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Old 7 Mar 15, 08:03 PM  
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gtyrel10
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Day 7 - 11/11/14 The Birthday Tour hits London!

Hi Guys and Gals,

So you left us yesterday falling asleep in our giant comfy bed at Portofino Bay, well we had an amazing sleep and as such ended up having a rather lazy start! We were up and about by 7:45am and Maurice took himself off to Starbucks for a take away coffee and pastry. I munched on a bit of my leftover Pecanabon and started packing up the room as it was check out time.





Such an amazing hotel!

This was a bit of a faff because of the location of our room but we basically had to walk away from the boat dock into the main building check out then come all the way back to the boat dock. Maurice put the cases in the car and we managed to get on a boat quickly and arrived at Universal for 8:30am. Even giving time for some cheesy photos!









Today was Diagon Alley day and since Maurice hadn’t loved Gringotts we weren’t planning on riding it again. In retrospect I really regret that decision as there was no queue and I think the non-existent queue and doing it a second time around might have made us like it more. But there you have it. But since we weren’t in rush we took our time and got some photos from the photographers.





Plus I got some of Despicable Me, the barriers were up as it wasn’t open yet. Then a few other pictures of the nice empty park.







We got round to London in no time and I just spent a good bit of time looking round “London”. I know everyone says it but the theming is just brilliant. Last year I took my brother to London to visit the Harry Potter Studios so seeing Kings Cross looking so realistic (if a bit smaller) was fab. I don’t seem to have many photos and I think this was because I was filming a lot as well, its hard to do both! Maurice doesn’t take photos or film stuff so I was on my own with this one.







Anyway off through the wall to Diagon Alley, eek its so amazing in here I love it. By this point in the holiday Maurice work emails were coming in non stop and the free wifi meant he was regularly able to check them. On our other days we had left his phone in the safe but obviously since we had checked out he had it with him. So we had a wee seat to let him catch up on things and I went and got myself a Butterbeer in the souvenir cup ($11.71 incl tax). It is soo tasty, I can’t decide which I like better frozen or normal I think I may equally love them both.













We had a good look around not really wanting to do anything specific just look at all the details. I had a wander into the Gringotts Money Exchange the technology they are using on the Goblins is fantastic. But because I was filming I had given Maurice my Butterbeer cup needless to say he got spoken to and told to be careful his face was a picture.







Since I was still drinking my Butterbeer I had the snack guilt’s again and didn’t buy some ice cream (yip another massive regret!).

I popped into a few shops and picked up some more HP goodies.

These fab Gryffindor envelopes, not sure what I will use them for but it will be special events only ($12.95)



Gryffindor mini notebooks, these were a little pack of two so perfect for giving one to our nephew and one to my brother ($8.95)



Then, I love this, my Gryffindor school Notebook ($14.95)



Finally 2 of these Hogwarts desk notepads ($12.95).



It all came to $66.83 incl tax. I totally can’t bring myself to use any of it, hopefully once I know we are going back I might just be able to use them haha!

By this point it was now 9:20 and I was happy knowing we had covered off all of Diagon Alley, Gringotts was only a 20minute queue but we still decided not to ride (you silly Gemma and Maurice of 2014! ).

I did a few more shops on the way out including the fantastic Weasley Wizarding wheeze. We had a bit of a funny interaction with one of the staff in here. I was looking about and Maurice picked up the Skiving Snackbox, reads out the name and says why on earth do they have this Americans wont have a clue what skiving is. So I tell him that its from the book the skiving snack box is an item the brothers sell in the book. At this moment the witch working the shop (a young girl maybe 23/24) looks at him and says yes its in the book. Maurice then looks at her and says ok what is skiving, she just stares blankly back at him and goes “actually I’ve no idea” so he tells her that its cutting class. At this point this poor girl has a total “AHHH” moment then declares how the whole thing makes much more sense now and thanks Maurice for his translation. It was so funny but also so strange that they have made all this stuff and there must be loads of people buying it because its from the book but not actually understanding what on earth it is.

Anyway all done with Diagon Alley we decide to head over the wee bridge to MIB.



We store everything in the lockers. I must say the locker thing confused me as I cant see why its so wild that your stuff needs to be in a locker? MIB was empty so we just walk round the queue looking at all the cool theming, I really love Universal and all their little themed areas and this bit is no different. As we walk round the queue I spot Dibber Gill and her husband Peter, but they are locked, loaded and sent on their journey before we have even made it to the loading bay. I did actually wave and Maurice pointed out no one could actually see me. I have never been on this before and it was good fun, Maurice actually got into it which was good (he hated Buzz Lightyear when we did it in DLP, but this obviously was more fun for him). Luckily for me he was still utterly rubbish, sadly I can’t find our ride photo and because I had locked the camera in the locker I couldn’t take a picture of the score.

Up next was Springfield! I was so excited about visiting here, I had been on the Simpsons ride in California way back in 2009 and loved it and the whole area so I was looking forward to this place along with our planned Krusty Burger Lunch! As it was so early and still really quiet we went straight on the Simpsons ride, we got the back row (I had only ever been in the front row before and it is much better) and the ride was amazing. Maurice was again hilarious pretty much laughing and screaming the whole time. This was yet again declared another amazing ride (we can see he is loving Universal way more than Disney!).



We noticed the Simpsons sofa and as it was totally empty we decided to get the photos taken. They turned out not bad, and the guy doing the pictures we really nice.







After the pictures we spotted these two guys coming out, they each had a bit of a fight over who got me, which had Maurice laughing so much. In the end Krusty won hence Bobs angry hands.




I then sent Maurice to pick up the payphone; I love all these little daft things in the park. As Maurice will start off totally confused about why I am telling him to pick up a payphone then once he does it he just finds it brilliant.



We had a bit of a wander about taking lots of photos, but with the park being nice and quiet and not being in HP as long as I thought we would we were far to early for lunch (i think it was about 10:45am) the Fast Food boulevard wasn’t even open yet so I gave up on my Lard Lad Doughnut dream and we had a quick go on the twist and hurl.














Next up we wandered down to Terminator, now confession time. So when we visited her all those years ago when I was just 18 with my family we went into this ride, but at the moment when people and live actors came out I kinda freaked out a bit realizing that it was the whole “oh you are here for a nice thing and now its all going go wrong” scenario. I hate those type of rides, not so much hate but just in my head get scared (like Jurassic park) I know its not real I know it’s a theme park but I just cant get my brain to remember that. So I had told Maurice this and as you can imagine he was very sympathetic (he laughed!) but really wanted to go to the show. I figured as a 30 year old adult I could suck it up and just do the show.

Anyway as we were walking up we bumped into this lady, I didn’t really want a photo but just like putting Maurice in these awkward situations. Oh also it wasn’t until looking back at the picture that I realized her arm looks like Maurices haha!



T2 wasn’t due to start until 12 and with it being 11:30 now that was a bit of a wait. I suggested we head over to Shrek and get that done then come back for the 12 show. This was a big mistake; we joined the Shrek queue at 11:30 and didn’t get out the ride until 12:20. I really liked the show, as did Maurice. This show actually opened in 2003 the second time we visited and I believe we queued nearly 2 hours for it (mental looking back), it was July so was boiling hot and most of the queue was in the sun. Anyway a fun ride and our person getting the crowd ready was really into it. Since we got out of Shrek so late we had missed the 12 T2 and the next one was at 12:45. We decided to just hang about as the member of staff recommended going in at 12:35.

At this point the Sponge Bob and Despicable Me floats appeared so I got a few photos of them and watch the mini parade.







Then we headed back up and into T2 at 12:45, well obviously I wasn’t as scared as last time and stayed for the whole thing. It was really good and its cleverly done, I imagine back in 2003 it would have looked amazing but with so many other amazing 3D shows I wouldn’t rush back to do it again. Maurice really liked it, but then likes the movies.

Since it was now getting on lunchtime 1pm, I asked Maurice what he wanted to do for lunch. He clearly was getting the theme for this holiday and asked what our lunch plans were. So I mentioned it was meant to be Krusty Burger but we had walked on from all of that. Maurice, having realized I had been right with everything this whole holiday, said we should stick to the plan and make our way back to Krusty Burger so we did. We got round there and when we walked in the fast food boulevard the queue was at the door. Considering how quiet the park was this place was packed out, it must be the place to eat in US now.

In the queue we both decided we fancied the hot dogs, I cant actually remember why I choose that over the Krusty burger but hey that’s what we went for. I will say the queue moved really fast and the queue time gives you so much time to mull over all the options. The staff in here were really helpful and so nice. The lady serving us at the till was so excited we were from Britain but since we were Scottish was glad to here we had stayed part of Britain as she loved the Queen and couldn’t see why we would want to leave her. I figured Universal Studios wasn’t the place to explain that the independence being voted on wasn’t technically going to make Scotland leave the queen we would be keeping her. So I just said I know, she’s a lovely wee lady, its not like I know the ruddy queen but what else do you say?

Maurice had the Sideshow Bob Foot Long Platter with Kurly Fries



I had the Heat Lamp Dog Platter with Kurly fries



Oh and I got my Donut as well, my lovely Queen loving lady even made sure I got extra plates, napkins and knives to go with my Donut. I also got a medium sprite; this all came to $23.41. I didn’t eat this until we got back to our apartment but it was pretty good, it became my breakfast of choice over the next couple of days. I did find it a tad doughy and tend to cut it in half ditching the doughy bit at the bottom and eating the doughy bit with the icing!



The set up of this place means that once you get your food there is other staff finding you tables, so they got us a table in no time at all and we were tucking in to our food. I know this place gets hit and miss reviews but we liked it, obviously its not gourmet dining but for hotdogs and fries and some theming thrown in it was a fab lunch option! I face timed my Mum and Dad, but what with the time difference my brother was there as well. So all three of them were squished round my mums phone it was hilarious and it was as ramshackle as you would expect from my family! Anyway, we had a good chat to them then said our goodbyes and we made a plan to head onto the Simpsons again then back over the bridge to do Disaster.

Simpsons again was brilliant but back row again, boo!





We got into Disaster and just had a little wait before the next Tour/show not sure what you call it was starting. Well the girl in charge of ours was brilliant, she was funny animated and just brought the whole thing to life. Maurice was loving it and I mean loving it, he must have told me a hundred times how much fun he was having. Anyway so we get all our actors cast and go into the first part for filming this was all great, then we all get loaded into the tram. We get to the first part of the tram sequence in the underground station and from my vague memory of the California ride something doesn’t seem right. Well we then sit there and sit there and then finally the announcement comes that it has broken down. Honestly Maurice looked like a truly broken man. We got stuck on it for ages I cant remember now how long but all in I think we wasted the best part of an hour from getting into the queue to getting evacuated, the obviously gave us special express passes as we already had the FOLP. But since we really hadn’t intended on staying here till closing I wasn’t sure when we would use them.



As we walked round I suggested doing twister as it was kinda Disaster liked, this was pretty full its amazing how these old classics still get so busy. Maurice actually enjoyed this and found the cow hysterical its so much easier explaining merchandise to him when he knows what I am going on about.

Continued in the next post ….
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Old 7 Mar 15, 08:04 PM  
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Continued from above…

Once we came out of Twister I think we only had a 15 minute wait until the parade I kept saying we should just leave but Maurice knew I wanted to see the parade (since so far I hadn’t seen a single Disney parade!). I grabbed myself a frozen coke and we got a whole bench to ourselves at the side of the road waiting for the parade. This is one of the things I like about universal the nice wee benches at the side of the road the total lack of parade crowds. Anyway at 5pm the parade started and I must say after seeing the parade I kinda wish we hadn’t bothered it was basically the same floats we had seen earlier but just a couple more. I did like it and the characters are cool to see but yea probably wasn’t necessary.

This is as amazing as you think its going to be!









Again while the parade was going past I noticed Gill and her husband Peter on the other side of the road from us, I came up with a plan to find them and give them our complimentary passes in the hope Peter could use them on the HP rides. Anyway after the parade and crowds and cleared I couldn’t find them again! Doh!



We decided that we would have one last ride on Despicable Me before leaving for the day. Again this ride is brilliant and afterwards I got to see the Minions yay, totally worth staying late for now!

The scary part of that picture is with just me and the minions in it and no other people for context I look like I must be as tiny as a minion!

Now it really was time to get back to Portofino and head home, I had another quick look in one of the shops. It wasn’t quick nor was it just a look I ended up spending another $32.81 on:

Nosebleed Nougat $6.95 Chocolate Coins $6.95



Gryffindor Pin $8.95



These were all for my brothers Christmas Harry Potter present and they went down very well on Christmas day.

We got the boat back to Portofino and had a little look about and took more photos.







We had loved our time here and I would probably make it 2 nights next time!

We were both really hungry by this point so decided to head straight to Milers Ale House for dinner, I made the wild mistake of going for the Nachos $8.99. These things were massive and I probably looked terrible having it just for me, but wow these were tasty it’s a bit of a challenge to eat them but you give it a good go. Our waitress was hilarious when she brought them out she just looked me and said I told you!



Maurice went for the Oriental Chicken $9.99 which is a Teriyaki marinated chicken as he had loved the one in Cheesecake factory so much. He enjoyed this but apparently the CF one was better. I think we both had massive glasses of Mountain Dew again.



After dinner we headed back across the road to the apartment noticing they had been again and cleaned the apartment so it looked lovely. Tomorrow was a bit of a blank day with the original plan being Epcot but Maurice wasn’t fussed about going back, I said I really wanted to do more of MK and visit DTD. He seemed happy with that so showers and hair washing was done and I logged on to MDE to see what fast passes I could get for MK, I managed to get Little Mermaid, Mickeys Philharmagic and Enchanted Tales with Belle so pretty much perfect or a morning in Fantasy land.

Thank you again to anyone who has read along, I really appreciate it and all the lovely comments people leave.

Gemma xxx
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Old 7 Mar 15, 08:16 PM  
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Great day, the nachos look good
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Old 7 Mar 15, 08:18 PM  
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gtyrel10
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Originally Posted by beck_loz View Post
Great day, the nachos look good
Thanks for reading! The nachos were brilliant, sitting here contemplating my slimming world dinner they look even better

xx
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Old 7 Mar 15, 08:27 PM  
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Another fab day, agree with you about the parade though, we were there at Easter and lined up early, well there was still only us about when the parade arrived! Glad we saw it though, but prob wouldn't bother again.
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Old 7 Mar 15, 08:34 PM  
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Great day

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Old 7 Mar 15, 08:48 PM  
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Yay another day! Great read, your photos of HP are fab. After saying we're only doing Disney/KSC this time, I caved and bought Universal/IOA tickets the other week! The lure of The Hulk was too much. Portofino Bay looks lovely all lit up.
Those nachos look massive and delicious. Thanks for posting.😃
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Old 7 Mar 15, 09:59 PM  
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I've loved your Universal days, makes me excited to finally see the place! Was ace to read about Maurice schooling the staff on their British slang! Also funny to hear about your independence chat! Any time we had anyone talk to us about being British they just wanted to talk about our food vs their food! The Americans seem to love a Royal Family though!
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Old 7 Mar 15, 10:52 PM  
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Loved the Simpsons sofa pics! And really laughed at the nice queen loving lady serving you in krusty burger lol, lovely day!
Gemma ( yes another gemma!)
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Old 8 Mar 15, 10:41 AM  
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Another great day, the picture with Betty boop made me laugh I really thought that was Maurice's hand haha!
That doughnut looked amazing need to get one next time we go!
Can't wait to see the rest x
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