We all got dressed and ready to go out and made our way to Sizzlers on the 192. We pulled up at about 10:40am and were a bit worried that there would be anything left as breakfast finished at 11am. We needn’t have worried though as there was plenty. The ‘rope sausage’ became a bit of an in-joke and had Oliver in stitches every time someone said it!
Breakfast was OK. Cheap and cheerful buffet style but filled us up ready for a day at Universal. The bill for 5 adult breakfasts, 2 children’s breakfasts and beverages for all 7 of us came to $45. You can’t really argue with that can you?
We rocked up at Universal at about 12:35pm after paying the $14 to park and parked in the Jurassic Park 404 parking lot.
We walked through City Walk and Oliver posed on the surf board for a couple of snaps.
Mum, Dad and Tracy wound up looking in a clothes shop and we arranged to meet them all at the globe when they were finished. We had a photo taken in front of it and was given a card, similar to Disney’s Photopass which we had to take to the photo shop on the way out if we wanted to purchase it. Then we walked around to the other side and found a wall to sit on and wait for them where I took a few pics..
Obligatory globe shot...
They eventually turned up at 1pm to meet us and we made our way through the entrance.
I popped into the On Location shop and bought myself a hat. My head had been getting really hot and the parting in my hair was burnt which was really sore. I look like an idiot in hats, but needs must. I was so tempted to buy Amelia a Curious George lanyard and start collecting some pins for her but I talked myself out of it and decided to wait until the next time we come to Florida when she’ll be old enough to appreciate what they are. I saw a lovely George pin aswell.
I reluctantly parted with £23.00 for the cap and we walked down Hollywood Boulevard looking at all the stars on the sidewalk. 
We spotted Scooby Doo and Shaggy and ran to have some photos taken and then Dad and I had one taken with Betty Boop. She said she loved my shirt and I was amazed that even her voice was in character! I didn’t realise what it said on my top until we got home and I looked at these photos. Thankfully neither did Paul!
Then we had a look at the film memorabilia in the Universal Orlando’s Horror Make-Up Show AND Oliver posed for more pics. As i’m sure you’ve realised by now, he Loooves having his photo taken!
Not sure what Mum, Dad, Tracy and Oliver were doing but I remember they were taking forever and Amelia was getting grumpy so I told them we’d meet them on the bench over by the lake when they’d finished. I went and got her a bottle of water and a bag of grapes which she devoured. They’re her favourite.
As we waited there was a bit of a commotion and we realised a little parade had started. It wasn’t really a parade as it was just in that one place, but all the characters from Despicable Me came out and there were loads of dancers in the street. Amelia was mesmerised.
The others met up with us and they had met a minion! Tracy was in her element. She loves the film and took Oliver to see it at the cinema when it was released. I haven’t seen it so was a bit clueless!
As we walked round a bit further we came to a stage with a load of lollypop girls dancing. There were some big yellow chicks and a rabbit.. I can only assume they’re from the film Hop? None of us have seen it so it was a bit lost on us, but we still had photos taken, as you do!
We all went on ET while Paul waited outside with Amelia. He wasn’t bothered on going on again as we went on it last time. Mum, Dad and Tracy enjoyed it and Oliver and I was both in agreement that it seemed different to last time. There were lots of bits I didn’t remember.
We made our way to Fievel’s Playland and let Amelia run around and burn off some energy. She went on a bouncy castle type thing and made friends with a little girl who was quite a bit older than her. They were jumping together and Amelia kept pulling her up when she fell down and was laughing her socks off. She has such a funny little laugh and I love hearing it as at one point we thought she never would. It was months until she learnt how. She used to do silent laughs! She went on the slides and played in the ball pit until some bright spark American kid (who was too old to be in there I might add) lost his cell phone amongst the balls and everyone had to get out so they could find it.
I almost burst with excitement when I saw the Curious George Goes to Town area. Amelia LOVES Curious George. She watches the same episodes we have recorded on our Sky box everyday and it was one of her first words. She calls him “Geo-George”. I couldn’t wait to take her in there. I went and grabbed everyone and we took her in. She looked at the books and tried to turn the pages, but of course they don’t turn.
Oliver ran off and got soaked in the falling buckets of water and looked around the play area inside. We got talking to another English couple whose Daughter was also called Amelia.
I was getting really annoyed by some more American kids who kept putting their hands on the jets of water to aim it at us which kept getting my camera wet. I was NOT impressed. They also pushed Amelia off the car when she tried to get in. Apparently their parents didn’t give a hoot as they didn’t say anything to them.
We left Curious George and went on to look in the Barney shop. Amelia isn’t familiar with Barney. Is it even on over here anymore? We noticed there was a play area out the back but you weren’t allowed to take strollers in (not very well thought out). Dad and Tracy went in with Oliver and Amelia and I was left waiting outside with Mum, Paul and the buggy. We asked her very nicely if she would mind looking after the kids while Paul and I went off and went on some rides. Paul really wanted to go on Revenge of the Mummy and Hulk at IOA. They’re his two favourite rides and I hadn’t been on either of them before. We didn’t know if we’d have enough time to go to IOA, but if we did I wanted to go on Forbidden Journey too!
So we made our way over to the other side of the park, put our stuff in a locker and queued up for 45 minutes for The Mummy. My back was killing me having to stand in line that long. The theming was good, especially the guy scaring all the guests in line by staring them out and jumping out on them. I’m glad he didn’t pick me to freak out! I was a little apprehensive the whole time we waited as I didn’t know what to expect and Paul wouldn’t tell me what the ride was like. I was glad I went on it though. It was really good. I would have liked to go on it a second time now I know what to expect!
We retrieved the stuff from our lockers and decided to go on Twister which was a walk on. It was the same as I remember, only without the added sound effects of Oliver crying like last time!
We came out into the shop and I was in awe of all the Wizard of Oz merchandise as it’s my favourite film. If I had the money I would have bought every single thing in there! Unfortunately I didn’t buy anything though. I left my camera on the back of the buggy with Mum and Dad, so the following photos were taken on my phone so they’re not very good quality.
I love the T-shirts in that last pic. They were pretty expensive though.
As we walked round a bit further we came to a stage with a load of lollypop girls dancing. There were some big yellow chicks and a rabbit.. I can only assume they’re from the film Hop? None of us have seen it so it was a bit lost on us, but we still had photos taken, as you do!
We all went on ET while Paul waited outside with Amelia. He wasn’t bothered on going on again as we went on it last time. Mum, Dad and Tracy enjoyed it and Oliver and I was both in agreement that it seemed different to last time. There were lots of bits I didn’t remember.
We made our way to Fievel’s Playland and let Amelia run around and burn off some energy. She went on a bouncy castle type thing and made friends with a little girl who was quite a bit older than her. They were jumping together and Amelia kept pulling her up when she fell down and was laughing her socks off. She has such a funny little laugh and I love hearing it as at one point we thought she never would. It was months until she learnt how. She used to do silent laughs! She went on the slides and played in the ball pit until some bright spark American kid (who was too old to be in there I might add) lost his cell phone amongst the balls and everyone had to get out so they could find it.
I almost burst with excitement when I saw the Curious George Goes to Town area. Amelia LOVES Curious George. She watches the same episodes we have recorded on our Sky box everyday and it was one of her first words. She calls him “Geo-George”. I couldn’t wait to take her in there. I went and grabbed everyone and we took her in. She looked at the books and tried to turn the pages, but of course they don’t turn.
Oliver ran off and got soaked in the falling buckets of water and looked around the play area inside. We got talking to another English couple whose Daughter was also called Amelia.
I was getting really annoyed by some more American kids who kept putting their hands on the jets of water to aim it at us which kept getting my camera wet. I was NOT impressed. They also pushed Amelia off the car when she tried to get in. Apparently their parents didn’t give a hoot as they didn’t say anything to them.
We left Curious George and went on to look in the Barney shop. Amelia isn’t familiar with Barney. Is it even on over here anymore? We noticed there was a play area out the back but you weren’t allowed to take strollers in (not very well thought out). Dad and Tracy went in with Oliver and Amelia and I was left waiting outside with Mum, Paul and the buggy. We asked her very nicely if she would mind looking after the kids while Paul and I went off and went on some rides. Paul really wanted to go on Revenge of the Mummy and Hulk at IOA. They’re his two favourite rides and I hadn’t been on either of them before. We didn’t know if we’d have enough time to go to IOA, but if we did I wanted to go on Forbidden Journey too!
So we made our way over to the other side of the park, put our stuff in a locker and queued up for 45 minutes for The Mummy. My back was killing me having to stand in line that long. The theming was good, especially the guy scaring all the guests in line by staring them out and jumping out on them. I’m glad he didn’t pick me to freak out! I was a little apprehensive the whole time we waited as I didn’t know what to expect and Paul wouldn’t tell me what the ride was like. I was glad I went on it though. It was really good. I would have liked to go on it a second time now I know what to expect!
We retrieved the stuff from our lockers and decided to go on Twister which was a walk on. It was the same as I remember, only without the added sound effects of Oliver crying like last time!
We came out into the shop and I was in awe of all the Wizard of Oz merchandise as it’s my favourite film. If I had the money I would have bought every single thing in there! Unfortunately I didn’t buy anything though.
I left my camera on the back of the buggy with Mum and Dad, so the following photos were taken on my phone so they’re not very good quality.I love the T-shirts in that last pic. They were pretty expensive though.
We went back outside into the burning heat of the sun and they had shut the road off to make way for the Universal Superstar Parade. Time was getting on now and we realised we wouldn’t have enough time to go to IOA so we sat on the kerb and I text Tracy telling her to meet us there. We sat and people watched for a bit and smiled to ourselves as several groups of people got told off by a cast member for walking through the road which he’s spent so long to clear.
The parade started and it was much the same as the despicable me show we’d watched this morning but with the added addition of Spongebob, Hop, Dora the Explorer and Diego.
The parade started and it was much the same as the despicable me show we’d watched this morning but with the added addition of Spongebob, Hop, Dora the Explorer and Diego.
The others arrived when the parade had finished and they said they didn’t even know it was on! They didn’t see it as they walked over to us. They had walked around all the bits we missed, such as The Simpsons ride, Disaster and Beetlejuice but they didn’t do any rides. Here’s a few photos they took...
Since we arrived in Orlando my Dad kept saying he wanted to get a turkey leg. He took a photo of this cart, but never actually bought one. Everywhere we went he kept saying “Nah, I won’t get one yet, but I’ll have one before the end of the holiday”
We decided we’d make a move and headed towards the exit. I went in one last shop, looking for some Curious George merchandise but nowhere had had any all day and this shop was no exception.
The others waitied outside while I popped back into On Location to purchase the photo we had taken this morning and get some stamps for my postcards which I still hadn’t managed to post. Other than Amelia, the photo came out quite well. I paid the extra $2 for the Perspex frame.
I went over to the stamp machine and half way through putting the money in, I spotted Curious George and the Man in the yellow hat outside standing with Amelia! I was gutted that I was missing it and quickly got my stamps and ran outside. She was absolutely besotted with George! They spent ages with her which was so nice and I got tonnes of photos.
Dad had a good chat with “Ted” and he told him to stick around afterwards as Homer would be coming out shortly.
When it was time to let someone else have their turn of meeting George, Amelia stared at him over Paul’s shoulder and wouldn’t take her eyes off him. It was so sweet. She actually met her idol!
We waited around for a bit until we eventually saw Homer, but he seemed to do a detour and walk around rather than come to the spot we were told to wait. He had a little wander and then he did come over to us and Dad met HIS idol!
Mum looks like she’s grabbing Homer’s bum in this pic and it always makes me laugh!
Now this is the part of my trip report that I have well and truly bodged up. I wrote on Day 4 that we went to Appleby’s for dinner, but looking back I realise it was actually today.
Not sure whether to change it now that everyone’s already read day 4. I think I will just keep it as it is on here and change it over on my Disney blog as i’ve been updating in there also.Here’s the one photo that we took between us... Tracy’s mozzarella sticks!
The way how I remembered we went to Appleby’s tonight was when I looked back at the photos at what Amelia was wearing. When we had finished eating and was waiting for the bill, Amelia had really bad diarrhoea, and I mean REALLY bad; To the point where I had to change her whole outfit. Luckily for me I had a spare change of clothes. I think it may have been all the grapes she was eating earlier this afternoon! It was so embarrassing changing her nappy as there was another lady waiting to change her baby. I felt so guilty!
Anyway, we went to Publix on the way home and managed to spend $125 between us. I got some more postcards, some nail varnish remover to remove my chipped toenail polish, some nappies and wipes and some Solarcaine spray for my sun burn. My shoulders were now literally blistering. It was awful; the worst I have ever been sunburned. The spray was brilliant and really cooled it down. I also bought some Johnson’s sudzing soap and some baby wash in fragrances that you can’t get in the UK and a Squiddy to use in the pool. Those of you who read Wizzo’s last trip report will know what this is. He put a funky video on his report, but you’ll have to make do with a brief explanation from me as i’m not that clever! Basically it’s like a battery powered squid that swims round and around the pool/bath on its own accord.
We headed back to the villa and I bathed Amelia and got her ready for bed. She’s taken to only going to sleep with me laying on the bed next to her, which I wouldn’t normally do at home, but I know she must have been unsettled staying in a strange place so I made an exception. I gave her some milk and she was well away within minutes.
I uploaded today’s photos to my laptop and we watched the weather and had some tea and crispy crème donuts from Publix and went to bed shortly after.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.