Day 4: Universal Orlando Resort Part 1
Today was suppose to be an easy laid back day for us. When planning this trip we originally planned on spending 1 day at each park. So 2 days at Universal and 4 at Disney with 2 days to relax and do other things in Orlando. However upon seeing the cost to add an extra day to each resort we figured we'd get a 3 day ticket to Universal and a 5 day to Disney so that if we wanted we could head back to the parks later in the day or evening if we wanted to. So today would be our Laid back Universal Day.
The plan for they day would basically be to sleep in, take our time getting ready for the day, go to the Orlando Prime Outlets, and then eventually go to the Universal parks for the rest of the night. However my family would be leaving Orlando this morning to go back to South Carolina and they wanted to go grab breakfast with us before they left town. So the day ended up starting off earlier then we thought. We still got to sleep in later then any of our park days but it still wasn't as late as we'd like. Still we wanted to spend as much time with my family as we could while they were there so we were up and ready to go for the day and finished right as my parents were checking out of the hotel.
Its funny how quickly my parents have become acustomed to the South as the place they wanted to go for breakfast was none other then the infamous Waffle House. Kiera and I had never been to one before. And frankly we were kind of scared of them because they don't exactly look like the nicest of places plus you occasionaly hear about horror stories from them. Although it wouldn't be our first choice we figured what the heck we might as well. Beside its where my family wants to go and the time spent with them is whats important. We drove back out to Kissimee to the closest Waffle House. These restaurants are very small and so there of course was a wait but we were suprised at how quickly we got in. Of course it required us to have seperate tables so my brothers had there own table while Kiera and I sat with my parents. I must say that I was pretty suprised by how good the Waffle House food was and how quick and great the servers were. We actually enjoyed it. I don't know if its a place i'd want to go to often but it diffenitly wasn't as bad as we had thought it would be.
After breakfast we checked out a gift shop that was located next to the waffle house before it was time to say our goodbyes to my family. Its never easy saying goodbye especially since they live on the opposite side of the country from us now and we are lucky to see them a couple times a year. However it had to be done. On the plus side my Mom would actually be in Utah already at the time when we would return from our vacation. My Step Dad and brothers we will see again this coming summer when they come home for a few weeks. We parted ways and our vacation would really get interesting now. We no longer had help with Danny. We would be tackling all the parks from this point on our own with an Infant.
Our next stop on our "Laid Back" day would be the Orlando Prime Outlets on International Drive. On our trip in 2010 we stopped by these Outlets and really liked them. The thing we liked the most we found though was the Disney Character Warehouse. This store had discounted Disney Park merchandise that have been pretty much discontinued from the parks. Although we didn't buy anything from the store on the that trip we knew we had to stop by whenever the time came that we made an actual Disney World vacation. Although we knew the Outlets would be busy we were shocked at how busy it actually was. It took us over 15 minutes just to find a parking stall. Cars were parked everywhere and anywhere. Even in spots marked No Parking or in fire zones and even on the lawns. It was pretty rediculous actually.
Once we finally found a parking stall we made our way into the Outlets. Although the main reason we were there was for the Disney Outlet we still looked at some other stores as we went along. Kiera was in need of some new capris as Daniel happened to throw up a couple days earlier on her other pair. After looking in a couple stores she finally found some she liked for a good price and so we continued on to the
Disney Store. The store was packed and there were a lot of good deals to be found. I'm really glad we came because this is where I ended up finding some Tron Vinylmations. I love Tron and so I wanted to find something Tron related while in Disney World. Since it was the outlet they were also marked down to only $5 as well. So I grabbed a Quora Vinymation and we continued shopping around. After looking around for a bit we also found a Lightning McQueen shirt for Daniel and then headed for the checkout. Upon checking out the CM asked if I wanted to grab anymore Vinymations because those ones were 3 for $10. So I quickly ran back and also grabbed a Rinzler and Sam Tron Vinylmations as well. Awesome I was only planning on getting one.
We really liked the Disney Character Warehouse as there were a lot of great deals to be found. However it seemed like there wasn't as much stuff as there was on our last visit. I thought we would find like some shirts or something but we didn't like any of the designs they had. Still if you are going to Disney World and have a car to leave the property its worth it to make a drive to ether Outlets (both have Disney Character Warehouses) and check them out. You might just save yourself quite a bit of money. After we were done we left the Outlets and after Kiera feed Daniel in the car we made our way back to spend our final afternoon/evening at the Universal Orlando Resort.
It was almost 2:30pm when we were finally pulled up to the Universal Parking structures and interestingly enough the closing time for Universal Studios had changed from 8pm to 8:30pm. Thats kind of odd considereing Islands of Adventure would still be closing at 8pm. Unlike the previous days we were directed to the North Structure today to park in. I'm sure because we've arrived so much later in the day. We even stayed on level one meaning we would have to go up the elevator to get to the parks today.
One last time we walked thru the garages and made our way to Citywalk. With not being in a rush today we took our time and even go a good look at the Hollywood Drive In Mini Golf. This course seriously looks so cool with so many great details. The haunted house and space worm look so much larger in person then they do in photos. In fact Photos really don't do any parts of this course Justice. I really wish we would have had time to play but that never happened on this trip. After passing the minigolf we entered Citywalk for the final time on this trip.
So what park were we heading to today? We've already been to both Universal Parks on this trip. Well today we would be going to both parks. Thats whats so great about the Universal Parks. I love how they are so close and a 5 minute walk from one another. Its the same reason why I love the Disneyland Resort in California. To start our park time today we would be heading first to Universal Studios Florida. Our goal for going there first was Daniels new found love for Characters. So we figured we go to the Studios to see what characters were out that he hadn't meet yet. Once in the park we went strait to the Hollywood section where many characters were out and about and the cuteness would begin lol.
This kid seriously cracks us up. He loves any costumed character. The first one that we came to was Woody Woodpecker and his reactions were just like they were with the Lorax and Curious George from the previous day. He loved him.
The next character actually wouldn't be for Daniel but for his geeky Dad (Me). And it was one i've wanted to get a photo with for a while now but i've never seen him out in the parks before. That person was Doc Brown from Back to the Future. If you see Doc pay close attention the bike he cruises around as theres some really interesting and neat details on it.
Sitting across the street was none other then the Mystery Machine so you know who would be close by. Scooby Do and Shaggy. Kiera took Danny up to see them and once again he went crazy for Scooby. However this was his first encounter with a live actor but he didn't want anything to do with Shaggy. He only cared about Scooby lol.
Theres that beat up Mobile Home again that the Simpsons crew are visiting in. Sure enough Homer, Marge, and LIsa are out meeting people. However they had to take a break before it was our turn and only Homer and Bart returned. It was still cute though and Bart was really cute with Daniel acting like he was throwing him a football and playing with him.
The final character we came across was kind of an oldie. A classic that many kids likly don't even know who he is. Bullwinkle. There was no line to meet him and once again Daniel adored him. I'd also have to say Bullwinkle had the best autograph out of anybody.
That was it for the characters that were out at the time. So we decided to walk around Stage 44 over to the New York section. There was an area I didn't get to see the previous day that I have each time we've visited. The Back to the Future display. The area where the Delorean and Time Train are on display. A few months ago the Delorean referbished so I wanted to check it out. I've always complained about the Delorean not being a perfect replica of the movie car (Yes it was used in the 3rd movie as one of the rail stunt cars) and the referbishment fixed some of the issues (like the taillights). However its still not perfect but far better then it was before. I also noticed the newspaper from Hill Valley from 1955 after the clock tower was struck by lightning. Something I don't think was there before.
but hopefully will be back next year. I think it's really underrated! We have always had nothing but a great experience there! 
