DC2CERUMA - Day 7

Today was the wind down day for Florida. Tomorrow I leave for California and the DPN Westfest event. It was a good day. I spent the day at the Universal parks on my own and this time I didn't take the camera bag. My phone has a camera and I used that extensively, but no zoom, no tight shots, no flash shots. My shoulder didn't get killed by the strap and I didn't have to worry about putting it in and taking it out of a locker while riding rides. I didn't even close out the parks.

Meers Transportation provided a shuttle service between Pop Century and the Universal Orlando Resort. Eighteen dollars for a round trip I think was reasonable as I was told by several people a taxi would have been about $30-$40 each way. So I think I got a reasonable deal. The only suggestion for them would be to have the destinations on the pickup vehicles. When I asked the Customer Service agent when I moved my pickup time about what sort of vehicle, van or bus, she wasn't sure. So as the different vehicles pulled up you had to ask as they weren't labeled.

Spent the morning at Universal doing Jaws, Rip Ride Rockit and a couple other shows. Slow pace. There were several times characters became available like Ricky and Lucy, Scooby Doo, Fiona and Donkey. For the most part other than Fiona and Donkey there wasn't a line. It was very easy to get a picture of the character by itself or it was easy enough to jump in and have someone take the shot for you.

The afternoon was spent at Islands of Adventure. I rode Cat in the Hat which did NOT have spinning cars even though they had signs posted saying they would spin. Poseidon and Sindbad were two shows I saw. Sindbad wasn't bad as the 20 minute show passed very quickly. I just wish I could have gotten something better with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I really would have liked to try the butter beer and pumpkin juice drinks!

The ride that takes the cake for me is Spider Man. I really thought it was an awesome ride. Once the levitation and anti-levitation rays were activated, the ride stepped it up a notch in the excitement factor! The Simpsons was also very fun, especially if you are into amusement parks at all.

The two rides I didn't do was the Bilge-rat Barges and Rip Saw Rapids. You got wet on those and I just didn't want to deal with it on this go around. I was already having issues of being uncomfortable and I didn't want to take THAT to the next level.

The one BIG disappointment was the food. On day one I had the meal plan. Ate at five of the six eligible restaurants. Spaghetti and meatballs, pizza, chicken fingers were eaten on the plan. Today was a cheese burger and a gyro. Other than the chicken fingers, the food was bland, tastless, or worst of all cold! At Mel's diner I had the apple pie today. I was told it would be hot, but the outside was cold and the interior was meh as far as hot heat. It tasted good, but if it was ala mode as they showed, the ice cream would have melted due to room temp and not the pie itself. They need to up their game on the food.

During the bus ride back to Pop, met two girls from Canada. We got into a health care debate. They don't have it as well up there as the news says. Four days to set a broken arm? Two weeks to diagnose a broken wrist. Anyway, I hope I was able to turn them onto Bob Jackson over at Riverside!

While I was running around, I made an effort to get my laundry done first thing when I got back and it paid off. I've been by the laundry room several times and the people are lined up waiting for either washer or dryer to open up. I'm lucky in that choice!

The fun aspect of this trip was the plurking, tweeting and facebooking. It added a whole other dimension to the adventure. There were a couple conversations going on and got lots of feedback on the photos I posted. I think I said it earlier, I was traveling solo, but I was not alone!

As I write this, I'm was trying to sleep but haven't been able to do so. I will be picked up at 4:15am for a 7am flight so I'm up at 3am. I'm hoping to catch a couple of zzzz's at the airport and stay asleep on the 4.5 hour flight from MCO to LAX.

This first week of the Disney Coast to Coast-er Universally Magic Adventure is coming to a close there one big overall disappointment for me is that I wasn't able to give out as many of the Awesome Job cards as I had hoped. Three is a low number in my book. We'll have to see if I can do better in California. SO until then, ALOHA

DC2CERUMA - Day 6

Today was a day of excitement. I finally was going to visit the Universal Orlando Resort with its two parks: Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure! Although, I have to admit that on this 6th day of DC2CerUMA, my tail is severely dragging. Lots of walking around and not a whole heck of a lot of sleep!

I went over with friend and fellow In the Loop podcaster, The Legend. He picked me up at Pop Century and we were at the park for park opening. We started in the Universal side of the house. Jimmy Neutron, Simpsons, Men in Black, rides that I have heard about for a LONG time, I was finally going to experience them!

The Legend and myself decided to buy the two park meal plan. There were 6 restaurants available. I did 5 while The Legend did the Eat around the Universe and ate at all 6 locations. He kinda knows what it felt like when I at a whole Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream!

I was offered the chance to review a possible show for network television. It had an actor that I don't like so the show wasn't any good for me. I was paid $10 for my time of about 30 minutes.

We didn't do all the attractions at Universal in the AM, but moved over to Island of Adventure (IOA) that afternoon where I got to meet Matt who I've chatted with about coasters and some other items for a long time now. It was great to actually meet the person behind the myth and legend although not to be confused with THE Legend!

The Legend and Matt were great tour guides. They helped me on a couple of items where like on dueling dragons the harness wouldn't close all the way, but they made it fit! I had the same issues with closing the harness on Hulk and Rip Ride Rocket. On two of those three rides I needed the big boy seat. Lesson learned!

It was great touring with them as they knew the ins and outs and understood what it took to move me swiftly and efficiently from attraction to attraction. It was really appreciated. Mahalo to Matt and The Legend! I really liked the Spiderman and Simpsons' rides!

I had my camera bag and after 6 days, it was getting HEAVY! I've decided tomorrow, I will go to the park with just my cell phone, nothing more. It will be different, but my body needs a bit of rest.

At the end of our day exploring "The U" parks as some Disney podcasts call them, we departed with The Legend bringing me back to his place where we did the In the Loop podcast without hurting anyone. Good deal!

I'm going to cut this short as I need to do some postcards for Orlando before I leave so here is a hardy ALOHA!!