Burning the Candle at Both Ends - A Holiday Dining Report

[IowaTater]

I think the Etch answer is "Ride like the wind, Bullseye!" That one as really tough. I've enjoyed your reviews as a lot of the places you all ate, we were thinking about trying for our next trip.

 

[SmallWorld71]

I don't know too much about Universal (my daughter isn't quite old enough to enjoy it yet) so looking forward to your insights. Your resort looks beautiful, as does that pizza ; )

Portofino Bay was a great resort. If you ever do head over to Universal, we highly recommend it!

Great report! Thank you! So sorry you missed out on most of the Storytellers. I, too, would have been greatly disappointed.

Thanks for reading!

Just caught up...again lol, great reviews!!!

Thank-you!

 

[SmallWorld71]

I think the Etch answer is "Ride like the wind, Bullseye!" That one as really tough. I've enjoyed your reviews as a lot of the places you all ate, we were thinking about trying for our next trip.

I thought it was really tough, too! Harry and I couldn't figure it out. Then, Hermione looked at it and got it in about 10 seconds.

 

[SmallWorld71]

January 1st - Universal Studios cont'd

So, backing up a bit, before our delicious pizza dinner at Sal's....

After checking in, we headed to Islands of Adventure. After some rides we headed over to Hogsmeade to the Hog's Head to partake in a family favorite: Frozen Butterbeer!




Yum! Harry and I rate this 10 out of 10! It's so good! Sweet though, so you might want to share.

***Tip - the cart outside often has crazy lines. Go down the alley way next to the bathrooms (or loo) and enter the Hog's Head from the back. The line is usually much shorter and there are tables outside where you can sit with the perfect view of Hogwarts castle. Even though the park was mobbed, we had no trouble getting a table.



Speaking of Hogwarts, we headed over to the castle so the boys could ride Forbidden Journey. Hermione and I are not fans. Well, Hermione is not a fan, I cried like a big baby after riding it in 2010 and refuse to go near it.
***Tip: If you are a giant chicken like me, do not despair. They will let you go on a tour of Hogwarts without having to ride the ride. Just tell the TM at the entrance.
The sorting hat:


Harry and I are in Ravenclaw, Arthur and Hermione are Gryffindor (though Harry thinks Hermione should be in Slytherin) and Ron is a Hufflepuff. Anyone else?

That night we headed back to Universal Studios after dinner. At the end of the evening we decided to check out King's Cross station and Diagon Alley. Can I just say that this was absolutely incredible! The theming is amazing! A must see for any Potter fan!


Hanging with the Knight Bus driver:




To our delight, the line for Gringott's was short; we didn't think we'd be able to ride it until early entry the next day. So, we hopped on. We LOVED it. Like the Mine Train, Gringott's has gotten a lot of flack for not being intense enough. But, I think it really fills a need at Universal for thrill rides for chickens like me/ families with school aged children. Much like Expedition Everest, Test Track etc... do for WDW. Like Forbidden Journey, the queue was amazing.




Continued in next post.....

 

[SmallWorld71]

January 2nd, Universal
The next day, we were up bright and early once again and headed to Universal Studio for early entry. We rode Despicable Me (love those Minions!) and then headed back to Diagon Alley once again to explore in the daylight. I could have spent all day just checking out the incredible details from The Leaky Cauldron, to Knockturn Alley to the Weasley's joke shop - tons of fun!
*One thing I highly recommend is stopping by Ollivander's and getting an interactive wand. You will get a map showing you what spells you can cast throughout both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and you make little things happen as you cast your spells. Kind of like the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game or the Phineas and Ferb one at Epcot. Here's Hermione practicing her magic:



After exploring, riding, shopping and spell casting, we hopped the train to Hogsmeade.


We were getting hungry so we decided to have breakfast at The Three Broomsticks:




Harry ordered the Pancake breakfast:


His pear juice:


I ordered the English Breakfast with pumpkin juice:


Ron and Arthur each had the American Breakfast with juice:


Hermione wasn't super hungry so she just had some snacks from the backpack and sampled our breakfasts.

Our ratings:
Me: food 6/10 (the black pudding was nasty, but everything else was fine for fast food), pumpkin juice 9/10, atmosphere 8/10
Harry: food 8/10, pear juice 8/10, atmosphere 8/10

Continued in next post....

 

[SmallWorld71]

January 2nd, Universal

After a nice break at our resort, we decided to head back to Diagon Alley one last time that night. We were getting hungry and decided to get a snack at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor so we hopped in line. Well, we actually got in the line to get inside to get in the line, LOL, but it was a nice evening, the surroundings were incredible and the people friendly, so we didn't mind the wait.



Lots of interesting flavors!


Hermione and I were pretty boring and got vanilla and chocolate, respectively. (but in a waffle cone!)
The boys all decided to go with the house specialty, butterbeer ice cream! I tried some and it was quite good.



Ice cream ratings:
Me: 9/10
Harry: 10/10

Harry spotted a tall set of stairs to nowhere across the way, so we sat there with a bunch of others enjoying our treats and the beautiful evening. We had a great view of the Gringott's Dragon. Harry took a very short video. Just click on it; the dragon is pretty cool.



After that, Hermione, Arthur and I headed back to the resort and brought pizza from Sal's up to our room. Ron and Harry decided to stay out and ride more rides and then headed to City Walk for dinner where they ended up eating tacos at Moe's.
Harry's rating for Moe's: food 8/10, atmosphere 9/10 - they sat at some outside seating with a nice view of City Walk

That's the end of our food endeavors! We will do one more post with our final thoughts. Thanks for reading along!

 

[Adgie128]

Thanks for including your Universal visit! I'm in the process of considering the best way to do Universal, and it's really been helpful to see little peeks of the resorts, rides, and food. From the reports I have read so far, staying in a Universal resort for the night seems to be a great option, as the early entry looks to be a huge perk.

Frozen butter beer looks so delish! I like seeing all the unique options for ice cream, too. Looks like I have a new research project in finding the must try foods at Universal!

You may have addressed this, and if so, I'm sorry, but did you have a car to get from CSR to Portifino?

 

[SmallWorld71]

Thanks for including your Universal visit! I'm in the process of considering the best way to do Universal, and it's really been helpful to see little peeks of the resorts, rides, and food. From the reports I have read so far, staying in a Universal resort for the night seems to be a great option, as the early entry looks to be a huge perk.

Frozen butter beer looks so delish! I like seeing all the unique options for ice cream, too. Looks like I have a new research project in finding the must try foods at Universal!

You may have addressed this, and if so, I'm sorry, but did you have a car to get from CSR to Portifino?

I am by no means a Universal expert, as we have only been there 2x. (We stayed at the Hard Rock for 9 days back in 2010) But, I think I'd stay offsite at WDW before I'd stay offsite at Universal. In addition to the early entry, you get the automatic front of the line pass for all the rides except a few. (Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Despicable Me and, I think, Pteranodon Flyers.) FJ does have single rider. It's like having an unlimited FP. It was so busy when we went that we wouldn't have been able to do much without it. 90-120 min. waits were 15-20 min. waits.
Even when we went in Aug. 2010 and most lines were only about 30 min. or so, we still saved a ton of time. They do sell Front of the Line passes, but the rates change based on season. Since we were a family of 5 at holiday rate, it was considerable cheaper to stay at a deluxe resort than it was to stay somewhere cheaper and buy the passes. Go figure! It can really vary, though. You have to do the math like with the Disney discounts.

Love frozen butterbeer!

We did not have a car. We just took a cab. We also took a cab from Universal to the airport. It was very easy. I don't remember the exact cost of the trip, but it was under $50. Car rentals were very pricey over the holiday weekend so I decided not to go that route. Since we weren't leaving Universal once we got there, the cab seemed the least amount of hassle. It's also cheaper than the shuttles for us because we had 5 'adults' we would have to buy tickets for but we can all fit in one taxi van.

 

[Adgie128]

I am by no means a Universal expert, as we have only been there 2x. (We stayed at the Hard Rock for 9 days back in 2010) But, I think I'd stay offsite at WDW before I'd stay offsite at Universal. In addition to the early entry, you get the automatic front of the line pass for all the rides except a few. (Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Despicable Me and, I think, Pteranodon Flyers.) FJ does have single rider. It's like having an unlimited FP. It was so busy when we went that we wouldn't have been able to do much without it. 90-120 min. waits were 15-20 min. waits.
Even when we went in Aug. 2010 and most lines were only about 30 min. or so, we still saved a ton of time. They do sell Front of the Line passes, but the rates change based on season. Since we were a family of 5 at holiday rate, it was considerable cheaper to stay at a deluxe resort than it was to stay somewhere cheaper and buy the passes. Go figure! It can really vary, though. You have to do the math like with the Disney discounts.

Love frozen butterbeer!

We did not have a car. We just took a cab. We also took a cab from Universal to the airport. It was very easy. I don't remember the exact cost of the trip, but it was under $50. Car rentals were very pricey over the holiday weekend so I decided not to go that route. Since we weren't leaving Universal once we got there, the cab seemed the least amount of hassle. It's also cheaper than the shuttles for us because we had 5 'adults' we would have to buy tickets for but we can all fit in one taxi van.

Thank you so much for your input. It really is helpful for me. I've only been to Universal once, and we did both parks in one day, and really rushed through it. This was before HP, so I can't even imagine that would work with the updates the parks have seen since then.

I've started playing with the rates a little, and it seems like the best way will be getting a room. Good to know!

Thanks for sharing all your meals and hope to see another report from you and the kids going forward!

 

[archdandy]

Just finished reading your reviews. Thanks for all of the pictures! We are going in November and we've never been during the Holiday season so the pictures got me really excited for it.

 

[kastoney]

Universal looks like so much fun. I can't wait to explore it when my daughter gets older. But I gotta ask as the Universal novice, what does the butterbeer taste like?

 

[archdandy]

Universal looks like so much fun. I can't wait to explore it when my daughter gets older. But I gotta ask as the Universal novice, what does the butterbeer taste like?

Just my take on it but it tastes like cream soda with a vanilla foam on top.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Thank you so much for your input. It really is helpful for me. I've only been to Universal once, and we did both parks in one day, and really rushed through it. This was before HP, so I can't even imagine that would work with the updates the parks have seen since then.

I've started playing with the rates a little, and it seems like the best way will be getting a room. Good to know!

Thanks for sharing all your meals and hope to see another report from you and the kids going forward!

You're welcome! Thanks for reading along. We can't wait until we can go again!

Just finished reading your reviews. Thanks for all of the pictures! We are going in November and we've never been during the Holiday season so the pictures got me really excited for it.

Have a great time!

Universal looks like so much fun. I can't wait to explore it when my daughter gets older. But I gotta ask as the Universal novice, what does the butterbeer taste like?

Just my take on it but it tastes like cream soda with a vanilla foam on top.

I'm not disagreeing with archdandy as I've heard people describe it like that. But, I don't like cream soda or vanilla and I love it, LOL! I do taste some butterscotch in there as well.

 

[SmallWorld71]

So, the report may be done, but the kids and I felt like we needed a final post. Our blisters have healed, sinus infections cleared up, aches from walking what seemed like thousands of miles a day are gone and the exhaustion from waking up before the sun and going to bed after midnight is just a distant memory. What we are left with is fond memories and dreams of culinary delights.
May we present our superlatives. These are the things that have stayed in our hearts and minds that we are still salivating over some 6 months later....
(Arthur joined us for this part)

Best Appetizer:
Me: cornbread @ Hoop Dee Doo
Arthur: Charbroiled Octopus @ Coral Reef
Harry: pineapple bread @ 'Ohana
Hermione: Potstickers @ 'Ohana

Best Entree:
Me: Steak and veggies @ 'Ohana
Honorable mention: Mahi Mahi @ Coral Reef
Arthur: Sustainable Fish @ Coral Reef
Honorable mention: Bangers and Booze @ Raglan Road
Harry: Seafood Arrabbiata @ Mama Melrose
Honorable mention: the meat @ Biergarten
Hermione: Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Corn @ Hoop Dee Doo

Best Dessert:
Me: Bread Pudding @ 'Ohana
Arthur: Bailey's and Jack Daniel's Mousse @ Coral Reef
Harry: Mango Chiffon cake @ Coral Reef
Honorable Mention: Berry Compote @ Biergarten
Hermione: Turtle Cheesecake @ Coral Reef

Best Counter Service Meal:
Me: Empanadas from Pepper Market
Honorable mention: pizza from Sal's deli at Portofino Bay
Arthur: Aztec Burger @ Pepper Market
Harry: Texas BBQ Burger@ Pepper Market
Honorable mention: pizza from Sal's
Hermione: flatbread pizza @ Pepper Market

Best Atmosphere:
Me: Hoop Dee Doo
Honorable Mention: Be Our Guest
Arthur: Hoop Dee Doo
Harry: Hoop Dee Doo
Hermione: Hoop Dee Doo
Honorable Mention: Katsura Grill in Japan

Favorite Snack:
Me: Sweet Potato from Liberty Square Market
Honorable Mention: Chocolate covered pineapple from Karamel Kuche
Arthur: Baked Potato from LSM
Harry: Chocolate Covered Pineapple from KK
Honorable Mention: 'smores from KK
Hermione: cinnamon buns from Gaston's Tavern

Yummiest Ice Cream:
Me: All American Sundae from the Plaza Ice Cream Shop
Arthur: Butterbeer Ice Cream from Florean Fortescue's
Harry: Dole Whip Float
Honorable Mention: Butterbeer Ice Cream
Hermione: Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich

Best Service:
Me: Coral Reef
Honorable Mention: Be Our Guest
Arthur: 'Ohana
Harry: Coral Reef
Hermione: 'Ohana

Favorite Beverage:
Me: Frozen Butterbeer
Honorable Mention: Hot Caramel drink from Germany
Arthur: beer @ Biergarten
Harry: Frozen Butterbeer
Honorable Mention: Lemonade with wildberry foam (found at a number of restaurants)
Hermione: LeFou's Brew @ Gaston's Tavern

Most Fun:
Me: Hoop Dee Doo
Honorable mention: Crystal Palace
Arthur: Hoop Dee Doo
Harry: Hoop Dee Doo
Hermione: Hoop Dee Doo
Honorable mention: Crystal Palace

Overall Favorite:
Me: 'Ohana
Arthur: Biergarten
Harry: Biergarten
Hermione: Crystal Palace

***Overall, it was a fabulous trip and we were very happy with our food choices. I have to give a huge shout out to all the CM's. We had great service everywhere we went, whether it be TS, CS or somewhere else. I sometimes hear people lament that the CM's have gone down hill and that was most definitely not our experience. Unfortunately, we do not have a trip currently booked (darn fiscal responsibility!), but we are all dreaming of our next trip.

Thanks for reading along!

 

[kastoney]

Great wrap-up. Thanks for letting us eat along with you

 

[DisneyJo]

Loved all of your reviews, thanks

 

[SmallWorld71]

Great wrap-up. Thanks for letting us eat along with you

Loved all of your reviews, thanks

Thanks to both of you for following along!

 

[totebagg]

Loved your report and loved your pictures of Universal. We've said that we would like to go to the other side once our daughter gets old enough, but seeing your pics make me want to go sooner than later.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Loved your report and loved your pictures of Universal. We've said that we would like to go to the other side once our daughter gets old enough, but seeing your pics make me want to go sooner than later.

Thanks for reading!
Universal is definitely a must for Potter fans! Diagon Alley has the best theming in any of the FL theme parks. (IMO) It's great for thrill seekers, too. I am the ride chicken of the family, so the rest of the family enjoys the rides more than I do but I still have a great time. My boys especially enjoy Universal.