AndyC
09-09-2004, 01:05
We arrived at Universal Studios on the Saturady after Charlie went through with a thought that it may be closed for a day or so, but alas it was not, only the opening was delayed by half an hour to give staff an extra bit of time to clear the debris away.
It was very evident that Charley gave them a visit the day before with a log of debris lying around, however, this did not appear to put the dampers on anything at the time.
Having arrived at about 11am and spent a couple of hours walking around having a few rides this almighty black cloud descended over the park and decided to shed its load, wow!!, it just rained, and rained and rained, we took shelter under the outdoor canopy where the Beetlejuice show normally is but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the weather much to the disgust of some holiday makers who certainly let their feelings known to all. We were standing next to a few of the Universal staff and generally having a really good laugh with them, a good bit of banter flying around.
As the rain started to ease of slightly (after about 45 mins) we asked the staff if they knew if any rides were still running and the approx queue times (by this time we were seriously discussing about leaving the park and putting it down to being in the aftermath of charley) when one of the staff that we were talking to introduced herself as being an ambassader for Universal and IOA and wished to escort us to the mummy and shrek, astounded and shock we replied its okay its just around the corner, we know where it is, she then replied that it would be her privalidge to offer us VIP treatment and escort all 8 of us through the 'back door' to the front of the q's (there was at least an hours wait on both) to which we accepted with great delight. Having done these two Cheryl asked us what else we would like to see, and further explained that she normally escorts VIP's (the rich and very famous)and their families around the park and since there was no scheduled visits that day she adopts a family and shows them what the park has to offer......WOW 'what a day.....'
I think we done the mummy 5 times and still wanted more, it was mentioned to us that since the mummy was built on the site of the old king kong ride there are a few old relics from the old ride to watch out for such as the writing on the headband of the fourth mummy and the statue of king kong, there are also small dolls dotted around the place with slogans on the t'shirts.
The day was just fantastic to be able to do every ride and show without any queing, some several times over.
We were so very fortunate to be able to experience this, and actually took time out to visit their customer services at the end of the day to express our gratitude and compliment them on getting the park ready for opening, ironically there was also another brit in their airing his views very loudly and strongly that the day was terrible and that he would never venture in the park again as most of the rides/shows were cancelled (we found this hard to understand as we had visited most of them) anyway for his continued effort of complaints he was given four park tickets for his family to returned and answered that they were no good as he wasn't coming back but would go to IOA if they gave him passes for there!....they did and he walked out with such a smirk...but at least we thought we had the better day.
So this time it was definately Universal that done it for us.......:):):)
It was very evident that Charley gave them a visit the day before with a log of debris lying around, however, this did not appear to put the dampers on anything at the time.
Having arrived at about 11am and spent a couple of hours walking around having a few rides this almighty black cloud descended over the park and decided to shed its load, wow!!, it just rained, and rained and rained, we took shelter under the outdoor canopy where the Beetlejuice show normally is but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the weather much to the disgust of some holiday makers who certainly let their feelings known to all. We were standing next to a few of the Universal staff and generally having a really good laugh with them, a good bit of banter flying around.
As the rain started to ease of slightly (after about 45 mins) we asked the staff if they knew if any rides were still running and the approx queue times (by this time we were seriously discussing about leaving the park and putting it down to being in the aftermath of charley) when one of the staff that we were talking to introduced herself as being an ambassader for Universal and IOA and wished to escort us to the mummy and shrek, astounded and shock we replied its okay its just around the corner, we know where it is, she then replied that it would be her privalidge to offer us VIP treatment and escort all 8 of us through the 'back door' to the front of the q's (there was at least an hours wait on both) to which we accepted with great delight. Having done these two Cheryl asked us what else we would like to see, and further explained that she normally escorts VIP's (the rich and very famous)and their families around the park and since there was no scheduled visits that day she adopts a family and shows them what the park has to offer......WOW 'what a day.....'
I think we done the mummy 5 times and still wanted more, it was mentioned to us that since the mummy was built on the site of the old king kong ride there are a few old relics from the old ride to watch out for such as the writing on the headband of the fourth mummy and the statue of king kong, there are also small dolls dotted around the place with slogans on the t'shirts.
The day was just fantastic to be able to do every ride and show without any queing, some several times over.
We were so very fortunate to be able to experience this, and actually took time out to visit their customer services at the end of the day to express our gratitude and compliment them on getting the park ready for opening, ironically there was also another brit in their airing his views very loudly and strongly that the day was terrible and that he would never venture in the park again as most of the rides/shows were cancelled (we found this hard to understand as we had visited most of them) anyway for his continued effort of complaints he was given four park tickets for his family to returned and answered that they were no good as he wasn't coming back but would go to IOA if they gave him passes for there!....they did and he walked out with such a smirk...but at least we thought we had the better day.
So this time it was definately Universal that done it for us.......:):):)