My trip to Orlando. By Sherry B.

First off, I must say that my camera battery ran out of juice, which means I did not have as many pics of Disney as I wanted. Hopefully the girls caught more on their cameras. I won't know until they are developed....

We started out at Universal Studios. It was so nice....and so not crowded! The wait time for every attraction? 5 minutes tops. The day was partly cloudy which was just perfect....in the mid 70's. We began at the Shreck 4-D attraction which was so adorable! We sat in a movie theater type deal, with our funky glasses as the characters jumped off the screen. The seats moved along with the carriages, and when donkey sneezed, a mist of water covered our faces....it was hilarious!

After that is was off to the Back to the Future ride. Now, John has been talking about this forever....and we were all excited to go. We got right in and I should have known bad things were going to happen when they put you in the little "holding room" for your instructions. A 5X8 room with a locked door behind you and elevator doors in front. After a good five minutes in there, we were led to the car. It was the five of us, and two adult men and a little boy. We get in the car and as she locks us in, mumbles something about "is anyone claustrophobic?" I barely catch what she says when the lights go out and the horror begins....

The screen opens and the car starts jerking you around like a rag doll. You truly, TRULY feel like you are flying through space. I have wee one in front of me saying, "MOM GET ME OFF THIS THING!!!!" and me thinking, "Holy s**** I'm going to die." So, with the grace and elegance of oh, let's say a raving lunatic, I scream, "WILL SOMEONE PLEASE STOP THE RIDE???? PLEASE???? ANYONE????" I don't know who was more horrified....me or the guy in front of me who turns around with a look of "for the love of GOD, if you are going to puke lean over the side!" At this point my MIL is on one side of me laughing and yelling, Betsy is on the other side with her arms around me calmly saying, "It's okay mom, it will be over soon", and wee one in the front with her head between her knees. I don't know how long the ride was, as I spent my time with the palm of my hands pushing my eyeballs practically through my skull, repeating over and over the Lord's prayer. When it ended, the guy in front of me says, "Are you okay????" LOL....I mumbled that I was and shot out of the ride, through the door and into the fresh air. I didn't even wait for wee one! (Nice, huh?)

When we got out, John begrudgingly stepped over to me (at that point he did not want to be seen with the "crazy woman") and asked if I was okay. I told him I was, although I was shaking so bad I could barely walk. Wee one was clutching my hand so hard I lost feeling for a while. She said she cried a little, and then decided to cover her head. She said it worked....she also said that the little boy next to her yelled over, "this is fun, isn't it?!" to which she replied, "UH NOOOO!" lol. In any case....that was the last ride wee one and I went on that day. We spent our time checking out the shops and walking around while John, his mom and Betsy enjoyed the MIB ride, the Mummy, Earthquake, Twister, Jimmy Neutron....even ET! LOL....However, wee one did decide to try the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster after seeing the three year olds on it....she said it was fun and went on it three more times~!

We did see a few shows as well, which were not scary at all....Animal Planet Live was okay. Not what I thought it would be though. Two dog tricks, a few birds, and a monkey. They brought out a snake for a few minutes too. It was mostly a big commercial to get folks to watch Animal Planet. They had a big screen above the stage and kept showing clips from all the shows. Heck, I could watch that at home! We caught the Blues Brothers giving a concert on the street, which was great. They had the characters down pat! It was really good. Then we saw the Beetlejuice show. Now, I figured it would be cheezy....and it was....but it was so good! We all enjoyed that one. Very funny, entertaining....good music too! I have to say that Betsy thoroughly enjoyed this park. She and her dad had a great time together, riding the crazy rides and having a ton of fun. I guess it was a kind of "bonding moment" for them....which right there was well worth the admission price!

And so....that ended our day at Universal.

Sherry's Travel Ratings:

Universal Studios....**** stars
Time of year to go.... definately November. No crowds,
beautiful weather
Stay away from.... Back to the Future (for the love of all that is holy run as far and as fast as you can!)

(Since the MIL is pacing about, I suppose I should save the Disney tales for my next entry....until then!)