27th: Non Disney Day #2 at Universal Studios

The park was basically empty when Karen and I arrived. There was no one in line for The Simpsons Ride, Men in Black, The Mummy, or Disaster.



Let's talk about Disaster. This re-opened earlier last year and was revamped. A group of 100 guests pushes their way into a room. A casting director jokes around for a bit, then asks for "volunteers" from the audience to play certain types of roles. The process was made funny and entertaining. "We are...", he would say, and we would answer, "...moving on." This became a catchphrase with the director saying the first part and the audience saying the second as we moved from room to room. It, too, became rather funny.

We moved on to the next room where we got to sit down and watch the various volunteers do their piece of the movie they would be in. This went by rather quickly because there were many assistants setting up the scenes ahead of the director who would say, "Action". It was fun to watch and the movie they created was funny.

We are...moving on.

Now EVERYONE was going to be an "extra" in a Disaster movie. We loaded into a subway tram. Cameras and monitors were in the tram. The tram moved forward and we were given "direction" by the director to looked shocked or scream or point. On our left as we entered the tram stop a gas truck drops through the concrete and ignites. On our right a torrent of water poured down the steps toward our tram. As the scene resets the tram is sent back to the beginning and as we move we see a movie on the screen and people on our tram are interspersed in the movie. Once again this is fun to see the movie magic happen.





We are...moving on...to the ride's exit and on to other attractions before leaving at about 3pm or so.

This place doesn't have the Disney Magic for us. We just aren't as happy when we leave this place as we are at a Disney Park. I think what we have decided is that while we are in Orlando the ONLY thing we want to do is be at a Disney Park. If we were on a roller coaster trip to other cities then Universal would probably be fine for us.

We are...moving on...to Walt Disney World.



We did meet up with Doug and Betty for dinner that night at their resort, Port Orleans French Quarter and rode a boat from their resort to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Express. We all agreed the food was good.

26th: Magic in the Magic Kingdom

Our best friends Doug and Betty arrived in Orlando on Sunday night and we planned a day at the Magic Kingdom with them. We enjoy the Park just as much with friends as we do alone.



We rode Space Mountain, an indoor roller coaster in the dark and then Buzz Lightyear, where you shoot targets while you are on a moving ride.

We crossed the park and had a great time on the Jungle Cruise. The pilot of the boat has a script that he has memorized, but this is one ride where an enthusiast cast member really makes the difference in your ride experience.





20 people ride in a boat and you see Bengal tigers (“they can jump over 20 feet, but don’t worry we’re 19 feet away and he’ll jump right over us”), elephants (“Look here…it’s the republican national convention. You can take pictures because they all have their trunks on. Oh by the way… If you want to see the Democrats they’re back at the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Festival of Fools attraction”), crocodiles (“Do you know what the difference between the crocodiles and alligators are? The crocodiles are made of plastic and the alligators are made with fiberglass”), and when returning to the dock (“…and now we reach the most dangerous part of the journey, my attempt at docking the boat”). It’s silly. It’s slapstick. I love it all.

The Magic Kingdom also has a Pirates of the Caribbean ride similar to Disneyland's. It IS a little different though. The queue line here is much cooler to go through, but the ride itself has a little less in it.

When we got on Splash Mountain we were told we would get wet and we got wet. Others got even wetter than we did when the water cannons blasted them. Basically, you ride a log around and see and hear the story of Brer Bear, Brer Fox, and Brer Rabbit. Near the end of the ride you drop down a roller coaster-like drop into a pool of water. Great fun.





Everyone had lunch and then we rode a raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island to walk around and explore the fort and the caves.

The Haunted Mansion tried it's best to scare us but we had ridden the one in Disneyland so we knew what to expect.



In ToonTown we rode a goofy roller coaster and then got on a real steam train that took us around the park to see everything from the tracks.





We lasted until 10pm or so that day. It was a great first day with our friends.