Skamarakas Family - April 2006

Cast of Characters - Jim (dad, age 29 - well, at least that's all he'll admit to); Anna (mom, age 41); Brighid (DD age 14); Eilis (DD age 5); Granuaile (DD who turns 1 on our trip!)

Day 7

This was originally scheduled to be our last day in the parks, and I wanted to do Magic Kingdom, but we have extended to Friday, so we decide to go to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure today, and the MK tomorrow.

We bought our US/IOA passes two years ago when they were running a two parks, two years deal. We got a pass good for two years admission to both parks for the price of one park, one year. It was a deal we couldn't pass up.

Here's the thing I hate most about Universal. The walk from the parking garage - when you have a stroller and can't use the moving sidewalks - seems unbelievably long. Then you get to what you think is the entrance, and you are acosted by a slew of Universal people trying to get you to sign up for the Universal credit card. When you get through that, you have to go through the shops and the restaurants before you get to the actual entrances to the theme parks. In the morning, this isn't awful, but after a long, hot day, getting back seems unbearable.

We arrive a little late, and I quickly learn the second thing I hate most about Universal - no fast pass. Oh, they have their express pass, but if you are not a resort guest, the pass will cost you $40 per park, per day, on this particular day (they seem to change the price of the pass based on the day - some days, it's $15, some days as high as $50). UGH. We make the decision to work this like we have been working Disney - we will do what we can, see what we can, and go on the understanding that this is not our first trip. It may well be our last, though, as the passes expire in June, and I don't think we'll renew.

We decide to head immediately to Islands of Adventure, where we can take the little kids on the Seuss rides. There is no wait for the Cat in the Hat ride, so Jim and Eilis go on ahead, and I go park the stroller. When I get there, even though there are no height restrictions posted, the person manning the entrance tells me Grace can't go on unless she can walk. What? She took 7 steps on Sunday, does that count? No, apparently, it does not. So Grace and I can't go on the ride, and Brighid doesn't want to go now that she may not be able to catch up with her father and sister.

I can't ride anything that goes round and round - like a carousel - so Brighid volunteers (okay, she volunteered after I threatened her with an afternoon of math homework if she didn't volunteer) to take Grace on the Dr. Seuss carousel. Grace LOVED it! She was clapping and waving and smiling - it was the cutest thing!

When Eilis comes out of The Cat in the Hat ride, she wants to do One Fish, Two Fish. There doesn't appear to be much of a line there, so we head on over. Guess what? They seem to be letting on a LOT of Express Pass people, and it takes about 6 turns of the fish before the girls get on. Grace is hot and irritated standing still, so we decide when the girls are off the ride to head back to the carousel so Grace can ride again. Giddyap, Little Gracie :-)

There are quite a few rides here that we think Eilis is too young to ride, even though she is tall enough, but she loves the Unicorn roller coaster thing, so we head there. The sign says 25 minutes, but Brighid and Eilis head in, and find themselves on the ride with no wait at all. As we are standing there waiting, the guy changes the wait time to 35 minutes, but when the girls get off, Jim takes Eilis to go a second time - and again, walks right on. I tell Brighid the time changer guy must get to go home early if the wait time reaches 45 minutes, so he's just arbitrarily changing the sign. I can't see any reason why he has changed the sign to 45 minutes, when it is still obviously a walk on.

It is now lunch time, and Jim's favorite place to eat at IOA is Thunder Falls Terrace, so we head there. It is in the Jurassic Park part of the park, and they do have a nice combo meal of ribs and rotisserie chicken. We enjoy a nice, leisurely lunch, and then we go over to Toon Lagoon to see what the wait times are on Spider Man. Too long - they are pushing 90 minutes on some rides here. We do see that the Bilge Rat Barges are going with a 20 minute wait, so we send the two girls on that. We wait for them more than an hour. I think it's that Express Pass thing again. Jim still wants to run into Universal Studios, so even though they come off the ride soaking wet, he convinces the girls to go to the Studios for a few things.

One of Eilis' favorite things is the ET Ride, and the sign up at the front says the wait time is 10 minutes. Well, heck, that's not bad! We head on back, and the wait is now 20 minutes, but we're here, and Jim and Eilis go on while Brighid and I wait with the baby. Another thing about Universal that I hate - the lack of shaded spots to sit in. Brighid and I find a place where we can keep the baby out of the sun, and we wait there for the other two to come off of the ride. Again, the wait is more like an hour, but we have a pretzel and soda while we wait, so the time passes without too much pain.

After ET, Brighid and Eilis ride on the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster, and then we decide to head out for the day and go back to the pool. We see that Shrek only has a 20 minute wait, so Jim and I grab another drink and a snack while wait for Brighid and Eilis on the Shrek ride. Again, we're waiting a good hour, and finally, Jim thinks we may have miscommunicated where where we are going to meet, so we walk around the other side of the building to see if they are there. They are just walking out.

It's been a long, hot day, and now I have to push the stroller back through the crowds at the restaurants and then through the parking garage to get where I need to go.

Overall, as much as I've complained, I think it was a good day. The kids have had a good time - there just isn't a lot for Grace to do at US/IOA. Eilis is disappointed she hasn't gotten to do more, but I'm sure in her life time, she'll be back again.

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