The Mad Hatters in Florida May/June 2018 - Day 18 – A stinky car and Universal Studios

Mad Hatters · 19 Apr 19, 07:12 PM

Hello and welcome to my very first trip report

So we are the Hatfield’s: Adam (Me), Grace (Wife), Joshua (Oldest Son), Trayvon (Youngest Son), Mick (My Dad) and Sue (My Mum).

Link to Index: Index

Link to previous day: Previous Day

Monday 4th June: Day 18 – A stinky car and Universal Studios

This morning we were all awake at just gone 7:50am. I ended up sleeping on the sofa bed with Joshua as Trayvon was super clingy with Grace throughout the night. He always goes like that when he is not feeling well.

This meant that Grace ended up having a rough night with Trayvon waking up quite a lot. I didn’t have the best sleep either and was awoken a few times with noises of laundry carts, the reversing of a truck etc. Note to self – if we stay here again, we won’t stay on the ground floor

Grace went and got us all some breakfast again to eat in our room.

We had Sausage patties and omelette, except Trayvon who had some toast. A cheeky donut was also consumed

He was definitely feeling a bit better today was Trayvon. He got his pirate swag bag that Joshua brought back for him and was happily playing pirates for a while.

A quick Amazon order was placed for some DVD’s that we were in the mood for due to Universal. We wanted these for when we got home

At 10:10am we went out for a little walk to see how Trayvon would fair up out and about. We headed straight up to Walgreens which was our usual go to place it seems, to get some more sweets and gifts. Tray hopped straight into the pushchair. Still quite lethargic it seems. But, at least he was better than yesterday.

We were back in our room by 11am. My Parents cracked on with a bit of laundry while we relaxed in the room and let Trayvon get some extra rest.

We had some nibbles in our room for lunch I believe. Not 100% sure as I have no notes at all about this

It rings a bell that we just had some snacks that we needed to get eaten up as it was coming towards the end of the holiday

We decided that we would try and go to a park as we had originally planned. So at 12:55 we got into an Uber that my Mum had booked and headed to Universal Studios. It was just a regular uneventful journey. Well, except for one little thing which was the smell in the car. It wasn’t a very nice smell either. It smelt like a combination of urine and fish

Nice!

We arrived at quarter past 1 and we were all very happy to be in the fresh air

We quickly got through security and were in the park by 1:25pm.

We had a few rides still on our list that we wanted to get ticked off today. First off though, we went straight to the restroom as knew we would be queuing for a little while for our first ride.

At 1:33pm we got into the standby line for Despicable Me Minion Mayhem.

It was posted as a 45 minute wait, which was as short a wait as we saw for it all holiday really. At ten past 2 we were in the individual lines and ready to go in to the ride.

We loved the ride as usual and the kids especially enjoyed it. It sure is a good laugh and one of our favourite family rides.

It was around 2:30pm and Rip Ride Rockit was posted as a 10 minute wait, so we told my dad and Grace to get themselves on it. The wait time was pretty spot on and they loved the ride once again. Think it’s too much for me though. That first drop

The time was 2:54pm and as we were nearby, it would have been rude not to ride Revenge of the Mummy. My Dad, Joshua and I got into line, well, we walked through the line and straight onto the ride

It was posted as 15 minutes.

Grace sat this one out to wait with Tray rather than just leaving him with my Mum. The ride was really fun and Joshua really loved it too.

In the arcade next door to the Mummy exit.

Pictures heading towards Diagon Alley.

We took a little walk up to see the wait time on Escape from Gringotts as the app was showing it as a short wait. Unfortunately the app lied to us

Still, it’s such a great area that it is always nice to be there

I treat myself to a proper beer instead of a butterbeer

And a picture of the floor for some reason

Next up was Men in Black. This had a 20 minute wait posted which was about right. As always, this was great fun and to top it off, I won with a score of 240,000!

My notes said ‘Today is hot hot hot’. It really was a scorcher today and it felt like it was the hottest day so far of the holiday.

We had a good look around Springfield. No giant donut for us this time though.

Tray was back into his pushchair at this point and ended up dropping off to sleep. He woke up not long after feeling unwell again crying and whinging. It could well have been due to the heat to be fair. We had to make a decision here and decided that we would head back with Trayvon and get him some medicine. We obviously didn’t want to push him too far.

My parents were happy to stay at the park as per our original plan and then to have their evening meal at Bubba Gump’s. Joshua wanted to stay with his grandparents and they were happy for him to. I was gutted to miss out on Bubba Gump though as I wanted to eat there last time and we didn’t get chance to fit it in

{Continued in next post}

Mad Hatters · 19 Apr 19, 07:19 PM

{Continued from previous post}

We all headed towards the exit of Universal Studios as my parents and Joshua were going to go to Bubba Gump for an early dinner and then across into Islands of Adventure after.

Joshua in Hollywood!

There was a secret life of pets float hanging about too which was cool

As we were exiting onto city walk, I organised an Uber to take Grace, Tray and I back to the Walgreens near to our hotel, for some medicine. It arrived very quickly and thankfully this time, our car didn’t smell funky

. The cars outside temperature display was reading 99F, or 37c in our money

Like I said, it was hot hot hot!

We grabbed Tray some medicine and gave him some straight away and then headed back to our hotel. As it was the Managers special when we walked in, I grabbed 2 cups of bud light and some little snacky bits of biscuits and cheese as it would have been rude not to

The medicine was doing the trick for Tray and he was feeling better already. No doubt being cooled down by the AC will have helped too. We considered our options for our evening meal and didn’t want to eat out anywhere in case Tray started going downhill again.

We decided on doing a Hooters order to go. I’ve often joked to Grace about us going here though it’s not somewhere she wants to go to (wonder why?)

but I have heard that the food is pretty good. We ordered online at 5:27pm with a collection time of 5:48pm.

Our food order:

We went over to Hooters to collect our order. It was pretty much next door to our hotel. We all got a drink while we waited. I had a Bud light and Grace had a Clearwater punch.

The food took a while and was eventually ready at 6:10pm, 20 minutes later than it was supposed to be

We were pretty hungry at this point, so hoped it was going to be yummy!

When we got back and opened up the food we realised they had messed up our tots

I ordered loaded ones but we ended up with just plain boring ones

The food was just ok, nothing special at all and I wouldn’t recommend it or go back to be honest. Shame really, especially when my parents were eating at Bubba Gump. This was probably the worst food of the holiday. We can't complain really as we had eaten really well and it wasn't that bad, it just wasn't as good as all the rest.

After chilling out for a while, Trayvon asked for some milk. I popped out to the little store next to the hotel and got him a small bottle of milk. I also treat myself to a Bud light Straw-Ber-Rita. I had wanted to try one for ages so thought now was a good time

It was actually quite nice haha. I also grabbed a couple more beers from the Managers special to take to the room, when I was walking in

We got ourselves bathed and ready for bed. Fast and Furious 6 was coming on the TV, so we settled in to watch that. Meanwhile My Mum, Dad and Joshua had managed to get onto a few more rides which included: Forbidden journey, Spider man, Cat in the hat and the Seuss trolley train.

They had also had there meal at Bubba Gumps too. I wasn’t jealous, honest

To drink my mum had a diet Pepsi, Dad had a bud light and Joshua got an Icee slush.

And for the food, Joshua had the kids popcorn shrimp.

Mum had a Grilled seafood trio which I can’t find on the menu.

Dad had the Forrest seafood feast (Southern fried shrimp, Seafood hush pups, Fish and chips).

And the receipt.

They all really enjoyed the food and said it was one that they would like to go back to. I really was jealous haha. I’m glad it went down well though.

My parents took a few pictures of Joshua as well while they were walking about. Didn’t they do well remembering meal pictures as well as taking some snaps of Joshua

They all arrived back at around 9:15pm. Joshua said that he had had a great afternoon and evening with his grandparents. He was also telling me how good his shrimp was! Not to rub it in or anything!

We were happy that Trayvon for the most part had felt better today and that we actually managed to get out and do something. Hopefully a good night’s sleep and some more medicine would see Tray fully back to normal for tomorrow.

We were all asleep just after 10pm after a very hot day.

Total steps for today: 16,486.

Thanks for reading

Floridafour · 19 Apr 19, 10:58 PM

Aaah poor Trayvon, I think the heat does get too much sometimes especially if you’re not feeling great anyway. Bubba Gump looks good 👍
Thanks for posting 🙂

Mad Hatters · 20 Apr 19, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by Floridafour

Aaah poor Trayvon, I think the heat does get too much sometimes especially if you’re not feeling great anyway. Bubba Gump looks good 👍
Thanks for posting 🙂

Definitely agree with that. It was a struggle for us and we weren’t even feeling poorly.

Thanks for reading 😀

**Goldia** · 21 Apr 19, 06:02 PM

It looked really busy and really hot it universal today. A shame your Hooters meal wasn't as nice as the bubba gumps meal.

mouselover22 · 21 Apr 19, 10:38 PM

Great blog. Good to see Trayvon rally for a little while today. Kids go up and down so quickly when they feel poorly.

10 mins for RRR is a bonus

You should definitely give it a go next time

I’m sort of relieved to hear the food at Hooter’s wasn’t that nice as I keep telling my husband & boys they are not allowed to go

I feel justified now!

Sounds like your folks & Joshua had a fun evening

Mad Hatters · 21 Apr 19, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by Goldia

It looked really busy and really hot it universal today. A shame your Hooters meal wasn't as nice as the bubba gumps meal.

Yeah it sure was a scorcher, no complaints though after all the earlier rain.

It was a shame but never mind. We know now. Excited for Bubba gumps though in the future.

Thanks for reading 😀

Mad Hatters · 21 Apr 19, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by mouselover22

Great blog. Good to see Trayvon rally for a little while today. Kids go up and down so quickly when they feel poorly.

10 mins for RRR is a bonus

You should definitely give it a go next time

I’m sort of relieved to hear the food at Hooter’s wasn’t that nice as I keep telling my husband & boys they are not allowed to go

I feel justified now!

Sounds like your folks & Joshua had a fun evening

Thanks and thank you for reading.

Trayvon did really well bless him, we all know how it is when you’re feeling under the weather.

I would love to ride it, we shall see haha. Conquering Everest is the next target and then probably hulk.

Hooters really was a let down. You definitely have justification now.

They sure did. He loves spending time with his grandparents. He always says to my dad “you’re annoying but I still love ya” haha. Kind of became the post holiday catch phrase 😀

DISNEYNIC · 22 May 19, 11:26 AM

Glad you managed to get to Universal. Shame you missed out on Bubba Gumps - we have always had good meals there.

Mad Hatters · 26 May 19, 08:16 PM

Originally Posted by DISNEYNIC

Glad you managed to get to Universal. Shame you missed out on Bubba Gumps - we have always had good meals there.

I’ll definitely be eating there next time we do Universal, really want to try it.

Thanks for reading 👍

19 Apr 19, 07:12 PM	#1
	19 Apr 19, 07:12 PM Mad Hatters slightly serious Dibber
Mad Hatters slightly serious Dibber Join Date: Mar 17	The Mad Hatters in Florida May/June 2018 - Day 18 – A stinky car and Universal Studios Hello and welcome to my very first trip report So we are the Hatfield’s: Adam (Me), Grace (Wife), Joshua (Oldest Son), Trayvon (Youngest Son), Mick (My Dad) and Sue (My Mum). Link to Index: Index Link to previous day: Previous Day Monday 4th June: Day 18 – A stinky car and Universal Studios This morning we were all awake at just gone 7:50am. I ended up sleeping on the sofa bed with Joshua as Trayvon was super clingy with Grace throughout the night. He always goes like that when he is not feeling well. This meant that Grace ended up having a rough night with Trayvon waking up quite a lot. I didn’t have the best sleep either and was awoken a few times with noises of laundry carts, the reversing of a truck etc. Note to self – if we stay here again, we won’t stay on the ground floor Grace went and got us all some breakfast again to eat in our room. We had Sausage patties and omelette, except Trayvon who had some toast. A cheeky donut was also consumed He was definitely feeling a bit better today was Trayvon. He got his pirate swag bag that Joshua brought back for him and was happily playing pirates for a while. A quick Amazon order was placed for some DVD’s that we were in the mood for due to Universal. We wanted these for when we got home At 10:10am we went out for a little walk to see how Trayvon would fair up out and about. We headed straight up to Walgreens which was our usual go to place it seems, to get some more sweets and gifts. Tray hopped straight into the pushchair. Still quite lethargic it seems. But, at least he was better than yesterday. We were back in our room by 11am. My Parents cracked on with a bit of laundry while we relaxed in the room and let Trayvon get some extra rest. We had some nibbles in our room for lunch I believe. Not 100% sure as I have no notes at all about this It rings a bell that we just had some snacks that we needed to get eaten up as it was coming towards the end of the holiday We decided that we would try and go to a park as we had originally planned. So at 12:55 we got into an Uber that my Mum had booked and headed to Universal Studios. It was just a regular uneventful journey. Well, except for one little thing which was the smell in the car. It wasn’t a very nice smell either. It smelt like a combination of urine and fish Nice! We arrived at quarter past 1 and we were all very happy to be in the fresh air We quickly got through security and were in the park by 1:25pm. We had a few rides still on our list that we wanted to get ticked off today. First off though, we went straight to the restroom as knew we would be queuing for a little while for our first ride. At 1:33pm we got into the standby line for Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. It was posted as a 45 minute wait, which was as short a wait as we saw for it all holiday really. At ten past 2 we were in the individual lines and ready to go in to the ride. We loved the ride as usual and the kids especially enjoyed it. It sure is a good laugh and one of our favourite family rides. It was around 2:30pm and Rip Ride Rockit was posted as a 10 minute wait, so we told my dad and Grace to get themselves on it. The wait time was pretty spot on and they loved the ride once again. Think it’s too much for me though. That first drop The time was 2:54pm and as we were nearby, it would have been rude not to ride Revenge of the Mummy. My Dad, Joshua and I got into line, well, we walked through the line and straight onto the ride It was posted as 15 minutes. Grace sat this one out to wait with Tray rather than just leaving him with my Mum. The ride was really fun and Joshua really loved it too. In the arcade next door to the Mummy exit. Pictures heading towards Diagon Alley. We took a little walk up to see the wait time on Escape from Gringotts as the app was showing it as a short wait. Unfortunately the app lied to us Still, it’s such a great area that it is always nice to be there I treat myself to a proper beer instead of a butterbeer And a picture of the floor for some reason Next up was Men in Black. This had a 20 minute wait posted which was about right. As always, this was great fun and to top it off, I won with a score of 240,000! My notes said ‘Today is hot hot hot’. It really was a scorcher today and it felt like it was the hottest day so far of the holiday. We had a good look around Springfield. No giant donut for us this time though. Tray was back into his pushchair at this point and ended up dropping off to sleep. He woke up not long after feeling unwell again crying and whinging. It could well have been due to the heat to be fair. We had to make a decision here and decided that we would head back with Trayvon and get him some medicine. We obviously didn’t want to push him too far. My parents were happy to stay at the park as per our original plan and then to have their evening meal at Bubba Gump’s. Joshua wanted to stay with his grandparents and they were happy for him to. I was gutted to miss out on Bubba Gump though as I wanted to eat there last time and we didn’t get chance to fit it in {Continued in next post}

19 Apr 19, 07:19 PM	#2
	19 Apr 19, 07:19 PM Mad Hatters slightly serious Dibber Thread Starter
Mad Hatters Thread Starter slightly serious Dibber Join Date: Mar 17	{Continued from previous post} We all headed towards the exit of Universal Studios as my parents and Joshua were going to go to Bubba Gump for an early dinner and then across into Islands of Adventure after. Joshua in Hollywood! There was a secret life of pets float hanging about too which was cool As we were exiting onto city walk, I organised an Uber to take Grace, Tray and I back to the Walgreens near to our hotel, for some medicine. It arrived very quickly and thankfully this time, our car didn’t smell funky . The cars outside temperature display was reading 99F, or 37c in our money Like I said, it was hot hot hot! We grabbed Tray some medicine and gave him some straight away and then headed back to our hotel. As it was the Managers special when we walked in, I grabbed 2 cups of bud light and some little snacky bits of biscuits and cheese as it would have been rude not to The medicine was doing the trick for Tray and he was feeling better already. No doubt being cooled down by the AC will have helped too. We considered our options for our evening meal and didn’t want to eat out anywhere in case Tray started going downhill again. We decided on doing a Hooters order to go. I’ve often joked to Grace about us going here though it’s not somewhere she wants to go to (wonder why?) but I have heard that the food is pretty good. We ordered online at 5:27pm with a collection time of 5:48pm. Our food order: We went over to Hooters to collect our order. It was pretty much next door to our hotel. We all got a drink while we waited. I had a Bud light and Grace had a Clearwater punch. The food took a while and was eventually ready at 6:10pm, 20 minutes later than it was supposed to be We were pretty hungry at this point, so hoped it was going to be yummy! When we got back and opened up the food we realised they had messed up our tots I ordered loaded ones but we ended up with just plain boring ones The food was just ok, nothing special at all and I wouldn’t recommend it or go back to be honest. Shame really, especially when my parents were eating at Bubba Gump. This was probably the worst food of the holiday. We can't complain really as we had eaten really well and it wasn't that bad, it just wasn't as good as all the rest. After chilling out for a while, Trayvon asked for some milk. I popped out to the little store next to the hotel and got him a small bottle of milk. I also treat myself to a Bud light Straw-Ber-Rita. I had wanted to try one for ages so thought now was a good time It was actually quite nice haha. I also grabbed a couple more beers from the Managers special to take to the room, when I was walking in We got ourselves bathed and ready for bed. Fast and Furious 6 was coming on the TV, so we settled in to watch that. Meanwhile My Mum, Dad and Joshua had managed to get onto a few more rides which included: Forbidden journey, Spider man, Cat in the hat and the Seuss trolley train. They had also had there meal at Bubba Gumps too. I wasn’t jealous, honest To drink my mum had a diet Pepsi, Dad had a bud light and Joshua got an Icee slush. And for the food, Joshua had the kids popcorn shrimp. Mum had a Grilled seafood trio which I can’t find on the menu. Dad had the Forrest seafood feast (Southern fried shrimp, Seafood hush pups, Fish and chips). And the receipt. They all really enjoyed the food and said it was one that they would like to go back to. I really was jealous haha. I’m glad it went down well though. My parents took a few pictures of Joshua as well while they were walking about. Didn’t they do well remembering meal pictures as well as taking some snaps of Joshua They all arrived back at around 9:15pm. Joshua said that he had had a great afternoon and evening with his grandparents. He was also telling me how good his shrimp was! Not to rub it in or anything! We were happy that Trayvon for the most part had felt better today and that we actually managed to get out and do something. Hopefully a good night’s sleep and some more medicine would see Tray fully back to normal for tomorrow. We were all asleep just after 10pm after a very hot day. Total steps for today: 16,486. Thanks for reading