Today we are going to Universal Studios.
We grabbed a quick, light breakfast at the resort's coffee shop, Cafe Espresso.
$11 for a bagel, a muffin, one pastry and one cup of coffee. I miss
eating in the room at the villas! ;-) It was very nice sitting
outside waiting for the boat, and looked to be both another nice day and
another HOT day.
Took a few more pictures while walking over to the pier, and then rode
a full boat to Citywalk (a few people were turned away - they won't allow
you to stand on the boats).
We zipped right into Universal Studios with our new photo ID passes, and
a guard does a quick check of any bags after you enter the gate. I
like Disney's bag check better. Universal's method could really back up the
lines.
A carload of characters came up the street just as we entered the park.
Sponge Bob and Shrek were both on there, and we got pictures with both of
them. The girls love both of these characters.
We headed in the general direction of tamer kids rides, and while checking
a map (something I never do in the Disney parks) a very helpful employee
asked us if we needed help and gave us a quick park overview. I thought
this was a nice touch, and it was appreciated.
We started out going on ET, and this was a fun ride. The darker beginning
was a bit much for Maddy, but she loved it after a while. She was
still pretty leary after the 'Posieden's Fury' fiasco the day before!
:-)
On to the KidZone area which was empty. Here they have the Barney
Show, Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster, Fievel's Playland and a Curious
George Goes to Town play area. The KidZone was pretty empty and we quickly
rode the coaster several times with no wait at all. The girls loved this
ride. We walked through the Curious George area, but it is almost exclusively
a water area playground, and we didn't want the girls to get soaked.
We decided to come back wearing bathing suits after an afternoon break.
Both the Barney show and Animal Planet Live didn't start shows until later,
so we headed toward Men In Black. We went on Back to the Future first,
which neither Brinn or Madison cared for all that much. Kristen and
I thought it was pretty good though. Front of the line jumped us right
on this ride as well.
We wandered just a bit, and the first Barney show was ready to start so
we headed there. Madison LOVED this show - and Brinn liked it, but thinks
she is too old for Barney. The show was cute, with Barney, Baby Bop
and BJ in attendance. They play several songs all parents learn to
dread, and then Barney walks around and quickly greets all the kids (no posing
for pictures or autographs though). We spent some time playing in the
Barney play area outside the show until it was time for Animal Planet Live.
This was a very good show, and we all enjoyed it quite a bit.
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