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19 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

 


For some of the rides, you can’t have bags or anything in your pockets. The lockers are free for a period of time. It’s just a bit inconvenient.

Like Keith mentioned, the train really moves, but the stuff you see in the window is a screen, and then there is frosted glass with more effects on the other side. It’s very well done!


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There are rumors that the new monorails might have augmented reality windows.

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No, this isn’t a Star Wars reference. My family spent Spring Break at Universal Orlando! Can you believe it? Can you also believe I’d never been there? Yep, it’s true.   Z turned 9 the day before we

Welcome!!!! I can't wait for the 2019 edition of that trip! 

Why does the foot hassock look like a hidden Mickey 

Just now, Travisma said:

There are rumors that the new monorails might have augmented reality windows.

What would be better than views of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and some resort hotels?  Unless they will just turn on the windows when the monorail breaks down, so you have the illusion you are still moving.  

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1 minute ago, DaveInTN said:

What would be better than views of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and some resort hotels?  Unless they will just turn on the windows when the monorail breaks down, so you have the illusion you are still moving.  

I added the full story to the monorail posting

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Okay... back and caught up.  Looks like you guys had so much fun!  We're not huge Universal people however, even though the roller coasters hurt Tom's back... he still really loves them.  We'll probably wait a few years until both kids are (possibly) interested in the big one and then make a trip over.  The pool at the resort looks really nice!

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On 5/14/2018 at 3:35 PM, Travisma said:

There are rumors that the new monorails might have augmented reality windows.

That might be cool in some areas.... 

On 5/14/2018 at 3:37 PM, DaveInTN said:

What would be better than views of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and some resort hotels?  Unless they will just turn on the windows when the monorail breaks down, so you have the illusion you are still moving.  

You're bad! 

On 5/15/2018 at 8:23 AM, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Okay... back and caught up.  Looks like you guys had so much fun!  We're not huge Universal people however, even though the roller coasters hurt Tom's back... he still really loves them.  We'll probably wait a few years until both kids are (possibly) interested in the big one and then make a trip over.  The pool at the resort looks really nice!

Welcome back! I can't wait to hear more about your trip. The coasters we rode were very smooth. I was impressed with that. 

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After leaving the Harry Potter area, we headed to the Jurassic Park area.

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Our first stop was the Pteranodon Flyers. This ride is an interesting concept because there’s both a minimum and maximum height requirement. You can’t ride unless someone in the party is between those. You basically soar around the land. It’s a decent ride.

There’s also a playground around there.

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We headed over to Jurassic Park the ride. It’s kind of like dinosaur and splash mountain put together.

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I wasn’t really prepared for how wet I got. The funny thing is that Haley wasn’t wet at all. I guess it depends on how you splash down. We enjoyed the ride a lot though.

Next up was Kong. It’s a combo ride vehicle and virtual reality. I’ve never ridden anything quite like it. It was really well done. The only issue was that our wait was terrible, even with Express Pass. I think we waited over 30 minutes. Maybe something broke down for a bit? Great ride though.

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By this time, it was lunch. We really wanted to try both Harry Potter restaurants, so we decided to backtrack and see if there was a long wait for Three Broomsticks.

There was a small line outside, but it was moving, so we decided to give it a go. They have a family feast you can order, so we decided to do that. It sounded great and YOLO.

Here’s what $59 gets you.

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That’s a salad, a whole chicken, ribs, corn, veggies, and potatoes. It was all really good. Honestly, we probably could have saved money by ordering separate, smaller meals, but we put a good hurting on it, so I was ok with the price.

Cute kid

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Three broomsticks

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After lunch, we did Poseidon’s Fury, which is a walk through special effects show. It had some interesting effects. I wouldn’t do it every trip, but it wasn’t a waste of time. Z really liked it.

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We headed to the Suess area next. I love the theming there. Since Jason could ride the trolley, we did.

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My very poor attempt at a family selfie

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At this point, we were really hot, so we decided to go back to the hotel for a little nap. On our way we stopped at the Toothsome Chocolate Factory to REALLY cool off.

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Check out these milkshakes!

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Sundae

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I highly recommend satisfying your sweet tooth at that restaurant. It has a steam punk atmosphere which is also pretty cool.

Ok we’re going to take a nap and then head back to Islands of Adventure.



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Loving all the pix.  It’s getting me excited for our up coming trip in 3 weeks

 

lookkng forward to King Kong. It was closed when we were there last year.  

 

$59 for four people to eat doesn’t seem bad for all that food.  Heck a burger costs you $18 now a days. 

 

Loved the chocolate factory  we loaded up on candy

 

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The Pteranodon Flyers... the last time we were at Universal, our girl was little (I wasn't pregnant with our little man yet...so I want to say she was about 3.5).   I rode that with her, but I remember it being just a lap bar (nothing over your shoulders) and she kept leaning over looking down at the ground. I spent the entire ride yelling, "Sit up! Sit up!" :lol:

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The line for the Kong ride seemed to take ages when I did it and that was the express line as well, that corridor seems to go on for ever.

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So strange. I wonder what the deal is with that. It did seem like the hall went forever!

I swear milkshakes all need to be Instagram worthy these days.  What happened to plain old milkshakes?  I guess since they can charge $13-15 for them, they'll keep making them.    


I think these were $12. But they were huge and had whole desserts attached. I think they were worth it. We also got to keep the cup.

Loving all the pix.  It’s getting me excited for our up coming trip in 3 weeks
 
lookkng forward to King Kong. It was closed when we were there last year.  
 
$59 for four people to eat doesn’t seem bad for all that food.  Heck a burger costs you $18 now a days. 
 
Loved the chocolate factory  we loaded up on candy
 


It was a ton of food! I want to hear what you think of Kong. The technology is cool.

The Pteranodon Flyers... the last time we were at Universal, our girl was little (I wasn't pregnant with our little man yet...so I want to say she was about 3.5).   I rode that with her, but I remember it being just a lap bar (nothing over your shoulders) and she kept leaning over looking down at the ground. I spent the entire ride yelling, "Sit up! Sit up!" :lol:


Ha ha! I could totally see doing that! I feel that way about a ride at our local fair. It’s slower and seems to last forever too.


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Our room was very close to the spa, and I kept being tempted by seeing it and these signs. I’d heard that there was a groupon for it. Since tomorrow was going to be a pool day, I decided to check. There was a Groupon and availability. #winning
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After our rest, we headed back to IOA for dinner and more rides. This is the view of our resort from the water.

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We had to play around in a gift shop.

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We had reservations at Mythos, which bills itself as the best restaurant inside a theme park. I was interested in that claim since I believe Tiffins is by far the best.

The inside and outside of the restaurant are really cool. You’re eating in a made cave.

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Prices here are pretty reasonable, especially if you’re comparing to Disney table service.

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After our huge lunch, I wasn’t that hungry, so I went with the gnocchi. At $13.99 it’s about the price of Disney QS.

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It was decent, not outstanding. I know it’s not fair to compare to Tiffins, a signature restaurant, but I’m not sure why they’re #1.

Haley got fish tacos again.

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Jason got a salad.

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The food was pretty good but wasn’t anything stellar. We all agreed we’d eat there again for the ambiance and reasonable prices though.


After dinner it was time to head to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We wanted to see the night show on Hogwarts. Once I saw the insane crowd I knew I had to have a drink.

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For some reason though, I didn’t take a picture of the crown. Imagine the Magic Kingdom when the fireworks are about to start, only the area is much smaller. One thing they do well though is make the area one way. The show isn’t super long and runs someone continuously. As people exit they can’t turn around. They force them to leave through the Jurassic Park area.

We had heard to stay back a bit, and that was a good choice. We all enjoyed the show.

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We took the long way out and snapped some pics on the way.

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The park was pretty much cleared out. We rode Spider-Man which is a good simulator ride.

Then took the boat back to the hotel.

We spent some time enjoying the view. Do you see Rip it Rockit in the left corner?

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After some wine, it was time for bed. This trip is winding down as I’m almost out of pictures.



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Kong-  excellent. It was well done and a thrill ride that anyone can ride.  

The ride vehicle reminds me of the trucks in Disney’s Safari ride.   No seat belts or lap bar.  But you do wear 3-D glasses. You basically ride through different scenes and the truck rocks and rolls with the action on the screens.   The action is on both sides of the truck so try and sit in the middle and watch both sides.

Btw. Fast & furious ride uses the same technology but IMHO not as well done as Kong and it seemed to be a lot shorter ride.  

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On 5/25/2018 at 8:25 PM, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

We had reservations at Mythos, which bills itself as the best restaurant inside a theme park. I was interested in that claim since I believe Tiffins is by far the best.

The inside and outside of the restaurant are really cool. You’re eating in a made cave.

It was decent, not outstanding. I know it’s not fair to compare to Tiffins, a signature restaurant, but I’m not sure why they’re #1.

Rene an I felt the same way. The food was average at best and the service we had was poor. I can't remember the name but we liked the Irish Pub that is in the other park better. While it wasn't anything fancy but the food was prepared well, with better service and a more reasonable price.

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Mythos has somehow managed to keep the "Best Theme Park Restaurant" identity for a long time. We ate there once over ten years ago. I thought it was very good, and it was certainly nicer than anything Disney had at the time. Thinking about it now, it probably still is nicer and with better prices than anything Disney is currently offering inside any of their parks. I blame the Disney Dining Plan. 

TCD 

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