Shopping at the Sentry Box

 We did a road trip in August to Vancouver Island and  back for my niece’s wedding.  We drove straight there but took our time on the road back.

While coming back through Calgary, we made sure to stop in at The Sentry Box – a very large game store.  Their prices may not be low, but their selection is unmatched.  They often have a deep selection of older products that are still in stock. 

 

It is not complete.  I wasn’t able to fill everything from my want list, but I did find a lot that I have not been able  to get.  They did not have the Lion Rampant expansions The Crusader States, and A Viking in the Sun (not published by Osprey but rather the University of Edinburgh).  I did get The Last Samurai Rebellion expansion for the Men Who Would be Kings.

 

They had a bunch of forces for Silver Bayonet.  I was very tempted, but ended up spending my budget elsewhere.  I also looked at the Hairfoot Jousting figures and, if they had had all six from either faction, or even all twelve from both, I probably would have bought them. 

 

They had no Dust Tactics, Batman Miniatures, or DC Universe figures.  These were a long shot though.  I did not find any model kits in the time I had to look.  While they did have some older video game systems, they did not have any Intellivision at all.  I also did not find any of the Fallout Factions sets, else that would have probably made my stack.

 

 

I was hoping to pick up a bunch of older codices for Warhammer 40,000.  I did find the eighth edition Ork codex for $20, as well as five books in the Psychic Awakening campaign for $10 each.  Out of the nine books in the campaign, I previously only had the first book.  The remining three books I have since picked up online.

This has given me a bit of a boost towards filling in some gaps in my 40K editions.  I have picked up the Chapter Approved 2018, and 2019 editions, as well as the eighth and ninth editions of the Tyranid codex from Facebook Marketplace.  I will keep an eye out locally and try to fill in more gaps, especially as the new edition drops next year.

 

I bought the Goblins team for Blood Bowl.  This has been scarce to find.  With the Orc team on my painting table, I figured that the Goblins could be painted concurrently.  I grabbed the new Gnome Treeman as well.  I am tempted by the idea of putting together the stunty teams for a league, if I can out together the time.

I finished up with the Warriors 2 and Wizards 2 sets for Frostgrave.  These are the female characters in very multipart sets.  No one locally carries them and they are tough to find online.

All together I spent just a bit over $300 dollars in a bit over two hours.  It made a very happy little game stack.

 

Bookshelf/ Gameshelf

 My wife felt like seeing her sister who was about to retire.  So we did a quick jaunt over to see her.  The drive was about eight and half hours - seven hours of casual cruising followed by one hour of white knuckle terror as the sun set, the fog rolled in, and visibility dropped to zero.

We spent a lovely day with then, and came back on Sunday.  This time we had the time change and divided highway with us so the drive wasn't as rough at the end.

While in Thunder Bay, we had dinner one night at The Tilted Turret.  It is a pinball pub, with 9 pinball machines.  It was a cute little place and the pizza was great.  They had a deep dish on the menu that would have been good to try.  Maybe next time.

We also got to pop in to the Bookshelf/Gameshelf.  We had a bit of concern as they had moved from their old location but we found them.

I was able to get some old 40K codices - Traitor Legions (7th), Drukhari (8th), and Munitorum Field Manual 2019.

I got some more SSU troops for Dust Tactics - Rifle Squad, and Specialists.  Also some more blisters for Batman Miniatures Game - Police Set 1, and Reverse Flash.

Holidays, hobby, health, and happiness

 I just finished two weeks of holidays from work.  More and more, I am liking taking the two weeks containing Halloween and Remembrance Day.   Since we aren’t doing costuming as much or conventions really, I usually take Christmas to New Years, and then these two weeks.  I try to spread my remaining holidays around the year but these two picks mean I usually don’t get anything in the July to August part of summer.

I had hoped to get a lot more hobbying done – both painting and playing some games.  Neither happened.  Well, no figure painting.

I did end up finishing painting the living room and front hall.  We finally assembled the replacement wall unit.  We went with a Besta from Ikea.  The wall it goes on isn’t quite long enough for both cabinets but we replaced the other with a Billy bookcase.  This gives plenty of space for the dvds and knick knacks.

We hadn’t really decorated much inside for Halloween, but we did decorate the yard.  The weather held this year, giving a lovely night for Trick or Treating and we had 36 kids visit.  Not a ton compared to some, but a solid number for our area.

We found time to make it to the local ComicCon, which was the first time since the new owners came in just before the lockdowns.  We didn’t go last year, but since Bruce Campbell was the guest, we were pretty much swayed.  Lea Thompson, who is filming a series locally, also ended up attending as a replacement guest at the last minute for Lou Ferrigno.  She was lovely. 

After Halloween, we transitioned right into Christmas.  We got the tree up and house redecorated.  We managed to get the winter tires on ahead of the snow fall.

My wife had taken the second week off as well and we spend the week catching up on the new season of TV.  Thursday through Sunday though, the household came down with some malaise, likely flu, and we were all just sleeping and coughing, and huddled on the couches in blankets watching TV. 

Even still, it was a pretty relaxing time off.

 

We're having a Covid Christmas

Even with a month of lockdown, we still have high numbers of Covid cases.  Thus we have had our lockdown continued until Jan 8.  This means no Christmas or New Year’s parties.  They did open up sales on Christmas items though.

We had already ordered most of our gifts and all but a couple have already arrived.  We’re not going to get together with family like we normally do.

This means that we will be cooking Christmas dinner for the first time since we’ve married.  It will be more of a low-key affair as will the gifts.  My wife has a tendency of picking up a lot of little items to bulk out the gifts.  With everything being locked down, she hasn’t been able to do that.

She usually takes off the Fridays in December and I take off the first Friday and we usually hit the mall and pick up the last of our Christmas shopping and check out the decorations.  That wasn’t even an option this year so we spent the day getting ready for the Christmas baking.  Even with that, because we aren’t going to be going out as much, she scaled back the types of deserts to a more reasonable amount.

It’s already going to be a bit odd as I won’t have the week between Christmas and New Year’s off.  For the last several years I have taken it as my holidays but, in order to ensure I got the time off to go to my daughter’s graduation this year, I had to book that first instead.  Even though her grad wasn’t quite what we were expecting, I’m glad I was able to be there for what we did have.  I did manage to get the week following New Year’s though.

Actually, because of how they restructured our holidays, I will end up with 9 weeks off in 2021 instead of the 6 weeks that I normally get.  I will also get another 4 weeks that I have to use by the end of 2022 in addition to my regular holidays for that year.

This also means that we will be cooking Christmas dinner for the first time since we’ve been married.  We won’t make the number of dishes that my mother usually makes but it should be a nice quiet dinner.  She usually has a big crowd show up on Boxing Day for chicken soup.  That will also be quite a change.

Stairway!

At my wife’s work, each department is decorating there area in different themes for Christmas. Her department was originally going to do a Die Hard theme, but decided to change it to Home Alone theme instead. She said that I could make the staircase – five feet tall, out of cardboard.

I mean, of course I can. But I didn’t have enough large cardboard, so I asked if I could make it out of foam core, which she was okay with. The key requirements would be that it had to be at least 5 feet tall, and it had to be transportable.
I worked out the dimensions and told her it would cost about $20 - $40, which she was again okay with. I would not add a railing, would have very fiddly to make in sections, and have added another $10 - $40 depending on what I made the rails out of.


It had worked out to 12 sheets of 20” x 30” foam core, which I got at Dollarama for $1.50 each. I picked up 14 sheets, in case I needed more or messed up, so $21 for that. I ended up mis-cutting the second sheet I worked on the other side of the first set of stairs. I used a lot of the scraps for reinforcing seams and adding supports.
I picked up 2 rolls of wood grain flooring stickers, which I also got at Dollarama for $4 each, so another $8. I only used it on the stairs for the part that shows on the sides of the runner, so only ended up using a bit more than 1 sheet. I have plans for the rest of the second sheet.
I found 36” square pieces of red felt for the runner at Oomoomoo, a Japanese dollar store. They were $4 each and I picked up 4 of them. I only ended up using 3 of the squares but I bought the extra so as to not have to worry about matching the color if I needed more.


Using the plans, I cut out the sides of the base. I had to glue a second piece of the foam core behind the first three steps to give them the proper depth. These first three steps are normal size. The first two steps have a rise of 6 ¾” and the third has a rise of 6 ½”. This way the first three steps fits nicely on a single with of foam core. The steps have a run of 10 ½” which leaves a ½” overhang and allows these three steps to fit together on one length of foam core. The steps themselves are 20” wide, the same as the width of a sheet of foam core.

The upper piece is 30” deep, but 50” high. The upper section has 7 steps using forced perspective. The rise of the next three steps remains the same as the first three, but the next four on the next sheet are 6 ½” high. The steps get progressively smaller – 8 ½”, two at 6 ½”, 4 ½”, and the last three are all 2 ½” deep.
I cut out all the steps and risers. Using white wood glue, I glued the risers on first to allow some time for them to dry. I put some braces across the backs to help support the sides.
Then I cut the wood grain into 4 sections – 3 at 5” wide and the remaining one at 4.75” wide. I cut each piece an inch longer than the step it was going on so I could fold it over the exposed end. I put them on 4 ½” inches from the sides, again allowing overlap. The narrower ones I put on the left side of the steps as that would be against the wall.
I glued the steps on next, pinning through to the foam below to help hold it while drying. I later went in and taped all the steps from behind.

I switched to tacky glue and glued on the felt runner. I was careful to line up the pieces under the overhang of the lower steps, and at the back of the steps on the upper ones.
I then went back and used hot glue from the inside to tack the corners of the steps as well as to strengthen the supports. The finished stairs are 20” wide, 60” deep, and 70 1/8” tall.

Facelift

I had used the remains of two cans of spray foam when filling some holes in the outside of the house to fill in the chicken wire on the tree.

I tried painting it to see how it would look and decided that I definitely need to give a coat of monster mud. This is made from patch filler, glue, and paint mixed together and used with torn-up pieces of cheese cloth just like paper mache.

After this dried, I painted the eyes and mouth black with spray paint.

I followed up with a mix of brown paints to cover the rest of the face.

When that dried I went back with drybrushed with a lighter brown to make the features pop.

Disney Trip 2016 - Day 10 - Polynesian/Travel

On Tuesday, August 30, we got up, showered, and packed the last of our items away. We had accumulated a lot of snacks that would not make the trip back.

We stored our bags at the front desk and took the bus to the Magic Kingdom. We were early, so we took the train around the park and checked that off our list. Knowing that Stitch made an appearance at the front, we saw him as we were starting our train ride and he was still there when we got off - but the line was too long.

We took the monorail to the Polynesian Resort and had our Aloha Character Breakfast. It was a beautiful breakfast - we started with fresh fruit and pastries, then had an all-you-can-eat, family-style breakfast - scrambled eggs, biscuits, waffles, hash browns, sausage, and bacon. There was also this mango/guava/orange juice that was wonderful.
They had the following characters there - Pluto, holiday Mickey, Lilo, and of course Stitch. It cost about $35 a person - which I consider a bargain for what you received. We were there early but they sat us early. We did have a long wait for Stitch but, when he finally came around, my daughter had tears again.


We took a cab back to our resort. Gaby when to the arcade again. We got our bags from holding, and waited for the bus back to the airport.
As we got to the airport it rained very heavily. We unloaded under the canopy and made our way over to our terminal for our flights back. We waited. The desk did not open until 3:45.
We were in the front third of the line but we got held up. Our tickets back for David3 and I did not have our middle names and the computer did not want to board two people with the same name. So we had to wait while the agent was on hold and could fix it for us.
Our bags were a bit over - 54, 51, and 53 pounds but he let them go through without overcharges. My bag, even with all the heavy liquids and extra stuff, was still only 47 pounds.

We got split up at customs by an agent that looked like an older Daniel Cook. Gaby and Shan went though as pre-checked, and David3 and I had to go through the regular line. They brought the dog out to run up an down the line but no incidence.

We picked up some burgers from Burger King and waited for our flight.


We got to Toronto with no problems. We didn't have to transfer our bags, which was a big help as our connection was tight.
Or it would have been if the connecting plane was on time. There was an issue with the plane so they had to bring a replacement in from New York.

We did a lot of walking through the Toronto terminal, and Shan and Gaby had picked up some Timbits for the wait. The kids were happy to be back in Canada and were looking forward to getting home.

My folks picked us up in Winnipeg. We were supposed to be in at 12:30 am but with the delay we were a bit late.

Shopping in Thunder Bay - or not-so-local FGS

We did a trip to Thunder Bay to visit relatives for the Canada Day long weekend. It’s a bit of a drive – with the Ontario part being mostly one lane each way and only 90 km/h. I’ve done it once in the early spring and it was harrowing.
As the semis would pass, they would splash slush on your windshield and you could not see for 3 – 4 seconds. You had to hope there wasn’t a turn or a drifting cars until you could see again.

Thunder Bay has two great gaming stores. Thunder Games is located underneath a strip mall. It mainly focuses on miniature games, and has a large Games Workshop section, including many older books and games. This time I was able to get a copy of Kill Team, and the hardcover Imperial Agents codex. They also had the revised Dark Angels and Tau but I passed on them for now.
I did pick up a Season One for Blood Bowl. I don’t have the newest version of Blood Bowl yet, but I know that I’ll end up getting it eventually.

The other good store is The Game Shelf – which is attached to a used book store called The Book Shelf. It reminds me of a Sentry Box-lite. They had a bunch of Warhammer books that I could have picked up at the Book Shelf but I left them this time. I did find a hardcover Farsight Enclaves for $6.95 so I grabbed it.
Going through to the Game Shelf part I picked up some Heroclix starters. I also got another Dust building, and I picked up the Trinity set for DC Universe Miniature game.

I’ll probably have to pop back to Thunder Bay next year for a wedding, so I’m already looking forward to going back to these two stores to fill in more gaps from my lists.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 9 - Epcot/Hollywood Studios - part 2

At Epcot, Cheryl went to ride the Test Track. I went to buy my Figment shirt and would catch up with Shan and the kids by the China pavilion.

The cast members really seem to have a fondness for Figment. I got a lot of compliments about my hat and shirt when I wore it on Tuesday.

I popped into the Mexican pavilion and rushed over to China to meet them. They weren't there yet so I worked my way back. We met and got a picture with fiesta Donald.

We went over to China. Shan finally got to see two of her terracotta warriors. We got pictures with Mulan and saw some displays for Disney Shanghai.

We had lunch at the Chinese Pavilion and I picked up some coins at the gift shop.

At Germany, I got some daytime pictures of the outdoor train set, took a couple shots at Italy, and then we made it back to Japan for Gabrielle.

While waiting, we sat by the kids area listening to Aoi welcome the kids. She had a lovely Australian accent due to going to school in Oz.


We took a water express over to Hollywood Studios, where I was again randomly chosen for the metal detector. That was three-for-three today. I think that I was only not chosen once during all our visits.

D3 parted from us and went back to the room while we went in. Gaby and Cheryl went off to ride the Aerosmith Rocking Roller Coaster as single riders while Shan an I found a spot for the fireworks display. They made it back in time.
The show jumped around a bit but was awesome - with fire, lasers, as well as projection and fireworks.

On the bus back to the resort we were packed in pretty tight. We were up at the front with some British kids and we all sang along to the music on the ride back. The bus driver encouraged us and even flashed the lights.


Getting drinks at the resort, after being at the arcade, Gaby overheard some kids talking about meeting Stitch the next day. We went to the concierge and checked - there are character meets with Stitch - including a breakfast at the Polynesian.

Back to the room we went with my daughter in tears that she had missed Stitch. We rushed back to the office to book it but it was too late. It was after 11pm and the concierge desk was closed.
On a mission, Gaby rushed back to the room so that Shan could book it, and then we packed as much as we could in preparation for heading home. In packing, I found my pool shoes which I thought that I hadn't packed, but I did.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 9 - Magic Kingdom - part 1

On the Monday we went back to the Magic Kingdom.

We had a character meeting with Tink, who was adorable.

Then we went through to Cinderella's Castle Royal Table for our big character breakfast. We got to meet Cinderella in her throne room before brunch, and saw Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, and Jasmine during the breakfast. Shan and I had the beef tenderloin and egg frittatas - it was amazing.
It's a pricey experience - the princesses were also available to meet next door where Cheryl saw them. Outside the castle they have the sword in the stone so we tried our luck.

We made our way around to meet Merida - being stuck outside by the rain before finally meeting her. I had some concerns. They swapped out the one with the crazy eyes just before us, but the one that we met was lovely.

All of us but D3 used Cheryl's Fast Pass and rode the 7 Dwarfs' Mine Car roller coaster. Shannon always closes her eyes on the coasters, so to her they are all dark rides.

We then finally rode the carousel. It's a big one - 5 horses deep. Shan had worries that the belt might not fit but adults didn't need to wear them.

We didn't see Gaston's statue, but went back around and rode the Haunted Mansion again. The gift shop is across the street from the mansion but we never did make it inside this trip.

We just missed the paddlewheel and almost went on the Bear Country Jamboree but decided to get the Riverboat first.
After finally riding the Riverboat, we waited about 10 minutes and watched the Bear Country Jamboree.

We made it around in time to catch the parade again, before making it around to the Tiki Room, which only had a 10 minute wait.

We were going to do Splash Mountain, but we were Cheryl-ed again, as all outside rides were shut down due to lightning within 7 miles. We couldn't even finish our train ride around the park.

We made it back to the front of the park and took the Monorail over to Epcot.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 8 - Disney Springs

On Sunday we had a slower day. We had breakfast at the resort and then took the ferry to Disney Springs - a shopping mall/street. They have boat/cars that you can rent but it was too wet for the hot air balloon, so Shan missed her chance.

We popped into a few stores, D3 got some Star Wars books, a Boba Fett overshirt, as well as some Lego at the Lego store. I got an Imperial soldier hat, but was unable to find any Tron cycles.

D3 and I went to the Coke store while the girls shopped and they joined us at the Coke Experience restaurant to try an International tray - 16 beverages from around the world. Some were quite vile.

We did make it to the arcade but didn't do the whole experience. They did have a Mario Brothers game that I was able to play by myself, with my daughter, and again with my son. I was able to put up a decent high score.

We went to Blaze Pizza for supper. You could order a personal pizza with a variety of individual toppings. We went back to the resort on the ferry.

Disney trip 2016 - day 7 - The Animal Kingdom - part 2

Cheryl, Gee, and I rode the Expedition Everest. It way very cool. The Wilderness Explorer badge station near there was very hard to find.

Cheryl and the kids left before us. They got lost for a bit on the way out. Shan waited around for me and I finished up a few more badges.
We checked in at the Wilderness Explorer Station on the way out. I guess they had seen me working away at them. I didn't get them all but they made me an honorary Senior Explorer.

We had supper back at the resort and made it back to the pack for the night show. It was the Jungle Book - partially projected on water sprays and singing and dancing Bollywood-style, followed by fire dancers,

It could have been due to the rain, but we didn't think that it was as good as Fantasmic,

On the way out, we caught a few vignettes projected on the giant Tree of Life. We would have stayed a bit longer and watched more of them but the kids were getting tired.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 7 - The Animal Kingdom - part 1

On the Saturday we got up early for the ride to The Animated Kingdom. I took the new camera that we got from cashing in Air Miles points. We had just got it before we left but the safari was a rare chance to use it. Even though I haven't really got comfortable with it.
Gee used my regular camera on the safari while I used the new one.

We started in Africa at the Harambe Wildlife Reserve. It wasn't high on my list of attractions but it was quite good.

Finishing that, we went on the Gorilla Walk. During the walk I picked up a Wilderness Explorer book from Jocelynne, a Troop Leader. There were many spots along the park to answer questions or do events to get stickers. While the kids weren't interested, it harkened back to my Boy Scout days and I did as many as I could throughout the day, much to my wife's chagrin.

We had lunch at the Yak & Yeti - a mix of Indian and Asian foods.

Next on our visit was the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the tigers. The bats and the komodo dragons were away at the vet.

We did the It's Not Easy to be a Bug Show. Again, the large spiders were not announced with enough warning for Gee. It was hard to find the badge coming out of that one. It was tucked in on the path out from the show.

We worked our way around Dinoland USA. It's built up like an old-time Dino-themed amusement park. We didn't do any of the rides but I had to go into the Dig area to get the badge.
It rained heavily a few times that day. We did remember to bring the Dollarama ponchos. A few people asked if we were Canadians - seeing the maple leafs. Our response - "Maybe".

Disney Trip 2016 - day 6 - Hollywood Studios - part 2

The kids and I posed in the handprints in front of Mann's Chinese Theatre.

We were unable to get seats for the Sci-Fi Drive In theatre.

We did take pictures with the speederbike and then caught some of the Jedi training before riding the Star Tours. It was good to finally ride it after all these years.
I'm the gift shop I picked up a Medal of Yavin. It's not the Master Replica's one, but it's the closest I will come to having one.

Next we popped into the Launch Bay to see Star Wars props and reproductions. I took many photos of a reproduction Rey outfit and a Dejerik table.

We walked around some more and then made it over to the Fantasmic show. They project images on water/mist as well as have live action - including a wonderful Malificent dragon.

We took a few more shots on the way out and then headed back to the room early. The park closes early. It's timed so you can either see Fantasmic or the park's fireworks.

We looked around the arcade back at the resort and got to bed early for the early day tomorrow.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 6 - Hollywood Studios - part 1

On the Friday we went to Hollywood Studios. I was randomly selected again to go through the metal detectors. We made our way around to the Muppet side.
We had breakfast tickets to Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano. The brunch was the grouper for D3 and I with a lovely desert. The meal here was $45 each and gave us tickets to the Fantasmic fireworks show.

We had killed some time in the Muppet gift shop already and, after the brunch we went to Muppet Vision 3D. The wait was about 10 minutes.

We had a fast pass for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.

We made our way back to the main stage in time for the March of The First Order.

We then walked in to see Walt Disney - One Man's Dream. They had a bunch of props and displays to see before the show and we saw the rest of them afterward. I took shots of the Rocketeer jetpack, a helmet from Tron, as well as the dioramas.

We then made our way over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Cheryl, Gaby, and I rode. It was good. At the gift shop I bought a door sign and a robe.

We went in to the Pixar section but did not go on any rides.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 5 - part 2 - Universal - Islands of Adventure/Seuss Landing

In Toon Lagoon, Gaby, Cheryl, and Shan went on Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges. It was a raft ride where you can get very wet - and they did. There was also places where the crown can fire water jets on the riders. It was only a 20 minute wait.

Back at Super Hero Island, after a 10 to 20 minute wait, Gaby went as a single rider on The Incredible Hulk ride. I did not.


Then we crossed over into Suess Landing to finish up our day.

We started on the Caro-Suess-el. Shan loves carousels and was worried about not fitting on this due to the lap belts but she had no problem. It was a quick wait - less than 10 minutes, but Cheryl sat out.

After a brief 5 minute wait we all did the Cat in the Hat ride. You ride a "couch" through the Cat in the hat story - with animatronic characters. We bought some shirts in the gift shop.

We were able to make it to the High in the Sky Suess Trolley Train Ride! It was a longer 30 minute wait for a slow trolley ride through Suess Landing on an elevated track. This went through the top of Circus McGurkus restaurant, the Café Stoo-Penduous, and closed out the gift shop afterwards.

Gaby got an Ash Katchem Pokémon hat on the way out and we ended up getting snagged by a gypsy cab for the ride home. It worked out okay and still cost the same.

We had another late dinner back at the Resort - pasta. I had the chicken alfredo with a fruit cup for the next day. We finished up the day at the pool. David3 did not come to the pool.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 5 - part 1 - Universal - Islands of Adventure/Hogwarts.

On the Thursday, we got up and had breakfast at the resort. I had the special - eggs, bacon, sausage, and a small Mickey waffle.

We took the taxi back to Universal - another $40 after tip. Today we are staying in the Islands of Adventure. We went clockwise this time, through Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, and headed straight for Skull Island, stopping for the occasional picture.


We went on the Reign of Kong ride, and David3 sat out. The wait was about 40 minutes. The holding areas were well decorated but the ride was not nearly as good - being video screens again.


Next was the Jurassic Park section. We all went on the Jurassic Park River Adventure. It was great. We all got quite wet - which was good on a hot day. It was only a 20 to 30 minute wait.
Afterwards we had lunch. My son and I had the meatball sub and caesar salad and we bought two refillable mugs. They were a bit pricey at about $12 each but they turned out to be well worth it.
We popped in briefly to the Discovery Center but didn't go downstairs as we had to make it to the Lost Continent for the Sinbad Stunt Show. We zipped through Hogsmeade and made it to the show on time.
It was good. We ended up sitting in the splash zone and got a bit damp again. D3 thought that the final fire effect was a bit much for the small children.


Next was Poseidon's Fury - another interactive show - this one was a walk through. I thought it was pretty well acted but Shan was a bit disappointed in the effects.


We went back anti-clockwise, heading back through Hogsmeade. Gaby, Cheryl, and I rode the Dragon Challenge - first the Blue Dragon, and then the Red. About half-way back you get a chance to re-ride so we did and tried the other. The wait was only about 20 minutes for the first ride and we were able to walk on for the second.

We looked around at some of the shops - less on tis side of the park. We tried the seats for the Forbidden Journey. I would fit modified but Shan would not. We all got the tour - the walk-in part - but Shan and David3 did not ride. Because we had a mixed group like this, we got to skip ahead a bit and only had about a 20 minute wait.
It was another motion and screen ride - pretty good. Gaby thinks that they should warn about the large spiders though.
The Dragons and then this accelerated Cheryl's motion sickness. But she was able to hold it together until after the ride ended.

After a 15 minute wait, Gaby and I rode the Flight of the Hippogriff. It was a rather simple roller coaster. Then we left Hogsmeade and headed back to Jurassic Pack. It was just after 5pm and the visitor center had just closed but we took a rest with the drink refills.
We skipped over the Pteranodon Flyers - which seem to be a swing coaster - but alas more for the kids. Adults were not allowed on without one.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 4 - part 2 - Universal - Hollywood Studio Florida

After Diagon Alley, we moved on to the Men-in-Black shooter ride. We all went on it. It was about a 30 minute wait and we liked it better than the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney. In the gift shop afterwards, I was able to buy a Noisy Cricket, which was the one item on my list to buy at Universal.

Universal is pretty tight about letting you take bags on the rides. They do have lockers by the rides that you can use for free - as long as you claim your items within an hour. Having done a bunch of shopping at Diagon Alley we had a lot of bags to store. Note that some of the wand boxes are too long for the lockers but will fit diagonally if there is not much else in them. Coming out we found that the lockers were not working and had to get someone to override them for us. Luckily we were able to describe the contents well enough to get our items back.

We walked through Springfield and took a bunch of pictures but didn't stop. The same at Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone.

We were at the right time to catch the minions for Shan and then stopped in to see the Horror Make-Up show. There were lots of good props in the lobby and I took a lot of photos. Even though we tell them to hang on to each other in the crowds, D3 got separated from us in getting to our seats and sat on the other side of the theatre.
The show was good - nice and funny. Nothing really new to anyone with even a passing interest in make up but enough humor and crowd participation to keep it moving. It emptied into the gift shop, as they all do. I was trying on the Terminator Leather Jacket ($165 US) when the Terminator show let out into the same gift shop and we had to wait until they cleared before we could get a picture. I did not get the jacket but D3 got a Fallout shirt and hat.

We got outside in time to catch the parade, and took a few shots of the stars on the sidewalk. Then we had burgers and fries, with chocolate shakes at Mel's Diner across the street. We took some shots of the kids with the old cars outside the diner.

Up the street we heard a commotion, and Shan was able to get a picture with Megatron. The actor was very good - very animated, We all went on the Transformers ride. There was a lot of good theming inside the waiting line - with knobs to turn and switches to flip. We sat in a Bumblebee and got moved from scene to scene to watch the 3D show. Afterwards, there was an actor outside in a Megatron suit, but he wasn't as good.

On the way out we got some photos with the Shark from Jaws (Bruce) and then caught the Hogwart's Express back to the Islands of Adventure to leave. The parks closed at 8pm and 8:30pm this week so we had an early night back home. We took a taxi back but now believe it was one of the unregistered ones.

Back at Riverside, we picked up our sent items from Monday at the store. I got some chicken nuggets for a snack and had some of Gaby's pasta. We all went for a swim in the pool. The water was very warm and very relaxing.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 4 - part 1 - Universal - Diagon Alley

Wednesday August 24. We got up and breakfast here at Riverside. I again had the omelette.
We took a checkered cab/van to Universal Studio Parks. On the way there, Cheryl realized that she had forgotten her tickets so we got off and she had another trip back to the resort for them and back to Universal. She would meet us at Diagon Alley. Our trip only cost $40 after tip.

At Universal, they have nice moving sidewalks to get the people in, and the first section is all restaurants and shops before you even get in to the ticketed place. All of which are very nicely themed.

We started in the Islands of Adventure and walked through Suess Landing, past the Lost Continent and Sinbad, and popped into Hogsmede long enough to take the Hogwart's Express train over to Universal Studios Florida, getting there just as it started to rain.
We waited it out a bit but it didn't stop so we went on to Diagon Alley. We looked around and went into Ollivander's. We were able to get into the wand demo and Gee was able to have a wand selected for her. We were the only ones in that showing.
The kids picked out interactive wands - Gaby got Hermione's and D3 got the generic one with the skull end. The rain was still coming down so we bought four ponchos as well. We had brought eight ones from the Dollar Store to Florida but had none with us that day.

Gaby and Cheryl had gone on the Escape from Gringot's tour by the time I got out. I went on the single rider line which had a wait of 40 minutes and was done before them. Shan and D3 had taken the tour part of the ride while waiting. I also picked up a key at the Gringot's Money Exchange.

By the time they finally got out the rain had mostly stopped. We looked around some more and Cheryl and the kids tried out their interactive wands at the fountain, and by the blacksmith.
We got Butterbeers for Gaby and D3, Butterbeer ice cream for me, and Shan had the lemonade and got some meat pastries.

We looked around a bit more. I bought some Bertie's Beans for the boxes. I keep hoping Gaby will do a Harry Potter-themed party one year.
While waiting for the Dragon to spout fire, I caught some wizards fighting a Dementor. After a longer wait than had been up to that point, I finally got another flame picture - head-on this time - and joined the rest out by the Knight Bus.

Disney Trip 2016 - day 3 - part 2 - Epcot - World Showcase

We started on the Canada side, took a few polite pictures of the totems, and then looked around the United Kingdom. We popped into The Toy Soldier, listened to the band a bit, and I popped into the market looking unsuccessfully for some Jelly Babies.

We walked by France and Morocco, talking a few brief photos and then we moved on to Japan.

We spent a bit of time in the Japan gift shop, with Gee being moved to tears at the selection. Cheryl was so moved that she bought Gee a lovely kimono. Shan also bought one along with some sandals ad toe socks. Gee and I also bought toe socks as well and had everything shipped back to the room.

At this point it was already 8:30 and starting to get dark. We moved along a bit and found a spot near the American Garden Theatre to wait for the fireworks.
I picked up some udon noodles and some teriyaki chicken from Katsura Grill and brought it back while we waited.
The fireworks over the water were very nice. We were under some trees but still had a good view. We were by where they parked a floating ball platform but Cheryl knew that it moved to become part of the show so opened up the view.

Afterwards we moved past the American pavilion and looked a bit at the Italian pavilion while Cheryl picked out some beautiful Italian masks.

We took some shots of the train set up by Germany in the dark and then moved on to China. Shan had really wanted to see the Terra Cotta Warriors but the displays were closed. We also found out that they had moved on and no longer had them.

Things were closing down so we went past Norway and Mexico, again only stopping briefly for a few photos and then made our way back to the entrance for our bus ride home and to our room.

Gee and I went to the shop around 10:30 pm to pick up our bag from the day before, and I bought a refillable mug - purple. Gee already has a blue one, Shan has the red, and Dee's bought the green one earlier today,

He was asleep when we got back to the room. Everyone else went to bed early to up early the next day, but I stayed up a bit to write up day two and three while they were still fresh.

We had worn our Canada shirts to Epcot - Representing! A few people said hi because of them - fellow Canadians as well as a nice couple from Minnesota we met while in line for Spaceship Earth. As well, I got a few people asking about the Figment hat - fellow fans.