Escaping Snowy New England for Freezing Florida Feb 2015 Final Hours 11/17 p. 23

[natebenma]

Dinosaurs, Superheroes and Cats in Hats

It has been awhile since my last update, so to recap:

It was our first full day at Universal. We started out at Islands of Adventure for the 8 am early opening at the Wizarding World. We rode Forbidden Journey, Dragon Challenge and then Flight of the Hippogriff.

We had hoped to take the Hogwart’s Express over to Diagon Alley at Universal, but it was not running so instead we opted to circumnavigate around the rest of Islands of Adventure.



We passed from the Wizarding World to Dinoland- unlike Disney where they are very careful to keep each of the elements of the different lands separate from one another, Here we see Hogwarts Castle through the arches of Jurassic Park.




The Jurassic Park franchise is one of our family favorites. JP remains one of my favorite books of all times and we all enjoy the movie series. Mark and I saw the original Jurassic Park movie at the theater the weekend it opened. Ben has always had a fascination with dinosaurs. We were looking forward to The River Adventure ride, even though there is a chance of getting a little wet in the splashdown.

We approached and found… a refurbishment wall!

“Eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on the Dinosaur Tour, Right?”

Major planning fail on my part! I know I had been checking for ride closures on the Universal website but I didn’t see anything. It was only after we returned home, and I was helping a friend plan her first trip to US/IoA that I learned that the ride shut down THAT MORNING! The ride had been open on Monday, when we arrived, but since we were delayed at the airport and didn’t arrive in Orlando until 5 pm the previous day, we didn’t make it over to IoA. If I had known it was going to be our only chance to go on JP River Adventure during our trip, we may have changed what we did that day.

Our stop in this area was brief since the major attraction was not running.









We are excited to learn about a new addition to the Jurassic Park area that just opened on Thursday:


Jurassic Park Raptor Encounter


*************************************************************************************************

We continued on to Toon Lagoon, where the two feature attractions are water rides.

Rip Saw Falls- a Dudley Doo Right log ride where you are sure to get pretty wet and

Bluto’s Bilge Rat Bages- a raft ride where you are guaranteed to get DRENCHED



We skipped these rides today, since it was cool (spoiler alert: it would get even colder over the next few days, so we never did get on these rides)










*******************************************************************
Moving on to Marvel’s Super Hero Island.










We did stop in for a spin on Spiderman. I really like this simulator-style ride. It is a lot like Transformers at US, but I find the storyline to be more interesting, the effects are more fun and the comic-book colors and appearance of the ride is very cool.

Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

Next up was Hulk.






From High in the Sky Trolley


It hadn’t been too long ago that we had done Dragon Challenge and I wasn’t quite up to another extreme coaster so soon, so I sat this one out. It was Ben’s first time on Hulk (and the last on this trip). He was one and done. The rest of the time we rode on the trip, he said he had a headache or didn’t feel like it. We never did ride it all together.


















Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

Cats in Hats & Sneetches

As we continued to make it around Islands of Adventure, we encountered




The boys were not interested, so they continued on to the Wizarding World to ride Dragon Challenge again. Mark and I wanted to go on Cat and the Hat and the High in the Sky Trolley.
















When we were finished reliving our childhood, we met back up with the boys in Hogsmeade.


That’s up next.

 

[pas130]

Dee I needed some Universal pics today, all I have seen so far are those "Vacation like you mean it" commercials. O course I get all teary eyed. Poor DH is fixing a broken garage door today and I am sorting summer clothes YAY summer!! I haven't done a water ride in forever, but DS14 hits them every time

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

AWWWW bummer about the River Adventure. I suppose you could have always waited the normal 5 hours to ride Pteranodon Flyers.

Bluto’s Bilge Rat Bages- a raft ride where you are guaranteed to get DRENCHED

Oh Lord ain't that the truth. Less wet in the shower.


YAY Spiderman > Transformers.

The rest of the time we rode on the trip, he said he had a headache or didn’t feel like it.

Oddly, it's riding that actually gives me the headache.

 

[natebenma]

AWWWW bummer about the River Adventure. I suppose you could have always waited the normal 5 hours to ride Pteranodon Flyers.

No, actually we couldn't. I don't remember what the requirement is, but you have to ride with a kid under a certain age (10?), and Ben is too old now!

Mark and Ben rode once, I never got a chance to try it.



ETA: I just checked the requirements and anyone over 56" in height has to ride with a child between 36" and 56" in height. Dang! I miss the eligibility by 4 inches.

 

[eandesmom]

I have had a really busy month. The prep for the Disney trip took a lot more time than I thought. About 3 hours on Mother's Day booking fast passes, then a lot of the day checking to make sure everyone was on the list (I discovered a couple of people who weren't or with incorrect ticket numbers). It went a lot quicker the next two days I booked. Then I had to put all the info in a chart for the groups, along with sheets with park hours, show times, other attraction tips and Memory Maker info. We had a chaperone meeting Tuesday night and we have an all parent meeting on Wednesday. This is going to be a fantastic trip!!!

Oh my GOODNESS!

Things are going well with my dad. I'm still spending time there when I can, but he is feeling well and is in a good frame of mind. There's a lot of work that needs to be done at his house and he has been plugging away on some things when I am not there. Ultimately, my hope is to move him to an apartment closer to me, or even here with us if he will come.

that's a great update but oh, a lot of work. As you know we recently went through this with my parents and the sale of their house, downsizing. It's hard and that's even with being in the same town!

Also a busy time for work and end of the school year activities.

Yes, this time of year kills me.

We have our family trip to Yellowstone in early August.

FUN!

Then, another FAQ DISmeet is brewing in late August. Four of us will be sharing a room at the Beach Club: HockeymomR (Rebecca), Nannette, NinjaMom. We are still trying to figure out her real name. Like a true superhero, she is not revealing her mortal identity to anyone. Man, does Starbucks butcher her name when they write it on her double espresso latte cup.

So once again, I will be "solo" at WDW, but since we have AP to Universal, my family has decided to fly down with me, going a few days earlier than I had planned, and we will be staying and playing at the Hard Rock as a last blast before school starts. The guys will be going home on Saturday night as I travel over to the Beach Club until Tuesday morning.

That's a pretty sweet last blast if you ask me

Major planning fail on my part! I know I had been checking for ride closures on the Universal website but I didn’t see anything. It was only after we returned home, and I was helping a friend plan her first trip to US/IoA that I learned that the ride shut down THAT MORNING! The ride had been open on Monday, when we arrived, but since we were delayed at the airport and didn’t arrive in Orlando until 5 pm the previous day, we didn’t make it over to IoA. If I had known it was going to be our only chance to go on JP River Adventure during our trip, we may have changed what we did that day.

That bites. That has happened to me a few times and I always feel like such a loser planner! Still it looks like a fun, and not yet freezing, day.

 

[sharona]

Great update!

 

[SarahDisney]

Thanks for all the pictures - it's really nice to get a chance to see things I haven't seen in years (or at all ... we tend to avoid the Jurassic Park area)

Major planning fail on my part! I know I had been checking for ride closures on the Universal website but I didn’t see anything. It was only after we returned home, and I was helping a friend plan her first trip to US/IoA that I learned that the ride shut down THAT MORNING! The ride had been open on Monday, when we arrived, but since we were delayed at the airport and didn’t arrive in Orlando until 5 pm the previous day, we didn’t make it over to IoA. If I had known it was going to be our only chance to go on JP River Adventure during our trip, we may have changed what we did that day.

Wow, that's rough. At least you'll get to ride it when you go back this summer!

The boys were not interested, so they continued on to the Wizarding World to ride Dragon Challenge again. Mark and I wanted to go on Cat and the Hat and the High in the Sky Trolley.

I'm glad you guys decided to stop in Seuss Landing even without the boys. I love Cat in the Hat ... but I can see why they boys might not.

 

[hill6]

So this has been the longest time that I have been away from the trip report boards on the DIS (even when I have been on vacation) and it will still take me awhile to catchup everywhere! I hope I can do it before going away in a little more than two weeks!

I have had a really busy month. The prep for the Disney trip took a lot more time than I thought. About 3 hours on Mother's Day booking fast passes, then a lot of the day checking to make sure everyone was on the list (I discovered a couple of people who weren't or with incorrect ticket numbers). It went a lot quicker the next two days I booked. Then I had to put all the info in a chart for the groups, along with sheets with park hours, show times, other attraction tips and Memory Maker info. We had a chaperone meeting Tuesday night and we have an all parent meeting on Wednesday. This is going to be a fantastic trip!!!

Things are going well with my dad. I'm still spending time there when I can, but he is feeling well and is in a good frame of mind. There's a lot of work that needs to be done at his house and he has been plugging away on some things when I am not there. Ultimately, my hope is to move him to an apartment closer to me, or even here with us if he will come.

Also a busy time for work and end of the school year activities.

**********************************************************************************

Some travel developments have taken place since I last wrote.

We have our family trip to Yellowstone in early August.

Then, another FAQ DISmeet is brewing in late August. Four of us will be sharing a room at the Beach Club: HockeymomR (Rebecca), Nannette, NinjaMom. We are still trying to figure out her real name. Like a true superhero, she is not revealing her mortal identity to anyone. Man, does Starbucks butcher her name when they write it on her double espresso latte cup.

So once again, I will be "solo" at WDW, but since we have AP to Universal, my family has decided to fly down with me, going a few days earlier than I had planned, and we will be staying and playing at the Hard Rock as a last blast before school starts. The guys will be going home on Saturday night as I travel over to the Beach Club until Tuesday morning.






I know you are involved in a couple of very friendly supportive threads! They can be hard to find, so kudos for your part in keeping things nice.

I look forward to hearing all about your wonderful trip and how it goes if you son enjoys some time on his own. My boys are totally comfortable getting around Disney (and now Universal) on their own.






back Kathy! You were missed but it was great keeping up with your fantastic trip on Facebook.

We have had a better couple of weeks with my dad.

Great news for the August trip. Love when things work out like that.

We fly into Orlando the day before our October cruise out of Tampa. I told Mike we can use our DVC and stay at Disney the night before for free. We are also spending two days there after the cruise. Going to do the Halloween party. Currently at Jambo, wait listed for Boardwalk Villas. Didn't even consider BCV with the construction with the planned renovations.

 

[MEK]

View attachment 98967

Super cute picture!

You got a lot of great shots of the Hulk. The last time I was there Nick was in 3rd grade and he finally rode it. The picture is so cute because he looks so little. That's such an amazing rider. I might be too old for it now.

I also love Spiderman! It's been far too long.

And, yes, I remember getting totally SOAKED on that water ride. That is when I learned that jean shorts feel like a wet diaper after they get soaked.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The Jurassic Park franchise is one of our family favorites. JP remains one of my favorite books of all times and we all enjoy the movie series. Mark and I saw the original Jurassic Park movie at the theater the weekend it opened. Ben has always had a fascination with dinosaurs. We were looking forward to The River Adventure ride, even though there is a chance of getting a little wet in the splashdown.

We approached and found… a refurbishment wall!

That's too bad about Jurassic Park. It sounds like it would have been a fun ride.

We had recently watched the original movie with our grandsons. It had been a long time since we had seen it, and the kids had never seen it before. It is still a good movie. I never was too interested in the sequels, though. And I read the book, which was pretty good.

 

[irene_dsc]

For us, we kept expecting to get wet on the Jurassic Park ride, and we barely got splashed. So, it was ok, but not what we expected. Plus, the kids haven't seen the movie.

We did get utterly soaked on the bilge rats ride, of course!

 

[Monykalyn]

Great update! Good to hear things are settling down with your dad a bit.
And Yay for Yellowstone!! I was born in North Dakota so the black hills, Mount Rushmore were annual trips but every couple years we did the longer trek to Yellowstone! I think I still have a stuffed animal from one of those trips...(color me sentimental)

My inlaws want to do a grandparents trip in the next couple years and just take the grandkids to Mount Rushmore or Yellowstone.

Taking notes on which rides get you soaked-will have to do those just before a break...

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Love bilge rats but Hulk!!! Don't think so-ever!!!! Lol. Love that you 2 kids did Cat in the Hat

 

[afwdwfan]

So once again, I will be "solo" at WDW, but since we have AP to Universal, my family has decided to fly down with me, going a few days earlier than I had planned, and we will be staying and playing at the Hard Rock as a last blast before school starts. The guys will be going home on Saturday night as I travel over to the Beach Club until Tuesday morning.

Cool! Looks like it should be a lot of fun!

The Jurassic Park franchise is one of our family favorites. JP remains one of my favorite books of all times and we all enjoy the movie series. Mark and I saw the original Jurassic Park movie at the theater the weekend it opened. Ben has always had a fascination with dinosaurs. We were looking forward to The River Adventure ride, even though there is a chance of getting a little wet in the splashdown.

I love, love, love JP!!!! It came out the summer after I finished 5th grade and a friend's parents took a group of us to see it. I was hooked. My mom had the book and I sat and read it cover to cover over the course of basically a weekend. One of my all time favorite movies. DW hates it and I managed to get her to go see it with me a couple of years ago when they did the 3D re-release in theaters. She refuses to go see Jurassic World. I might be going solo though because I'm not sure I can wait until it is on DVD.

Major planning fail on my part! I know I had been checking for ride closures on the Universal website but I didn’t see anything. It was only after we returned home, and I was helping a friend plan her first trip to US/IoA that I learned that the ride shut down THAT MORNING! The ride had been open on Monday, when we arrived, but since we were delayed at the airport and didn’t arrive in Orlando until 5 pm the previous day, we didn’t make it over to IoA. If I had known it was going to be our only chance to go on JP River Adventure during our trip, we may have changed what we did that day.

NOOOOOO!!!!! That stinks! I'm sorry you missed out on it!

We are excited to learn about a new addition to the Jurassic Park area that just opened on Thursday:


Jurassic Park Raptor Encounter

That. Is. Awesome!!!!

Next up was Hulk.

Oh thank you. JP and then Hulk. I'm in a better mood this morning already.

The boys were not interested, so they continued on to the Wizarding World to ride Dragon Challenge again. Mark and I wanted to go on Cat and the Hat and the High in the Sky Trolley.

I can't blame them for not being interested. But it looks like it worked out well for everyone to split up for a while to do what they wanted.

 

[KatMark]

I'm glad to hear you have a Yellowstone Park trip planned and another Beach Club DISmeet. That's awesome, Dee.

I don't think we ever got to Jurassic Park at Univeral or they were still working on it the last time we were there.

And no way would you be getting me on the Hulk unless I was sedated.

 

[tarak]

I swear, I have tried a bazillion times to post and whether it was the site or my computer I don't know. And by now any brilliant comments I had planned are lost to the ages. I wanted to look at all the HP stuff, but I didn't want to look. I'm getting excited about the idea of seeing it all. I think there will be more than enough to entertain my kid who won't ride anything remotely thrill-like. Amara and I watched youtube videos of RRR and the Hulk. I think I could do the Hulk. RRR is out, though. I have a really hard time with the big drops. Inversions and spins are just fine.

Funny and sort-of-sad story about the Rip Rocket Ride and the metal detector. I have friends who took their two kids to US a few months ago. Both of their kids have the same heart defect Aria has (and both have pacemakers). Generally, metal detectors are a no-no when you have a pacemaker. Problem being, if you even hint at having a heart defect, you're told not to go on anything. I swear, some CMs at Disney will tell you to avoid Living with the Land. I know a lot of older kids with pacemakers and they go on anything and everything. Honestly, when you're main issue is a dangerously low heart rate, sometimes a roller coaster is just what you need. As long as there's no actual interference with the pacemaker, it's fine to ride. So these kids have been riding every ride at US all day long. They get to RRR and they mention not being able to go through a metal detector. They're told to go to guest relations. Where they are promptly told they can't ride anything else in the park. The younger child (who is about nine, I believe), promptly bursts into tears because he thinks they're being kicked out of US. To US's credit, they are refunded the entry fee and given a GC to buy souvenirs. Security followed them for a while, I suppose to make sure they were leaving or not going on any rides. Which is sort of ridiculous.

The moral of the story for me is I hope once Aria is old enough to ride anything but the Barnstormer, she's stopped introducing herself as the princess with a pacemaker.

 

[natebenma]

Yikes!!! Been another long while since I have been able to post.

Still busy with all the class trip stuff, my dad, work, middle school volunteering AND a couple of days ago the Beach & Yacht Club FAQ was unexpectedly locked, so I had to deal with that. I really want to get a little further on my trip reports and to catch up on everyone else's before our visit to Disney in 8 DAYS!!!

Dee I needed some Universal pics today, all I have seen so far are those "Vacation like you mean it" commercials. O course I get all teary eyed. Poor DH is fixing a broken garage door today and I am sorting summer clothes YAY summer!! I haven't done a water ride in forever, but DS14 hits them every time

Glad I could give you a pick-me-up!

I don't mind the water rides (as long as I am wearing sandals), Ben enjoys them, but Mark and Nate do not like to be very wet.

AWWWW bummer about the River Adventure. I suppose you could have always waited the normal 5 hours to ride Pteranodon Flyers.

We were really bummed it was closed!

Oh Lord ain't that the truth. Less wet in the shower.

You definitely need to be prepared to get soaked if you are riding Bluto's Barges!

YAY Spiderman > Transformers.



Oddly, it's riding that actually gives me the headache.

I'm usually ok on Hulk, Dragon Challenge is the one that shakes me up.

Oh my GOODNESS!

Fun stuff with the Fast Passes! We have had two meeting- the chaperones and then the student's parents. Next couple of things are the luggage drop-off (the students will only have carryons and they have to be turned in at the school on Wednesday). Then the girls need to be at the middle school at 5:30 am on Monday for the trip to the airport and the boys need to be there are 11 am. Different flights.


that's a great update but oh, a lot of work. As you know we recently went through this with my parents and the sale of their house, downsizing. It's hard and that's even with being in the same town!

My brother is getting a dumpster this week for my dad's, but of course I am working every day, which is not typical. Plus I am helping out with some things with the high school graduation (Friday). Supposed to go to a family wedding in Vermont on Saturday, but Nate has SATs so that is going to be tough to pull off.


Yes, this time of year kills me.




FUN!

Looking forward to Yellowstone, but I have not done nearly the amount of research about the trip that I want to do.

That's a pretty sweet last blast if you ask me

I'm really excited to visit US/IoA again with my family and then to continue on and visit with my friends at Disney.

That bites. That has happened to me a few times and I always feel like such a loser planner! Still it looks like a fun, and not yet freezing, day.

I'm glad we will get another shot at Jurassic park!

Great update!

Thank you! :

Thanks for all the pictures - it's really nice to get a chance to see things I haven't seen in years (or at all ... we tend to avoid the Jurassic Park area)

Dino phobia?

Wow, that's rough. At least you'll get to ride it when you go back this summer!

I know, I'm really looking forward to Jurassic Park River Adventure and the new Raptor Encounter.

I'm glad you guys decided to stop in Seuss Landing even without the boys. I love Cat in the Hat ... but I can see why they boys might not.

On our first trip the boys refused to do Cat in the Hat and they grumbled when we took them on High in the Sky Trolley. On our second trip, they agreed to go on these with us, but didn't love them. This time, we went our own ways and all was well. We still haven't done One Fish Two Fish, though.

Great news for the August trip. Love when things work out like that.

We are going to have a lot of fun in August.

We fly into Orlando the day before our October cruise out of Tampa. I told Mike we can use our DVC and stay at Disney the night before for free. We are also spending two days there after the cruise. Going to do the Halloween party. Currently at Jambo, wait listed for Boardwalk Villas. Didn't even consider BCV with the construction with the planned renovations.

I'm excited you are going to the Halloween party. We have never done that but it sounds like a blast!

Super cute picture!

Thanks!

You got a lot of great shots of the Hulk. The last time I was there Nick was in 3rd grade and he finally rode it. The picture is so cute because he looks so little. That's such an amazing rider. I might be too old for it now.

I think you still have a ride on the Hulk in you!

I also love Spiderman! It's been far too long.

Definitely fun!

And, yes, I remember getting totally SOAKED on that water ride. That is when I learned that jean shorts feel like a wet diaper after they get soaked.

Oh, no! Jeans are NOT the item of clothing to wear on that ride.

That's too bad about Jurassic Park. It sounds like it would have been a fun ride.

We had recently watched the original movie with our grandsons. It had been a long time since we had seen it, and the kids had never seen it before. It is still a good movie. I never was too interested in the sequels, though. And I read the book, which was pretty good.

The sequels to JP are ok, but Ben really loves them. Can't wait for Jurassic World, though. It looks awesome!

For us, we kept expecting to get wet on the Jurassic Park ride, and we barely got splashed. So, it was ok, but not what we expected. Plus, the kids haven't seen the movie.

We did get utterly soaked on the bilge rats ride, of course!

We have been on JP a few times. We have never gotten soaked, but we have had different amounts of wetness. Usually about the same as Splash Mountain.

Great update! Good to hear things are settling down with your dad a bit.
And Yay for Yellowstone!! I was born in North Dakota so the black hills, Mount Rushmore were annual trips but every couple years we did the longer trek to Yellowstone! I think I still have a stuffed animal from one of those trips...(color me sentimental)

My inlaws want to do a grandparents trip in the next couple years and just take the grandkids to Mount Rushmore or Yellowstone.

Taking notes on which rides get you soaked-will have to do those just before a break...

Thanks!

We are excited for our first visit to Yellowstone.

Good plan! You can do Jurassic Park, Rip Saw Falls and then Blutos Bilge Rat Barges in IoA which get progressively wetter. There's also One Fish, Two Fish, but since we haven't done it I can't tell you the dampness quotient.

Love bilge rats but Hulk!!! Don't think so-ever!!!! Lol. Love that you 2 kids did Cat in the Hat

There is certainly a wide variety of thrill rides at Universal.


Be Back with more replies in the morning.

 

[hill6]

Yikes!!! Been another long while since I have been able to post.

Still busy with all the class trip stuff, my dad, work, middle school volunteering AND a couple of days ago the Beach & Yacht Club FAQ was locked, so I had to deal with that. I really want to get a little further on my trip reports and to catch up on everyone else's before our visit to Disney in 8 DAYS!!!






I'm excited you are going to the Halloween party. We have never done that but it sounds like a blast!

Great news that you are down to single digits. The seniors at our high school went down on Thursday. I found out when 50 of the were getting breakfast at the bagel place I stop at each Morning.


We have never done the Halloween party either. Need to figure out an easy to pack costume. I booked that for the last night of our trip.

We are currently booked at Saratoga Springs for the three nights we are at Disney. We changed to one bedroom suites over studios so we can have a king size bed. We are wait listed for one night at Villas at Grand Floridian and two at Boardwalk Villas. I so hope GF comes through so we can see Hallowishes from there. We got to see Wishes from Top of the World and it was amazing up there.