Universal Express Pass

Today we all decided to sleep in and it felt very nice.  The boys joked that since Dad wasn't on vacation with us that we didn't need to push ourselves to the limit.  As the time changed last night I was glad that they were alright with heading to the parks a little later in the morning.  This choice was made a lot easier due to the Universal Express Pass that we received as part of our hotel package.  This allowed us to enter the rides from an express queue that was quite a bit shorter than the regular line.  As the park was definitely more crowded today this saved us a lot of time.  It also allowed us to be more relaxed on our trip as we didn't have to be at the parks when the rope dropped in the morning.  Although we were tired from our days in the park, we weren't completely exhausted.

For lunch today Brett chose Hard Rock Cafe.  Everything was delicious.  We had our picture taken and enjoyed buffalo cauliflower wings as an appetizer.  Once we had eaten we stopped at Voodoo Doughnut.  We had really wanted to try it, but there was always a long line.  We were in luck this afternoon and everyone picked out their breakfast for tomorrow - I got a creme filled pastry, Brett ordered a creamsicle on a stick, Cal found a butterfinger donut and Cam settled on a Captain Crunch one.  We then walked back to the hotel for al little while.  The second best perk of staying at the Loews Royal Pacific was the close proximity to the parks.  It was only a ten minute walk.  They did have a water taxi, but we chose to get the extra steps.  While at the hotel Cal and Cam were able to finish watching the IU vs. Rutgers game.  In the end it wasn't even close as the Hoosiers took command on senior day.  This win gave them a chance of making the NCAA tournament.  We'll have to wait and see how they finish in the Big Ten tourney to find out for sure.

 


The rest of the afternoon was spent riding some of our favorites again.  I tried the Mummy for the first time and really liked it.  Cam and Brett rode Ripsaw Falls again, but Cal and I passed on that one.  We ate dinner at the Mardi Gras booths.  Between the four of us we were able to sample jambalaya,  twisted taters, alligator bites, crab étouffée, shrimp po' boys, King cake and beignets.  We ended our evening by shopping at our favorite souvenir stores.  Everyone was pleased with their purchases and we found great gifts for Doug and Meg as well.