Hello! I'm feeling much better now! I even finally got my voice back. My voice was gone for like a week and a half. Its funny because a lot of my co-workers were making fun of me and mocking my voice, but now many of them lost their voices after I got mine back so now the tables have turned haha! But...their voices were only gone for like 2 days as opposed to my 10. Not fair. Anyway, all is well again. Things have gotten so SO much more wonderful here in Orlando for one very exciting reason: I GOT A CAR! Well, van lol. But hey, NO MORE BUS! YAAAAAAYYY!!! I'm so excited to be able to drive again! You have no idea how amazingly wonderful it feels to be able to drive myself places. Its like I'm truly alive now lol like I've woken up from a deep slumber. Its just a great feeling. I flew up to Atlanta last Friday to pick up the van and drove it back the same day. When I got to Atlanta, I got to see my family again which is always wonderful. I missed them so much and it was so great to see them. Also, why is it that every time I go home they have a new pet? Last time when I came home for my dad's Ordination, they had a new kitten Tiki. This time, they had not one, but TWO new puppies! I ws like, O-M-G! lol. They are SooooOOOO CUTE! Oh yeah, and I got to see FERGIE!!! AwWwWwW!! Fergie! She is my heart. I miss her so much! So yeah, after I visited with my family, I drove back down to Orlando. The drive went so smooth. It was amazing. I didn't get tired at all for the whole drive. It was really exhilirating because it was my first time driving long distance by myself. I was so proud of myself for making the drive all the way without stopping except once for food and once for gas. It was so much fun! Driving to work is so great. I no longer have to leave 2 hours in advance to get to work on time! I can now go to the store and get as much as I need in one trip! Not I can eat fast food! lol. Having a car is amazing.
I just finished a long week of work and today I finally got to go somewhere that I've been wanting to go for a very long time: Universal Studios!!! WOOT! I finally got my annual pass so now I can go whenever I want! SO AMAZING! Ok, I'd just like to pause my story and say that first of all, I'm a theme park junkie. I obsess over theme parks and thrill rides. Going to theme parks is one of my favorite things to do. Every time I had the option of going on vacation, my first choice is always anywhere there's a theme park lol. Every time. My favorite of these has always been Disney World and Universal Studios. So with all that said, do you know how incredibly unreal and wonderful it is to know that I can now go to all four Disney World parks AND both Universal parks whenever I want as many time as I want for the next 5 months??? I'm in paradise! lol! Its amazing. So today I took my first visit to Universal. I couldn't find anyone to go with because they had to work. So I went by myself lol. I went to Universal Studios first. I hadn't been to this park in years and they have so much new stuff there. I decided to get up early and get to the park right as it opened. This turned out to be a very worthwhile decision. I got there at about 8:50 and the park didn't officially open until 9, but they were already letting people in. I headed straight for the Revenge of the Mummy ride which is an indoor dark roller coaster type ride. Its one of the most popular rides in the park and the lines are normally extremely long, but at this time in morning, the wait time was 5 minutes and I walked right on. The ride was great! So much fun. It was kinda scary at first, but it wasn't bad at all lol. Next, I went to another new and extremely popular ride, The Simpsons Ride! O-M-G this ride is fantasic! It really made me pretty sad as I was walking through the line because this ride took the place of the Back to the Future ride which used to be my favorite Universal Studios ride. But after the ride, I'm ok with this ride taking the place of the old one. Its an incredible ride. Very thrilling and SO funny! Its a very entertaining ride. After that I went to ride the new Jimmy Neutron ride that took the place of my other favorite Universal ride, Hannah Barbara. Its essentially the same exact ride as the old one, just as the Simpsons ride was the same as Back to the Future. They just have new themeing. But the ride was still very fun and entertaining. And the Nickelodeon gift shop at the ride's exit, O-M-G! I wanted pretty much every item in that entire store! lol. Most amazing gift shop EVER! I'm soooo gonna spend money there when I find some lol. Right next door to the Jimmy Neutron ride is the brand new roller coaster ride they're building called Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. When I first heard about this coaster, I thought it was a copy cat of Disney's Rock N Roller Coaster. But now that I see it, I see that it is very different and its going to be an amazing coaster. I can't wait for it to open! Right across from Jimmy Neutron is Shrek 4D which I went to next. That show was also very funny, and its pretty different from other 3D shows in ways which I won't reveal so as not to spoil anything! But overall it was pretty cool. After Shrek, I went to one of the few classics that are still left in the park, E.T. Adventure! I was so excited to see that this ride is just the same as I remember it. All the sights and smells brought back so many memories. They even still do the thing where E.T. says your name at the end! So cool, so funny lol. Next, I went to the other classic Universal Studios ride Jaws! Creepy! That shark gets me every time haha! And of course I had to be sitting on the side of the boat that gets splashed and I got all wet lol. It ok though because it was really hot. After Jaws, I rode Men In Black. That was really fun. Men In Black is kind of like a more grown up version of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at MK. I used the single rider line and pretty much walked right on. Fun stuff! After that I decided I had done just about everything that I cared to do for today at Universal Studios, so I took one more ride on the Mummy before leaving. On my second trip to the Mummy, the ride was a lot longer, so this time I opted for the single rider line. THANK GOD FOR SINGLE RIDER LINES! Only had to wait about 10 minutes while the rest of the people had a wait of about 60 minutes! It was great lol. Well, great for me ha! Oh yeah! I forgot! I also went on the Twister ride! Scary! But honestly not as terrifying as it was when I was younger. I told you Orlando was getting me over my fear of storms! lol. Getting there early was definitely worth it. I was able to ride everything I wanted to to everything I wanted to do in about 2 hours. My longest wait was only about 20 minutes. So much more fun when you don't have to wait long! After I was done with Universal Studios for the day, so I went next door to Islands of Adventure!!! First stop: The Incrdible Hulk coaster! What a ride! Again, THANK GOD FOR SINGLE RIDER LINES! The wait time said 75 minutes, but my wait was only 15 minutes! Great ride. Next, I rode the Dr. Doom's Fear Fall. I used the single rider line again and only waited about 20 minutes as opposed to 75. I wasn't scared until I actually sat in the seat and got all buckled in. O-M-G! I was like, Why? Why did I do this? WHY? lol. But it was so much fun. The only reason I can handle that ride is because it shoots you up from the bottom instead of picking you up slowly and dropping you from the top. So you really don't get a chance to see how high up you are, and it doesn't really drop your stomach. Its more exhilirating than scary. Its a lot of fun. After Dr. Doom, I went next door to the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ride. Again, single rider line! 20 minute wait instead of 85. GREAT ride. This is such a unique attraction. It combines a moving vehicle with a simulator with a 4D movie. SO cool. Next, I went over to the water rides. I rode Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls first. Now, this one was my longest wait. I used the single rider line and waited 35 minutes. However, I was glad to wait all 35 minutes because if I had to wait in the regular line, I would have been faced with a wait time of 130 minutes! Not that I would have actually waited 130 minutes lol. Thats pretty ridiculous don't you think? But anyway, the ride was fun and I got soaked lol. After I got off the ride I saw that the wait tme was now an insane 250 minutes! WHAT? Thats crazy! What kind of person gets in line for anything longer than 90 minutes? Or even 60 minutes? But 250 minutes???? Not me. Not me. lol. SINGLE RIDER LINES WOOT! Next I tried to ride Jurassic Park River Adventure, but they didn't have a single rider line and I wasn't about to wait 70 minutes so I kept it moving lol. I headed over the The Lost Continent area of the park and got in line for surprisingly short line for Dueling Dragons. The wait time only said 15 minutes which I was highly skeptical about because this is a roller coaster and one of the park's more popular rides, so I asked to attendent if the wait time was accurate. He said it was so I stored my bag in one of the free lockers and got in line. I was delighted to find that the wait time was accurate and I waited less than 15 minutes. While I was walking through the line, I also saw the construction area for the new Harry Potter themed area that they're adding to the park which is scheduled to open some time in 2010. It should be great! Can't wait! So when I got to the train, I sat down in my seat and got all buckled in, and then just as they were about to dispatch, they told everyone to get out of the train and go back in the gates. Immediately I knew what was going on before the spiel even played. There was inclement weather approaching. Sure enough, a few moments later the inclement weather spiel went off. The people had the option to stay in line and wait out the storm, but I work at an outdoor attraction and I see the guests who wait on the weather to clear and they typically wait for about 2 hours, so I knew I wasn't going to ride anytime soon. Thats the beautiful thing about owning a season pass. You don't feel pressured to cram everything in to one visit. If you don't get to ride something that day, you can just come back another day. And thats just what I plan to do. On Tuesday actually. WOOT! As I walked outside, the rain was coming down HARD. I was really smart and left my poncho at home, so I got to get absolustely SOAKED as I made my LOOOOOOOOOOONG walk all the way back to the parking garage. The lighting was so scary! But I'm really getting used to these Florida storms. Then again, not really lol. It was a really fun day. I rode 12 rides at two parks all before 3pm. On my way home I stopped by steak n shake and got a burger, some fries and a side by side strawberry and vanilla milkshake. YUMMY! What a fun day. But tomorrow its back to work for my longest shift yet. 1:00pm to 2:45am. 13 hours! Fun Fun....Not. But hey, Disney! YAY! lol. Also tomorrow is my Friday so its not so bad. I'm off Monday and Tuesday and I already have some super fun times planned! WOOT!
SINGLE RIDER LINES!!!!
Love, Michelle
I just finished a long week of work and today I finally got to go somewhere that I've been wanting to go for a very long time: Universal Studios!!! WOOT! I finally got my annual pass so now I can go whenever I want! SO AMAZING! Ok, I'd just like to pause my story and say that first of all, I'm a theme park junkie. I obsess over theme parks and thrill rides. Going to theme parks is one of my favorite things to do. Every time I had the option of going on vacation, my first choice is always anywhere there's a theme park lol. Every time. My favorite of these has always been Disney World and Universal Studios. So with all that said, do you know how incredibly unreal and wonderful it is to know that I can now go to all four Disney World parks AND both Universal parks whenever I want as many time as I want for the next 5 months??? I'm in paradise! lol! Its amazing. So today I took my first visit to Universal. I couldn't find anyone to go with because they had to work. So I went by myself lol. I went to Universal Studios first. I hadn't been to this park in years and they have so much new stuff there. I decided to get up early and get to the park right as it opened. This turned out to be a very worthwhile decision. I got there at about 8:50 and the park didn't officially open until 9, but they were already letting people in. I headed straight for the Revenge of the Mummy ride which is an indoor dark roller coaster type ride. Its one of the most popular rides in the park and the lines are normally extremely long, but at this time in morning, the wait time was 5 minutes and I walked right on. The ride was great! So much fun. It was kinda scary at first, but it wasn't bad at all lol. Next, I went to another new and extremely popular ride, The Simpsons Ride! O-M-G this ride is fantasic! It really made me pretty sad as I was walking through the line because this ride took the place of the Back to the Future ride which used to be my favorite Universal Studios ride. But after the ride, I'm ok with this ride taking the place of the old one. Its an incredible ride. Very thrilling and SO funny! Its a very entertaining ride. After that I went to ride the new Jimmy Neutron ride that took the place of my other favorite Universal ride, Hannah Barbara. Its essentially the same exact ride as the old one, just as the Simpsons ride was the same as Back to the Future. They just have new themeing. But the ride was still very fun and entertaining. And the Nickelodeon gift shop at the ride's exit, O-M-G! I wanted pretty much every item in that entire store! lol. Most amazing gift shop EVER! I'm soooo gonna spend money there when I find some lol. Right next door to the Jimmy Neutron ride is the brand new roller coaster ride they're building called Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. When I first heard about this coaster, I thought it was a copy cat of Disney's Rock N Roller Coaster. But now that I see it, I see that it is very different and its going to be an amazing coaster. I can't wait for it to open! Right across from Jimmy Neutron is Shrek 4D which I went to next. That show was also very funny, and its pretty different from other 3D shows in ways which I won't reveal so as not to spoil anything! But overall it was pretty cool. After Shrek, I went to one of the few classics that are still left in the park, E.T. Adventure! I was so excited to see that this ride is just the same as I remember it. All the sights and smells brought back so many memories. They even still do the thing where E.T. says your name at the end! So cool, so funny lol. Next, I went to the other classic Universal Studios ride Jaws! Creepy! That shark gets me every time haha! And of course I had to be sitting on the side of the boat that gets splashed and I got all wet lol. It ok though because it was really hot. After Jaws, I rode Men In Black. That was really fun. Men In Black is kind of like a more grown up version of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at MK. I used the single rider line and pretty much walked right on. Fun stuff! After that I decided I had done just about everything that I cared to do for today at Universal Studios, so I took one more ride on the Mummy before leaving. On my second trip to the Mummy, the ride was a lot longer, so this time I opted for the single rider line. THANK GOD FOR SINGLE RIDER LINES! Only had to wait about 10 minutes while the rest of the people had a wait of about 60 minutes! It was great lol. Well, great for me ha! Oh yeah! I forgot! I also went on the Twister ride! Scary! But honestly not as terrifying as it was when I was younger. I told you Orlando was getting me over my fear of storms! lol. Getting there early was definitely worth it. I was able to ride everything I wanted to to everything I wanted to do in about 2 hours. My longest wait was only about 20 minutes. So much more fun when you don't have to wait long! After I was done with Universal Studios for the day, so I went next door to Islands of Adventure!!! First stop: The Incrdible Hulk coaster! What a ride! Again, THANK GOD FOR SINGLE RIDER LINES! The wait time said 75 minutes, but my wait was only 15 minutes! Great ride. Next, I rode the Dr. Doom's Fear Fall. I used the single rider line again and only waited about 20 minutes as opposed to 75. I wasn't scared until I actually sat in the seat and got all buckled in. O-M-G! I was like, Why? Why did I do this? WHY? lol. But it was so much fun. The only reason I can handle that ride is because it shoots you up from the bottom instead of picking you up slowly and dropping you from the top. So you really don't get a chance to see how high up you are, and it doesn't really drop your stomach. Its more exhilirating than scary. Its a lot of fun. After Dr. Doom, I went next door to the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ride. Again, single rider line! 20 minute wait instead of 85. GREAT ride. This is such a unique attraction. It combines a moving vehicle with a simulator with a 4D movie. SO cool. Next, I went over to the water rides. I rode Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls first. Now, this one was my longest wait. I used the single rider line and waited 35 minutes. However, I was glad to wait all 35 minutes because if I had to wait in the regular line, I would have been faced with a wait time of 130 minutes! Not that I would have actually waited 130 minutes lol. Thats pretty ridiculous don't you think? But anyway, the ride was fun and I got soaked lol. After I got off the ride I saw that the wait tme was now an insane 250 minutes! WHAT? Thats crazy! What kind of person gets in line for anything longer than 90 minutes? Or even 60 minutes? But 250 minutes???? Not me. Not me. lol. SINGLE RIDER LINES WOOT! Next I tried to ride Jurassic Park River Adventure, but they didn't have a single rider line and I wasn't about to wait 70 minutes so I kept it moving lol. I headed over the The Lost Continent area of the park and got in line for surprisingly short line for Dueling Dragons. The wait time only said 15 minutes which I was highly skeptical about because this is a roller coaster and one of the park's more popular rides, so I asked to attendent if the wait time was accurate. He said it was so I stored my bag in one of the free lockers and got in line. I was delighted to find that the wait time was accurate and I waited less than 15 minutes. While I was walking through the line, I also saw the construction area for the new Harry Potter themed area that they're adding to the park which is scheduled to open some time in 2010. It should be great! Can't wait! So when I got to the train, I sat down in my seat and got all buckled in, and then just as they were about to dispatch, they told everyone to get out of the train and go back in the gates. Immediately I knew what was going on before the spiel even played. There was inclement weather approaching. Sure enough, a few moments later the inclement weather spiel went off. The people had the option to stay in line and wait out the storm, but I work at an outdoor attraction and I see the guests who wait on the weather to clear and they typically wait for about 2 hours, so I knew I wasn't going to ride anytime soon. Thats the beautiful thing about owning a season pass. You don't feel pressured to cram everything in to one visit. If you don't get to ride something that day, you can just come back another day. And thats just what I plan to do. On Tuesday actually. WOOT! As I walked outside, the rain was coming down HARD. I was really smart and left my poncho at home, so I got to get absolustely SOAKED as I made my LOOOOOOOOOOONG walk all the way back to the parking garage. The lighting was so scary! But I'm really getting used to these Florida storms. Then again, not really lol. It was a really fun day. I rode 12 rides at two parks all before 3pm. On my way home I stopped by steak n shake and got a burger, some fries and a side by side strawberry and vanilla milkshake. YUMMY! What a fun day. But tomorrow its back to work for my longest shift yet. 1:00pm to 2:45am. 13 hours! Fun Fun....Not. But hey, Disney! YAY! lol. Also tomorrow is my Friday so its not so bad. I'm off Monday and Tuesday and I already have some super fun times planned! WOOT!
SINGLE RIDER LINES!!!!
Love, Michelle
Ahhh, Michelle. It was nice hearing about your adventures at Universal and it makes me want to goooooooooooo:)) When I go, I willlll get in single riders lane, only:)) Thanks for the great blog and see you soon...Luv ya!!!
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