The Energy Adventure- Helen&Andy-May 2016. Day9: Universal & IOA (Jimmy Barf-ett's Margaritaville)

[HelenJNT]

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Day 9: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure (“Jimmy Barf-ett’s Margaritaville”)

This was originally going to be our first Universal day, but seeing as we had managed to have our bonus day on the previous Saturday, we wake up at 06:30 pretty confident that we know what we are doing time-wise and in terms of using Uber.

We’re a bit tired as it was a late night but I get myself out of bed and into the shower, where I suddenly realise that something is very, very wrong. I have no idea how it happened but somehow during my short spell of pool action yesterday, I have managed to sunburn my armpits! I think I must have been holding my book above my face or something, and swapping the arms over, as yep, it’s sore. Brilliant. Never say I don’t share every gory detail…

We get the internal bus to the Custom House, and it’s Andy’s turn to book the Uber. He’s managed to get his app sorted so whilst I’m hopping around scratching my lobster armpits like a gibbon (in a sentence I never thought I’d say), he manages to book Bonifacio and his Dodge Caravan.

Unlike our other Uber drivers, Bonifacio is not in the mood for chat, and it’s a fairly silent trip to Universal. Still, mindful of our precious five star ratings, we tip him a few dollars anyway and head on up the escalators.

At security, we notice the great big screen for the first time, showing real-live video of people on the concourse, only there’s a great big dinosaur also mooching around. Most odd and I have to check that Andy has also seen it and that I’m not finally cracking up. Security is no issue and the lady who checks my bag tells me that I’m wearing a “cute shirt”, so smiles all round.

We arrive at the gates at about 08:45, which are already open, so we go in and walk straight on to Minion Mayhem. It’s a hoot, as ever, and we are glad we don’t have to wait. In fact, the park is unbelievably quiet in comparison to the insanity of the previous Saturday, and we feel lovely and relaxed.

Despite our mega meal last night, we’re hungry and so nip into the Starbucks near Diagon Alley for a spot of breakfast. We each have a pastry, Andy gets a (decaff) latte and I have a vanilla iced coffee. I really approve of the fact that they warm your pastries here for you, rather than at home when they just lob them in a bag. A pain au chocolat should be served warm, thankyou kindly.

There’s nowhere to sit, so we kind of hover and devour our grub. The iced coffee is so sweet, there must be 20 shots of syrup in it! Still, I don’t have any issues in seeing it off, and we are soon on the move again.

Next stop, Diagon Alley. I’m overjoyed that the area is less busy than it was on Saturday, even though we are attacking it a good 30 minutes later today. The locker area is issue free (if not tranquil!) and we’re straight into the queue, which starts in the main hall rather than outside, as it did on Saturday.

I brought my phone in this time as I was confident that Andy could zip it into the pockets of his shorts, so we were able to get some photos of the queuing area.

Here’s my “hurry up and take the shot as we are holding up the queue” face.

There’s none of the faffing about with the photo/security check nonsense this time and the ride itself is a walk-on – well, as much of a walk-on as it can be when there are so many components to get through in the queue.

We’re seated towards the back again which is a shame as we didn’t manage to get front row for this ride at all. It’s better second time around as you get to take more of the details in, rather than focussing on what’s happening corporeally as you do on the first go. Bellatrix is still incomprehensible though.

That done, we grab the bag from the locker and attempt to have a look around Diagon Alley.

There are teenagers in cloaks everywhere, giving themselves the run of the place. I totally get that they are excited and all that, but seriously, there is one girl who is literally physically pushing people out of the way so that she can be front and centre for whatever she wants to see. It seems courtesy has gone out of the window, and before I’m tempted to give her a good old shove back, we escape into Knockturn Alley. It’s quieter there and there are some really cool things in the shop, but we don’t end up buying anything.

We decide to get on the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure. Crazy cloak girl is behind us, breathing down our necks as we are walking through the queue, and as I suspected, she somehow ends up in front of us. What would Dumbledore say?!

Luckily she ends up in a different carriage to us. One point of note, we sat by the window for this ride, and it was actually better in one of the outer seats – you’re further away from the screen and get a clearer view.

As we walk up towards Hogwarts, we notice that the wait time for the Flight of the Hippogriff is only ten minutes. We’ve never done this ride before but we figure it can wait until after we’ve been on the Forbidden Journey. I don't seem to have taken any Hogsmeade photos today I'm afraid so here's one from the other day.

We ride again, the locker zone is suitably satanic, and then I go and make the same mistake again and head for the nearest daylight rather than exiting via the shop. I’m tempted just to make a run for it but I don’t want the guy blocking the door to use the cruciatus curse on me or anything, so contritely head back and trot through the shop, like an obedient little tourist.

By now, the Flight of the Hippogriff has gone up to a 25 minute wait time but we shrug and join the back of the queue. The one nice thing about not having fast passes or meal reservations in Universal is that we don’t have to be anywhere and aren’t on any kind of schedule, so there’s none of the constant clock-watching that you have to do in Disney, and seeing as Universal isn’t as busy as it was on Saturday, it feels pretty liberating.

The ride itself is a bit of a bust. It’s short, and painful! The net thing to cover our knees made us feel like a bag of satsumas on a super-fast trolley dash around Tesco. Needless to say, little kids probably love it, and aside from checking it off the list of firsts, we are somewhat underwhelmed.

Next up, we head into the Jurassic Park area. It seems to have grown since our last visit, and we feel a bit disoriented. It’s also really hot, so we stop off at that convention centre thingy and grab a large lemonade to share. We park up outside for a while, and I can feel myself burning, so crank up the old suncream.

We meander towards the River ride which is a walk on. Hurrah! Andy gets the outside seat (hehehe) and I’m next to the most malnourished family you’ve ever seen outside of some kind of telethon. As we make our first ascent, the dad is pulling down so hard on the safety bar that it’s crushing my chest flat, and I am whimpering in pain. Thankfully, he releases the pressure as we get going but I am seeing stars at this point and wondering if I am going to need a surgical procedure to remove my underwiring.

We’ve only done this ride once before as it was either raining or down for maintenance on our last trip, can’t remember. Anyway, I’d forgotten how awesome the drop was, and end up closing my eyes all the way down. Rookie. I make another error as well, and fail to keep my gob shut (standard), so I end up gulping down a load more ride water. *swears*. That Jurassic Park water mings as well. Not the kind of rehydration I had in mind.

Happily for me, I miss most of the soaking, but Andy is drenched! Well, he tells me it was from the ride, I’m not convinced that the sight of the t-rex didn’t make a bit (or a lot) of wee come out.

We have a look at the Dudley Do-Rite flume and I’m up for going on it but Andy has decided he has got wet enough for one day – people on it are properly drenched – so we decide to give it a miss. We’ve never actually been on it, we aren’t organised enough to take a change of clothes and although I know we’d dry quickly, the appeal of the ride isn’t enough today. Next time though!

Ditto the Barges – this was about the second ride we did on our first ever trip to Universal and it was a chilly morning so not the best strategy, and we give that a miss too. Looking back, I do wish we’d had a go now but never mind, there’s always the next time. I’d probably ingested enough ride water that day anyway.



We take a rather quick walk through the Toon Lagoon area. Again, this feels bigger than I recall so I don’t know if it’s been expanded somehow. The music is terrible though and we find it all a bit stressful and a bit of sensory overload, and we go in search of Spiderman. This is a walk-on, and we love it. Much, much better than Transformers and every bit as good as we remembered.

Looking back, we barely spent any time in Islands of Adventure at all on this trip. It was always a half day park for us anyway. We don’t have any massive desire to do Poseidon or Sinbad again, plus we find Dr Seuss creepy and weird (sorry, Seuss fans), and so once we’d done Hogsmeade, Jurassic Park and Spiderman, that’s covered everything we like here, and there aren’t really any tranquil spots to sit so we head to the exit to go in search of lunch.

Cont...

[HelenJNT]

We decide Margaritaville is our dining destination of choice, and grab a seat on the terrace outside.

Once again, we feel like we’ve been let off the leash as we aren’t confined by a dining plan, so we really push that boat out and order a starter to share.

We have the pretzel breadsticks which are delicious, if a little greasy (that cheese dip though, mmmm) and I have a watermelon margarita which is utterly divine, although doesn’t do much for the rehydration quest. Poor Andy has yet another lemonade.

Heavily filtered to disguise the bags under my eyes!

For food, Andy has the steak and chicken tacos, which, judging by the speed in which they are hoovered up, he enjoys, and I have the club sandwich with sweet potato fries.

This thing is a beast! It’s really good though. As usual with a club sandwich, I end up deconstructing it and taking out some of the bread. It still defeats me though, so we’re done and we get the bill.

Suddenly, my old nemesis, exhaustion pops up and hits me in the chops. I don’t know if it was the sudden carb overload, the lunchtime tequila, or what, but I feel like I just need to curl up in a ball and have a little sleep. This isn’t like me at all, it’s maddening as I’m no delicate little special snowflake usually so I feel really frustrated. It's not surprising though, everyone I've bumped into since getting home, who'd been looking at photos on Instagram or Facebook has said "how busy was that holiday of yours?!"

We decide the best thing is to walk it off, so we head back into Islands of Adventure as Andy wants to ride Spiderman again.

The heat is ridiculously oppressive by now, and I don’t really feel up to riding so soon after lunch so Andy goes off by himself and I find a shady spot to sit outside a restaurant. I catch up on some notes, and to my amusement, there is someone dressed up as the Green Goblin (later confirmed by Andy, I didn’t have a clue) sneaking up on the diners inside the restaurant and pressing his face up against the glass. It’s a group of Japanese girls that he’s picked on and their shrieking reaction is priceless.

Andy is back with me in no time and we decide what our best plan of action is. Obviously, being who we are, we choose the worst plan of action, which involved us walking all the way back through IoA to get the Hogwarts Express back over to Universal. Why we opted to do this is beyond me (other than wanting to get the step count up), and by the time we get to Jurassic Park, we are both flagging. Seriously sweaty and breathless and we can’t believe that the temperature is only about 30c as we both look like we’ve been on a constant rotation of the Dudley Do-Rite ride without getting off.

Side note: a lovely thing happened as we were going through the turnstiles at IoA. An elderly chap wearing a “Vietnam Vet” hat was coming through at the same time as us, with his wife, and one of the staff notices him, and starts thanking him profusely for his service to his country. He’s asking the chap stories about where he was posted and so on, and they’re engaging in quite the conversation. Then, he asks the man and his wife to follow him, where he proceeds to give them both complementary FOTL passes for anything they want to ride. How nice. And they say people are mean in Universal!

Feeling like the bit in National Lampoon’s Vacation where Clark gets lost in the desert, I stop at the nearest snack stand and buy a bottle of water. Naturally, as we are in Potterland, the water is double the price of anywhere else and I end up spanking over $5 on 500mls of Gillywater. Curses! It’s gone in about three seconds flat, and as I posted on Instagram at the time, I feel very much that I put the “mug” in “muggle” at this point.

We schlep our way into the Hogsmeade station and for the first time, we experience a queue here. We don’t mind too much though as at least it’s cool and unbelievably, everyone is behaving themselves. Once back in “London”, we realise we’re too hot and bothered to do much else, so we head towards the exit of the park. Andy’s heart rate is the highest it’s been so far this trip so it makes sense to call it a day. We do stop off via The Mummy though, where I hand him my bag (wahoo, lockers are for suckers) and I have a quick go as a single rider. I do love this ride.

I’m on and off within ten minutes, reunite with Andy and we head back to City Walk. We decide that the most sensible thing to do is go into the cinema to cool down, as otherwise we’d just be rattling round in the room at the resort, probably wishing we’d stayed in the park. The only film with a start time that didn’t involve too much waiting is the 17:00 London Has Fallen, so we buy a couple of tickets and head inside to wait.

We get a couple of Sprites that are literally the size of small children and sit at the tall tables in the atrium, swigging away. I also get a small popcorn as I find it physically impossible to come to the cinema and not have popcorn. I put some butter on it, of course, and have a panicky moment when the button gets lodged and it won’t stop pouring out. Ooops. Oh well, we’ve done a lot of steps today so I manage to justify it to myself. And I don’t eat it all, honest.

The film itself is pretty cack. It’s kind of weird and not very nice watching your capital city being blown up, it’s terribly cheesy and we don’t think much to Gerard Butler’s American accent. Still, it serves the purpose and we leave, feeling cooler and a bit more rested. We exit via the moving walkways, which aren’t actually moving as one of them has broken down and the other one is jammed by a family up front who have decided they simply don’t have another step in them and are standing still, oblivious of all the people behind them who want to get past.

The next scene is pretty funny in retrospect, although it didn’t feel like it at the time. We go down the escalator to order an Uber but neither of us can get wifi reception. The massive Sprites are starting to work their way through, so we go back up and have a stop at the restroom on the concourse. There’s a woman in there keeping a close eye on her young son, who is griping that he wasn’t allowed to go in the men’s room. She then announces to everyone in the restroom that he has form for peeking into the cubicles so he has to go everywhere with her. Nice. And the son is about 17 years old (I’m kidding…he’s about 35…not really). She should have just told us he was transgender and had done with it.

So, we head down the escalators and Andy opens up the Uber app again, except he still can’t get a wifi signal. I then need another trip to the restroom (told you those Sprites were massive) so go back up, then come back down again. It’s like a deleted scene from Benny Hill, I can almost hear the music playing in the background.

We finally manage to get an Uber ordered, and we are lucky enough to get Alan, who is a total legend. He’s an older gentleman, looks like Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves, only dressed like a National Express bus driver, and has inspirational quotes (printed in comic sans, naturally) cut out carefully and stuck on his dashboard.

He offers us some strawberry gum, and on the drive back to the resort, we have a good old natter about various things, mainly architecture and the different “Eyes” around the world. We were driving past the Orlando Eye and I asked him how tall it was. Alan reckoned 400’, which was 100’ smaller than the London one. (I have not validated this with research). He then tells us that New York have plans for an Eye, but they are waiting for Dubai to announce theirs, so that they can make sure theirs is just that little bit bigger.

We weren’t sure of the protocol regarding where Uber drivers can drop you at a park without having to pay an entry fee so we have decided to go back to the resort.

Sorry about the lack of photos in this section, by the way...

We’re planning on going to Hollywood Studios to catch the Symphony In The Stars fireworks, which I‘m excited about as the snippet we saw on our first day looked amazing, but DHS is so close to our resort that it makes no odds to go back first to get changed and have a short rest (an actual rest, not a restroom rest, although given the size of those cinema drinks, probably an actual rest too).

A quick scan of Andy’s magic band at the gate and we’re ushered in, so Alan is able to drop us off right in the Martinique car park. Win. Andy has really enjoyed some Alan time, and later says it’s one of his fondest moments of the holiday (each to their own) and so he tips him $5 and gives him a 5* rating, both of which I agree with.

We make a pact not to sit down in the room, but we instantly both break it.

Can't get off the bed:

I find that the room is spinning a bit, and I wonder if I am “over-simulated” from the day at Universal. Andy had this earlier in the trip, when he felt that he was still moving even though he was just lying in bed. We gulp down some water (I eye the leftover Bud-a-Rita in the fridge but leave it be) and leave the room again. It’s just starting to get dark, so must be about 20:00, and the fireworks start at 21:45 so we figure we can get a quick Star Tours, or maybe even a Toy Story ride in beforehand.

However, once on the bus, I start feeling even worse. It’s all spinning and I just can’t keep my eyes open. Andy can see I’m not right and asks if I still want to go, gallantly saying he isn’t as bothered about the fireworks as me, and is also shattered and would be happy to do it another time. I say no, that we should keep going. I make it as far as Trinidad South before deciding, no, it isn’t happening, and that I need to get off the bus and go back to the room. I feel absolutely terrible, both physically and about having to turn back, but my body is telling me it has had enough.

It’s a slow, pitiful walk back from Trinidad South, and we stop off via Old Port Royale to use our dwindling snack credits on some more water and a cookie for Andy as he’s feeling peckish. I feel guilty but he reiterates he is fine about the fireworks and more than happy to have an early night. Once in bed, I start making some notes on the day but the page is swimming, I can’t get comfortable and I have more than a sneaking suspicion that the chunder dragon is coming to pay a visit.

Looking back at my notes, they are barely legible so it must have been bad. I bark at Andy to put the telly on quick, and leg it into the bathroom to do the necessary. I immediately feel a hundred, million times better than I did, and it even crosses my mind to check whether we could still make it to the fireworks in time. Hardcore. I then think better of it and crawl back to bed, where I proceed to pass out cold, as my poor husband watches a loop of Stacey’s best bits.

I feel compelled to write something else here so your last paragraph isn’t about being unwell but there wasn’t a lot else to say. Ummm. Sorry about that. A few of you have already put in the comments that you appreciate the honesty of this trip report, so be careful what you wish for!

We had had a really nice day up until this point, weird how we felt we were adjusted to the temperature but this day was utterly punishing. I also wonder whether swallowing the water on the Jurassic Park ride had an adverse effect on me, much as the Kali River Rapids did earlier in the trip? Anyway. Onwards!

I hope you’ll join us for the next instalment, where we return to Animal Kingdom and have dinner in Epcot… I promise it will be a vomit-free zone.

Essential stats:
2 parks. 15 attractions. 19,755 steps. 8.77 miles. 31c (felt a lot warmer)

Next day is here

[Redrach1903]

Hahaha you are the first person I’ve ever heard burning their armpits! OUCH!

I know what you mean about wishing you had done things when you look back. I do that too. At the time I’m like “meh its ok” and then months later I’m like “WHHYYYYY didn’t I ride that?” Haha!

I agree that Seuss stuff is uber creepy. Colourful though. Lol.

Aww what a shame you ended up feeling poorly. Sometimes too much sun and all the simulator action at US can make you feel a bit gads. You did the right thing going back to the room and resting.

Great and amusing read as ever lovely xxx

[HelenJNT]

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Hahaha you are the first person I’ve ever heard burning their armpits! OUCH!

I know what you mean about wishing you had done things when you look back. I do that too. At the time I’m like “meh its ok” and then months later I’m like “WHHYYYYY didn’t I ride that?” Haha!

I agree that Seuss stuff is uber creepy. Colourful though. Lol.

Aww what a shame you ended up feeling poorly. Sometimes too much sun and all the simulator action at US can make you feel a bit gads. You did the right thing going back to the room and resting.

Great and amusing read as ever lovely xxx

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Haha, I know right, what an idiot.

I think not-doing-stuff is designed to get you to go back!

Yeah, you hear of people feeling queasy a lot at Universal, don't you? I think it's definitely all the simulators.

Thanks for commenting xx

[Gusgusmummy]

Laughing all the way through your report as always 😂😂 excellent update ! Yes that London has fallen was bloody awful it was so bad that when watching it I wondered if it was a spoof type film !
I have missed somewhere why Andy has given up drink for this trip ? I looked back but can't see it either xx

[Lisa_Lollipop]

So pleased the crowd levels were better at Universal/IoA... it really makes such a difference! And I totally agree about IoA, if you aren't in the market for getting drenched you can be in and out of there pretty quick!

Such a shame you suffered at the end of the day, but sometimes a good chunder does the world of good eh?!

The food at Margaritaville looked fab, gutted we didn't make it there!

[secretivemum]

Burnt armpits?
Another great day- thanks for sharing- back to work now so hurry up and write the next day 😀

[HelenJNT]

Originally Posted by Gusgusmummy

Laughing all the way through your report as always 😂😂 excellent update ! Yes that London has fallen was bloody awful it was so bad that when watching it I wondered if it was a spoof type film !
I have missed somewhere why Andy has given up drink for this trip ? I looked back but can't see it either xx

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Thanks for reading. Glad it's not just me that thought that film was appalling! So happy.

I talked about it on Day 1, so a while ago. He'd been taken to A&E with an irregular heartbeat and wanted to avoid caffeine and alcohol on the trip as we thought they were potential triggers 😟

[HelenJNT]

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop

So pleased the crowd levels were better at Universal/IoA... it really makes such a difference! And I totally agree about IoA, if you aren't in the market for getting drenched you can be in and out of there pretty quick!

Such a shame you suffered at the end of the day, but sometimes a good chunder does the world of good eh?!

The food at Margaritaville looked fab, gutted we didn't make it there!

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I know, it was so much better there today. Still not as good as your day there though!

Margaritaville was good, I would definitely go back. Bet it's nice of an evening too.

[HelenJNT]

Originally Posted by secretivemum

Burnt armpits?
Another great day- thanks for sharing- back to work now so hurry up and write the next day 😀

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I know, what a loser.

It's all written, every day, it's just getting the time to post it all!