Five Little Ones Take the Adults - Day 9, Universal Studios, Hard Rock Cafe & Shopping

[Lisa29]

The previous day can be found HERE

Disclaimer, I have lots of photos!

Thursday 3 October 2013

To start, here are a couple of early morning shots from Mum and Dad’s room at BLT

I was awake very early this morning as Kaley had come into our bed and considering how small she is, she was taking up a LOT of room! Thinking about it now, I don’t know why I just didn’t go and get into bed with Madison!

Anyhow, I got up at 6.30am and the girls were up shortly after. We all got ready and the girls had cereal again. They were both wearing the Minion t-shirts we had bought them at Islands

I finished the drying from the previous night’s washing and we left just after 8am.

Considering we had only been here two days earlier, you would think we knew where we were going. Plus the fact that Universal is really easy to get to………Er, no! Phil decided to follow the Sat Nav this time and it clearly took us the wrong way but for some reason, we still kept following the directions! Finally, our driver (Phil) decided that yes, the Sat Nav was wrong and we made our way back and finally got to the valet parking area at 8.40am.

We went up and through to City Walk and met up with the others outside Cinnabon.

We decided to leave photos with the globe until we were on our way out so went straight in to Universal. It didn’t take too long to get in and almost directly in front of us, Curious George and Woody Woodpecker came out for a meet and greet.

We went straight to see George as the girls love watching this

Sydney and Kori had pictures too

Then we went to see Woody. The girls don’t know who this is but were happy to pose anyway

We all wanted to go on Minion Mayhem so went there next

I think that wait time says 5 minutes

Poor Kaley was too little again and we thought that meant she couldn’t go on

As we were discussing who was going to go on first and who was going to wait with Kaley, the CM (not sure what they are called at Universal) said that she could still ride, she just had to go in the stationary seats. We all got in line. Mum and Dad offered to go in the stationary seats with Kaley and Madison wanted to sit with them too.

Madison liked the glasses

The pre-show here was great fun and we only had to wait a few minutes

This ride is so much fun! I really enjoyed it. I think the girls were ok with it, I feel as if Kaley got a bit upset but I can’t be certain. We left the ride and were told the Minions would be out soon so we joined the short line to meet them.

Both girls really liked this. The lighting is a bit rubbish here so the picture isn’t great.

We all had a look around the shop and this is where we found normal sized and normal priced Minions and plenty of other goodies that made us want to part with our money. We bought each of the girls a small Minion ($14.95 each) and Danielle was very organized and bought the four older girls’ Christmas presents. Madison and Kaley had Gru and the three girls, I’m not sure of the names. I was able to use my AA card here for 10% discount. We had to spend a minimum of $50 to get the discount so we just paid for everything all together.

We left here and were just around the corner for Rip! Ride! Rock It! so Phil, Ryan and Marie went on this. Phil took the Star Card with him but I haven’t got a photo of this so they either don’t do them or it didn’t get added.

We went round to the Transformers meet and greet and Megatron had just come out. There were a few ‘big kids’ who wanted a photo!

We were given the rough times for when Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime would be out and went on our way to the Transformers ride.

Phil, Dan, Marie, Ryan, Jamie and I went on the ride which was a walk on. This was good, very similar to the Spiderman ride I thought.

After this, it was nearing the time that Optimus Prime was due out so the ‘big kids’ went back there for a photo

It was another really hot day and I find it always seems hotter at Universal for some reason.

The rest of us were heading to Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone when we came across Scooby-Doo and Shaggy so we stopped for a picture

Very happy girls again

There was a SpongeBob Square Pants themed shop with a meet and greet inside so we took the three older girls inside

More sunglasses-borrowing

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[Lisa29]

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They had some cool quotes on the wall

The girls saw SpongeBob

I think someone is writing up her trip report notes!

We went back outside and continued taking photos

Dan decided to photobomb Ryan and Bethany!

On our way here, Kaley had been running ahead of us as she loves to do and her shorts were falling down so I had to change her!

There were some animals brought out from the Animal Actors on Location show, a collie, a little Chihuahua and something else. We used to have collie’s so Mum had to stop for a picture.

Phil took Madison, Kaley and Sydney into the ET shop to have some photos taken. Madison decided she didn’t want any photos taken so Phil went in her place!

Kaley and Sydney had pictures too

While they were doing this, Mum, Dan, Marie, Ryan, Bethany and I went on the ET ride. Again, this was a walk on and is always fun. I do remember it being freezing though! My Mum was very excited to hear her name at the end. I have to admit, this is the first time I have actually heard our names in all the times I have been on this.

We went to Curious George Goes to Town to let the kids have a run around

They had a play her for a while then went through the water area (without getting wet!)

To the inside play area

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[Lisa29]

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Madison was brave again and went on the enclosed slide

Kaley had fun collecting all the balls

Madison looks so hot!

They were in here for ages playing with Phil, Dan and Marie while the rest of us were sat outside in the shade.

I think this is near the Woody Woodpecker kids coaster

We finally managed to get the kids out of the play area and we continued on. We didn’t get far as I saw a food cart selling Churros so decided I needed one ($3.19).

There was also a cart selling dipping dots so Phil bought himself one. He brought it over to the table we were sitting at outside the Animal Actors On Location show. Madison asked for some so he gave it to her and she promptly dropped it all over the floor! Phil was not best pleased!

Luckily, a staff member saw what had happened and came over with a new sundae for him and the paraphernalia to clean up the mess. Very nice of her!

Mum, Michelle, Sydney, Dan and Marie decided to watch the Animal Actors show. Ryan and Bethany went to give Piper her bottle so we decided to carry on walking round. We arranged to meet at Hard Rock Café for lunch.

Phil is a massive Back to the Future fan so of course we had to stop where the Delorian and the train from film 3 were

Doc was also out

Soon, we were in Springfield

This area is great. I haven’t watched the Simpsons for years but the whole area was really good. I would imagine that fans of the Simpsons love it

Phil stopping for a photo with the policeman

For some reason, we didn’t actually go inside any of these, just took lots of pictures

Silly quotes inside the shop

Phil took a few photos of the Diagon Alley construction site. I can’t wait to go back and see this finished

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[Lisa29]

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There wasn’t much of a wait for the Simpsons ride so I had to go on it. This ride does make me laugh but I miss the Back to the Future ride as I much preferred this.

We passed Dan, Marie and Jamie on their way to the Men in Black ride

At some point, Dan and Marie also went on Revenge of the Mummy

I can’t remember how they had this added to the Star Card as we only had one. Strange.

We had carried on walking round; it was weird not going on the Jaws ride.

Phil wanted to see Bumble Bee so he went and waited to have his photo taken

Dan and Marie also had the same idea

Kaley was asleep and it was really hot still so I took both girls to the big Universal store near the entrance to have a look around and cool down. I bought a pin for Phil then we went back to meet him.

It was almost time to meet up for lunch so we went to the photo store and made sure all of the pictures were on the card and had them all printed. This took a little while to do.

Once they were printed we made our way round to the Hard Rock Café via the back entrance which only took a few minutes.

This is where Ryan wanted to eat for his birthday (tomorrow, the same as Madison and Kaley’s) but it didn’t fit in with everything else we were doing so we settled on today instead

We had to wait a few minutes for Dan and Marie to get there as they were running late. I think they had been posing!

(They do have some cool borders that they add to the photos)

We had to have our photo taken on the way in which was annoying as we had no intention of buying it but they just make you take the photo any way.

We were seated near to the bar

Madison told us she wants a pink car like this when she is older

We were sat with Mum and Dad and we decided we wanted to have the sharing starter ($19.95). This had onion rings, Santa Fe spring rolls, potato skins, chicken wings, spicy chicken tenders and sauces.

This was really good. Phil had some boneless wings ($10.95) as he had these a few trips ago and still raves about them now!

Phil and I each had the Legendary Burger. This was topped with smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, golden fried onion ring, lettuce and tomato. I had the chicken version ($14.95)

And Phil had the beef version ($14.95)

Madison had a cheeseburger and fries ($7.50)

The food was all really good and we were so full afterwards. I was able to use my AA discount again so we got 10% off the total food bill.

Of course, we had to take more photos outside

Then we went via the Universal globe to take some pictures there

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[Lisa29]

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This one was very well timed

We went over to have some photos near the Universal Studios entrance.

This entrance is huge!

Very happy siblings

Kaley was happy to be walking again

Starting to head back to City Walk

I think some of these are going with the expansion/refurb of City Walk.

Best friends

Grandad wanted to get in on the picture

We went back to the car, settled up the valet parking and were on our way by 3pm. We were going to the old Prime Outlets/Belz, now known as Premium Outlets. We parked fairly easily and arranged to meet in two hours, which was 5.30pm.

We went to the Disney Store outlet and I bought some headbands for Madison for about $2 each. One of the CM’s spotted her birthday badge so brought some other CM’s over and they sang Happy Birthday to her which was really nice.

I bought a couple of vests for Madison and some bracelets for Kaley from P.S. from Aeropostale.

Things went a bit downhill from there. Phil really didn’t want to be shopping and because he was fed up, that annoyed me and I got fed up and couldn’t be bothered to look in any shops so we were just wandering around aimlessly. We ended up going back to the meeting point about 45 minutes early as I had had enough.

When we all met up, everyone was done so we headed back. We needed to stop at Walmart on the way as I hadn’t been able to find wrapping paper anywhere but we missed the turning and before long, we were back near Disney. We decided to see if Goodings at Crossroads had any but they didn’t and also only had a pathetic selection of birthday cards.

We drove back to SSR and I went to Artist’s Palette to pick up what we had bought the day before.

Madison and Kaley had some special birthday pyjamas to wear

Madison wanted to hold Kaley’s hand but she didn’t want to!

Once they were in bed, I went to Walmart with Dan and Marie to try and get wrapping paper and cards. Luckily they had some so I was able to buy that, birthday cards, grapes, some chocolate, pretzel M&M’s and another Princess Fisher Price Little People set for Kaley.

We drove back and went to DTD to pick up some food. It was REALLY busy to even get into the car park and Dan dropped Marie and I off to go to Cooke’s of Dublin while she went to park and go to Wolfgang Puck Express.

We went to Cooke’s and it was really busy. They were queuing out of the door. We joined the line and had to wait a while.

I was hoping to have a pie but by the time we got to the front, they had sold out and weren’t making any more. I had the mini sausages and chips ($9.95) and Phil had the chicken wings and chips ($9.95). I got two bottles of water ($3 each), a cookie ($1.95) and a fruit cup ($3.50) and used two counter service credits.

We needed to get three Doh bars but they weren’t allowed to be a dessert on the dining plan so we had to get them as snack credits ($3.50 each).

We had been gone quite a while by now and had been keeping in contact with Dan via whatsapp. We headed back to the parking lot, with no idea where she was parked, and luckily found her after a few minutes of looking.

We left and drove back to SSR, arriving around 9.45pm which was around two hours after we had left. Everything just seemed to take us ages.

We all ate our food. Unfortunately, it didn’t travel particularly well and none of us were very impressed

(Looks like Dan had pasta from Wolfgang Puck Express)

The Doh bar was ok, I would have preferred this if it was a Mars bar rather than a Snickers

I wrapped the last of the girls’ presents and wrote their cards, then set up all of their presents in front of the TV. Mum and Dad had left BLT and were now staying with us so Dan and Marie started to set up the sofa bed in the living room. When they were doing so they realized it was broken. At the same time, we realized that the fridge was making a really loud noise so we had to call maintenance.

They came out quite quickly and managed to get the bed out and fix the fridge. The guys said they would be back tomorrow to fix the bed properly.

We went to bed just after 11pm.

Celebrating Madison, Kaley and Ryan’s Birthdays is HERE!

[Redrach1903]

Another great fun filled day Lisa

Love the girls' minion tops, so cute!

The new Springfield area looks really cool, can't wait to see it this year!

All the food at HRC looks so yum! Love it there

Thanks for sharing x

[Milner]

Excellent day with fantastic photos.

[Peewee88]

Loving your report. Thanks so much for sharing! X

[disney20042012]

Great trip reports, they will be lovely to look back on as the girls grow up.

Just a question if you don't mind, did you have to spend over $50 each time you wanted to use the AA card. I was planning on taking mine but would only buy a few souvenirs, meals and drinks at separate times so wouldn't spend that amount in one go.

[DiddyDan]

We did so much this day!

Kaley was upset after minion mayhem because she didn't want it to finish, bless her!

And me and Marie were late to lunch at Hard Rock Cafe because we were posing with bumble bee x