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I don't know what the vantage point is on this shot, but the way Josh's arm is, it looks like it's all just totally open! :scared1: :laughing:

I could tell when I was telling Josh we needed to see the sunset from the rooftop bar that he didn't really understand why, but while we were up there he kept saying it was really cool to see and that going to the rooftop was a good idea.
Doesn't he realize by now that he should just trust you and your planning skills?! :confused3 :rotfl:

(I brought a sweater for when it got chilly in case you were wondering why my clothes changed :rotfl:).
:laughing:

Your views from up there are gorgeous! Wow! :wizard:
 
Sounds like you had the same snarky waiter that we had at the Palm. We got off on a bad note when I asked to see the primetime menu and he said it was only for people who sat at the bar. Nowhere on the website does it say that so we ordered from the regular menu. My steak was overcooked (I ordered medium and it was well done) but the rest of the meal was nice so it wasn't all bad but we will never go back due to the bad attitude of the waiter. The server clearing the table noticed that my steak was still virtually untouched and notified the manager. The manager was very nice and comped my steak (I had only taken one bite) he also persuaded me to take a free slice of chocolate cake to make up for it. All the waiter had to say was that we had wanted to sit at the bar o_O as if we were looking for a free bite of steak or something.
 




I don't think I'd do this every time, but I'm glad we got to see it. The last time of the day mentions a meet and greet and that sounds like you get to pet dogs so maybe we'll do that someday

My son loved the meet and greet. :) You do indeed get to pet the dogs and talk to the trainers.
 
While Josh was on The Hulk I realized they should be out now, and sure enough Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin we're meeting right up the street. They liked my Slytherin shirt, and invited me to join them so I'm going to assume I'm now a super-villain.

That's a really cool character meet, unusual. Those are the best ones.

Grinch was always my favorite Christmas movie as a kid. I really liked the dog :rotfl:

The grinch dog rules. He was always my fave too.

On the way out we rode the Cat In the Hat ride that Josh thinks is super creepy :rotfl: He never read many Seuss stories as a kid so I think they all weird him out a little, but he is right on this one. The animatronics and everything could really use updating on this so the faces and movements are a little creepy.

This ride is strange but I think it's kind of fun. But you're right, maybe time for an update/upgrade lol

I could tell when I was telling Josh we needed to see the sunset from the rooftop bar that he didn't really understand why, but while we were up there he kept saying it was really cool to see and that going to the rooftop was a good idea.

That's when you say "told ya so" and maybe should listen to you more lol

then headed for The Kitchen for a late lunch.

I really liked this place when we went, it's been many years, but when the kids were little I found it a fun place that had good food for all!
 
Christmas Parade & Cinematic Celebration
December 7th, Part 2

The parade was finally starting!

:jumping1:

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The only thing I noticed about our spot compared to last year's was that I think we were too far down the road. The floats obviously pass everyone, but we weren't in the area with the confetti or snoap and our view of the floats was more the side of them instead of the front as they were coming towards us. It still wasn't a bad spot though, and I enjoyed the parade like we did the year before.

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If you remember the family that was sitting in front of us from the prior post well during the parade they invited the rest of their family to come over and also sit on our feet as well...

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The others had a spot already and they called them over to sit in front of us. Luckily at some point the adults all went and stood in back of the bench and it was only kids on the curb. (I should mention the kids weren't being annoying at all, it was the adults that were sitting on our feet and glaring at us). Honestly since we had a bit of room I would've let the kids sit with us on the bench, but there were too many of them to fit once all of them arrived, and I'm guessing they enjoyed being on the curb since they were up close to the performers.

Madagascar:

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My favorite section is of course the Shrek section :rotfl:

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The Christmas/Santa portion:

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You can kind of see the angle the floats came towards us from in this one:

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Last year they revamped the Christmas parade (and last year was the first time we saw the parade), and we really enjoyed it. I think Universal's parades are really cute and I love the confetti. Although I have to admit we aren't normally parade people and it's been quite a few years since I've seen any of the Disney parades so I can't really compare it to any other holiday parades. But it's definitely worth a watch if you're there over the holidays.

After the parade we had a bit until the Cinematic Celebration and nowhere to go since the parade still hadn't finished and people were crowded everywhere so we took the long way around to the show viewing and took some picture of the Christmas decorations:

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Window display:

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The big Christmas tree:

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It was a little colder than we were prepared for this night, but we made the best of it since we were staying to watch the show. Although we did have an interesting time trying to figure out where to stand :rotfl:

We could've had our pick of spots at first, but I had no idea where you could see it best from. There hadn't been a lot of reviews or posts on it at the time so I was trying to figure out where people were standing from pictures. I saw a Google search result saying stand in the third tier, but when I clicked the article I didn't even see the show mentioned so we stayed on the first tier. I found what I thought was the perfect spot, but then I heard from someone that it was the "splash zone". Since we were so cold I decided it was best to move away from that area, but honestly we were in the front row and didn't even get misted and that area was pretty close to where we were so we probably would've been fine. At some point I realized from a photo that the best view was to be kind of between the Transformers building and Fast and Furious buildings. I was only able to move into that area a little since most people had spots at this time, but we were close-ish.

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Although in the middle of all our spot finding chaos, I ran into another DISboarder! If you're reading this Rachel, it was nice to meet you! I'm sorry we had such a short conversation, you came up right in the middle of my "where do we stand for the show" dilemma :rotfl: Thank you so much for reading my reports!


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Honestly, it wasn't a great night for the projections. I'm not sure if being higher up would've helped, but it just wasn't the right weather for projections to show up super clearly.

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There were a lot more fireworks than I expected though:

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It was actually a really cool show, and I'd love to see it again sometime now that I know where to stand. Hopefully it will be warmer, and the projections will look clearer next time.

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I've never seen the show they used to have the Cinematic Spectacular because they don't run it during HHN when we usually go, and I believe one time we were set to watch it in May, and then ended up missing it :rotfl: But I have heard that this is quite an improvement on that show.

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I did get some vlog footage of the show which will be in my next vlog so you'll get to see the finale if you're curious.

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It's a nice way to close out a day at the parks. Very upbeat, pretty, and the projections on the buildings around the area is a very cool concept.

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The water taxis lines were really full when we left so we walked back to Portofino Bay. We watched some tv and got ready for dinner because tonight we were eating at Bice!

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Bice Review

After dinner we started packing our bags & watched some Deadly Women before bed.

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Up Next
Our last day :sad1:

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Your pictures are fabulous as usual...…..

And I have to say you were incredibly patient with the annoying people who were sitting on your feet! How rude was that...….

Yes, we`re not really parade people either, but we do watch these ones...…

We stood in the splash zone for the Cinematic show too, and didn't even get misted on the nights we`ve seen it......not sure if I was relieved or disappointed...lol...….and yes, there are more fireworks now than before and we didn't expect so many.

Glad you got to see it though...….:)
 
I can not believe some people! That they would crowd right in with their whole family and sit on your feet. Wow. People getting in your space trying to make a viewing spot out of an area that's way too small is one of my biggest park pet peeves.

Glad you enjoyed the parade though! And the fireworks show looked good! I've never really given night shows at Universal much thought, but maybe next time I'm there I will, especially if it's over the holidays.

How cool that you had an unexpected Dismeet! But I'm sure it felt a little hectic since you were stressed about where to find a spot for the show. Still always nice to meet new friends in person!
 
How did I get so behind in this?? I was keeping up with the dining review, I think I got too confident about that and didn't realize, LOL!
Where I bet Josh by a lot with one of my best scores :banana: (I think my actual best score was maybe in the 400000's).

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You're going to destroy me on this :rotfl::rotfl:

I can't stop portrait-modeing flowers no matter what the season :rotfl:

Me too!! Flowers don't move when you tell them to sit still for portrait mode like kids and dogs do, ha!!

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(Daily picture of Portofino Bay)

This is a perfect way to start each day


this is a really pretty pool!!

the green goblin is CREEPY!!

After we rode Reign of Kong

I want to ride this! I think when we were there they were just getting started on building it

We walked through the HP area, and here's some more decoration pictures:

I love how each wreath is decorated for whatever store it's on

The animatronics and everything could really use updating on this so the faces and movements are a little creepy.

I remember thinking Thing One and Thing Two were surely going to come after us if the rode broke down

but while we were up there he kept saying it was really cool to see and that going to the rooftop was a good idea.

They should always listen to us, we always have good ideas::yes::

I liked this couch by the water taxi area/restaurants: :rotfl:

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Is it pink?? I extra love it if it's pink


OMG, they're so cute!!

The last time of the day mentions a meet and greet and that sounds like you get to pet dogs so maybe we'll do that someday :rotfl:

Um...:dogdance::dogdance::dogdance:
 
Although in the middle of all our spot finding chaos, I ran into another DISboarder!
Awesome! I love it when this happens! :goodvibes

I'm not much for parades, but that one did look super cute :thumbsup2 And the projection show looked neat too. One of these days I'll get over to Universal... ::yes::
 
" At some point I realized from a photo that the best view was to be kind of between the Transformers building and Fast and Furious buildings. I was only able to move into that area a little since most people had spots at this time, but we were close-ish."

I am going to need to write that down! Since we haven't been yet, I am not good at imagining where to stand when podcasters explain it (Frankly, I would not be good at imagining it anyhow as I am not good spatially, but landmarks is super helpful!)
 
The lines weren't long at all so I figured we'd still be able to get to our destination on time. First up was the 3 blind mice, the wolf, and some townspeople:

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Then Gingy and Puss In Boots:

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Those characters are so cute! I'll have to try and meet them this year! I'm definitely going to do a day at Universal when I visit in December/January!

They were all hanging their feet off the curb and when a TM came by and told them to move back they all kind of moved onto my feet. I moved closer to Josh's side of the bench, but I was a bit annoyed because we'd been waiting there and they came and all sat basically on top of my feet without even saying excuse me. They also kept staring at us like it was rude we had the bench and weren't giving it to them.
Ugh - that is the worst!
 
Yes, that sofa is more an orangey salmon colour….it`s a weird one.....its beautiful, but maybe not for a sitting room in a real home......very vivid!!!
 

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