Day 1: Saturday, June 14th, 2014
Our June 2014 Walt Disney World vacation was a highly anticipated
trip for the both of us. It had been two years since our last visit and we
couldn’t wait to get back! Flying from Atlantic Canada, we took two flights,
connecting once in Laguardia, NY. Our flight departed at 6:00am and we were
travelling internationally, so we had to be at the airport around for 4:00am.
It was an early morning but full of excitement and anticipation. We had a
seamless flight into Laguardia and had a one and a half hour layover before
heading on to Orlando! The second flight was great and we arrived in Orlando around
1:00pm. We always use Disney’s Magical Express Transportation Services but opt
to pick up our own bags. When you sign up for the Magical Express you’re sent
two yellow tags to attach to your luggage. This notify's Airport/Disney staff to pick up your luggage and transport it to your resort and room for
you. There is a waiting time so if you want to change when you first arrive at
your resort, you may not be able to do so. While it’s a great service, it’s only
the two of us and we find it just as easy to pick up our own bags and bring
them with us on the Magical Express.
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| Our first time in NY |
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| One more stop 'til Disney! |
Before we knew it we were on the bus and heading to our
resort – Disney’s All Star Sports Resort! If you’ve read some of our previous
posts, you’ll know we always opt for the value resorts. Firstly, because they’re
affordable and secondly, because they offer everything we need with a great
theme. On our 2012 trip we stayed at Disney’s All Star Movies which was a great
experience, we had no complaints. This time around, we considered going back to
Movies but thought it’d be fun to check out all the value resorts so Sports it
was! We arrived at the resort around 4:00pm and had the chance to grab some
dinner (we hadn’t eaten much that day other than granola bars and plane snacks).
We ate at our resort in the End Zone Food Court which offers a good variety of
choices. Ellen opted for the make your own chicken salad and Ryan had the chicken dinner. After supper we headed back to our room to setup our window decorations. We had decided to decorate this time around and are happy we did, we had a lot of fellow guests admiring our window full of toys and Disney fun.
After grabbing a bite to
eat and getting settled in our room we were off to our first park of the trip –
Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Our travel agent, Flight Centre, offered the
opportunity to match/upgrade any offer Disney put out so when we noticed they
were offering a free fifth park ticket with the purchase of a four-day pass
(which we had already purchased) we jumped on the opportunity! Although we only
had an extra evening to spend in the parks we couldn’t pass up a free ticket!
With our free ticket in hand...err programmed into our magic bands... we made our way over to Disney’s
Hollywood Studios. While we would have another full day of our vacation to
devote to Hollywood Studios, the main reason we choose to go to this park twice
was because we wanted the opportunity to see Fantasmic!
Our first attraction of the day was Star Tours – the Adventures
Continue. We went on this in 2012 and had indifferent feelings towards it. This
time around however, it was much better! From what we understand there are several different versions of the ride so this must’ve been one of the more exciting.
We had some time before our FastPass for the Twilight Zone
Tower of Terror so we headed over the Animation Academy. We hadn't done this
in the past but knew it was something we wanted to try this trip. We loved it! In
this session we drew a Little Green Alien from Toy Story. We enjoyed this so
much that we ended up doing it two more times on our full day at DHS.
After the class wrapped up it was time for our FastPass
window so we headed to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This is an iconic
ride at DHS and one our favourites!
By now it was after 7:00pm so we headed over to the
Fanstasmic theatre to grab a good seat. We were pretty early and had about an
hour to wait so we decided to get a Mickey Pretzel to snack on... yum! It
started raining a bit so we pulled out our ponchos. We were worried the show
might be cancelled or postponed due to the weather but we were happy when the
lights dropped and the show began. Ellen was really looking forward to seeing
Fanstasmic and we were not disappointed. It was full of classic songs, dramatic
effects and a bunch of characters. It’s definitely on our must-do list for DHS
now.
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| Waiting for Fantasmic! |
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| A little rain never hurt anybody! |
As you can imagine, when the show let out, it was dark and
rainy and the area was packed with people leaving the park as it was close to
closing time. We were passing by Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and couldn’t pass it
up! We didn’t have a FastPass but the line was minimal and we were on our
favourite DHS ride in no time!
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| 3-2-1!!!!!! |
We headed back to our resort after the roller coaster and
called it a night. Little did Ellen know there was a surprise waiting for her in the room. Ryan had planned a Disney surprise through Disney Floral and Gifts by ordering a "A Magical Wish-Romance your Love" package and had it delivered in secret to the room. When we walked in the room she was surprised with her very own magic wand, a beautiful bracelett, balloon and sweet note. It was truly a magical and heart-felt surprise. We went to bed to rest up for a full and exciting day at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
Day 2: Sunday, June 15th, 2014
We were so excited to wake up on our first full day of our
WDW vacation &even more excited because it was Magic Kingdom Day! After an
evening at Hollywood Studios we were in full Disney mode and ready to go! We
definitely wanted to catch rope drop – a show put on at the Magic Kingdom every
morning to officially open the park. So we got ready and headed to the End Zone
Food Court at our resort for some breakfast. We wanted to fuel up for the day
and both decided on the Bounty Platter – yum! We headed out from there to catch
our bus.
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| Ready for the Magic Kingdom! |
We arrived early and got a perfect spot to see the show and
then make a quick dash into the park. After the show we headed straight for Big
Thunder Mountain! This ride was under construction during our 2012 trip so we didn’t
get a chance to ride it then so we knew we definitely wanted to this time
around. We didn’t want to use a FastPass as we were limited to three so we
decided to do it first thing to avoid long lines!
After Big Thunder we headed over to Ryan’s favourite attraction at Magic Kingdom – the Haunted Mansion. The lines were still short so we barely had to wait at all. You’ll notice throughout these posts that we visit the Haunted Mansion many more times before the trip was over!
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| That's one happy guy! |
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| Making new friends |
Since it’s close by, we headed over the Pirates of the
Caribbean and took an air-conditioned boat ride through a pirates life. I swear
one of the animotronic Captain Jack Sparrow’s is real!!
Next up was the Jungle Cruise. We love this attraction, not
for its thrills or excitement but for the cast members and their witty jokes. It’s
a great way to relax and have a laugh!
It was a really hot morning. It was mid June and the Florida
summer was in full-swing so it was really hot well before noon. We took this
opportunity to ride Splash Mountain to cool down! We were lucky enough not to
get soaked but just enough to be refreshed!
It’s a Small World is a classic and although some people
groan and complain about the repetitive song, we think it’s a tradition that
must be done! It’s fun to go to in between FastPasses or as a break after
running from one end of the park to another. Each time we ride, we find another
small detail we never noticed before.
All morning we had been waiting for lunch. Not because we
were hungry but because we had plans to go to the new Be Our Guest restaurant! If
you check out our post on Magic Kingdom’s Be Our Guest Restaurant you’ll learn
how we scored an additional FastPass for lunch! We headed over at the beginning
of our FastPass arrival window. They looked us up & without any major
glitches, we were in the restaurant & waiting for our meal. Ryan ordered
the Roast Turkey Sandwich with pomme frites (French fries) and Ellen had the
Croque Monsieur with pomme frites. Both were delish! We had pre-ordered our
meal so when we got to the restaurant, we made our way through each of 3 dining
rooms and found the West Wing and waited for our meal to be delivered. We knew
we wanted to eat in the West Wing; it’s the smallest of the three rooms and
quite dark but the theme was too good to resist!
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| The West Wing dining area |
After lunch we made our way back to the attractions. First
up – Space Mountain! Definitely Ellen’s favourite ride at Magic Kingdom, this
ride is full of twist and turns in the dark which makes it all the more
exciting.
We headed over the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and took a spin before
going to Prince Charming’s Regal Carousel. Ellen made a mad dash to find
Cinderella’s horse – the only horse with a gold ribbon on the tail.
We were pretty excited for our next attraction – the newly
opened Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! We had been keeping an eye on the opening date
of this attraction before our trip and we saw it was officially opened, we
quickly logged into our My Disney Experience account and added a FastPass. We
were glad we did. Firstly because the FastPasses quickly ran out and secondly, the standby wait was
over 90 minutes! While the attraction was designed flawlessly and the coaster
carts were unlike anything Disney currently has (the carts sway from left to
right while going through the track) were weren’t over the moon impressed with the ride
overall. Maybe we built it up too much beforehand but we found it to be slightly
less thrilling in comparison to Big Thunder. Definitely a must-do to try it out
and would be great for the kiddos!
After a full morning of non-stop attractions, the hot summer
heat, and yummy but filling lunches, we were ready for a quick break! We headed
back to our resort for a relaxing swim & early dinner. We saw the clouds rolling in during our swim
and knew we were in for a wet evening! We were confident the rain wouldn’t last
too long but didn`t want to take any
chances so before heading for dinner, we packed our poncho’s. We ate at our hotel
before heading back to the Magic Kingdom. Ryan had a turkey sandwich and
Ellen some chicken nuggets!
As we were waiting for the bus, the rain started. No big
deal – we just pulled out our ponchos and made the best of it! First up was
Stitch’s Great Escape. While we still miss the Alien Encounter, Stitch’s Great
Escape was a great fit to avoid the rain and take in all that Magic Kingdom has to
offer!
We headed over to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin where
Ellen achieved a galactic hero score of 999 999!!
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| Waiting in line - happy we had our ponchos! |
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| Galactic Hero! |
Because we had used up all 3 of our FastPasses earlier in
the day, we were eligible for one additional FastPass at time. While they
couldn’t be booked through the My Disney Experience App, there were kiosks
available throughout the park. There weren't a ton of options left this late in the day (all the
popular attractions like Big Thunder and Space Mountain weren’t available) but we
took advantage of what was available and booked an additional FastPass for Peter Pan's Flight.
The rain was easing up by now so we walked over to It’s
a Small World and rode it again before heading over to Haunted Mansion for the
second time. Seriously...Ryan loves this
attraction.
We used our additionally FastPass for Peter Pan’s Flight –
which often has a moderate wait time so we were happy to have a slightly
shorter wait. After Peter Pan, we went to The Many Adventures of Winnie the
Pooh.
The rain had completely let-up by now so we made our way
back to Big Thunder Mountain. It was really fun to ride this at night! On our
last trip, we didn’t stay out too late at the parks so we really missed out on
the nightlife of the parks so we definitely wanted to take advantage this time
around!
We had attempted to ride the Goofy’s Barnstormer earlier in
the day but the line was really long and Ellen ended up feeling sick so we cut
out of line and took it easy for a little bit, checking out some shops. This
worked out great because when we came back to ride at night, the line was
nearly empty!
The final ride of the day of was...Space Mountain! We couldn’t leave Magic Kingdom without another ride on Space. We made it back to our resort after a jam-packed bus ride and conked out!
Day 3: Monday, June 16th, 2014
For our second full day at WDW we headed back to Hollywood Studios for a full day of fun! Before leaving the resort we grabbed some breakfast – a veggie omelette for Ryan and some banana bread for Ellen! We headed off to the park for rope drop! Although there isn’t an opening show at Hollywood, we like to get there early in the day to avoid some of the large crowds who funnel in later in the morning.
Our first stop that morning was to the Backlot Tour. This is a tram-style train ride that takes you through the backstage of a movie studio. It has a bunch of old props from Disney movies and some great special effects that they use in major motion pictures! Unfortunately, we’ve heard that the Backlot permanently closed in August of 2014. We’re sad to see it go but glad we got once last ride before it closed!
Next up, we visited One Man’s Dream. We hadn’t visited this museum-like tribute to Walt Disney and his dream of building Walt Disney World on our last trip in 2012 but came across it this time around during our planning. We really loved this attraction. While it isn’t any kind of ride or thrill, it showcases many of Walt’s and Roy’s plans for WDW as well as many early pieces of merchandise and goodies. It’s a really great stop for any Disney-fanatic who loves not only WDW but also the history behind it.
We took a stroll through some areas of the park near One Man’s Dream and the Backlot Tour for some fun photo-opps before making our way to Muppet Vision 3D. We’re not huge Muppet fans but this is a fun attraction to add into our day.
Can you guess what we did next?? Another round at Animation Academy! Not only is this a fun and interactive attraction that gives you a free souvenir at the end of the 15 minutes but it’s also a great way to fill your time between FastPasses! Because classes run every 20 minutes or so you’re never in for a very long wait (as long as the line isn’t too long as they only let in a certain amount of participants per class). This time we drew Buzz Lightyear!
You can’t do EPCOT without visiting the Great Movie Ride! We love this attraction for its nostalgic feel but also as a great slow-moving ride to rest your feet!
By this time, we were in the time bracket to use our first FastPass which was for....The Hollywood Tower of Terror of course! We rode this on our first evening at HS but definitely weren’t about to pass up another chance to ride!
We decided to check out the Voyage of the Little Mermaid Show which is an indoor live show attraction. It was a really cute and there were appearances from all our favourite characters!
We had another FastPass booked for the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster so we raced over to that! One of our favourite rides at HS!
Because we had visited the park earlier in the week, we didn’t see Fantasmic again and used the time to visit some shops and get out of the park before the huge crowds. We called in an early (ish) night and headed back to our resort to rest up for tomorrow – Day 1 at Universal!
Our fourth day in Orlando took us to Universal Studios – Islands of Adventure! We enjoyed the thrill rides and attractions so much on our 2012 trip that we knew we were definitely going to make time to go back again! Although we made out well last trip with doing BOTH parks in one day, we wanted to take our time this trip & decided to break up the park into two days.
Last trip we decided to take a taxi from our Disney resort to Universal. This year we felt more comfortable with the distance and booked transportation through Mears. Although it made numerous stops on the way to Universal, it was a comfy & affordable means of getting to the park!
Before heading out to catch the bus we grabbed some bagels & fruit from our resort. While we can handle the “intense” attractions quiet well, we wanted to be cautious about what we ate beforehand just to be on the safe side.
After sitting in the sun and drying off a bit, we hit up the Spiderman ride. This is one of the best simulator rides in the park, with lots of fast paced movements and fiery effects. Since there is only two of us, we normally split up for this ride and go in the single rider line to get on it quicker!
At this point we decided to take a short break and grab a hod dog for lunch. Once we ate those it was off to Dr. Dooms Dead Fall Ride and the Hulk Roller Coaster! If the wait times are long for the Hulk we often opt for the single rider lines. Both are must do rides and we usually do them as many time as possible!
By this point it was supper time so we went out of the park and up city walk to Bubba Gump's Restaurant! We enjoyed a delicious shrimp dinner and a cool drink or two. It was delicious and we will definitely be heading there again on our next visit!
With some time still left before we needed to be back to get on our bus, we decided to go back to the park and try out Poseidon's Fury. This was a ride neither of us knew much about but we wanted to try it out. W came to find out that this is a walking tour style attraction where you are on your feet throughout it as you, along with a guide look for a missing professor in the ruins. The attraction was interesting and worth going to but you might want to do this attraction earlier in your day, rather than later when your legs are already tired.
It was a busy, memorable, and an exciting Day 4 of our vacation! After Poseidon's Fury it was time to head back out of the park to catch our bus and head back to our Disney resort to relax, go for a swim and rest up before we head back to Disney for Day 5 of our trip :)
Day 4: Tuesday, June 17th, 2014
Last trip we decided to take a taxi from our Disney resort to Universal. This year we felt more comfortable with the distance and booked transportation through Mears. Although it made numerous stops on the way to Universal, it was a comfy & affordable means of getting to the park!
Before heading out to catch the bus we grabbed some bagels & fruit from our resort. While we can handle the “intense” attractions quiet well, we wanted to be cautious about what we ate beforehand just to be on the safe side.
We decided to spend the day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Park because we wanted to hit up The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attractions as early as possible. When the gates dropped we were off!
The first ride we went on was The Harry Potter themed Roller Coaster Dragon Challenge. This is a fast paced, must-do, roller coaster with twists, turns and loops. Of course we made sure that we sat in the front row.
Next we went on Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey, a quick moving simulator ride. This is another great ride, but for those of you who may be prone to motion sickness, this ride could leave you feeling a little bit queasy.
We couldn’t leave the Wizarding World before trying a frozen butter beer. If you like butterscotch, you'll definitely enjoy this cold treat!
Up next we headed over to the Jurrasic Park ride. This is one of our favorite rides and is comparable flume ride to Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom. If you sit in front, be prepared to get wet.
Now that we were a little wet, we thought we might as well keep that trend going with our next two rides, Dudley Do-Rights Rip Saw Falls and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barge. The Canadian Mountie themed flume ride is without a doubt the most wet you can get at the park, especially if you are in the front row. Bluto’s Barge ride is a wetter version of the Kali River Rapids ride at Disney’s Animal kingdom.
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| Rip Saw Falls |
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| Bluto's Bilge Rat Barge |
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| Soaked! |
At this point we decided to take a short break and grab a hod dog for lunch. Once we ate those it was off to Dr. Dooms Dead Fall Ride and the Hulk Roller Coaster! If the wait times are long for the Hulk we often opt for the single rider lines. Both are must do rides and we usually do them as many time as possible!
By this point it was supper time so we went out of the park and up city walk to Bubba Gump's Restaurant! We enjoyed a delicious shrimp dinner and a cool drink or two. It was delicious and we will definitely be heading there again on our next visit!
With some time still left before we needed to be back to get on our bus, we decided to go back to the park and try out Poseidon's Fury. This was a ride neither of us knew much about but we wanted to try it out. W came to find out that this is a walking tour style attraction where you are on your feet throughout it as you, along with a guide look for a missing professor in the ruins. The attraction was interesting and worth going to but you might want to do this attraction earlier in your day, rather than later when your legs are already tired.
It was a busy, memorable, and an exciting Day 4 of our vacation! After Poseidon's Fury it was time to head back out of the park to catch our bus and head back to our Disney resort to relax, go for a swim and rest up before we head back to Disney for Day 5 of our trip :)
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| Goodbye Islands of Adventure...For now |
Day 5: Wednesday, June 18th, 2014
After a full day Universal we were excited to be back at Disney and eager to start the day! As always, before heading out to catch the bus we grabbed some breakfast from our resort. Ryan fueled up with a famous bounty platter and Ellen enjoyed an even more famous Mickey waffle! We enjoyed a quick but yummy breakfast and headed out to catch our bus to – Disney’s Animal Kingdom!
Animal Kingdom is one of the smaller parks in our opinion so it isn’t as full of a day as you may have in Magic Kingdom for example. We love going to Animal Kingdom for a relaxing but adventurous day. We find it’s best to get there before park opening as many sites suggest early morning is the best time to ride the safari. We take advantage of the early morning and get everything done by noon-ish and then spend the rest of the day at our resort or another park!
Animal Kingdom is one of the smaller parks in our opinion so it isn’t as full of a day as you may have in Magic Kingdom for example. We love going to Animal Kingdom for a relaxing but adventurous day. We find it’s best to get there before park opening as many sites suggest early morning is the best time to ride the safari. We take advantage of the early morning and get everything done by noon-ish and then spend the rest of the day at our resort or another park!
We began our day on the Kilimanjaro Safari and saw a lot of unique and exotic animals and creatures. In this attraction you ride in a safari truck through an African-like savannah.
Since we were in the area we decided to take a ride on the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We hadn’t visited this area of the park before so we were excited to check it out. It’s a petting zoo/museum type area of the park where you can learn about many different animals and species and event pet them! It’s a great spot for children and animal loves alike.
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| Hippos |
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| Elephant |
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| Crocodiles |
Since we were in the area we decided to take a ride on the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We hadn’t visited this area of the park before so we were excited to check it out. It’s a petting zoo/museum type area of the park where you can learn about many different animals and species and event pet them! It’s a great spot for children and animal loves alike.
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| Transportation |
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| Gift Shop |
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| Path to Rafiki's Planet Watch |
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| On the Train |
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| Petting Zoo |
We rode the train back to the main area of the park and rushed over to the Festival of the Lion King. We think this is definitely a must-do at Animal Kingdom. It’s a live theatre style show with acrobatics, dancing, singing, and of course – the Lion King characters! It’s a half hour show and the lines fill up quickly so a FastPass or early arrival is recommended. It’s definitely worth the wait though! The photos do not do it justice.
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| Waiting Eagerly |
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| Showtime! |
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| Up-Close and Personal |
After watching the show we made our way to Expedition Everest to ride the coaster with the Yetti! We love the fast-paced excitement this attraction provides and consider it a must-do as well.
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| Exterior to Expedition Everest |
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| Hands Up! |
By this time it was getting pretty hot outside so decided to stop for a cold snack – frozen orange juice & strawberry lemonade – so good!
Next up we rode the Kali River Rapids and stayed somewhat dry with the help of our poncho’s which was nice! It was a good opportunity to cool down without walking around uncomfortably for the rest of the morning.
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| Delicious!!!!!! |
We visited It’s Tough to be a Bug which is a 3D film/live show inspired by the movie! It has some unexpected surprises that make it exciting but could be unnerving for little ones.At this point we were in the time period for our next FastPass so we headed back to Expedition Everest for a second ride!
Our third FastPass was for Dinosaur but the line was minimal so we decided to skip the FastPass and hop on immediately after Everest. Ellen loves the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom, It takes you through a non-stop race to rescue a dinosaur before the meteor strikes! It’s fast-paced, bumpy, and has a lot of fun twists and turns.
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At this point we felt like we had gotten in everything we wanted to a Animal Kingdom. We enjoyed looking through the shops and visiting some areas of the park that we hadn’t seen before as well as partaking in our must-do attractions. We decided to head back to the resort to rest up and go for a swim before heading to Magic Kingdom for the night!
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| Smaller Pool at All-Star Sports |
Next up we visited Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin which is an interactive, laser shooting attraction where Ellen has been known to reach Galactic Hero status.
On our last trip we took in the Country Bear Jamboree and the Tikki Room which weren’t overly exciting for us. For some people they’re nostalgic & classic must-do’s but aren’t high on our must-do list. This time we decided to take in the Hall of President’s instead. This attraction features all US Presidents in audio-animatronic characters. It’s an informative and feel-good show (even for us Canadians!) narrated by the one and only Morgan Freeman. The fact that Walt Disney was so passionate about audio-animatronics and their technology makes it even more special.
At this point we had used up all of our original FastPasses but were able to book one more at a time at the Kiosks throughout the park. While most of the popular attractions like Space Mountain are booked solid, it’s a good opportunity to grab a couple of other passes for attractions such as the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, or It’s a Small World if you want to skip the lines. We booked an additional FastPass and made our way back to the Haunted Mansion.
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| Inside It's a Small World |
We then took a ride on the Mad Tea Party, Pirates of the Caribbean and Prince Charming’s Regal Carousel. Afterwards we rode It’s a Small World and caught some of the Wishes fireworks from Fantasy Land. We finished the evening off with Peter Pan’s Flight and made our way back to the resort.
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| Ellen loves the Tea Cups |
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| Entrance to Pirates |
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| Right before the Fireworks |
Day 6: Thursday, June 19th, 2014
The sixth day of our vacation took us back to Universal – this time to Universal Studios. There’s no particular rhyme or reason why we put a Disney day in-between our Universal days... it just seems to feel like we’re stretching it out a bit more by not going back to back days. For whatever reason, this is how we like to do it for now! As always, before heading out to catch our shuttle, we grabbed a light breakfast and made our way to the bus!
We got to Universal just before park opening and headed to Universal Studios as far as the line would allow. We had a basic idea of what attractions we wanted to hit but without fast passes we had the flexibility to change our mind on the go. The park was quickly filling up and we decided that it was in our best interest to do the new Transformers 3D ride first. We both really enjoyed this ride and found it to be a really good length. Some attractions and rides at Disney and Universal can be very short (especially after waiting in long lines) but this one seemed to the perfect length. Keep an eye out for the Transformers themselves. They’re often near the ride and are available for interaction and pictures! Later that day we had just missed Optimus Prime but were lucky to catch Bumblebee for a picture.
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| View of the entrance to Universal Studios |
After Transformers we made our way over to one of our favourite attractions – the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. After conquering our nerves for this ride in 2012 we knew it was a must-do! We love that you can rock out to whatever song you like through individual speakers. The lines were still minimal at this point so after the first go-around we decided to do it again!
One our way to our next stop – Shrek 4D – we found Homer and Lisa Simpson and knew we had to snatch a few pictures with them! To the best of our knowledge, Universal doesn’t necessarily schedule times for the characters to be out and about for pictures (much like Disneyland, they wander around or show up unexpectedly). This keeps the wait lines pretty short if you’re in the right place at the right time! We waited a matter of minutes for Homer and Lisa and got some great pictures!
After our pictures we headed to Shrek 4D. Much like Muppets 3D at Disney, you head into a pre-show where you wait and are entertained by the characters of Shrek on two big screen televisions. Once in the theatre, the show begins and you experience the full 4D experience! It’s a cute and fun show and an excellent way to rest your feet in an air-conditioned theatre.
Our light breakfast had begun to wear off at this point so we decided to stop for a snack – corn dogs! This isn’t something we often eat at home so it was a yummy treat!
While we were eating our corn dogs, we noticed a small line forming near the Shrek ride. We knew it was separate from the queue so we decided to check it out. It was Shrek himself and Donkey! They were interacting with park guests and taking pictures so we hopped in line (still short at that point) to take part! This was a very fun and interactive experience. We’re not huge on doing character meet and greets and Disney simply because we’d rather spend our time on the attractions but Universal makes it so easy to take 5 minutes that we couldn’t resist! Shrek was typical of characters and mimed with us to interact but Donkey was having full-on conversations with us! He was hilarious and made the experience very memorable.
At this point, we were exploring the park a bit deciding what attraction/ride to do next when someone came up to us and asked us if we wanted to be part of a filming for The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Ryan had joked about it on our previous Universal day because we figured we had missed the filming in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We even took a picture with the Tonight Show sign because we thought it was as close as we would get to it!
The Tonight Show was filming at Universal all that week promoting the opening of Universal Studios newest section, Diagon Alley, in the coming weeks. We excitedly made our way to “Springfield”. Once there, we saw that there was definitely something going on outside of Moe’s Tavern. We jumped in the crowd and tried to catch a glimpse. After waiting for quite a while, we had made our way to the front of the group and eventually filming started for a segment of The Tonight Show with Pitbull. They played a game of giant Duff beer pong which was fun. After being there for a while, the shooting wrapped up and the crowd dispersed. They were both very gracious and came and shook hands with us before filming began.
Here is the youtube clip from The Tonight Show of the Duff Beer Pong sketch. You can see us on the right hand side up against the gate near the tavern door when they come out:
While in the area, we took advantage of splitting a Lard Lad’s donut which was delish! The Springfield area of the park had expanded quite a bit since we were there in 2012 so we were excited to check everything out. After our snack we went to The Simpsons Ride which is always a blast. It’s a simulated ride and is really well done, we always love doing it!
The Tonight Show was filming at Universal all that week promoting the opening of Universal Studios newest section, Diagon Alley, in the coming weeks. We excitedly made our way to “Springfield”. Once there, we saw that there was definitely something going on outside of Moe’s Tavern. We jumped in the crowd and tried to catch a glimpse. After waiting for quite a while, we had made our way to the front of the group and eventually filming started for a segment of The Tonight Show with Pitbull. They played a game of giant Duff beer pong which was fun. After being there for a while, the shooting wrapped up and the crowd dispersed. They were both very gracious and came and shook hands with us before filming began.
Here is the youtube clip from The Tonight Show of the Duff Beer Pong sketch. You can see us on the right hand side up against the gate near the tavern door when they come out:
While in the area, we took advantage of splitting a Lard Lad’s donut which was delish! The Springfield area of the park had expanded quite a bit since we were there in 2012 so we were excited to check everything out. After our snack we went to The Simpsons Ride which is always a blast. It’s a simulated ride and is really well done, we always love doing it!
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| Mmmmmm Doughnut |
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| Great Ride! |
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| Relaxing in the Simpson living room |
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| Duff Man |
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| Springfield Founder |
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| Krusty Burger! |
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| Krusty Burger and Curly Fries |
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| Cletus' Chicken and Waffle sandwich with Tater Tots |
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| Ellen trying out the Love Tester in Moe's |
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| Sharing a Duff Beer with Barney in Moe's Tavern! |
After lunch we made our way to ET Adventure which is an easy-going attraction where we board a “bicycle” for the magical ride. Next up was Terminator 2 3D. Ellen may or may not have fallen asleep for part of this ride but it’s not because it was dull or boring. It was just a dark, cool place to sit after a long day of standing and walking.
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| Phoneeee Homeeeee |
The second last attraction we hit was Disaster! We did it in 2012 and really enjoyed it so we wanted to do it again. It has a great mix of scenes involving a veteran director making a disaster movie (Director is played by Christopher Walken!) and interaction and if you’re lucky enough – you can star in the role yourself!
The last ride of the day was Revenge of the Mummy. This attraction is fast, dark, and full of unexpected surprises. It’s defiantly one of the best in the park!
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| A Glimpse of Diagon Alley |
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