Friday, August 27, 2021

Universal 2020: Day 4


LittleCGC woke up early this morning, so she got to go on a morning walk with Dad down to the lobby Starbucks.


When we made it over to the park, LittleCGC thought she needed a mask this morning too.


Like the day before, we started at Islands of Adventure.  We wanted the girls to start with a ride, so we checked out their teacup style ride, Storm Force Accelerator.



Patrick and I then decided to make the girls wait while we rode Hulk.  I was shocked afterwards to discover that Patrick actually caught me on the ride.


I must admit, I did not enjoy this ride during this trip.  My guess is since the train was mostly empty due to the social distancing guidelines, it made the ride a lot rougher.  I don't know, and I guess it could have just been me, but it was a lot more uncomfortable than I remembered.

After we both took our turn, we moved on and rushed over to attempt to catch the first Poseidon's Fury show.  We were told we should make it at the entrance, so we entered and took some pictures before joining the line inside.  After a bit we learned that we would not make it into this show, so we decided to leave and try again another time.


Instead of waiting, we went back to the Seuss Landing that we had just rushed through.  First up, we rode One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.




The girls loved that the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1, and Thing 2 were out for pictures.


They also just loved exploring the whole area.



We of course had to take a spin on the Caro-Seuss-al.




By time we finished the ride, a new character was out.  The Grinch.


Before leaving this area, LittleCJC and I rode the High in the Sky Trolley.  Unfortunately, LittleCGC was still too short for this one.


I don't remember if we did anything in Hogsmeade or just passed through, but we couldn't pass up a photo in front of the castle.  I love how LittleCGC wants to be just like her big sister.


We also stopped at the entrance to Jurassic Park for pictures.



I think we stopped at Burger Digs for lunch, which took forever.  I think they still had some kinks to work out here with the mobile ordering or something, because cheeseburgers really shouldn't take long to make.  When we finally got our food and finished, we made our way to Kong.


LittleCJC was loving the line.



Thankfully, LittleCGC took a nap since she was too short for Kong.


We also took this opportunity to ride  Pteranodon Flyers.  This is fun, because adults can only ride if accompanying a child.  Here's a video of Patrick riding with LittleCJC.


Sticking with the dinosaur theme, LittleCJC and I rode Jurassic Park River Adventure.  This was the first time during this trip, that a fellow guest chose to ignore the social distancing markers in line and instead stood right at our backs.


I wasn't too worried, as they were wearing masks, but it was very strange knowing that was how it used to be and yet it was so jarring after the last several months of distancing.  We had fun on the ride, and Patrick even captured us coming out of the drop.


We were fortunate enough to get a virtual line pass for Hagrid's again today, and that time window was approaching, so we headed back to Hogsmeade and got some Butterbeer.


LittleCJC also checked out some of the magic areas here in this area.


The details are all so fun here.


I don't think LittleCGC knew what to think.


When we finished our Butterbeer, we were able to ride Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure.


We then decided to ride the train over to the Universal side.



When we arrived in London, we of course had to ride LittleCJC's favorite, Escape from Gringotts.



She also decided to perform more magic again here.


The girls also decided they were going to ride on Hagrid's motorbike.


I love that Patrick caught this video of not only the dragon, but also LittleCGC's delayed reaction.


After our time in London, LittleCJC wanted to ride Jimmy Fallon, so we decided to head that way.


LittleCGC can't ride this one, but she didn't mind, since she loved watching the monsters spin from the picture above and waving at Hashtag the Panda, in the video below.



I'm so lucky that this little girl is almost always happy, even though she was too short for most rides this trip.


We decided to end our park day before closing so that we could go back to the hotel for dinner and an evening swim.  These little cuties were so excited.


This pool is huge and has a large walk-in area which was great for LittleCGC.  The girls had a blast.  It was the perfect ending to this great day.




Saturday, August 21, 2021

Musical/Movie Project Week 25

 Musical Monday - Avenue Q (2003)


This has always been a strange one for me.  I always struggled with the idea of the puppets singing about the adult content.  To be honest, I had never seen this one.  Although I appreciated some of the music, I can't say I enjoyed the show itself.  I guess I'm weird since I know it was a very popular show, and surprising I did like the ending, but it still wasn't for me.


Tune Tuesday - Porgy and Bess (1935)


So, I'm pretty sure we watched this one in college.  It's been a few weeks since I watched this one again, and I still don't really remember.  I'm sure if I started watching it again it would all come back, but as it stands now, all I can remember is "Summertime."

Wayback Wednesday - Citizen Kane (1941)


I attempted to watch this one, but I'll admit it didn't get my full attention.  I'm assuming it is for this reason that I didn't appreciate this movie to the hype it has gotten.

Throwback Thursday - Camp Nowhere (1994)


Again, it's been several weeks since I watched this one.  This was the last week of watching any of these movies before I stopped writing these posts.  My notes say that I watched this one, but I don't really remember.  I guess it's another one of those 90 movies that was fun as a kid, but not so much as an adult.  Or maybe I did start it and just got caught up with something else and didn't actually watch it.  I'm not sure.

Friday First - Close Encounter of the Third Kind (1977)


I can't believe it has taken me all these years to watch this one.  I loved it.  This movie has held up well and had so many amazingly tense moments.  I was glued to it.  I did, however struggle with the way the family issues played out.  Otherwise, I thought it was great.

Seasonal Saturday -

I didn't have any Saturday movies planned during the summer, thinking I would just fill them in as the time came with movies that came up throughout the year.  I have learned though that this was a blessing as these movies have become so difficult to watch during the summer.

Disney Dinner - The Little Mermaid (1989)


I guess I'm just including these now, to remind myself of what I'm missing out on.

Musical/Movie Project Week 24

 Musical Monday - Matilda (2010)


I have mixed feelings about this one.  I thought the movie was great as a kid, but not so much as an adult.  However, I think this show would have impressed me a lot more if I saw it in person on Broadway.  I'm sure the children originally hired would have blown me away.  And let's be honest, who can't help but to rock out to Revolting Children.

Tune Tuesday - Mmama Mia (2008)


This was fun to revisit.  This is a fun show to turn on almost as background music.  It's all upbeat and fun to sing along and it doesn't take a lot of concentration to enjoy.

Wayback Wednesday - Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)


I never did get to this one.

Throwback Thursday - Heavyweights (1995)


I kind of cheated on this one.  I didn't really watch it this week, but Patrick and LittleCJC watched it recently and I saw parts of it.  This is one of those movies that leave you thinking you definitely were a kid when you last watched this movie.  It wasn't a great film, but I guess it could have been worse.

Friday First - State Fair (1945)


This was just a sweet musical.  If I'm being honest, no one song really sticks out and nothing in this one will probably stick with me, but it was sweet and enjoyable.

Seasonal Saturday - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)


So, if you haven't figured it out, I've really been struggling with this project lately.  I did actually get this one from the library and attempted to watch it at least two different times.  I made it about half way through before eventually returning it to the library.  It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't intriguing enough that I needed to continue to try.

Disney Dinner - Finding Nemo (2003)


Yep, these still haven't returned.