Toting our vampire minion proudly along, we toddled off back toward the main entrance and then around to Seuss Landing. We knew this part of the park would be nicely decorated and were excited to see it all decked out for the holiday … or shall I say,
“Who-liday”…. season
.
There was a Photoconnect photographer there, so we stopped for a (rather dark) picture with our Star Card annual pass. We were certainly getting the value out of that baby!
(oh, my Lord....look at my hair....did I mention how HUMID it was?? 
)
Neither one of us had any burning desire to ride anything (though we easily could have, as waits were minimal to none), so we just indulged in taking in all the festive décor. Very, very adorably done
.
Here’s a crowd photo to give you an idea of just how quiet it was:
Seuss Landing was definitely the best-dressed section out of the two parks when it came to Christmas decorations. It was nice, too, that it was applied in such a way that it still all “fit” with the spirit of that particular area. Very well executed, indeed.
From Seuss Landing, we headed back to Hogsmeade and caught a ride on the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley and it was virtually a walk-on (the only wait we encountered was for the next train to arrive). We toured around Diagon Alley for a bit, but it was growing busy as the morning wore on. We suspected the afternoon would be a challenge, indeed! We exited into London:
….and then headed over to Springfield.
On previous trips, Steve has been able to win me a significant start on a full Simpsons family: we had Homer, Bart, Lisa and Santa’s Little Helper all keeping the minions company in our rec room. It has been his mission to round out our little collection with the balance of the characters, so as soon as we approached the Sledgehomer game, I knew he wanted to play
.
There was a group of young lads (perhaps around Jake’s age…I would guess college or early university students) who were just paying for their chance to whack for prize. We stopped to listen to the attendant tease them a bit (they too were from Canada, so cue the Canadian jokes
) and watch them take their three swings at greatness. God love ‘em, they came REALLY close (one of the young fellows hit a very impressive 98….and was so disappointed he didn’t come away with the large stuffed Duff beer can for his efforts) and the attendant crowned them
“The Strongest People He’s Ever Met From Canada, Today”. As they walked away, Steve whipped out his wallet and handed over his $5 (apparently inflation has not hit Universal yet…..the $1 increase must be only an IOA thing). I took the minion, his wallet, his keys, and his lanyard and gave him a kiss for good luck
.
It took him all three swings, but the bell rang out on the final attempt. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
The Duff prizes didn’t appeal, so we asked the attendant if it was possible for him to swap out the gigantic beer can for a couple of the character prizes (which were being handed out at the other games in the Springfield carnival area). He readily agreed to get supervisor approval, so we waited a few moments while he ran it by his boss (who just happened to be at the adjacent basketball game, so not too far away). She gave us the thumbs up with a smile, asked which two characters we’d like to have (since Steve won a “large” prize, they were willing to substitute two “mediums” in its place), and we picked Marge and Krusty. I told Steve with his winnings for the requisite picture, and she shouted
WAIT! You need the hammer! 
. I like this girl
.
We briefly considered a spin on the Twirl & Hurl, but it was now around 10 am and we figured Jake would be rising and shining fairly soon. Our arms were full of stuffies making riding more cumbersome, and crowds were thickening too, so it was good time to soon make our exit.
We passed some of the large balloons on our way through Hollywood to the main entrance. The one of Garfield was HUGE!
(I didn’t know that Garfield was a Universal character)
There was a Photoconnect photographer stationed on the bridge outside of Universal……she was a brave woman. A tiny little thing, I feared she might be trampled to death as people beat a path to the park entrances. She was getting some good pictures with the infamous globe in the background, though.
We carefully navigated through the MOBS of people entering CityWalk to the Cinnabon store….people, at this point, were just pouring in like a tidal wave. Oh, what we don’t do for our kids!!
We were pleased to learn that Cinnabon gave a 20% discount to Premier Passholders (we weren’t sure that they would, considering they are not part of the actual parks) so Jake’s little indulgence was a mere $3.89 including tax. It almost killed me to smell that little baggie of deliciousness all the way back to the resort!!
We managed to squeeze our way through the masses to the parking garage without suffering any major perils (leaving as opposed to entering at that hour of the morning, we were definitely going against the flow of the traffic) and drove back to the resort with no traffic issues whatsoever. Jake was just getting ready to hop in the shower as we walked back into the villa, so he took a few moments and devoured his Cinnabon while it was still warm. Once he was refreshed and dressed, we decided to take advantage of the hot, humid, sunny day and grab an early lunch before hitting up Aquatica……we certainly didn’t expect a waterpark to be on our itinerary for a Christmas trip, but what the heck....why not! Admission would be free with our SW/AQ combo annual passes, so let's get the value out of them as much as we can.
Before we splished and splashed the afternoon away, though, we needed some sustenance. Our lunch entrees would be served up with a hearty side of sarcasm
. Dicks Last Resort is up next!
....the actual stuffie is for ME. But the ego boost generated by the ding of that bell is definitely for my Steve 
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