arcade to get their game fix. Hint: if you have 4 kids like i did buy the $20.00 in tokens you get 20 extras tokens that way. This day went really really well and we finished everything let them play in the arcade and were headed out of the park at 7:30 pm. Even after this full day most of us didnt have any trouble with the walk back to the HRH. I say most because my DS-11 fell down on the grass halfway back and stated that he would not be able to walk another step. We did eventually get him to finish the walk and headed to our rooms for a little rest. Changed into our suits and headed to the pool. Enjoyed a few drinks by the pool while the kids played in the water and then headed to Citywalk. Nobody was really hungry so we just grabbed some fast food and checked out the shops. Headed back to the Hotel for some TV time and hit the sack. Tommorow is Universal and home. I dont want to leave.
We always liked it anyway. The brave ones headed for dueling dragons while myself and Ds hit the shops. They were able to ride both sides twice in just a few minutes with the FOTL and then we all stopped at Enchanted Tavern for lunch. This has become a tradition at IOA and we have eaten here each time. A really decent quality and quantity of food for the money in my opinion.
Sat outside & ate lunch and waited for the visit of the Wizard. He wasnt here this time but on past visits has stopped at our table each time and always gives the kids a laugh, Wizard: How old are you? DS- says 11, Wizard: I was 11 when i was your age. We missed not seeing him but had a great lunch and threw our scraps to the fish in the water below. Even saw a big water turtle out there but he didnt have a chance against the fish and birds. Headed to the Unicorn coaster and rode that with the brave ones complaining that this is a woosy coaster. But they rode it for me and DS-11 ( the chicken ones). Unicorn is about as much as i can
handle and i enjoyed it. Pretty fast for a little coaster too. Went to the Sinbad show and really enjoyed that one. Tops some of Disneys shows in my opinion and the actors really look like they enjoy what they are doing!Kids were mighty impressed with the fire scene and jumps into the water from high up. Next we spent some time at the talking fountain ( the kids love this)he even squirted me! Lots of funny comments were made while we there. Kids were throwing coins in the fountain after which the fountain would reply "Thank You and heres
something for you" and promptly squirt them. Good fun and a little break from touring too.
We headed into Seuss land and rode Cat in the Hat ( which made me and DS-14 slightly dizzy.
So we sat out while they others took another ride. Did i mention how nice it is to be able to reride the rides you really want to without waiting? We did a few more of the rides here but couldnt convince the kids to ride the Carosel ( too babysish mom). We went back to Marvel Island and the brave rode hulk yet again while the chicken rode spidey. I think i rode spidey 6 times during this day and no i still wasnt tired of it. We were all tired and had done everything we had wanted to do so DH and myself grabbed a coke and sat on the curb while the kids headed into the arcade to get their game fix. Hint: if you have 4 kids like i did buy the $20.00 in tokens you get 20 extras tokens that way. This day went really really well and we finished everything let them play in the arcade and were headed out of the park at 7:30 pm. Even after this full day most of us didnt have any trouble with the walk back to the HRH. I say most because my DS-11 fell down on the grass halfway back and stated that he would not be able to walk another step. We did eventually get him to finish the walk and headed to our rooms for a little rest. Changed into our suits and headed to the pool. Enjoyed a few drinks by the pool while the kids played in the water and then headed to Citywalk. Nobody was really hungry so we just grabbed some fast food and checked out the shops. Headed back to the Hotel for some TV time and hit the sack. Tommorow is Universal and home. I dont want to leave.
