 Last week was the Inaugural Minions 5k at Universal Studios Hollywood. Originally only supposed to take place on Saturday, the event was so popular that they had to actually do two 5k's, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. We were invited out to cover the event early Saturday morning (good thing I was still on Orlando time). As somebody who's run over 40 half-marathons and 6 marathons, it was odd for me to be on this side of the race, but equally as fun!! Written by Gregg Condon Welcome to Universal Studios Hollywood!!  Never have seen the sun rising on the sign, it was kind of cool.  The racers getting ready, there were probably about 6-7 "waves" of runners. They did an amazing job making sure the course wouldn't be overcrowded.  Run that way!!   Even the Minions were excited to race  And of course, they were out at the start    Check out some highlights of the race start and finish. We definitely did more video than pics. Pika, Pika  The atmosphere at the finish was amazing   A look at the medal, very nice. And it's animated, you can spin it (totally should have done a .gif).  This was just the first race, Universal will be holding a Jurassic themed race in November, we'll definitely be running/covering that one as well. As soon as details are released we will for sure be sharing them. Related Videos:
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 Last week I was out in Orlando for a training conference. As luck would have it, the most inexpensive conference hotel happened to be Cabana Bay. So I figured I'd take advantage of my surroundings to explore some of the non-park offerings of the resort. I had hoped to head into the parks one day, but given that I only had a few hours on one of my days it wasn't meant to be. But I had a great time exploring what the resort has to offer away from the parks. Let's check it out! Written by Gregg Condon After taking the red-eye from LAX I arrived at Cabana Bay around 7:30am last Monday. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to check in that early but that turned out to not be an issue at all. I was able to check in, get something to eat and head up to the room to take a bit of a nap before my first training session at 1:00pm. Hi Orlando!!    The first day of the trip was obviously catching up on sleep, but I did make my way to/from the Convention Center for some pre-conference sessions. I utilized the I-Drive Trolley on the first day since there was no shuttle on Monday. It took me a couple of trips to figure out where the closest place to catch the Trolley was from the hotel. Something that won't be a problem when Universal opens their two new hotels (more on that later). The first day I took a bus to CityWalk, then a boat to Portofino (as I thought the easiest place to catch the trolley was at the DoubleTree).   On the way back that afternoon, I took the shuttle back to the DoubleTree but made my way to the Water Taxi by way of the Hard Rock.       I then transferred to the next WaterTaxi to Sapphire Falls. Which meant I was able to get Water Taxi POV for pretty much the entire route. Check it out below, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.   LOVE the spiral staircase at Sapphire Falls    The trek back from Sapphire to Cabana was a bit longer than I anticipated, but after a day of traveling and training, it was nice to stretch the legs a bit.   Love the Cabana Bay merchandise!
 Also made sure to take advantage of the free-refill cup for the duration of my stay. This came in very handy as I ate more meals in the hotel than outside of the hotel.  Morning two, as I headed out to the shuttle to OCCC.  The hotel shuttles didn't quite fit my conference schedule on Tuesday, so it was back on the Trolley. Which allowed me to get a couple of good looks at the two new Universal Hotels (and I figured out that the actual closest trolley stop was here and not the DoubleTree).   I know some are asking why I didn't just Lyft/Uber (trust me, I did), but I always love exploring a city on foot. It just gives you a different feel.   After a bit of a rest in the room, I met up with Sean from California, Florida, European Coaster Kings for dinner at Cow Fish and a visit to both Fun Spots. But that's a different update. =) Day 3 was about a 12 hour day at the convention center, but I did take the time when I got back to do a bit of a tour of the hotel. Let's Bowl!!   I ate breakfast, dinners and snacks pretty much exclusively at Bayliner Diner, I was very impressed with the food choices and the staff was spectacular.  The pool area's are kind of amazing. If it was a different kind of trip I can imagine spending a lot of time in the lazy river.  What's up Volcano Bay  Cabana Bay Lobby  More pools. I didn't realize that the hotel had interior and exterior corridor rooms, I had just asked for "whatever is available" when I checked in. So if you have a preference, be sure to request it. Personally, I was happy to have a room with an interior corridor, away from the pools as that's not what I was there for.   My last stop before heading up to the room to pack was the store to do some shopping. They had Hagrid's merch out.   I was very tempted to buy this hat, but have a rule that I don't wear merch until I can ride the ride. Plus, I prefer fitted hats. I wish more parks would have them as an option.  Phone cases in a variety of styles  And of course, lots of Magical Creatures   Thanks Cabana Bay for a fantastic stay.  I was totally blown away by Cabana Bay. I knew I would love it, and it's retro style, but I wasn't sure how much. Sure, I wasn't really there for relaxing and enjoying the hotel, but even as a conference goer it fit the bill. We're talking about a family trip to Orlando in the near future, definitely think Cabana Bay will be where we stay for our Universal portion. Stay tuned later this week for additional updates from both Fun Spots and SeaWorld Orlando where we discover there are still good people in the world. Related Videos:
Related Updates:  Last weekend we were invited out to Universal Studios Hollywood to check out the holidays. This year the event is expanding and is better than ever with an all new Grinchmas show, more food and treats in Wizarding World and of course lots of great decorations throughout the park. Written by Gregg Condon Welcome to the Holidays at Universal Studios Hollywood  It was an absolute gorgeous day   Our first stop of course   We did single rider, then got stuck for about 30 seconds and then got to ride again. Score!!  We hadn't done the Tour since April, so we had to make it a priority   The new soundstages look awesome  Heading back into the park. Jurassic World is getting a LOT of work done   A crane is on-site  We are getting even more excited about this than we were already   There's also a crane on-site for whatever this is going to be. =)  Let's head in and take a look at Grinchmas    Show times for your planning purposes  More construction going up upstairs for the rumored Secret Life of Pets ride  It's even invading the Walking Dead queue  The characters at Universal are amazing   Always nice to see new food options in Wizarding World  And of course old favorites   As the sun goes down, the snow shows up on the castle (Really wish some other parks would do this as to not have snow on their castles in the middle of October)   Who's ready for Who-Bilation?!?!?!  Looks fantastic   Trying to get pictures of stuff in 2018. Lol.  It's beautiful   We've got some great video of the tree lighting and other decorations throughout the park  It was even snowing in the Harry Potter store!!  Decorations all over the upper lot       Mistletoe Minion    We had a great day at the park and will be back before the end of the year  Out in CityWalk, some new (to us) Lego decorations (gonna guess this has been here since Jurassic World 2 came out?)   Santa photo spot   We had to also make a stop at Voodoo Doughnuts on our way out of course. =) Thanks for checking out our update. For more info on the holidays at Universal Studios Hollywood, click here. Related Videos:
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