On my last visit to Universal, the exciting news had been a new Universal theme park, still under construction at the time, and a new entertainment district, called CityWalk. Today, I saw as I left the big Uni parking garage that CityWalk was complete, and apparently, so was the new park. Since I didn't already have my Universal pass, I went to the ticket window to buy one. The person at the window let me in on Uni's latest offer: a two-day pass, good for a day at Universal Studios and a day at the new park, Islands of Adventure, for a total cost of $66. IOA was having a 'soft opening', which basically meant that it was open to the public with most, but not all, of it's attractions up and running. The soft opening allowed the park's staff to work out the bugs before the official grand opening; I would basically be paying for the privilege of being a beta-tester. The IOA admission would have to be used within 3 days of purchase.
But today was a Universal day. I went into the old Uni park and made a beeline for my favorite Uni attraction, Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time. Then I went for Back to the Future, Jaws, Twister, and Kognfrontation. Waits for most attractions in the park were not bad, averaging 20-30 minutes, so I was able to get through all my faves by 11:30. I was hungry by then, so I went over to Richters, outside Earthquake, and grabbed a burger and fries for an early lunch.
After lunch, I wandered around the park, taking pictures as I went, and hit a few other attractions. I went back to T2:3D twice, and before I knew it, the clock read 3pm. I had seen everything I wanted to in the park that day, thanks to the short waits for all the rides, so I decided to leave early and do a little off-site shopping at the Belz factory outlet mall.
Here my sense of direction kicked in, and I got lost. As long as I trust the map, I'm fine, but when I try navigating on my own, I wind up on the other side of the planet. Today it took me over an hour to get back to my hotel.
It was getting to be dinner time, so I went out and got something to eat. [Note: I failed to write down in my trip journal where I ate that night, and I can't remember, which is why I don't give any details] After dinner I went over to the Giftland. Giftland is a tourist-trap souvenir shop located in a building across the parking lot from the Days Inn; it's pretty much typical of the cheesy souvenir/t-shirt shops that are scattered around the Lake Buena Vista and Kissimmee areas, with lots of cheap Disney, Universal, and Florida t-shirts, shorts, caps, nicknack, and other assorted souvenirs. I shopped around a bit, finally picking up a couple of Florida t-shirts, and a 4-pack of 200ISO film. I was happy to find the film; I was out, and didn't relish the thought of paying Disney prices for it. Nor was I thrilled at the prospect of paying the similarly high prices that the places in Crossroads wanted for film. But Giftland had it for about $10, several dollars cheaper than any other place I'd seen it, because it was import film (same film, but packaged for sale in Japan, bought up and resold in the US cheaper than the US-packaged film).
With my purchases in hand, I trudged back across the 80 feet or so of parking lot that separated Giftland from the Days Inn, and settled back into my hotel room for the night.
Walk miles: 14.0
Drive miles: 101