DryCreek
Peter Pan (never grows up)
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2011
OUTBOUND!
Departure from Waco TX with connections through DFW went very smoothly. I really like flying out of the smaller airports. The free parking and generally more friendlier and helpful TSA screeners are an added bonus and help seal the deal and make the added cost worth it. Flying out of ACT adds about $85 per person to our airline ticket costs, but since it is half the distance to DFW, and with no traffic to fight, it is worth our sanity. Both morning flights were lightly loaded at about 5o to 60% capacity. Arrival in Orlando was typical – the westerly flowing jet stream delivered us early to our destination and we had to wait while our arrival gate was vacated. On your first day of vacation, short (15 minute) waits can seem like hours!
ARRIVAL!
Once we deplaned, we headed for the monorail shuttles to the main terminal. It was there that we noticed the amazingly long and slow lines for the pre-flight screening. We made a mental note to be early, very early, for our return flight.
I had booked SuperShuttle for our transportation to and from the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel. I had read so many encouraging recommendations for their shuttle service to Disneyland destination hotels that I thought I’d give them a shot in Orlando. They are new to the area, and as such did not have a presence (booth or counter) at MCO as I expected. After wandering around for a few minutes, and stopping near the Mears Shuttle counter to again look for their representative, I decided to actually read my reservation sheet. It directed me to call a local number to announce my arrival. After spending nearly 15 minutes on hold, I was able to finally speak to the dispatcher and be informed where to meet our shuttle van. Oh, as a note – they answer the phone as “Associated Services”, or something similar. Once the van finally showed up (10 minutes past the time we were told it would be there), we were loaded up with about 5 other passengers and en route. We were the first stop, so things really started looking up at that point. At check-in, we were given another pleasant surprise. We were offered a Villa Section room at a rate discounted $75 below our standard garden view room rate if we could “tolerate” the lack of a view since exterior renovations were in progress and our windows would be covered by translucent plastic sheeting. Of course, Mr. Frugal here jumped on that deal! The nightly room cost came out to be $156.75 plus taxes ($19.60).
FIRST DAY
We did not plan any park time for that first day. Instead we took a nice stroll over to Carraba’s for lunch and then a quick jaunt over to the Walgreen’s to stock up. We found some good breakfast “stuff” to get us started each morning, and, surprisingly enough, we discovered that they had a liquor store open on Sunday! We stocked up on some “essentials” for our quiet evening strolls. We took the rest of the time to explore the immaculate hotel grounds and facilities, as well as a trip to CityWalk for dinner and pictures. Since we were still rather full from the sizeable lunch at Carraba’s, we opted to just share a plate of chicken nachos from Moe’s as our dinner. We also visited the other two onsite hotels for pictures and exploration. The other two were nice, but I think we made the better choice for our tastes by staying at the Portofino Bay. The walk from The Hard Rock Hotel was very relaxing and offered many photo ops along the way. We even caught the evening entertainment.
TO THE PARKS! CHARGE! THEME PARK COMMANDOS ON THE LOOSE!
Monday was the first day for our park visits. I had purchased four day park-to-park tickets from Undercover Tourist. I highly recommend their service. There were no surprises – and they sent real tickets which functioned without error at any of the scanners. I noticed that many of the home-printed style tickets wouldn’t scan on the first, second or third try at the turnstiles. As for the number of days we planned? I think that even though this was our first real trip to the Universal Studios theme parks, four days were too many. Yes, we got to repeatedly visit our most favorite attractions, but then even that started to seem repetitious. I think that three days would be perfect for low attendance days (as during the week we were there) or if you did not have the Unlimited Express Pass like we did. In fact, thanks to the Express Pass and early entry, we were able to do everything we had an interest in – on the first day alone! Now, we did not hit every ride in both parks, but we came close. We skipped the water rides (still a little cool to me to be soaking wet) and we also did not ride the Dr, Seuss ride or catch “Oh The Tales You’ll Hear” attraction. Oh, and no Dr. Doom’s Freefall. We did do everything else at IOA. Even riding the Red Dragon Challenge twice – blue once. Over at US, we did not do the Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Revue or the Horror Makeup Show that day – but we did ride Mummy, RRR, Simpson’s, MIB, DMMM, Shrek, Terminator and Disaster!, all on the first day. Over the next three days we filled in with all of the other things we missed on the first day – again with the exception of Dr. Doom’s Freefall. Not our type of ride.
Overall Impressions:
The parks were exquisitely themed and very clean. In fact, I would go as far as saying that the theming of USO exceeds that of DHS. I firmly believe that USO is what DHS *should* be. The fact that the buildings for the different represented cities are real, and not some painted façade are what puts their attempt at recreating a city street ambiance above what the Imagineers came up with. Now, the one thing missing in their street props was the background sounds that are heard at the NY section of DHS. Although each area had music that was appropriate for the depicted locale/era, subtle traffic sounds or other period/location background noises would make it an even more authentic experience. Overall, both parks compare very well with any Disney Park as far as cleanliness and attention to detail. For some reason the first two days we were in the parks, we got the feeling that the Team Members were just not as friendly and outgoing as the CM’s at Disney parks. It seemed like they tried to avoid interacting with the customers at all costs. Now, on the last two days (Wednesday and Thursday), there was a marked change in their behavior! As we walked by the TM’s they would greet us and even offered to take pictures of us together. I don’t understand the abrupt (and welcome) change, but it was noticeable to both the DW and I. Other impressions include that fact that the WWOHP seems to be quite a bottleneck in the afternoons if you are trying to make your way around from the Lost Continent to the Jurassic Park area (or vice-versa). Maybe the Diagon Alley expansion will be able to relieve some of the pressure on this area that you must pass through at some point in the circle around the theme park. Another thing we noticed – while the landscaping was adequate, it wasn’t “special” other than it seemed to attempt to reflect the area of the park it was in. I guess that the topiaries and colorful plant/flower beds of the Disney parks are something that is more of a trademark to their theme parks and not others. Maybe we are the only ones that notice those things.
Overall, I think that USO and IOA are both worth the time to visit for an onsite vacation. If I could change things, I would like to see them rely LESS on the motion simulator rides, and incorporate more “real” rides – as well as updating some of their current (but dated) ones. One funny comment the DW made that stuck in my mind was on the ET ride. She said “jeesh, this is like a combination of Peter Pan and Small World rolled into one”. That made me snicker. She didn’t think much of MIB either – preferring TSMM or Buzz Lightyear. They do have some great roller coasters! We loved The Hulk, Rip Ride Rockit, Red Dragon Challenge, The Mummy, and even the Flight of the Hippogriff was (mildly) entertaining and probably an excellent first coaster for your child. Other areas for improvement would be in their parades and night time entertainment. While chatting with some of the TM’s they really talked up the “Big Parade” nightly at 5 p.m. We were expecting something similar to maybe a Disney evening parade – but the Universal’s Superstar Parade was more akin to the Block Party Bash at DHS. They need some help there. We even stayed for the “Universal's Cinematic Spectacular” that was heavily promoted while we were there. It was entertaining, but having visited Disneyland and California Adventure last year, it doesn’t hold a candle to World Of Color or Fantasmic. Since our only child is an adult, I really can’t comment on the children’s play areas or rides (other than the Dr. Seuss Trolley <-liked it!). It does seem like the parks aren’t really geared for families with toddlers to early pre-teens. Tweens and teens should be adequately entertained though.
Now, for the only serious criticism I have – it centers on the queue and ride loading for The Simpson’s Ride. Every time we rode there seemed to be confusion and a lack of communication between the TM’s. We would be told to go to one room, and then halfway down the hall another TM would stop us and send us to another room. Once, a family of non English speakers walked right by the ride cars and to the exit as they didn’t understand the directions as given by the Itchy and Scratchy pre-ride cartoon. They just followed the crowd – unfortunately those were the ones leaving.
One tip I would like to make sure everyone knows about – if the lines are small enough, make it a point to go through the normal lines at least once! I was amazed at how much ride theming we missed by taking the Express Pass queue on the rides that offered it. This is probably not always possible if you go during the peak season. Except for our last park day (Thursday the 16th), park attendance was very, very light, so we were able to see all that we had missed earlier. With the Jurassic Park River Adventure closed, that section of the park was essentially dead. Not much else to do there, although I was tempted to try and ride the Pteranodon Flyers since the area was deserted.
DEPARTURE
Last day and return home.
We awoke at the same time we had gotten used to in order to make the early entry for the last four days (6 a.m.) and then enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the room while we finished packing. This was the only day that we saw any form of activity outside our window as far as the detail painting of the exterior renovations were concerned. And, since they were using brushes it wasn’t any more of an annoyance than a shadow passing by the window every so often. Once we check out of our room, I gave a call to SuperShuttle to confirm my pickup. The lady taking the call seemed a bit annoyed when I mentioned that we were at the Portofino Bay vice the Royal Pacific where we were originally booked. When asked if I had told anyone of the change, I reminded her that it was one of their drivers that had dropped me off there, and I most certainly informed the original dispatcher upon my arrival in Orlando. Anyway, they were only about 15 minutes past the scheduled pickup time I had arranged. While waiting for the shuttle van, I kept getting updates from American Airlines where our departure had been delayed. This ultimately worked to our advantage as we didn’t have a very tight connection in DFW (where the whole systemic series of delays began because of fog). We were the last ones picked up by the van, and the first ones dropped off at the airport, so the right was brief. Now, for the most scathing review of any part of this trip – I have reserved for the screening process at MCO. What a mess. The screeners were surly and unhelpful. The whole process is an unmitigated mess! You approach the agents standing at four podiums for your ID/Boarding Pass check. They accept people at both sides of the podium, so this makes eight lines that have to merge into two lanes. There is no direction, and when you ask the agent what do, they just snarl “go right or left”. Right is the bas choice. The right line has five other screener lines feeding into it which creates a bottleneck due to no clear merge directions. The people entering the lane from further down push right into the line (like Express Pass holders in some lines) and those of us further back seemed to be making no headway. It took 40 minutes to process through. One pattern I did notice was that the young and attractive ladies were all directed to the backscatter scanners, while us older folks (and almost all males) were sent through the metal detectors. Surely this was just a coincidence…. Well, even after that we would have still made our flight, it was just an annoyance that we had to deal with. The TSA would make a fortune if they followed Universal’s lead and sold Express Passes at MCO! The rest of our return was pretty uneventful except for one steep bank we had to make when it looked like a Southwest Airlines flight was close to violating the separation rule. The MCO to DFW flight was 100% capacity (and one standby left behind) while the DFW-ACT flight was about 70% full.
We used the Meal Deal during our stay, and I will be including a review of that program, but I don’t know if I should post it here or over in the US/IOA “Where To Eat” sticky. I think that it may be informative for some folks that have been wondering about it.
Vacation? Unqualified success! We had a great time and loved the lodging and ambiance. The Loews staff was very friendly and their hospitality rates second to none (includes Disney!).
Any questions?
Departure from Waco TX with connections through DFW went very smoothly. I really like flying out of the smaller airports. The free parking and generally more friendlier and helpful TSA screeners are an added bonus and help seal the deal and make the added cost worth it. Flying out of ACT adds about $85 per person to our airline ticket costs, but since it is half the distance to DFW, and with no traffic to fight, it is worth our sanity. Both morning flights were lightly loaded at about 5o to 60% capacity. Arrival in Orlando was typical – the westerly flowing jet stream delivered us early to our destination and we had to wait while our arrival gate was vacated. On your first day of vacation, short (15 minute) waits can seem like hours!
ARRIVAL!
Once we deplaned, we headed for the monorail shuttles to the main terminal. It was there that we noticed the amazingly long and slow lines for the pre-flight screening. We made a mental note to be early, very early, for our return flight.
I had booked SuperShuttle for our transportation to and from the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel. I had read so many encouraging recommendations for their shuttle service to Disneyland destination hotels that I thought I’d give them a shot in Orlando. They are new to the area, and as such did not have a presence (booth or counter) at MCO as I expected. After wandering around for a few minutes, and stopping near the Mears Shuttle counter to again look for their representative, I decided to actually read my reservation sheet. It directed me to call a local number to announce my arrival. After spending nearly 15 minutes on hold, I was able to finally speak to the dispatcher and be informed where to meet our shuttle van. Oh, as a note – they answer the phone as “Associated Services”, or something similar. Once the van finally showed up (10 minutes past the time we were told it would be there), we were loaded up with about 5 other passengers and en route. We were the first stop, so things really started looking up at that point. At check-in, we were given another pleasant surprise. We were offered a Villa Section room at a rate discounted $75 below our standard garden view room rate if we could “tolerate” the lack of a view since exterior renovations were in progress and our windows would be covered by translucent plastic sheeting. Of course, Mr. Frugal here jumped on that deal! The nightly room cost came out to be $156.75 plus taxes ($19.60).
FIRST DAY
We did not plan any park time for that first day. Instead we took a nice stroll over to Carraba’s for lunch and then a quick jaunt over to the Walgreen’s to stock up. We found some good breakfast “stuff” to get us started each morning, and, surprisingly enough, we discovered that they had a liquor store open on Sunday! We stocked up on some “essentials” for our quiet evening strolls. We took the rest of the time to explore the immaculate hotel grounds and facilities, as well as a trip to CityWalk for dinner and pictures. Since we were still rather full from the sizeable lunch at Carraba’s, we opted to just share a plate of chicken nachos from Moe’s as our dinner. We also visited the other two onsite hotels for pictures and exploration. The other two were nice, but I think we made the better choice for our tastes by staying at the Portofino Bay. The walk from The Hard Rock Hotel was very relaxing and offered many photo ops along the way. We even caught the evening entertainment.
TO THE PARKS! CHARGE! THEME PARK COMMANDOS ON THE LOOSE!
Monday was the first day for our park visits. I had purchased four day park-to-park tickets from Undercover Tourist. I highly recommend their service. There were no surprises – and they sent real tickets which functioned without error at any of the scanners. I noticed that many of the home-printed style tickets wouldn’t scan on the first, second or third try at the turnstiles. As for the number of days we planned? I think that even though this was our first real trip to the Universal Studios theme parks, four days were too many. Yes, we got to repeatedly visit our most favorite attractions, but then even that started to seem repetitious. I think that three days would be perfect for low attendance days (as during the week we were there) or if you did not have the Unlimited Express Pass like we did. In fact, thanks to the Express Pass and early entry, we were able to do everything we had an interest in – on the first day alone! Now, we did not hit every ride in both parks, but we came close. We skipped the water rides (still a little cool to me to be soaking wet) and we also did not ride the Dr, Seuss ride or catch “Oh The Tales You’ll Hear” attraction. Oh, and no Dr. Doom’s Freefall. We did do everything else at IOA. Even riding the Red Dragon Challenge twice – blue once. Over at US, we did not do the Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Revue or the Horror Makeup Show that day – but we did ride Mummy, RRR, Simpson’s, MIB, DMMM, Shrek, Terminator and Disaster!, all on the first day. Over the next three days we filled in with all of the other things we missed on the first day – again with the exception of Dr. Doom’s Freefall. Not our type of ride.
Overall Impressions:
The parks were exquisitely themed and very clean. In fact, I would go as far as saying that the theming of USO exceeds that of DHS. I firmly believe that USO is what DHS *should* be. The fact that the buildings for the different represented cities are real, and not some painted façade are what puts their attempt at recreating a city street ambiance above what the Imagineers came up with. Now, the one thing missing in their street props was the background sounds that are heard at the NY section of DHS. Although each area had music that was appropriate for the depicted locale/era, subtle traffic sounds or other period/location background noises would make it an even more authentic experience. Overall, both parks compare very well with any Disney Park as far as cleanliness and attention to detail. For some reason the first two days we were in the parks, we got the feeling that the Team Members were just not as friendly and outgoing as the CM’s at Disney parks. It seemed like they tried to avoid interacting with the customers at all costs. Now, on the last two days (Wednesday and Thursday), there was a marked change in their behavior! As we walked by the TM’s they would greet us and even offered to take pictures of us together. I don’t understand the abrupt (and welcome) change, but it was noticeable to both the DW and I. Other impressions include that fact that the WWOHP seems to be quite a bottleneck in the afternoons if you are trying to make your way around from the Lost Continent to the Jurassic Park area (or vice-versa). Maybe the Diagon Alley expansion will be able to relieve some of the pressure on this area that you must pass through at some point in the circle around the theme park. Another thing we noticed – while the landscaping was adequate, it wasn’t “special” other than it seemed to attempt to reflect the area of the park it was in. I guess that the topiaries and colorful plant/flower beds of the Disney parks are something that is more of a trademark to their theme parks and not others. Maybe we are the only ones that notice those things.
Overall, I think that USO and IOA are both worth the time to visit for an onsite vacation. If I could change things, I would like to see them rely LESS on the motion simulator rides, and incorporate more “real” rides – as well as updating some of their current (but dated) ones. One funny comment the DW made that stuck in my mind was on the ET ride. She said “jeesh, this is like a combination of Peter Pan and Small World rolled into one”. That made me snicker. She didn’t think much of MIB either – preferring TSMM or Buzz Lightyear. They do have some great roller coasters! We loved The Hulk, Rip Ride Rockit, Red Dragon Challenge, The Mummy, and even the Flight of the Hippogriff was (mildly) entertaining and probably an excellent first coaster for your child. Other areas for improvement would be in their parades and night time entertainment. While chatting with some of the TM’s they really talked up the “Big Parade” nightly at 5 p.m. We were expecting something similar to maybe a Disney evening parade – but the Universal’s Superstar Parade was more akin to the Block Party Bash at DHS. They need some help there. We even stayed for the “Universal's Cinematic Spectacular” that was heavily promoted while we were there. It was entertaining, but having visited Disneyland and California Adventure last year, it doesn’t hold a candle to World Of Color or Fantasmic. Since our only child is an adult, I really can’t comment on the children’s play areas or rides (other than the Dr. Seuss Trolley <-liked it!). It does seem like the parks aren’t really geared for families with toddlers to early pre-teens. Tweens and teens should be adequately entertained though.
Now, for the only serious criticism I have – it centers on the queue and ride loading for The Simpson’s Ride. Every time we rode there seemed to be confusion and a lack of communication between the TM’s. We would be told to go to one room, and then halfway down the hall another TM would stop us and send us to another room. Once, a family of non English speakers walked right by the ride cars and to the exit as they didn’t understand the directions as given by the Itchy and Scratchy pre-ride cartoon. They just followed the crowd – unfortunately those were the ones leaving.
One tip I would like to make sure everyone knows about – if the lines are small enough, make it a point to go through the normal lines at least once! I was amazed at how much ride theming we missed by taking the Express Pass queue on the rides that offered it. This is probably not always possible if you go during the peak season. Except for our last park day (Thursday the 16th), park attendance was very, very light, so we were able to see all that we had missed earlier. With the Jurassic Park River Adventure closed, that section of the park was essentially dead. Not much else to do there, although I was tempted to try and ride the Pteranodon Flyers since the area was deserted.
DEPARTURE
Last day and return home.
We awoke at the same time we had gotten used to in order to make the early entry for the last four days (6 a.m.) and then enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the room while we finished packing. This was the only day that we saw any form of activity outside our window as far as the detail painting of the exterior renovations were concerned. And, since they were using brushes it wasn’t any more of an annoyance than a shadow passing by the window every so often. Once we check out of our room, I gave a call to SuperShuttle to confirm my pickup. The lady taking the call seemed a bit annoyed when I mentioned that we were at the Portofino Bay vice the Royal Pacific where we were originally booked. When asked if I had told anyone of the change, I reminded her that it was one of their drivers that had dropped me off there, and I most certainly informed the original dispatcher upon my arrival in Orlando. Anyway, they were only about 15 minutes past the scheduled pickup time I had arranged. While waiting for the shuttle van, I kept getting updates from American Airlines where our departure had been delayed. This ultimately worked to our advantage as we didn’t have a very tight connection in DFW (where the whole systemic series of delays began because of fog). We were the last ones picked up by the van, and the first ones dropped off at the airport, so the right was brief. Now, for the most scathing review of any part of this trip – I have reserved for the screening process at MCO. What a mess. The screeners were surly and unhelpful. The whole process is an unmitigated mess! You approach the agents standing at four podiums for your ID/Boarding Pass check. They accept people at both sides of the podium, so this makes eight lines that have to merge into two lanes. There is no direction, and when you ask the agent what do, they just snarl “go right or left”. Right is the bas choice. The right line has five other screener lines feeding into it which creates a bottleneck due to no clear merge directions. The people entering the lane from further down push right into the line (like Express Pass holders in some lines) and those of us further back seemed to be making no headway. It took 40 minutes to process through. One pattern I did notice was that the young and attractive ladies were all directed to the backscatter scanners, while us older folks (and almost all males) were sent through the metal detectors. Surely this was just a coincidence…. Well, even after that we would have still made our flight, it was just an annoyance that we had to deal with. The TSA would make a fortune if they followed Universal’s lead and sold Express Passes at MCO! The rest of our return was pretty uneventful except for one steep bank we had to make when it looked like a Southwest Airlines flight was close to violating the separation rule. The MCO to DFW flight was 100% capacity (and one standby left behind) while the DFW-ACT flight was about 70% full.
We used the Meal Deal during our stay, and I will be including a review of that program, but I don’t know if I should post it here or over in the US/IOA “Where To Eat” sticky. I think that it may be informative for some folks that have been wondering about it.
Vacation? Unqualified success! We had a great time and loved the lodging and ambiance. The Loews staff was very friendly and their hospitality rates second to none (includes Disney!).
Any questions?
Have fun at the Grand Canyon--that's quite a change from Orlando!!
