28 days and counting till our July trip! I finally got a July 3rd Narcoossee's dinner last night so we'll be able to watch the MK holiday fireworks from there on the 3rd in case anyone decides it's too crowded to hang late enough in the MK on the 4th. I did book more dining for this trip than I usually do since the boys are with us so the plan looks something like this, however if you've read a few of my dining reports or TR's you know our plans do often tend to change by the day!
-Narcoossee's
-Skipper Canteen
-House of Blues
-Nomad Lounge
-probably the Wave breakfast
-thinking about going back to Tutto Gusto
Can I just say these new colors suck? Anyway other than Narcoossee's and definitely Nomads nothing is set in stone but I know the boys would enjoy Tutto Gusto and since we're at the Contemporary and I know we'll sleep in a couple mornings doing the Wave breakfast makes sense. And Steve and I loved HOB the one time we went and I know they'd like that too!
Back to Thanksgiving! After a great night at Il Mulino and the Christmas Tree Trail we were leaving the bubble for a day at Universal. Sshhhh! This was for Ricky as kind of a "since you can't play basketball for another year due to your injury what do you want to do while we're away" thing. He woke up feeling better than arrival day but not quite as good as the day before and since we wanted to get there early we all skipped breakfast until we got to Lard Laird. While those 3 rode Chris's #1 park pick (that nasty Simpson's ride) I purchased this:
This is as delicious as it looks unless you think it looks gross; then it's better than it looks. I ate about half
and the boys split the rest because Steve decided he didn't want his diabetes to take him down just yet.
We had a pretty cool time all day until lunch which I can't post pics of because it was at a QS area that I wouldn't send my worst enemy to; chalk it up to one of those instances where one person says "if we go a little further there's a decent place to eat" but someone or other in the group refuses so you stop at the place in front of you and eat crap. Suffice it to say we had a little period of unrest but all was resolved by the time we sat to wait for the holiday parade which I have to say is really amazing! As a fairly non-Uni fan this parade is worth visiting the park during the holidays for; it's longer than any Disney parade and the Macy's balloons alone are super cool:
Damnit all! Stupid sideways pictures. I will say I noticed such a huge difference in the way Uni does parades. They were letting guests walk right across the road until like 10 seconds before the parade approached and then in between while the parade was going on, like if there was space between floats. Also those balloons are really hard to control; and since we were up front we were super close to the people holding the wires and each balloon had like one person in charge. That person was often YELLING at the other people controlling the wires in a very un-Disney way lol. Just interesting and surprising.
While waiting for the parade to start we made a dinner reservation on CityWalk at like the one restaurant I've enjoyed on my work visits to Universal:
It was packed and we still waited about 15 past our time but we enjoyed the band playing onstage while waiting
And I enjoyed showing them all the creepy dolls on the wall by the bathrooms:
I'd eaten here on my Universal FAM (Familiarization) trip in 2018 and liked it and since everyone likes Mexican I was happy to eat here again.
I had yet to indulge in an adult beverage today and at 7pm, I was feeling it. So while Steve was boring and got water I got what you get when you're at a Mexican restaurant:
Fresh Margarita
Handcrafted, Made with Corazon Blue Agave Tequila; Frozen or on the Rocks, Your Choice of Blackberry, Mango, or Strawbery
I chose Blackberry and I chose wisely
I'd had the strawberry on my first visit and it's what really stuck out here so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. We also were started with the traditional chips and salsa:
Nice n chunky! And luck for me NOT full of cilantro
because as I've probably mentioned in another dining report I'm one of those poor unfortunatel souls who tastes Dawn dish washing detergent whenever cilantro crosses my lips. We all devoured these while waiting for our food.
The aforementioned band played for quite some time with short breaks in between and while it was loud it was quite pleasurable
It was also super crowded being a few days before Thanksgiving so note to you all, Uni DOES see an uptick in crowds that week.
Chris and I each got the same thing:
Chimichanga - $15.95
Adobo chicken, mojo onions, queso fresco, cheese, salsa verde, guacamole, salsa ranchera, black beans, house rice
Chris had never had a chimichanga before and I was skeptical he'd like the salsa verde but he did. You can't tell from the picture and I know it looks like a dried, shriveled up something, but when you cut into this it was HUGE and stuffed to the gills. All the sauces and ingredients had so much flavor! Neither of us could actually finish it.
Steve and Ricky also got the same taco entree making this update super easy for me:
Pollo - $14.95
Chicken tinga, pico de gallo, poblano peppers, salsa verde
Also both enjoyed these although Steve said without putting the salsa verde on them they were a little dry.
That's 2 good dinners in a row after a crappy one at Ale and Compass minus some less than flavorful shrimp at Il Mulino, we were on a roll! We skipped dessert here as nothing was calling out to us except for some macaroons at Toothsome so we hiked it over there. Toothsome was also a first for the guys while I'd been there on both my FAM"s and spent about a regular grocery trip worth of $$ each time on said macaroons. I'm at my picture limit or I'd post that picture and a pic of what Chris got from Toothsome to try so I'll just add those when I update again. Thanks for reading through my brief WDW/short on food pics/Uni update! I've eaten at only a couple other CityWalk restaurants and wasn't particularly thrilled with them but I'd return again to Antojitos.
Oh here's another little sidenote: next Universal work trip was announced and it is Dec. 1-4 and I really would like to go because as much as I prefer Disney, Universal is neat at the holidays. However the 1st is the Sunday after Thanksgiving and airfare is CRAZY and we do have to pay for that, so for now looks like I'll be sitting this one out I guess with 3 trips to Disney already under my belt this year and another 4 scheduled I really shouldn't complain, right?