20,000 steps today

Whew what a day!  We went to Universal Studios,  We got there just in time for it to open.  So it was not very crowded.  We headed right away to the Harry Potter section.

Before exploring the Diagon Alley we waited in line for an hour for our first ride.  We did not get in a line after that unless it was less than a 1/2 hour line .  They have a lot to look at while you are moving in the line.  After that we explored the area and went on several more rides. 

Nathan and Rebecca went on the loop-de-loup ride.  Not me.

Then we went to the King Cross station to take the Hogwarts Express to the other close theme park.

By then it was time for lunch

I had the ribs, corn and potatoes with Hogs Brew.  Nathan had a bunch of side dishes with the Butter Beer (like a cream soda) and Rebecca had the pumpkin juice with her fish and chips and George had soup and salad. We explored the Harry Potter stuff in this section.  It had a different style.  It was decorated like winter.  Hard to believe since it was 90 degrees out.

One more ride.  Jet lag hit Rebecca plus this ride hurt her eyes.  So we went to watch a silly Sinbad Action show.  After that she wanted to take a break.  The rest of of left Harry Potter and wandered through this park to get over to the water rides.  The most fun one of the day was the Popeye River Raft one.  We were totally drenched and cooled off nicely.  

Then on to Jurassic Park

Then back to the Hogwarts Express to go back to the first area.  Rebecca met us at the station.  We went for an ice cream break.

This sort of shows the snow covered roofs of Hogwarts next to the tropical rain forest of Jurassic Park.  The music changed from "world to world".

When we bought our tickets to go into the park we had to do a finger print.  We had to use our finger print at other times during the day, like to put our stuff in a locker before different rides.  

We left the park about 6:30 pm.  After we got home and changed clothes (my clothes were still wet) we went to Olive Garden for dinner.

I don't think I actually did 20,000 steps, though it felt like it.  I think the jostling of some of the rides made the count go off.  

Friday, April 29

We were up at 3 am to go to the airport.  That is way too early in my book.  No problems with any of our flights.  We changed planes in Denver, where it was snowing.  Landed in Orlando, where it was 90 degrees.  Quite the contrast.  Rebecca had arrived first, then Nathan. We arrived about 3:30 pm.  By the time we got our luggage, our rental car and driven the 12 miles to the condo it was 6:30 pm.  We did not count on driving through rush hour.  It took us over an hour to drive the 12 miles.  Once we checked in and got a little organized we walked down the street to a TGI Fridays.  This is a very nice condo.  Townhouse style, with the bedrooms and 1 bath upstairs and the living room, dining room, kitchen and one bath downstairs.  We have not had a chance to explore the whole resort yet.  We are so lucky to have this place.All thanks to my great friend Trudy.  It is a time-share place that they are letting us use.

our car and condo

right in front of our resort

oreo cookie, ice cream sandwich

Rebecca was in heaven.  She has a week to get her fill of American food. 

After dinner we walked to the Publix Grocery Store to buy a few things for the week.  It seemed like a lot longer walk home than it had been getting to the grocery store.