A Universally Good Time

Dana and I had been in contact with Josh about going to Universal on our day off this week. Since I had just done pretty much all of Universal Studios with my mom a few weeks ago, I really wanted to conquer Islands of Adventure. The only things I had done in the months since I had gotten my Universal pass was Hogsmead.

Dana and I headed out around 10 and on our way there we saw two gators! One was hiding in a pond and only I saw him. The other was HUGE and was out of the water sunning by a pond near a CVS. Dana luckily was able to catch a glimpse of him too without crashing.

We got there much earlier and started off in the direction of Seuss Landing. We went through the If I Ran the Zoo play area. We had super fun. lol. Then we went over to the Cat in the Hat ride and had to fight off the urge to by the things (especially mugs) in the gift shop. Then we went on the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride. It shoots water out as you go around so we tried to avoid it. I unfortunately was on the side with the water and I got wet. Next we headed off to the Caro-Seuss-el. Dana had her eye on this pink elephant. As she was taking a picture of it, two girls pretty much pushed her off of it. So we found another elephant and I got on a flying fish. Last we finished out journey in Suess Landing by going on The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! It was cool since it went over the whole land and through one of the dining areas. They only were using one side and I want to know what the other side is like. Before we left, I got some pop.

The next land was The Lost Continent. Poseidon's Fury had a long wait so we decided to skip it. We also checked out the price of Mythos Restaurant (which is very highly rated) wasn't actually too overpriced. We checked and The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show was going to start in a few minutes so we decided to check it out. It wasn't super awesome. It was cool too see but wasn't really worth seeing again.

We were walking through Hogsmead and Josh and crew were supposedly nearly there, but Dana and I were hungry, I was in the mood for burgers, and Dana knew that they had some in Jurassic Park. I was so happy since I love that movie!!! Josh and his new girlfriend Amber and her friend Allie (I think...) met us and got some food too. I got a combo which came with fries and a shake and I paid to get some cheese. Totally delicious and worth it. Next we headed back to Harry Potter Hogsmead and rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and we actually got to see the bubbly snow in the charms classroom. Flight of the Hippogriff had a bit of a wait so we skipped it and headed to the Dragon Challenge. Josh didn't want to do it so he held all of our purses while we went on the last row of blue coaster. I haven't ridden the red coaster so I will have to do that next time. We debated going to take the Hogwarts Express over the Diagon Alley, but the wait was 20 minutes and I still wanted to check out more of Islands of Adventure.

We decided to head back to Jurassic Park and rode the Jurassic Park River Adventure which Amber and Allie hadn't gone on. It was pretty good. I would totally go on it more often, but it is a water ride. I totally got the least of the water, but the drop was so worth it. So much better than the Splash Mountain drop and a better lead up, too. Pteranodon Flyers looks awesome but you have to be a kid or the parent of a kid to go on it. :( We decided we were going to pay some parents to let us borrow their children. We skipped the next two rides Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and  Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls since they were both water rides. I totally want to do them sometime though.

The last land was Marvel Super Hero Island. First was The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. It is a lot like the Transformers Ride in Studios. Next Allie, Dana, and I went to Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. The shoot up was pretty cool but the drops were super lame. Josh had run into someone we knew and had given him and Amber some free hot dogs (apparently weren't good) and I got a free coke refill. Last up in marvel we went to The Incredible Hulk Coaster Amber and Josh skipped out again. It had a ton of loops. It was crazy. No one wanted to go on  Storm Force Accelatron besides me so I'll have to go back. We checked to see if Captain America had come out so Dana could get a picture with him, but his line as closed. I luckily got the last picture with Woleverine, though.

Allie really wanted to go on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, but that is Amber and Josh's "no" ride so she had never gone on it. So even though Dana and I were ready to leave we headed over to Studios to go on it with her. It was down when we first got there so we headed over to The Mummy which is Amber (or was it Allie's?) and Dana's favorite ride. It confirmed that some of the effects weren't working right when we went on it. We headed back over to Rockit and it had a bit of a wait, but it was even better than before. I wasn't as tight so I had a more free ride. I even thought I was going to fall out at the beginning. I chose "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. It was a good song choice.

It was a great day. We did almost everything in the park, so I think with another day I can finish everything from both parks I haven't done yet. So pumped.

I'll add pictures later.

Post-DAKlimations Adventures

I decided to make a separate post for rest of the day after our DAKlimations class since the other post was getting a bit long.

We had already planned to go to the park, and since we got off early we got changed and headed to DAK as a guest (I changed in the car, because while everyone else was changing Amber had locked my stuff in her car. oops!). It was our first visit as guests to the park that we would be calling home for the next few months! We decided to get our wilderness explorer books from headquarters to check out our future job! We even went and got 2 badges at the Asia WE booth. We missed part of the lesson and were a little disappointed that we didn't do the whole activity.

Then we headed over to Everest. I was so excited! My family didn't get to go on it the last time we had come since it had been hit by lightning and closed down. We waited about 25 min as group to go on. It was so much fun! We went right again in single rider and was about 5 min. It was hot so we stopped by a blue ice cream truck thing. I didn't really want ice cream, but I did get my first glass of free ice water.

First ever ride on Everest!!!
Amber and I in back row
Then Allie and Lauren, 
Then Anastasia and someone random person

Single Rider for my second adventure

Next we headed over to dinosaur and afterwards Anastasia left to go let out her dog. Everyone thought it was pretty scary, but I don't really get it. The scariest part for me is right at the end and the picture part never is, but whatever. It's fun to see peoples' reactions.

First time on Dinosaur as a PI.
Amber, me, and Allie in back row. 
Anastasia and Lauren in next row.

Next we went on Primeval whirl and we were all screaming as we went around the turns. The forecast said it was going to rain and looked dark out. So we headed over to It's Tough to be a Bug since we figured if it started raining everyone would rush there. Waited for next show and had fun. I think lauren left at this point since she was really hot since she still had dress pants on because she didn't bring clothes to change into.

After the rain we decided to hit up the triceratops ride since it was one of only ones we hadn't gotten to and had a bit of time before the Nemo show. We went to the 6pm Finding Nemo Musical show and had a blast. Was first time Amber and Allie had seen it so their reactions were great to see. It was just as great as I remembered it. Then we headed back to Everest for one last ride. We literally walked right up to ride!

One last Everest ride of the day

We decided to go on Kali since we were leaving and it was one of the last rides we hadn't gone on. Allie got us a locker and we waited only like 10 min. We didn't get AS wet as we thought we would and headed out for the night. We came home and ate dinner and watched Pretty Little Liars with the roommates. Then I took a shower since I was gross from being in the heat at Animal Kingdom all day. I called mom to give her an update and wrote all of this stuff down, before heading off to bed!!!


Note: was published on 11/3