Is it 2009 Already? 15/01/08-Shopping & Universal Studios

[Guest]

Day 4 Tuesday 15th January 2008, Shopping and Universal Studios
Weather today, cool in the shade, warm in the sun 65 degrees

We were going to Mall of Millenia this morning as Bill wanted to look in the Walking Shop. A friend had asked him to get some MBT boots for her. Have you ever seen these? They are like rocking horse shoes. I thought they were hysterically funny, but apparently they are very comfortable. (they would have to be for anyone to wear them).

There were also rocking horse sandals, shoes and flip flops, and all very expensive. The shop didn’t have the size required but said they could order it in which would take between 3 and 5 days. They were very helpful I have to say.

From the walking shop we went in the direction of Macey’s to return to the car. We were walking past Bath and Body works and Bill suggested we look in there to see if they have any different orange ginger aromatherapy products as we had got such a great bargain at the one in Pointe Orlando on Sunday.

I was pleased to see this week’s special offer was the shampoo and conditioner at half price each. Bill encouraged me to buy some, which I did (lots of it like the other day, with the shower gel and body moisturiser). He was a bit too keen for me to buy a load of stuff though, hmm I reckoned he was working up to buying some gadget or other. We shall see.

Then it was back to the car whilst we dithered over going to either Sea World or one of the Universal parks, which we still had valid Annual Passes for. In the end we decided upon Universal Studios. It really felt quite chilly due to a cool breeze blowing and we have been in Seaworld before on a cold January day and found it to feel even colder. So The Studios it was.

We used the valet parking - $9 for the whole day for AP holders, up the escalator and we are only one moving walkway away from Bubba Gumps. Saves walking for miles from the parking lots and prevents more knee pain for Bill.

We walked slowly to the park entrance. There was no queue at all to get in, which was great. Bill was limping badly and regardless of the short walk today still was in a lot of pain so we hired a wheelchair, then off we went.
We were directed to the chair area, but all Bill could see was the buggys and didn’t want one of them.

Bill mostly propelled it himself using his arms, and I helped to push it up any inclines and over any uneven ground, which there seemed to be a lot of around the approach to earthquake, where there were cobbles and towards amity where there was a lot of fancy paving. I have a lot of respect for anyone who has to use a wheelchair and also for anyone who has to push one. It was hard work, even in the very quiet park. I cannot imagine how much more difficult it must be when the parks are busy and the weather is scorching. The fact that the one we had thought it was a supermarket trolley and constantly veered to the right didn’t help though

We moved clockwise around the park. I knew Earthquake had been closed for rehab and that it was not going to be called that anymore. When we got there. There was a lot of activity outside it from various cast members and it appeared to be open.

We stopped and asked a couple of CM’s if it was. They said they were hoping for soft openings but so far that day had been unable to do so. The official opening date had been set at 18 January, and if we’d like to come back in n hour or so we may get lucky. They said the pre show was totally different and there was still a ride at the end of it. It’s new name is Disaster.

We the went into Richters Burgers for one of their delicious vanilla shakes. We both just love these. We sat inside to eat them (you really can’t drink them as they are so thick, just like ice cream really). Someone outside was feeding fries to the birds. Now my favourite attraction here some years ago was the Alfred Hitchcock thing (sadly departed and replaced by Shreck 4D). It was like a scene from one of Hitch’s greatest movies – The Birds, seeing these greedy birds fighting for the fries.

[Guest]

Bill took lots of photographs.

From there we went to Amity, where I rode Jaws, which was a walk on.

Then it was over the bridge towards the new Simpsons ride.

We stopped at Animal Actors and noted the next show was at 2pm. We have not seen this show for years, it was called something else then. We decided to come back for the show at 2. We then went to Mels Diner for a cheesburger. It was warming up nicely by this time and we sat outside. The Vinyls were playing – they were very good.

We just enjoyed sitting in the sun listening to the band and eating our burgers. We made our way back to Animal Actors and again sat in the sun until we could go in to the show. The show was very funny and totally different to the one we remembered from some years ago.

From Animal Actors we went into The Horror Make Up. The show was not due to start for another hour and a half so we didn’t see it this time. I found a lovely comfy seat – much better than the bleachers I’d been sitting on in Animal Actors.


We then made our way out of the park, returning the wheelchair. We had really enjoyed our day in the park. For the fist time in ages we didn’t feel exhausted due to the heat and we didn’t have to queue for any rides or food. We then had a look around City Walk and returned to the valet parking.

We had the car back in no time at all (we could see where it was parked as it was so quiet today) and were on our way back to the Fountains. Once there we went to the pool and sat once again in the sun reading our books.


We had dinner in the villa – Publix 4 cheese pizza, which I just love, followed by apple crumble and ice cream. We didn’t go out again, as I was feeling slightly dizzy, and my tinnitus was loud, so felt I’d be better just staying where I was. Bill was happy as he wanted to start watching his Heroes DVD’s, I tried to watch the first one with him, but was soon snoring on the sofa so took myself off to bed for another early night (I really must be ill, I never do that at home or on holiday )

[Betty_Boop41212]

Sounds like a really nice day.

[BarryandCaron]

What a lovely day. It must have been much better for Bill's knee having the wheelchair.

Caron

[Jack Daniel's]

OH, does the heroes DVDs work over here or just US players, i wouldnt mind some box sets of series i have missed out on, last year i got up to date with "24" and loved it

[TinkTatoo]

Originally Posted by Dollar_Bill

... He was a bit too keen for me to buy a load of stuff though, hmm I reckoned he was working up to buying some gadget or other. We shall see...

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LOL Jools I had exactly the same thought

Sounds like a good say and the wheelchair worked out well for Bill

[Guest]

Lol @ Bill encouraging you to buy your nice smellies, have you sussed what gadget he's got his eye on? I love Bath and Body Works too.

Great photos - were they taken by the Viewty?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by SusieK

Lol @ Bill encouraging you to buy your nice smellies, have you sussed what gadget he's got his eye on? I love Bath and Body Works too.

Great photos - were they taken by the Viewty?

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Susie, How could you think that of me?
The photos were taken on my Sony camera, which gives me much better control of them, and more opportunities to fiddle .
Bill

[Guest]

Originally Posted by JOERAZ

OH, does the heroes DVDs work over here or just US players, i wouldnt mind some box sets of series i have missed out on, last year i got up to date with "24" and loved it

See more...

The DVD's only work on US or multi region players. Its very possible that you can get the code to unlock yours. Luckily we have both. The box sets are very cheap as Circuit City is doing a sale on them at the moment.
Bill

[Bob_and_Dawn]

A lovely day. The pool looks deserted.

Dawn