Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you are all having a “Not So Scary” celebration this Hallow’s Eve. No tiny trick-or-treaters in our house anymore....Jake and his fellow Justice Studies classmates are actually working as part of the Safe Streets Team for our city, so they’ll be out and about this evening ensuring the kids have a safe and fun night while we hand out candy at the door. I miss the excitement of getting him dressed and ready, with the requisite pre-event photos. Those moments go by much too quickly.
And now, back to the trip report (lots of pics in this one....hope not
too many 
):
Monday, October 12th
It was Columbus Day in the USA, Thankgiving Day for us Canucks. We wondered aloud how that would affect crowd levels as we enjoyed some Tim Hortons coffee and a light breakfast in the villa before heading out for another day at Universal.
The sun was shining, the air was warm, and another rain-free day was in the forecast. Steve was still feeling the effects of his pesky cold but the medication from Walgreens was keeping his symptoms at bay
.
Once again, our commute up the I4 was quick and free from any delays
. We parked for free in the preferred section of the garage (thank you, Premier AP’s), sped through bag check, and made our way through Citywalk to the Universal gates.
We stopped for the PhotoConnect photographers again this mornig, just as we try to do each time we arrive. We got a really fun photographer, an older fellow this time, who you could tell just LOVED his job. He took the one I featured in post #1, plus this one which we thought was great:
I just love the magic shots!
I wish Universal had more of them
(though we did have to stop at the PhotoConnect store in the hub the next day to have them add Gingy to the pic.....the magic was completely missing.....but a wonderful young lady was quick to get us fixed up in a jiffy).
The park was surprisingly quiet at opening, considering it was a holiday Monday. We took in more of the
HHN decor as we strolled through toward Springfield.....Steve, in particular, was growing so excited about our RIP Tour coming up on the Wednesday evening. Me.....I was getting more stressed out just thinking about it!
Early mornings are such a nice, peaceful time to be in the parks. You can enjoy the areas so much more when you’re not shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers. Springfield was delightfully empty as we made our way toward the Twirl ‘n Hurl for a quick spin.
After the Twirl ‘n Hurl (which I suppose goes without saying was a walk on....in fact, we rode twice, back to back, with no line):
...we talked ourselves into enjoying a Big Pink Donut from Lard Lad (it was a short conversation.....I’m sure that doesn’t surprise anyone
). We purchased one donut and a bottle of milk to share ($7.86 with tax, no discount at Lard Lad) ....
....and found ourselves a nice quiet spot along the water to sit and savour our snack.
They must freeze the donuts (or at the very least, refrigerate at super cool temperatures) and then take them out in the mornings, because unfortunately ours was super cold and didn’t have that “bakery fresh” texture as a result. Had it not been so darn frosty, it would have been super delish. I guess that’s what we get for indulging our sweet tooths (teeth?) so early in the day.
It was still good, though, and we somehow managed to eat the whole thing in that single seating
.
It was dawning into a stunningly beautiful day
, and the view was equally as pleasing, so we didn’t rush away as we soaked up the views and the wonderful atmosphere:
Once we finally got moving again, we strolled around for a bit: browsing through the Kwik-E-Mart, taking pics with some of the icons, and checking out the carnival games (though Steve was simply
not allowed to play....we had a Pirate Stuart and a Banana Kevin with first dibs on the luggage space).
There was no one getting pictures at the PhotoConnect location, so we stopped to have our photos done on the infamous Simpson sofa. They didn’t turn out super well, but they were fun to do anyway. One of the joys of having the AP Star Card is that we can stop and get them taken, and regardless of the quality, it doesn’t “cost” us anything (just our time, which we had oodles of):
After our Simpsons fix, we moved onward toward Men in Black.
Steve’s stomach wasn’t ready for the spinning (3/4 of a Big Pink Donut will do that to a person
), so we headed in the direction of Diagon Alley.
U-No-Poo anyone?
. Combine that with American outlet pricing and its a teenager's dream. 
. I'd say he's attractive but I'd be a cradle robber 
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Glad to have you following along 
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), and he shot me the stink eye 
. Apparently I can be a Debbie Downer at times!!
