Sneaky bonus 6 nights at Universal Feb 2020- Day 5- IHop Outlets and IOA

[rafjen]

Today we hadn't any set plans. We did consider returning to Volcano bay but decided to go to the hotel pool instead.

We started to wake about 5ish this morning but lazed about in bed for a while. When my husband woke we were both hungry and decided to do something a bit different for us- go off site. We aren't shoppers but the kids love a pancake breakfast so we agreed to try to lyft for breakfast and then maybe try the outlets. I wanted a nosey around the Disney outlet given we are back at Disney in May.

We goggled and found an Ihop- I ordered a lyft as we left the room which arrived before we even made it out of the lift. All really straightforward.

Ihop was good but we don't have a lot to compare it to. We don't have a lot of off site dining experience. The menu wasn't too massive and before long we all found food we were happy with. All 3 kids went with a smiley face pancake option. I had a 2x2x2 -2 eggs 2 pancakes and bacon/ sausage. My husband had sausages, pancakes, eggs and hash brown. We loved the choice of sauces and husband loved the large refillable coffee pot. I ordered an pure orange juice and they brought me a pint. I don't think I finished it all. We got talked into donating to the local kids hospital in exchange for a money off voucher but we knew we wouldn't get a chance to us it. It was for a good cause so we didn't mind.

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Apologies for the partially eaten pancake photo

Next was a minor fail on my part. We ordered a lyft to the outlets but I must have put in the postcode and the driver went to a hotel nearby- I tried to text/phone to explain but the signal wouldn't let me send a reply so I got charged $5 no show fee,

Take 2 was smoother and soon we were at the outlets. We asked a staff member to point us to the Disney store and after wandering around the entire place we eventually got there. He had pointed us in completely the wrong way.

The store was smaller than I thought but I still managed to spend $150 and was happy with the stash. We got a fab 2019 photo frame for $8, minnie ears, 4 T shirts, phone case, plush, Rex toy, autograph books, pens, Christmas decorations and a hat. So pretty good I thought. I still love looking down at my small world phone case. It all took a long time due to kids needing toilet runs and my husband getting lost. We were already a bit fed up with shopping now. We should have gone home but decided to look for some shorts and sports tops for my son and husband. We had no luck, seemed to walk in circles and all got a bit grumpy. We were overdue the pool by now.

Ordering a lyft was difficult as the app specified shops as the pick up point none of which we could find but eventually we got to the right spot. Lyft also changed the driver mid way through but again due to poor wifi my phone did not update so I was concerned at one point we had 2 lyfts coming. We eventually got home but no one was in a great mood by now.

I decided to take the kids to the pool to cheer them up ( they aren't shopping fans at all), my husband sat it out and read. As soon as we hit the pool we realized it was lunch time and we were a bit peckish. We decided to order a snack pool side.

We ordered a pizza, chicken fajitas and 2 sides of fries. This was surprisingly good and fed all 5 of us. We wouldn't usually eat pool-side but it was a nice treat. The portions were good and it was the best food we had at the hotel. I would happily order here again. The kids were loving the pool and they were making friends- although they missed the slide from POFQ/HRH. However it was cloudy so after about 90 minutes I needed to get us out and showered.

The only issue was finding our server to pay the bill he had disappeared. Its times like this I resent the 20% automatic service charge. I took the kids up to the room and it took my husband another 20/30 minutes to pay- the bar wouldn't let him pay without the server as he had the bill on him- madness.


I think we were all a bit tired and stressed that afternoon but we did decide to head into the parks again about 4ish. We walked along the path and the weather was lovely again. We wandered into IOA and straight to Hulk- I sat out with the younger two as I was going to take them on the Storm teacup ride but they weren't keen. Soon it was one of our favourites Spider man- always fun.

However before we rode Spiderman the characters were out with next to no queues so we meet Storm and Rogue, Green Goblin and Dr Doom and Cyclops. All great fun. The bad guys are always entertaining and the kids do get a little scared in the queue- once they met them though they are fine. My husbands was loving the characters too everyone was back to being happy by now

We hadn't stepped foot in Seus Landing yet so back tracked and headed here next. The kids like the books and had a great time with the characters on our last visit. We were a bit sad that we were too late for characters but rode The Cat and the Hat, One fish Two fish and the Caroseus Train. The kids spied some fudge they fancied but we promised we would return another day.

We wanted to head over to the The leaky Cauldron for dinner and we still had some Mardi Gras credits to use up so we headed to the Hogwarts express. The lady at the Hogwats express then told us we wouldn't be able to use our Seasonal Annual passes at US tomorrow which really stressed us out. We knew we were blocked out on Saturday but our plan tomorrow was mainly US so this was an issue.

Once across we went for dinner as planned. We all love the Leaky Cauldron. It was so quiet this evening- My husband loves the dark beer here and all 3 kids had been converted to frozen butter beer. Mac and cheese, fries and kids -fish and chips fed the kids. My husband and I split a fish and chips and a bangers and mash. I love the theming in the Leaky Cauldron, the kids love the food and butter beer and my husband loves the beer- its a must do for us.

We noted the Shutter buttons location for tomorrow (spoiler alert) and decided we better speak to guest services about our passes. Staff directed us in MIB direction. We found some staff and checked the black out dates and turns out we were right due to Mardi Gras concerts we were blacked out Sat and Sunday (concert days) but were good for tomorrow. Stress over.

We resisted a free 100 gift card/breakfast time share pitch and rode MIB- Always good fun but we are too competitive. We all hoover over the bonus red button and all got it So for once I won- usually the kids get the bonus and I miss it. My daughter bought a MIB pug dressed in the black suit she had been eyeing up all holiday with money her granny had given her. Very cute but how many plushes does she need.

It was getting late now so we headed back to the Mardi Gras stalls and spent the rest of our credits from the annual pass Lanyard we had previously bought.

This time we got-
King cake- loved this
Bignets-x2- kids enjoyed these but I still prefer POFQ
Gater Bites- good and nice to see the kids being adventurous
Amber Abita Lager beer sampler- Husband says good

I also got a cocktail called Carnival Lane (refreshing gin drink with fruit juices)
My husband got a full size beer- TropiCannon ( this was his least favourite- too fruity)
I'm not a big gin fan but the cocktails were lovely- although I probably preferred the rum one.
No ID issues tonight- we took photos of our passports on the phone but didn't get asked tonight.

I left my husband with the asleep 4 year old ( thank god we brought the buggy) and his beer and took the older two on Rip Ride Rocket. My daughter loves this ride and this time was no different. The two kids rode together in front of me and held hands reassuringly on the ascent- it was so sweet to see them getting on for a change. By the time we got off the park was closing so out we went. The older ones were flagging too now so we joined a long queue for the boat. Despite the long queue we got on the second boat within 15 min of joining the queue- so don't let the queue put you off.


Another lovely day despite us all being a big grumpy. No more outlets for us anytime soon. Maybe I'll go on my own just to the Disney Store and back. Off site breakfast was a hit though.

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[Tinkermom]

I love an ihop breakfast, another busy day though a tad frustrating re the taxi.

[mick]

We also enjoy Ihop :spin a bit of a mixed day for you

Joan

[rafjen]

We would definitely head back to Ihop- its also good to know how easy Lyft is once you get the hang of it

[Jules32]

I hop is fab isn't it, I feel you with the shopping though we got lost a few times too.