Originally Posted By Kala Cast members Kala DH – Brian DB – AL Al’s sons: DN1 – Jackson 11 DN2 – Payton 5 Because I'm so long winded this will be in 2 parts. Tues. 4/2 - we Left Las Vegas in the wee hours to make it to USH for the 10 am opening. DN2 was very excited. He loves super heroes and I told him he would see some at USH. He said he knew exactly what he was going to wear, I’m like, not the Spiderman costume, not the Spiderman costume. He comes out of the bathroom in shorts and a Spiderman t-shirt he is ready! On the way we decide to stop for breakfast after seeing the billboards offering cheap eats at the casinos in Primm, there are 2-3 casinos along the highway we decided to stop at Whiskey Pete’s on the right off the highway. The coffee shop was pretty empty so we thought we would be served and back on the road again pretty fast, exactly what we wanted, cheap, and fast! The weirdest thing happened we were seated behind the cashier and just left there. We slowly start to notice that there is no waite staff. Hmmm, not good, but we are patient people. 5 minutes patient… my DB asked the cashier if we were going to get menus. And the guy doesn’t answer. We feel like we are in an episode of the twilight zone! Very spooky. We pick up, and leave fast! We drive across the street to the Primm Valley casino where we have an excellent breakfast. DB ordered the ham steak and eggs, the ham steak was huge! It could have fed a family of 4! DB1 &DB2 had blueberry pancakes very good, DH and I had steak and eggs, also excellent. The funny part was there was a lot of waite staff I wonder if some of them were suppose to work at Whiskey Pete’s but didn’t get the memo? Who knows, who cares we were fed and ready to be on the road again, we were on a mission! To get to USH by opening! If you are driving from Las Vegas I recommend the Primm Valley Casino coffee shop for good, cheap, big, fast meal. Whiskey Pete’s, only Aliens eat/work there. Queue twilight zone music. We had a very uneventful trip through the desert, the sky was blue, the sun was out, listened to tunes and news on 98./99. the highway stations. DN2 wasn’t throwing up and the drive was smooth, no backups or slow downs, we were sailing intos LA. I fall asleep thinking of all the fun we we’ll have, this would be a first time at USH for all of us. Wait did I say no backups, no slow downs? Fool girl, I wake up and we are t in downtown north LA at a stand still, AND it is pouring down rain. Inside I’m sceaming GROOOOOAAAN NOOOOOOO! I want sun! I want sun! I read the weather report it said some rain, not POURING rain, WAHHHHHH!, but outside I extrude calm and collective, I take a blood pressure pill and give DB the map to read out to DH because I get horrible motion sickness if I have to read anything while in a car. DH asks DB what exit we needed, DB says Cahuenga Blvd it should be coming up the traffic starts to move and actually clears a bit so we are several car lengths between packs of cars, very good sign, a police car enters the highway another weird thing happens , the cop car starts weaving back and forth across all the lanes in front of us and the other f cars, not a good sign. I’m like is that cop drunk? It was really weird. Then DN1 says “Maybe they are shooting a movie!†We all start looking for a camera crew and I shout, “We are going to be on T.V. lets wave!†I’m sure the cop thought we were nuts! So if you were on the hwy by Universal around 10:30 am and saw a bunch of people waving like maniacs, yea that was us. Ahhhhh, tourists. Traffic once again slows down about ¼ of a mile from our exit we are soooo close! We finally make it to the exit, turn left at Cahuenga Blvd, turn left at Lankershim Blvd, and turn left Universal Hollywood Dr. up a little incline into the valet parking. Gotta love google maps! You can choose to park in the garage or do valet, I think the difference is $7.00, we just wanted to get into the grounds. It’s 11:00 am, not bad. We probably could have made it by 10 if it didn’t rain. DH said traffic slowed way down when the rain started. We found out when it rains it really doesn’t matter since everyone but us tourists stays away. We all get out put on the dollar ponchos DH got everyone before our trip. Note: The dollar ponchos are worthless in pouring down rain, you might as well wrap yourself loosely in saran wrap. DB ended up getting everyone USH ponchos for $1.85, a steal compared to Disney which were some thing like $7! They are the same thing only we got the USH logo instead of Mickey, but hey as long as we were kept dry! I had paid and printed our tickets at home right off the internet. We went right up to the entrance, showed our tickets and walked right in, no need to go to the ticket booth at all. Easy peasy! Since it was raining we walked onto all the attractions, bonus! No more whinning from me! DN1&2, DH, and DB walked into the Van Helsing attraction I’m a chicken and waited in the shops for them and spent $$. They loved it! DN2 wanted to go back in he wasn’t scared at all! I felt like such a wimp, but still didn’t go in. DH said it was like a haunted house with people popping out at you and really neat costumes and effects. Next we went on the back lot tour narrated by Ron Howard and loved every bit of it especially the earthquake, king kong, and Jaws! Corny, but it was our first time and we loved it! We got to see Wisteria lane from Desperate Housewives, (I want to live there! Without all the drama.), The store front and town circle from Ghost Whisperer, another show I like, Back To The Future town, Whoville from How The Grinch Stole Christmas, War of the Worlds destruction, that was spectacular cool! We oooh’d and ahhh’d at it all. I would go back again to take more notice of all details on the sets. We sat on the Drivers side of the tram and saw quite a bit but one of the riders pulled down the side shades due to the rain so we saw a lot of rain drops on the plastic when we looked out the right. Throughout the park are maps that shows one where they are and where everything else is. It was pretty easy to get around. Next we walked into Shrek 4D. We are Shrek fans so we really liked this attraction and funny lines. Everyone, sans me, rode Back to the Future. When they got off, DH said no more rides for him he said it made him real queasy. DN1&2 & DB loved it! WE posed with King Kong from the new movie, very cool, took pics next to the Delorean from Back to the Future then headed to WaterWorld, looked at the map and it said this was closed due to the rain, no problem, we see that Animal planet live has changed venue and will be starting in the next 20 min. We hike over to the new location by the terminator 2 3-D show. DN2 sees the Marvel store and just has to stop. The shops are really nice lots of souvies to be had. He gets some Spiderman toys and is very happy. Walking out we see Lucy walking to her set and shout, â€OH LUUUCY!â€, like she hasn’t heard that one before. She graciously waves and dashes off. We decide not to stalk. If it wasn’t raining we would’ve been on the run with “You’ve got some s’plaining to doooo.†We are still losers no one has their camera out to take a pic. Geeeez what kind of tourists are we? At one of the stores My nephews got one of those clap boards, “Act one, scene one, take one!†They can’t wait to try it. Neither can we! Next USH part 2
Originally Posted By Kala We were, wet, and getting hungry, but didn’t want to have a full meal just a snack. While visiting the marvel store we noticed a Silver Popcornopolis trailer. I remember seeing a post by DB about this popcorn so we bought a bag. Now I am not a popcorn fan because it gets stuck in my teeth & throat, but I have to say this is some really good popcorn! We got 50/50 half caramel, half chocolate. Excellent! Nephews got cheddar, and they gave us a free plain buttered bag of popcorn. All good and we ate it all! Once you started you can’t stop. I only eat Churros in DL but if popcornopolis ever shows up there I’ll probably weaken and buy some. At this point we are ready to dry off. We are late for animal planet live so we talk about heading to Anaheim and the hotel we booked for that one night. I wanted to see animal planet live, Backdraft, and the Special Effects stages. I voted to stay. DN2 still hadn’t seen one superhero, and DN1 still wanted to ride Back to the future, Mummy, and Jurassic Park so we decide to brave the weather and carry on. Though it was raining, to us it was warm and tolerable. Because of the rain Animal planet live was being held in a bldg. by Terminator 2 3-D. We think hmm we’ll do both! On the way a CM sees us and says we should warm up and have some coffee, cocoa and snacks and points to a bldg across from the bldg we were heading to. Well okay then, a warm drink to get us through, and free! We are really liking USH. We go into the bldg and we run into Shrek, Dora , and Go Diego Go! DN1&2 are very happy! DN2 sees Sponge Bob leaving on a break, he is in heaven! I’m secretly hoping for a super hero and soon! I had gone to WalMart and got each nephew an autograph book with foam covers $2.50 with 40 pages of heavy paper, like card stock.. My niece, who we would be meeting up with at DL, got each boy a big Disney pen she found at the Dollar store. We had heard that Sharpie pens can mark Character costumes permanently, so we got some washable markers but the ink ran when it got wet and the big pens were awkward for some characters because of the angle when held by big hands, so we ended up using Sharpies and being really careful when handing the pens to the characters. As always these pens worked the best. The nephews filled up their books and loved getting the autograph. This is really good practice for young ones to build up the courage to go up and ask for something. I made DN2 to always ask for an autograph not just hold up his book and pen. He did pretty well. There were tables set up with pots of hot chocolate, coffee, snacks, pastries, cookies, and brownies, offered at a discount. It was warm, and dry, the hot chocolate was really good, so we find a table to rest our feet. We couldn’t have picked a better table right by the door where the characters come out! We see the Madagascar penguins, followed by Alex the lion, Frankenstein, Beetle juice, who was excellent! We saw him in other areas and he remembered my nephews names, where we were from, and that we were going to DL the next day. It was cool to see him and he’d say, “hey there Payton!â€, or “Having fun in the rain Jackson?†Really nice. Then it happened, a super hero, and not just any, but one of DN2’s favorites, SPIDERMAN! DN2 patiently waited his turn and Spiderman was in full character, sarcastic, cocky, just really funny! We really enjoyed listening to him interact with the kids and adults. The next super hero we saw was Storm and that was it, but DN2 was happy Spiderman made his day and it was even more special because he was wearing his Spiderman shirt. We hung out In the room for over 2 hrs. It was getting late and the park closed at 6pm, we still had rides to go on! We decided to skip Terminator 3D and Animal Planet live and head to the lower levels. To get to the lower lot you have to take something like 3 sets of escalators we thought it was a ride in itself, TA DA the escalator ride! Warning Please keep your hands down and on the hand rail or you will lose your balance and it will not be pretty. They are really steep! We made sure to tell the boys no goofing on the stairs. We made it down safe. YAY! It doesn’t take much to entertain us. We felt like such hicks. Ha ha! DB and DN1 rode Jurassic park ride and LOVED it! DN2 was to short for the ride so he waited in the rain with me and took a pic of his dad and brother as they came out. We walked to the Special Effects stage and DB was chosen as one of the volunteers. In one of the skits it shows DB chained to the wall and he is being tortured and has to scream. He did very well and seemed to enjoy being tortured since he was smiling through all his screaming. It was hilarious. At the end of this skit it shows him getting electrocuted so all you see when the lights come on is a burnt to a crisp carcass hanging from the chains. DN2 was in the front row and he was like, wow! He was more interested in how they did the effect then the fate of his dad! The next stage DN2 got a chance to go up on stage. He was outfitted in some kind of head and body gear to control a monster on stage. He did really well and followed instructions to a tea, except for one part where he starts dancing and the monster had to follow his moves. It was really funny. Even if no one from our group got picked we really liked this attraction. The CM’s were funny and the script has some funny moments as well. After the special effects stages we walked next door to Backdraft, I didn’t know what to expect. All I can say is this was a really cool show I won’t ruin it by giving out spoilers but at one point I actually screamed and the fire was really cool! It was close to six and people were heading out. A CM reminded us to stop by guest services and inquire about the rain guarantee. A guarantee?! The office is on the way out there aren’t many people lined up so we head in and ask. The man behind the counter asked if we were from CA we say no, WA, he hands DH 5 tickets good until 2008! Wowoowooowweeeeeeeeee! He says once we activate them it will be good for one year. We have until 2008 to actvate them! (*note: he did not ask for any ID.) We have to go back now! We walk out of USH and into US City walk, to look for a place to eat. What a really cool place! They had all kinds of shops, eateries, everything one could want in a shopping area. It was a nice walk through. DB is an avid LA Dodgers fan his trip was made when he saw the Dodger’s clubhouse store. He was like a kid in a candy store. I did a walk around and left the men folk to dream of what they would buy if they won the lottery to find a restaurant. I found a food court with a Dodger dog food place. DB was bummed because the one in USH was closed. The only thing is the tables were outside and they were wet. It was evening so it had gotten colder. No one had lit the heat lamps so places to sit and eat were limited. The Dodger dog had some seating I waited for the guys to catch up with me. DB was stoked the Dodger dog was opened so we ate hot dogs, and hamburgers, it was good regular fast food fare. The dodger dog was one of those long skinny foot long hot dogs. I will say I’ll take a Mariner’s king dog over a Dodger dog any day. We make the drive to Anaheim, we couldn’t get the DLH for 4/2 so I booked a what they call a family studio suite at the Anaheim maingate Holiday Inn Express On 435 West Katella. First this is not close to the main gate it is about 3 long city blocks a good walk. They do offer the ART for $3.00 and kids are free, I think 11 and under, I’m not sure since we had a van, we didn’t use ART, and only stayed one night. There were 2 queen sized beds, a sleeper sofa, with a thin mattress. No one slept on it so I don’t know how comfortable it would have been. We picked this hotel for the free parking and free continental breakfast. The room and bathroom were very clean. The bed were very comfortable after walking all day at USH we all slept very well, no back pain or restless moving due to an uncomfortable mattress. The other positive was the shower it was wonderful, not one of those small motor home showers it was full sized with one of those large shower heads that feels like rain when turned on and nice smelling shampoo and lotion. One of the best showers/tubs for a value hotel ever! The continental breakfast starts at 6:30 am was very good, warm cinnamon rolls, boiled eggs, pastries, muffins, oatmeal, cold cereal, bagels, English muffins, juices, hot chocolate, coffee teas, fruit. It was well stocked. There is a tray in your room, but they offer some in the breakfast room too. There was no problem with us taking food to the rooms. We would definitely stay here again. We had no problem parking. We parked in their covered garage. I usually pack zipl oc bags and took some cinnamon rolls and fruit we didn’t eat with us. They made great get up and go snacks the next morning when we stayed at the DLH since they don’t have a continental breakfast unless you go concierge and personally Unless i was there for a week or more, I’d rather spend that $$ in the park. pics coming soon. Next DLR, finally!!
Originally Posted By ibob52 The cop car was doing a maneuver refered to by the CHP as a "round robin". This is where a cop car weaves back and foth across the lanes on the freeway. This method is used to slow down "the herd" of cars and alert them to a traffic situation ahead. Just the facts mam...
Originally Posted By Kala Thank you for reading this long long post for this long day. Thanks for the info ibob52. It should be called herding. It was kinda cool to see. Weird, but cool.
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Wonderful report We haven't been to USH for a couple of years and now after reading your report I want to go back soon. On the tour, Wisteria Lane used to be the home of the Munsters, Leave it to Beaver and a few movies they would mention. That's cool that they are continuing to use the street. I'm glad that you all had a fun time despite the crummy weather.
Originally Posted By Kala Thank you amazedncal2 for reading my book and the info on the houses. As we went through the tour guide would name shows/moies the set had appeared, we would go "OOOoooOOOOOh that's right, remember the scene..." Here are some pictures from our USH day: <a href="http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4060060&a=32150785&f=0" target="_blank">http://albums.photo.epson.com/ j/AlbumIndex?u=4060060&a=32150785&f=0</a>
Originally Posted By passthepixiedust Love the report Kala ! Your family sounds like a fun bunch and it's great that you just accepted the bad weather and moved on ! btw.... awesome pics ! We were considering a USH visit on our Disney trip this summer and you were the deciding factor (well... you and your picture of Spiderman !) My youngest son says we HAVE to go there now !
Originally Posted By ilvdland Kala, I love your reports!! Now I can't wait to go to USH in September!!!
Originally Posted By disneymomsons Kala.... great report !! Have a question for ya.... you live in Vegas ?? If you do, how is it there ?? We will be moving there by the end of the summer, my Dad already lives there and absolutely LOVES it !!! We are excited !! Tell me what you think of the town ! Thanks !! And also, how often do you drive over to Disneyland ?? That was a HUGE deciding factor for us to move, also....
Originally Posted By disneymomsons ooooohhh... and we were just there (Disneyland) from April 20 - 25..... I miss it already.... (sad face....)and we were at Universal on the 21st... was great !!
Originally Posted By Kala Disneymomsons, Thanks for reading my book, er report! No, we don't live in Las Vegas , we live in WA, we actually flew into Long Beach, CA, drove to LV to visit my father, (He loves it there too!), then drove back to end our vacation in DL before coming back home. We do have some wonderful LP'ers who do live there though, Nevadarebel, wonderingalice, and LVBelle to name a few. I'm sure they would be very happy to answer your questions. Good luck with your move! LV LP'ers have great mini-meets. I miss DL too, but living in LV you will be able to fly/drive to DL as often as you like. We really enjoy the drive, stopping at the Mad Greek in Baker for those awesome Kourambiedes, butter cookies covered in powdered sugar, and strawberry milk shakes. :9 When we are in Vegas for any length of time we'll take a day drive to DL, stay overnight and drive back. It is just the 2 of us most of the time and it takes about 3 1/2 hours but it goes by really fast for me. (I sleep,DH drives. ) I we could we would move to LV too.
Originally Posted By nevadarebel disneymomsons, I have lived in LV for 18 years and it is a pretty nice town. It is much like other places and the strip rarely gets a visit from us unless we have family in town. If you have any questions, email is in my profile, just put LP in the subject so I know it isn't junk.
Originally Posted By disneymomsons Thanks for the input! We are in WA too..... I am ready for a change, though.And nevadarebel, thank you for your offer to answer my many questions !! I have a list, and I will e mail you soon !
