Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 12 years and 7 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

Labor Day weekend: the unofficial end of summer (even though for my daughter it ended two weeks ago when school started). Per our family tradition, we’re heading over to Orlando for the weekend. Unlike years’ past, though, we’re going to spend it at Universal Studios and not Disney

After my daughter got out of school we packed the car and hit the road. It was mid-afternoon so traffic was relatively light (no major problems like last time). We got to our hotel (the Royal Pacific) shortly before 6:00pm, unpacked, and settled in.

It was dinner time, and we were hungry, so we walked over to CityWalk and ate at Pastamore’ (mmm … gnocchi). After dinner we walked around CityWalk a bit before grabbing some drinks at Starbucks and heading back to our hotel. We did a little exploring, checked out the pool area and various restaurants at the Royal Pacific and then retired to our room for the evening. One small annoyance with the hotel: the wireless internet access costs $9.95/day in your room, but is free out in the lobby/public areas. Grrr.

Tomorrow, we hit the parks (hopefully well-rested).