More Universal

We spent 2 days at Universal and we were never bored.  Here's some of the other stuff we did.

The Jurassic Park area was really fun.  This is the Discovery Center, set up to look like the original main building in the first movie.

We even got to witness a dinosaur hatching!

 Mackenzie kept asking if the dinosaur stuff was real.  We had to keep reminding her that all the stuff we were seeing wasn't actually real, but that it was just fun to pretend that it was.   There were a couple times she would ask with a little nervousness in her voice, so she was relieved that "everything is just robots".  

Here's a great example - the Raptor Encounter - we got up close with a velociraptor.  We found this little area by accident because it wasn't on the map I was using.  There was a line entrance area so we followed it and found a few people standing there with a man who was explaining that he was the raptor trainer.  (I wish it had been Chris Pratt, but no luck)  At the time, the raptor was "being fed" but would be back in 10 minutes.  They obviously had to make sure she was well fed if we wanted pictures with her!  He spoke about raptors like we were at the zoo, so it was fun to forget it was all an act.  Finally this animatronic raptor came out and it was amazingly real!  Each group took turns having their picture taken with the raptor.  The kids and I got close and Nick recorded it.  It was neat!

It obviously startled me, but it was really fun!

Deciding where to go next

There wasn't a ton to do in Dr. Seuss world, but it was fun to walk through, it was just so whimsical and straight out of a Dr. Seuss book!

The trolley ride!

This was the Sinbad Stunt Show.  The set was amazing! 

The show was great, but the best part was when Nick and Rylan were chosen to be part of the pre-show!  Here are two little videos, sorry for the shaking.  I wish I could have seen Nick better, but the stands were already full so I couldn't really move. 

Not a great photo, but I had to document the Spiderman ride - this was Mackenzie's favorite, by far!  It was another moving simulator with 3D action, so when we were falling off a building and then caught by Spidey's web, I had to close my eyes to keep from getting sick, but it was really fun.  We went on this one at least 4 times, and Mackenzie has decided (at least for now) that she wants a Spiderman birthday party next year!

I knew Mackenzie would love the Curious George area - but it was mostly a water park.  We ended up here both of the evenings and it had cooled down a bit by then, so we didn't actually get wet there.

Happy Girl!

Directly behind this little town was the kids' favorite part - the Ball Factory.  A huge room with foam balls and blasters to shoot them at people, so Nick and I had fun too!

The Ball Factory!

I thought the Despicable Me ride was just okay, but the kids loved it.  Mackenzie was excited to have a picture with the minion, and Rylan was WAY too cool for it!

Last photo of the day!  Good thing we're dark - I'm not sure the kids were smiling, they were completely tired out.  

Of all the places we went in Orlando, I would go straight back to Universal first, we had such a great time!  And they're currently working on a whole new King Kong area, so maybe I can convince Nick to go back in a couple years!  ;)