HELLO! Well today we went to Universal Studios, and well it was AWESOME!! We went to the Blue Man Group, and well it was AWESOME!!! It was soo funny! But the day started off with me feeling like a dork not being able to understand people when they were speaking Spanish… and the breakfast wasn’t the best… But the first ride we went on was Shrek 4-d… not my favourite. Then we went to the Simpsons ride, SOOO MUCH FUN!!!! THE BEST ONE WE WENT TO! Then we went on the Jaws Ride… it was OKAY but… ehh. The last one at that one park was the MIB ride. That one was really fun! Very spinny. Then we went to the other park, And I convinced my brother, mom and myself to go on the log ride… oh and did I mention it had the steepest water drop ever made… ugh, Mum will tell the story when I’m done writing. After the log ride we went to Emirils Restaurant, IT WAS SOO GOOD! RIB EYE DELICIOUS! BAKED POTATO DELICIOUS! I got gifts for Maggie, Sonia, Monique, Jessie, and Sydney… although I might keep Sydney’s gift and get her something else… IT’S SOO SOFT! By the way, WE SAW LITTLE GECKOS! THEY WERE SOOO CUTE! AND WE SAW BAMBOO.
Juiceness/Jessica 😀
So I’ll let mum tell you about the log ride now:
Okay. I’m tired. Whew. Where to begin. Well, we walked to Universal this morning. It was a nice 20 minute walk and Jarod was quick to spot a few creatures on the way, including birds we think were probably Golden eagles, and geckos. Dan was quick to point out the incredibly tall bamboo just inside the driveway to Universal. We never did get around to using the water taxis we saw though.
Universal Orlando can be done in one day, but would be better in two days. We went first to Universal Studios park. I would direct Martin at this point to take a look at our photos and then pay up when I see him at Christmas. You know what I mean, Brother.
Our first ride was on Shrek 4-D, which was a pretty cool virtual ride with special effects you can feel. Think feeling Donkey sneeze wetly on you.
I’m posting a cool picture of Dan with the original Millenium Falcon. How many of you know what I’m talking about on this one? A hint: we had lunch at Mel’s Diner.
After lunch we made our way to The Simpson’s ride. In case Jessica wasn’t clear enough above: BEST RIDE EVER! If we had had two days we would have done this ride at least once more. It was a virtual roller coaster better than I’ve ever been on before. Leaving this ride we happened upon Homer posing for pictures with people. Jarod almost didn’t get this picture when Homer saw what shirt Jarod was wearing (Stewie from Family Guy saying ‘You are under my control’).
This ride was followed by Jaws and MIB. Jaws was an okay ride. The driver was entertaining doing her part, but the ride itself was pretty tame. If memory serves me, I believe the Universal Hollywood Jaws ride was way better. Of course, that was 28 years ago, so I might be combining two different rides in my head. Anyway, MIB was better fun and involved shooting at bad aliens and trying to shoot at other cars to make them spin. Someone kept nailing us, so I was pretty dizzy by the time we were done. I’m pretty sure Jessica got high score for our group, but being so dizzy from the spinning I could be wrong.
It got hot and humid today, but was bearable and cooled off fairly quickly in the evening. Dan and I both agree it came nowhere near the heat and humidity we got in Montreal in July a few years ago. Anyway, we took a break after MIB. Don’t bother getting the pretzels there; they’re kind of dry and way too salty.
We decided we’d better get over to Islands of Adventure at this point or we wouldn’t be able to get there at all. As it was we still had time for only one ride. Yes, that would be the Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls (the log ride). When we read the description of this ride we were all interested in doing this ride. Then we got a look at ‘one of the steepest water drops ever created’ and started to think twice about it. We watched it a few times and then Jessica said she would go on if someone went with her. Jarod agreed to go when I conceded I would go too. But we all agreed Dan should not go on this until we knew what it was really like. So we handed all our stuff to Dan and he stayed to watch. By the time we got in to the ride itself I was getting a little apprehensive, but a promise was a promise. Jarod was nervous too, but stuck it out. Apparently it didn’t hit Jessica what we were doing until she sat in the front seat of the log. As soon as I sat down I couldn’t help reminding Jessica this was her idea. As the log started moving she turned around to look at me and her face was completely terrified with a the look of “oh, my God, what have I done?” Yeah, ‘apprehensive’ didn’t describe the look on Jessica’s face. So I laughed and told the kids, no worries, it has to be better than the Vancouver ride! That one was just a nightmare. So we go through this ride, turning here, turning there, down a hill in the dark, up the hill in the dark, turning again, turning again, down another hill, up another hill, getting wet the whole way, and then we start climbing the BIG hill and we know we’ve gotten to the really worrisome part. Jessica is sitting hunched up in the front seat, Jarod’s between us and too short to really hunch down any further, and I’m just holding on for dear life and laughing hysterically. We get to the top of the hill go a short distance and then pause ever so briefly at the top of ‘one of the steepest water drops ever created.’ Now, I don’t know what Jessica was seeing at the front of the log, but that could be because that was the point I closed my eyes. A mere moment after that I began screaming as the log began to fall, after which I quickly lost my breath. We were not yet at the bottom when this happened. There was still enough of a drop left for my stomach to fall some more. Apparently Jarod screamed his way down this drop as well, but I honestly couldn’t hear him over my own screaming. By the time we came around to the exit I was laughing hysterically again and totally pumped. We got out of that log ride and even though we were terrified going through it the first time we all agreed we would totally do that ride again! Once we’d been through it we wanted to do it again. However, we still agreed Dan should not go on that ride. At least not at the end of a long day like we’d just had. Just to play it safe.
Unfortunately, we did not have any further time to do this ride or any other ride as we were due at Emeril’s for supper before too long. So we headed over there. And believe me when I say the meals we ate were totally worth the extensive dollars we paid for them!
After Emeril’s was Blue Man Group. What a great show! It was so much fun. Totally recommend seeing them if you get a chance.
By this point we were getting tired, but Jessica convinced us to get some dessert, so we stopped in at Bubba Gump Shrimp for the dessert we were too full to have last night. Jessica and I shared the Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae while Dan and Jarod shared the Alabama Mud Pie. Well, they were both delicious, but the mud pie was probably three times bigger than the photo implied. They didn’t get around to finishing it.
So that was our day two and even Jarod said he would have no problem writing his journal entry for school today. Take care and we’ll ‘see’ you tomorrow!
Adelle
Guigon Travels 
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