Mardi Gras Madness - A week at Universal - Feb 2020 - Day 5 - I feel the need…the need for beads!

[Rescuer]

Mardi Gras Madness - A week at Universal - Feb 2020 - Day 5 - I feel the need…the need for beads! 13.2.20

The Index is here

Yet again we were later than we had actually planned, lazy people! We had booked Royal Pacific tonight because we were not sure how much we would feel the need for express pass. It was $199 for the annual passholder rate plus taxes. Everything I looked at predicted that crowd levels would rise towards the weekend, which they did but in hindsight we’d have been fine without this.

Set for a hot day.

We packed up a couple of backpacks and went off via Sapphire Falls. There is an attaching walkway between Sapphire Falls and RPR and all the times we used this at Easter it was either super early or super late. It cuts right through both conference areas and both had conferences on, so maybe not the best as we stood out like sore thumbs in our shorts and t-shirts compared to all the business wear…. To be fair there were no signs advising we couldn’t go that way, not sure I’d use that route again between 9-4.

The refurb of the lobby area in RPR was getting done the last time we were there but is all finished now. It was looking good, the grab and go bit looks good as does the sushi bit and the bar.

9.45 when we checked in, so much for getting to the parks for opening. The lady checking us in was lovely, we got our printed room keys for express and dropped our bags off at bell services. I’d put in a request for tower 3 as I think its most convenient and they don’t have pet rooms there.

We had just missed a boat so we walked to the parks. It was due to be another glorious day with a high of 31 but was the perfect temperature this morning for a stroll. We got in about 10.15 so not too bad really. We checked out the wait times, Despicable Me express pass looked long so we skipped it but to be honest now its no longer 3d I’m not quite as fussed about doing it. We will undoubtedly try it in the summer when we have express for longer.

We walked up through Hollywood and they had a few characters out. Dh and I stopped for a chat with Scooby and Shaggy and had a conversation about haggis, deep fried mars bars and the Loch Ness Monster. Ds refused to join us as he worries what to say to the characters who might initiate a conversation.

As we were passing the Dark Room we nipped in and did the photos in there, I had wanted the special Mardi Gras one but they’d swapped it out for a Valentines one. I wasn’t impressed.

They had been having a mini character parade, meet thing at the junction, these are great as there’s normally a fair few characters and this area of the park is never crazy busy. We met Squidward and further on the penguins of Madagascar.

We were heading for ET and stopped in to meet Patrick on the way.

Bet you are thinking those express passes are being used well.

ET was surprisingly a 15-minute wait, express was walk on. We still feel we have to ride this at least once a holiday. No toy closet or bike photos afterwards this time though.

A wee blue raspberry icee for the cup and we continued strolling up towards the Simpson’s.

I really like all the colours and theming here, the ride is ok but is another ride that always seems to take ages these days.

They never seem to use all the ramps anymore. Ds really likes it though so we waited and I don’t think it took that long really.

We carried on round to MIB, you know we love this and it was super quiet in the express pass line, pretty much walk on so we did it twice. Ds and Dh were the winners this time. Well I need to let them win sometimes or they’d refuse to ride with me. I was disappointed that they had no MIB Frank dog suits, I really wanted to buy one for Noodles.

Next up we headed round into Diagon Alley, this was obviously where most the people were although I’ve seen it way busier. We had a wander, watched the dragon and had a seat on the stairs to do a little people watch and finish our juice.

Gringotts was a 45minute wait and the lockers were crazy as always, of course my new snazzy Harry Potter bum bag could stay on so Dh was the only person who had anything to put in the lockers. The express pass line was totally empty, we let the people behind us go ahead so we could take some photos but then they stopped for photos as well.

We were fairly starving now so we decided to go to Lombards for food. We had about a 10-minute wait for a table.

We’ve always had decent meals in here and I’m not the biggest fan of quick service inside the parks and depending on what you have its not always that much more expensive.

For drinks we had frozen non-alcoholic pina coladas for ds and I. Dh had a strawberry milkshake.
All were great.

Sesame seed bread and butter - nice.

Our server was lovely.

I had the Cesar salad with blackened salmon, I loved this as did ds who kept trying to eat off my plate.

Dh had the fish and chips and said it was really good.

Ds had the fisherman’s basket with fish, squid and shrimp. He enjoyed it.

Good service, lovely air conditioning and good food.

We got a text while we were at lunch to say our room was ready, we decided we would do another couple of things before heading back to the hotel.

Ds wanted to go to the APH lounge to see if he could get something new to wear, he really liked a long sleeved top thing but since he was spending his own money he decided it was too much and bought a really nice Mardi Gras top to wear later this evening.

Next up was the Mummy, again walk on with express pass. We then wandered round to Jimmy Fallon as this had been express pass only every time, I had checked over the last few days. The Mardi Gras people were just coming out.

I really like Jimmy Fallon and we were lucky today as The Ragtime Gals and Hash Tag the Panda came out while we were waiting.

Ds and Dh decided to go Rip Ride but I gave it a miss, I don’t mind it but I need to be in the mood so I sat in front of the stage with a pina colada icee and waited on them. I noticed it stopped for a bit and then running empty. I’d have left the line but ds and dh decided still to ride and Dh came back by himself half an hour later saying he’d ridden once but ds was going to ride again by himself. Thankfully it didn’t have any more problems and ds was back 10 minutes later.

Of course neither of them had managed to get the code for the photos even though they have seen me do it plenty they couldn’t figure out how to do it. Sigh…

Hungry again, as pre-teen boys always seem to be, we decided to have a couple of Mardi Gras snacks before heading to RPR. We went with Gator bites - nice but small portion.

Another twisted tater which are the firm favourite of DS.

A king cake, we loved this, who knew, soft, a little warm and sweet and cinnamony.

We also filled the mug with another pina colada icee. Love the refillable mug!

I tried the virtual line for the parade a couple of times while we were sitting down but I never really expected to get anything and considering we had ridden in the parade twice but were still to see it, tonight seemed like a good option to watch it.

We left the park about 4.40pm and walked back to RPR. We collected our bags and were up and settled in our room by 5.10pm. I’d asked for tower 3 and a high floor and we got both of these requests. I know it doesn’t matter much for 1 night but I do like tower 3 as its so easy for everything and well away from the pet tower, dh has quite a few allergies so it’s best to avoid that. Yes, I know we now have a dog but he’s not allergic to her as she is a hairless Chinese crested, so hardly any fur!

The room was nice, I’m not sure I like it that much more than Aventura though although it does have a little more space and a few more little luxurious touches.

As usual we had not left ourselves quite enough time for a decent rest but we had a wee chance to put our feet up.

[Rescuer]

Part 2 Photo overload

Once we were ready we headed back out again, there was no boat waiting or coming that we could see so we walked back into the parks. We headed straight for Universal and decided to watch the parade from round beside the lake.

Oh my, I thought it would be ok but it was brilliant to watch and we caught loads of beads. Great fun, maybe not quite as good as riding in the parade but we loved it.

Sad but I was amazed at how quickly everything is tidied away. We crossed over and decided to catch the last Horror Make Up Show of the night, we didn’t have too long to wait.

Ds insisted on sitting in the front row, he normally hates being picked for anything, but he was chosen as the child who threw the rock at this when we were here at Easter and he loved it. This time the funniest little girl from New York was chosen, I’m not quite sure the cast realised how young she was but she was hilarious.

Afterwards we decided to grab some more Mardi Gras snacks with our lanyard. This time we tried the jambalaya, it was good but ds makes the most amazing jambalaya so it didn’t really compare for us.

The shrimp and sausage po boy. This was really nice.

A sample size beer.

Another king cake as it was so good the first time.

We were shattered, maybe all those beads were weighing us down, lol. We left at 8pm as the park was closing and swished those beads all the way to Breadbox.

The Mardi Gras snacks were good but not quite enough to do us for the night. We had the pastrami melt with an extra portion of tater tots. A beer and a Diet Coke.

All good and just the right amount of food shared between the 3 of us.

We waddled back to the hotel weighed down with 150 sets of beads between the 3 of us.

Ds and Dh decided to catch the last half hour of the pool, I was shattered so off they went to play volleyball while I ordered and counted all my beads, yes I know, a bit weird! I don’t have any pictures of their pool time but I do have pictures of the sorted bead collection.

[Goldia]

That was a great day. You read my mind as I was just thinking that paying for RPR and the express passes to go and meet some characters didn't seem worth it! Still, you had a fun day doing what you wanted and having fun. That's the important thing.

Look at all those beads on the bed! wow

[katnav]

Sounds like a great day. The sesame seed bread looks yummy!

Breadbox also looks good, it was on my list for last time but never made it so must go next time!

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Goldia

That was a great day. You read my mind as I was just thinking that paying for RPR and the express passes to go and meet some characters didn't seem worth it! Still, you had a fun day doing what you wanted and having fun. That's the important thing.

Look at all those beads on the bed! wow

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Thanks. It seemed like a good idea at the time to book RPR. At least it was not crazily priced as it was under $200 with the annual pass rate. In hindsight when we came back I thought it was a bit of a waste but since cancelling our week of express pass at RPR for the summer I’m now thinking I’d probably have regretted not doing it 😂😂😂 never happy!

We actually did a few rides 😂 ET, Simpson’s, MIB x2, Gringotts, Mummy, Jimmy Fallon and Rip Ride, at least it meant as you say we got to do what we wanted.

The bead collecting was fun. I took loads into school and we did some cooperative working using them to create creatures and shapes. They added a fair bit of weight to the bags. I had 2 packing cubes full by the time we were done 😳

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by katnav

Sounds like a great day. The sesame seed bread looks yummy!

Breadbox also looks good, it was on my list for last time but never made it so must go next time!

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Thanks. A fellow bread lover😂. You’d really like Breadbox then. I love their sandwiches. During lock down I’ve been trying to recreate them with Asda extra special super seeded bread and my George foreman😂 they are not the same but not too bad an effort.

[flo-tinka]

Thanks for sharing. So many beads!
Bread Box does look good for lighter meal.
Riding in floats: is that only possible for Passholders?

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by flo-tinka

Thanks for sharing. So many beads!
Bread Box does look good for lighter meal.
Riding in floats: is that only possible for Passholders?

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Thanks for reading.

No not just for Passholders. We applied as Passholders before the trip and were selected for day 1. The other two days we used the app. They opened slots at some point during the day and if you timed it right you could get a space that way. Both days we were lucky it was after 3 that slots appeared and they seemed to release some every so often between then and the time they wanted you to check in.

It was brilliant fun and well worth stalking the app for a little time.