Tickets and Arabian Nights

After another uncomfortably hot night in Bertha we resolved that today would be about getting the Air Con fixed if possible and finding cheap tickets for Harry Potter World. So after asking the rest stop attendant for directions to a local garage we set off. We found a garage in the general area he had suggested but unfortunately they didnt have time to look at Bertha but sent us to another garage down the road. This was a Shell garage, they did an inspection for about $50 and told us that the car was so old that a new gas had been introduced since ours was made and that it would need a conversion kit. He was however reluctant to do this as not only is it very expensive, but there was no way of telling if the system would even work once it was done and so could end up costing a small fortune, way more than the car is worth anyway. So we went away with a resolve to buy a fan instead!! This is easier said than done...we tried several places looking for a battery powered fan, even just a little hand held one but to no avail :( We gave up on that for a while and decided to concentrate on something much more important...tickets for Harry Potter World!! We found a place that we'd been told about that does discounts and deals on tickets and went in for a look. After waiting behind a group of 'typical british' tourists...the loud, football going, lager swilling type and listening to them argue over which parks they wanted to do on which day we finally got to see the very friendly, helpful man behind the desk. He was also a very good salesman!! We ended up spending a lot more than we'd have liked but really ending up with quite a good deal as the studios simply dont do cheap tickets like we get back home for the likes of Alton Towers etc. So, tickets to a dinner show that evening called Arabian Nights, entry for one day to Universal Studios and entry for one day to Islands of Adventure (Harry Potter!!!), several money off vouchers/coupons and nightly entry to City Walk which is the area between the 2 parks containing shops, restaurants, clubs and entertainment....all coming to a grand total of about £100 each!! Well its not as if we can just decide to go on a whim one day is it, so we thought we might as well make the most of it!

Nursing our wallets we had nothing left to do so headed off to find the hotel we'd booked to see if we could check in early. They let us straight in as we were only an hour early at 2pm and after unloading Bertha we both collapsed on the comfy bed in the wonderfully cool room for an hour before deciding we really should get ready to go out. Having been looking forward to a shower for nearly a week we were gutted to find that the water in the whole hotel was out due to a burst pipe that they were fixing at that very moment! So we improvised with bottled water from the car and baby wipes!! I was also looking forward to wearing my new dress but it looked ridiculous with the stripes left from my sunburn so I had to settle for my once worn green dress instead!!

It only took us about 15 minutes to drive to the show and once we'd been given our seat tickets we helped ourselves to the pre dinner buffet ( pasta salads, tortilla chips and salsa) and some free drinks courtesy of the nice man at the ticket sales office whilst waiting for the show to start. When itwas time to go inwe found that our tickets were for the 'skybox' and we felt very VIP ish as we sat right in the middle of a glass fronted box above the arena, complete with well spoken waiter and free wine, beer or soft drinks!! The meal was very tasty and I had a constantly filled wine glass throughout the show which was really good. It is an equestrian show based loosely on a story about a princess and a genie. Most of the horses used were Arabs, beautifully trained and well ridden with a mixture of quadrille, dressage, stunt riding and even loose in hand work. A thoroughly enjoyable evening, even if it has made me pine to get back riding again! As it was still early when we got back from the show we thought we'd check out the night life at the City Walk and so strolled the mile or so from the hotel over to Universal.

Such a cool place!! There are loads of funky looking bars and restaurants all playing different music, serving different speciality drinks and lit up like christmas trees!! There's even a Latin Quarter which we headed to 1st in the hopes that there might be some salsa we could dance to, but unfortunately the 'proper' music is only on Thurs - Sun so we wouldnt get to enjoy it during our stay. However we weren't too down as we found Margaritaville almost next door and spent an hour or so listening to a live band and sampling some of the cocktail menu before retiring for the night.