Babieemelly's travel blogs:
- Orlando, Florida: Three Weeks of a Million... 2007
- New York City: "There's no need to... 2007
- Rocky Point, New York: Beaches, Ports and... 2006
- Orlando, Florida: The Three-Week Disney Resort Report 2006
- Rocky Point, New York: A Weekend Threatened... 2006
- New York, New York: Life in the... 2005
- Orlando, Florida: A Month-Long Dream Come True 2005
- Rocky Point, New York: A Snowy Weekend... 2005
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania: A Return to a Childhood... 2004
- Rocky Point, New York: Midnight Beach Parties... 2004
- Long Beach Island, New Jersey: A Weekend... 2002
- Rocky Point, New York: Restoring My Love... 2001
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Day 4: Breakfast in Africa and Men in Black
Entry 17 of 42 | show all | print this entry |
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I woke up at 9:00 this morning and got dressed. As I was getting ready mom came up to my room with one of the calendars I had printed out for her to keep track of everything for the month. She had written up her own itinerary, including days we can go to the parks and days that she didn't want to. Um, I already have an itinerary. She said that I had too much planned and she wanted some days to relax. Well, you should have told me that a few months ago when I created our itinerary! By then I was pretty stressed out so I had to sit there and decide which parks to go to on which days all over again. I know we could have just gone with the flow but I felt better having a set itinerary. Being there for so long made it hard to fit everything in, since a lot of times we'd decide to relax and keep pushing things back, thinking we had plenty of time to do them when that wasn't always the case. Since a lot of our park days changed we also had to change a lot of our restaurant reservations. Some of them I just figured we'd forget about, and some of them I made a note to call and reschedule later on.
While I finished getting ready mom and dad took a ride to the store. It was about 9:45 at this point and we had a 10:45 reservation for breakfast at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We still had plenty of time. I was finished getting ready by 10:00 but I stayed in my room looking over our new schedule. Mike got up at 10:00 and was done getting ready quickly. At 10:15, as I was getting my shoes on to leave for the Animal Kingdom Lodge, I heard the vacuum turn on. Dad's vacuuming NOW?! We have a 10:45 reservation, lets go! Dad finished quickly, claiming that he thought the reservation was for 11:00. We finally got out of the house at 10:30.
We reached Disney property at 10:40 and I had to get a picture of the Welcome sign. This was our first time on Disney property for this trip and I was so excited! We entered right near the main MGM entrance, at the Magic Kingdom exit on I4, and drove across property. There weren't many signs for the Lodge but there were a lot of Animal Kingdom signs so we followed those. I figured the two would be near each other and they were. We pulled into the Animal Kingdom Lodge parking lot at 10:50 and got our three hour parking pass. The outside of the Animal Kingdom Lodge is nice but it's very shaded by trees so I couldn't get a picture where you could see the actual building. We stepped inside and it was beautiful, but nothing impressive. I loved the high ceilings and African accents, and I'm sure the rooms are gorgeous, but I just didn't feel the Disney "magic" there, it could have been any hotel around the world. Which I guess is the point, you're supposed to feel like you're in an African Lodge. But if I'm staying at Disney I still want it to feel like I'm at Disney!
We weren't sure where the restaurant was so we took a look at the big map in the lobby and found that it was right downstairs, so we went down there. The restaurant is really big and open so we were able to see that the place was absolutely empty. There was hardly anyone in there and we definitely didn't need a priority seating for this one. I don't know if the restaurant is always that empty or if it was just because we had a late priority seating. Either way, we checked in and were seated right away. We were seated on the right side of the restaurant, right next to the window looking out to the path that leads to the pool. We were the only ones in the whole section.
Our waitress, Nancy, came over and took our drink orders. She explained to us what Frunch was (a mix of pineapple, orange and grape juice) and we all ordered it, with mom and dad also getting coffee. After we had ordered our drinks, mom and I ran in to use the bathroom. The soap in there was coconut... COCONUT! A far cry from the empty soap dispensers on our drive down I95. Mom and I both fell in love with that soap, as weird as that may sound. We both love coconut and have started using coconut soap at home. It's so tropical! When we went back to the table our drinks were there and we all went up to the buffet to get our food.
I wound up taking brioche, a waffle, a biscuit and sausage skillet dish, a few mini muffins and cinnamon rolls for us all to share, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a piece of the meat breakfast pizza. I wound up picking the raisins out of the brioche, but the food was pretty good! I took a few bites of everything and was full before I could go up for seconds, but mom and dad did. Mike hardly touched his plate - he's always a pain when it comes to food.
We hardly ever saw our waitress after she originally brought our drinks and we had to ask a different waitress who just happened to be walking by for refills. I loved the Frunch! I have always loved mixed-juice drinks (I always mix Cranberry and Orange Juice at home, and sometimes add Seltzer), and this was one of the best I've ever had. Definitely my favorite thing at Boma. While the food was good, it wasn't worth the price. We could have gotten most of the same stuff for way cheaper at any restaurant along I4. Oh well, it was a fun experience. I just don't think we'll be coming back. For breakfast, anyway, we've heard amazing reviews of dinner.
When we were done eating we decided to walk around the resort for a while. Mike was amazed that they had a TV playing cartoons in the lobby. We've stayed at big hotels with TV's in the lobby before, but it was cute that the TV was surrounded by a whole kid-sized area with little couches and rocking chairs. We walked through the lobby and took a few pictures by the outlook overlooking the Savannah. Then we went outside to see the animals. We looked... and looked... and looked... and all we saw were birds. Where were all the animals? We walked around the entire Savannah and didn't see anything. Mom started insisting that there couldn't possibly be actual animals at the hotel because how can they keep wild animals at a hotel? I kept telling her that there usually WERE giraffes, zebras, flamingos and other African animals, but she didn't believe me. Whatever.
It was really hot and humid by now so we went back inside and walked through the lobby to the front entrance of the hotel. There wasn't much else to do there so we left. We have a tradition of doing the Vacation Dance each time we go away. Yes, starting a few years ago we find a good spot and all take turns dancing while someone video tapes it. So on the way out we found a secluded area within the trees, and mom and dad did the vacation dance while Mike and I ran far, far away! It was too hot out! Haha! When they were done dancing we jumped into the hot car, blasted the AC, and thought about what we wanted to do next.
We decided that since we were on Disney property we might as well go to Downtown Disney. I really wanted to get more into the Disney spirit so we decided to go to the Marketplace. We eventually wanted to see the West Side, but I wanted to go to some Disney-related stores. On the way to Downtown Disney from the Animal Kingdom Lodge we passed the big fake Tower of Terror. This was the first time we passed it and I pointed and said "Look, it's the Tower of Terror!" Mom freaked out and screamed that I wasn't going on it. It's a big recreation of the Tower of Terror, with a dangling elevator car and a few fake people screaming. This thing doesn't drop, though, it's just kind of dangling there, swaying in the wind. It was hysterical that she believed that it was the real ride... even though she claims she was kidding. Every time we passed it after that we all had to laugh. I loved that thing!
When we finally got to Downtown Disney we drove over to the Marketplace and parked. There were a lot of spots so I figured it wouldn't be too crowded. I was right, it wasn't too crowded, but it was unbelievably hot. So to get out of the heat we walked through Basin since we were parked right in front of it. I loved all of the bath and body stuff available but I figured I could get the same things at home and not have to worry about it melting on the drive home. We then left out the side door and went right over to the World of Disney. We had to stop on the way, though, to see what trouble Stitch was causing! There was a crashed van set up with little pictures of Stitch all over. It was cute.
We went into the World of Disney store and wow, talk about overwhelming! It was pretty crowded and there was room after room after room of Disney stuff, I didn't know where to begin! I wound up spending $70. I bought a Happiest Celebration on Earth picture frame with Tinker Bell, a photo album with Sorcerer Mickey and the logos from all the parks that says "Where Magic Lives" (I LOVE that slogan!), and the Illuminations and SpectroMagic soundtracks. Dad offered to buy me nice Mickey earrings but since I'm usually allergic to earrings and only wear them every once in a while, I decided not to get them.
When we were done in the World of Disney we walked around by the water for a while. Mom said that she remembered coming in 1992 and walking around at night. She said we loved the Lego store but she doesn't remember a lot of the other stores. I think a lot of them came after 1992, didn't they? Anyway, we went over to the Lego store and took a few pictures. That place is pretty big! We would have loved it when we were little, but we're passed the Lego stage now and didn't buy anything. Done with the Lego store, we walked over to Ghirardelli. Mom loves chocolate so I was excited to show her that there was a Ghirardelli but apparently there's one in the city that I've never seen so this one was nothing new. Oh well. We still got some good free samples of milk chocolate with caramel.... mmmm!
We then continued walking around the Marketplace. We saw the Earl of Sandwich and we all love sandwiches so I had really wanted to try it. However, we had just had a big breakfast and none of us were anywhere near hungry so we skipped it. Then we went into the small discount area where everything is 50% off. All of the items were stored in a small alley and it was very closed in and hot. There wasn't anything good so we left and went next door to Disney Tails. I loved that store! As you can probably tell by now, Oreo is very spoiled and I wanted to buy her everything in there! We decided to be good, though, and we only bought her two new toys - a plastic set of a Mickey hand and pants. They're both really cute and say "Disney Tails," and Oreo still plays with them all the time. I also got a magnet of all the Disney dogs that I could put a picture of Oreo in, and I got my cousin Carianne one with all the Disney cats to put a picture of her cats in.
After Disney Tails the heat was really getting to us so we decided to head back to the condo. In the car Mom mentioned how she didn't want to spend so much money on eating everyday, and we were going to only eat at one more Disney sit-down restaurant. What?! I have so many great ones planned! So we decided to narrow it down to one a week which changed later on, but more on that later. I was really upset but I figured we would have fun at the parks and wouldn't need to worry about the restaurants.
When we got back to the condo we gave Oreo her new toys and she loved them. I watched Witches of Eastwick on HBO and looked through the souvenirs I had bought. I put everything away and looked at my I Love Orlando magazine, before Mike watched a repeat of the Homerun Derby from the night before and I AGAIN re-did our itinerary deciding on which restaurant to go to each week. I then watched "The Lonely Guy" with Steve Martin, which I had never seen before. It was absolutely hysterical and is now one of my favorite movies! I also had some Wheat Thins and Cheese Doodles. Mom and dad ran out to Walgreens to buy two small digital clocks for mine and Mike's rooms since there wasn't a clock in either one, and then we all just hung out.
At 4:30 we decided to head over to Universal Studios. It started drizzling on our way there but we weren't turning back. We just hoped it wouldn't start coming down harder. We parked in King Kong and started our long journey to the front of the park. I hated that walk like I can't even tell you. As we were walking through the parking garage it was nice to see more people leaving than entering, though. When we got to Universal Studios we walked through the main Universal store that takes up much of the left side of the main street. It was really, really hot out so we figured we'd walk through the store to get out of the heat. They had some really cute ET dolls in there. I grew up loving ET, and my cousin Alison loves him now, so I knew I'd have to get a few souvenirs on the way out.
We wanted to go over to Men in Black, but on the way there we passed Shrek and there was only a twenty minute wait listed. We thought this was great for a generally new and popular attraction so we got on line. The line was outside, but again we really weren't that hot since Universal had huge fans blowing from above us. The outdoor line was really funny, with movie posters using the Shrek characters to make fun of Disney! When we got inside, after about ten minutes, we moved all the way up to the front of the pre-show room, which was set up like a dungeon. There was a kid in a brown robe with a hood covering his face standing at a podium. He told us that whenever he said the word "flogging" we all had to scream. He then continued to say "Anyone who eats in the theater will get a flogging!" (Ahhh!), "Anyone who drinks in the theater will get a flogging!" (Ahhh!), "Anyone who smokes in the theater will get a flogging!" (Ahh!), "Anyone who takes flash photography in the theater will get a flogging!" (Ahhh!)
There were three separate screens on the wall behind him, and when he as done warning us about our floggings they all turned on with one of the 3 Little Pigs in each one. They talked about Shrek and made fun of each other. There was also a box with legs sticking out of the top which housed an upside down Pinocchio. He told a lie, I forgot what it was, and his nose grew and came out of a little hole in the box. It was too funny! Then on two other big screens came the ghost of Farquaad, the evil villain from Shrek. He told the story of Shrek and reviewed a few different parts of the movie. All the while on another screen was the Gingerbread Man tied to a table with a leg missing, just like he was in the film. While they showed clips of Shrek on the two larger screens, on this one you could see the Gingerbread Man wiggling and grunting and trying to escape. When the review of Shrek was over he finally broke free and ran towards the screen, banged on it, and screamed at us to help him escape. He then ran off, and the doors to the theater opened.
We got our 3D glasses and took seats in the middle of the theater. It was so empty that we didn't even need to move all the way down to the end of the row, which was nice. The show started, and wow... this was the best 3D show I had ever seen! The 3D was all digital and perfectly crystal clear, and the special effects, consisting of water, puffs of air, bubbles and confetti, were great. There were a lot of chase scenes and whenever Shrek and Donkey were bouncing along in their wagon trying to save Fiona from the dragon the whole theater would shake. It wasn't like a simulator where the room actually moved, but the floors would begin to shake and vibrate. Very cool. There were a lot of jokes that kids wouldn't get, like in the actual Shrek movies, but it was very, very funny. At the very end of the show the Gingerbread Man was shot out of a sling-shot and then we saw his little legs wiggling out of the wall on the side of the theater, like he was stuck in it! Mom didn't think she would like the show since the seats shook, but it wasn't bad at all. She loved it, actually!
When we left the theater we decided to head to the back of the park to get on Men in Black. On our way there we saw Marilyn Monroe, Popeye, Olive Oil, and Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future all on the Universal Studios Trolley. Popeye, Olive Oil, and Dr. Emmett Brown were all facing the other side of the street, and Marilyn looked nothing like the real Marilyn Monroe, but it was still fun to see. We stopped to watch for two minutes before walking through New York on our way to the back of the park.
We passed Earthquake on our way to Men In Black and it was just re-opening from being broken down earlier that day. It said there was only a twenty minute wait so we got on line. They let in big groups at a time and we were the second group let in after only a five minute wait. We walked into the first pre-show room where a girl sat by a series of windows. She talked to us about special effects and different techniques used in movies to make the special effects look as realistic as possible. For example, in order for "rain" to show up on film, milk is used instead of water (she made sure to point out that Gene Kelly was, in fact, "Singin' in the Milk!"). Also, "snow" is usually very small feathers, and when leaves are used in a scene thousands of them are usually swept up and reused each day. After she told us each fact it would be demonstrated in each window. She also asked for volunteers for the next part of the attraction, and a group of teenage guys all volunteered their friend who didn't want to do it, and it was a whole big ordeal trying to talk him into it. He didn't do it in the end, though, so the girl picked someone else.
In the next room we stood in rows and watched a film about all of the action-packed Universal movies. They told us about how most of the time they use miniature objects and small sets when it comes to the most extreme special effects and stunts. They also had the sled from the Grinch, the satellite from ET, and the miniature submarine used in U571 all on display. We also saw clips from Earthquake (the movie) and U571. My cousin Cari and I have seen U571 a million and a half times and we love it, but no one else in the theater really knew what it was except for dad. In the next room we all sat on long benches and the people chosen in the first room as extras got to do their thing. There were three guys up on a "boat" with ponchos on, and they were in front of a green screen. On the screens around the room you could see them with the background added in and it looked like the were actually out on the water. There was a little girl who was also picked to be an extra, and she pulled a rope to make water splash on the guys but a big bucket of water was dumped on her instead! The fourth extra was great. When they originally picked her they said that they needed someone who was in good shape and athletic because it was going to be a very physical stunt. They showed video of her sitting on top of a tower, and on the count of three it was supposed to look like she was falling but she was going to be caught by a net. Of course she missed the net and went crashing to the floor and hit it really hard, with her neck completely twisted. And of course that was just a dummy to scare the audience and the girl came walking out afterwards!
When that part of the attraction was over we moved into the next room, which was finally the sound stage. We all boarded a waiting tram with some people facing forwards and some facing backwards. We were sitting backwards as we were brought through a long, dark tunnel. There were rattling noises and lights flashing, and the tram was slightly rocking back and forth so it really felt like we were underground. It was just like being on the subway. Eventually we were brought into a huge, dark, underground train station where things went horribly wrong. We felt the floor start to rumble and eventually it started shaking like crazy, really throwing us around in the tram. The ceiling collapsed and the "street" above us was visible. What's that on the street? A gas tank... and it fell through the hole in the ceiling and came plunging towards us! It stopped right before it reached the tram and burst into flames. Another train came riding along next to us before it swerved and hit our tram. All of a sudden tons and tons of water came rushing towards the tram, power lines burst and sent sparks everywhere, and the lights went out. Then a spotlight went over our tour guide standing up on a balcony and she thanked us all for being extras in the new Earthquake film. As we began to leave, the whole room began to reset itself which was very weird and cool to see. We went back through the tunnel, going forward this time, and exited the ride. I loved it.
Done with Earthquake, we decided to finally make it to the back of the park to go on Men In Black. On our way back there, though, we had to take a detour because tons of people were standing around watching an actual episode of Family Fear Factor being taped. There was a kid in a harness standing on top of a car, so I'll have to check out the new season of Fear Factor to see what exactly they were doing.
The wait for Men In Black was sixty minutes but we hadn't really waited on any long lines yet so we decided to just go for it. The first part of the line was outside and really hot. They had a few fans around but it wasn't as cool as the lines for other rides. When we got to the part of the line right before we entered the indoor line, the kids behind us started flipping out. There were two guys and two girls, maybe a year or two younger than me, and apparently they were smoking and someone told an employee who made them stop. I'm allergic to smoke and it really bothers me but I actually didn't smell anything. However, the guys started screaming, "What the f*ck, a f*cking old man telling on me! Sh*t, you screw up your own life, not ours!" They were some trashy dirtbgas, I'll tell you that. Who acts like that, especially with so many kids around?! Ugh.
When we got to the front of the building that houses the indoor line and ride mom asked the girl working the ride if there was a way to leave at the end of the line so she wouldn't have to go on the actual ride. I assured her she could get off the line right at the end and wait for us at the exit, but she just never wanted to listen to me. So instead she asked the employee at the front of the entrance, who didn't speak English and obviously didn't understand the question. She told mom that there was no way of getting on the ride without waiting on line. Um, that wasn't the question. After asking a few more times, and getting crazy answers, mom just got off the line. Why she wouldn't listen to me and wait with us in the air conditioning instead of by herself out in the heat, I don't know.
When we entered the building a small group of us all got onto an "elevator" and saw a video about our training mission. Then the floor started rattling and lights began blinking like we were in an actual elevator, taking us up to the training labs. This was all just for show, though, and we didn't actually move. When we got out, exiting out of the other side of the "elevator," we were in a long hallway and at the end of it was a window you could look through. There was a small room that looked like the coffee room of an office and there were two aliens sitting there drinking coffee and making jokes about working in an office. It was cute! The next room we went into was really, really big and had two huge one-eyed aliens sitting at a desk and watching videos. There were large screens playing video clips of Will Smith telling us how our training is sure to be a lot tougher than his was. The next room was the last room, and it just had a hall and a few stairs that you had to go down, where you then got on the ride.
After an hour and a half we finally got to the front of the line and some guy working the ride came up to me and said, "Melissa, shoot the alien's eyes, mouths and shoulders." Um, thanks for the advice... how do you know my name?! He must have been listening to us talk beforehand and somehow heard my name. I don't know how but it was definitely weird. When we finally got on the ride I sat between dad and Mike and I accidentally took Mike's seatbelt and wondered why it wasn't locking into the other side of my seatbelt. Yea, I did that on more than one ride! So the guy from before leaned over me and connected my seatbelt. Whoa buddy, let's back it up a bit. Yes, it was definitely as weird as it sounds. Anyway...
The ride itself was fun but nothing special. We shot the aliens and spun around a few times. At one point there was another car in front of us and we had to shoot at each other, and whichever car got shot started spinning. With dad and Mike in our car, the world's two biggest video game aficionados, we hit the other car EVERY SINLGE TIME and not ONCE did they get us! At the end, when we went under the really big main alien, we started spinning like crazy and Mike got pretty sick. He just felt like crap afterwards. Mike wound up getting 290,000 points, dad had 180,000 and I had... 25,000. Shut up, I never play video games! It was a fun ride, but in no way worth the lloonngg wait and I wouldn't wait on a long line for it again.
When we left the ride we met mom outside and she had no idea what had taken us so long. I told her that she should have just waited on line with us. Now we know for next time. We then continued walking around the back of the park. Back to the Future was right next to Men In Black but it had a thirty minute wait and we didn't feel like standing around any more than we just did. We also wanted to go on something that all four of us would go on and enjoy, and mom doesn't ride simulators so we continued walking around and looking for something to do. We eventually wound up in Kidzone. ET was right in the front of the area and there was only a fifteen minute wait so of course we had to go on it! Mom and dad saw ET in the theater when it first came out, and Mike and I grew up loving it, so we were really excited to see what the ride was like. We got on line and the whole zigzag section of the line was closed off. They let a large group in at a time, while the next group being let in waited in a big open section right in front of the doors. As we walked to that section there was a group being let in, but we were cut off right when we got to the front of the line. It was only a ten minute wait, though, and it went by really fast.
When we were finally let in to the attraction we walked to the front of the first pre-show room. We watched a video of Steven Spielberg talking about the making of ET and how he never imagined that it would become the classic that it is today. He then told us that in the next room we were going to have to give our name to a flight attendant in order to receive a boarding pass for ET's planet. The doors then opened and there were girls on computers sitting at the end of long rows. We had to give them our name and they would type it into the computer, swipe a card under a scanner, and then give us the card. I knew that ET would say everyone's name at the end of the ride so mom said that her name was Alison (my little cousin's name) so we could video tape ET saying Ali's name. She LOVES ET and we knew she would get a kick out of hearing him saying her name!
The next room was really dark and was set up like a forest. It was really damp and there were tons of trees all over. It was supposed to be like the part of the movie when Elliot is in the woods trying to escape with ET, and it was very, very cool! Every few minutes a huge ET-looking creature, who was supposed to be ET's teacher, would come out of a part of the "woods" to tell us how important it was for ET to get back to his home planet. It was really cute. The line was moving really fast until we got to this point, when they decided to close down one side of the ride. There were two different vehicles leaving at the same time on separate tracks and when they closed down one of the tracks the line completely stopped for a good ten minutes. However, the line was really fun to look around and the wait inside was only fifteen minutes so we didn't mind.
When we got to the front of the line we boarded our "bikes." What a cute idea, I loved that! There were three rows of four bikes, and in the front of the ride vehicle was a basket with a cover over it. Throughout the ride ET would stick his head up in the basket, just like he does in the movie. The ride was so much fun and definitely wound up being one of my favorite dark rides of the entire trip. While it was made for kids, the ride was actually pretty intense. We really get swung around, especially in the first half of the ride when we were trying to escape from the city. There were life-sized police cars all over, some of which come really close to us and start beeping their horns and flashing their lights. There were a lot of loud noises and it looked as if we were going to crash into a few walls. My favorite part of the ride was when we finally started flying. We looked down and saw an entire city below us. We also saw a moon in the sky and as we "flew" past it we saw the reflection of kids on bikes flying past the moon, just like in the movie. Very, very cute! Then we went through a whole time warp to get into ET's planet. There were psychedelic lights flashing, a meteor shower, and loud noises. When we were finally there the ride calmed down and was really cute. There were tons of aliens, most of which looked like little ET's, welcoming us home and thanking us for saving their most famous resident. At the end of the ride ET waved and said "Goodbye" to everyone. I heard everyone's name but mine! Oh well, at least we heard Alison's name. Dad videotaped most of the ride and I'm glad he did because this was one of my favorites of the entire trip.
When the ride was over we went into the gift shop. They had three different scenarios from the movie set up that we could take pictures in. We weren't allowed to take our own pictures, though, and the Universal Studios cameras were broken so we didn't take any. They had one where you could sit on the bike with ET in front of the moon, one where you stick your head in between a bunch of stuffed animals with ET, and one where you stand next to ET and he is all dressed up in a wig and dress. Very cute! Dad wound up buying me a big ET stuffed animal in a blue robe, and a small ET in a red sweatshirt key chain for Alison. I love ET!
We then walked over to the Hollywood section of the park and saw that Terminator 2: 3D had only a five minute wait. Perfect! We got on line and walked right through the queue to the pre-show room. It was a really long pre-show. Everyone stood in a large room with a big screen to the left and a small balcony above us. A girl soon came out onto the balcony and she was supposed to be a Cyberdine employee. She told us about how influential and caring the company was, and how they were slowly changing the world for the better. Then the theater went dark and a video was played of Linda Hamilton and Ed Furlong telling us how the company was trying to take over and destroy the world, and it was up to us to help the Terminator defeat the company. Then the lights came back on and the girl on the balcony looked very confused. She stammered that she had no idea where that video had come from and that everything that was just said was a lie. There was a very redneck guy in there with his family, and whenever the girl would say anything he would scream, "Oh no she didn't!" We were cracking up! We then donned our 3D glasses and were let into the theater.
There was a motion-sickness warning for this ride which really confused us. I had seen a lot of specials on it on the Travel Channel and not once did they say it was a simulator. I thought it was just a regular 3D movie. I KNEW it was, actually. Once again, though, mom didn't want to listen to me, so dad, Mike and I all sat together in the regular seats while mom sat in the stationary seats. This was such an awesome show! When it first started the lights in the theater dimmed and there were huge Terminator-looking robots on each side of the stage shooting at each other. They weren't on the screen but were actual animatronics. Throughout the show the 3D movie was mixed with live actors on stage so it looked like they were coming right out of the film. The people on stage looked nothing like the actors in the movie but it was still fun. The 3D video from the movie was kind of blurry but at one point there was a big spider-looking robot that came to each side of the screen, since the screen wrapped around the entire front of the room. It was digital so it looked amazing. It really did look like it was coming out at us! At the end of the show the evil robots were defeated and a huge cloud of smoke came rushing towards us from the stage. It was dry-ice and was really cold and felt great. Right as the smoke completely covered the audience the seats shook a few times and the show was over. That's why there's a motion-sickness warning?! Mom could have sat with us. Anyway, I have to admit I spaced out a few times during the show. I'm just not a big Terminator fan but most of the show was really, really good. I would see it again.
By now it was 9:30 and we didn't know what else to do. The fireworks started at 9:50 and I wanted to see them so we just walked around for a while. We ended up at the Cartoon store by the front of the park and I bought Alison a Dora the Explorer doll. She loves Dora so I thought it was cute. We wanted to get her a Dora backpack for school since she was starting pre-k that September but they didn't have any. When we went to pay dad showed the girl at the counter his NBC/Universal ID to get the 35% discount and the girl just looked at it and smiled, saying, "That's Nice." She must have just thought dad was some weirdo guy showing her his ID to brag about working at NBC. He pointed out that he get's a discount and she finally realized what was going on. It was hysterical!
We then went over to the Twister store so mom could get two ankle bracelets for Aunt Stacy and one for herself.
When we were in the store Aunt Stacy called mom's cell phone but mom couldn't hear in the store, so I took her phone and called Aunt Stacy back from outside. When mom was done in the Twister store we went back to the very back of the park where the fireworks were being shown over the lagoon. They were nice, but not great. They were done to the music of different Universal movies but there wasn't anything special about them. That's why I'm really looking forward to seeing the new fireworks spectacular they're beginning to show this summer! I wanted to stay and see the whole display but everyone else wanted to leave before it got too crowded. Mom and I ran into the bathroom before we left and there was a huge roach running around in there. I have the WORST bug phobia and was so skeeved out. There was a custodian in there and mom told her about the bug, but either she didn't speak English or she didn't care because she just smiled at us.
We left the park at 10:00 and started our long, and very hot, walk back to the car. This was the worst night yet! With the humidity and so many people crowded in one spot, the heat was ridiculous and just really overpowering. I felt really sick and was sweating like crazy. We eventually made it back to the car and dad wanted to go to IHOP for some dessert. I really didn't feel well, though, so I asked to be dropped off at the house. We decided to all just call it a night after picking up an apple pie at the bakery in Publix. When we got back to the house I put on my pajamas while dad and Mike had some snacks. Mike had cereal and dad had a piece of apple pie. We then all watched "Anchorman," another favorite of mine, and then "Ferris Bueller" again. At 12:10 Mike and I watched some of Reno 911 on Comedy Central, we're all huge fans of that show, before I went up to bed at 12:30. I fell asleep right away.
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