A virgin's Universal quickie About This Page:

[Tiggerbelle]

A Virgin’s Universal Quickie

I still can’t believe I did this, but on a recent business trip I spent a free morning running around Universal Studios Hollywood (my first time there) trying to experience as much as I possibly could before I had to go back to work. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Let’s start at the beginning.

The cast: Just me. I’m Jen, a somewhere in my mid-30’s (OK, maybe late 30’s) mom of two kids. I’m obligated to mention them here, because they won’t show up in any of the rest of this TR!

Miranda is my 12yo DD, a self-proclaimed bookworm and fan of Tinkerbell (and actually the inspiration for my screen name – it all comes from the day she wore her Tinkerbell sweatshirt with her Tigger-ears headband. The extra “e” is for the bookworm Belle of Beauty and the Beast fame. But I digress….)

Ethan is my 8yo DS, whose latest obsession rotates between Stitch, Pokemon, and Star Wars, and whose career goals include becoming both a rock star and a famous film director.

OK, now that I’ve been the good mom and mentioned my kids, the rest of my TR can be self-absorbed.

The pre-trip details:
Back in January, one of my co-workers asked me to get involved in a new project. We were working with some external partners to set up some focus groups to talk with women who had gestational diabetes during their last pregnancies, and we knew the focus groups would take place in Atlanta (home), Chicago, and Los Angeles. Then my co-worker shared the best news… since she was due to deliver her baby at the end of February, and the focus groups were scheduled for March and April when she would still be on maternity leave, I would get to attend at all three locations!

It started to sink in…. I was getting PAID to fly to the opposite coast and I would be SO CLOSE to Mickey’s very first home. I was scheduled to leave Atlanta on Wednesday morning and return on Friday morning, and since the focus groups would take place in the evenings, that meant I had just about all day free on Thursday. Hmmmm… being the devoted Passporter that I am, those wheels just started turning…. Maybe I could actually visit my favorite mouse…

First, I had to book a hotel. The location for the focus groups was in Hollywood, just about a block from Universal Studios. I found a Holiday Inn Express just down the street. So, now I’d be staying within walking distance of one theme park, but in my heart, I knew I had to at least TRY to get to Disneyland if it was at all possible.

Having never been to Los Angeles before, and having heard all the stories about the traffic in this city, I thought it would be best to consult the experts for some advice. So I posted a query on the DL: Getting there (and back!) forum, asking folks how long it REALLY took to drive from Hollywood to Anaheim. The responses were not encouraging. Don’t get me wrong! I really do appreciate the honesty of all the Passporters who answered my post, but I was a little (OK, a lot) disappointed that it wouldn’t be the quick 30-minute trip that Mapquest said it would be!

Resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be visiting Mickey, I started reading everything I could find about the Studios.

Up Next: Plans change (again)

[Chrissi]

Great start! I'm really looking forward to reading about your day!

[Colexis Mom]

More please

[DrDolphin]

Great Start!

[chezp]

Great start - I'm looking forward to more.

[DyanKJ130]

Nice start! Hurry back with more!!

[coffeechef]

more please

[Tiggerbelle]

Thanks for all the positive feedback! This is my first TR, so I'm glad some of you are enjoying it so far.

Continuing with the saga....

I was still a bit sad that I wouldn’t be able to go to Disneyland, but then again, my kids never would have forgiven me for going without them! So I did lots of web searching. I visited the Universal Studios page and pored over all the attractions, I checked out all of the TR’s and suggestions that PassPorters had to offer (but there weren’t as many as I’d hoped there might be – we’re definitely loyal to the mouse here!), and I even did a general google search to see if I could find other reviews of the Studios.

As always seems to be the case, some reviews were positive, some were negative, and some said absolutely nothing at all! Since I didn’t have to be at work until about 5:00 (or so I thought), I finally decided that heading over to Universal for the day would be worth the trip. But for some reason, I hesitated about buying tickets yet.

That’s when all the plans for the focus groups started to disintegrate. We originally had scheduled one on Wednesday evening from 6-8 pm, and two on Thursday from 6-8 and 8-10 pm. But of course, things change. We were having trouble recruiting enough women to participate, so we needed to change the times and locations.

I won’t bore you with all the variations here, but we went through about two weeks worth of DAILY schedule changes, most of which included one group being held on Thursday from 12-2. I dejectedly assumed that I wouldn’t get to have any fun on this trip after all. Of course, I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself at all….

Finally, TWO DAYS before I was scheduled to leave, we got the final itinerary, and the first group on Thursday wasn’t until 2:00. Hmmm…. I was thinking MAYBE I could squeeze in a quick trip to the Studios. And then I got one more e-mail that cinched it.

It was just junk mail really, but the Coca-Cola company reminded me that I had unused points just waiting to be spent. You see, they’ve got this promotion where they put codes on their caps, and if you log in and register the codes, you get points. Being the Diet Coke addict that I am, I’ve been logging in my points for several months now. Maybe even close to a year. And I hadn’t spent many of them yet. Anyway, they reminded me that one of their sponsors was Universal Studios…..

So I logged in to check things out. I could get $15 off the admission price simply by cashing in a few of my points (I had more than enough). That did it! I redeemed my points, got my online coupon, and went straight to the Studios page to buy my tickets! Printed everything out and I was good to go!

Up next: My trip to CA!

[chezp]

It sounds like your quick visit to Universal was meant to be, even with those daily schedule changes!

[Colexis Mom]

Great update! More please

[bsblady01]

more please.