Wednesday, May 6th: part 4
The days were ticking by quickly on this vacation, and we were rapidly running out of time to squeeze in the remainder of our must-do’s (including the must
eats) before we flew back home on Friday night. We still had a couple of things that we simply
had to have while in Universal Studios, so for dessert on this lovely spring afternoon, we made our way back to Springfield.
As you already know, we had conquered the infamous Big Pink Donut earlier in the week, so today, we kicked things up a notch
. We strolled up to Lard Lad and ordered a Brain Freezin’ D’oh!-nut Sundae to share.
With our towering creation in hand, we then made our way across the street to Simpson’s Fast Food Boulevard to get the perfect beverage to accompany our dessert: the signature drink of Springfield, a Flaming Moe!
The pour....
Ta-da!
I am not really sure which one I found more visually impressive. The sundae was big.....really big.....and definitely one of those “made to share” kind of items (though Steve could have polished one off by himself on a hungry day). The Flaming Moe was just so darn realistic (straight out of the cartoon series!) and it smoked and bubbled for a remarkably long time. Both were super good, and met or surpassed our taste expectations....which admittedly were getting pretty darn high, considering we had eaten, for the most part, spectacularly well over the duration of this trip. The costs of our indulgences? The sundae was $7.02 including tax (no discount for AP holders at Lard Lad) and the Flaming Moe was $8.14 including tax and the AP discount. The Flaming Moe was perhaps a bit pricey, but you get to keep the cup.....so there’s some souvenir value built in there which definitely helped with the value aspect. Both treats were super fun which made them totally worth it on that merit alone
.
Walking the two items to our table definitely garnered a lot of attention, particularly from the little folk in the restaurant. There were some HUGE eyes and more than a few little fingers pointing out our snack to their moms. If I ever win the lottery, I’m going to take $500 and buy a whole bunch of donut sundaes and Flaming Moe’s and pass them out randomly to the youngsters in Simpsons Fast Food Boulevard. That’s on my bucket list of things to do before I die
.
After polishing off the last of the sundae and the Flaming Moe, we felt the weariness start to settle in rather sharply. Our interrupted sleep in the wee hours of the morning was coming back to bite us, as we quite suspected it would (especially in all the fresh air, sunshine, walking exercise, and now.....sweet indulgences). We opted for a few more attractions, then said we’d call it a day.
We rode ET again, of course, since it was simply begging for us after we left Simpson’s Fast Food Boulevard.
After ET, we made our way toward the front of the park and rode Shrek, and then did some shopping in the adjacent gift shop. Steve had spied “his perfect shirt” here earlier in the week, and vowed he would return to buy it before we left. What better time than the present? And so it was that he became the proud owner of the Universal Studio’s shirt emblazed with “Just Another Sexy Bald Guy” emblazoned on the front in unmistakeable Shrek green. I had to agree, for my Steve-o, this was definitely most fitting!
Our last park attraction of the day was Despicable Me: I could not think of a better ending. We were able to skip the line with our after-4 pm Express, and after the ride was over, we lucked in to another Minion dance party!
Those minions are seriously so much fun
. And it was cool that one of the minions was different than the two we met on our arrival day. Wait till we tell Bob .
A little note on our Despicable Me experience #2: since Steve had just consumed a rather large portion of that sweet sundae not long before, he requested that we have the non-motion seats at the front of the theater (the regular seating in the motion simulator had made him a bit nauseous the first time we rode). I must say, after riding in both the motion and non-motion seats, I would take the motion seats any day.....I, personally, found the non-motion seats to be worse due to their sheer closeness to that monstrous screen. Of course, your mileage may vary!
On our way out of the park, we stopped at the Universal Store and picked up an assortment of souvenirs to bring home to some special family and friends back home. The Edith Minion mug for my mom, a Universal teddy bear for Sweetie (dressed as a film director), some “Minion fuel” (chocolate bars with banana pieces) for a few hard to buy for folks, and a Simpson’s bacon chocolate bar for Jake (Steve simply couldn’t resist....most of the other items we had purchased for Jake involved shoes clothing from the Nike Clearance Store in Kissimmee, and we wanted him to have something from the parks, too).
On our way back to the parking garage, we took our time meandering through CityWalk, enjoying the scenery and checking out some of the new and noteworthy dining establishments which had opened since our visit last August. We may have to try a few of the new and noteworthy places in October....but not Cowfish. No sushi lovers here.
Then it was back to the car. We were pooped
, and all parked out.
Back at the resort, we relaxed (collapsed?) for an hour or so before rousing ourselves to freshen up for dinner. Both proved very therapeutic, and we managed to infuse ourselves with another burst of energy.....otherwise, it would have been pizza delivery for sure. Feeling a little more human and starting to get a wee bit hungry, we headed out to the car and up the I4 to our dinner destination on Conroy Road:
It was a pretty unassuming place on the outside, but we had heard GREAT things about Bubbalou’s. We were very intrigued to see if it lived up to all the hype.
Heading inside, we perused their menu and considered what to order. An assortment of personable young men all stuck their heads out from the kitchen area to greet us warmly and offer assistance. We figured that was a good sign in a barbecue place: a bunch of guys in charge of the cooking. The male species, for some strange reason, always seems to be very good at barbecuing meat. I have no idea why, but it’s true
. Like it’s a genetic thing carried all the way back from the caveman days or something
.
We finally decided on what we wanted to eat, put in our order, paid, and chose a place to sit. The fellow at the counter gave us our
ridiculously huge beverages to get us started (we honestly should have just ordered one and shared it.....their soft drink sizes were
enormous) so we hauled those over to a table. The decor was comfy and casual....very casual.....with the walls adorned in wood, and the seating area an array of picnic tables.
A selection of their signature sauces sat on every table....the sweet and the mild looked very tempting. I would definitely be taking a pass on the hot and the killer.
The aroma in that place was intoxicating. Thankfully, we didn’t have too long to salivate before our platters were brought out to us, all hot and smoky and
delicious.
Steve went all out with the “Bubbalou’s Special” which featured a generous portion each of ribs, chicken, beef and pork (you can’t see each one very clearly in this photo, but they’re all piled one on top of the other). He chose the barbecue beans and mac ‘n cheese as his sides, and they topped it all off with two humonstrous slices of garlic bread. His meal (and all of their dinners, for that matter) also came with a container of their house made coleslaw, but somehow that managed to evade my photo:
I’m a brisket lover, so that’s what I chose (no real menu consideration was even necessary....I knew before I arrived what I would be having!):
I don’t like coleslaw, so I told them not to bother adding that to my platter (I hate seeing things go to waste) so he offered me something else from the menu as a substitute. I wasn’t sure what to pick, so he suggested corn on the cob. Sold. Corn wouldn’t be in season at home for another several months, so being able to enjoy it in early May is a real treat indeed.
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Let’s just say I am glad we visited THIS barbecue joint after Hog Heaven.....because I think the quality at Bubbalou’s may have ruined barbecue for us anywhere else. The meat was absolutely perfect, that corn on the cob was the best I’d ever had (no joking), and we savoured Every. Single. Bite. Fall off the bone tender, delectable smoky flavour, huge portions (neither of us could finish) and the price? Our meal, including tax, was $38.30 plus tip. Worth every penny!
We returned to the resort, and headed straight to the Fountains pool to swim off our dietary sins. After an hour or so, I commented on how wonderful I felt (fun day at the park, great food, wonderful weather, a therapeutic swim....) and Steve asked if I was up for a night time jaunt to Kissimmee.
Um, yeah, I guess. What’s in Kissimmee that you want to do?
I guess I would find out.
Well, we changed out of our swimwear and into our street clothes, hopped in the car, and headed down the 535. As soon as we made the turn onto the 192, I knew where that crazy man was headed.
That man seriously has a cast iron stomach . Or he’s trying to kill me with kindness. Take your pick.
He says to me.... “We had to go to Twistee Treat at least once. The kids would be so disappointed in us if we didn’t!”.
Oh. My. God.
Ah heck, I was here, I might as well eat .
Steve picked a peanut butter cup Twirl, I went for the brownie sundae. If I’m gonna go, I might as well go big. While I put a good dent it in, I am ashamed to admit that there was no way I could polish it off completely. There’s only so much stomach capacity that a girl has, and mine had been seriously tested today.
The cost of our night time ice cream run: $7.40 including tax.
We rolled ourselves back to the resort, and I considered a night time soak in the hot tubs at the Fountains pool.....but at the last minute, decided on warm, bubbly bath in the Jacuzzi tub instead.
We slept like rocks. And the resort was as quiet as could be .
Next up: a full day of characters and fun at Islands of Adventure.