Tuesday May 24, 2005

This morning I repaired the pencil holder again, this time by actually sewing the Velcro into place. This was just one of many incidents over the years where I have had to use the mini-sewing kit that I always pack. Here endeth the lesson.

Once I finished with the repairs, I finished writing up my trip notes from yesterday, took a quick shower, and headed out to the ASMU food court for breakfast. But when I got there, I realized that I had forgotten to bring my refillable mug with me, forcing me to buy something to drink along with my breakfast. I chose a 16-ounce apple juice for an outrageously high price.

After breakfast I pointed my rental Grand Am once again towards the Universal Studios Escape, and quickly made it to the parking toll line - where I sat in line for 10 or 12 minutes before handing over my brand new AP to get free parking.

A few years ago, on only my second visit to IOA, I had been proud of myself for riding the Hulk, which was the biggest, baddest, meanest coaster I had ever ridden, and after staggering off the ride I had bought myself a very cool Hulk t-shirt. Bright green, with the Hulkster himself on the front, this shirt had been admired by just about everyone who had ever seen it, most especially by my nephew Greg. So, at Greg's request, I had bought him an identical shirt on my next visit to IOA. But Greg had been growing faster than the National Debt, and his Hulk shirt was now too small for him, so he had asked me to get him another.

Well, when I arrived at the Hulk merchandise cart, our old shirts were nowhere to be found, so I looked around and found a nice green shirt with Hulk looking out of it and growling. After I decided on this shirt I noticed that it was marked down, from $22.99 to $17.99. Cool, I thought, I love buying stuff on sale! When I presented two of them (one for Greg, one for me so we match) to the guy at the register, I asked if I got a Passholder discount here, and wouldn't you know it, I did. Get this: 20% off of those shirts, even though they were already marked down! I paid $30.51, including tax, for two shirts whose original price was over $50. Passholder discounts inside the park - Disney, are you paying attention?

I had the two shirts shipped to the front of the park so I wouldn't have to carry them around with me, and walked on through Marvel Superhero Island. I also passed through Toon Lagoon without stopping; although it was shaping up to be a pretty hot day and Toon Lagoon's two water rides were pretty refreshing, I tend to steer away from rides that give you such a thorough soaking. I have never seen anyone come off Ripsaw Falls or Bilge-Rat Barges who didn't look like they had actually jumped into a swimming pool, and I'm not fond of walking around the park all day soaked to the skin.

I went to Jurassic Park and went to the JP River adventure lockers to secure my camera for the ride. But wait... the lockers are not free for the first hour any more! And I had forgotten the plastic bag I use to protect my camera from splashes, so there was no way I was taking it onto the ride. JP River Adventure doesn't soak Guests like the Toon Lagoon rides, but it does splash pretty high and almost all Guests come off the ride a little wet, so unless I could protect my camera, I was not going on that ride.

I stashed my camera and utility belt in one of these lockers and went into Dueling Dragons. DD is a great racing roller coaster; I prefer the Ice side, which is smoother and doesn't shake as much as Fire, so I got into the Ice queue. The line was only 15 minutes long, but was delayed an extra 10 minutes while extra ride vehicles were put on. But it was worth the wait to ride this one, because the wind passing by as the car whooshed its way around the track helped to cool me off a bit. It was getting hot!

From Dueling Dragons I went back to Jurassic Park to grab some lunch. But first I found a relatively shady spot outside the JP Discovery Center to call MikeS and give him a status report. I intended to talk for only a few minutes, but as I raved over the benefits of the Universal Annual Pass, I lost track of time and wound up talking for over an hour. And during that hour, the clouds which had been threatening rain all morning cleared up and the weather went from potentialy-stormy to boilingly-sunny, so as soon as I hung up I made a beeline for my chosen lunch venue, Thunder Falls Terrace.

Thunder Falls used to have real plates and metal utensils. But after being closed for a few months and re-opening, it now has plastic plates and utensils. I miss the better china, but these changes have not affected the quality of the food; my lunch was excellent.

I wound up drinking the Powerade too quickly, and since I didn't want to stand in another 10-minute line to get another, I ate the rest of my lunch without anything to drink. This was something of a mistake, since I was hot and dehydrated, and my lunch was served piping hot; but as soon as I was done I went looking for a place to fill my empty Brita bottle and downed almost the whole thing.

After a bathroom break, I took some time wandering through the Jurassic Park Discovery Center, taking a few pictures and again filling my water bottle. I also stopped at a table in Burger Digs to make some notes and enjoy the air-conditioning, which was a bit cooler in Burger Digs than Thunder Falls.

Feeling a little cooler and more refreshed, I returned to the Lost Continent and saw Poseidon's Fury, an excellent show utilizing moving set pieces, fire and water effects, and an amazing water tunnel to showcase a battle between an evil wizard and the god of the sea, Poseidon.

Once my ice cream was gone, I went the rest of the way around to Marvel Superhero Island and browsed the shops for a while before getting into line for the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride, which I still consider the best ride in IOA, and probably the best in all of Universal Studios. The wait for Spidey was only about 15 minutes, not bad for this time of year, and I was soon being strapped into a SCOOP news vehicle for my super-powered tour of New York. But any ride is only as good as the company you keep when on it, and on this ride I was stuck in a SCOOP with three teenage girls, all of whom seemed to have Banshees in their lineage. As soon as the fun stuff started, these girls started screaming in my ears and didn't stop until we cruised back into the unloading bay.

Oy vey! Why do some people (teens, kids, adults, whatever) have absolutely no idea that their actions can affect those around them? Or maybe some of them know it, but they just don't care.

Oh, well, at least the ride didn't break down, as it had the last time I rode Spidey.

Once I was finished saving New York from Doc Oc and merry band of miscreants, I walked out onto the street and was hit by a blast of hot, humid air. The sun was shining down mercilessly now, and the temperature was in the low 90s. And the humidity made the temps even worse. It had been hot all day, and that had worn me down quite a bit, so even though I still had things that I wanted to do in the park, I decided to call it a day a little early, around 5pm, and head back to ASMU for a nap.

On my way out of the park, I stopped at the big shop in the Port of Entry to pick up the t-shirts I had bought this morning, and looked around some more for items with a Universal 2005 logo on them to use in my trip report. Again I struck out; the only items I could find were expensive shirts and sweatshirts that were too large to scan anyway.

As I approached the exit, I was ambushed by a Universal employee for one of their exit surveys, and here again I found something that Uni is doing much better than Disney.

Universal, on the other hand, conducts it's exit surveys in the comfort of an air-conditioned lounge, with comfortable, padded chairs for the Guests, and they also utilize standard laptop computers with full keyboards. The survey itself is also more flexible; many of the questions are still multiple-choice, but about half of them allow the Guests to answer in their own words, and there are several very general questions like, "What could we do to improve your Universal experience?" and "What made you pick the answer you did to the previous multiple choice question?" Broader questions like these make for a much more accurate survey of the true state of affairs, and allow Guests to relate specific problem areas directly to Universal management. Kudos to Uni for asking better questions and getting better answers!

Once I finished with the survey, I left IOA and drove straight back to ASMU for a nap. The heat and humidity had sapped my strength away completely, and I found myself staggering a little as I walked from my car to my room. Times like this are when it pays to request a room close to the parking lot!

I collapsed for about 2 hours, watched NCIS, and went to Downtown Disney afterward. I saw a 10:30 show of Star Wars Episode III for a second time, but didn't bother walking through Downtown Disney again before returning to ASMU and going to bed at about 1:30am.