Greetings from another busy day at the Universal Orlando Resort. The parks hit capacity yesterday, so we arrived bright and early this morning to beat the rush.

While making our way into the parking garage, we noticed that the Prime Parking rates had gone up over the weekend. We have Prime Parking included in our annual pass and there’s no way we’d ever recommend it to someone for $50. We’ve had some long walks from Jaws in the past and can’t imagine paying extra for that “privilege” to be completely honest.

As we were making our way through CityWalk, we were excited to see that the construction walls had been removed from around the new Universal Studios Store! Last night, we saw the signs lit up and today we got a closer look at more of the exterior details. It can’t be much longer before we’ll be shopping in the store.

Our first stop of the day was to Universal’s Islands of Adventure — and Hogsmeade is crowded as usual. It couldn’t be much longer before all three parks hit capacity for the day.

We’ve been spending a lot of time in Jurassic Park lately, but we love it.

The Jurassic Park Discovery Center continues to get painted. These fossil walls are so vibrant now. Universal has spared no expense when it comes to refreshing this area of the park ahead of the VelociCoaster opening!

An additional “Locker Pay Station” decal has been added to the large VelociCoaster lockers.

We wonder how many people in this line think they’re waiting for the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and not Auntie Anne’s Pretzels.

We decided to walk through CityWalk to get to Universal Studios Florida just to see how the crowds were looking. There was a steady flow of guests making their way to both parks, so it was no surprise they hit capacity before noon.

Make sure you pack your patience if you don’t have an Express Pass. Lines for the attractions can get very long on busy days!

Lines for food are almost as crazy as the lines for the rides. Luckily, we know where to go for a quick bite.

Monsters Cafe is only open on busy days, so it doesn’t seem to draw the same crowds as some of the other restaurants. We walked right in and ordered a BBQ Jackfruit sandwich. Monsters Cafe has been serving a limited menu and packaging the food in take-out boxes so that guests can either dine in the restaurant or take it with them. The sandwich was served with a side of crispy chips. Although we miss the mac n cheese, these items were an excellent substitute to curb our hunger.

Inside the Kwik-E-Mart, you can get a Duff cooler for $10 with a qualifying $25 purchase.

Spongebob, Patrick, and Squidward are always very popular and look fantastic in their Mardi Gras outfits.

Grabbing a vegan brownie skull for the trip home. This treat is one of our favorite offerings from Mardi Gras this year.

Thanks for joining us around the Universal Orlando Resort today. It’s been a busy day, but we’re glad we could enjoy the parks on such a beautiful day. We’ll be back again soon, so make sure you keep following WDWNT and Universal Parks News Today for more updates!