Trip Report Chunking on Orlando New Year's Eve (WDW and Uni)

What? Another WDW trip? Yeah this is my 4th on 4 years (including a Disney Cruise).

Now.. The Participants on the adventure:

My mother dearest. For companion purposes.
My niece and goddaughter (and the reason of why this trip)
My nephew (he had to tag along with his sister)

Anyway, It was the 15th Birthday of my Niece (I am her godfather). The 15th is the equivalent of the sweet 16th on the USA. Very important and sort of a "passing age" rite. She gets a huge party and stuff.
And I offered her a trip to UNI's Harry Potter lands (she's a big fan, infact she looks a lot like Hermione IRL). And also added a "side" trip to WDW on the offer.
Total of 9 days at WDW (5 days at WDW, 3 at Uni, with 1 day of rest and 2 of "sleepovers" for the airline movement.

After planning this trip for a year or so.
2 weeks before the trip.. Surprise!
We started with the WRONG FOOT (thank you American Airlines for f*.. things up so many times).
First.. they "canceled" my reservation. Which I didn't. No reason, no Explanation, no phone call, no email, nothing.
Had to call my reservation company so they could fix it. And they claimed American Airlines canceled it for "protection" because my flight was changed (aka numbers changed, hours changed.. minimally).
I had to make a huge bunch of calls, emails, and a lot of anger to finally fix it up.. Except for one thing.
The Flight was almost booked solid and had barely space left (scattered). Not to mention I had
purchased "premium" seats. And they told me I had to do a separate complain and wait until they return the money. (they claim it might take months.. not fun.. I'm still waiting).


So, Our trip starts on the 30th of December. Departing from PVR (Puerto Vallarta International Airport to Dallas Forth Worth).
We got ready and all.. and.. another stone...
Plane was delayed by a "programming error". The dispatched plane that was going to serve the route.. was 1 hour late.
This was critical, because we would be missing our connection flight.
American Airlines again sets my second flight into "canceled" mode for "protections so I could rebook". (wthell is wrong with them?)..

In the end, the flight was only 40 minutes late.. and the plane had zero delays inflight, so the total delay when we arrived to Forth Worth, was mere 20minutes.
So we passed immigration (fast.. it was empty! how different from Houston which is always packed), picked our bags and headed to get some information.
They recommended us to NOT try to get to the plane.. I insisted we could made it (it was just a block away). The woman politely tried but the computer refused to print new passes.
I was beyond furious at this point... We would miss our POR reservation.
And they only gave us skimpy vouchers and a cheap suite hotel for the night...As we got booked for tomorrow's earliest flight of 7:00 am.
Also got us premium seats in the next flight. We will still be separated due to the mess up.

Then they gave us instructions to wait for the "shuttle".
So we walked and walked and walked until we found the exit area where the Shuttles were.
It was very cold for us (PVR is always above 20C) and It was a mere 6C that day (with thermal feeling of 3C thanks to wind).
We waited.. and waited.. and waited.. 45 minutes later.. finally arrived. We got to the hotel, made preparations, we got separated suites.. the kids in one and my mother and I in another.
We took a shower.. and then we proceeded to order some food. Found out that only Domino's supports the vouchers at the moment. So we had to settle with default pizzas.
It was funny, because they called us via phone that the pizza was ready (30 mins later). We got down to pick it up.. we didn't find him, we got back up.. and the gentleman was waiting by our door.

We paid.. ate and prepared to sleep. It was going to be a very short sleep ( as we had to wake up at 4:30 to get the 5:00 shuttle, so it arrives at 5:20-5:30 to the airport).
So we did.. There was a mess up because my nephew ALWAYS takes way too much time making baggage( no seriously, we told him to be ready BEFORE going to sleep). Then he forgot his wallet somewhere and had to return when the shuttle was about to depart.
Thankfully the shuttle waited for him and turns out he had the wallet.. in his sister's bag. :|
I facepalmed and we got in our way.

The airport line wasnt troublesome as we had TSA-PRE. My nephew still was randomly selected for a search and that slowed down us a bit.
We then headed to our Gate and had time to buy some food.
My mother and I settled for "mexican food" (that was nothing like mexican food at all). A Giant burrito mixed with eggs and who knows what else (lol). It was good, but too big.
The kids got fried shrimp and chicken from Popeye's.

So.. we finally departed Dallas for Orlando (phew!).
The flight was pretty uneventful... We arrived at around 10 am... We ran to pick our bags and we headed to the Disney Magical Express. During this moment of moving bags.. I had a "bad moment" and damaged one of my nails (with blood and all).

Quickly patched it up and to the bus we went!
Its always amazing to see how much improvements they are doing to the roads.
Also a joy to finally reach the Walt Disney World archways and enter the Disney World area!.

Sadly, we missed our POR reservation, but we had 5 days of DVC at Old Key West.

They gave us a chance to check in a bit early and gave us our magicbands.. (which strangely were all grey instead of the colors we asked... the clerk happily got colored bands for each of us and when we had one of the bellboys drive us with their golf like kart to our room).

We were pretty far away.. ( Turtle Pond area). but the place was beautiful!. The room was AMAZING and with tons of space!.

We quickly made decisions of where each one will sleep.
And since it was her 15th birthday gift..

My Niece got the big main room. My nephew wanted to sleep on the kitchen area.

and my mom and I settled on the Doubles room.

We settled up, left our bags, changed our stuff.. and We went Straight for Epcot.
We had reservations for Coral Reef. So..
We took the Disney bus at Turtle Pond's Station.. and To Epcot We go!

 

[Cesar R M]

Before we go to Day 2.. have some pictures that were missing from Day 1 because the thread only allows 10 images per post.

The Fisherman stunt show! It was raining softly!

Waiting on platform 9 3/4.. next to hedwig!

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Nice Universal pictures. Plus your family seems to smile more at Universal

 

[Figgy1]

Thank you from both myself and my ds for all the wonderful pics and info on UNI!

 

[MinnieM123]

Fascinating pictures and commentary, @Cesar R M . (Haven't visited Universal since it first opened, back in 1990.) I'm enjoying your TR. @figmentfan423 , I think that you and DS will have a great time during your upcoming trip, by splitting up your vacation time between WDW and Universal !

 

[Figgy1]

Fascinating pictures and commentary, @Cesar R M . (Haven't visited Universal since it first opened, back in 1990.) I'm enjoying your TR. @figmentfan423 , I think that you and DS will have a great time during your upcoming trip, by splitting up your vacation time between WDW and Universal !

I think all 4 of us will have a great time. between @Cesar R M's and @MR FERRET's TRs I'm glad we added a few days to see all the little thing at both places.

 

[Cesar R M]

ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS Day 2

This time we woke up a bit earlier, we had breakfast before getting ready for the bus.

The weather was even more rainy than yesterday.
We were worried. As the Bus stop is not covered by the Doubletree's building. So you have to move quickly, give the ticket and pray it doesnt take too long!.
We still had our ponchos just in case.
luckily.. the rain subsided once we entered ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE.
And we went our way to SUPER HERO ISLAND.

The kids were disappointed Hulk was down for refurbishment.
But we were there to see and experience the hype of Spider-Man's ride.

The whole area is very well themed. Same about Spiderman's queue. All except the outside queue area which is pretty simple.

Speaking of Which... We caught Captain America going out from backstage ...
We managed to get a nice wave and then a victory symbol as my mom waved to him lol.

Love the "Daily Bugle" details around the inner queue line.
My nephew and I were laughing constantly at the silly things Jonah was saying on the monitors.
I lost it at the part where he "silently" tells how you are expendable.
How theres plenty of new "interns" ready to cover you if the prototype news car failed and got you killed.


Once we get inside the building area, my mother started to get worried about the back pain alerts again.
They were EVERYWHERE. So, She decided to bail right in the loading area.
At least she did enjoy the queue and managed to see the "car".

Anyway, we rode spiderman.. My opinions:

I have to say the spiderman ride is one of the best. The combination of 3d screens and the active elements of the building was awesome.
We only encountered one issue: one scene had an unsynced 3d projector and made some real bad stuff to your eyes for the 1 or 2 seconds it lasts lol.

Once we were done.. We went outside and started to look for my mother while my nephew went for a pit stop.

We(I and my niece) used the time search around.. where we found The goblin making mischief in the area.
Dr. Doom was also there as well for meets and photos.

After returning to the front of the entrance of spiderman, we finally found my mother and since we were thirsty. We decided to use some points to get some snacks AND drinks.

And we still could not find anywhere to refill our "cups". And looking at tripadvisor now and many other review sites, Explains why the cup is a BAD DEAL.
The 8.99 small fee refills is better as you can get that thing in any kart.

So .. yeah.. another minus points for the whole Universal Dinning package...we feel cheated with the lady of the hotel counter..
Funnily, the girl of the kart told us to buy inside the resorts as the outside vendors can lie and push a lot to sell. all to get paid more.

Hence they might kinda lie you on getting stuff you will not need.

So next.. we decided to head towards Hogwarts again, passing thru Toon island too.
WOW about toon island! talk about flashback!
tons of cartoon characters that I had forgotten a long time ago.. and many that I never knew!

The kids and my mom had a blast with these silly "clouds" with text among other details.

This image was indeed true.. As we returned home destroyed

Then we did stop to see what the fuss was about (lots of screams), because there was a huge bunch of people in a bridge walkway looking to a water attraction (The Dudley Do Right's rip saws I think). Where logs went downwards at high speeds and the water canons made sure you they were COMPLETELY SOAKED.

It was fun to see and hear the screams! XD

After we walked past.. We were greeted by the Kong construction area. Some parts looked done while others still needed work and paint.
but so far, the facade looked impressive!.

As we moved further. we got greeted by more screaming and huge splashing..
It was The Jurassic Park's water ride.. I'm a chicken and decided not to ride.. I was hesitant because I was already pretty banged for walking, attractions..etc..and we still had 1 day of parks more. (last thing I wanted was getting sick before our trip finished)

We moved along the way... until we reached the famous RAPTOR ENCOUNTER!

The whole thing is AWESOME!!

It was fun to see all the screaming as the raptor lounged at you randomly or did the creepy noises before bitting and snarling XD

Heres a video as we were approaching:



The interesting part is how popular the meet and greet was! there was a loooong line!

Other interesting part was, how sad the CMs of the fair games were (near the Raptor Encounter). Some were trying to lure visitors to "play" in their carnival games for toys and stuff.. but noone seemed interested. Times change!

Then we headed to the "flying chairs" attraction (Pteradon flyers) which sadly is only for kids. The chairs are TINY... what a shame!
Would have loved to see the view from up there!.

Once we were done with the area, We headed to another pitstop between the hogwarts castle on the Jurassic Park side.( very clean toilets in that area, but the air dryers were not working).
Then we headed towards Hogsmeade.

Speaking of entrances.. Its interesting that the entrance from Hogsmeade towards Jurassic park is more imposing than the one from the Kong's area.

But also in my opinion, This thing is very badly placed.
As you can see the castle's back and a big white building behind the castle from this area (which is part of the forbidden journey queue)
Breaks the whole immersion badly.


Anyway.. onwards to Part 2!!

 

[Cesar R M]

Islands of Adventure - Universal Studios Day 2 Part 2

We decided to use our time to hogsmeade to finally see the full shows. We watched the frogs then we waited for the TriWizard tournament thing.

The weather also changed from rainy to sunny.. weird!!!

The show of the Triwizzard Rally was more fun.. Infact, I think these guys did the stunts better than the Sinbad show lol.



As usual the Hogsmeade was pretty full!

Once we were done with the shows, we went to see if we could eat and use our quick dinning points at Mythos restaurant.
Sadly, the place was full.. and the waiting time was 20 minutes.
So, we went towards Seuss land because my nephew wanted to buy stuff. we used his time to ride the little seuss train, the wait was 30 minutes.. and the ride was excruciatingly short... I hoped to see it of similar length as the People's mover.. but nope..
Still was good to see most of the park area from a bit higher.
Once we were done..So we decided to fall back and head towards POSEIDON's FURY.

The outside of the attraction is definitively epic.

But the queue is also misleading.. because even if the place looked empty.. the inside queue was PRETTY LONG and very packed.
Not good if someone has problems with small spaces...
I think it took nearly 60 minutes to get inside the show area.
Luckily, we found some latinos from Bolivia and we shared experiences and talked.
I was surprised that their 80 year old grand parents got up to most extreme coasters and the jurassic park's water ride lol.
And they were like they could take no carp from anyone!.. BAD A.S parents!

After the show, which was.. how to say.. weird...?
The whole idea was nice.. very cheesy but nice..
Most of the effects were nice, the water tunnel was impressive.
But for the love of god.. so much equipment was visible and instantly hit you square..
Can you imagine having an "ancient greek temple" mixed with super modern lamps and stuff.. broke the point..
The special effects of the last room were really nice, but again.. too much of the equipment is visible.

So after finishing.. we went out towards mythos and .. aouch.. the waiting time was now 2 hours.
So we decided to return towards seuss to head to the restaurants near the entrance..

We decided to enter the Confisco Grille (after the required pit stop at a nearby restroom..).
We got seated fairly quickly (5 minute wait time).
And I have to say that.. the waiter ( a lady named Jan). was ATROCIOUS.
Not only rude, slow and also demeaning.
Who the hell takes 15 minutes to give us water and beverages?
When she finally remembered we were waiting to order.. she was seriously uncaring and rude.. looked like she was simply not in the mod to server us.. Note that the restaurant was fairly empty. only 30 or 40% occupied in the zone we were in.
So We ordered a Potato soup for my nephew, a Fajita combo for my mother, the Pad thai for me and 3 orders of Trader Wings.
After 40 minutes we were annoyed.. We asked the lady for the orders.. and snotily said "Well, good orders should to wait" or something like that.. note that until then the lady never approached the food dispatch area of the restaurant. And we signaled another Waiter from another area (male one, puerto rican), we had a nice chat and he got our food fairly quickly, nte that he clearly looked annoyed at the bad service we were getting.
The lady was also rude during pay..as just left the bill on our table and quickly left without saying anything of if we wanted anything else. we gave her the minimum tip possible... Sad, because the food was pretty good. My mother loved the fajitas and my nephew the soup (my niece ended ordering a soup for herself as well).

Once we were done, it was time.. we headed back to Hogsmeade area, where the kids INSISTED in riding the dueling dragons.
They loved it but they said it was one of the strongest rides and shuffled the food on their stomatchs (lol).
They took like 1 hour to get in and out of the area.
On which , they gave me their phones so they didnt need to get a locker.
We waited for them in the "green loop" next to the hogsmeade train station.

The owl clock at Hogsmeade..

This part was a bit scary, because we waited.. and waited.. and waited.. and couldnt find them..
So while my mother stayed sitting down. I went to the attraction's exit, and waited.. and waited and waited.. and since the kids had no phone.. it was getting kinda scary (it was also getting dark). so I decided to shuffle and sit in the middle of Hogsmeade, and there they were.. sitting on the wall next to the Three Broomsticks area... PHEW!!!

Then we headed to Universal Studios via the Train... The Wait time was PRETTY LONG this time..

So by the time we reached Universal Studios, we had around 2 hours left before the Cinematic Nighttime Spectacular.
So we decided to head towards Men in Black.. Liked that ride a lot for the interaction element.
So first.. we had again to "rent" a locker.. (my mother and I's legs were seriously sore at this point and I had hit myself in the thigh muscle in one of the turnstiles, leaving me with zero strength on that leg for a bit..) So We pretty much crawled whatever way we could, inside the MIB area.

Loved the MIB inside part, it was simple in some areas.. but the details made it very pleasing... like the famous smoking slinky aliens..!
Anyway, The ride was fairly empty, so we got an entire car for ourselves.. leaving 2 empty spots... Then...But not sure if my nephew was that good with pistols or if mine was damaged or blocked.. no idea.. but he ended with 100,500 score (back left seat).. my niece with 25,000 (front left), my mother with 2,500 (front center) and I with 22,500( back center).
Should have picked up dual pistols and gone full John Mclane on the right back side like other riders did lol.

Once we were done, we walked around, passing the Simpsons area (where everything was closing down).
We passed both the DeLorean and the Time Train and headed to the waterfront area to see the spectacular. You can pretty much see almost everything from any location across the lake. Since theres 3 angled screens.. lots of fountains, laser effect, smoke effects. But one thing is sure.. the fireworks are shot from the area behind Men in Black and FEAR FACTOR.. which is on the right from the next image.
This is the opposite area behind King's Cross station

My mother was very pleased.. It was enjoyable.. sadly, in the point I was I couldn't see all fireworks.. but could see the screens just fine.. I enjoyed it as well.. gives you a ton of nostalgia of all those great movies.

Once It finished, it was time to head out.. we crawled our way (auch auch auch!) towards the bus zone.. just to find that the Bus had left us and was the last one (why the hell there are no more buses AFTER the cinematic spectacular?)

Anyway, we sat for a bit.. while hilariously a bus driver of Cabana Bay started to sing and dance while waiting for the visitors for pick up. He sang and danced for like 15 minutes.. so funny! (will update once my niece and nephew sends me the videos and photos of their phones)

Anyway... decided to give a try to Uber again.. but somehow.. my app was translated to spanish via an update and things went bad.. because the translation was WRONG.
It says "where you want to be" not "where you want to be picked up from".. so I mis-clicked and the poor Uber driver went to the hotel instead of where we were.. We called him, explained, and then fixed by recalling him using the uber app.

Took a bit to find him in the sea of drivers, buses, cabs and other uber cars..
We were on a big surprise.. as the driver was disabled.. he was missing 1 full leg, 1 full hand, had a hook on the other yet he was driving with some gadgets and using his mouth to move a tablet pen to manage the Uber App.

He had a small conversation with my nephew and then dropped us off. I gave him extra tip for the problematic issue of the app.. and towards our hotel room we went!
I am not sure what we had for dinner... as I was exhausted and just transferred the photos to my laptop and to bed I went.. Did I tell you that my legs were destroyed?

But one last day was looming.. tune in for UNIVERSAL STUDIOS DAY 3

 

[Figgy1]

That does sound like horrid service at Confiscos I would have asked for a manager. I do want to try the place seeing the food was good. I just hope I don't get the same server. You pics as usual were so well done and I can't thank you enough for them. BTW how would you compare Disney's fireworks to UNI's? THNX

 

[Cesar R M]

That does sound like horrid service at Confiscos I would have asked for a manager. I do want to try the place seeing the food was good. I just hope I don't get the same server. You pics as usual were so well done and I can't thank you enough for them. BTW how would you compare Disney's fireworks to UNI's? THNX

to be honest.. Uni's fireworks are child like playtools compared to Disney's.
I dont think anyone could measure up to Disney.. not only the syncing, but also the variety.
After seeing the new years fireworks in person at Epcot.. then the videos of the Magic Kingdom's and DHS... everything else seems a downgrade lol.

 

[Figgy1]

to be honest.. Uni's fireworks are child like playtools compared to Disney's.
I dont think anyone could measure up to Disney.. not only the syncing, but also the variety.
After seeing the new years fireworks in person at Epcot.. then the videos of the Magic Kingdom's and DHS... everything else seems a downgrade lol.

THNX I'm thinking one and done!

 

[Cesar R M]

THNX I'm thinking one and done!

buuut.. there is one thing that I think its better at Uni's spectcular. Their water effects.
The lasers and water effects/screens are very good.

 

[Figgy1]

buuut.. there is one thing that I think its better at Uni's spectcular. Their water effects.
The lasers and water effects/screens are very good.

maybe twice depending on our schedule. THNX

 

[Cesar R M]

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS DAY 3

Since it was the last day, We focused more on attractions than actually taking photos.
So its going to be very few photos in this post.

It started with a BIG RAIN.
No seriously, it was downpouring in the morning and slowly lowered its intensity as we boarded the bus.
Thankfully the rain was very light when we got down at Universal's bus stop. We walked fast towards UNIVERSAL STUDIOS.(both days before, we entered via Islands of Adventure).

Of course, we had to take a photo of the Globe!

Once inside, We started to review our plans.
We wanted to check some attractions at all costs, including TRANSFORMERS, E.T. Special Effects Horror Show and Minions Mayhem.

Sadly.. Minions was entering the full refurb phase (boooooo!)
So no minions for us.

So, instead of Minions, we decided to head to Shrek 4d.
Despite the short line,it was still a long wait.
Almost covering 30% of the outer queue. Not really surprising, as the light rain was forcing most people into the queues of attractions and/or restaurant/shows.

The preshow was very funny, specially the "hangman" trying to make us "cheer" for our execution/torture (lol).
After around 10 to 15 mins of preshow, we finally headed towards the theater.
The whole thing by itself was nothing special (visually wise) other than the little details there and here.
But lol, they really did the 4d effects nicely on this mini movie. And the whole history was VERY FUNNY.
Very enjoyable and tons of fun!

Once we got out, Shrek and Donkey were doing the meet and greet right in front... with donkey cracking jokes left and right. (pretty long line, Id say they had a bigger line than transformers)

Then, we decided to check the transformers Meet & Greet area, Optimus was on the M&G. (booo! I wanted Bumblebee). The kids at first were not interested at the meet and greet.
We then headed towards Hollywood Avenue where my mother decided to sit down for a bit in one of the comfy benches.
Then we planned the next step. We decided for the Animal Actors but first.. to try the Transformers M&G.

We went in line to get a photo of Bumblebee. Unfortunately, as we waited in the line, Bumblebee was recalled for a 10 minute wait. And they said Bumblebee was leaving to make space for Optimus Prime. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO x 2.
We quickly lost interest in the M&G.

So we returned to meet my mother on the bench. Then we decided to switch, they would be going to Animal actors while we viewed the Hollywood Make up show.

My nephew and I waited around 15-20mins inside the special effects area. Waiting for the next show. Lots of things to see of terror and special effects in movies!.
Once the 15 mins passed, We headed into the show area. We sat down near around the middle on the left area. of the show.

Then the show started with the introduction of the "event manager' and then he presented the make up effects specialist.

The Hollywood Make up show was VERY FUNNY. They had selected a chinese woman that was in the front line for the whole thing...
That poor Chinese lady was probably traumatized at all the special effects and jokes she was targeted. Worse when she couldnt understand much and one member of her family translated most of the whole thing for her. Love the talk about insurance and organ donor material jokes XD

But maaan, we all wanted more.. the show was soooooo short!

After going out, my mother and my niece had moved on to check the animal Actors area.. so we went that way as well.

We headed towards Animal Actors area, We thought my mother had already seen it, but they texted us to tell us that they were inside the theater.
My mother and niece had missed the older show. So, instead of waiting doing nothing they used the wait to get to E.T (Which my mother loved).
Then they moved to the animal actors theater.

So we(Nephew and I) decided to move quickly and meet them inside. We were lucky as the show was about to start and my niece and mom were already sitting in the middle.

The show was rather simple, and some of the dogs made a lot of adorable mistakes.
There were also birds of prey and animals doing tricks.. even Cats were doing stuff!
Not many photos as things moved at pretty fast pace.

Once we were done, It started to rain again
So we decided to just head to the kids area to ride E.T.
Since We (my nephew and I) wanted to see it and my mother wanted to see it again.

We made to the queue at good time.. because the place was getting full.
The queue was getting expanded as we entered (as the line jumped from 30 to 60 minutes). thankfully, we didn't waited long.. my legs were again suffering and so was my mother's back.

As for E.T. Very cheesy story wise. But in general... the whole thing was very good!
The inner queue was impressive theme wise, You really think you are inside a big dark forest.
The ride was also very good, very peter pan style.. but on "flying bikes".

The only turn off was: the ride looked clearly dated. Most animatronics have very basic movements.
Most of them do not even have eye or mouth movements. And a lot of the background stuff (like the police crew) were just mannequins with barely any details painted on them. I blame my (gaaasp) superior eyesight (in contrasts to my deafness) that made me watch and notice every single detail.

Also, the last part.. the alien party was kinda creepy for me. Reminded me of the movie "COMMUNION" and the weird scene between the aliens and Christopher Walken's character.

Overall an enjoyable ride!.

Anyway.. once we got out.. we were HUNGRY!

And another discussion happened as some of us wanted something my mother another and my nephew another.

We decided to just try out the Simpsons land and try the food there.

The food was in general..pretty bad! The seafood platter ordered, was REALLY BAD lol.
My niece got the chicken double batter platter, my nephew the pizza and a lard lad donut and my mother had to settle for vegetarian pizza.

The place in the other hand, was fantastic theme wise!
no seriously, you feel like you somehow get transported to Springsfield.

We sat at in the Moe's area which is particularly the best part of the area in my opinion.

Anyway, once we ate. We had to do a pitstop before heading towards the main avenue again near Hollywood.

We got an interesting surprise when we got closer to the "parade" exit area (right infront of Mel's drive in).
I was baffled, the maps they gave us in the entrance... Had WRONG times on almost everything show wise.
And now, before blaming my clock.. nope, I was watching my cellphone and the local clocks too. For example, the HOP drum show was rated fr 11:00 am.. it was almost 1:00 pm and There he was.. E.B. Rocking the drumset.

So, as we got closer..The drum show for HOP was almost ending, I ran with my camera to take photos. (love that darn Rabbit).
Took a few photos of all the characters, sadly no videos as the show was ending.

that's E.B. SR.

E.B. while drumming around.

The Candy Dance song!

With Both E.B.s!
Here is a video of the exact same spot, but with tons of sun... (note, not my video.. found this on youtube)



and another one from a slight different angle with less sun flare and a over-active E.B. Sr.



It was cute to see E.B. going out backstage to get his big chest drum out and then back for M&G photos.

And something happened that shows why characters REQUIRED companions/bodyguards to protect the foamheads characters:
As soon that E.B stepped out of the backstage door a lot of young teens, some young adult couples and quite a few girls ran to hug and take photos of E.B.
Some were trying to hug him, others pose with him. Pretty much slowing him down from getting to his photo spot next to the small float of the Pink Berets.

Very quickly additional CMs helped block more people from getting to E.B. and he finally got in his spot along with his father (E.B. Sr.)

After this, my mother decided to sit down with all our stuff while we headed to our final "a must do". Transformers 3d.

Check the rest on Universal Studios Day 3 Part 2!

 

[Figgy1]

That's so cute. My ds just said thnx and he can't wait to meet EB

 

[betty rose]

to be honest.. Uni's fireworks are child like playtools compared to Disney's.
I dont think anyone could measure up to Disney.. not only the syncing, but also the variety.
After seeing the new years fireworks in person at Epcot.. then the videos of the Magic Kingdom's and DHS... everything else seems a downgrade lol.

Thanks @Cesar R M. If we go there we will skip the fireworks.

 

[betty rose]

Thanks for taking me on your amazing trip. I love how clear all your pictures were! Both parks look like fun to me.

 

[Cesar R M]

Universal Studios Day 3 Part 2

So.. to Transformers we went!
It was a long time on the queue, almost 120 minutes!

Thankfully the queue, just like Spiderman, was full of details and screens. This time very militaristic decor.

Best part was when Ironhide chastises a random visitor for having a churro.. XD

This ride definitively is a HUGE improvement from the Spiderman one.
technically, its a clone.. same car, same loading, same scheme.. but the effects in screen are better.. fastpaced and the parts where the "generic autobot" that you're riding.. suddenly gets a hand out to defend himself and you from any attack.. makes the whole thing awesome.
The syncing was EPIC as well, as you could actually FEEL when Megatron or his minions hit you and throw you around.
Wont say much, but its as very darn nice ride..
now.. complains.. the part where they run in the middle of the street towards the unfinished (in construction) skycraper.. gets you DARN dizzy.. moves so fast and tons of out of focus parts... after that scene, you are all right!
The finale was also fantastic!!!
Well done Universal!!!

Between this, the Harry Potter Rides, Spiderman... The 14+ years old offers were all solid!

After we got out, It turns that the shows were continuously based on the character.
Because as we were approaching my mother who was happily sitting on the bench.. The shows of Spoonge Bob was going on, with Patrick running rampant around.

My Mother confirmed she seen 3 more shows after the HOP one (including the sponge bob one) and her favorite.. MINIONS!

We then waited for the SuperStar Parade (yes, I'm big on parades lol).



Then we decide to rest our legs a bit.. as we were exhausted from walking and standing on queue.
So we decided to rest a bit.
My nephew used the time to catch Doc Brown heading to his meet and greet spot.
He kept insisting that Megatron was a nice dude and Optimus was a moron (lol).
He also did his attempts to "read the mind" of others with his head device.

Then, We decided it was time to get out.. it wasn't very late.. barely 6:00 pm but we were seriously about to fall down of lack of sleep and rest.
So we decided to head out early.. but first, we decided to try to get as much snacks and food as possible from our dinning cards.
We got a ton of drinks (mostly bottled water, chips..etc..)
As we waited.. my nephew decided to get to the stores.. I used the distraction to just hang there and film the parade for the last time as it was heading to Hollywood area. this time at 60 fps on my cell phone.



Interestingly.. I was right infront of a pro photographer of Universal with big gear and stuff.. taking photos of the parade.
All characters were posing for him so I suppose it was a promo (hence why they pose to someone behind me as I filmed).

And then it was time to return.
Since the bus would take another 30 minutes.. we decide to call another uber. Which was already in the parking lot area. This time it was a Puerto Rican lady. Very nice to talk with her freely.
Once we got back to the hotel, we decided to hit the bed for naps and other stuff..


Now.. things I forgot to add on the days prior...

The hotel as a daily buffet breakfast with Omelet station. The food is average but filling, the service was allright.
The hotel room I was.. had some ripped curtains.. like.. someone cut them with a knife.. I was like WHAT THE HELL at first..
reported it and they changed it 2 hours after (this was on day 1). I asked for another pillow on day 2 and they promptly delivered.
The cookies were nice, but the weather made them get cold pretty fast :O
The Uno pizza express and Deli .. serves very good wings.
The bus service starts at the Hilton and goes to 4 other hotels before heading to Universal... so its always good to get seating priority.
Beds were very comfy.. but I always prefer harder pillows (they have the "melting" type, where you put your head and its so soft all the filling goes to the sides)
Elevators are pretty slow, but not that bad.
Did I tell you guys how BAD the SINBAD show was?
Best Attraction for me by Disney? Splash Mountain, followed by The Haunted Mansion.
Best Disney Show? Festival of the Lion King, followed by Indy.
Best Disney 3d feature? Its Tough to be a bug!
Best Land: Harambe (Africa) of Animal Kingdom
Best Food: California Grill, then Mama Melrose's

Now to Universal..
Best Ride: Transformers (for my nephew and niece.. The Mummy). Gringotts was the second along with Spiderman.
Best Land: Diagon Alley (Hogsmeade on 2nd)
Best Show: Hogwarts Express
Best food: almost everything was subpar except The Three Broomsticks and Confitos.. Common Universal! up your offers!




And thats it.. the next day was just packing, getting breakfast, checking out and then ordering a uber to the airport.
Which was as always.. cheaper than a darn taxi (40 USD vs 22 USD)

Also it was VERY FOGGY.. I was getting worried they might cancel the flights. But thankfully they didnt.

We decided to eat in the airport and we had this italian food that had Texas sized platters.
We chunked as much food we could and then we headed to the inner area. Good thing we again had TSA-PRe.. so passing the security line was a breeze.



Once we departed MCO and arrived to Dallas Forth Worth.. DEAR GOD it was freezing!
It was 3C with 0C thermal feeling and lots of wind. So passing near any window on the Tram between terminals was brrr!.
Once we got to our terminal we decided to chunk quick Mcdonalds before boarding

The Flight was pretty uneventful.



We then arrived home.. where my sister and her husband were waiting for us.
also my nephew's girlfriend was with them. so lots of hugs were had!

AND THATS ALL FOLKS.. UNTIL NEXT TRIP!

 

[Figgy1]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such an informative and fun TR.

 

[Cesar R M]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such an informative and fun TR.

you welcome, the trip was a blast.. so bad it ended

 

[MinnieM123]

That was a great TR, Cesar!! Your pictures and detailed commentary were appreciated. I always learn so much by reading reports from other forum members. Thank you!