Mother/Daughter Tackle Universal for the First time - January 8-12 TRIP IN PROGRESS!

Now we're pondering spending Saturday just doing both Harry Potter areas, and then leaving early to go to the luau at RPR. Because I like luaus. I need to fuss with my budget a little bit and see if I really want to drop that kind of $ though, because I am cheap.
 
My grown daughter and I are planning a 3 day trip to Universal in September! We will be driving from the Pa/Ny state line..I am so confused about the parks!! I am going to follow to see what you think...will be looking forward to your Trip Report!!!
 
My grown daughter and I are planning a 3 day trip to Universal in September! We will be driving from the Pa/Ny state line..I am so confused about the parks!! I am going to follow to see what you think...will be looking forward to your Trip Report!!!

Excellent! I hope I can be helpful! We have decided to do the luau. We'll spend Saturday doing both Potter sections, then leave for the luau, then have two more days in the parks to do other stuff and revisit the Potter stuff (Our appointment at Shutterbottoms is on Monday)
 


And I got the Black Friday deal on the Photo card, so I'm happy about that. That's $35 to spend at the parks! :)
 
40 days! It's seeming really real now! December will be over before we know it and then off we go! DD turns 21 on the 29th of December, she's looking forward to being able to drink on this trip. We're headed to Margaritaville Friday night (arrival day) and I think we'll split a margarita flight to toast her birthday.

DH and I got a hotel suite for yesterday through Monday morning (His first weekend off in months) for a little getaway, and I discovered that my new laptop doesn't fit in the backpack I've been using for a carry-on bag. So glad I discovered this now and not days (or the day of!) before our trip. I will need to find a bigger backpack this month, as well.

Other than that, things are moving along smoothly. Still need to sit down with DD and menus and see if she's got any preferences for Sunday and Monday dinners. There's so many restaurants I want to try but we need to narrow it down to two! DD isn't an adventurous eater, so it narrows our choices down a bit, although she's so much better than she used to be. Looking at the restaurants at HRH and Portofino Bay, just because I'd like an excuse to check them out!

(Actually, now that I'm looking at the Black Friday special Universal has going on, I may call and see about switching us over to RPR.)
 
...and done. Cost us about $100 more and we lost the free breakfasts and free Shutterbuttons, but even paying out of pocket for those I think the hotel upgrade is worth it :)
 


38 days!

Our flight leaves DTW on Friday at 10:40 am. Still trying to decide if we want to get a room near the airport that night. Will depend on whether or not we need to drive ourselves to the airport and pay to park. (Parking would be included in the hotel cost.) We're due to arrive MCO at 1:22. We'll take the Superstar Shuttle to Royal Pacific Resort.

What we do from there is up in the air. If flights go on time and we arrive at a decent time, I may go ahead and add a day to our tickets and we can head into the parks. Since we'll have the express pass, even if we only have a couple of hours, it would be worth the small amount of money to go from 3 day tickets to 4 day. As of right now, IOA is open until 8 and USF until 7. We may end up wanting to just explore the resorts, but if I know DD, she'll be dying to get into the parks. When we were going to stay at Cabana Bay, it wasn't really worth it, but with express... well, well see.

In any event, dinner that night will be at Margaritaville to celebrate her 21st birthday, which is 12/29.

Saturday we'll eat breakfast in the room and lunch at Three Broomsticks, and mostly spend the day exploring both Harry Potter areas (the whole reason she wanted this trip!) We'll leave around 5 and head back to RPR to go to the luau for dinner.

Sunday we'll have breakfast in the room and lunch at a CS place in Universal - not sure which one, although I'm reading good things about Thunder Falls. Dinner will be something simple - maybe a pizza at Red Oven after the parks close.

Monday we'll have breakfast at Leaky Cauldron, since she doesn't see anything on their lunch menu she'd like. We'll also do Shutterbutton's that day, and re-ride and revisit anything we extra loved. It's our last day and we'll be sad! I'm thinking dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, DD has never been to one and I think she'll enjoy it.

Tuesday our flight home leaves at 3:10 so we'll be able to sleep in a little bit, check out, and then maybe go wander around Citywalk for a while before meeting our shuttle back to the airport. Where we will be sad!

Looking forward to this so much.
 
Sounds like you have everything planned out and very well!!!! My daughter and I are looking forward to our trip...we are a ways out from it though...We are planning on staying at the Royal Pacific too! This is all going to be a really new experience for us as we are "planners" from way back!!! The furthest we have gotten is to know that we want to spend two days with Harry!!! My daughter is crazy for HP...and I like it enough to spend some time there. We are mulling over the different eateries but haven't really decided on any one place, except for Bubba Gump's...we both love shrimp!! We are willing to try just about anything...I just have a problem with no plan..we have been going to WDW for years and years and it is always so much planning!!! I love it! Guess I am a structured person!! Looking forward to your TR!!
 
DD21 and I got together and she vetoed dinner at Hard Rock - she didn't really see anything on the menu she liked. We may just end up nibbling on snacks or CS that night. DD is a picky eater and also doesn't eat much at once, so restaurant portions are huge for her.
 
Another oncology appointment today. MIL's cancer has spread to her lungs and liver, they want to start chemo at the end of the month to try to arrest the growth - there's no cure for her but they think they can give her a low dose of chemo that will keep it at bay for a while.

Trip is still on, providing she has her chemo and recovers well. Today I made the reservations for the luau (sprung for the priority seating since this is the thing "for me" on this trip), and also made Open Table reservations for Margaritaville for DD's 21st birthday celebration (Might not have been necessary but I hear that when the parks close the restaurants can get busy, and I just don't want to deal with it.)

Offered to postpone the trip regardless, but my MIL would hear nothing of it, so unless something happens closer to the date, we're still on Sad, though. Both of my parents are gone and my MIL has definitely been like a Mom to me, too. SOmetimes my husband teases that she likes me more than she likes him. :P
 
Sorry you didn't get better news about MiL.......that's a tough one to deal with.

But she'll be glad you're still going I'm sure.........you do right making a reservation, even if it's not busy, the fact that's it's daughters 21st you know then you'll get where you want to eat. Peace of mind for a special occasion.......

You have two good choices there.....loved the Luau and adore Margaritaville!!
 
DD wanted money for the trip for her birthday/Christmas so I ordered her a $250 gift card today. She'll get a few other Christmas presents but mostly the trip is her present. :P I was going to order her a Slytherin lanyard but I couldn't find one I knew she'd love so decided to let her pick one out once we're there.

Pretty sure that was the last trip-related thing I need to do! 24 days!!
 
Merry Christmas, everyone! Our trip is so close now! Two weeks from tomorrow! I still need to find a carry on bag for my laptop, or see if my old one (which fits in the bag I usually take) is limping along well enough to take.

Gift card hasn't arrived yet, but it said 7 days, and Tuesday was a week. If it isn't here by Saturday I'll give their help line a call.

Getting super excited, although with this weather it looks like it's going to be warmer than we anticipated. Not sure how I feel about that.
 
Eeee! One week from right now we'll probably be in the parks! I'm super duper excited!
 
That's crept up quick hasn't it!!

Did your gift card arrive ok.......
 
It did! It's a good thing I was looking out for it, though, since it came in a totally unmarked envelope with a company name that didn't scream "Universal" at all. I mean, I guess that's good, so no one can steal it, but at the same time we get a ton of mail so I'm glad it didn't get lost in the shuffle.

Suitcase is out. I'm doing laundry this weekend so stuff I wash that I know I'm taking is going directly in there. Need to book an airport hotel room for Thursday night. Should probably go do that now, now that I'm thinking about it.

SO EXCITED EEEEEE!
 
Two days! DD21 decided yesterday she wanted to be able to swim after all, since it's supposed to be in the high 70's through most of our trip (rain on Saturday and Sunday but hopefully that's just Florida Rain (tm). Plus, Saturday is supposed to be the highest crowds of our trip, so maybe the rain will scare the locals off. Plus we're leaving early Saturday to go to the luau so I'm not too worried about evening rain.

So we found her a new swimsuit top and I put more things in the suitcase - I think I'm all set for clothes, just need to work on what non-clothes I'm taking and pack my bag for the plane.

We have a room at the Holiday Inn for tomorrow night, so we can use the sleep-park-fly deal and get free parking while we're gone, and then we'll shuttle to the airport Friday morning.

I can't believe our trip is finally here!!
 
Have an amazing trip......looking forward to hearing all about it.........:)
 

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