6 Mortals and a Princess - Day 3

[Guest]

Woke up at 6am after another decent sleep apart from Jordan having a full on conversation during the night ..with himself !
Showers were had and we were out the door for 6:45 (still having to wait for you know who but I was going to my happy place so didn't grumble ..out loud)
Packed the car up with our over night bags and we were on our way
Hard rock !
Everywhere you look around the Disney resort area is covered with Road works ,they're vast and never ending ..and then you have the usual i4 traffic too so that's fun!

First time for Mark and co and second time for us .
I think Universal studios has to be my favourite park after Epcot .
I just really like the feel of it , like it's more laid back than Disney .
We checked in and our rooms weren't ready although we were expecting this so just left our bags with bell services .
We were told we would be sent a text and an email when our rooms were available *spoiler alert- we weren't 😡*
Off we went to print our express passes at the machines and the picture quality was much better than last time !
We already had lanyards too so that helped but Mark and co didn't so they bought some in the Hard rock shop .
We then grabbed a coffee and some snacks from Emack and Bollios. Nothing exciting just some fruit and a bear claw . I was made to stop outside so they could finish their snacks which annoyed me no end , I hate waiting ! Just eat as you walk ! 😡

Past the pool and then out the back gate to the path that leads to the parks .
Really enjoyed the walk to the parks from HRH , it's very pleasant at that time in the morning (was about 8:45 by now) and not such a massive slog even after a full day .
It wasn't very busy at the turnstiles so didn't take long to get in.
One thing that annoys me about Universal/ islands is that they scan your ticket for you .. I mean , it's not hard , I can manage it all by myself thank you!
They still do it even if you have it on a lanyard so learnt after the second time to take it off so they don't strangle me !
Quick check of Isabella's height and then we're on the move .
Isabella was a little gutted she couldn't do The mummy or Rip ride rocket but again I'm secretly glad

Started by picking up a refillable cup .. this is where we went wrong .
We chose the stupidest , heaviest cup going and it was just a massive pain in the butt ! Here is a stock photo as I was too cross at him to take his picture :angry:

Every time you hefted it up to take a drink you had to cover the little air hole or it would leak all over you , we learnt this the hard way!
Plus the fountain drinks tasted abit like chlorine 🤢
Next time we'll choose the Freestyle cups!
We walked round choosing to go anti-clockwise being the rebels that we are 😶
Really liked the look of The Hello Kitty shop so made a mental note to check it out later .

I have been really looking forward to riding ET since our last trip as it was one of Isabella's favourites. I was so relieved it was still here as there's always the threat it'll be torn down as it's pretty outdated but I love it ! Especially the smell and the queue inside through the woods ❤️

Bikes ridden and ET's home planet saved,we walked round to Springfield.
Man it was HOT today and we still hadn't seen any rain which was a pleasant surprise as there had been quite a lot the week before we arrived .

Used our passes on The Simpsons ride which is not one of my favourites!
It makes me feel a bit bleurgh 😷 Everyone else enjoyed it though but once was enough for me..

Men in Black was up next and was looking forward to riding with Isabella as this was another she was too small for last time. Was also looking forward to beating Jordan to the red button again.. this did not go to plan . My gun was faulty , so was the red button .. that is all .. 😑

Isabella came off abit confused ,I don't think she was expecting the wild spinning !
Still following the park round anti-clockwise (rebels, remember?) meant that natural we finally came to Kings cross . Yay!
While walking past Fear Factor we could see they were starting to put up stuff for Halloween Horror Nights .. one day I will make it !
Curse you one week school holidays !
Was very excited for Emma to see Diagon Alley, she's an even bigger HP fan than me .

I bought some Pygmy puff slippers in here , they're death traps if you have stairs! But SO FLUFFY!

just as amazing as I remember but it was busy in here !
Express passes at the ready for Gringotts ! Hadn't been on this before as last time we came it had only been open a few weeks and Isabella would've been too small anyway . Glad I didn't see any ride ons as it was a complete surprise.
Emma and Sheila had to put stuff in the lockers , what a complete joke that system is.
It's the smallest, hottest room filled with the most amount of people all trying to ram stuff in the teeniest lockers . Ridiculous!
Free from Locker hell we entered the bank . Amazing

We all thoroughly enjoyed it ! Very good ride .
I'm not a fan of 3D/4D rides but if they're done like this in the future I could get on board (excuse the pun !)

By now we were hungry so walked back round to Springfield as I wanted to try the Waffle burger thing .
Seems like everyone else in Universal had the same idea! It was rammed !
Again my utmost apologies but no photos , it was busy, hot , I had people ramming my ankles with pushchairs , not a pleasant experience and the food was sub par. I had fried fish and prawns and it was tough and chewy. Chris didn't like the waffle chicken sandwich as he said it was too sweet.
Isabella and J had pizza which was ok and not sure what the rest had .
We decided after this to ride the Mummy and then rip ride before going back to the pool .

The mummy was fun as ever !
Chris decided to wait off with Isabella as he didn't fancy going on with a full stomach .
Rip Ride Rocket next and Sheila stayed off with Isabella this time as she didn't like the look of the first climb ..

O..M..G I do not remember it feeling that bumpy and vomit inducing !
It was AWFUL! I came off feeling like my brain had been reduced to mush . Never again.
The others all loved it although Mark looked a bit shell shocked .
We left the park and headed back to the hotel .
We didn't receive the promised email and when we got back they said the rooms still weren't ready by this time it was 3:05 so we were abit annoyed . They said we could have one room so we reluctantly accepted . Just as we got into the room the cleaners had finished in what would be our room so Chris went down and got the key . Handy!
We started to get changed for the pool but this is when Jordan said he was tired and would come down after a nap so we left to go to the pool. We'd had some really early starts so thought nothing of it .

There were quite a few spare beds so we put our towels on them and got in the water . It had got quite cloudy so felt a little chilly in there !
A cocktail soon warmed me up!
A really nice, strong Mojito

Isabella had fun splashing around

After a while we got a bit fed up with the sun hiding so Sheila and Emma decided to go upstairs and start getting ready for later . They said they'd check on J as he still hadn't made an appearance.
I had another refill and Chris and Mark had another beer.
About 10 minutes later Sheila came down and said Jordan was in a bad way. I felt sick hearing this and rushed upstairs .
Poor J, he looked awful , I felt terrible for not coming up sooner .
He said his head was killing him and he was pale and sweaty even though he said his legs were physically shaking .
My poor boy had a case of heatstroke by the looks of it
We gave him some painkillers and he took a cold shower.
By the time the rest of us were showered he said he felt abit better but just wanted to stay in a sleep.
I wanted to stay in with him while the rest went to the park for an hour and got some dinner but Jordan wouldn't hear of it .
He said he felt a lot better (we'd been in the room a couple of hours by now ) and that he just wanted to watch tv and nap.
I actually cried at this point as I felt so bad for him but he insisted we went back out for a bit.
Reluctantly I agreed but I stayed intouch with him a little too much while we were out he kept telling me to stop texting him, he was fine.
We went back into Universal but I wasn't really in the mood .
We decided to try Race through New York and got straight on with the passes.

The ragtime gals cheered me up abit , they're very good and very funny!
I only have a very long video of them so I won't post that.
The ride was pretty good too for 4D , not my favourite but well done .
Isabella got a tattoo from a minion ..

We then decided to get the Hogwarts express over to Hogsmede. I checked on J again and he said he was fine watching Ninja warrior and napping ..

Isabella with her Pygmy puff that she'd begged daddy for earlier on that day .

The hogwarts express is such a clever way of getting between the parks , it's quick too

We rode the Hippogriff at Isabella's request. I swear this ride is dangerous !
Chris said he felt like if he hadn't have held Isabella she'd have fallen out! I know she wouldn't have but it's really fast with some tight turns and when I rode later on in the holiday with Isabella I had to really hold onto her !
This time I rode with Mark and he pulled the lap bar down and the side smashed me straight on the kneecap! Ouch! I only had a small bruise though and we were laughing about it for the rest of the holiday but told him I'm not sitting with him ever again!
We decided we would rather go back to Jordan than ride anything else without him so I text him to see if he was hungry and he was so I knew he was feeling better ! A few pics of the park on the way out

and some of Citywalk

we headed to Burger King to grab something to take back for Jordan and us .
I'd fancied Panda Express but the queue was crazy so Whopper meal it was !
It was so much fun weaving through the crowds leaving en masse carrying a tray of soda's and two big bags of Burger King
Finally we got back and I was pleased to see the boy and he was pleased to see his Burger !
Mark and co went to their room and we got in bed and watched Ninja warrior, all back together again
We went to bed hoping J would be well enough for our early entry to Volcano Bay ...
Day 4 coming soon

[collybird]

Poor Jordan, the heat combined with the early starts can do that to you, hope he recovered quickly.

[Megandllsmum]

Lovely day again Lauren but poor Jordan... Lilly got really sick one night when we were in florida last and we thought it was over indulging on the cookies at the buffet dinner but think it was more than likely sunstroke cos it never happened again and we were more careful in the sun and slowed the pace down, and she still carried on eating the cookies with no ill effects lol.
Lilly loved hippogryff and she's not as dinky as your little girl and every time I thought she was gonna fly out of her seat... Of course she thought that was all part of the fun 😮😮

[Guest]

Originally Posted by collybird

Poor Jordan, the heat combined with the early starts can do that to you, hope he recovered quickly.

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I know, it was awful.
He was about 75% better the next day but he did have remnants from it for the next few days

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Megandllsmum

Lovely day again Lauren but poor Jordan... Lilly got really sick one night when we were in florida last and we thought it was over indulging on the cookies at the buffet dinner but think it was more than likely sunstroke cos it never happened again and we were more careful in the sun and slowed the pace down, and she still carried on eating the cookies with no ill effects lol.
Lilly loved hippogryff and she's not as dinky as your little girl and every time I thought she was gonna fly out of her seat... Of course she thought that was all part of the fun 😮😮

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Thank you
It's horrible isn't it. It comes on really quick.
It was especially awful as he's never ill and rarely complains even if he is but he looked just terrible 😞
The mad thing is he was better than all of us at making sure he drank enough water in the day, he was quite militant about it!
Poor Lilly , heatstroke is horrendous !
I know ,right? That ride is terrifying , I was screaming all the way round but more because I felt like she was going to come flying out ! Crazy for a kids ride 😂

[Gryff]

Glad Jordan recovered reasonably quickly Know what you mean about the slipper and stairs butbthink they will be going back out to the villa as our Visla absolutely hates them runs away with them at every opertunity

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Gryff

Glad Jordan recovered reasonably quickly Know what you mean about the slipper and stairs butbthink they will be going back out to the villa as our Visla absolutely hates them runs away with them at every opertunity

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Haha! 1 of my cats love them , he likes to sleep on them.
I've already fallen down our stairs twice even before the slippers so don't really need any extra help😳.
Thank you for reading

[toots82]

What a shame for Jordan (and mama bear), Paige wasn't great after a day in Universal a couple of years ago, I kinda didn't think too much of it until she vomited, poor baby. Glad he seems to be on the mend.

I agree about FOTH, I was clinging to Dylan the whole way round. And I also agree about the Simpsons... bleugh.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by toots82

What a shame for Jordan (and mama bear), Paige wasn't great after a day in Universal a couple of years ago, I kinda didn't think too much of it until she vomited, poor baby. Glad he seems to be on the mend.

I agree about FOTH, I was clinging to Dylan the whole way round. And I also agree about the Simpsons... bleugh.

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Universal just seems extra hot doesn't it , like it's just reflecting off the concrete ? Some days when we were there it was like was walking through mud, a real struggle .
Poor Paige, just shows how quick it can happen.

[toots82]

Originally Posted by PumpkinKitty

Universal just seems extra hot doesn't it , like it's just reflecting off the concrete ? Some days when we were there it was like was walking through mud, a real struggle .
Poor Paige, just shows how quick it can happen.

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Thats exactly what it's like! My DH hated Universal after tha, to be fair it was a humid day in May and we tried to do Universal and IOA, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, my camera lense was hazy it was so hot.

I persuaded him to try it again with a night at RPR and an easier pace, he's totally converted.