Alright I'm seeing some new members being more active in the forums and thats great to see!! Lets keep it going here folks. Anyone else got any questions to ask or stories to tell?
I don't really memorialize trip stories, but I have some great moments that are easy to recall.
I guess for me Universal struck a chord when I visited IOA for the first time on a preview day during Easter Week '99. Coincidentally this was the same week Disney began an extremely limited test of the first FP distribution, at Space Mountain. At that time Disney was shuttering my favorite attractions one after another, Toad, JII, Horizons, WoM. Also, on the much better coast Disney had presented a bush league theme park as Disneyland's second gate. It was a perfect storm of watching concerns many of us had over several years manifest into reality. As a person with a lot of Disney experience, in a matter of months, I really felt the rug had been pulled out from underneath me.
So here I was by dumb luck at the USF ticket counter being asked if I would rather buy a ticket for IOA. Are you kiddin! Of course I will. When I entered IOA that day, before even leaving PoE, I knew that while Paul Pressler et al didn't care about rides anymore, Universal stumbled on the obvious-secret formula. While I always loved Kong, Jaws & ET, I really got the bug that day for USO having seen the final progress on CityWalk and IOA. I really haven't looked back at WDW ever since.
Since then there have been little hooks, which stand out in my mind as memories that again reminded me how WDW no longer had the monopoly on fun moments. A visit a couple weeks after 9/11 where the entire resort was absolutely deserted. I was on Jaws and a Skipper on break got on the fake-exit pier waving and smiling at our boat, he then proceeded to act like he was going to help unload us as we approached. It completely blindsided some first timers on the opposite port side who had no idea Jaws was about to pop out and get them wet. A great blindside that still has me laughing. The screams and terror were priceless.
With BTTF being easily one of my top 3 movies ever: Having a perfectly framed shot of Doc Brown and I next to the DeLorean with the door open doing the BTTF II movie picture pose with watches/sunglasses. Facial expressions, lighting, frame angle, by again pure dumb luck just perfect.
Having a young boy in our immediate party who was having really difficult times with behavior as he entered first grade. He idolized Spiderman. We took him to the Spiderman breakfast at Confisco's, which was dead. Spiderman immediately sensed the kid had some piss and vinegar to him, but at the same time saw the kid was in complete awe of Spidey. Spiderman spent an easy 12-15 minutes with the child telling him to be a hero instead of a zero, to be nice to his sisters, always listen to mom and dad, to not be a punk, etc. Really, I’m not kidding, “don’t be a punk like Green Goblin”. The young boy absorbed intently, with stern eyes, every word Spidey said. His parents were beyond touched, and had great leverage over the child for months by just referencing Spiderman. 2 years later that boy was back at IOA and saw Spiderman at the Marvel photo op. We all recognized the same East Coast accent right away, all amazed it was the same exact "Spiderman". The boy again was in pure bliss, and again Spidey spent 5-7 minutes fist pumping chest to chest the young kid. The boy went on and on about what a hero he had been for his mom, dad, sisters, teacher, etc. I was amazed that Universal hung on to such a talented actor for so long. Surely, he went well beyond the assembly line, autograph gestures of Disney's M&G. Spidey didn't need a voice in an earpiece to tell him how to relate to the young boy's RFID triggered favorite color. He actually took the time to engage one on one. The parents ended up buying a lot of Spiderman merchandise from IOA.
I could go on and on. My point I guess is that I saw the qualities of what Uni's team were trying to accomplish (under tense financial times) before Potter, and I am very glad to see how well they have grown their fanbase. It is very much deserved.
