Spring Break 2017 Day 2

I think I was running on excitement because when my alarm went off that morning at 6:30 I jumped out of bed and started getting ready. Today was Universal Studios! My youngest sister, Hayley, works for Disney AND Universal and offered to get us passes for the day.  I can't tell you what a huge savings that is! Once we got to the park and saw the prices at the gate I was mystified.  How do people afford to pay for these parks?!  And then add on food and all the extras? Just wow.

Our hotel offered "continental breakfast" with the room fee. We quickly found out that that meant waffles, fruit, and yogurt....not a completely filling breakfast and very low protein. Luckily I had brought along protein powder, precooked meat and turkey jerky from home. Our hotel room had a nice view of the Four Points Hotel (which my sister later told me she had stayed in and it's not as great as it looks).
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La Quinta offered a free shuttle to the theme parks so we waited outside for it to appear.
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The drive was short and soon we were entering the line of people heading towards City Walk.
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I spied the will call kiosks and quickly got our tickets printed. Hayley had reserved them online for us. 
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What did we choose as our first ride? Dr. Seuss of course....I wanted to get a view of the park
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We started making our way through Islands of Adventure and quickly found the castle in which Hayley works:
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Hayley ended up meeting us around 11:30 and spent a few hours with us until she had to be at work.  Some of our favorite rides were Jurassic Park, Kong, and Transformers.
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I think Jessica's favorite ride was the Mummy....she eventually talked me into going on it, insisting that there were no "drops" and no loops...Ha! Lesson learned...do not listen to 13 year olds...they are trying to trick you.

Around 4:15/30 we started heading to dinner...Hayley had suggested a place in City Walk, the Chocolate Emporium.  You don't have to mention chocolate to me twice! Sign me up!
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The chocolate bread with caramel butter had been recommended and lived up to its reputation:
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and lest we not forget the best dessert of my life, behold the Brookies Cookies & Cream:
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We were full and exhausted after that and made our way to the shuttle pick up.
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Sunset that night was beautiful.  I found a gym half a mile away and tried to work off as many of those dinner calories as possible but it was oh so worth it!
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