cbsnyber1
Baxter All Grown Up
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2008
This is my first attempt at a sort of trip report – sort of, because I don’t have a ton of pictures to share (and, sadly, not a lot of food porn) which, to my standards, is what sets a great TR apart from a not so great TR. And the lack of good pics is because I don’t regularly carry a cell phone, and I did not always have my trusty Coolpix camera handy. I do have a cell that I usually don’t have on me because (a) I am retired (b) I never call anyone (c) no one ever calls me and (d) my DW is always pretty close by with her trusty cell phone at the ready. And we still regularly use a land line at home, more so than her cell phone. I now see that not having the cell on me really limited my picture taking; I wish now I had dragged it with me more.
But there will be pics, so bear with me. This is the story of our recent trip to Universal, staged November 25 - 30. We had a great time, and this is the "magnificent nine" (weak attempt to hijack the title of the recent movie Magnificent Seven).
Here is our group, nine in all:
From the left: my son-in-law, my daughter, my step-granddaughter, her friend, my step-grandson (the friend and step-grandson are dating), me, my DW, my grandson, and my son. This is our second group trip to Universal. This is our second trip together, so we feel like experienced pros - to a degree.
A bit of background: we are not annual visitors to Universal, but we’ve been somewhat regular in our visits. We made our first visit there way back in 1993, a split Disney/Universal trip, when only Universal Studios was open. I remember parking in the huge lot next to the park, and that lot is now part of City Walk, which was still a gleam in Universal’s eye back then. Somewhere, I have pictures of that trip, wish I could find them. We did not return until 1999, another split trip, and went again in October 2002, our first Universal-only trip (no Mouse) when we attended our first Halloween Horror Nights, HHN XII, the first time it was held in Islands, and it featured the Caretaker as the central character. For fun, check out these YouTube videos of HHN XII – you will see how truly terrifying HHN was in that wooded, narrow pathway park. The fog machines were especially effective there and you could easily imagine dinosaurs (and others – which they did) jumping out of the weeds at you. Good times!
(show held in Port of Entry featuring the Caretaker)
(Cartoon Lagoon area).
I still have my original event guide from HHN XII – here is a pic similar to that I got off the web:
Note: search on YouTube for “HHN Islands of Fear” for best hits.
We did not get back to Universal until 2009, returned in 2012 and now our 2016 trip, all Universal-only trips. I doubt we will ever return to Disney, as we find it difficult to do everything we want to do in five days at Universal (and that will get even harder to do as the parks continue to develop).
Thursday November 26: We fly out of Pittsburgh, and have done so many times. For the first time ever, we decided to park off site, since a check of the Pittsburgh airport website showed a 96% occupancy rate in the long term parking lot (the cheapest). That, of course, was impacted by the fact that the previous day was the day before Thanksgiving, so no surprise there. We chose Charlie Brown’s parking, a quick five - minute drive to the airport, and made an online reservation to guarantee a spot. Charlie Brown features valet service at about the same rates as at the extended lot at the airport. You drop off your car, climb into the shuttle, call for the shuttle when you return, and your car is sitting at the office, warming up – what’s not to love? We’d likely have parked in Timbuktu at the airport, waiting in the cold for a shuttle that then stops every two minutes for pickups, and then, of course, we’d have to find the darn car when we returned.
We arrived at the airport around 3:30 PM for our 5:30 flight to Orlando, and were greeted with a shocking site: as we pulled up to the curbside check in area, there was not one single car or person there. Completely deserted. Well, there was one person, the Southwest curbside check in guy. I wish I had a picture of this and what happened next, but I’m a bit leery of taking photos outside an airport these days.
What happened next was that, after checking our luggage, we proceeded down to the security check in area, a short walk from the outside baggage check, only to see more TSA agents there than people checking in. I was in shock – I did not have even enough time to remove my belt or untie my shoes. I stood leisurely at the conveyor, slowing stacking my PC, jacket and shoes, and other stuff into the bins – there was no one behind me! I have never felt so lonely in a TSA line.
After passing security we took the shuttle to the air terminal. In the entire train car there were four people – three of us and someone else. The main terminal was spooky – every shop and restaurant was open, but there were no people. We proceeded to the gate, where no one was there, and decided to get a bite to eat. Off to Quaker Steak and Lube, a favorite. Great wings here.
This is a picture of the restaurant from its website, but one difference: no one was there. Zero people, again, only two wait staff. We had a great meal, all sorts of wings, beer, fries, a few wraps. Eating at Quaker Steak on the eve of a flight/trip has become a tradition for us, and we were so happy that the airport had one. After eating we returned to the gate, and now it was full of fellow travelers to the sunshine state. I spotted more than one set of mouse ears among the passengers. I suppressed my urge to enlighten them about going to the dark side - they will find out in good time.
Our flight was non-stop, arriving at MCO around 8 PM. We quickly retrieved our luggage, and then called for the Hampton Inn shuttle. We had decided to stay off site that night – could not see paying $$$ at Universal for basically a place to sleep. The shuttle got us to the Hampton quickly, about five minutes away, and we pulled up to one of the largest Hampton Inn’s I’ve ever seen: eight floors of rooms with two main wings. Big place:
This is a pic of the inn from the website. This is a comfy, affordable place to stay; we paid like $89 plus tax for each two-queen bedroom room. And it had a neat feature: a natural gas fire pit near its pool. After checking in, we gathered around the pit and just sat there, savoring the nice weather. We had left in 35 - 40 degree temps and here we were, sitting in shirt sleeves in comfortable, 67 degree temps. Ah, Florida in November! I just wished I had a beer or something – would have been a perfect night. But we were pretty keyed up – we leave for the Royal Pacific early the next day, and our first group ride – on the Mummy – not too far from that. We are rarin’ to go!
Next: Day One (or, Meeting a Friend I did not Know I Had)
But there will be pics, so bear with me. This is the story of our recent trip to Universal, staged November 25 - 30. We had a great time, and this is the "magnificent nine" (weak attempt to hijack the title of the recent movie Magnificent Seven).
Here is our group, nine in all:
From the left: my son-in-law, my daughter, my step-granddaughter, her friend, my step-grandson (the friend and step-grandson are dating), me, my DW, my grandson, and my son. This is our second group trip to Universal. This is our second trip together, so we feel like experienced pros - to a degree.
A bit of background: we are not annual visitors to Universal, but we’ve been somewhat regular in our visits. We made our first visit there way back in 1993, a split Disney/Universal trip, when only Universal Studios was open. I remember parking in the huge lot next to the park, and that lot is now part of City Walk, which was still a gleam in Universal’s eye back then. Somewhere, I have pictures of that trip, wish I could find them. We did not return until 1999, another split trip, and went again in October 2002, our first Universal-only trip (no Mouse) when we attended our first Halloween Horror Nights, HHN XII, the first time it was held in Islands, and it featured the Caretaker as the central character. For fun, check out these YouTube videos of HHN XII – you will see how truly terrifying HHN was in that wooded, narrow pathway park. The fog machines were especially effective there and you could easily imagine dinosaurs (and others – which they did) jumping out of the weeds at you. Good times!
I still have my original event guide from HHN XII – here is a pic similar to that I got off the web:
Note: search on YouTube for “HHN Islands of Fear” for best hits.
We did not get back to Universal until 2009, returned in 2012 and now our 2016 trip, all Universal-only trips. I doubt we will ever return to Disney, as we find it difficult to do everything we want to do in five days at Universal (and that will get even harder to do as the parks continue to develop).
Thursday November 26: We fly out of Pittsburgh, and have done so many times. For the first time ever, we decided to park off site, since a check of the Pittsburgh airport website showed a 96% occupancy rate in the long term parking lot (the cheapest). That, of course, was impacted by the fact that the previous day was the day before Thanksgiving, so no surprise there. We chose Charlie Brown’s parking, a quick five - minute drive to the airport, and made an online reservation to guarantee a spot. Charlie Brown features valet service at about the same rates as at the extended lot at the airport. You drop off your car, climb into the shuttle, call for the shuttle when you return, and your car is sitting at the office, warming up – what’s not to love? We’d likely have parked in Timbuktu at the airport, waiting in the cold for a shuttle that then stops every two minutes for pickups, and then, of course, we’d have to find the darn car when we returned.
We arrived at the airport around 3:30 PM for our 5:30 flight to Orlando, and were greeted with a shocking site: as we pulled up to the curbside check in area, there was not one single car or person there. Completely deserted. Well, there was one person, the Southwest curbside check in guy. I wish I had a picture of this and what happened next, but I’m a bit leery of taking photos outside an airport these days.
What happened next was that, after checking our luggage, we proceeded down to the security check in area, a short walk from the outside baggage check, only to see more TSA agents there than people checking in. I was in shock – I did not have even enough time to remove my belt or untie my shoes. I stood leisurely at the conveyor, slowing stacking my PC, jacket and shoes, and other stuff into the bins – there was no one behind me! I have never felt so lonely in a TSA line.
After passing security we took the shuttle to the air terminal. In the entire train car there were four people – three of us and someone else. The main terminal was spooky – every shop and restaurant was open, but there were no people. We proceeded to the gate, where no one was there, and decided to get a bite to eat. Off to Quaker Steak and Lube, a favorite. Great wings here.
This is a picture of the restaurant from its website, but one difference: no one was there. Zero people, again, only two wait staff. We had a great meal, all sorts of wings, beer, fries, a few wraps. Eating at Quaker Steak on the eve of a flight/trip has become a tradition for us, and we were so happy that the airport had one. After eating we returned to the gate, and now it was full of fellow travelers to the sunshine state. I spotted more than one set of mouse ears among the passengers. I suppressed my urge to enlighten them about going to the dark side - they will find out in good time.
Our flight was non-stop, arriving at MCO around 8 PM. We quickly retrieved our luggage, and then called for the Hampton Inn shuttle. We had decided to stay off site that night – could not see paying $$$ at Universal for basically a place to sleep. The shuttle got us to the Hampton quickly, about five minutes away, and we pulled up to one of the largest Hampton Inn’s I’ve ever seen: eight floors of rooms with two main wings. Big place:
This is a pic of the inn from the website. This is a comfy, affordable place to stay; we paid like $89 plus tax for each two-queen bedroom room. And it had a neat feature: a natural gas fire pit near its pool. After checking in, we gathered around the pit and just sat there, savoring the nice weather. We had left in 35 - 40 degree temps and here we were, sitting in shirt sleeves in comfortable, 67 degree temps. Ah, Florida in November! I just wished I had a beer or something – would have been a perfect night. But we were pretty keyed up – we leave for the Royal Pacific early the next day, and our first group ride – on the Mummy – not too far from that. We are rarin’ to go!
Next: Day One (or, Meeting a Friend I did not Know I Had)
Last edited: