Mardi Gras Madness - A week at Universal - Feb 2020 - Day 2 - Take me to the Basketball Game

[Rescuer]

Mardi Gras Madness - A week at Universal - Feb 2020 - Day 2 - Take me to the Basketball Game - 10.02.20

Index is here

I woke this morning at 5.15am, a slightly more respectable time. Ds was asleep till 8.15am, that boy will sleep anywhere. We’d already decided we were not heading to the parks first thing so there was no need to rush.

We started the day with left over doughnuts in room, not a bad way to start, I fancied a Starbucks but nobody was willing to go and to be fair I couldn’t be bothered either.

The plan this morning was a little bit of snack shopping at Walmart. I ordered an Uber and we got there about 9.15am, it was $8. It might be sad but I like a wee supermarket trip. We bought all the absolute essentials lol like Pringles, Cheetos, M&Ms etc.

I have to say though I wasn’t as impressed as I’ve been before. One good thing was they had people walking up and down the lines with a wee machine and they could scan all your shopping and pack it if you were paying by card, that would certainly be useful on a Sunday afternoon at Asda!

Once we got back to the hotel we tucked into some snacks and spent a little time chilling watching the Secret Life of Pets 2 on Netflix. Yes, I know we should have been out in the parks but we were more than happy with our restful morning and trip to Walmart.

We headed into Islands about 1pm, the weather was glorious again. First stops, reactivate the mug and muck around at the Suess Landings Fountain again.

At least I remembered to take a picture of it this time. Honestly if you have any spare change and anybody who likes to be competitive it your family it’s worth a visit, ds and dh ran a competition against each other all trip.

The Grinch was out for photos, I love him, well actually I love all the Dr Suess characters.

We had been hoping to check out the Hagrids wait time but it was above the hour mark so we decided just to try another day.

The Hogwarts Express was only a 5-minute wait though so we decided on that.

Men in Black was only showing 8 minutes wait on Touring Plans rather than 25 minutes on its sign, right enough, 8 minutes it was.

It was our first time in regular line, the little bit where the agent takes you in the lift was fun. This is one of our favourite things to do at Universal. All was right with the world as Ds managed to get the highest score by hitting the red button.

We headed for the Mummy next as it was showing a 10 minute wait, it ended up as 5 minutes at the most. On the way out the stilt walkers were out, they are great, although I think they totally freak out ds as he refused to go near them.

All the Mardi Gras performers were out as well.

I thought Jimmy Fallon might be a good option but it was express pass only, I noticed it was often like this.

By this point we were starving so toyed with idea of a pizza pretzel but changed our mind in favour of something a bit more substantial at City Walk. On the way out we passed Homer and Bart so Ds and Dh stopped for a photo.

We settled on Panda Express, we really enjoy it here and it is brilliant value. The server was pretty grumpy and I did feel a little rushed but we made pretty good choices.
We ordered 2 of the 3 entree boxes with rice.

The first had orange chicken, firecracker shrimp and shrimp and walnuts. All really good.

The second had orange chicken, pepper chicken and Mongolian beef. Again all good.

We had filled the refillable mug so no drinks needed.

Great value.

We stopped off at the outside area of Cowfish so that Ds and Dh could carry on their corn hole competition. We even have a mini one of these at home.

It was just after 4pm that we got the boat back to the hotel.

Another first for us this evening, we had tickets for the basketball at the Amway Center. We were really looking forward to this. We’ve been to see the football or soccer as they call it a few times but it was nice to try a sport that’s not normally available in the summer. We got an Uber not too long after 5pm which meant we hit rush hour a bit so the traffic was a little crazy. It cost $16.

The Amway is really impressive, it doesn’t really look like a sports place, more like a fancy shopping center or a hotel.

They have fairly strict rules here about bag sizes and not being allowed any outside food. You can walk all the way around so we went in at the entrance to the shop. It’s really nice inside and they had a couple of really cute vinylmation models.

We grabbed a snack and drinks before it started.
We shared a 3 piece chicken tenders - it was fine and $12 which wasn’t crazy priced. A Pepsi was $5. Beer ranged in price but about $10 a time.

We sat at the window and admired the view; you could see the football stadium. Ds and Dh were happy as Larry!

Our seats were fairly high up but we had a great view.

The game itself was entertaining but it was all the time outs and breaks that really added to the entertainment factor with all sorts of things going on, blimps, mascot, t-shirt cannons and dancers.

We also had mini pretzel dogs - 4 for $7.50 at one of the breaks.

Orlando won 127-117. I'd absolutely go back again.

There was a designated pick up area after the game in between the Amway and Church Street Station. When we first arrived, it was heaving and there must have been an Uber surge as it was quoting $39, we decided to give it 5-10 minutes as the area was busy and there were police around dealing with traffic etc. I checked again and it was up at $42, by this point I was thinking maybe we should just pay that. I waited a couple of minutes, checked again and it was $13. The area still had plenty of people waiting so we were not waiting long.

We really fancied heading to Strong Water Tavern at Sapphire Falls for drinks and food when we got back. Bar 17 was closed again for a private event. Ds wasn’t keen but luckily our Uber driver dropped us off there rather than Aventura, and as we were there anyway… We also agreed to let Ds play Fifa on his phone until his food arrived which kept him happy.
The bar was a little busy but we got a table right away.

Ds had not really wanted to go anywhere but he relented when we agreed he could play on his phone for a bit.

Ds had a Fanta, DH had a beer and I had a cocktail (Last Typhoon - $12
Don Q Anejo, Pineapple, Passion Fruit, Grapefruit)

For food we ordered 4 small plates and a portion of coconut rice.

We had the chicken curry with mango chutney. This was great, really tasty. The sauce was absolutely gorgeous.

The lamb meatballs. These were amazing. So full of flavour and just melted in the mouth.

The chargrilled octopus- fantastic flavours.

Croquettes with chorizo, chicken etc. Good but not as good as everything else.

None of the menus online are the same as what we had.

The food was amazing and just perfect for last night. Nice surroundings and a good server. We have had 2 great dining experiences at Sapphire falls this week.

Dh and I had 2 drinks each so a bit pricey.

We walked back across to Aventura just before 1am and all the other half drunk conference people were coming the other way from Bar 17.

[Tinkermom]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the game, we’ve been a few times over the years and have always found it great fun.

[mick]

A good day glad you enjoyed the game

Joan

[Floridadreams]

Another great day. I did not know about the fountain - probably a good thing as the competition would have been so much of a draw that we wouldn't have got much else done!
I also did not realise that touring plans had more realistic wait times than Universal themselves. I wish we'd have known that the day we were there without express passes as we missed a go on Men in Black as the wait time was around half an hour then and we did have a score to settle there!

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Tinkermom

Glad to hear you enjoyed the game, we’ve been a few times over the years and have always found it great fun.

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It was so much fun, I'd go back if we are there again during the basketball season.

Originally Posted by mick

A good day glad you enjoyed the game

Joan

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Thanks, it was great. Way more enertaining than I thought it would be.

Originally Posted by Floridadreams

Another great day. I did not know about the fountain - probably a good thing as the competition would have been so much of a draw that we wouldn't have got much else done!
I also did not realise that touring plans had more realistic wait times than Universal themselves. I wish we'd have known that the day we were there without express passes as we missed a go on Men in Black as the wait time was around half an hour then and we did have a score to settle there!

See more...

You can save the fountain for the next time, just watch where you stand as the water can hit you in an area that can look quite embarassing .
Touring plans have an app called lines if you have the subscription, I've always found it pretty reliable. I've only ever used Touring Plans to plan once and that was when we went over Christmas, I use this a lot though. It was great for Hagrids as well.

[Goldia]

A brilliant shopping food haul, it's nice that you got to relax a bit, you were on holiday after all! The evening at the Basketball sounds really entertaining and great fun.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Goldia

A brilliant shopping food haul, it's nice that you got to relax a bit, you were on holiday after all! The evening at the Basketball sounds really entertaining and great fun.

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Thanks, I’d really recommend the basketball.

I know right, I sometimes struggle to remember we don’t need to pack every hour with park time.