Day 7 - Universal Studios

[**Leigh_11_22**]

Here is the link for my pre-trip report and previous days.

Index - Pre-trip report and previous days

We were all up nice and early today. We needed enough time for Tom to call Caxton FX before we left. He spoke to somebody who basically told him that each card had its own pin . I hadn't realised at all and had been using the same pin on both therefore blocking them! Oh well we got new pins sorted and surprisingly still made it out on time.



It was 7am and we were heading up to universal studios. We parked up in cat in the hat and followed the walkways down to the park. How long does it take to get from the car parks here!?



We called in at Starbucks on the way. We had coffees and frappaccino’s to go. I'd nipped into Cinnabon while they ordered. Yum! I prefer them cold though, they don't seem as cinnamon-y?! Aaron's drink turned out to have been made with coffee so he was disappointed but we had walked on by the time he realised.







We had paper tickets from Virgin so we got into the tickets queue to get these swapped over. It seemed to take ages to get to the front of the queue! The CM then promptly asked for Toms ID, which he hadn't brought with him! Great! I hadn't even thought about it earlier on. Thankfully Samantha had hers and the CM very kindly allowed us to use that, but with a stern look :angry:

We were in the park by 8:10 and headed straight onto the despicable me ride with a 10 minute wait. We are big minion fans (along with the rest of the world) and absolutely loved the ride. There was a minion in the room at the end so we had a dance and some photos! We looked in the shop and tried on the silly hats!



We headed over to Transformers but it had gone tech. We queued for bumblebees meet and greet while we were here. Aaron looooves transformers so was very happy here!







Next up was twister. I'd read that this was a bit rubbish but we decided to give it a go anyway. For some reason this ride really didn't sit well with Aaron and he was really upset watching the videos of people's houses and all the damage that was caused!

He was soon cheered up as I told him we were going on the Mummy ride. I loved the theming here, it was so like the film.



I really enjoyed it. I loved the heat from the fire! Aaron seemed a bit unsure at first when I asked if he'd enjoyed it but decided that he had eventually!



We moved on and Transformers was running again so we queued for this, 20mins. What can I say! It's sooo good. This was the standout ride from the holiday and the one that we constantly talk about. Optimus prime was waiting outside so we had photos with him. He's Aaron's favourite



Next up was E.T. This is so outdated now even to us who grew up with it and Aaron had no clue what it was as he's never seen it! We enjoyed it for what it was though.





We wandered a bit and got a coke slush for Aaron which he loved and a refillable coke, which was very handy as we used the next week too.



As we left ET we were standing around deciding what to do next when curious George walks past! Aaron was so excited so we followed him down to his area to meet him. After a minute the CM noticed us following and asked George if he would stop to have some pictures taken with us. He said yes! He was lovely and Aaron was enthralled. He made a fuss of him and we sent a photo to our nephew George back at home as he loves him too.





We spent some time in the Simpsons area next. Aaron and I rode the rubbish swirl ride while Sam and Tom had a beer, I can't remember what it was called! We all rode the Simpsons ride together, this was ok I thought, but tom wasn't convinced! I think he was spoilt by transformers!









We did MIB next. The queue took a bit longer than expected as they put more cars on the track. We enjoyed this one, I won thanks to a Dibb trick to press the red button when told! I was determined to beat tom on this as I never win lol

We stopped for dinner soon after. Sam and Aaron got a hot dog each (any excuse from Aaron to have mustard ) Tom had a turkey leg and I just picked at theirs and had a drink.



We had done pretty much all we wanted to today, so headed out. At the last minute we decided to split up and Sam and tom did RRR while it had a short queue. I told Aaron that we could have one more go on anything he wanted while they rode, he chose the mummy which I was very happy with! He was a tiny bit apprehensive in the queue area but was desperate to ride again. We ended up with a 30 minute wait. He loved it this time!



It was really hot now (1pm) so we got some slush - blue raspberry - while we waited for Tom and Sam. It was getting really busy too, it had been so worth getting up early to beat the crowds. We waited for no more than 15/20 minutes all morning bar the last ride on the mummy. All together again now and we headed out and back to the car.

Once in the car Aaron had a sleep. This was a rarity as he fought sleep most of the time that we were there. We nipped home for a freshen up before we headed out to the premium outlets so that tom could get his gym gear! Samantha and Aaron decided to give it a miss and stayed at the villa for a best friend pool afternoon! They ended up having a great time and played games and watched films too

I was really bored at the outlets as I'm not in to brand names at all and obviously the sports shops didn't appeal! Tom however was in heaven! He got a load of stuff that he can't get hold of over here and the prices were so much cheaper. He got two pairs of pants, a cap, two under armour tops, three shorts, three Reebok tshirts, and some crossfit stuff. I've no idea what any of this is but he assures me that it was half of the price of it at home.

I picked up a pair of running trainers to wear while we were on holiday. $48. We had some ice cream to cool down as it was sooo hot here. We just took a leisurely stroll and window shopped for a while with our ice creams.

We called in at the Disney outlet again to see if there was anything we could get cheaper than the parks. I got some pins for Aaron and a new lanyard which was extra wide. I also got another Christmas bauble, a Minnie head one, it's red and glittery and I love it!

For the first week I had been using a kids Mario wallet which was falling apart as I didn't have a purse small enough to fit in my bumbag! While we were here though I found a lovely little Minnie Mouse purse so I was very happy. I bought some tea towels too which were very reasonably priced. I was happy now too We went back to the car now as we had had our fill of shopping for the day.

The traffic was really bad on the i4 so it took us longer to get home than usual. Sam and Aaron were ready to go out for tea so we called ahead to mannys chophouse and set off. Aaron told us rubbish jokes for the whole journey which became a bit of a tradition

We arrived and struggled to find a parking space! There was still a 30 minute wait for the table even with calling ahead!

Tom went to the bar while we waited. We had; a frozen strawberry daiquiri for me, strawberry shortbread cocktail for Sam, strawberry milkshake for Aaron and tom had a HUGE beer!

We eventually got seated and had a lovely booth. We ordered with Our waitress and switched to wine now Well it was happy hour!







Once we had poured over the menu we ordered our food. We had the endless salad and bread rolls. OMG how can salad be so good? We absolutely loved it! So so delicious mmmmmm. I had beef fajitas for my main, they were nice but were far too much after all of that salad! Sam had pork steak with Apple sauce, she loved it but only managed one! Tom had steak and stuffed flounder, he loved it. Aaron had a burger which didn't overly love. We got a takeaway box for mine and Sams!





I had a piña colada and Sam had more wine. We got a key lime pie to share for me and Sam. So delicious. I wish we did key lime pie more over here. Aaron didn't want a full size dessert and the waitress offered to make a small size sundae and told him that it was on her! How nice of her



Got the bill and it was a shocking $82! How cheap! We had so much, and the quality was really good too. I could happily have the endless salad everyday.

Back to the villa now and Aaron put sun cream on tom because he is so helpful lol I don't think tom was too impressed. It was straight to bed for me and Sam which was nothing to do with the happy hour wine!

[mick]

Another good day as you say the salad at Manny's is delicious


Joan

[Mortimer Mouse]

Well apart from preferring my Cinnabons' hot , what a good day you had.
Love, love Mannys too.

Thanks for sharing.

[Redrach1903]

Another fun filled day! Aaron is such a wee thrill seeker!

Oh I love the Disney outlet! Thumbs up!

Manny's looked great!
Xx