2400 pictures! Beach Club, Universal, and Bay Lake Tower Grand Villa-COMPLETE!

[smidgy]

after staying at Royal Pacific a few times, and Hard Rock once, we can never go back to being "day" visitors at Universal! too spoiled with the short walk, and the express lines! and we love Pat O'brien's!
hubby and I LOVE Suessland! (and we go without kids!)however, last time we got stuck on the sky high trolley, of all things! inside the room where they play the same song over and over (again and again!) they "rescued" us with a stepladder and offered us front of the line (which we didn't need, of course.) of all the things to get stuck on! it was pretty funny!

 

[onlineticketspot]

so much nice....

 

[onlineticketspot]

hello

 

[dr&momto2boys]

after staying at Royal Pacific a few times, and Hard Rock once, we can never go back to being "day" visitors at Universal! too spoiled with the short walk, and the express lines! and we love Pat O'brien's!
hubby and I LOVE Suessland! (and we go without kids!)however, last time we got stuck on the sky high trolley, of all things! inside the room where they play the same song over and over (again and again!) they "rescued" us with a stepladder and offered us front of the line (which we didn't need, of course.) of all the things to get stuck on! it was pretty funny!

Hilarious! I love the titles of your TRs! I'm going to have to read them!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

Here are some more pictures taken while we were riding the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. I think they give a nice view of Seuss Landing from above so I won't even try to reduce the size (not that that's been working for me anyway!)

This is a picture of Mythos (a restaurant in a cave) from afar. You can also see the much talked about but not yet open Harry Potter castle back there.

Here you can see the Hulk coaster. It launches you very quickly out of that tunnel at the start. It's a great ride! It wasn't easy to photograph up close (obviously) so I didn't include any pics of it in my earlier post.

After the ride we met up with the stragglers that had gone to meet the superheros. Kyle came back with his face painted like Wolverine. It's funny though because Disney owns the rights to Marvel characters now, so the face painting signs list this design as "Wolfen Man."

More coming...

 

[dr&momto2boys]

We left Suess Landing just in time for our lunch reservations at Mythos.

Mythos is in "The Lost Continent." It is just beyond "Seuss Landing." We eat here everytime we come to IOA. It is "the best theme park restaurant in the world"--at least that's what their signs say.

The atmosphere in Mythos is very unique. It's like a five star cave or something.

The food is good, and in my opinion, the prices are great for what you get. Now I wish I had taken food pics because I can't even remember what we ate there, but I was getting too self-conscious taking food pics in front of my in-laws. Some people may think it's weird. Apparently the kids ate pizza. Ella really enjoyed hers!

After lunch, the kids packed in the strollers. (Three in one, two in another started becoming the norm.) The kids and SIL and BIL headed to the Jurassic Park Discovery Center while the rest of us went to ride Dueling Dragons.

 

[MadiMouse]

How did you enjoy Mythos? Great update!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

"The Lost Continent" area is shrinking. Much of it is being re-themed for the new Harry Potter area. We had to walk through a lot of construction area to get to Dueling Dragons. Dueling Dragons is a double steel coaster where your legs hang freely while you ride. They are two separate but similar coasters that intertwine and come within 12 inches of each other at one point. I always loved the line for this ride that twisted through a cave and told you the story of the fire dragon and the ice dragon and then you choose which to ride as the line separates near the loading area. We missed all of this because of the construction and maybe it's gone for good. Here are a couple of pictures of Hogwart's Castle. This is about all that's visible of this new Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Here's one more view of Marvel Superhero Island from across the lagoon.

We met back up with the pack at the Discovery Center and all headed to Jurassic Park River Adventure. It's a nice boat ride, but a little scary at the end as the raptors try to get you and you narrowly escape a T-Rex by plummeting down a big drop ending in a big splash below. Jacob went on this with me and again was more afraid of getting wet than anything. He was sulking at the end of the ride because he got a little wet. It made him laugh though when he saw how soaking wet his uncle got! Then he was over it.

We went to the play area which is also home to the Pteronadon Flyers.

This is the only ride that didn't have express access as far as I know. The wait was over 45 minutes so most of us decided to skip it. My boys would rather be playing than waiting in line. That's what my boys did while Kyle and his dad went on the ride. MIL, FIL, Ella, and I just sat waiting near the entrance to the play area while DH watched the boys. It was hot and you could tell everyone was getting tired. SIL took Avery to get her face painted but she fell asleep in the stroller on the way, so she found a cool place to wait for her husband and son to finish their ride and then head back to the hotel. MIL and FIL called it quits then too.

Time for one last cheesy shot before we parted ways.

 

[MadiMouse]

DH and I got extremely soaked on the Jurassic Park ride!!!!!!! Lol. I can't wait to visit Universal Studios to see Harry Potter.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

How did you enjoy Mythos? Great update!

We always really enjoy it. They seem to have something for everyone's taste. It's a nice, cool, peaceful break from the theme park. You wouldn't know you're at a theme park while you're in there.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

With just our immediate family now, we entered my second favorite themed area--"Toon Lagoon."

I took the kids over to "Me Ship, The Olive." (Popeye's boat which is another play area for the kids.)

DH rode on Dudley DoRights' Ripsaw Falls. I know how drenched a person can get on that so I skipped it. It's my favorite looking ride of all time though. I just think it looks cool. As close to being in a cartoon as you can get.

Here are some other pictures of the scenery in Toon Lagoon.

Finally we decide to head back to the hotel too. We had to walk through the Marvel area one more time to get out of the park.

Here's a picture of Marvel as you walk into it from Toon Lagoon.

The boys were happy to see some Superheros signing autographs. They got to meet a few before they had to zoom off to fight crime.

A couple more pictures as we head out of the park through Marvel:

As we were exiting, we were approached to help with a survey. I did because I want to give my input about a park I love, but the survey was lame and took too long! I think they should give you something for spending 20-30 minutes of vacation time answering their questions. Even a bottle of water or something would be nice. My poor kids, hot and tired waited with DH and had one more opportunity to try on funny hats before we finally left the park.

We took the boat back to Royal Pacific and walked through the pool area where we spotted the rest of the group before heading to our hotel room to change ASAP. The pool (although still too warm) was refreshing considering how hot we were. We all decided to eat dinner at the pool bar. We had really good nachos and burgers and tropical drinks. The service was super fast especially compared to the hotel restaurant (Jake's) the night before. A good way to end a very fun filled day!

 

[kimmylaj]

i have never been to islands of adventure. i would like to try it someday but i have a hard time tearing myself away from my love affair with a mouse. mythos looks really cool. i am surprised to read that something had a 45 minute wait because the pictures from the trolley in the sky make the park look so empty, a case of good touring i assume

 

[dr&momto2boys]

DH and I got extremely soaked on the Jurassic Park ride!!!!!!! Lol. I can't wait to visit Universal Studios to see Harry Potter.

DH was bummed that it wasn't open yet while we were there, but I think it was nice to have low crowd levels! We are going back in December so we can experience Harry Potter though! And see Universal decked out for the holidays.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

i have never been to islands of adventure. i would like to try it someday but i have a hard time tearing myself away from my love affair with a mouse. mythos looks really cool. i am surprised to read that something had a 45 minute wait because the pictures from the trolley in the sky make the park look so empty, a case of good touring i assume

I can never take days away from a planned Disney vacation, BUT I can ADD days to go to Universal! I would highly recommend IOA! Part of the problem with the Pteranodon Flyers is that it is a very low capacity ride. They even limit it to kids between certain heights and an adult may accompany them.

 

[dd50]

Great update!!! I have never been to IOA but Universal. I didn't care that much for Universal but IOA looks like fun. I may have to go there this winter for a day or two. My DD went for grad night but of course Harry Potter wasn't open and I have a really big fan of Harry Potter that wants to go. Mythos looks so cool. Do you have to make ressies for it or is it a walk in?

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

I've become addicted to these DISboards, and been reading dining reviews for months now. I convinced my DH that we needed to get the DxDDP and try a bunch of restaurants that we haven't been to before. I thought this would be a great chance to try Deluxe Dining because we'd only be at Beach Club for two nights and be able to use the credits over three days before moving to Universal and ultimately back to Disney.

On the DxDDP you get 3 meals (table or counter service) and 2 snacks per person per night's stay, and a refillable mug to use at the resort. That means we each had 6 meals and 4 snacks to use over the course of 2 nights/3 days. This was fun to try but what will we think by Day 3?

We used our first meal credits at Beaches & Cream:

It wasn't busy at all when we got there. We were seated right away. One thing I found unusual here is that they can't put a high chair by a booth. I'm sure it's a fire code thing or something. So they initially set up one of their tiny tables with a highchair for the five of us to crowd around. No, thanks. We ended up putting the baby (15 months) in a booster seat at a booth to give us infinately more room. If you're a large party, I wouldn't recommend B&C.

dinner at B & C

Great trip report.

 

[mermaid764]

I never had much of an urge to see Universal Orlando since we haven't at all been impressed with Universal Hollywood, but your report is making me change my mind. It looks like it's themed really nicely and the Harry Potter area looks awesome! More great pics of your adorable kiddos and I"m looking forward to your next installment

 

[dr&momto2boys]

Great update!!! I have never been to IOA but Universal. I didn't care that much for Universal but IOA looks like fun. I may have to go there this winter for a day or two. My DD went for grad night but of course Harry Potter wasn't open and I have a really big fan of Harry Potter that wants to go. Mythos looks so cool. Do you have to make ressies for it or is it a walk in?

We made reservations, but I don't think you have to. It's nothing like Disney at all. We called a week ahead and had our pick of times.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I never had much of an urge to see Universal Orlando since we haven't at all been impressed with Universal Hollywood, but your report is making me change my mind. It looks like it's themed really nicely and the Harry Potter area looks awesome! More great pics of your adorable kiddos and I"m looking forward to your next installment

I love the themeing at IOA! I've said it before, as much as a Disney fanatic as I am, my favorite theme park is still IOA. Part of it has to do with the awesome rollercoasters though!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I'm not prepared to start a pre-trip report while I'm still overwhelmed trying to update this one, but I must share what we're planning.

Just like every Disney trip we plan, it grows and grows! Originally we were returning to WDW December 3rd through 10th because we had a timeshare week to use up (not DVC--although we own DVC and love it!) We decided it would be a "cheap" trip if we came back to WDW because it wasn't much more to upgrade to APs from the tickets we needed for our May trip anyway. The resort was basically free (already paid for.) And we've always wanted to see WDW at Christmas time.

Then we found out that D23's Magic and Merriment event is to be held just as we were going to leave (Dec. 11th and 12th.) This is a very difficult event to get tickets for and they won't go on sale for months yet, but just in case we can get tickets, we're planning to return home on the 13th now using some DVC points to stay at Boardwalk Villas the last two nights.

Having had such a fun time at Universal Orlando in May, I proposed that we go a couple nights early (Dec 1st and 2nd so we could stay on Universal property and have express access again!) And I threw in something about surprising our 6 year old by leaving earlier than he expected and being in Florida on his birthday (Dec. 2nd.) I hadn't gotten DH's complete agreement when I asked him for help planning what we were going to do each day of the trip so I could make ADRs 180 days ahead that he through me a curve ball and suggested a 3 day Disney Cruise to start our trip! The cruise starts December 2nd.

So a few days ago we booked the cruise! And this morning we made reservations at Animal Kingdom Villas. I wanted a concierge room (it was only 2 points more than a savannah view room!) It would be nice to be able to go on the exclusive Sunrise Safari only available to concierge guests. It wasn't available though. I'm still excited to stay at AKL for the first time and made our first ADRs for a late (7:30pm) Yak and Yeti dinner on the 1st (during EMH.) I also made an ADR for Boma for a 9am breakfast on the 2nd before going to the cruise terminal!

This is getting exciting!