When purchasing our day pass to Islands of Adventure, I looked into the option of adding the Express Pass to our ticket.  Universal's Express is similar to Disney's FastPass+ in that it allows you to enter a different, shorter line for most attractions.  However, rather than having specific return times, Express allows you to enter the queue at anytime.  Express is complimentary for guests staying at Universal's three deluxe resorts (Portofino Bay, Hard Rock, and Royal Pacifica).  However, for all other guests, Express is available at an additional cost, depending on the time of your visit and how many rides you purchase.  For the Sunday we were visiting, an Express Pass redeemable for three rides was $60 per person, and it only went up from there.

Perhaps it's because I'm used to Disney's FastPass+ which allows all guests at least three FastPasses per day included in regular park admission that I thought $60 for three Express Passes was a little steep.  The reasoning behind the price makes sense, though.  Disney's system allows guests to reserve a specific time to ride an attraction... all guests are limited to a one hour window (plus a 5 minute early, 15 minute late cushion) during which they can ride the select attraction.  The FastPass+ system also allows only a certain number of FP+ reservations in an hour per attraction, so there is a limited number of FastPass+ that can be distributed per day.  Rather than limiting the number of Express Passes distributed per attraction, Universal limits the number sold with its pricing.  If the Express Pass was priced too low, then more guests would buy it, the Express line would be longer, and the Express Pass would no longer be of value.

A piece of advice I read in the 2014 Edition of Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World was to not purchase Express in advance, but wait until the day of.  Depending on the crowds that day, we may or may not want to purchase the Express Pass.

Our plan was to get to Islands of Adventure before park opening that morning so that we would be able to ride all of the biggest attractions without a very long wait.

On our way to the parking garage that morning, Natalie spotted a sign for valet parking.  I couldn't remember how much Valet cost, but I remembered thinking it was reasonable.  To save us a little time and hassle, Natalie decided to opt for valet.  The signs read 0-2 hours $15, Over 2 Hours $35.... The way the sign was written, we were thinking this was an hourly rate and were going to drive back to the parking garage.  But the valet attendant approached us, so Natalie asked, and he told us $15 for the day.  That's less than daily parking at Walt Disney World - we'll take it! (spoiler: he was wrong)


Turnstiles - how antiquated!  We had printed our tickets out at home, and my ticket was not scanning.  The Team Member had to type in the number to allow me into the park.

May 13, 2014 - Grand Cayman

Rachel had gotten up early that morning to run laps around the promenade deck and do her own yoga.  I was waiting for her to come back, but she had been gone for over two hours, so I figured that she must have gone to Mom and Dad's.  I called their room to see if they had her, and then asked them if they wanted to go to Disney Animation class with me.  Rachel was still nowhere to be found, but we went on to the D Lounge for animation class.

Disney Animation - Persistence of Vision

There was a series of four animation classes offered throughout the week, and I had missed the first two (that's okay... I can draw Mickey Mouse on my own time).  The class we attended was entitled Persistence of Vision and covered how Disney animation has evolved over the past 85 years.  We learned how to draw Buzz Lightyear.  The cast member (on the entertainment team... I forget his name, but his slogan was, "Whoop! Whoop!" which you were supposed to call out to him whenever you saw him on the ship) prefaced the lesson by making us swear that we would not judge our own drawings or anyone else's - his included.  Buzz Lightyear is also a very challenging character to draw, especially since he is a three-dimensional character that we were drawing two-dimensionally.

Throughout the class, the instructor draws on a giant sketch pad with a black marker, and his sketch pad is projected onto a large screen, much like at Animation Academy at the Magic of Disney Animation at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  However, unlike Animation Academy, the characters change between each class (unless it is a repeat of the class later that day) and progress in difficulty throughout the week.

My annoyance with the Disney animation classes is quite similar to my annoyance with my freehand drawing class (which I took last semester in architecture).  It frustrates me to do step-by-step drawings.  In freehand drawing, I wanted to draw the landscape/building in the order that I wanted.  And in animation, I really just wanted them to flash up the final drawing of Buzz so that I could draw him.  I think that also may be why I much prefer written tutorials as opposed to video tutorials... I can just scroll to the bottom of the page and see the final result, then go at my own pace.  Now, that being said, there is great value to step-by-step instruction and breaking down drawings into little steps.  I learned a lot of great technique, as well as method, in my freehand drawing class.  As painful as it was for me to wait for the next step, drawing (what felt like) blindly, I'm really glad that I endured it (it was an elective I chose to take that I considered dropping) because now I have a new perspective on how to construct a drawing.... just like I now know how to set up the guides for Buzz.

I know I promised not to judge, but I don't think that my Buzz Lightyear looks much like Buzz.  I mean, maybe there is a slight resemblance.  But his mouth is far too large and crooked.  I was also really wishing that I had a thick pen... like a Pentel sign pen... to draw with.  But in all honestly, I'm not the best in drawing characters or anything that is supposed to look how it actually is, for that matter.

Grand Cayman was the only port we had been to before (back in 2008!). We knew that we wanted to go shopping, to Hell, and then Seven Mile Beach.

That morning, they had everyone go to the Bordeaux Ballroom to get a tender ticket, and you'd wait there until you were called. We were lucky enough to be handed a ticket and told immediately to go. Well, we were in line and two women wandered up behind us looking rather confused got in line. I wasn't sure if they knew they had to get a tender ticket, so I thought I would make sure she had one so she didn't stand in this line only to be told she needed a tender ticket. Well, instead of speaking to me, she gestures to a sticker on her chest that says #2. An older gentleman behind me butts in rather rudely and says, "She doesn't need one. She's on an excursion," as if I'm an idiot for trying to be helpful... I wasn't even talking to him. "Oh, you're in an excursion? Then I guess you're good to go! I just wanted to make sure because I'd have hated for you to wait in this line..." It was pointless. I was talking to a wall. She didn't even want to hear me apologize for trying to help her. Sheesh. Someone's panties were in a wad.

Once we got to land, our first stop was Margaritaville.



My parents are huge parrotheads, so it's always a must to purchase some Buffett souvenirs.

Next we went to the liquor store. I (err... actually my father) had promised my boyfriend that I'd bring him a souvenir. I had been checking the prices at other ports and on the ship (Princess's alcohol isn't as good of a deal as Royal Caribbean's), but Grand Cayman was definitely worth holding out for. A handle of Grey Goose was $45, liter of Absolut 2 for $20, liter of Bacardi 2 for $20 (handle 2 for $30), handle of Goldschlager for a remarkable $25. If you're on this itinerary and want to purchase alcohol, the best deals I saw were in Grand Cayman.

And then Rachel's store -



Every Christmas, she buys herself a ring. This year she wanted an even more extravagant ring because despite all efforts to steer him in the opposite direction, my boyfriend ended up giving me the ring that she had been wanting for my birthday.

It was actually an ironic story... my boyfriend was going to get me a Michael Kors watch for my birthday, but he felt like he couldn't anymore after Rachel's boyfriend got her a Michael Kors watch. So Rachel suggested he get me a ring and gave him some ideas of what to get me, but my size 5.5 finger is apparently difficult to shop for which really limited his options. So he ended up giving me a purple amethyst ring since we go to Clemson. When Rachel saw it, she was furious because she had wanted a purple ring because we go to Clemson. I'm actually not at all surprised because Rachel and my boyfriend have very similar personalities... I think that's why I like him.

While Rachel was jewelry shopping, Dad was checking out prices to go to Hell. He found a lady who would take us to Hell and then Seven Mile Beach for $12pp. Everyone else wanted to take us on a tour for $15pp which included a variety of other stops, such as the Turtle Farm. It sounded like a good deal, but Rachel wanted the beach, and I wasn't about to interfere with that again.

If you've never been to Hell, it's a quick little stop.








You can mail a postcard from Hell. I thought it was a cute idea, but I couldn't think of many people whose addresses I knew off the top of my head who I could send one to without someone in their household possibly being offended. We live in the Bible Belt.



I believe I mentioned already that Rachel is a geology minor. Well, she was really excited about Hell when she read about all its limestone rock formations.



The Devil is everywhere in Hell...



"Take a picture of me by the limestone!"





"Now take a picture of me looking excited about some limestone!"







Nice to know the Devil has some manners!






Sadly, this might be one of our only family pictures... Christmas cards from Hell, anyone?


The cab driver dropped us off at the party area of Seven Mile Beach (which is actually only around 5.5 miles in length if you were curious).

Awesome floating cabanas -



We were in port with two Carnivaly ships - the Glory and one I don't recall.



Now this is the kind of beach Rachel had in mind when she was envisioning Costa Rica beaches... not quite.



One of the local beers is White Tip Lager. The bartender described it as being a finer beer. I liked it because there were sharks on the can. I have a slight obsession with sharks.



Two-fisting it like a pro.



Random ADPi - she was walking along the beach and must have a great eye because the only ADPi gear on Rachel was her sunglasses... which she had burned the delta off with her curling iron on accident a few nights ago.



I called it the party beach because they had a DJ much better than DJ Mickey on the Island Princess, as well as many games. Such as this beer chugging competition between the cruiselines.

Local...



Throw it back, Island Princess!

1. 

These locals are crazy...


Winner in the house!


We happy.





Oh, okay... we have another family photo. An even worse option for the Christmas card.



Our friends from NC were on the beach with us, so we asked them if they'd like to split a cab back and eat at Margaritaville. We ended up packing onto one of the large vans that was taking passengers back.

My cute Greek family...





Rachel loves waterslides. That was one of the reasons she wanted to eat at Margaritaville.







This was an awkward late lunch/early dinner, so we decided to split entrees. Well, I ordered the quesadillas and Dad ate probably over half of them, and the food really just reminded me of how starving I was.

We were the last tender in. Scratch that off the bucket list!



NEXT: Day 10 - Sea Day

We decided to give Margaritaville (at the Flamingo) another try and went there for an early dinner. Our seating location wasn't the best - we were seated in the outer loop, verses the main room. We could still watch the music videos on the flat screens on the wall, and we had a clear view of the blender. We noticed that the Las Vegas location had two smaller blenders, while Myrtle Beach and Orlando both have one larger blender.

We got kid menus because the bird masks make great souvenirs.



When Mom and Dad ordered drinks, I figured Rachel and I might as well get something special. Rachel was in the restroom, so I ordered a Jolly Mon (strawberry and banana smoothie) for her and a Princess Marigold for me (coconut and pineapple smoothie) and Diet Cokes for each of us (I did not consult my parents before ordering!). As for food, ordered what I always order - the Cheeseburger in Paradise. Once again, I do not recall what anyone else ate. I just know my cheeseburger was really good.

It had been nearly an hour, and the volcano still hadn't erupted (this happens every half hour in Myrtle Beach - I'm thinking every quarter hour later at night... seems that thing is always going off!). We asked our waitress, and she told us it wouldn't go off until 7:00. We went into the gift shop to find tee shirts (we started collecting Margaritaville tee-shirts from the ports on our Caribbean cruises and needed a Las Vegas shirt for the collection).

While we were there, the volcano was due to erupt, so we stuck around.

Turns out the Vegas show was unique to its location.






She slid from the top of the volcano into the blender.


And was lifted out on a hook.