Probably the most boring trip report in the world... ever - Part 12. IOA

[Dizzy]

Part 12 – IOA

CAST
Shannon - 8 - I want to be a princess
Dale - 15 - I'm not that bothered about going
Martin (DH) - 40 - Things don’t need planning they just happen
Sarah (ME) - 38 - Chief organizer and peacemaker


We were all up bright and early this morning, raring to go. We grabbed breakfast to go again and made our way to Islands Of Adventure, found a parking space in an almost empty car park and took a leisurely walk to the entrance. Well I say leisurely but to be honest it started off that way but as soon as Dale and I saw the Hulk it turned into a race, unfortunately we did have to stop for 2 minutes at the gates though. I was so keen to go I had to be dragged back to have my bag checked.
The one ride that Dale had gone on and on about before our holiday was The Incredible Hulk Coaster so we decided to head there first and see what the queue was like. Great, 5 minutes. We got in our seats, I double checked our straps and off we go. Half way up the first slope in the tunnel, hands up in the air ready for when we get to the top and start the ride properly when aaarrrrrrrgghh, we shot up and out like a bullet out of a gun. I think I should have read the description of the ride properly in the Unofficial Guide before we went or maybe not, I think this was the only ride to surprise me on the holiday. This ride has got to be in my top 5 rides in Florida, we absolutely loved it and could have rode it all day but I don’t think Martin and Shannon would have been as impressed.
Shannon was already unhappy at not being allowed to go on Hulk but luckily we were close enough to Storm Force Accelatron to go on that straight away. That cheered her up a bit, I really hope she grows a good few inches before our next trip so that she can go on more of the bigger rides.
Call me a chicken but there was no way I was going on Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. I could ride rollercoaster’s all day but anything that involves shooting all that way into the air and leaving your stomach at the top when you drop back down I can do without. I had quite enjoyed my breakfast. Instead we joined the queue for The Adventures of Spider-man, a long queue this one……10 minutes. This is an awesome ride, I loved the drop from the skyscraper to the floor……….looking at that, no wonder Martin cant work me out, I loved that but wouldn’t go on Dr Doom.Lol I confuse myself how can I expect him to keep up.
As we came out of Spiderman we found Martin taking photos of Superheroes who had arrived on quads while we were inside. He reckons he had to take lots of photos in case we weren’t back out in time. I thought Capt. America looked quite nice in that outfit, Martin said he preferred the woman out of X-Men (don’t ask me her name, I haven’t got a clue). We found Spiderman in The Marvel Alterniverse Store and took our own photos as an alternative to theirs. Even Dale looked pleased to see him, although there’s no way he’ll admit it.





It was soon time for the lycra clad superheroes to leave, which I must admit was an impressive sight when they rode away on their quads.
We took a slow walk round to Toon Lagoon, the day was warming up nicely and I was looking forwards to the water rides. Shannon spotted characters before we could get on any rides so lots of photos had to be taken, she was especially thrilled to see Popeye, Olive Oyl and Woody Woodpecker.

Shannons Muscles. LOL...



First ride was Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. Great, we got nice and wet. We decided that while we were wet anyway we may as well get wetter. We had a 10 minute wait for Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. Shannon really enjoyed the theming but to be honest I don’t remember a whole lot about it, I must admit I was nervously waiting for the drop. Why is it I am fine on coasters but when I sit just waiting to drop I get nervous? When the drop finally came Shannon jolted forward and my arm instinctively flew across her so the drop was actually over before I knew it. There were some rides on this holiday (R’n’R Coaster for one) that I told Shannon she couldn’t go on because although she was just tall enough she is only skinny like Dale and myself. I once had a bad experience of a ride where I spent the whole time holding on to him because he was sliding through a shoulder harness. At the bottom I thought, oh, not too wet. Wrong, the water cannons got us and I came off soaked (Shannon was fine off course in her waterproof). Martin greeted us with a grin from ear to ear and took a few photos of us soaking wet. It wasn’t until 5 minutes later that I realised why he couldn’t stop grinning, a few looks from passing ‘gentlemen’ made me look down. Only then did I realise to my horror that my top had turned see through while wet. Martin thought it was hysterical as I hastily got my lightweight top on.
When I finally composed myself we carried on walking to Jurassic Park. Martin was going to take Shannon on Pteranodon Flyers but the queue for this, funnily enough was massive so the kids played in Camp Jurassic for a while, while we had a rest and Pretzels. Then onto another water ride Jurassic Park River Adventure, Shannon loved being scared by the big T-rex she thought was going to eat her alive just before the drop. I kept my top on for this one but need not have bothered as we hardly got wet at all. We passed on the Jurassic Park Discovery Center in spite of my protests of ‘you’re not at school, maybe you should do something educational’.
The Lost Continent next and the first ride was The Flying Unicorn. Yawn. On to Duelling Dragons, unfortunately another ride that Shannon couldn’t go on. We chose ice; we always pick blue over red for football reasons. Lol. A 15 minute wait and a great ride. The kids had their photos taken with Merlin afterwards, Shannon loved his costume.


We then got ice creams and watched people making wishes at the Mystic Fountain, it was so funny watching the little kids when the fountain spoke to them. It was time for The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad show so we decided to go and see it. We were told that the boat in the middle is used as part of the set during the show so of course as soon as we were let in Dale was jumping over the seats to make sure we sat there totally oblivious to the warnings over the loud speaker of not running or climbing over seats. Personally I thought this was rubbish, I don’t know if the rest of the shows in IOA/Universal are the same but if they are we will definitely give them a miss in future, they could learn a lot of lessons from Disney.
On entering Seuss Landing Shannon instantly spotted Thing 1 and 2 and Cat in the Hat so of course it was time for more photos’ and a long chat to the Cat about his Hat.



I had actually changed things about a bit on our itinerary before we went because I had read that this was the last day The Grinch was in his Lair (we were originally going the next day) and I knew Shannon would love to see him. So we made for the lair. What a nightmare the wait was. We queued for 50 minutes to see the green man, the first part of the queue wasn’t too bad because there were buttons to press (well, actually they said ‘do not press’ but obviously you were meant to press them) that made certain things happen. The film was also on screens near the beginning but as you got further in it got quite hot and stuffy and the queue moved so slowly that a lot of people took advantage of the Emergency exit door including Dale who decided it was too dark to play on his game boy and he’d wait for us outside. Once we finally made it to the front of the queue it was brilliant, The Grinch is so funny and rude you just had to laugh, his autograph for Shannon actually reads ‘The Grinch …Buzz Off’.

The only other ride that Shannon wanted to go on was The Cat in the Hat, which there was a 10 minute wait for and was actually quite enjoyable.
It was still only 5.30pm so we decided to leave IOA and go back into Universal to redo a couple of rides in there that we had enjoyed first time round and hopefully see Shrek 4D. Unfortunately there was, yet again, a really long queue for Shrek so there was a unanimous vote for Men in Black. There was a 20 minute queue for this and this time Dale won which made him happy, he can’t be outdone by his eight year old sister. The queue for Back to the Future was 25 minutes but we did want to go on this one last time before going home so we joined it. Just as good as the first time we went on.
We were all getting really hungry after snacking during the day so we left the parks. First stop was Pastamore Market Café for coffees and milkshakes, Martin ended up buying the magic card trick he had been fascinated by in the parks off of a street vendor and was then really disappointed to find out that he had to wait until he got home to learn how to do it because he had a CD to watch first. We took a walk back round to the NASCAR Café to see if we could get a table, instantly losing the kids when we went in amongst all the amusements. We were shown upstairs straight away (after rounding our missing kids up) and seated near the window. The service here was good and friendly but I’m afraid I didn’t think much too the food, for one thing it wasn’t that warm. We definitely prefer Race Rock and will stick to that in future.
We spent some time (and money) looking at the street stalls and just had a walk round the nightclubs. The kids had to have their photos took on the famous surf board and then……oh no……Shannon remembered that she wanted a cuddly toy from The Endangered Species Store. It was on the tip of my tongue to remind her that she already has problems getting into bed at night because of the cuddly toys she has collected and that another one on top of the Mickey Mouse she had already got would be a bit much. But then I saw her walk straight up to the hedgehogs, pick one up, cuddle it and say “see, I told you I’d come back for you, didn’t I”. Well how could I say no, ok she might have to sleep on the floor, but if that’s what she wants.
With tired feet we made our way back to the car and back to the hotel for cocoa and cookies before going back to our room and bed.

[janeywaney]

Busy day was had by all there Sarah! Great report fab photo's the kids look like they are having a whale of a time!
Jane

[Guest]

Dizzy

You do yourself a dis-service with the title of your reports. I have enjoyed them all, nice and chatty and NOT at all boring.

Kitty

[Kim]

Thanks For that Sarah,

Really enjoying your trippies.

Totally agree with your opinion on Dr Doom... No way
l Iove TOT though... at least it's got a building round it so you can't see.

Kim

[Guest]

Another busy day i see. Great trippie keep them coming.


Jools

[Dizzy]

Thank you all.
Kitty, I was really worried about doing any trippies at all, hence the title. Lol. I have loved doing them it really keeps the holiday alive.

Kim, I think you hit the nail on the head about TOT.

Sarah

[highlander447]

Another great day and pics by the way that woman if she was in white was "Storm" I agree with martin by the way

[Dizzy]

Originally posted by highlander447
by the way that woman if she was in white was "Storm" I agree with martin by the way

See more...

LOL

[AlisonB]

Brilliant day! But you really have to do Dr Doom next time you go - brilliant ride!

[Villainlover]

Excellent trip report again. You will have to give Dr Dooms a try next time as it honestly does nothing to your tummy.. No way will I go on Tower of Terror I hated three drops it made me
So I really do not think I could handle 'random'. But Dr dooms is nothing really...

LOL at the hedge hog ...how could you resist that.