Orlando 2013 - Universal Studios (The Islands of Adventures Side)

Aha! Only two days of vacation left, and then I can get around to the State Fair.  If my pace keeps up, soon I will have a blog dedicated to things I did last quarter.  Very timely.

As we were at Islands of Adventure only two years ago, most of my photos are less happy family vacation photos and more how-do-I-amuse-myself photos.  Here's an exception.  The spires of the Harry Potter area.  The Hogwart's ride still made me somewhat ill, but overall I fared much better on the roller coasters than last time.  Which was good, because the lines weren't particularly longer.  A minute or two extra wait, but it was a quick trip to anywhere but the front of the dragon coasters.  And whatever old guy inner ear issue most of us develop at this stage of our lives that I was partially getting last time is gone.  A consistent application of roller coasters seems to be a viable cure, at least in my case.

My wife is in this photo.  I'm not sure it's possible to get a good photo on the bridge given the number of tourists that like to pose there.  I always want to just get off the bridge right away.  I'm not afraid it will fail under the weight.  I just don't like that crush of people.  Maybe it triggers my anti-zombie situation reflexes.  You don't want to be stuck in a group that large if one person goes undead.


We didn't make Eryn ride the Seuss Carousel (Seussousel?) this time because she's so cranky about being made to ride it last time.  But on the way out I did pose with one of the locals.


A second picture where I'm riding sidecar instead of behind him.  I can't keep him dry in the sidecar.


I'll confess, I'm not really spitting water.  It just looks like it.


At the Jurassic Park area.  The bronto is trying to eat what little hair I have left.  He's a hairosaurus, as opposed to a meatosaurus or a plantosaurus.  Eryn liked reliving her memories from last time at the dinosaur center.  There are times it's very obvious she wants to feel like she did during a particular event in her life, and checking out the eggs at the dinosaur center is a good example.  She was also keen to relieve the squirting of riders at the cartoon/water area that was next, but due to rain, many of the rides were closed down or not being ridden, and when we were on Popeye's boat, they shooed us off.  It looked suspiciously like a search for a reported package.  Lots of security.


I find the dichotomy of Spidey being Mommy's Angel amusing.  He's really more of an Aunty's Angel.


And this one is just labeled wrong.  That's not Jesus!


Just a nice picture.  No humor to be seen here.  Move along.


Also not humorous, but my panorama function captured a great picture of Hogwart's and Hagrid's roller coaster.  I wish someone had been going overhead on the tracks as I'd rotated that direction.
[Panoramic view]
 

Mommy's Angel riding his motorcycle.  This isn't exciting unless you're really into superheroes, but it reminds me of the Hulk roller coaster and Doctor Doom's drop nearby that Eryn and I rode while my wife hid from all the rain in the shops.  Doctor Doom's drop was pretty wild.  I think the Valleyfair Tower of Power has more variety, but Doom's Tower certainly threw you way up there.  A big smile on Eryn as we shot to the top of the park.

Orlando 2013 - Universal Studios (Not the Islands of Adventures Side)

We spent two days at Universal.  One at Islands of Adventure.  One on the studio side.  Grandpa and Grandma went with us and rode the roller coasters, the Simpson's ride, the Men in Black ride, the Transformers ride, the movie-making Disaster ride, the Shrek Ride, and more.

They updated the Simpson's area since the last time we'd been there to make it much more like Springfield.  I wonder if they have tap a computer screen and spend digital donuts to expand the place.  Here's my wife with Lard Lad.  I should have bought her a big donut to complete the picture.  There was an oversized Lard Lad mug I was going to get and then passed on, thinking I'd find it at the exit shop.  But apparently it was the only piece of merchandise not sold and resold and resold at all the various stores.  I talked to a guy on the way out about his giant Lard Lad donut and told him about Kyle's nephew's birthday donuts.



Eryn and my wife with Chief Wiggum.  I saw lots of folks pretending to eat his donut and drink his coffee.  I didnt' see anyone pretending to pee on his hydrant.


My wife was a good sport about posing next to Jebediah.


Mmm....Krusty Burger.  I don't know who that guy is or why he's point to the sky.


From the Simpson's ride.  My wife's favorite.  Grandpa and Grandma seemed very amused.  Enough so that Grandma went on the ride again.


In the line for the Simpson's.  Note, yet another Doctor Who related shirt.  A Disney themed one she didn't wear to Disneyworld.


At Moe's.  Barney is in the bar.  A Flaming Moe looks like Kool Aid with dry ice.  One of the workers tried to boot me from our table.  I told his boss on him.  Entirely appropriate as she put us at the table.


The Jaws ride was shut down while they're redoing that area of the park.  But Jaws himself is still hanging from the hook.  I suppose that would be not-Jaws.  The shark they thought was Jaws until people kept getting et.
Panorama


The other side of the park.
Panorama


You can't see it as well in the panorama, but the new ride was the Transformers ride.  It took forever to get through the line, partially because there was a temporary hold up, and partially because there were two spasmodic children running around for over an hour.  It was pretty cool as far as rides go, transitioning between video and mechanical.  Pretty convincing when things slam on the hood of your car and you bounce around.  The Mummy ride is similar, but not as cool.  Last time that one scared Eryn, but this time she was willing to go twice.

And she finally got to ride the Rocket!  That was the roller coaster she missed last time because we went to the Terminator presentation, which was incredibly lame, and the park closed an hour early for a corporate event.  This time she went three or four times.  I was on two of them.  The loud music does a nice job of distracting you from the fact that you're going straight up at the start.


Hipster shot!  I think it was an accident.  Reminds me it was incredibly hot.  I ate my Minion bar - chocolate and banana bits - very quickly to avoid getting chocolate everywhere.  It was pretty tasty for something named a Minion Bar that was based on Despicable Me.  That was probably the only ride we didn't go on that would have been fun, the Despicable Me ride.  The lines never went below 90 minutes. I suspect it's new enough that it gets an extra share of the locals.  Or maybe it gets more kids because of the older kid nature of many of the other rides.

Orlando - Jebediah Springfield

I'm still uploading and naming photos and videos.  I thought there would be almost nothing because we were at Orlando two years ago, so I should have photographed everything worth photographing.  And I should have had a reasonable amount of work to catch up on because I was mostly caught up on my laptop and phone.  Never seems to work that way.  We did a day at Universal Islands of Adventure, a day at Universal Studios, a day at Magic Kingdom, a day at Epcot, a day at Disney Animal Kingdom, and a day at Cocoa Beach and in the pool and engaging in karaoke (Eryn, not me).

I'll get some details out here starting in the next day, but in the meantime, something to keep my thread alive.  At Universal Studios, they've expanded the Simpsons area.  Here's my favorite picture of my wife and I at the park hanging out with Jebediah Springfield.

The Other Univeral

Between the days at Islands of Adventure, we went to Universal Studios.  The area with Shrek, Jaws, Terminator 2, the Simpsons, and the sorts of rides I remember from being a kid at Universal in California.  I think Eryn was originally dubious about why we'd want to spend time there when we could be going back to Harry Potter, but she ended up having a great time.  Particularly on the interactive rides like the "make a movie" ride with Christopher Walken (nice orange sneakers!) where they film members of the audience and make them part of action-adventure movie/train ride.  Or the MIB ride where you shoot at aliens with a laser gun.  She's all about laser tag.  My favorite was the Simpons' ride, where you don't really go anywhere, but the roller coaster car you're in shakes and rattles as the walls move around it, and giant screens make you feel like you're on a hell of a roller coaster ride that includes being chewed on by a giant Maggie.

Pooteewheet and Eryn not too long after the Jaws ride.


I got in trouble for spray painting on a wall.


Who's a dingus?  Eryn's a dingus!!!


After a day of rides, we went to Hard Rock for dinner.  Not my usual choice of faire, but Eryn wanted wings, and I was pretty sure that was the closest place with good wings.  This picture is for Kyle.  It's Alanis Morissette's harmonica, next to a picture of her playing a guitar.  And it says she used it for a hand in my pocket, but if you're playing harmonica, then your hands can't be in your pockets.  It's all very ironic.


Eryn wanted a picture next to Pete Townshend's guitar.  Or what was left of his '73 Gibson Les Paul.  I quote the Hard Rock Orlando description that it is, "a testament to the raw energy and aggression of The Who's brilliant guitarist and songwriter, Pete Townshend.  A landmark instrument, it was immortalized in the famous print ad for the film The Kids Are Alright.  The ad featured Mr. Townshend (at the Newcastle Odeon) with the guitar over his head moments before it was reduced to it's current condition.  The caption read, "This Guitar Has Seconds To Live."

That said, this isn't that guitar.  The waitress led us astray.  But it is pieces of a Stratocaster Townshend smashed in 2002 during a concert in which he played The Kids Are Alright.  Tomato/tomato.


The usual Universal Globe picture you have to take when you visit.  The stuffed animal is "Patch."  Eryn won it playing head to head whackamole against Pooteewheet.  No one else would play and they guy felt bad for her because she'd been there for ten minutes without a challenger.