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- Oct 25, 2013
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Wrapping it Up at Universal + Sanaa
As I was heading back to Hollywood Boulevard, I popped my head back into DreamWorks Land to see if Shrek, Donkey, & Fiona were meeting – they were actually just wrapping things up, so I kept it moving.
I got to Hollywood Boulevard to find my spot for the parade and Beetlejuice was meeting guests, so I decided to say hi to him while I was waiting.
I stood on the sidewalk just a few feet away from the gate where the parade kicks off and set up camp for the Mega Movie Parade.
I mentioned on my PTR that this Parade was really the deciding factor on my great “To-Visit-Universal-or-To-Not-Visit-Universal” debate. I don’t really usually pay attention to parades or stage shows, but for some reason, I just fell in love with this one! Mega Movie Parade debuted in July and features a lot of classic Universal & Dreamworks films – Ghostbusters, Jaws, Trolls, Minions, Back to the Future, and Kung-Fu Panda. All of the floats and characters were executed in really fun, exciting ways that compelled me to see it in person. No shade to Disney, but Walt Disney World has really been lacking this type of creativity in their shows and (lack of) parades lately.
This parade was so. much. fun!!!
I’m really glad I made it a priority to watch Mega Movie Parade while I was at Universal. It was cool in the videos I saw, but what makes this parade so much fun is how so many of the characters walking the route go out of their way to interact with everyone and make them feel like they’re part of the movie. For example: Chief Body from Jaws and I had a conversation about how bad the shark situation in Amity is. It was one of the highlights of my day! The Ghostbusters unit had similar characters and even the dancers from other units were hyping everyone up and getting them excited for the floats ahead. If you love Ghostbusters or Jaws, you definitely can’t miss this one – like, when will you ever get to talk to Janine Melnitz or Chief Brody ever again?
The only thing that I noticed was that, like seemingly everything else at Universal today, things were missing/modified from Mega Movie Parade. The entire Trolls unit was MIA, a Minion was missing from their unit, and the Mayor from Jaws was missing, too. It wasn’t heartbreaking, and I guess I can’t really complain because 45% of Festival of Fantasy has been missing since 2020. It’s just one of those things you’ll notice when you visit the parks during HHN season because, again, HHN moves TM resources around in ways that impact park operations during the day.
I was pretty tapped out after the Parade. I did the “big things” I wanted to accomplish today and it was now 3 o’clock, so I figured I should probably get going before the HHN crowds started mixing with the day crowds.
I was really hungry at this point, but I didn’t really want to deal with the crowds at the restaurants in the park, so I decided I’d eat somewhere at CityWalk. I popped into the Studios Store at the front of the park to get some keychains for the family, but I didn’t really see anything else that compelled me, so I left pretty quickly. I was very hungry at this point, and I wanted something quick, so I headed up the CityWalk stairs and got a burger from the BK Whopper Bar. No pictures. Imagine, if you will… a Whopper. That was what I had. It was your standard Whopper.
I had to walk past VooDoo Donuts again on my walk to Hard Rock Hotel where I’d catch an Uber, so I decided at the last second to make a “yolo” moment and buy a few more donuts to bring back to the hotel room. There was a cereal donut, a peanut butter/oreo donut, and I forget what that long guy at the bottom was – it said “RIP” and I think it had some type of boston creme filling. I didn't eat all of them, but they were just fun to have in the hotel room to sneak in a few bites late at night/the next day while I was spending more time at the hotel.
Catching a Lyft from Hard Rock Hotel was a tip I picked up from another DIS user (thanks, @Lynne G !) It did require a little bit of walking, which proved to be challenging with arms full of Universal merchandise bags and a flimsy box of donuts that kept trying to open up, but maybe ~15 minutes later I made it to the front of the hotel and called the Lyft. So easy. 5 minutes later I was on the way back to DAKL, and about half an hour later I was finally home sweet home.
When I got back to DAKL, I decided to head to the pool for a little while. Swam around in the big pool. Relaxed in the hot tub. Dried off while watching the flamingos. Same old, same old. I loved this pool area.
I had a late seating at Sanaa that night, so I had plenty of time to relax, shower and get ready. I took the shuttle from Jambo to Kidani village, the details are fuzzy but I probably got there closer to 7:40 for my 7:55 reservation. I checked in on my phone and spent a few minutes watching the animals of the Kidani savannah.
I got brought to my table and the restaurant was very, very busy tonight. I was seated in the middle of the crowded dining room and nearly immediately my waitress took my drink order. I love a mango lassi moment, so that’s what I ordered tonight. Very lovely Mango flavor, but didn’t have the interesting spices from the mango lassi I drank at Food & Wine Festival that week.
Being that I was dining at Sanaa tonight, I wanted to try the bread service. This is a big dish and made for two people (or, honestly, 3-4), so I was a little worried about ordering it for just myself, but my waitress recommended it almost as soon as I sat down, so that put me at ease. The signature bread service here is a collection of naans and other flatbreads, paired with an array of different chutneys and sauces to try with them.
I wrote in my notes that this was “excellent,” but I don’t have a ton of notes about it. The breads were definitely all warm and fresh, the garlic naan (I believe this was on top) was definitely a favorite of mine. None of the sauces really “wow”ed me and I forgot what most of them were as soon as my waitress walked away from the table, but I remember having a tamarind one that I quite enjoyed. I tried little bits and pieces of everything which was the most fun part – seeing what the best combinations could be.
For my main entree, the Potjie Inspired dinner. You choose a meat-based entree from “The Journey” and a plant-based side from “the Harvest.” I had the Butter Chicken and Chickpea Wat.
The Butter Chicken was outstanding. Yes, it was very flavorful and flagrant, but the chicken was also moist and succulent – it’s so hard to find Butter Chicken that isn’t super dry where I live! The Chickpea Wat was just okay. Not really sure how to describe this one. It was sweet, it was bright… I had no expectations for this, I wasn’t really sure what to order so my waitress recommended this one. I had a spoonful or two and said “Yup, this is enough.”
I was full and it had been a big day, so I promptly caught the shuttle back to Jambo House and went to bed early-ish at 9:00 or 9:30.
I will say, interestingly enough: Sanaa seemed to be the most awkward experience for me as a solo diner this week. I was really worried it would be Boma, like I said upthread, because the concept of going up to the buffet line and bringing a full plate back to my table alone made me feel self-conscious. In reality, Boma was such a large restaurant and there was so much going on that it was hard to notice just one table in the crowd. Here at Sanaa, the dining room is pretty small and the restaurant is quieter, so while nobody was actually looking at me, I definitely didn’t looooooove having that huge bread service plate plus another huge plate with my dinner entree on this tiny table in the middle of a room all by myself. It might sound like a weird thing to be self-conscious about, but it just felt like it was easier to attract attention here than it was at Jiko or Boma.
This is also not really a dining experience you can enjoy at the bar. They have a small lounge and bar seating, but they only serve the bread service, samosas, and a salad option, so if you want the butter chicken or any other item from the menu at Sanaa, this is really not for you. Overall, I’d go back to Sanaa, but probably not by myself.
Re: Universal Studios. I had a very fun time at the park, just got a little blindsided by how things were run that day. I thought I felt confident because I had experience touring Studios before COVID and I had a gameplan of what I wanted to do, but clearly, a little more research was needed on my part. It just never dawned on me that HHN could have an impact on how Universal operates during the daytime.
Highlights of the day were definitely the Blues Brothers show, Mega Movie Parade, meeting Poppy & Branch, the Minions Cafe, and shopping around Diagon Alley. I got to do basically everything I really, really wanted to do, so it was a win!
If I don’t get to visit Universal Studios in March, the next time I visit will be after Epic Universe has opened. After Epic opens (well after Epic opens, actually), I really want to do a dedicated trip to Universal and stay on property just to see what it would be like.
Coming up next… my last day and another not-so-scary!
Click here to continue
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And yes... the rideshare confusion was DEFINITELY a blessing on my behalf!
