It was COLD but a lot of fun. I used to work for the airlines, so we got to fly for free/space-available and before we had kids we took advantage of it. The NYC trip was in Jan/Feb 03 (we were at ABC TV when the Columbia space shuttle disaster occured that morning) and it was super cold. Plus my wife was 4 months pregnant and a super-trooper for hiking all over NYC and Queens to get the photos. The Orlando/Universal trip was on Sep 8 2002 and wearing the suit had "fringe benefits." We'd called Universal ahead and advised what I wanted to do and they were great about it. They had us enter with a ride-group, but then stay behind for as long as we wanted to get all the shots with no-one in the background. We would stay on one side of the queue rails as the other groups would pass by, so not to be in the way. However, most folks thought I was part of the staff and took their own photos too. We got to spend about 1 hour in the "HQ set" area. Then we got "stuck" in the gift shop for about 45 minutes for folks to have their photos made with me, their kids, etc. The back-half of the park opens a little later than the front-half, but park security let us in the back-half early too and we got all the "NYC street" set photos there too with no one in the background. I remember the date, because (though we didn't know at the time) it was the last day the King "Kong-Frontation" ride would be ever open. They let us on first and all by ourselves, just the two of us. When we got off, my Wife got a kick out of it, because she was in plain clothes and me in the suit (but not still in the MiB area) folks thought that I was some type of protection-security and she was some VIP. All the people taking photos of her because she must be "somebody"... she got a kick out of it, it was a fun trip.
Maaan, that sounds like an EPIC MIB trip!! Both of them really! That is just a whole lot of unforgettable stuff packed in there I'm sure! And wow! Extremely luck of you to have a wife that would hike all over NYC and Queens taking epic MIB pics while 4 months pregnant! That's just impressive! :lol What were the "fringe benefits"? They let you have access to all that stuff if you wore a black suit? That is all really SO COOL! I remember how hard it was to get a picture at universal without someone in front of my face, much less no one in the background! I tried letting people pass by and waiting behind, but even still it was PACKED when I was there. :lol Oh man, that is some next level shtuff!! What an incredible and exciting experience! Thanks for sharing!
While always busy, we got to go to the park, off-season in September and early in the morning at first opening, so the crowds weren't too bad initially, though the did pick up a lot after about 11:00 am. I've got a huge 3" 3-ring binder full of MiB "event" photos going back to 1997. We'll have to cross-paths sometime and let you check them out.
