"Guess who`s back"...3 Return for 3 Weeks @ RPR. Parks, KSC with lots of good food and fun...A May 2023 TR

[Pumpkin1172]

I'm finally all caught up!!!

Such a wonderful trip report so far!

since we heard it was closing and they finally announced the date, we knew it had to be done, although Kyle had already told us we would be doing it, but strangely we were now looking forward to it.

It's great you enjoyed it! I had thought it would be one of those " one and done" rides/experiences. I wonder if others are now having the same regret about it as well.

Chip time which is the official time was 22.55.57, so he made it under 23 minutes, he came 27th out of 701 runners and we couldn`t have been prouder of him, especially with being under the weather, an ankle injury and this amazing heat...he did amazingly well!!!

What an amazing time to finish! I would gladly join you on the couch too

there is a gorgeous menu but as long as we get some of those heavenly Hush Puppies, we`d be happy eating anything!

Hush puppies are a surprisingly delightful treat! Now I can't wait to get back there to have them again! It is not something that is in our part of the world.

That restaurant looked and sounds like a great place to eat! Those are the hidden gems you two always seem to find.

I can't wait to hear more!

 

[schumigirl]

I'm finally all caught up!!!

Such a wonderful trip report so far!

It's great you enjoyed it! I had thought it would be one of those " one and done" rides/experiences. I wonder if others are now having the same regret about it as well.

What an amazing time to finish! I would gladly join you on the couch too

Hush puppies are a surprisingly delightful treat! Now I can't wait to get back there to have them again! It is not something that is in our part of the world.

That restaurant looked and sounds like a great place to eat! Those are the hidden gems you two always seem to find.

I can't wait to hear more!

Thank you Pumpkin….

We did hear a few folks remark they wished they’d done it more often and it was so much more enjoyable than I remembered it to be.

Kyle‘s time was fabulous no doubt, he just knows he should have been faster than that, he has several big runs coming up this year including a marathon in October, so he can show how good he is then, he’s so looking forward to them….yes, I’ll watch from the sidelines!!

Like you, we don't have them over here at all…..never once seen them on a menu, weirdly I avoided them for years not knowing what they were…..should have asked really! Yes, finding places like that are something we love to do and thankfully we do get recommendations from locals too which can be priceless advice!

Good to see you, I know you’ve been busy…..don’t be a stranger……

 

[schumigirl]

MONDAY MAY 8TH​

We had a complete change of plan today as Kyle felt like crap when he got up. It looked like flu, his nose was running and he had a bumper of a headache. We felt so bad for him as this was not in the plan for this trip, but he looked and felt awful.

We had been invited by the concierge manager Tracy from Portofino Bay to go over and enjoy some of their hospitality, we hadn`t seen her for around 4 years when she left Royal, so we had been looking forward to that, but there was no way Kyle was leaving this room today, he could barely lift his head off the pillow and at that point we decided we`d spend the day in the room with him.

I went down to the lounge and got him some cereal, milk and orange juice as you know, as a mum, we want to make them well and making sure our kids eat is part of that, even adult kids. I was glad to see he was hungry and did eat both cereals before getting comfy in our bed.

We went down to the lounge and had our breakfast and Alex was here again and again said she`d get him some chicken noodle soup sent to him for lunch, she is incredibly thoughtful and she also made sure we had no housekeeping that day but we did get towels sorted out later too. Alex also very kindly let Tracy know we wouldn`t make it over to PB today but would try to rearrange it for another day as we really did want to see her again.

When we went back to the room, Kyle was taking some pain relief which is something he rarely does, and he said we should go out somewhere rather than just hang around all day watching tv, to be honest we would have stayed but I think he really wanted to just sleep.

The bedroom in the King Suite is ideal for sleep as you don`t hear anything once the door is closed from the hallway, so we knew he would probably sleep well. So we decided to go shopping and then go to Yellow Dog Eats for lunch and head back after that and see how he was, but in general this was going to be a do nothing day which we didn`t mind at all, it was just annoying Kyle was missing some vacation time, so we were extra glad we had three weeks.

Alex told us she had ordered soup to be delivered around midday, so Kyle set his phone alarm so he would be awake for it arriving, but hopefully he`d sleep the morning away. I did however feel a little guilty leaving him......yep, he`s an adult and would be fine, but you know.

I think he was sound asleep before we even left, so we headed down to the car and we went to do a little shopping, but all boring things like Publix and we did go to ABC wines for gifts which is always a nice place to wander round and boy do they have every kind of booze you can think of!!

We did pick up more than we planned to (as always) and then as it was almost lunchtime we drove up to Gotha where the lovely and very interesting Yellow Dog Eats is situated, it has the most unique menu that is basically sandwiches with some other options too like wraps, tacos and nachos as well as pulled pork that is beautiful.

The drive up is very pretty and it`s very green and there are some lovely homes that way and one that is incredibly, well different would be a polite word, gaudy would be a more truthful word! I`m sure it`s lovely on the inside though, but it is a very nice area.

Yellow Dog Eats sits on the main road of a very small place, it is incredibly popular, we have never seen it quiet and there is always a line to order food, but they excel in getting through folks really well.

There is parking behind the building and a huge area across the street and I think at night it would be even more mobbed, we had never gone in the evening but I think it would be fun.

The main entrance is round the back and it very green, but when you walk through you do get transported to an almost cosy little place despite it being a fair old size and holds a lot of people.

There are lots of seats outside, but jeez it`s hot and the outside bar does look tempting, again it`ll be very busy at night.

We managed to get in between the crowds today, I think all the outdoor seating was filled, so we got to wander round and get some pictures of the place and some of the products they sell which includes some amazing BBQ sauces which are so full of flavour.

If Kyle had been with us I know he`d have had a piece of the chocolate cake, that would have been his lunch and it is huge so I know he`d have enjoyed it. Their coconut cake is gorgeous!!!

As well as the regular menu they always have some specials and they always have interesting names for their dishes and all the specials sound so good except for the pasta dish to me and Tom decides to go for the Risk it 4 the Brisket sandwich, I almost went for the BBQ chicken salad but decided to go for the same dish I had the last time which was the Curry Chicken Salad......it is gorgeous!!

As we were paying the guy who runs the place came out, his name is John and he is the nicest person and British. We had spoken to him before and he remembered the accent, we chatted, mainly about how much we love this place and our son had missed today as he was poorly and had stayed in the hotel. He immediately asked if he liked chocolate cake and we laughed and said that`s what he was going to have if he had come up with us.....John, bless him went and cut him a slice and said it was a gift from YDE and to feel better soon!!! We thanked him so much, Kyle would love that and we appreciated the kind gesture.

We got our food on trays and headed upstairs where there is more seating, but in the air conditioning which suits us better.

The food is amazing!!! How can a sandwich and a salad taste like something out of this world.....but it does. We had also got a portion of Potato salad which was just beautiful.

Tom`s sandwich was filled completely with brisket....so much meat!! It came with their own coleslaw which again, was not your usual coleslaw but very tasty.

My salad doesn`t look huge, but when you broke the globe of chicken curry down there was a lot on the plate and the salad was so fresh and full of flavour and the pot of dressing was something I wanted to lick the plate when I was done.....and they omitted cilantro and red onion as I had asked so it was just god darn perfect!!

We had loved this lunch and were glad we had come up now as we did think we shouldn`t, but we headed downstairs and as we were emptying the trays into the trash, John appeared so we thanked him again for the cake and said we`d see him on our next visit, he`d still be there we were sure.

It is a different place to most, but it is fabulous and you wouldn`t be disappointed if you visited.

I hadn`t felt my throat too sore this morning as I thought it might be, but just about now I started coughing now and again, it wasn`t sore which was odd, but that horrible dry tickle you can never clear......I was not looking forward to this getting worse if it did.

We drove straight home and were glad to see Kyle had enjoyed the soup and crackers and he`d even taken a picture as he knows we`d like one.....lol.......although I did notice they don`t use proper noodles anymore, it`s pasta. That is not chicken noodle soup!!! But he enjoyed it and had a little more colour in his face, but still wasn`t feeling good.

He did smile when he opened the box and saw the chocolate cake from John.....it was rather large and he absolutely loved it!!

We put away the things we had bought although we left out the products from the pharmacy....yes, we had bought a whole mix of items we thought might help. I`m not sure any of them did to be truthful.

We sat for an hour or so in the room with him, but he soon wanted to sleep again, I`m a firm believer in sleep being as good as any magical elixir at times, so we said we`d go down to the lounge for a time.

The hotel was completely full as were most of the others and were being filled with a huge conference of people from IBM and surprisingly there were a few that were Club Level. Sometimes conference people can be a little too much, but this was the first time we actually thought over the four days any of them we met were so polite and didn`t have the attitude of being something special because they wore a large lanyard, I think we`ve all experienced those types, but they were genuinely very nice.....well apart from that one guy.....but there`s always one wherever you go. He loved the sound of his own voice and loved to wander while on his phone so we could all hear him.

I did laugh as he was talking to someone later about fish and said he hated fish as it was so stinky......well buddy I hate to tell you, if you buy fresh quality fish it won`t be stinky.......I do wonder why some folks don`t know that, no your house doesn`t smell if you cook fresh fish as some think. Guess they`re not cooks or they`d know that fish should smell fresh and of the sea, not be fishy. But again, I digress....

The lounge was quiet when we went in and everyone asked after Kyle, I think everyone in the hotel knew he was poorly!! But their concern was appreciated.

We had decided to have a pool night tonight instead of going out, we hadn`t gotten around to doing that yet, so we both had a couple of glasses of wine as neither of us would need to drive and we just chatted to other guests which is always nice and of course the TM who were on tonight.

Tonights offerings were chopped salad, jerk chicken and caribbean rice, I think we had a couple of pieces of the chicken between us, just to taste of course......but it was very nice, I didn`t touch the rice as I don`t really eat it, and anything with peas I won`t eat anyway. But very popular dish.

It was just after 7ish when we went back to the room, he was awake and we asked him if he felt like sitting around the pool, knowing the answer was going to be no, but we did wonder if he`d like some fresh air, but we did call room service and order some more soup which was really all he wanted and ordered chocolate cake too.

We waited till it arrived which was only about a 15 minute wait and bless them they sent up a box of tissues, honey, lemons and camomile tea bags with some hot water, I think they either realised this was not the first chicken soup or Alex had mentioned it when she had called earlier, either way it was very much appreciated.

We got into our costumes and headed down to the pool telling Kyle we`d be back when the pool closed tonight, he had plenty to amuse him on tv and he could order a movie if he wanted, I`m not sure whether he did or not. One thing we all commented on was how glad he had made the run the night before, he would have been so annoyed to have missed the chance to run over here.

The pool wasn`t too busy tonight and we got a couple of loungers close to the screen so we could see the movie which was rubbish. We feel years ago they showed much better movies than they do now, there`s too many cartoon types when they showed a better variety years back, Harry Potter was on a lot back then and Spider-Man too, kung Fu Panda is not our kind of movie.

But, we weren`t really bothered about the movie, it was just nice sitting around the pool, bobbing in and out and enjoying a cocktail or two.

If we got the chance.

One of the lovely things about the pools at hotels is when they come round, take your order, bring your food and then you happily pay them. And pool staff are usually wandering around a lot.....not tonight. We waited a time and then Tom went in the water and asked one of the pool staff when he passed if he could take our order, he mumbled something and we never saw him......he asked someone else a little later and the guy said well you`d better order fast as we stop taking orders at 8.30!!! Since when.....it was always an hour before the pool closed they stopped taking orders for food. So one staff member did come over and he was lovely, we ordered our sharing cocktail and some food and sat back to enjoy the evening.

It was beautiful, we could see the moon and venus from where we sat once it got darker and the pool at night is just gorgeous.

There are some lovely pools around the Universal hotels, but this is by far our favourite.....we don`t need a slide and we like the feel of the pool here, and it does have the best pool bar (usually) out of them all.

We decided to share one of their larger 45oz cocktails, we went for the Cadilac Margarita and it was lovely.

On a previous visit we had noticed some of their pours weren`t as strong as they should/used to be. We did mention it to someone and it had been mentioned by others, so it wasn`t just us. But, tonight this one you could definitely taste the alcohol.

I was never a fan of quesadillas until the last few years and the ones from Bula Bar are to my taste, not too much cheese as requested and they are packed full of chicken so I was looking forward to having them again tonight.

Tom ordered the Bula Burger, it was lovely....we shared both dishes between us as we don`t like to miss out on anything!!

Both dishes were lovely and the cocktail was even nicer, but we couldn`t manage another, so when the pool closed we headed back upstairs where Kyle was watching tv with a very red looking nose! He looked tired, but went for a shower, then we just all headed to bed.......

Then, just as I was about to drop off......I started coughing.

 

[DisGhost]

Nooooo! This is upsetting. I am hoping to read that you both recovered quickly and that Tom got lucky and never got it. My family has a history of getting very sick on vacation - two different Disney trips at least one if not most of us had some sort of terrible cough, and one trip to the grandparents I had to take my daughter to the ER where she was diagnosed with bronchitis and we ended up leaving a day early. And then there were the intestinal bugs... not to mention the time my daughter got Covid on her 13th birthday trip. I live in fear of illness ruining a vacation!

 

[Tink2Day]

Egad!!! A cliffhanger...dun, dun, dun. (supposed to be muder mystery music LOL, you know the kind) I'm so glad Kyle was able to do his run! He did fabulously and looked so happy. I'm sure his top form will be back as soon as he heals up and gets back in full training mode. He is such a joy! Reminds me so much of my eldest grand nephew. Yes I am THAT OLD.

I do think if the alligators would have come out of the lake we would have seen Carole setting a world record at the event.

I was going to make a dramatic announcement that I would be unable to read any more of your report, due to the weight I've gained looking at the fabulous food......but alas I'll just continue to suffer and keep up my reading.

 

[keishashadow]

we have to get it out of the way…were those elbow macaroni noodles in the chicken soup? Ye-gads! Although I do favor the mini shells, ditalini or acini de Pepe as they tend to be easier to wrangle than egg noddles when one is feeling poorly.

quite disappointing to have sickness invade your trip. Nothing you want to share with family, ever.

not a big fan of chocolate cake, will say Kyle was presented with some magazine worthy slices This trip. That boxed up slice in the last installment was such a nice gesture

 

[schumigirl]

Nooooo! This is upsetting. I am hoping to read that you both recovered quickly and that Tom got lucky and never got it. My family has a history of getting very sick on vacation - two different Disney trips at least one if not most of us had some sort of terrible cough, and one trip to the grandparents I had to take my daughter to the ER where she was diagnosed with bronchitis and we ended up leaving a day early. And then there were the intestinal bugs... not to mention the time my daughter got Covid on her 13th birthday trip. I live in fear of illness ruining a vacation!

Oh goodness that must have been dreadful with your daughter!! And terrifying too. Intestinal bugs and covid all make for the stuff of nightmares you never want to have normally never mind on vacation!!

Usually Kyle gets the 3rd day headache, but this was definitely the worst so far on our trips, we did lose a fair few days and didn`t quite go to all the places we wanted to, but through all of that we still had a lovely time.

 

[schumigirl]

Egad!!! A cliffhanger...dun, dun, dun. (supposed to be muder mystery music LOL, you know the kind) I'm so glad Kyle was able to do his run! He did fabulously and looked so happy. I'm sure his top form will be back as soon as he heals up and gets back in full training mode. He is such a joy! Reminds me so much of my eldest grand nephew. Yes I am THAT OLD.

I do think if the alligators would have come out of the lake we would have seen Carole setting a world record at the event.

I was going to make a dramatic announcement that I would be unable to read any more of your report, due to the weight I've gained looking at the fabulous food......but alas I'll just continue to suffer and keep up my reading.

lol.....we all suffer for something.....you`ll get through it, we`re all behind and will support you in reading along......

Yes, he was over the moon doing the run and it showed, he was glowing! Nah you`re only as old as your mind tells you....so my 88 year old mum keeps telling me!!

Oh lordy, I keep saying I couldn`t run if my butt was on fire, but an alligator would be another incentive for sure!!

 

[schumigirl]

we have to get it out of the way…were those elbow macaroni noodles in the chicken soup? Ye-gads! Although I do favor the mini shells, ditalini or acini de Pepe as they tend to be easier to wrangle than egg noddles when one is feeling poorly.

quite disappointing to have sickness invade your trip. Nothing you want to share with family, ever.

not a big fan of chocolate cake, will say Kyle was presented with some magazine worthy slices This trip. That boxed up slice in the last installment was such a nice gesture

It looked like Cavatappi......I was so disappointed to see it, especially as, ahem....I needed it later in the trip.....lol......we really did share that bug back and forward!!! Yes, some things shouldn`t be shared and nasty bugs are among the worst to share.

Yes, it was very kind of him to give a slice of the cake, he is the nicest guy and one of the coolest too, and good memory as it had been over a year or more since we had last spoken to him too. Yes, I think Kyle is glad I don`t like chocolate cake!!

 

[keishashadow]

Skimming thru here as many of the pics are worth a repeat viewing…

Kyle & the sangria

 

[margareton27]

So glad to have finally caught up with your trip report. And right at the cliffhanger. I should have been copying quotes along the way but whoops! We know that feeling of being sick. We all caught Covid half way through our LA trip. Even once the contagious portion was over I couldn’t taste anything for over a month. We were in New Orleans to finish our trip and I would tell my daughter that my breakfast muffin was soft, lunch was hot and crunchy lol.

Looking forward to reading the rest!

Margaret

 

[schumigirl]

Skimming thru here as many of the pics are worth a repeat viewing…

Kyle & the sangria

Glad to hear!!

Yes, I was a bit worried he would want to try some!!!!

 

[schumigirl]

So glad to have finally caught up with your trip report. And right at the cliffhanger. I should have been copying quotes along the way but whoops! We know that feeling of being sick. We all caught Covid half way through our LA trip. Even once the contagious portion was over I couldn’t taste anything for over a month. We were in New Orleans to finish our trip and I would tell my daughter that my breakfast muffin was soft, lunch was hot and crunchy lol.

Looking forward to reading the rest!

Margaret

lol.....I know that feeling, first time I had covid all taste and smell disappeared for about 10 days, I`m so glad it came back! But to be on vacation, that really sucks!!

Yes, food was either soft or hard for a time, not much fun.

But, for all of you to catch it is incredibly unlucky, hope you all didn`t feel too awful.

More coming up soon and good to see you

 

[schumigirl]

TUESDAY MAY 9TH

Quite why I didn`t "wake up dead" this morning I will never know.

My husband has the patience of a saint as I coughed the whole night long, Kyle heard me too and not once did either of them complain. I did hear a few sighs throughout the night (can`t blame him) but no actual complaints although the irritation borne out of tiredness was palpable. I coyly asked Tom if he had felt like smothering me during the night.....not sure I was keen on his response.......

​

I think I got a lucky escape there. It was a weird cough, didn`t feel chesty nor did it feel particularly tickly and it wasn`t sore, it was just there and I couldn`t stop coughing no matter how much water I drank. I think that made it worse to be honest.

Kyle however, despite a lack of sleep, looked much better, but he had the worst nose in the world, tissues would be our friend today for sure. We asked if he felt like the parks today and he said he was absolutely going to the parks today! I was so glad he was feeling much better, but wish I could get something to make his nose dry up.

He didn`t feel like eating breakfast in the lounge so once I was showered and dressed I went down to get him his usual and brought them along for him and he was hungry which is always a good sign. My cough was almost non existant now I was up and about.

Once I got kyle`s we headed down to the lounge and we were ready for our breakfast although we both looked like death warmed up due to lack of sleep....I felt so guilty as usually if I have a bad cough I`ll leave the bedroom and go to another so Tom can sleep, but I had nowhere to go, I had considered at one point getting dressed and going to sit in Orchids where I probably wouldn`t bother anyone, but I didn`t.

They do have a good selection at breakfast as well as different breads, English muffins, bagels, yoghurts, boiled eggs, cereals of all kind, watermelon, melon, pineapple and different juices they always have a choice of cheeses and meats alongside some various pastries, doughnuts, muffins, pain au chocolat and basic croissants, all are fresh and replenished frequently.

There are plenty of choices for most people here.

As we didn`t want to keep Kyle waiting, we left fairly quickly and got back to the room where he was already sunscreened up and waiting for us with a huge grin....he was feeling better! Didn`t take us long to get sorted and we said we`d go for the boat, but Kyle was again going to walk, for the air and to get his ankle and knee moving properly, I knew he`d beat us again and run if he had to.

We managed to get in line for the boat between the early crowds and the after breakfast people, there was no one waiting and when the boat arrived there were only a few others on and we set off knowing full well Kyle would already be on the bridge waiting for us with a slightly smug look on his face!!! Yes, it`s quicker to walk, but we were saving ourselves for walking in the park....that`s our excuse and we`re sticking to it!!

The boat is a lovely way to get to Citywalk, walking is usually quicker, but we are never in a rush to get to the parks, so it`s a nice way to get there and even better to come home after a long day or night in the parks if there is a boat waiting we will jump on it.

A man on the boat asked Tom about his HHN lanyard on the way, he said he knew what year mine was from but couldn`t make his out, it is very faded but it was from Reflections of Fear which was 2008, he said he`d never seen one of them before and thought it was very cool. I said to Tom later, you have a very cool lanyard doncha know!! I think we have another at home that`s mine from that year but I never wear it preferring to opt for Jack from the 25th HHN. He said he had only been coming from 2018 but loved the event, nice guy but his girlfriend was not as chatty and filed her nails as went along. Suppose it could have been worse!

Kyle was indeed waiting and asked what kept us.......yes, very funny! We headed in and it was so lovely with the three of us there again. Kyle was also loving this heat again well, anything is better than a hotel room for over 24 hours, we were all smiling and laughing, me with the occasional cough, but always covering my mouth and we all had hand sanitiser with us, an essential item now.

Today we decided to head down to the right and go on ET, one that Kyle isn`t overly fond of, but he does go on it once just to keep mum and dad happy, and it was in the rules this visit he had to do it at least once....I love ET with all the nostalgia attached to it, but if you don`t love it, well, what can I say!!

There were a fair amount of boardings up around The Studios and as someone who loves old classic films I had to take the Psycho image, not the scariest film ever made, but it has stood the test of time against so many that have faltered and fell into oblivion. We said we needed to watch it again and Kyle then piped up he had never seen it...wait.....what??????

He`d never seen Psycho!!! How`d that happen!!!

​

A little part of me felt as if I had failed him......he was like, mum, I don`t care......lol......

Not my favourite Hitchcock movie by far, preferring Marnie, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder and North by Northwest, all movies we watch regularly in the winter on a cold afternoon we have nowhere to go and it`s miserable outside, but Psycho is a movie everyone should watch alongside the classic monster movies from Universal, we`ll never see the likes of those again.

Every visit we say we`ll not be taking pictures with the characters as we have so many from over the years, but sometimes they`re hard to resist, especially when they speak to you in their cute voices and deep down you really want to anyway!

And one lady you cannot pass is the ultimate Blonde, Marilyn herself had just came out and I asked her if we may take a picture and she was brilliant, even commenting how polite I was for asking and I had a lovely Scottish accent......she did well picking out the accent and I told her so, she said she loved it and Scottish men too.....well, of course my two loved her, she was one of the best Marilyn`s and there are a lot of them around.

This was a very good interaction and we "chatted" quite a time as there weren`t many folks around this morning, she was very engaging and very good at being Marilyn. We thanked her and turned to walk on to the ride when we ran into Shaggy minus Scooby and the gang......

He was asking us to help with a puzzle he was doing which was different, I`m guessing he was passing time till the others or some of them came out but he was funny, maybe not the best Shaggy we have ever seen over the years, but he was decent.

We have nothing but praise for the character meets at Universal, it doesn`t matter which character, they are all wonderful and you do get to spend a decent amount of time with them which is so important especially to young kids who love every second with their favourite characters.

There was no food option in Cafe La Bamba right now, we weren`t keen to try it when it was open for food as it was Mexican, we`d pass on that but might have had a Margarita if it was available.

I still think this should be turned into an upscale old haunted Hollywood restaurant, but I`m always out voted by everyone who quite rightly say the park isn`t going to attract that sort of guest at night, it`s quite true, but I still think it would be lovely.

It was still so very quiet and beautifully hot despite it being quite early.

We almost tripped over Princess Fiona as we headed round to ET. She was very funny and had a few rude jokes kids would love, but she does miss Shrek as on her own is not as complete a meet as it should be, but it was very pleasant.

This whole area was getting a complete revamp, the kidzone area had gone altogether, it wouldn`t be missed by us as we never ventured that way except for during HHN when a couple of the houses were situated down that way and it was quite nice wandering through all those buildings while they were empty.

This is a fairly large area to do what they`re doing for sure.

ET of course is not going anywhere.....

You followed the path and it takes you around the corner to the entrance which has been temporarily altered for the work that is going on right now and it wasn`t busy at all this morning.

The ride vehicle is a three row with four bikes on each row and ET sits in a box on the front of the bike and it is always lovely and cool on this ride and although it is for kids this is a very popular ride with adults of all ages.

I find it incredibly loud for some reason and keep my ears covered till the bike lifts off the ground and you are flying over the city, then it`s not so bad, but I think that`s just me as no one else has ever said anything.

There is a very weird and wonderful second half to this ride when you reach ET`s home planet, very unique although it is lovely and very innocent.

Someone was enjoying being out in the sunshine in this wonderful park we love so much.

Animal Actors is a show we`ve never seen and really have no interest in doing so, we do like dogs, I like cats, Tom not so much, but to see them performing tricks is fine if it`s friends pets, we always enjoy that, but to sit and watch a show, nah, we never wanted to. This building though will make a huge space for something new in this area in the forseeable future.....

Doc was busy with a group of kids at the DeLorean so we bypassed getting a picture with him, he is a very good character and he often wanders around Central Park area and always enjoys a good old chat about Marty and that guy Biff.

More to come......

 

[jenrose66]

Loving your trip report. It’s been quite a few years since we’ve been to Universal so I like to live vicariously through your visits

We did the animal show once. My daughter got picked and got a Saint Bernard kiss. It was really cute.

 

[keishashadow]

Happy to hear u made it thru the night, not dead

Do love those little croissants/breakfast rolls when they have the chocolate surprise in them. They put out a fine selection indeed

How dare you not scar your son making him watch Psycho as a child? Spare me from those who over shelter their kids. It’s a classic movie. Let me know if he enjoyed It. I cringe when people refuse to watch a great film if in B&W

 

[KathyM2]

Walking into Diagon Alley is always something special, every time we walk through those bricks you are automatically transported into the mythical world of Potter and it is magical and everything it`s purported to be and it never disappoints.

So true!!

Of course the bread appears first......hard to resist.

I love the brown one lol...luckily everyone else I'm usually with don't want it so I get it all!!

 

[schumigirl]

Loving your trip report. It’s been quite a few years since we’ve been to Universal so I like to live vicariously through your visits

We did the animal show once. My daughter got picked and got a Saint Bernard kiss. It was really cute.

back jenrose, good to see you comment!

I`m so glad to hear you had a lovely time at the show and who doesn`t love a St Bernard, that must have been adorable to see and I`m sure she remembers it today!!

Glad you`re enjoying it and hope you get to go back to Universal soon

 

[schumigirl]

Happy to hear u made it thru the night, not dead

Do love those little croissants/breakfast rolls when they have the chocolate surprise in them. They put out a fine selection indeed

How dare you not scar your son making him watch Psycho as a child? Spare me from those who over shelter their kids. It’s a classic movie. Let me know if he enjoyed It. I cringe when people refuse to watch a great film if in B&W

lol....he`s still not watched it! I must send him the DVD!

Yes, no sheltering here either, I grew up watching all those classics and didn`t do me any harm and yes, I can`t understand folks who don`t appreciate those amazing movies, I think I`m word perfect in some of them, I know how much you and yours love them too.

Their breakfast is more than enough for most people. I know a common complaint is there are no hot food options like potatoes and so on, but, for us it`s fine. I do love a croissant too!

Yes, I survived that night, I think I finally stopped coughing around 4am, or so I`m told, I ended up propping all the pillows and slept sitting upright which did help.

Have a wonderful trip and safe travels

 

[schumigirl]

So true!!

I love the brown one lol...luckily everyone else I'm usually with don't want it so I get it all!!

I`m a white bread person so we all balance out nicely, they eat any kind of bread, it`s hard to not fill up on it though!

I genuinely love spotting something new every time as well as old favourites. Amazing place!