Is it 2009 Already? 20/01/08 -Universal Studios

[Guest]

Day 9 Sunday 20th January Universal Studios Hard Rock Café

Weather today – very sunny, cold wind, absolutely Baltic!

We were going back to Universal today, as we wanted to try out the ‘new’ ride ‘Disaster. Once again we valet parked so we would be straight up the escalator and into City Walk. It costs us $9 using our AP discount to valet park. We were asked if we’d like to try the new ‘Red Carpet’ parking. This costs $25 – no discounts available. The difference is the car is left right where you drop the car off, so collection will be quicker. ‘$25! Er no thank you’ said Bill. I was well wrapped up against the elements but Bill who thinks he’s immune to the cold because he’s ‘frae Scotland’ was wearing just a t-shirt and shorts (and those rocking shoes). As we approached the Nascar café place he said maybe we should just have a look in the shop inside as maybe he would buy a sweatshirt or something for when we were home again – yeah right he was freezing cold. I could tell by the slightly blue skin tone he was sporting. He ended up buying a nice warm hoodie, which was reduced to $25 from $50.

It was quite busy on that cold Sunday morning, but we were still through the gates within 5 minutes. The Blues Brothers were playing and we stood and watched them for a while.

We then went to ‘Disaster,’ which is the old ‘Earthquake’ ride. Am I the only person who liked that ride? The board was showing a 30 minute wait, so we waited. It took a lot longer than 30 minutes. We thought maybe the ride had broken down at some point as there was a long wait when the line didn’t move at all. As it was the first time we’d been there since the revamp we were interested in looking at the new props outside. Bill of course took lots of photographs. Here are some of them.





We both enjoyed this. There is a lot of audience participation, which made it more interesting. Although I liked Earthquake it was due a revamp and this is a good one.

After Disaster we had a look in the candy making shop and then sat outside Richters, overlooking the lake for a while. It was actually quite pleasant sitting in the sun once we found a sheltered spot.


We went to The Horror Make Up show, which was funny as always, thankfully I didn’t get selected to take part in the show. The vinyls were playing outside Mels Diner again



We saw poor old Doc Brown too. I thought Universal had sacked him

By 2pm we were getting hungry and so went to the Hard Rock Café for a late lunch.

[Guest]

We had to wait about 15 minutes for a table and were seated right at the back on the ground floor. I ordered chicken fajitas, and Bill opted for a cheeseburger (as usual). Service in the HRC was bad. We waited almost an hour for our food to arrive and when it did we were so hungry we devoured it without thinking to take any photographs My fajitas were delicious when they eventually arrived, but we were getting a bit impatient waiting for the food.



After our lunch we left Universal for one of my favourite Florida attractions - Walgreens. After all it was Sunday so that meant we had to go to Walgreens to buy the Sentinel. Bill was eager to see the Circuit City supplement, but to his disappointment it was not included this week. I had gone into Walgreens alone to buy the newspaper, whilst Bill waited in the car. He thinks I took it out deliberately but I didn’t – honest


We returned to HGVC and read the various supplements (just skimmed the actual newspaper).

As we had had such a late lunch we didn’t bother to eat again before we went out to Pleasure Island for the evening. It was really very cold by this time (after 8) and we had just missed the start of the first Comedy show. The Adventurers Club was not open that early so we went to the Virgin megastore to get out of the cold. We sat in the café there for a while nursing hot drinks before going back to PI for the next show in the Comedy Warehouse.

The show usually starts with one of the comedians reminding the audience that the show takes place at Disney and as such there are certain naughty words and phrases that cease to exist especially if there are young guests in the audience (there were a few kids in). Then they went on to the telephone sketch where one of the comedians calls one of the phones in the auditorium. The guy that answered the phone promptly told the comedian to eff off, which is not the done thing at all. I don’t know if he thought he’d get a cheap laugh from that but he didn’t. The whole place was deathly silent and the comedian just said he’d ring another number. The next phone rang and the show went ahead. They recovered well from the false start and we had a good laugh as usual. When the show was over and we were once again back outside we decided it really was too cold to hang around any more and so returned to our villa for the night.

[Michelle]

It doesn't look that cold in the photos

Glad you're having fun.

[georgemac]

Pity about the cold - we have only ever had 1 chilly day in October and it does not feel quite right to be in Florida with anything more than T shirt and shorts, I know how Bill feels, but unfortunately although us Jocks are a wee bit hardy, there are limits and glad he got a warm hoody!

That was a very long wait at HRC for food, maybe it was much busier than they were expecting?

Nice photos, and I always enjoyed the Earthquake ride too, so glad you really liked the makeover, nice photos.

No CC supplement, I am beginning to think that Bill is like me gadgeted out, struggling to find new interesting ones

[TinkTatoo]

Sounds like another good day and I'm glad I'm not the only one who buys the Sentinel on a Sunday for the supplements

[wjd]

Great photo's, shame it's cold.

[Guest]

Imagine a Geordie and a Scot walking around Florida complaining about the cold!

It's snowing here today, and I'm about to head out in my shorts and T-shirt...:P

[BevS97]

I didn't realise you could take kids into the comedy club, I'd quite like to try it one day.

[princessfiona]

sounds like you had a fab time and nice to see your photos.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Highwind

Imagine a Geordie and a Scot walking around Florida complaining about the cold!

It's snowing here today, and I'm about to head out in my shorts and T-shirt...:P

See more...

Another great day Bill & Jools - well apart from the cold