crossover_chick | Captain's Log, Stardate 3280180

Have another chunk of my trip log -- I'm almost done, except for the big day and coming home now. :D

Day Two: April 16th, 2008
Naturally, we don’t get the 8 A.M. shuttle. Mom lets me sleep in a bit, and I wake up in time for the 10 A.M. shuttle. I grab breakfast in the hotel room – we’d picked up muffins and Yoo-Hoo for me. Typical morning, in a way.

Muffins and Yoo-Hoo -- part of a healthy diet?
After eating, we head downstairs, and after a little confusion, find our bus to the park. We get there in one piece, find ourselves briefly confused that we only have to go down ONE hallway, and then make it inside. Universal CityWalk looks about the same as always – busy, crowded, things like that. We pass by some sort of guest help desk that has a big TV in the back.
Guess what it’s playing.
-VD: Nice to see we weren’t completely eradicated, right?-
Heh, if I knew what was coming up later. . . . Anyway, our first top on our trip was actually Islands of Adventure. Our original plan for the day was to do the Islands first, then the original park, but since the best rides are water-themed and it was still a tad chilly out, we decided to just do Spider-Man and then go over to the other place.

IoA tower!

Me and the Tower (of Doom?)
Islands of Adventure was buzzing as we got our tickets settled and got inside. The Spidey line was pretty long already. We passed by some neat stuff outside, like a security booth and a fleet of Daily Bugle bikes, before getting inside and going through the offices.

Mind if I snag one of these?
The ride itself was as awesome as ever. And I like that now I can actually name more of the people involved in the ride. For example, I finally caught an Iron Man reference in the videos – the SCOOP is made by Stark Industries! Of course, since Mom has no idea about these sorts of things, I can’t really fangirl with her.
-OD: *tentacles sigh* Bit of a pity.-
Yeah, I missed Dad a lot right then. Anyway, after checking that out and getting a few photos around the island:

Obey the Awesome!

Watch out for those claws

Dunno what Doc Ock has against Icees. . .

You're making me angry. . .you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
we headed over to the Universal side of the park.

Me and the Universal Globe. The only decent picture out of three tries -- it was windy that day!
Our first stop of the day was the new Disaster ride – we’d only found out that Earthquake had been redone yesterday, and were eager to check it out. The queue promised good things to come, with new wrecked props and various quotations from a “F. Kincaid.”

Me and part of the plane from "300 Knots Landing," so to speak

Plane Wreckage + Maintenence Person Sweeping Up = Best Photo Ever

A meteor from Apocoggedon. Frank was said to have destroyed real farmland because special effects weren't good enough. ;)

Huh. Guess that's how the meteor got in.

One of Frank's numerous funny quotes. In case you can't read: "It is human nature to stare at an accident; it is my nature to make it worth staring at."

MECHA-SHARK IS MECHA

Back outside, I pose with a Martian tentacle strangling a tank.
Finally, we got into the show proper, meeting the Lonnie character and learning about Disaster Studios. It’s kind of like the old Earthquake show, only now it’s based around making a new disaster movie rather than simply redoing effects from Earthquake (or whatever that movie was called.) And Christopher Walken stars in a great sequence in room 2, where a projected version of him walks around the stage and actually INTERACTS with everything. “Musion” technology – it is awesome. The subway ride is still there as well, only now there’s screens inside the cars with a guy who gives you directions on how to react. And once the subway part is over, they actually show a preview for the “upcoming film,” using all the people they picked from the audience to film shots. It stars “The Rock” as a PARK RANGER, and it’s called “MUTHA NATURE.” It’s awesome. :D

Disaster Studios, we applaud you
The rest of the rides were the same as we remembered them for the most part. Jaws turned out to be more fun this time (we haven’t been on it in forever because we thought it sucked the first time we rode it), and Terminator 2: 3-D has become a bit wetter in the water effects department. NOT a good thing when you’re terrified about your camera getting wet.

Me with the Jaws shark. TOUGH picture to get, what with everyone crowding around it for their own pics.

The "UFO" towers outside the MIB ride. Very yellow.

Inside Cyberdyne, where the pictures are creepy. Though I wish we'd been up farther so I could have gotten a pic of the Terminator hand with the wrench. *shrug*

A rather busy shot of the outside of the T2 show/ride. Rock on, only-thing-I-will-consider-canon.
Lunch was also a bit of a disaster. We had lunch at Richter Burger – I got a burger, while Mom got a chicken sandwich. After ordering, Mom asks that her Diet Coke have no ice in it. The lady taking the order gets a little pissy about Mom not saying something earlier – how was she supposed to know? – but goes to prepare the drink.
Only she fills it half full with REGULAR Coke. Another girl tops it off with Diet.
Well, Mom’s pretty annoyed at this. As we prepare to get our orders (they seemed to be pretty backed up, incidentally), Mom explains to one of the girls what happened and asks for a full-Diet Coke. The other lady tries to give Mom the half-n-half, but Mom refuses it. In the end, Mom gets a Diet Coke – but with ice. *headdesk*
-HD: *sniffs* Some people just don’t know how to handle beverages.-
Her chicken sandwich was also kinda dry according to her. My burger was good, if thin. *shrug*
But still, a good day at the park. Everyone had a fun time, and we got back to the hotel room around seven.

Me and Mom at the end of the day
Dinner, however, was a bit of a disaster. I wanted to try a little “restaurant” downstairs in the hotel lobby called Topsy-Turvey – they were supposed to have good pizza and the like.
TOTAL. DIVE. BAR.
I’m serious! It was a complete dive! You didn’t even get waiters – you ordered at the bar and they gave you your food. I tried the chicken tenders – more bread than chicken, and greasy as hell. And the soda was that soda gun soda that tasted funny. We didn’t even stay downstairs – soon as I got my food, we bolted for our room.
-VD2: We certainly can’t blame you. Makes me grateful that the Inkwell takes pride in making their accommodations open and welcome to everyone.-
-J: Lucky for us HatterDoc keeps his hat well stocked with tea time essentials.-
-HD: At least things got better the next day, nutrition-wise.-Oh, definitely! Wait until I tell you about this restaurant!

Whew, pretty picture-heavy already. And I already know what Day Three brings. . . .
-D: YOU'RE the one who took all those pictures of the stage shows.-
I couldn't help it! They were cool!
-TD: No wonder your camera's low on batteries.-
Yeah, gotta get more of those tomorrow.
-VD: *pokes* Edits!-
Right, right, off to do that.