A Universal Quickie!

The whole reason we decided on California again for a vacation this year was that we got a great deal on "City Passes" from Costco. For $217 each they included: 3 Day Hopper to Disney/California Adventure ($189), 1 day at SeaWorld ($59), 1 Day at Universal ($65) and 1 day at either San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park ($34). That is a $131 savings!

A few years ago we had a year pass to Universal so we weren't too worried about spending loads of time at Universal again this year. The only thing we HAD to do was ride the brand new Simpson's ride. Yes, I have to live with Simpson's Fanatics! So after sleeping in, going to the beach and TARGET to buy some flip flops for the growing boys, we finally arrived at Universal at 5pm...they closed at 7pm (not to worry). We got to do everything we wanted!
We ran to the Simpson's Ride (awesome! much better than the Back to the Future Ride, Simpson's replaced) then down, down, down the escalators to Revenge of the Mummy ride (my favorite ride at Universal) and back up, up, up the escalators to get

Pictures with Bart and Homer (by this time it is 6:30 pm)


a quick stop to the Kwik-E-Mart
Moe's Bar

and on the way out we noticed they were still showing Shrek 4-D so we ran for the last show. (always great!)
The 3 Little Pigs in Shrek 4-D (It is really cute!)

My favorite part of Universal is actually the Universal Citywalk. You walk through this to get to Universal Park.
There are tons of shops and restaurants and tons of people. They have fountains and a stage where bands play. I wish SLC had something like this, I think the closest thing we have is Gateway, but maybe Universal is a novelty to me because I don't live there.


By the time we left it was after 8 pm. We hadn't eaten dinner yet and were starving. We didn't want to wait for another hour until we got to Palm Springs so we stopped at a Chili's which took FOREVER!! It was around 9pm before we were served and then we didn't get to Grandpas Ray & Rey until after 11pm.


The next morning we woke up, Grandpas made their famous and favorite breakfast, Parker swam and we went to Johnny's house. He has a beautiful home and an awesome pool that we all relaxed in. I, of course, forgot to take pictures, DANG IT! Then we all went to see Get Smart at the Mary Pickford Theatre (Mary and I share a birthday). Then it was off to the Casino for a delicious dinner.


Since I forgot to take pictures with my Dads, here's one from 2005 when we were together at Universal. We ate at Buca De Beppo.


We were back on the road again by 9pm and headed back to Anaheim. The boys were pooped (we all were!) and begging to sleep in...so we did until 10 am!!! What??? It is our Disney day we need to get going!!!