"Guess who`s back"...3 Return for 3 Weeks @ RPR. Parks, KSC with lots of good food and fun...A May 2023 TR

[schumigirl]

Definitely there are always more choices (not in my area sadly trying to find a seafood restaurant is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack)

We’re so lucky where we live too, we have seafood coming out of our ears and all fresh, so we can enjoy the best of the best.

It’s a shame you don’t have some amazing places for seafood, but I’m sure you have plenty other options too.

 

[KathyM2]

if the table is booked for 8pm.....be there, not wander in around 8.20!!!

I totally agree with you here. It's super annoying when people have no respect for the time.

Looks like the trip was off to a good start. Those hotel restaurant steaks and desserts looked pretty amazing.

 

[SCDizFan]

I love the food on Virgin! The afternoon tea on the flight back to the US from the UK is such a fun thing! Thanks to turning us on the VA a couple of years ago!

Such a great report!

 

[schumigirl]

I totally agree with you here. It's super annoying when people have no respect for the time.

Looks like the trip was off to a good start. Those hotel restaurant steaks and desserts looked pretty amazing.

Yep, things can happen, but there are folks who are just repeat offenders.....I`m glad all of our friends are similar to us and are on time usually.

Oh we did enjoy those steaks, we have always been impressed by the food we`ve had there. I think we plan to book that hotel for November again and will definitely be eating there again.

 

[schumigirl]

I love the food on Virgin! The afternoon tea on the flight back to the US from the UK is such a fun thing! Thanks to turning us on the VA a couple of years ago!

Such a great report!

It is so nice isn`t it!! We do tend to enjoy the food on the plane and it does help to pass some time too, but that afternoon tea was lovely. Tom got the sweet one but he didn`t take a picture......he ate it before he remembered.....lol......

I`m glad you enjoy flying VA, they really are a good airline and I`m glad you`re enjoying the report too.......

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

We’re so lucky where we live too, we have seafood coming out of our ears and all fresh, so we can enjoy the best of the best.

It’s a shame you don’t have some amazing places for seafood, but I’m sure you have plenty other options too.

Thankfully my town is very diverse so we do have options from Italian to Mexican to Indian to Japanese to Greek to Peruvian to Chinese to pubs to your regular old fast food joints! Just no big seafood place. Sometimes you will luck out and one of the pubs will have a nice fish option

 

[Cara]

As always, I am loving your report. So nice that your son was there with you! I used to love Red Lobster years ago, but the quality has really gone downhill. Those poor little scallops look pitiful!!

 

[schumigirl]

TUESDAY MAY 2ND​

Kyle captured a sunrise every day I believe, facing this way we did get to see it and it was lovely having the sun pour into our rooms every morning.

We all slept well last night, not just me I was glad to say. I always worry about disturbing Kyle to go to the bathroom during the night as he sleeps in the sitting area, but he is quite a sound sleeper and we only disturbed him a couple of times, other nights, he slept through our stumbling through.

First thing he did was stick on the Weather Channel, we all love it for some reason, especially when they show the weeks weather ahead of us and it`s always hot and sunny!!

Once we were all showered we headed down to the lounge which was very quiet this morning and we all enjoyed a nice selection of options before heading back to the room to get our sunscreen on which only takes us 5 minutes or so, but my goodness we`d burn without it. As we leave our lovely housekeeper is just arriving to do our room. Kyle always rolled the bed upright to the doorway, it never dawned on us the lady would roll it back to make it up properly every day and every third day she changed the sheets.....we should have just left it and she would deal with it, but you don`t like leaving it just laying there, we don`t like to leave much for her to do and certainly don`t leave anything much for her to tidy up, but we do like our beds made and fresh towels every day.

Once we were outside we all breathed in that lovely warm air that just hits your lungs differently over here, it is the nicest of feelings and is perfect for walking in and as we were going to IOA as our first park of choice, walking is how we would get there. It is hot, but not too hot and there was a lovely little breeze around us.

It is a beautiful walk along the waterway, the trees and plants are all fully mature and vary in style and colour so much as you walk and it`s always lovely to see the boats pass you as you head to the parks. This is something we love doing if we go to IOA, we are a little lazy if we`re going to Studios as it is a little further, but not much and the boat drops you closer to the Studios. The walk to IOA takes us around 7 minutes.

You do pass the security point to the side of Margaritaville, if you get the boat the checks are given before you get in line for it. So much easier than going through the main Universal entrance, well it had been a long time since we had gone through that main entrance, it must have been 2008.

As we cross the bridge Kyle goes quiet as he listens to the musical sounds of Port of Entry, that music is synonymous with the park and always makes us grin like cheshire cats as we enter the park.

At certain times they have a separate entrance for AP holders at this park and it is handy as the lines can get very long for the regular gates and this morning we do appreciate it as the lines were long and hardly anyone at the AP entrance. It is well sign posted and is to the left of the main walkway.

I`m always so impressed with everything Universal does with theming and POE is one of the more special places in the park where the detail and little touches are second to none. The colours are vibrant and so well maintained, I wish there was more colours like this around in general.

Tom and Kyle went to the bathroom, so I was taking a picture of the blue house......if ever I buy a place in the mediteranean, it`s going to look like this, I love it. One of the TM`s chatted about it as I snapped some pictures, she said it was almost her dream home and like me envisioned having it as a vacation home in Europe somewhere.

I`m always surprised this quote is here on this building as it was said by Chairman Mao when he came to power and was trying to rally women into the workforce, lovely quote but I wonder why it`s there.

Not a bad looking building considering it holds bathrooms, stunningly yellow!!

And finally...it was time for Kyle to hit the parks after 4 years.

We took our time, weirdly to some probably, no rushing around for us on vacations no matter how keen we are to get on Velocicoaster, I know that`s how some folks roll, but not for us.

This phone on the way to the Hulk is quite cute, I know some folks have picked it up and heard nothing but it is fun to hear what`s said if you`re lucky!

Hulk is a good ride, it can be rough and a bit of a head rattler at times, if you sit nearer the front it`s not as bad. And it is such a good coaster, the take off and first half of the ride are amazing, the latter part is a little rickety for me to be honest, but it`s worth it.

Hulk was the first major coaster I ever rode in America, it took me all my courage to go on it for the first time, but after that, I loved it. Tom and Kyle were immediate fans too and unlike me have no initial fear of coasters. I used to hate drops with a passion, I hated the dropping feeling, but one day someone told me not to hold my breath in sheer terror, but let it out and scream....and it worked! You get the exhileration of the drop without that awful feeling.

After we had taken some pictures, as this ride has metal detectors, you can`t take anything on this one, no wallets, keys or anything so we dropped all our things in the lockers which are really easy to use and do not take up much time at all, you can keep your lanyard with your room key round your neck so you can have your EP scanned.

Oh lordy, I`d forgotten just how fast this one is with the take off! It`s fun every time and especially as we managed to get on the front row which is the best on this ride. We had a man at the end who had never ridden before and he was hilarious as he really didn`t want to be on it, but felt he had to I guess. He was so funny!!

But we loved it, once was enough for me as I didn`t want my head to start jangling and I also wanted to do the Velocicoaster later, so once it was for me, but they went back round and did it another three times. EP is amazing and no one will ever convince me you don`t want it regardless of how busy the park is.

I got the hats, glasses and so on out of the locker and waited till they came off for the final time today, I asked Kyle if he wanted to do Storm Force, but he said not today. Although he wanted to do every ride in both parks, he didn`t want to do them all in order or on the first day.

Next up for us is Dr Doom, a genuine favourite despite it being possibly one of the shortest rides around.....you go up, down, up a little then more or less back down and that`s it, but it is so good!

As we turn the corner we see these guys about to start getting pictures taken with folks so we get to the front and get some lovely pictures with Doom and Green Goblin.

I wish Kyle had worn his "You say villain like it`s a bad thing" tee shirt..it would have looked good in the picture. But these guys are so clever and so funny. The line at this point was long as they are such popular characters. We don`t always bother with pictures with characters anymore, but if they`re right in front of us with no line we probably will get a snap or two.

And on to Doom itself.

There are so many cute images to capture here and again it is so colourful and bright, and fairly quiet with the regular line only showing 15 minutes, but as always EP line wins out for us.

We don`t have long to wait at all and I`m always amazed at the memory of the TM who directs us here....how they remember how many they`ve sent to which set of seats....but they seem to perfect it.

This is fun!! That wait till the send you shooting up is always a little exciting, especially when they do the fake countdown....we love it, and then you`re off.....although it is brief, you do get some amazing views of either the parks, hotels or into the distance where you can see for miles, it`s a shame you can`t stop at the top for slightly longer, although thinking about it, I never want to be stuck at the top of that!!! I`m not the best with heights and force myself to do a lot of things that go up high. Coasters are ok as they move fast, but the thought of sitting up there fills me with dread!! My two would love it though!!

We do four or five rides together and I declare myself Doomed out and I stay down and grab some pictures.....

I think someone loves the EP a little much!!!

And of course I manage to capture them a couple of times on the ride itself......they do this another four times without me, I`m quite happy bimbling around while they go on rides long after I`ve quit.

And something that`s common with all of us in all our visits, I spot something I`ve never noticed before. Just a simple Do not enter sign this time, but it`s one of the more imaginitive of signs that we had seen in the parks. I think we`ve just never looked this way before so I capture this image and happily tell Tom I found something he hasn`t captured before....

Are we competitive???? Not at all.....

We`re just always amazed when we spot something we have completely missed in 25 or so visits......but, every trip there`s at least one thing we wonder how we`ve missed it.

More to follow......

 

[schumigirl]

Thankfully my town is very diverse so we do have options from Italian to Mexican to Indian to Japanese to Greek to Peruvian to Chinese to pubs to your regular old fast food joints! Just no big seafood place. Sometimes you will luck out and one of the pubs will have a nice fish option

Sounds like some good choices then.

Steak and fish restaurants are our first choices usually, then Thai, Indian and Chinese.....we`re quite lucky with some excellent local places too or within a half hour or so drive. And we are spoiled with plenty of local pubs who all do freshly cooked food, nothing is premade which we much prefer.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

That picture of Tom on the queue that you snapped is great!

 

[DoryGirl1963]

We took our time, weirdly to some probably, no rushing around for us on vacations no matter how keen we are to get on Velocicoaster, I know that`s how some folks roll, but not for us.

We're exactly the same way - my whole "real life" is about deadlines & hitting time targets - no way on vacay!

"Don't even THINK about rushing me" is my personal vacation catch phrase

 

[schumigirl]

As always, I am loving your report. So nice that your son was there with you! I used to love Red Lobster years ago, but the quality has really gone downhill. Those poor little scallops look pitiful!!

lol....they were the saddest looking scallops we had ever seen!! Yes, Red Lobster was never high end in any way, but food was usually decent at least.

We loved having Kyle with us, it`s a completely different trip when he`s with us, but in a good way, I`m so glad you`re enjoying it Cara.

 

[schumigirl]

That picture of Tom on the queue that you snapped is great!

Thanks....he does exude enthusiasm for most things!

 

[schumigirl]

We're exactly the same way - my whole "real life" is about deadlines & hitting time targets - no way on vacay!

"Don't even THINK about rushing me" is my personal vacation catch phrase

Oh absolutely!!! It`s the right way to be on vacation. We`re pretty much laid back all the time as we`re retired, but we still have places to be and times where folks expect us to be there so yes, it`s nice to not care what time it is.

We did see many folks charging from one ride to another, one woman we saw was like a galleon in full sail as she marched around!! She did not look happy! I do like your phrase though

 

[angryduck71]

Just got back from a ten day work/fun trip to D.C. and Williamsburg, VA and trying to catch up. I see this man in the pics with you and Tom. Who is that? And you keep mentioning Kyle, but I see your little boy nowhere in these pics.

 

[keishashadow]

But these guys are so clever and so funny. The line at this point was long as they are such popular characters. We don`t always bother with pictures with characters anymore, but if they`re right in front of us with no line we probably will get a snap or two.

Hand’s down, among the best (complimentary) character interactions in Orlando!

 

[schumigirl]

Just got back from a ten day work/fun trip to D.C. and Williamsburg, VA and trying to catch up. I see this man in the pics with you and Tom. Who is that? And you keep mentioning Kyle, but I see your little boy nowhere in these pics.

Well hello Miss Alice!!! I wondered where you`d been hiding!!

Sounds like a nice trip you had there even if there were a little work mixed in too.

Yes, our boys do grow up don`t they I`m sure there have been a lot of changes in your boy too!!! It`s so fast though.

Glad to see you though and happy you`re catching up with this one.....I owe you an email for sure!!

 

[schumigirl]

Hand’s down, among the best (complimentary) character interactions in Orlando!

So true. Those guys are the best and I love how you are never rushed in any way for the next in line with all of the interactions within Universal.

So much fun to spend time with these characters.

 

[schumigirl]

Once we had exhausted Doom, we headed to a real classic....Spider-Man. This is one ride I can do even though it spins, when it comes to the spinny part, I don`t close my eyes, instead I focus them on the ride vehicle right in front of me or someone`s head and that takes away any feelings of being nauseated or dizzy. That works for me, some prefer to close their eyes, but for me that makes it a million times worse.

The ride is excellent and very traditional, good story line and the EP pass line is quite a good one and usually moves very quickly as it did today. The regular line was out to where you enter under the Daily Bugle sign, we thought it might have been longer for us, but we walked more or less straight up to where you get your glasses today.

We love this ride, although we had a group of four young ladies behind us who when the water spray hit them screamed as though they were being hit by a tidal wave of iced water!! But, so much fun, although we only did this once today as we wanted to get round to the other rides as soon as we could.

The characters were heading out as we were leaving this area, we did catch a couple of pics but the line for Capt America and whoever the female is was already long. Can you guess I`m not a fan of these movies and have no clue who they are or what they do???? I do know who Iron Man is though.......

I will say, we hadn`t planned to stop for any pictures with these guys, but Wolverine (I do know him) yelled us to come talk to him....well, who were we to refuse!!

He was charming in his own way!

To the left of the picture is where they were going to open the new UOAP lounge, I say lounge, it`s really just a place to cool down and they had a load of merchandise for sale as well as charging points and a couple of seats, but it`s not somewhere really worth visiting. I know some folks are obsessed with the AP buttons and magnets they have, but we don`t collect anything like that although we have been given a few by some TM we know from the parks.

I did like our photobomber in this pic!!

We weren`t doing the water rides today, I was dreading sitting in this ride vehicle as it is the most awkward of vehicles to get in and out of, but such a good ride. Last time we were here this whole area had been cleared of water for some kind of refurb. I think I might give this one a miss this trip purely for the nightmare that is getting in and out of the carriage.

None of us remember if we went on Kong today or not......I haven`t written it down, so usually if it`s not written down, it didn`t happen, so I`m guessing this is one for another day.

Now onto the ride we were all waiting for.

We were so excited for Kyle to get on this ride today. Tom and I had ridden it many times before and had to remind ourselves back home not to give away many spoilers of the ride including that amazing revving up before we headed up one side of the top hat and all the airtime you got.

20 minute for the regular line, but as this ride now has EP that was always going to be used!

Kyle loved this ride. We were so glad as we had raved about it since we had first gone on it last year, he got the back row first and loved the airtime and then we got on the middle which is our least favourite part of the ride vehicle.

But, what a coaster this really is! Trying not to give Kyle any spoilers like the revving sound before it climbs one side of the top hat and the amount of airtime and upside down turns you really get was hard to keep to ourselves for so long.

Now for a complete change of pace....no difference really from Velocicoaster to the Trolley Train!!

Kyle was loving this day, and so were we to be honest, we were altogether and the weather was hot!!! Can`t ask for more.

The Trolley Train is quite a slow loading one, but you never wait too long with EP and there was one family in front of us when we ascended the few stairs so it was straight on really. There is no ladylike way to get on or off this one, so you just clamber on as best you can, it`s not difficult just no graceful way to do it.

This is the cutest of rides but there is one part when it goes above the lagoon that makes me a little nervous, yes, honestly it does.....but you get some amazing views across the park and you can see RRR in the Studios as clear as a bell from the train.

I am not a fan nor did I grow up with Dr Seuss, I had never heard of him till my cousins came over from America in 1977 when the eldest cousin and I were around 10, the younger cousin loved all the books, but it wasn`t until Jim Carrey made The Grinch I really began to know any of Seuss stories. I can`t say the enthral me at all and I doubt I`d buy them for anyone`s children but the rides are a lot of fun and this whole area is bright and colourful which is lovely to walk around in.

It`s good to see Green Eggs and Ham open more or less all the time now, for so many years it lay empty and was quite a novelty when we saw it open at all and they have improved it over the years.

It was lunchtime when we came off the train, and Kyle wanted to go to Confisco Grille which we were very happy about. Although some dishes weren`t perfect on our last visits, it`s still one of our favourite places in the parks and has been since our first visit in 07.

We hadn`t made a reservation but it wasn`t a problem, we asked for upstairs only because Kyle hadn`t been up there yet and it was no problem for them to seat us.

You do get a nice view around the park from the front of the upstairs and we did have a good wander round to let him see the views.

I think I still prefer downstairs to eat, it`s a bit open up here, whereas downstairs although busier feels nicer somehow and a little more atmosphere, but it`s bright, light and not busy today, there were only three other tables in use.

We asked for paper menu`s as I loathe those scan things, I prefer a real menu to hold and she did bring three for us to read and we ordered fantas and water to drink.

I will say straight away we asked for fresh fanta as both glasses looked and tasted like they had been in the pitcher for a week, so she did come back with some that had some fizz in them. But, that`s nothing really but it was undrinkable at first.

Tom decided to order the Confisco BLTA minus the Avocado, I went for the Ahi Tuna Nachos with no cilantro and Kyle ordered the chicken that came with arborio rice and sounded nice actually.

As we waited we chatted about our morning so far and we had all loved every second of the day and we still had some more things to do here today.

Lunch arrived and it all looked so good......but.......Kyle`s and Tom`s were cold. Tom`s pork belly was barely cooked which worried us but we called the waitress over and she said she`d exchange them for fresh which she did as I tucked into my nice and cold Ahi Tuna Nachos.

They came back with two new dishes and Kyle`s was fine, it was hot as it should be, but unbelievably, Tom`s pork was still cold and didn`t look cooked at all......she was so apologetic but there was no way he would be eating that, so he changed his order to the chipotle chicken wrap which did arrive cold with hot fries!! Finally......

Mine was lovely although there was less Ahi Tuna on the plate than there was when this dish first appeared on the menu, Kyle`s was delicious when it was sizzling hot and Tom`s fries were lovely, he did enjoy the wrap but it wasn`t what he wanted.

We`ll still go back here as they do make it right, but that`s a few times we`ve ordered food and it hasn`t been as warm as it should be and it wasn`t exactly overflowing with customers.

We paid up and headed back outside into the blazing sunshine that was now feeling very hot.....this was lovely and we enjoyed that feeling of heat as we headed back to Harry Potter for a couple of hours. About now I was hoping the sunscreen was still working as Tom and I never spend this long in the parks, we`re usually gone by lunch, I never bring the sunscreen with us, so fingers crossed!

Mythos is an impressive building but we have no desire to go back to eat there, it doesn`t live up to the hype anymore for us especially since they changed the menu so much and it`s also the coldest place in the park aside the entrance to MiB!!! Honestly, the amount of times we would be in there and I would go outside to warm up is crazy!

This would keep for another day......we knew it was closing so we would go through it one last time and none of us were looking forward to it as from memory (2007) we had not enjoyed it at all and never understood the hype for it.

Maybe our minds would be changed as to how bad it was........

We stopped in at the Boutique and it was still filled with Halloween merchandise and Kyle enjoyed mooching around it, not that there was as much to see as there usually is but still nice.

Back to Potter, and of course being the afternoon now, the park was busier than we are used to although this morning it was lovely and quiet but this was strange for us.

We did FJ and it was a good ride, but a one and done for me. I`m ok until you swish back into the castle, that bit always gets me, but it is such an amazing ride, not to be missed. There is a test seat outside if you are worried about getting on the ride and the end seat is slightly more amenable to us larger folks.

After wandering a little we all decide to head home, some of us feel like a nap, so we head out and enjoy the sights and sounds again of the park as we head out towards Margaritaville where we walk back home and enjoy every second.

Kyle goes up and we spend some time with someone we know from behind the front desk area, we have a coffee in Tuk Tuk and catch up which is nice then we head up to the room where we all went for an hour`s nap, I think we really needed it!!



Strong Water Bar coming up.....

 

[KathyM2]

I hated the dropping feeling, but one day someone told me not to hold my breath in sheer terror, but let it out and scream....and it worked! You get the exhileration of the drop without that awful feeling.

Funny I am such a wimp on almost all rides, but it's true - it helps if you don't hold your breath!! I used to always do that and as soon as I tried to relax it's not nearly as bad a feeling. I do the same thing with turbulence on flights lol.

on this one, no wallets, keys or anything so we dropped all our things in the lockers which are really easy to use and do not take up much time at all,

I think this can take some getting used to - if you are a newbie and not expecting to have to drop your stuff it can be a bit disorienting lol...we discovered that in 2020 when we went to Universal after only doing Disney for years ) But of course the locker thing totally makes sense!