Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem-Gru Got It Right!

Get out my way I want to be a Minion!

This summer(2012) Universal Studios Florida became home to the new ride Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem.  Despicable Me replaced the dated Jimmy Neutron ride that was showing its age with many characters featured in the ride the younger audience could not remember or relate to.  We were one of the last people to ride Jimmy Neutron ride in the summer of 2011 and were excited to hear that it was being replaced.  We were not so excited when it was announced that  Jimmy Neutron would  replace The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera when it got dated. Since I have had the pleasure of riding all three these family friendly adventures, I will have to say, Despicable Me is by far the best. I will even venture to say it is even much better than Shrek 4D, which is right across the street from it.

 Despicable Me is one of the first attractions you encounter when entering the Studios and Gru's House is inviting you to come on in. You really don't need to be a fan of the movie Despicable Me to like this ride, but it maybe help if you have seen the movie and the Shorts that were released with it on Blu-Ray to really appreciate some of the inside jokes.( Banana!)


Universal knocked this ride out the park and did not skimp on anything when it came bringing the movie characters to life in this 3D adventure.  The 3D is phenomenal and the story is, well heart-warming and comical. This ride has a huge re-rideablity factor(unlike Shrek 4D) because of how much is going  not only in the ride itself but the Que and pre-show. Universal really did a wonderful job themeing this ride from exterior of Gru's house to ending dance party and photo op with the minions.

Getting my Groove on with a Minion.

While I will let some spoilers out of the bag here with some pictures, I will leave the actual ride experience for you to find out for yourself as you take on your own Minion Training.
Here are couple important tips for you.
1) There are bad seats in this ride. If at all possible(ask the ride op) try to sit in the middle of the ride theater. If you can't, don't take someone elses assigned seat.
2) Have fun at the Dance Party at the end of ride and make sure you look at some of the cool merchandise in store. There are some great photo ops here!
3) There are non-motion seats available make sure you tell the ride op you want one if motion isn't your thing!
4) Be prepared to ride this ride again. Kids(and most adults) will love this ride. 
*****DISCLAIMER******
Now I am going to say something here that may get some Disney Fans upset, so cover your eyes if you are a Disney Fan( as I am). This ride is currently better than anything new that has been done by Disney in many years. Even Better than Mickey's Philharmonic. That's right it is better than a Disney Ride!



So make sure if your heading to Universal to Island of Adventure to see Harry Potter,  get yourself Park to Park access so you can experience the Minions at Universal Studios Florida. Got questions on Universal Orlando or need a ticket or vacation package quotes be sure to ask me, I have answers!

Enjoy some of our pictures of Minion Mayhem.Click on the Pictures to make them Larger.

Good thing there are Tennis balls  on those spikes.

Love the Family Tree

It's a Dog eats cat , lion eat dog world!

As you walk in Despicable Me is on the left, Shrek 4D is on the right. ALWAYS GO LEFT!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and get a chance to enjoy becoming a Minion.

BANANA!

My Top 5 Central Florida Non-Roller Coaster Rides

My Top 5 Central Florida Non-Roller Coaster Rides

Disney and Universal really know how to immerse guest in ride experiences. They really excel in the dark ride genre.Their immersion for their rides comes in story lines, preshows(the detail put into the lines and waiting areas), and also in the technology that make their rides thrilling and appealing to all ages. These are the rides I feel are at the top of the game in all of central Florida and possibly across the United States.

5) Star Tours 2- The first trip was great, humorous and memorable. Now with multiple story lines and 3D, this ride has gone to a whole new level. Disney and George Lucas have done wonders with this re-imagined ride. The story lines are randomly chosen so it make re-riding this ride a must. The preshows areas are amazing and humorous with homages paid the original Star Tours. This is must for any Star Wars fan! Who am I kidding, you don't need to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy this journey.

MIB the ride at Universal Studios Orlando

4) Men In Black- This is a great interactive shooter ride. Universal Studios take the humor from the movies, adds a nice story line for theme park visitors, and sends riders shooting and spinning through town under siege. Everyone emerges as a hero with fun and surprise awaiting you around every corner.   Men in Black will beckon you to re-ride and best your last score or see what you missed and make your opponent's car spin. There as scenes and characters from the movie in the preshow line, including the worms. While some may argue that Toy Story Mania is better, Men in Black has more depth and discovery than Toy Story Mania. Suit up and see if you have what it takes to Save the city.



3) Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It's a classic dark ride combined with drop ride. It may not have the towering heights that some drop towers have, but it sure to give you plenty of air time and different drop sequences, something those other towers can't do. Themeing of this ride is by far one of Disney's best in all of the parks. There are great visual effects and I just love when the star field opens and the dropping and lifting begins. Be sure to try the penny trick.(Drop me a line and I will let you in it.)

What's up with that guy in the center...oh wait that's me.

Have fun storming the castle!

2) Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey- It's Harry Potter goodness and an over all great experience. To take it all in you need to ride it several times. I recommend sitting on the far right hand side, that is if you like dragon breath. The one flaw I see in this ride is that  you do have the same story over and over and over again. This is something Disney has been able to out do Universal with when Star Tours 2 opened. That doesn't make this a horrible ride, it is by far one of the most interesting and fun rides out there. Make sure you look closely at the mist from the Dementor, you will see your own face. Oh if your afraid of spiders, you might want to skip this ride. The line is very entertaining as well. Since the line moves at different rates, you may not get to see all of the stories or spells that are cast. For example, once in the room where you meet Harry and gang, it started snowing and other times we got to see some interesting happenings from the paintings that are hung through out the line.

1)The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man- This ride just got a digital upgrade(which I won't be able to experience until the fall) and is getting rave reviews! This ride was getting rave reviews even before the digital upgrades. Harry Potter may be the new kid in town, but this ride in my opinion offers a more multi-sensory trip. This ride can leave you disoriented,feeling toasty from real flames, and allow you to battle side by side with Spider-Man against some of Marvels most fearsome Villains like Doc Oct and Venom. Universal has a winner on their hand here!




The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man has a big brother and technology upgrade out there that just opened up out in California. Transformers:The Ride. Ride reviews have been phenomenal about this new version of the Spiderman ride as Transformers. Maybe someday it will show up at Universal Orlando?


What are you favorite Dark Rides? Who do you think has the better rides?

T-shirts

A shipment of T-Shirts just arrived. T-Shirts are $15. Shipping is free

T-shirts are in limited supply and selling fast so
Contact me at Matt@firehousefamilyvacations.com to place your order today

Available in Black, Red, or Navy

Front with small Logo

Back with large logo

You can get there from here but how? Part 1

By now if you live on the East Coast or in the Midwest you probably have heard about the debacle that is going on right now with Direct Air, a discount airline that flys into Orlando/Sanford airport. If you haven't,  here is the quick summary. Direct Air stopped all operation without notice stranding passengers and making them scurry to find a way home or to their vacation destination. This is a horrible situation for any traveler,  experienced or not. This situation has lead me to recall my experiences when it comes to traveling to Orlando or anywhere in that matter.

When it comes to going to Orlando, I prefer to fly. I like to get there are quick as possible and as cheap as possible. I could drive, but after about 5 hours, I am done with being  in the car for the day. I get cranky and antsy. The other problem I have with driving is that I am sucker for roadside attractions.It could get rather expensive very quickly if I want to stop at every alpine slide in the mountains, drive thru safari, Firework shop, etc. that we come across. Trust me I will find a way to stop and won't walk out empty handed. So flying for me and my family it is.

I just need to see the Skunk-Ape and maybe get a can koozie also!

Where we live, we are fortunate to have wide variety of airports to fly from. Three major airports  about 2.5 hours away(Detroit, Chicago Midway, and O'Hare) and four regional airports( South Bend, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Lansing) This provides for a variety of airlines and airfares, both discounters and major airlines. With this come a variety of routes that are either non-stop(the coveted of all flights) or many different hops in different types of planes. The non-stops tend to be the most expensive. This where the discounters come in. The big catch with discounters that fly into Central Florida is that they usually don't fly into Orlando International, but into Lakeland or Orlando/Sanford. Both of these Airports are about 45 minutes or hour commute to the Orlando and attractions area. This is really not a bad option for someone that had planned to rent a car or wasn't planning on using Disney's Magic express. Although with Discounters, you may end up in a situation like Direct Air stuck its customers with or you may have gotten a great flight at a great price. Just remember these discounters are really no frills, some of the planes seats don't even recline, and you may have to book almost a year in advance. In the past I have flown on the Discounter Spirit Airlines, after an awkward delay we had a pleasant flight to and from Orlando.(While being delayed at the gate before boarding the plane, an announcement was made that there was a mechanical problem with the plane and they were locating another aircraft. We watched the plane back away from the gate, stop, then return to the gate followed by an announcement that we could now board and that this was new plane.)

Discounters aren't the only airlines to have problems. I have had some great flights on major airlines and some nerve racking ones as well. The worst airline experience and flight resulted  from a flight cancellation that stuck the family at Chicago Midway for 7 hours in the baggage claim area. It would have been fine if we weren't subjected to the song Sweet Home Chicago over and over and over and over again. The night before the flight, severe weather ground stopped all flights and the airline claimed they called everyone that was affected. Needless to say, we didn't get the phone call. So we put the family truckster in the long term parking, took the shuttle to the terminal, and headed to check our baggage for our 6am flight.  That's when we get the are you stupid look from the clerk at the baggage counter and informed our flight has been canceled. The next available flight was going to be 3pm that afternoon and wasn't going to be non-stop. After trying to get on various different airlines with no avail, we finally boarded and were finally on our way, arriving at DisneyWorld sometime after midnight much later than our anticipated 9am arrival. That is not the only adventurous or delayed  flight we have had, just the most frustrating. The most adventurous and white knuckled flight we have had into Orlando occurred when our flight pattern took us directly over the swamp fires burning around Orlando International.  Fires of that nature tend to make up their own weather and turbulence. On final approach we had a drastic sudden drop in altitude, I mean worse than the Tower of terror drop, sending everyone into a panic and had people screaming, that is all but one little girl, my angel of a daughter, who was giggling and asking if we could do that again.

Please don't sing Sweet Home Chicago anymore!!!!!

Even with these mishaps and delays, I will take the 2 hour non stop flight into Orlando International or outlaying airports over the 24 hour non stop drive we would have. I had several of those trips and those were adventures in themselves. Stay tuned for part 2.

It's gone?

As most of us do on any vacation, we take a lot of pictures and videos. Some with lasting memories, some just don't turn out, some get photo bombed, and some catch images of things never seen again. Over the years, you like myself, have probably caught attractions and rides that no longer exist on some form of media. Fortunately, many places have begun to announce the retirements of rides and attractions well before it happens, even auctioning off the last rides for a charity. This spurs people to make special trips to photograph rides and attractions that are known to be headed towards retirement; leaving some evidence that they existed. Then again, a ride could go down for a refurb and just never reopen. Notable attraction retirements that are getting much fanfare lately are those as Jaws from Universal Studios, Snow White's Scary Journey at Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and a story line change for the Animal Kingdom's Kilimanjaro Safari. Jaws was documented in many different ways by numerous different enthusiasts. This is sure to happen with Snow White and Little Red from the Safari over at Disney World as well.

Occasionally I will share some of the captured images of things that have disappeared or changed over the years of a lost attraction or ride for your viewing enjoyment from my personal photo collection. Starting with this rare Gem below.

This guy is still at Disney World where is he now and where was he before?

Welcome to Matt's Firehouse Family Vacations Blog

Central Florida has been the premiere tourist destination for family vacations since the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971. While families have been traveling here for years, the area is constantly changing and has or will be introducing something for past  and new vacationers in the next few years. With several projects in the works and new attractions and expansions opening, keeping up with the constant changes of classics and new locations can be confusing and sometimes overwhelming. This can make vacation planning  time consuming and a stressful task. That is where I come in with Matt's Firehouse Family Vacations, I keep up with all that is happening in the Orlando area as well as other destinations across the United States.

I have always had a passion for Disney World and that passion was strengthened when I began bringing my daughter to the theme parks. Over the years that I have traveled to Disney World, I have had great experiences and learned how to make the most of each of my family trips to the resorts. Gradually with each visit, my family and I have expanded our Disney Vacations from the Disney resort to  across Central Florida to include many of the other theme parks and attractions including Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, The Kennedy Space Center, water parks, dining experiences, and many attractions along International Drive. This blog will give me an opportunity to showcase not only my experiences and tips for Disney World, Universal Orlando, Central Florida theme parks and attractions, and other destinations; but to serve as a place for you to share your tips and experiences from your travel as well.

Be sure to Like my Facebook page here and follow me twitter as Firehousefamilyvac

If you have any comments, suggestions, or post you would like to see please feel free to let me know.