Monday September 20th

Today was Universal day and we were all really looking forward to it. This was another park that my in laws had decided not to visit and so the rest of us went through the usual routine of getting up early, having a light breakfast And boarding our bus.

We arrived just as the park was opening and immediately my kids spotted Shrek and Princess Fiona posing for pictures and so we joined the line. After that we headed for Shrek 4-D, which was brilliant, we all love the Shrek movies (in fact when I saw Shrek 2 I swear I have not laughed so much at a movie in years) and so we really enjoyed this one. Jimmy Neutron was next. The kids loved this but I was not so keen, the action on the screen moves so fast that it is difficult to watch it without feeling queasy!!



We did Twister next which everyone said they enjoyed even though my kids did look a little petrified during it!! Next was one of the best rides in the park, The Mummy. My wife and my son came on with me while my sister in law stayed with my daughter outside. This ride was awesome and there was no line whatsoever. When we were coming of my son decided to trick his auntie by telling her that it was not a scary ride at all! I played along and so she reluctantly agreed to come on with us. Even though this was only 5 minutes later quite a large line had grown and so we had a bit of a wait, which only added to the excitement. Finally we boarded our vehicle and my sister in law gave us a strange look when the harnesses came down from over our heads. My son confessed to her and away we went with her screams echoing in our ears. (We heard later on in our vacation that someone had died on this ride a few days after we had been. They reckon that the person went through a door that they should not have been able to go through and fell from a platform!!)

We did Earthquake next which was very good as well and then it was time for lunch. We decided to eat at Luigis and my son and I shared the largest pepperoni pizza that we have ever seen. While we were in there the heavens opened and for about 45 minutes to an hour the heaviest rain you can imagine lashed anyone daft enough to go outside.



Once it went off we headed for Men In Black. This has a really cool bit where they put you up against another group in another vehicle. You have to aim for a target above their heads and if you hit it their vehicle goes into a mad spin. Well the group we were up against had either not listened when all of this was getting explained to us or they were just rubbish shots because we had great fun sending them into spin after spin (really brings out the badness in you!!!)[}]

Back to the future was next, we had along wait in line for this one and I was a bit disappointed when I realised it was another one of those “Looking at the screen makes you feel queasy” sort of rides, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it.

Next my kids wanted to go on ET and so we headed over. This was the longest line we had to wait in during the entire holiday and what made it worse was that although both sides of the ride were working they only had enough staff on to load one side. It took at least 45 minutes to an hour to get on and after a disappointing very short ride it was all over. Won’t be doing that one again!!!

The kids had some fun in the Kidzone and then it was time to go and see the Terminator 2 show. After another long wait I must admit to getting my grumpy head on, however this was short lived as I witnessed the best show in the park. I thought T2 was brilliant, a great mix of live action and awesome 3-d film effects. I loved the bit when they reach the main computer and two further screens are revealed to the left and right of the main one, this really makes you feel as if you are right there in the middle of the action. It must be a man thing though because the girls just did not seem to love it as much