Spring Break: Universal Orlando
As people may have seen if they check the daily messages from Thomas the last week, our family went to Universal Orlando over Spring Break. It was a little odd going to Orlando and not going to Disney -- but in the end, it was a great choice.

Universal is a very different experience from Disney. Disney to me is more about the fantasy world of the Magic Kingdom. Disney was especially magical 2 years ago, because my daughter was at the age (5) where when she met a Disney princess, to her it was the REAL princess!

Universal is, as they say in their advertising, about 'riding the movies.' If you love movies, it's a great opportunity to connect with some old favorites (ET, Jaws, Terminator 2, Shrek, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Men in Black, et al).

We elected to stay at the Royal Pacific resort on Universal grounds. This gave us the following advantageous:

1) Universal express accesss to all rides at all times (MAJOR plus, especially Easter week)
2) No need to rent a car
3) Unlimited access to water taxis between the resort, the parks, and the CityWalk restaurant/entertainment area

Downside? It was more expensive than if we stayed off-site. However, having done it once, I'd stay on-site in the future. I'd also stay on-site at Disney, next time we go there.

Favorite Rides:
- Thomas; Incredible Hulk Coaster
- Alyssa; Back to the Future
- Natalie (aka Mom); Revenge of the Mummy, The Ride
- Clark (aka Dad, aka me); If I can't pick Emeril's Tchoup Chop or Emeral's at CityWalk, I guess I pick the Jurassic Park River Adventure.

Rides that made the kids cry:
- Revenge of the Mummy, The Ride
- Jurassic Park River Adventure

Note that making the kids cry was NOT the reason they were mom and dad's favorites :-)

We may eventually post some of the 533 pictures or a portion of the 2 hours of video we took -- but meanwhile, I thought I'd share!


Clark

04.09.05 @ 10:27 AM EST [link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)]