The Bacon's Go Back - Day Two Sunday 17 May 15

[pinktraceb]

A quick re-cap for you:

We are the Bacons! There's me (Tracey) and husband Mike, we first went to Orlando for our honeymoon in 1999. We've got 2 boys Jamie (12) and Jack (8). This is our 4th trip as a family and for the first time we've decided not to do Disney. We're hoping to do lots of new things though - Busch Gardens, Blue Man Group, Kennedy Space Centre and Clearwater Beach - and try out some new rollercoasters.

Thanks for reading my trip report, here is a link to the index:
Index

Day Two Sunday 17 May 2015

Today I slept a bit better and didn’t wake up until 5.10am The rest of the family soon woke up, so we got ourselves ready and had breakfast at the hotel again. We ate pretty early at 6.30am again and were the only ones there!

We then decided to visit Walmart for some essentials – towels, aerial toppers, key rings etc.


Got back to the hotel at about 8am, got our sun cream on and decided to walk to Universal. It took us about 25 minutes and was on a path the whole way. We drove later on in the holiday and I really don’t think that there was much in it by the time you’ve parked and walked from the parking garage.

After going through the turnstile at Universal Jack and I picked up our Photo Connect card while Mike got stuck filling out some survey (he was still at it after Jack got the card and also had a couple of shots done!).

The Despicable Me ride was showing as a 40 minute wait already so we decided to bypass it (we knew that we would have the FOL passes later on in the holiday) and we went straight onto the Shrek ride which had no wait time. Good fun as usual!

We then had our photo taken with Megatron – he was very realistic and I was a bit scared!



Next up was the Transformers ride – this was just being built when we last visited so we were all keen to give this ride a try. It was only a 10 minute wait time and this went really quickly. We all loved it, it really felt like Optimus Prime was talking straight to you!

Next we walked through to the Harry Potter area and we just took in the views. Diagon Alley wasn’t there when we last visited, and I know that everyone says it, but the theming is just amazing. The buildings, the fire breathing dragon – it was all wonderful. We were starting to flag by now so an ice cream was in order. These were really big (sorry no photos), and we all got one each and although it was a struggle we did manage to finish them!

Next we walked through to The Simpsons ride that was showing just a 5 minute wait. I really do not like this ride – it makes me want to vomit! I went on though, but had my eyes closed the whole way around! Mike and the boys loved it though! Then we had a photo shoot just opposite using our Photo Connect card:



I love this photo – the lady kept telling us to look scared at the corner but Mike couldn’t help smiling – so he is smiling at a shark that’s about to get him! Really pleased with the Photo Connect – we got it for 14 days and it was worth every penny.

Next was the Men in Black ride which was showing as just a 10 minute wait. Jack won by pressing the red button, much to Jamie’s dismay as he was winning the whole way around.


I look really serious in this photo!

Then we walked through the new Simpsons area and found a photographer – she was obviously bored as she basically took our photo all over the place.


I think that we monopolised her for about 10 minutes in the end.

Then we walked around to Fieval’s Playground and the boys had a run around for 10 minutes. The animal show was just about to start so we watched this, I almost fell asleep (it was fairly boring and not as good as I remember from previous visits), or it might have been the early starts catching up with me…

We had had enough by now so decided to head out of the park. It was about 1.30pm by now.

Cowfish was on the plan for food at some stage (Jack’s favourite food is sushi and the boys favourite restaurant at home is Yo Sushi). The boys played a bit as we went in creating strange fish for the aquarium. We asked to be seated at a booth and they obliged (it wasn’t busy).

We shared some edamame beans (which were served warm but were still tasty) to start. Jack had the kids tempura shrimp roll with French fries and (more) edamame beans and a vanilla shake:


Jamie had the kid’s dragon bites with French fries and edamame beans and a chocolate shake:


I had the Firecracker Roll and a glass of water:


Mike had the Fusion Bento Box with a burger, edamame beans, sweet potato fries, Thai Cucumbers and the firecracker roll :



We all really enjoyed our meals, although the portions were quite big. Our bill came to $69.21.



We then got a taxi back to the hotel and were pleasantly surprised when this cost just $7.

A quick sit down for a few minutes and we decided to pop out to the Florida Mall. I really wanted to get some Pandora and Jamie wanted to look for some trainers. The boys also like to go to the M&M world. We wondered around for a bit but didn’t buy anything. We were flagging by now and getting a bit antsy with one another.

On the way back through we stopped off at the Nike Clearance shop and Jamie got two pairs of trainers that were bargains and Jack got some Sketchers from the Sketchers shop next door.


We then went back to the hotel to go in the pool for an hour or so.
Hash House a Go Go was on the agenda for this evening and we took the (daft) decision to walk there. It seemed to take forever! We were seated within about 5 mins. The portions were huge! I had a cobb salad and a margarita:


Jamie had a starter of some prawns:



Mike had the starter portion of the ribs and a beer:


Jack had the kid’s burger and fries:


We used the kids eat free card that we got for Jack’s meal and it was quite reasonable. The bill came to $64. We ordered a taxi to get us back again, definitely needed as Jack had fallen asleep half way through the meal.



The boys went straight to bed and we were not far behind with lights out at 9.15pm

[candycat75]

Lovely family photos x

[sheluk]

Just caught up on your days - what a lovely trip so far! X

[rebeccarobbins]

Lovely day. Enjoying your reports. I wish my son had such adventurous taste in food as your boys. You are really lucky! 👍

[collybird]

The Simpsons ride is my favourite!

I love the leopard print aerial topper, I haven't seen one of those before.

[mick]

Another good day

Joan

[pandanne]

Another good day. haven't seen the ariel toppers in Walmart so will need to look out for them this year as my sil and neice have asked me to bring them some back. x