Visited 3/8; first time; LOVED the parks!

[dreamscometrue47]

Just back from a one day visit to US/IOA on Friday, March 8 and we had a fantastic time! There were 11 of us (6 16/17 yr old girls and 5 moms) and even though we didn't get to do everything in both parks, we managed to hit everything on our MUST do lists.

First of all, being a Disney fanatic, I was EXTREMELY impressed with the cleanliness and theming of the Universal Parks. They are AWESOME to just walk around in and take in the atmosphere. I love how you can walk to each park and through City Walk...

We were at the gates to Universal Studios at 9 am and did the following:
Shrek 4 (Everyone LOVED IT....we could not stop laughing)
Revenge of the Mummy (everyone's all out favorite ride of the day...) We rode this twice in a row with NO wait at all!
Terminator 2: 3D We all liked this a lot.
Twister: very good
Jaws: a bit lame, but the girls screamed through the whole thing.
Watched the Blues Brothers show....

We ate our Nathan's hot dogs and walked over to IOA.
Hulk: NO Wait at 1pm...Girls did this twice and LOVED IT!
Dr. Doom's Fearfall: about a 10 minute wait; again, the girls loved it.
Spiderman: AWESOME! The wait at 2 pm was about 20 minutes; not bad at all.
Dudley DoRight's Ripsaw Falls: AWESOME! only about a 10 minute wait.
Popeye's Barges: We liked Dudley better but this was still a lot of fun.
Dueling Dragons: Half the girls were done after about a 15 minute wait, but the other half wanted front row, so they had to wait another 20 minutes, but said it was definitely worth it.

We were done with everything around 5 pm. Obviously, there were a lot of things we didn't get to do, but we had a plan ahead of time, stuck to it and still managed to get in ice cream and a bit of shopping.

DD and I cannot wait to go back with DH and DS! We will definitely stay on site so that we can enjoy FOTL...

 

[gschmerl]

Glad you had such a good time. You got a lot done in one day.

 

[macraven]

sounds like you had a great time.
glad to hear that.

on your next visit, check out the horror make up show.
it is so kewl

 

[dreamscometrue47]

the horror makeup show and fear factor LIVE were on our list, but we just couldn't fit them in..the girls decided that Dueling Dragons and Hulk were more important.

We can't wait to go back next year..thinking of buying those $86/7day admission tickets now...what a deal.

 

[tikkipoo]

FUN, FUN, FUN! I'm glad you had such a good time. I love the theming and especially the bright colors in the parks. I'll bet your family will have a great time.

 

[robvia]

You went at a good time of the year. Feb/Mar have light crowds and the weather is perfect. No rain, cool in the morning warming up in the afternoon.

Arriving early also helped.

Now to really make your next trip the best, stay onsite, and you'll "feel" like part of the action.

 

[dreamscometrue47]

That's the plan: stay onsite for 2 nites and then switch over to timesharing at Orange Lake Country Club! Wish I was there right now as this March Nor'easter hits us with more snow.....

I am so glad that I read the Universal Boards before going; made a huge difference in the way we attacked the parks and not one other mom gave me a hard time when I told them about the DIS! They went along with the plan and everyone was really happy at the end of the day.

 

[Metro West]

Thanks for posting and glad you had a great time!

 

[Disney owl]

thanks for sharing