She had been up since 7:00 am doing her hair over and over and over again. She wore bows in her hair three days because that is what her favorite character on the show Victorious wears. I have seen a handful of these television shows, don't care for it much, and really don't know the characters or the actors. I do know the star of the show, Victoria Justice, because she use to play on a show I did enjoy; Zoey 101. When that show was cancelled Nickelodeon obviously felt Victoria Justice deserved her own show and Victorious was created. Darcy follows some the actors on Twitter and Instagram and she had seen that they were already at the park so she got everyone up and moving.
Once inside the park Darcy insisted that we find all the venues that the cast would be at the following day. Madison, reading the park map, began directing us toward the outdoor theater where the cast would hold a question and answer session. Of course, Tom and I insisted on stopping at rides and happenings along the route.
We eventually made it to the theater where we spoke to an employee who told us they would be handing out 1300 tickets to the Q&A first thing in the morning. We made note to hightail it to that venue first thing and we moved on through the park.
Around 4:30 pm we got into "San Francisco" and began searching for a place to sit down and eat. Our big breakfast had carried us through lunch, but I was feeling famished and thought an early dinner would jump start me enough to get me through the end of the park. The first place inside of "San Francisco" was Lombard's Seafood Grille and everyone thought that would be just fine. Knowing my children, I insisted on reading the menu that was on a stand outside, and seeing that there wasn't anything on the menu except seafood my kids naturally vetoed the restaurant and we moved on. We were just outside the entrance to the restaurant when we were stopped by a Universal employee wanting us to take a short survey. It was about our visit to "San Francisco" and I was explaining to him that we had just walked into that section of the park and couldn't really answer the questions when Darcy started shrieking at the top of her lungs. She was behind Madison, hanging on to Maddy's backpack, and pointing with a shaking hand in the direction of Lombard's.
We all turned, including the employee, as she shrieked, "It's them! It's them! Oh, my god!" A group of about twenty people were heading into Lombard's and all I saw was a sea of men in black outfits. Apparently, those guys were security and surrounding the cast of Victorious as they made their way into Lombard's to have lunch. Madison and Darcy of course recognized the actors, many of whom smiled and waved at us. No one else in the park even paid any attention to them or my shrieking teenager. Suddenly Darcy had a craving for seafood and we quickly followed the group into the restaurant. They went upstairs to a section reserved for them and so we left Lombard's and decided to eat close by so that we could maybe run into them when they exited.
It took a good twenty minutes for Darcy to stop shaking, but we all managed to eat burgers and fries at the restaurant next to Lombard's, sitting out on the deck overlooking the water and Lombard's entrance. I spent my time eating and looking at pictures of the cast hoping to familiarize myself with them just in case. After about an hour of our spying the entourage, out they came. Darcy and I took off running, hoping to catch another glimpse.
The group was walking around the corner to the left of the restaurant where a big fence was closed off for park employees, etc. Darcy spied her favorite cast member, Ariana Grande just around the corner taking a picture with another fan.
But when she tried to get her picture taken a security guy told us she had to get going and apologized. We sighed, turned around, and literally almost bumped into Victoria Justice who was walking up behind us.
She had stopped at the entrance to the restaurant to take her picture with a hanging fish. Madison, who had followed behind us, stopped to watch that and so she was practically walking beside Victoria Justice when we turned around. Immediately Darcy squealed and Victoria Justice smiled and said, "Hi" to her. Darcy asked if she could get a picture with her, but again security jumped in, told her no and began moving the idol toward the fence. Victoria Justice was very nice. She looked as if she was going to defy security, but changed her mind, and instead said, "OH, I'm sorry."
She kept saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry." as she was moved toward the fence, but she kept turning around and waving to Darcy and apologizing. I thought she was very kind and understanding. If she was acting, she was good, because she apologized and kept eye contact with Darcy until she was moved through the fence. For the most part we were the only ones even near the group.
We probably should have just staked out the entrance to Lombard's while we ate, but Madison and I felt sort of bad for stalking them. It has to be hard to try to maintain a normal life amongst people who are rapid crazy fans. We told Darcy she could do it as we could see her from our position on the water, but she didn't want to go alone and felt uncomfortable I think in approaching her idols.
The encounter just got us excited for the following day and we continued our trip around the park taking in rides and shows as we made our way to the exit. It rained some off and on, but nothing hard enough to break out the ponchos.
We ended the night with a trip to Target and hit the sack early because the next day we would be up at the crack of dawn.
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