Universal Through the Eyes of a Ten Year Old Part Two
Ok I had a dilemma. Mary told me at the beginning of the trip she didn't want to get up early. I woke her up at 8:30 every morning and we were out the door by 9:00 which was fine since I scheduled fast passes after 11:00 each day. But if you stay at a Universal hotel you get early admission to Harry Potter Rides...so that meant the gates opened at 7:00..we would have to be out the door by 6:30 (in order to grab breakfast on the way)...she would have to get up at 6:00...and me even earlier!!!!! I put the brakes on the whole idea and just decided to get her up at 8:00, grab breakfast in the lounge, and be in the parks by 9:00. It's only an hour after they open and I didn't think too many people would be in there at that point.
I love the lounge there. They had donuts, bagels, English muffins, pastries, toast, yogurt, fruit etc....and it's so quick. Mary got a donut and I got a banana and we ate while we walked into Universal Studio. One thing I don't like is that when you buy your tickets from home(cheaper price) you have to print them. So your ticket is basically a big piece of paper while you are there. Our first stop was Diagon Alley. This was my first time back since it was completed so it was new to me too. We entered Gringotts Bank and it was so cool. Mary was amazed. We didn't have to wait more than 20 minutes before we were boarding our ride vehicle. The ride was so much fun. Mary loved it and we decided to ride it again. This was a reoccurring thing since we had an unlimited Express Pass. After our second ride we walked through again and took pictures. Then we explored the rest of the area. Mary thought the fire breathing dragon was so cool. We went into the shops and I got a Butter Beer, she said she wanted to wait until later to get one. We took the Hogwart's Express. Platform 9 3/4 was fun, but you really only see others "going through the wall" and not people in your own party. I thought the Express was done very well, but could have been a little longer. We turned around and took it again for the opposite experience and plus we wanted to do the rest of the Studio.
Mary didn't want a wand so we moved on to do the rest of the park. We rode the Simpsons which Mary enjoyed. We did Men In Black 4 times....and I finally realized the trick to win (I'm not telling anyone). Mary like it so much that she rode one more time by herself (I was getting dizzy by that time). We did ET which is cute. We gave fake names just to be funny. Mary liked Shrek a lot, but she said Terminator was just OK (she did like the 3D). I did the Mummy with her 3 times and then she rode it two more times on her own. She loves the movie and she said she felt like she was in the movie. We also did Transformers and Twirl & Hurl, she enjoyed both of them. We have lunch at the Monster Café. We both had salads which were a nice size.
Mary did the brick climbing wall around the corner from the Mummy. She had fun getting to the top and ringing the bell. We also did a few carnival games in the Simpson area and won a Side Show Bob and Santa's Little Helper.
We had dinner reservations at Bob Marley's which is my new City Walk favorite. Mary got rice, or course and I got the cheese fondue. It was so good. Mary was not as impressed. After dinner we went back to the hotel and played a couple of rounds of poolside bingo. I won a game and got a free adult cocktail. The staff member told me I could exchange it for a milkshake and Mary took him up on the offer. We played a little ping pong and then went to our room for Mary to change into her bathing suite. She was in the pool for about two hours before I called it a night....under her protest.
