Weekend at Universal

We still had two tickets to use from our Universal Trip at Thanksgiving.

So we took a weekend.

We arrived at a hotel just down the road from Universal (one that had a free shuttle service, screw you, Universal, we're not paying you 30$ for parking!).

We spent the evening walking down to a new restaurant called The Mexican Camel.  It's fusion cuisine, fusing both Mexican and Middle Eastern food.  It's really good.  The guac is so good, even Dave eats it.  And that is nothing short of a miracle.

They also have a really neat soda bar with all kinds of weird sodas, like Vanilla Basil, and Strawberry Dill.  We got a cup and sampled them all.  One of them tastes almost exactly like butter beer...without the foam.

On our way back we saw a pack of alligators at a put put golf course.  Apparently they have the option where you can hold one and feed it.  No thanks.  They're pretty small, but still, no thanks.

 The next day we got up early (really early, like first in line before they opened the park early) and went out to the shuttle.  On our way, we saw one of the letters on the hallway sign was unfortunately (albeit humorously) missing.

City Walk is always a lot of fun.  There are so many neat shops, and fun things to see, eat, and take pictures with.

 We spent a good 30-45 minutes in line waiting for the gates to open.  And when we did.....it was like the running of the bulls!  And where was everyone running? TO HAGRIDS MOTORBIKE RIDE!

We really wanted to ride it, but definitely weren't waiting 2.5 hours to ride it.  That's why we came early.  We got in line really soon, and ended up getting on the ride in 15 minutes.  Unfortunately we got separated from Dave when he had to stash our backpack, and he rode alone, which sucked because there was a free car in front of Charlotte where he could have ridden.

I'm so glad we hustled and busted our buns to get there.  That ride was SO worth it!

 Oliver spent the last of his monies to get Hogwarts gloves.  They were a really good idea since we very underestimated how cold it would be.  We were all frozen for the first couple hours of the day.

 Dave finally got to ride the Pteranodon ride.  He went with Gabriel, and Charlotte was tall enough that she got to ride as the back for Oliver.  Since I had ridden it last time, I stayed out to watch and take pictures.

 Then we let the kids run around in the big play area.  We lost them for a good five minutes.  That scared me to death, but they stayed together, and Charlotte was with them.  She always shepherds them like a mother hen.

 After lunch we spent a good chunk of time in Seuss land.  It was so fun!  We didn't get to do anything here the previous time.

 It is so fun and colorful.  I loved it.

 It was by far the best carousel I've ever seen, and been on.  Every "horse" was a Seuss character.  They were so big, and fun, and colorful.

 Dave and I finally got to ride a ride together, when we saw that the kids could ride the one fish two fish ride all three together.  I don't think we've ridden on a ride together since before we had children.

 Eventually we circled back to Hogwarts.  This guy was hilarious.  Where do they find these people?  We also had a really funny encounter with a talking water fountain.  She talked to all of the children and guessed all of their favorite things in life...favorite hobbies, favorite toys, and favorite foods.  She was shockingly correct on almost every single thing.

 Then we went back to ride a few of the favorites one more time.

 And headed out for the day.

Since Gabe has grown so tall, it's been so much fun to take him to theme parks.  He's virtually unafraid to try anything, and we've had so much fun with him.  His hair barely cleared some of the larger rides (like Hagrid's and the broomstick ride), and he loved them all!

One more ticket to go!...