Escaping Snowy New England for Freezing Florida, Feb 2015 Universal at Dusk and Dark 3/30

[natebenma]

I'm Dee. Some of you know me from the Beach and Yacht Club FAQ in the resort forums here on the DIS, which I manage in my “spare time”. Some of you know me from past trip reports. I am pleased to make the acquaintance with anyone I have not met before.

:

I work very part time at a historical farm/museum. I also volunteer at my boys’ schools. I have been president of the middle school parents’ organization for the past 6 years. I have been treasurer of the PTA, and a few other groups, as well.



That's me on the right


I have known my husband Mark since 7th grade. We started dating when we were Sophmores in High School and have been married for 28 years. He is a manager of a programming/development team for a large software company. He has a nightmare commute from our home into Boston, 2 hours each way, on a good day. This winter, we have not seen many “good days”





My two sons are Nate (16) and Ben (13). Nate is a junior in High School so we are in the vortex of very scary experiences like driving lessons and looking at colleges. Nate has always been a smart but carefree *cough* lazy *cough* kid. He was an annoying teen for a couple of years, but nothing too horrifying. Now he is starting to really come around, getting motivated at school and is fun to be around. I am starting to miss him already!






Ben is a smart and talented kid. He is an excellent student in all of his subjects at school and he has been performing with a community theatre group and his middle school drama club for the past few years. His last role was the Black Knight in Spamalot.




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Details, Details!

Our trip was Monday February 16- Friday February 20, 2015, during the boys' winter vacation.

Our flights were on Jet Blue, scheduled to leave Boston at 7:35 am and arrive in Orlando at 10:57. Our return flight was 6:35 Friday night, arriving in Boston at 9:24.

We don’t like to drive on vacation, so we arranged round-trip transportation from MCO to the Hard Rock with Ed Korgan Travel for $95 plus tip. This was the 3rd time we used Ed’s company.

This was our third trip to Universal Orlando. I remember being on a plane to Florida on our way to Disney several years ago, sitting next to a family with a teen boy and girl. They were only going to the Universal parks. I didn’t understand how someone would go to Orlando and not visit the Mouse at all. I get it now.

Our first trip, July 2011, was 4 nights at the onsite Portofino Bay. We did 3 days at US/IoA, 2 half days at Sea World and we surprised the boys with an all-day visit to Magic Kingdom in the middle of the trip. We stayed club level at Portofino, which was a rookie mistake. We love club level because of the quick and convenient pre-park breakfast, but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at 7 am to onsite guests, the same time as the lounge opened.

In July 2013 we did a 3 night Hard Rock/4 night Beach Club split stay. LOVED the Hard Rock, but we didn’t book club level because once again, the park opening coincided with breakfast.

This year, we booked a standard room at the Hard Rock for 4 nights ($350/night). Because we had 5 days planned visiting the parks, and US/IoA only sells tickets with a maximum of 4 days of entry, we purchased Annual Passes, which were just $20 more than the 4 day tickets ($220 per person, I think)

I stalked the US website and the US Resort forum on the DIS so that I would be able to pounce on an AP discounted rate for the room when it was released. In mid-December, the discounts were released, however there were no regular rooms available. BUT, club level was just $9 more per night from what we booked. During our trip, Islands of Adventure opened at 8 am and breakfast started at 7 in the lounge.

No-brainer!!!

We changed to club level room, but we decided to keep that secret from the boys, who would not be expecting that at all.



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All of our previous family trips to Florida have been in the summer.


There was the boys’ first trip to Disney/Sea World in 2004.





Then we returned to Disney in July 2008, 2009 and 2010, The basis of our tongue-in-cheek titled 3rd Annual We are "NEVER" going to Disney in the summer again TR,









In July 2011 we visited Universal with one day at Disney’s Magic Kingdom -
Welcome, Foolish Muggles! IoA/US/MK/SW July 2011








In June 2012, I chaperoned Nate’s 8th grade class trip to Disney 145 Middle Schoolers Wicked Awesome or Epic Fail???





We returned to Florida in 2013 for a Universal/Disney split stay- Hijinks and Shenanigans (but not much Mayhem) at The Dark Side and Disney,July 2013





Hears No Evil. Speaks No Evil. Sees No Evil. Refuses to Participate



And finally, last August I did a solo visit to Disney for a major meet-up with many of my DIS friends- What Happens at the Beach Club...





Some of these trips were very wet, and all of them were HOT!


When we planned this years’ trip to Universal Studios during the boys’ February school vacation we were really looking forward to touring the theme parks in cooler weather.


Be Careful What You Wish For!!!


Next up: Are We There Yet???

 

[natebenma]

Chapter Links

Monday February 16

Are We There Yet? Part 1
Are We There Yet? Part 2

Checking In (and Checking Out) the Hard Rock Hotel
Room 7103

On Tour at the Hard Rock
includes Club Level photo link

Universal Studios
Plan B: Leaky Cauldron
"Diagon-al Alley"

 

[pixeegrl]

Woohoo!

 

[RocketCityMama]

Sounds fun! Can't wait to read more!

 

[schumigirl]

I like your style!!!

Looking forward to reading along with you

 

[natebenma]

Woohoo!

Thanks for joining in!

Sounds fun! Can't wait to read more!

Hope I can help you get more excited for your upcoming trip. Are you staying onsite or elsewhere?

I like your style!!!

Looking forward to reading along with you

I appreciate your kind words.

 

[natebenma]

Are We There Yet?

I don’t normally write much about our arrival day. I am perfectly content to post “We arrived at the airport, everything went smoothly, our flight took off on time and then 3 hours later, we landed in Orlando.”


Unfortunately, that was not what happened…


As I’m sure all of you know (especially any of you who live along the east coast), this has been a MISERABLE winter! In February alone, the Boston area has received almost 100 inches of snow. Every weekend, we have seen storms dumping between a foot and 3 feet of snow.

The transportation system is a mess and subsequently commuter trains into the city have been delayed or sometimes they just don’t show up!

I was supposed to start back up with my farm job in early February, but on the first day it was starting, nobody showed up and we ended up cancelling the two sessions until the end of March because there is just too much snow and it has been too cold.

Suffice to say, we could not get out of Dodge fast enough.

Our flight on Monday morning was scheduled for a 7:35 departure. There had been a snow storm over the weekend, Valentine’s Day Saturday into Sunday, about a foot and a half, but it was over by early afternoon and that evening all flights for the next morning were showing as “on time”

Our driver arrived at our home for our 4:45 am pickup. Roads were fine, it was a holiday (President’s Day) so traffic was light. The driver pulled to the curb, Mark and I got out of the van, the boys climbed out from the backseat and Nate asked “Who’s backpack is that?”

Mark had forgotten his backpack on the van floor. That is SO unlike him. WTG Nate! PHEW!

We had our boarding passes and breezed through bag check and even security. We got to the gate around 6:15 and had breakfast from Dunkin Donuts. Our flight was listed as on time, but there was no plane at Gate 11.






As it was approaching 7:00, our boarding time, there was still no plane.

When the whole family goes away on a trip, I don’t post anything on Facebook until we return home. I trust my friends. I really do- but friends of my friends? Who knows.

But since there is an additional layer on anonymity (however slight) here on the DIS, I did announce our trip plans over on the FAQ board and many of my friends over there were wishing us well as I updated them on our “progress”

At airport. Flight listed as on time but we are supposed to board at 7 and plane is not here yet. Hopefully not too delayed.

Eventually an announcement was made that our plane was here at the airport, but there was not a gate available for our flight.


Around 8:30:

Still waiting. We are told our plane is here and waiting for a gate. But our driver in Orlando saw it was cancelled. And now a siren is going off and there is an announcement there is an emergency in our building. Stay tuned

We saw firefighters over at a nearby gate, but we never did find out what had gone on.


One friend over on the FAQ was tracking my flight and posted this:

At this time, JetBlue is saying 9:15 departure - not bad, considering.

We are all sending positive vibes your way!

A plane landed at our gate, but it was a larger plane than we were going to be taking.

As we watched the plane out of the window, we saw mechanics coming over and start working on the engine. That can’t be good! They took a part out of the engine and then about 30 minutes later, a box arrived with a new part. They put that in. Unfortunately, this was a plane to NYC, with a lot of people who would be missing their connecting flights. There was quite an angry mob lined-up at the checkin desk! They were announcing that there was not a single hotel room available in NYC, so if the passengers weren’t going to make their connecting flight, they should not get onto the plane.



Meanwhile, another announcement was made that our plane was at the airport, but there was still not a gate available.





For the next couple of hours, there were very few announcements, but our boarding time would be changed a few more times as we watched the departure board.

Meanwhile, the plane to NYC finally took off and another plane took its place at the gate we were supposed to be flying from. Not our plane.

At the gate next to us, a plane had been idling, but not moving, for over 2 hours!!! I’m not sure where it came from or where it was going, but if they were having trouble finding a gate for our plane, they could have towed that one out of there!

Another message from an FAQ friend:

Hang in there Dee!! We are one town away and can bring you a care package of Dunkin Donuts coffee and Spinelli's Italian food if they keep delaying the flight!!!

Jay

Around 10:30, I decided to go to the ladies room and on my way I heard someone call out “Dee!” It was the education manager for the organization I work for. She was flying out to visit family in Florida (a different flight) and her gate had been changed 4 times that morning!


Thankfully, when I came back, they FINALLY announced a gate change for us.

When they made the announcement that we were going to be boarding soon they said needed to refuel first. I couldn't help but think

"Um, couldn't you have gassed up the plane sometime in the 4 hours we were waiting?"

Thanks Jay. Your offer is almost worth it. Just boarded. Have a great week all.
Off to see the wizard!

We boarded at 11 am, the same time we were supposed to be landing in Orlando.

At 11:30 it was wheels up.

I took a couple of pictures in the plane, which my family hates










Caught!


OK, I guess I will just point my camera out the window.















At 2:40, we landed, 20 minutes early (if you can call 3 hours and 40 mintues late, early).

Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

Continued from Previous Post

We made our way to the faux-no-rail, which gets pretty crowded in the afternoon, apparently.









We met our driver, Willie (from Ed Korgan Travel) on our way to baggage claim. We got our bags, followed Willie to the van and he said

“We should be at the Hard Rock in 22 minutes”

My, that’s specific. And quick! (I think it was about 25 minutes)

Before we knew it, we were approaching the welcome sign that we all yearn to see:





We have arrived!


Next up: (Down at the end of lonely street): Hard Rock Hotel and Would you get to a theme park, already?

 

[RocketCityMama]

Hope I can help you get more excited for your upcoming trip. Are you staying onsite or elsewhere?

Thanks! We are super excited, I've been to USO probably 20 plus years ago so yeah things have def changed! lol We are staying off site at Orange Lake Resort, my FIL has a timeshare there, so it's free to us! I'd love to stay on site but the cost savings is enough to sway us to deal with the drive etc.

 

[natebenma]

Thanks! We are super excited, I've been to USO probably 20 plus years ago so yeah things have def changed! lol We are staying off site at Orange Lake Resort, my FIL has a timeshare there, so it's free to us! I'd love to stay on site but the cost savings is enough to sway us to deal with the drive etc.

Free is good!!!

 

[natebenma]

Checking in (and checking out) the

Hard Rock Hotel

Our driver Willie dropped us off at the Hard Rock entrance.















We headed to the checkin desk





As I mentioned in my post-pre-trip report, we upgraded the room we booked from a regular room to a club level room for $9 per night. We told the boys in line “Oh yeah, we have a club level room” “Cool.” (No exclamation point). They were glad, but not really blown away with excitement. Ben did say he wondered what we were going to be doing for breakfast. Like his mom, he always likes to make sure we have a plan for our next meal!

I had put in another secret request that I didn’t tell anyone about. There are a few (3? 5?) deluxe club level rooms that have extra space and a pullout sofa. These rooms do not cost any more than the regular club level rooms, but can’t be booked. They are available by request only.

The person checking us in didn’t say anything, so finally I said “I know there are a limited number of deluxe rooms. I put in a request for one. Is there one available?” I was told no.

No Mummy Dust for us!

Oh well, I guess we will be paying for the rollaway cot ($25 per night)- Nate prefers his own sleeping space if we are able to manage it.

Our room was ready. I guess that is one advantage of a late arrival.

Here are a couple of lobby pictures.








Before going up to the room to dump off our bags, we needed to get our Express Passes. As guests of a Universal Deluxe Resort, we get Front of the Line Passes that are valid for most of the rides at the parks (Certain Harry Potter attractions may not apply). You go to a kiosk in the lobby, insert your room key and have your picture taken, and then you get another card that gets scanned in the Express line. You also get early entry, an hour before offsite guests, when you stay on property.

When you arrive to a park in the morning, each person needs to have their park ticket (in our case, Annual Passes), an express pass and a room key. Lanyards are very popular at the parks, especially since purses, backpacks and pretty much anything loose may not be brought onto many of the extreme rides. A waist pack with a 3-prong connection IS permitted on all rides, so I proudly wear my fanny pack during our park time.

We took the elevator up to the 7th floor- you need to use your room key to program the elevator to get to club level. When you get off the elevator at any floor, there is a piece of musical memorabilia in a display case.

This one of Cher’s dress from the Sonny and Cher show, greets you on Floor 7




These are the windows overlooking the pool and the parks as you wait for the elevators.







We stopped off at the lounge to grab some snacks and cool drinks and then we continued to our room.

Continued in Next Post- Room 7103

 

[natebenma]

Room 7103.

All of the rooms at HRH were recently renovated, sometime between our July 2013 trip and this one.

One of the big changes: the rooms have refrigerators in the rooms instead of the mini-bars filled with expensive snacks.

Here are a few pictures of our room, but if you want to see the full set of pictures I posted in the Universal Resort subforum, click on the link below:

[URL='http://www.disboards.com/threads/hard-rock-renovated-room-7103-photos.3387973/']http://www.disboards.com/threads/hard-rock-renovated-room-7103-photos.3387973/]Hard Rock Renovated Room 7103[/URL]
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Daybed in between bed and window, $25 per night








Our Garden View













Continued in Next Post: Let's reflect on these mirrors[/URL][/URL][/URL]

 

[natebenma]

Continued from previous post


Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Who got Murdered in this Hall?



Seriously. What is up with this mirror? Am I missing the rock reference?



Here- this mirror is much better. You can compare your height to famous rock stars.





My husband is the same height as Bruce Springsteen, my boys are as tall as Bob Dylan and Madonna, and I would see eye to eye with Pat Benatar.


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Rock Royalty Club Level

I posted a link with lots of pictures from the Club Level Lounge in the Universal Forum. I’ll probably be posting a few of these pictures during the trip report at the appropriate time, but here is the full set all in one place.


Link to Hard Rock Club Level Photos


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On Tour at the Hard Rock Hotel

This is the point in my trip report where I usually do an overview of the resort, but as I mentioned, I am anxious to get my ride on! In my trip report from 2013, I did a pretty comprehensive tour of the resort and I’ll post the links here for anyone who wants to read more about the Hard Rock.


No biggie if you don’t.

:


Be Our Guest (Lobby and Public Areas)

A Few of My Favorite Things (Memorabilia)

I Melt With You (Emack & Bolios Ice Cream and Marketplace)

Twistin' by the Pool

(Rockaway) Beach Club (Poolside Bar and Restaurant)

Get Busy (Resort Activities)

Walk This Way


Next up- (Finally at a Park) Universal Studios: Tradition! Tradition!...Tradition!!!

 

[ptmmg]

we are coming from Massachusetts also but unfortunately not until the last week of August so not escaping the snow!!! loving your report so far!! We are newbies to Universal have done the Disney thing many times but first time for kids dd13 and ds 11. Plan on doing Discovery cove and SeaWorld also
!

 

[ichabody]

I know you were happy to get out of that Boston blizzard! That's a crazy amount of snow on the Tarmac!! Lots of good universal tips...didn't know that about the deluxe hotel and express pass deal. Which Harry potter rides doesn't it work for?

Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

 

[natebenma]

we are coming from Massachusetts also but unfortunately not until the last week of August so not escaping the snow!!! loving your report so far!! We are newbies to Universal have done the Disney thing many times but first time for kids dd13 and ds 11. Plan on doing Discovery cove and SeaWorld also
!

Great ages for Universal!!!

We have been to Universal (and Disney) in the summer months with trips in June, July and August. We expect hot and wet, and prepare for that. We knew we could have some cooler weather than we are used to during this Feb trip, but it was so much cooler than we imagined. We have been to Sea World a couple of times, but never Discovery Cove- I hear it is fantastic! Visiting some different places during your trip will be a nice change of pace from US/IoA. Our most recent trip was all US/IoA, and we would have liked something else to break it up a bit.

I know you were happy to get out of that Boston blizzard! That's a crazy amount of snow on the Tarmac!! Lots of good universal tips...didn't know that about the deluxe hotel and express pass deal. Which Harry potter rides doesn't it work for?

Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

We are glad we chose to leave on Monday instead of the prior Saturday. Almost every weekend in February had a storm. Many flights on Saturday and Sunday were cancelled, but at least our flight was just delayed.

Yes, you get unlimited express ("Front of the Line") during your stay at the Hard Rock, Portofino Bay and Royal Pacific. The express feature is valid from your checkin day to the end of the day you check out. The new Cabana Bay resort has early entry to the parks, but not the express feature.

There is no express for Forbidden Journey (single rider is good for this ride, as long as you have already gone through the castle queue at least once) and no express for Escape from Gringots (we have not tried single rider for this). I don't think the train between Hogsmeade (WWoHP) and Kings Cross (Diagon Alley) has express, but I'm not sure about that.

I think all of the other rides at both parks have an express entrance.

 

[natebenma]

Universal Studios: Tradition! Tradition!...Tradition!!!


We debated whether or not to change into shorts before going to the parks, but we figured it would probably start getting cool as it got dark, and there would be plenty of opportunities to put on the shorts we packed later in the week. Right?


Ben’s middle school drama club will be performing Fiddler on the Roof in a couple of weeks. Ben decided not to audition for the show, but he will be working backstage crew. The title of this chapter is inspired by the show, and by the quirky habit my boys have with theme park traditions.


When we arrive at Disney, the first park the boys need to visit is Magic Kingdom. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I am just surprised that it is so important to them.


We started our previous two trips to the Dark Side with visits to Universal Studios. This is a decision that makes sense, because the next morning is early entry to IoA. Our arrival day traditions: Ride Mummy first, and then lunch (or what would be dinner this year) at Lombard’s.


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First, we had to pick up our Annual Passes from the Will Call Kiosks. You bring the credit card you used to purchase the passes, insert that, type in your confirmation number and the machine spits out your passes. Easy-Peasy!!!


Now park entry, on the other hand, did NOT go smoothly. All week.


They have a finger scan system which seriously only works for about half the people going though. Some of it is user error- people who are using the wrong finger, or they remove their finger too soon, or press too hard (or too lightly) or really are just not bright enough to be out in public. You end up playing line roulette- you try to pick out the line that has the least likelihood to have a moron or large clueless group ahead of you. But it is not just the guests. Sometimes it is the machines when they get smudged. And to add to the mayhem, the finger scans do not work well in cold.


If you get behind someone who can’t get the finger scan to activate, you are held hostage in line. You don’t move until they do. No options just to go around to another machine. This is really frustrating when you know that you will be able to get the green light first time you try, once you are given the opportunity.


It took us about 10 minutes to get through the turnstiles which is really quite ridiculous at 4:30 in the afternoon!


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But now we were in, and I needed to redeem my Photo Connect Star Card (Think Memory Maker). I purchased the Annual Photo Card for $50 before the price went up this year. This gives you a digital download of all of the ride photos and any photos with characters or at special places throughout the park. There are not that many photographers located throughout the parks (mostly at the entrance/exit), but I love having access to the ride photos.


My paper work said to bring my order form to any photographer and they would get me my Photo Connect Card. So I stopped the first photographer I saw, right outside the photo store and showed her my form, with the scan bar. She had no idea what to do, so she went into the very crowded photo store and asked one of the counter people to help. She said I would not have to wait in line, but I didn’t want to cut in front of the people who were there, so we just moved on. I figured I could just take care of it when we did the first ride, which is the traditional first ride in US for us.


We walked through some of the Mardi Gras areas on the way









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Although we were there for 4 nights, we never actually saw any Mardi Gras activities. Maybe they all take place on the weekend. We did just miss a concert by Bare Naked Ladies, who performed on Sunday night, the night before our arrival. I have seen them twice in concert and they are awesome!



We arrived at my favorite ride of all time (Sorry Big Thunder)- Revenge of the Mummy!





Plunge into total darkness on this indoor rollercoaster as you face fireballs, scarab beetles and an army of warrior mummies. This ride has a Single Rider Line and requires lockers for loose articles.


The special effects on this ride are amazing, and there was one effect that I had never noticed before (in the control room scene). This ride does not disappoint! But it does go backwards and has some very jerky starts and stops, so if that bothers you, you should probably skip it.


I have no photos from inside the ride due to Universal’s very strict no photo inside attractions policy. Now while Disney discourages photos in many rides, especially flash photography, Universal outright forbids it. No flash pictures, no non-flash pictures, if you even THINK about your camera on a ride, you get yelled at!


I do have our ride photo as well as a couple of stock photos that came with our photo connect card in 2013:



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Since we had such a long travel day and only had sandwiches on the plane and a few snacks since breakfast, we were ready to eat when we were finished with Mummy.


I don’t know what the attraction for Lombard’s is for the boys. It is a San Francisco themed seafood restaurant, but I don’t find the theming to be compelling. The first time we went there we had a table right in front the aquarium, which we all loved. The food really hit the spot. On our last visit, they put us upstairs in a very formal looking room that really didn’t do anything for us theming-wise. So I was surprised when we were discussing lunch options for our first day and both boys said “Lombard’s, of course! But sitting downstairs”



Here are some picture from our past trips:




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2011:














2013:


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[URL=http://s657.photobucket.com/user/natebenma/media/Hijinks%20Trip%20Report/Lombards/DSCF0361.jpg.html][/URL
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It was about 5 pm when we walked into the entrance of Lombard’s.


“Party of 4”


“Do you have a reservation?”


“No” I answered, looking into the empty restaurant.


“We are only seating people with reservations”


“We are staying onsite- do we have preferred seating?”


“Yes. If you have a reservation.”



We walked back out. Fortunately, I had a Plan B.[/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]

 

[pas130]

Ugh, sorry they didn't seat you at Lombardi's Dee, hope Plan B worked out I had no clue about the Photo Card..I like the Mummy too. We never had great luck at the turnstiles either....the bakery by Lombardi's is pretty good we get a snack and sit by the water. It is a chill out spot for us, at least it was before Diagon Alley

 

[natebenma]

I am guessing the reason we didn't get seated is that they have some dinner package at Lombardi's- you get preferred seating for the Universal Cinematic show at park closing. That was just fine for me, because Plan B was really where I wanted to eat anyway!

We have done the photo card for all of our trips. It is not usually too crowded when you go to get your card scanned to add the picture but the people at the desks are always trying to sell the photo package to everyone in line.

The turnstiles are horrible!!!

That's the bakery next to Richter Burger right? We like that too but we didn't get there on this trip.

 

[pas130]

I am guessing the reason we didn't get seated is that they have some dinner package at Lombardi's- you get preferred seating for the Universal Cinematic show at park closing. That was just fine for me, because Plan B was really where I wanted to eat anyway!

We have done the photo card for all of our trips. It is not usually too crowded when you go to get your card scanned to add the picture but the people at the desks are always trying to sell the photo package to everyone in line.

The turnstiles are horrible!!!

That's the bakery next to Richter Burger right? We like that too but we didn't get there on this trip.

Yes that one!! Yum! We couldn't even finish our goodies