There will be Muggles: September 2016!!

[LowesChevy]

I can hold out no longer!

Today marks 37 days to go for our fall trip to Universal & Disney

Who: travel party consists of me 34 and my parents both 60 now!
When: September 22-25th
Wheres: Royal Pacific Resort
Arrival and dinner at NBC Grill & Brew Post 23 & 25
Why: It is our fall annual trip to Florida!

Universal Studios First Day Post #29
Antojitos Dinner Post #33

We go to WDW every year, sometimes twice if we get lucky with DVC points, but every other year we visit Universal especially since the opening of the Harry Potter expansions. I love to be totally immersed in the action, so staying on property is the only way to go for us.

We have stayed at all three of the original Loews deluxe resorts:

Portofino Bay was beautiful, but it felt really dead and deserted. My brother came with us at that time and the rooms were nice and roomy, even with he and I as young adults and my parents. The food options were great on property with the pizzeria and casual dining spots and of course minutes away was City Walk. All three resorts have the mega hotel feel with long hallways, but we just didn't feel that it was us.

Hard Rock Hotel we tried a few years ago as well and it was really neat and music themed. The three of us all love music and singing-it was a fun place to try, but the rooms seemed rather cramped even though they are about the same size as RPR. It was exactly the experience we expected-really nice, but boy are we suckers for that tropical feel! The Kitchen was a good place for full breakfast and we made use of the concierge lounge too.

We have stayed several times at the Royal Pacific and we absolutely love it. We wanted to try all three and now we know which one we will always stay at lol!

More on the Royal Pacific Resort and vacation coming up

 

[schumigirl]

Yay.......glad you have another trip to plan!

Look forward to reading about it.........

 

[LowesChevy]

Even though we just got back from our summer trip, which is usually our spring trip, the excitement is building. Normally we go to Arizona in the spring to escape the harsh weather here in northwestern PA, but postponing the trip till summer was the best bet. It ended up being my DF's birthday trip and hey you only turn 60 once! It also worked for me since Liverpool Football Club came to southern Cal and this gal was able to convince them a road trip to Pasadena would be good for the soul! . It was awesome, but I could not drive there ever again! The traffic was insane lol I suppose my 10 minute commute and living in suburbia is something I should be grateful for.

Royal Pacific Room
I opted for a club level room again. They are way more affordable at Universal and it works perfectly for the first few days. We like to eat a table service breakfast, but the Islands Dining Room is just okay. Since you have early entry into the parks and we only have a couple of days at the parks, making the most of mornings is the way to go for us. Like many meals in Florida, the service is slower than what we are used to up north. At a typical chain restaurant here it's here's your table, what do you want to eat, drink, here's your food, here's your bill, get out lol! I prefer my relaxed meals at lunch and dinner.

The club offerings in the morning are continental breakfast items, fruit, yogurt, meats, cheeses and cereals. The daily offerings are really nice in general-there is always a hot and cold choice plus other munchies. The staff is wonderful, not to say that the Disney Concierge folks aren't nice, but from our experience the Universal club level folks very talkative and informative. You feel very welcomed to sit and relax and put on those EPL matches Saturday and Sunday!

Our favorite all time resort is the Polynesian, so when we stay there this is a fine substitute! The lobby is great and luxurious--reminding myself to take more pictures this year. I take a million at Disney, but not that many at Universal. This pre trip report is a good reason to do so!

The only cons are the parking situation if you drive and no balconies, but that also keeps the cost per night down.

Coming up...the daily schedule!

 

[mrsap]

Even though we just got back from our summer trip, which is usually our spring trip, the excitement is building. Normally we go to Arizona in the spring to escape the harsh weather here in northwestern PA, but postponing the trip till summer was the best bet. It ended up being my DF's birthday trip and hey you only turn 60 once! It also worked for me since Liverpool Football Club came to southern Cal and this gal was able to convince them a road trip to Pasadena would be good for the soul! . It was awesome, but I could not drive there ever again! The traffic was insane lol I suppose my 10 minute commute and living in suburbia is something I should be grateful for.

Royal Pacific Room
I opted for a club level room again. They are way more affordable at Universal and it works perfectly for the first few days. We like to eat a table service breakfast, but the Islands Dining Room is just okay. Since you have early entry into the parks and we only have a couple of days at the parks, making the most of mornings is the way to go for us. Like many meals in Florida, the service is slower than what we are used to up north. At a typical chain restaurant here it's here's your table, what do you want to eat, drink, here's your food, here's your bill, get out lol! I prefer my relaxed meals at lunch and dinner.

The club offerings in the morning are continental breakfast items, fruit, yogurt, meats, cheeses and cereals. The daily offerings are really nice in general-there is always a hot and cold choice plus other munchies. The staff is wonderful, not to say that the Disney Concierge folks aren't nice, but from our experience the Universal club level folks very talkative and informative. You feel very welcomed to sit and relax and put on those EPL matches Saturday and Sunday!

Our favorite all time resort is the Polynesian, so when we stay there this is a fine substitute! The lobby is great and luxurious--reminding myself to take more pictures this year. I take a million at Disney, but not that many at Universal. This pre trip report is a good reason to do so!

The only cons are the parking situation if you drive and no balconies, but that also keeps the cost per night down.

Coming up...the daily schedule!

Thanks for your review! I am loving reading the resort comparisons! Do you have any CL food pictures you can share from your last trip to RP? Can you tell us the evening appetizers? Thank you! Enjoy your trip, I look forward to your newest review!

 

[LowesChevy]

Thanks for your review! I am loving reading the resort comparisons! Do you have any CL food pictures you can share from your last trip to RP? Can you tell us the evening appetizers? Thank you! Enjoy your trip, I look forward to your newest review!

This is why I need to take more pictures lol! I remember a stir fry one night, lo mein, fried rice another. Many items with Asian flair-the apps can be rather substantial, not that I would eat them for a meal, but if the restaurants were jam packed and I didn't have a reservation till later it was nice. I will def. get pics and post them--don't forget to follow my Insta account for live pics too! Thanks very much-get ready for a fun time following me

 

[schumigirl]

This is why I need to take more pictures lol! I remember a stir fry one night, lo mein, fried rice another. Many items with Asian flair-the apps can be rather substantial, not that I would eat them for a meal, but if the restaurants were jam packed and I didn't have a reservation till later it was nice. I will def. get pics and post them--don't forget to follow my Insta account for live pics too! Thanks very much-get ready for a fun time following me

That's what we did.......used the Club Lounge for a small snack before heading out later for dinner somewhere around Orlando.........ideal!

We couldn't eat dinner that early.........

 

[mrsap]

This is why I need to take more pictures lol! I remember a stir fry one night, lo mein, fried rice another. Many items with Asian flair-the apps can be rather substantial, not that I would eat them for a meal, but if the restaurants were jam packed and I didn't have a reservation till later it was nice. I will def. get pics and post them--don't forget to follow my Insta account for live pics too! Thanks very much-get ready for a fun time following me

LOL I totally understand, it's hard to stop and take pictures when you're too busy enjoying yourself!!!! looking forward to your pics, have a great trip!!!!

 

[LowesChevy]

I never feel completely relaxed until those wheels hit the runway in Orlando!

Arrival Day: September 22nd

-Fly into MCO-flight from CLE is usually around 2 hours
-Get bags & rental car
-Head to Miller’s Ale House for lunch. No doubt these beasts will be ravenous. Breakfast is coffee and a donut from Dunkin’ or a bagel sandwich from Bruegger’s at the airport. I carry a lot of snacks too because you never know when you will get stuck or delayed, plus I am diabetic. Items that travel well like beef jerky, Kind Bars and dried apricots hold well and don’t get squished or crushed from travel. Miller’s Ale House is a joint on International Drive that we discovered many years ago. They have a huge beer selection, which DF loves of course, and a menu with many choices including fresh fish, fried shrimp, burgers, sandwiches and lots of other goodies.
-Check in at Royal Pacific-room probably won’t be ready, but get plastic tickets and photos taken for Express Pass. Maybe take a dip at the pool if the room is ready or take the boat to City Walk for a relaxing beverage at Margaritaville.
-Dinner will probably be at Antojitos. Despite some service issues the last time, the food is awesome as far as I’m concerned. We are are big on Tex Mex and Mexican food so a big hit with us.

Originally I had planned on getting 3 day park passes, but the more I thought about it-2 days is plenty. That is 2 days of early entry and the express pass for most attractions, we should be able to do everything we wish in 2 days. I’m past the “rollercoasters are fun!” age lol, the Mummy and Potter rides will jolt my body around enough! Only going every other year has helped build up the excitement even more.


September 23rd

-Get up and grab quick breakfast at the lounge and head to Universal
-Minion Mayhem then head to Diagon Alley
-Head towards MIB, Springfield etc
-check out T2 or Make Up Show
-lunch at Mel’s Drive In
-Transformers
-Ride Hogwart’s Express to IOA
-See where the afternoon takes us. DF wants to take a drive down Irlo Bronson/Hwy 192 to see how things have changed. Disney does a great job keeping folks on property we hardly ever cruise around anymore. Plus with length of stay tickets and our APs we might as well be at the parks.
-We may pop over to Disney Springs to activate our Annual Passes & purchase TIW, one less thing to do Sunday before heading to the MK. It takes some time and Guest Services there is air conditioned!

Dinner: still deciding between

Hard Rock-always a classic. I love drinks at the Hard Rock when we are near one. The food is good too—maybe more for lunch with appetizers
NBC Sports Grill –something for everyone-chain restaurant food
Bubba Gump-if it’s not crazy busy. We will probably eat at the one at Mall of America when we go to visit my brother and nephews in December’ish
CowFish-looks interesting-DM is picky about her burgers and she doesn’t eat fish…so not likely
Toothsome-looks weird
Emeril’s- there will be plenty of $30-$40 entrees at Disney-I will pass
Margaritaville-the one location that the food is decent (Key West they only worried about drinking haha) We went last time and had great service despite it being homecoming dance night for a local high schoolVivo-eating at Mama Della’s tomorrow night. Love Italian, but not that much!

That is one aspect about Universal I like-no need to plan 180 days ahead of time. Although when everyone is tired, cranky, hungry and can’t decide where to eat on a rainy night it stinks then! From past experiences I can tell you J


September 24th

-Grab breakfast at the lounge again and head right to IOA
-Head for Hogsmeade
-Spiderman, Kong, Suessland
-Ride Hogwarts Express back to Universal
-Back to CityWalk for pizza lunch at Red Oven, which was great the last time we dined there/Or Hard Rock for lunch
-Rest a bit at the room quick
-DF and I go back to the parks. DM will probably want to nap. Plus because of HHN the parks aren’t open late for us.
-Dinner at Mama Della’s at Portofino-hopefully it is not raining!



September 25th

-Have some breakfast, pack up and head to Disney!!

 

[LowesChevy]

Tickets
Still have not bought park tickets yet, not that there is a rush. Another perk of Universal Parks is the more laid back planning. However, when you buy a Disney package you arrive on your vacation paid in full, so that has perks too. I purchased our APs in July, so I have had time to recover from that expense. I’d rather be paid in full before I arrive so you know how much you can spend on souvenirs, meals and extras etc.

I am debating on whether or not to buy them via my AMEX card, which gives you access to a lounge at Universal Park or just to buy them with another card. Seems neat—looking forward to the DVC lounge at Epcot too. Although with AMEX you have to pay the balance at the end of the month, which I have the cash, but do I want to have to pay it out before the trip. It is open from 12-5 PM so not sure if we would actually need to get to use it really. The 10% on park merchandise is a great perk for me, so that be all I need.

Plane tickets are set. As I mentioned above we should arrive around 10:30-11:00 AM more than likely. The prices were only slightly higher than what we paid last year. Not a bad deal in my opinion. The flight times are convenient for us and we do not need to depart too early on Sunday. Like departure day, having to wake up early is a drag because you miss out on some later night fun. Later morning is the perfect time for us-2 hours in the plane, then about a 2 hour ride back to Erie.

Rental car—DF decided on a full size sedan. We like to rent mini vans, since they tend to have captain’s chairs for the 3rd adult, but being Orlando, the capital of family vacations, they cost waaay to much. A full sized sedan will be plenty of room and hit the right price.

Packing-it is a bit too early for laying out a lot of clothes. My aunt is coming to spend the night tomorrow and my little cousins will undoubtedly want to spend the night before school starts. My house is a happening place! I did on the other hand start planning out what camera equipment I’m going to bring along with me. Not a professional by any means, but I have taken some classes and workshops and learned many techniques. I also visit a number of blogs and sites to get tips and practice.

Other than that just watching that calendar!

 

[johnaalexis]

LowesChevy, I'm not sure if I can give it to you or not, and I'm not trying to break rules or anything. But I received on of the Universal Emails for the Buy 1 day ticket get 2 days free. I tried to use it for our trip, but we purchased a package so it isn't applicable. For now it is just sitting in my inbox. If it's okay you can have it! If it works for you great, I just hate to see such a great deal go to waste!! If you would like it I can give you the "unique code" attached to the email they sent me. Again if this isn't aloud I'm sorry not trying to get anyone in trouble just trying to help out!

 

[schumigirl]

Loweschevy.........if it helps......the Amex lounge in the Studios is nothing to write home about.........it's cool, you can charge your devices and such.......but not much else........water and snacks, which are granola bars and some chips.

So if you can get a better deal go for it.

 

[LowesChevy]

Loweschevy.........if it helps......the Amex lounge in the Studios is nothing to write home about.........it's cool, you can charge your devices and such.......but not much else........water and snacks, which are granola bars and some chips.

So if you can get a better deal go for it.

Thank you, that is kind of what I figured. Sounds like an after thought perk lol. Club Level will have all of those little treats for us all day

 

[LowesChevy]

Working for the weekend…

The work day is nearly over for me and boy have I been looking forward to the weekend! My soccer match is earlier tonight so I can go to bed early. You know you are old when one of the earliest nights to bed during the week is Friday!

Requested the ponchos on the daily run to Walmart today, so those will be set. Gathering toiletries and other accessories for the pack pile in the spare room for now. The forecast is for hot, hot, hot around here, not unusual, but surprising. A few more dips in the pool in the coming weeks before it is time to close it up for the season.

We have our annual garage sale coming up the week after Labor Day weekend. That is always a good spare change fund raiser for the trip, plus a general decluttering of the house is helpful before fall.

I made little FP+ & ADR cheat sheets for the trip. I thought maybe I would make a little armband like quarterbacks wear for their play calling. I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes the MDE app doesn’t work as fast as it should for me. I think the concept is great, but the execution suffers at times. I should know the times in and out, but I am on vacation to relax too!

Everyone have a great weekend!

 

[Whitney2206]

LowesChevy, I'm not sure if I can give it to you or not, and I'm not trying to break rules or anything. But I received on of the Universal Emails for the Buy 1 day ticket get 2 days free. I tried to use it for our trip, but we purchased a package so it isn't applicable. For now it is just sitting in my inbox. If it's okay you can have it! If it works for you great, I just hate to see such a great deal go to waste!! If you would like it I can give you the "unique code" attached to the email they sent me. Again if this isn't aloud I'm sorry not trying to get anyone in trouble just trying to help out!

I am looking for another "code" for the buy 1 day get 2 days free. We have 10 people going to universal in october and the code is only good for 6 people. If you still have it I would really want it

 

[LowesChevy]

LowesChevy, I'm not sure if I can give it to you or not, and I'm not trying to break rules or anything. But I received on of the Universal Emails for the Buy 1 day ticket get 2 days free. I tried to use it for our trip, but we purchased a package so it isn't applicable. For now it is just sitting in my inbox. If it's okay you can have it! If it works for you great, I just hate to see such a great deal go to waste!! If you would like it I can give you the "unique code" attached to the email they sent me. Again if this isn't aloud I'm sorry not trying to get anyone in trouble just trying to help out!

DF received this code the other day--he's checking it out. Didn't plan on a 3rd day, but hey a free afternoon is nothing to turn down right?!

 

[Whitney2206]

DF received this code the other day--he's checking it out. Didn't plan on a 3rd day, but hey a free afternoon is nothing to turn down right?!

if you have the code you can email to whitney2206@msn.com
thanks

 

[LowesChevy]

Made it through another week and this one has a long weekend at the end of it. Twenty days to go and starting to feel it!

There is a lot of busy work to complete this weekend. Our garage sale is next weekend, so we need to sort through a lot of items that need to be sold. I have some older cookbooks to price and other items that can’t be sold on ebay reasonably. Hoping to make some dough for a new wide angle lens before we leave, but we’ll see! Maybe I want a new camera for Christmas J

We have a local kitchen ware supply store that offers knife sharpening once a month, so that’s where I will be headed tomorrow morning. It is a great service-otherwise this chef would have to send her babies out of town to be sharpened. On the way back, Debs (DM) and I will stop at Sam’s for a few items and grab a few packs of Disney gift cards with the discount. It is a nice little perk-a couple of bucks is a couple of bucks!

Last year was the first time I ever played fantasy football and it was a lot of fun. I know I can do much better this year at least. I think our draft is Sunday morning, then we have a birthday party later that night.

Not anything big planned for Monday. Probably swim in the pool as the days are winding down around here for that! Looks like a honey of a weekend-beautiful weather for us. I plan to spend some time outside this weekend—I tend to like to spend most of my time indoors, but before winter starts to take hold, I need to get my butt outside. DM and I have been walking at night to get us ready for the trip so that helps too.

Taco salad for dinner and soccer tonight on the agenda. Tomorrow we are into the teens!!! Everyone have a safe holiday

 

[LowesChevy]

15 to go…

It is hard to believe that we drive to Cleveland two weeks from today!!! We received our MBs yesterday—I ordered them for our BC reservation because DM really likes purple otherwise I would have declined them like the BLT reservation. No AP ones since I we haven’t technically activated them yet, but next time. I used old ones on my Disney Christmas tree as ornaments so they get their use.

Praying for good weather Saturday for our yard sale, but the forecast is for rain at times. Hopefully not a good old fashioned Erie wash out weekend yikes. I have set some old cookbooks out I no longer need; some older cell phone cases since some folks have given their older devices to their kids or use them mainly for music etc; clothing items; and a number of household items from my grandmother’s house that need to go to new homes. The extra cash and free space will be lovely.

Looking over the monorail schedule and being annoyed by the resort monorail not operating till 8:30 when you have 7:45 AM breakfast ressies at Kona 2 mornings. Well what can I do? Maybe the monorail will actually be running early, take a cab or just drive over. I can’t worry about too much at this point. What is frustrating is that folks here on the boards know more about the schedule than many of the CMs!

The airport hotel ressie is made, just need to rent a car and make a reservation for Mama Della’s. Vacation life is good, work life is insane right now! NFL season is a huge season for us with printing pitchers and cups. It is a great problem to have, but boy I can’t wait to get out of here for a while too!

Check in with you all again soon! Ta ta

 

[beebeeryan]

Following along...

I had scoped our Miller's Ale House and had it in mind if we needed a place off-site, I found 2 locations, but we didn't end up going. I thought it looked great.

The pool at Portofino is the only place that isn't dead, it's always busy. But yes, the rest of the resort is very quiet, but we love it.

I always laminate a tiny print out of ADR's and FP just incase the whole system goes down. Which does happen. Good idea.

 

[macraven]

Millers ale house has become popular

Hard to keep a good place secret

Teak is another place offsite that many go to


Not much longer til you are in Orlando!