1 College Grad, 2 Days IOA & 6 Days With Mickey. New TR Started!!

[disneyfan61]

I have to start by saying my heart belongs to Disney. However we have a 22 year old son that is graduating from UNH in May so we are celebrating at Universal for a few days & then heading to Disney. We are very proud of Ryan. He will be graduating with a major in math & minor in music. He is a roller coaster enthusiast as is my 18 year old son Cody so my thought was to offer a few days at Universal & then I could get in my Disney time. This is a pic taken 2 years ago..

Ryan graduates May 21st and we leave May 22nd.

I had to decide do we go to Disney first & end it with Universal or do Universal first & end with Disney??? Well I knew I would hate leaving Disney so we are going to Universal first & then heading to Disney. I wanted to end the trip with Disney.

As I mentioned Ryan has a minor in music. He has been playing guitar & piano for about 8 years. So when I asked him which resort at Universal he wanted to stay at it was a no brainer..Hard Rock Hotel. Where we will only be there 1 night/2 days I figured we better stay on site so that we could get the front of the line passes. If you stay 1 night you get 2 days of FOTL passes.

When I started looking at prices for HRH I was . It is double the price of POFQ!! You do get a AAA discount so last month I called & booked our room at HRH. You are also paying for the FOTL passes so that makes it more $$$ also. It looks like a beautiful resort & should be fun.

We will not be able to use Magical Express so I need to check into transportation from MCO to HRH. We will use ME for the way back though.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Yay!! You started!! Congrats to Ryan! I graduated from UNH too.

I agree with you by ending the trip with Disney. As soon as the boys are both 54 inches (maybe next year) we'll be spending some time at Universal - I'm sure I'll end our trip with Disney for the same reason as you.

 

[MeMom]

So when I asked him which resort at Universal he wanted to stay at it was a no brainer..Hard Rock Hotel. Where we will only be there 1 night/2 days I figured we better stay on site so that we could get the front of the line passes. If you stay 1 night you get 2 days of FOTL passes.

When I started looking at prices for HRH I was . It is double the price of POFQ!! You do get a AAA discount so last month I called & booked our room at HRH. You are also paying for the FOTL passes so that makes it more $$$ also. It looks like a beautiful resort & should be fun.

I think I could handle staying at 'that other place' for those front of the line passes, too. Nicole, who used to be on the trip reports board, has said good things about the Universal resorts. It'll be interesting to see your pictures of somewhere I have never been. Not Universal, I have been there many moons ago, but the hotels.

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Doreen Subbing and will catch up later!!!

 

[disneyfan61]

Yay!! You started!! Congrats to Ryan! I graduated from UNH too.


I agree with you by ending the trip with Disney. As soon as the boys are both 54 inches (maybe next year) we'll be spending some time at Universal - I'm sure I'll end our trip with Disney for the same reason as you.

We are lucky to have UNH 25 minutes away. I think it's a great school. I wasn't sure if he wanted to march in the procession but I am glad he decided to. He is very shy & quiet put this is an honor so we will be sitting with thousands of others on the morning of the 21st. What was your major Amy?

I think I could handle staying at 'that other place' for those front of the line passes, too. Nicole, who used to be on the trip reports board, has said good things about the Universal resorts. It'll be interesting to see your pictures of somewhere I have never been. Not Universal, I have been there many moons ago, but the hotels.

Yeah I am anxious to see how it is. Not that we will be there for much of the time but I guess the rooms are quite roomy with queen beds. Of course I have looked at the website many times to check out all the pics.

Hi Doreen Subbing and will catch up later!!!

Hey Rosie glad to have you here!! Already got my coupons cut to be mailed tomorrow & then I took a little snooze.

Here is a pic of Hard Rock Hotel that we will be staying at. Cannot wait to get there!!

 

[englishrose47]

Doreen I checked transportation from MCO to Universal and there are several options ! Could get a better price if it was a round trip but they don't consider MCO to Universal and Universal to Disney a round trip You also have to look at what can handle your luggage as well!! Let me know how you make out with this !!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

We are lucky to have UNH 25 minutes away. I think it's a great school. I wasn't sure if he wanted to march in the procession but I am glad he decided to. He is very shy & quiet put this is an honor so we will be sitting with thousands of others on the morning of the 21st. What was your major Amy?

I majored in Family & Consumer studies. I worked in Human Resources up until Zachary was born. Now I'm a bookkeeper... go figure! Tim majored in English & is now a software engineer.

 

[disneyfan61]

Doreen I checked transportation from MCO to Universal and there are several options ! Could get a better price if it was a round trip but they don't consider MCO to Universal and Universal to Disney a round trip You also have to look at what can handle your luggage as well!! Let me know how you make out with this !!!

I have heard of Ed Korgan & FL Tours. I need to get prices. We will also need trans. to POFQ on Monday but I think we will take a taxi as I do not want to schedule a time because I am not sure how long we will be at IOA on Monday. I do not want to rush the boys although I will be anxious to get to POFQ!!

I majored in Family & Consumer studies. I worked in Human Resources up until Zachary was born. Now I'm a bookkeeper... go figure! Tim majored in English & is now a software engineer.

I know what you mean. I know a lot of people that majored in something but are now doing something totally different. At least you got the degree. Ryan is hoping to get into something like an insurance company being an Actuary (not sure of spelling). He loves doing all that statiscal stuff. Hopefully he can find something. So many people out of work. He has worked part time at Market Basket for 6 years now so if worse comes to worse he will stay there. They really like him & have been good to him. He is working on his resume now.

 

[marvali]

Okay, since Rosie was pimpin' you out.........blame her for my being here!!! (add evil laugh)

 

[englishrose47]

Okay, since Rosie was pimpin' you out.........blame her for my being here!!! (add evil laugh)

See Doreen now I am a Pole Dancing, Lap Dancing PIMP!!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I saw your post over on MeMom's trip report and had to head over here! Congrats to Ryan! I know you must be very proud of him! I think a trip to Universal and Disney is the perfect way to celebrate a college graduation!

 

[disneyfan61]

Okay, since Rosie was pimpin' you out.........blame her for my being here!!! (add evil laugh)

No evil laugh here!! Welcome Marv. Glad to have you here (I think)

See Doreen now I am a Pole Dancing, Lap Dancing PIMP!!!!

You just keep adding those interesting titles Rosie.

I saw your post over on MeMom's trip report and had to head over here! Congrats to Ryan! I know you must be very proud of him! I think a trip to Universal and Disney is the perfect way to celebrate a college graduation!

Glad to have you here Jackie. Yeah I think it will be fun. Not sure about riding the Hulk but I think I can, I think I can.

 

[englishrose47]

Good Morning Doreen !! Besides Marv we seem to be the only ones round this morning !!!

 

[disneyfan61]

Good Morning Doreen !! Besides Marv we seem to be the only ones round this morning !!!

Yeah I sometimes don't have much time in the am to get on but now I am home for lunch & will email Ed Korgan to get a price for transportation to HRH.

 

[englishrose47]

Yeah I sometimes don't have much time in the am to get on but now I am home for lunch & will email Ed Korgan to get a price for transportation to HRH.

I am pretty sure he was the one I was looking at WHEN we planned to do Universal as well !!!!

 

[disneyfan61]

I am pretty sure he was the one I was looking at WHEN we planned to do Universal as well !!!!

I emailed him so now waiting for a response. The other company FL Tours would be about $70.00 plus tip so I will see what Ed comes up with. Now I gotta get back to work.

 

[disneyfan61]

Uugghh it has been snowing here since noon time & it is still coming down. They say we may get up to 4 inches! It makes me even more than ready for vacation if that is possible. So much for Spring.

So when I started planning this trip I found out when graduation day would be (I knew it would be a Saturday in May but did not know which one) and figured we could leave the next day.

Then as soon as Jet Blue flights came out for May I started looking. We have gotten spoiled with JB & the tv's. So we fly out of Boston even though Manchester would be more convenient. I wish they flew out of Manchester but oh well. I like to leave somewhat early in the morning so we can get to FL early. In looking at the flights there were 2 morning non stop flights. One was leaving at 6:30 am & another at approx. 9:30 am. The later am flight is usually the one we choose but being that we will want to spend time at Universal on check in day we decided the earlier the better and the 6:30 am flight was $20.00 cheaper so $80.00 total & we will get to MCO at 9:40 am Of course we will need to get out of bed & have the car pick us up at about 3:30 am!!! We will just need to be in bed EARLY on Saturday.
Jeff & the boys will probably sleep on the plane but I will be too excited to sleep. I'm not sure what will be on tv at that time of the morning though

I also had to check into transportation from MCO to Hard Rock Hotel as we will only be using Magical Express (or unmagical) for the way back to the airport. So in researching there were a few options to check into. FL Tours was recommended as was Ed Korgan. You can go online & find out approx what FL Tours will cost & today on my lunch hour I emailed Ed Korgan for prices. FL Tours would cost us $70.00 just to HRH & does not include tip. When I emailed Ed Korgan I asked him how much it would be for the trip to HRH & also to pick us up on Monday & take us to POFQ. He quoted $85.00 not including tip. That is a great price as I figured we would take a taxi from HRH to POFQ & figured it would cost us at least $35.00 without tip. So I think I will be booking Ed Korgan. The only thing with that is I will need to decide on a time to be picked up where if we took a taxi we could wing it but it is a good price. I think we will go with a 4:00 pick up time. We will be in IOA at 8:00 that morning to ride Forbidden Journey so it will be a full day.

So in October I bought the airline tickets. Our flight coming home leaves Orlando at 12:10 pm & landing approx. 3:05 pm. This is our usual time arriving home. We get home around dinner time (order pizza) & relax for a bit. Then we will have Monday (Memorial Day) to relax also.

 

[englishrose47]

Great plans !!I just got a quote from Happy Limos for our SURPRISE ride !!$123 + tip and includes a grocery stop !! They can accomadate all our luggage !!The other company I tried was $80 plus an extra $60 for a Caddy so this one is cheaper I am also thinking of getting a quote for taking us to Pop the next day!!!

 

[MeMom]

Uugghh it has been snowing here since noon time & it is still coming down. They say we may get up to 4 inches! It makes me even more than ready for vacation if that is possible. So much for Spring.


In looking at the flights there were 2 morning non stop flights. One was leaving at 6:30 am & another at approx. 9:30 am. The later am flight is usually the one we choose but being that we will want to spend time at Universal on check in day we decided the earlier the better and the 6:30 am flight was $20.00 cheaper so $80.00 total & we will get to MCO at 9:40 am Of course we will need to get out of bed & have the car pick us up at about 3:30 am!!! We will just need to be in bed EARLY on Saturday.
Jeff & the boys will probably sleep on the plane but I will be too excited to sleep. I'm not sure what will be on tv at that time of the morning though

We like those early flights. It gives us the whole day in Disney World. It doesn't affect me, since I get up so early regularly, but the others do have to make the sacrifice of getting up early. The good thing is Magical Express is not busy on those early arrivals. Unfortunately, Nashville seems to be cutting out more and more of the 6:30 flights and having 8-ish ones as the earliest choice.

Sorry about your weather. We have been very pleased with what we've been getting here! Spring was and is very welcomed and embraced here this year!

 

[disneyfan61]

Great plans !!I just got a quote from Happy Limos for our SURPRISE ride !!$123 + tip and includes a grocery stop !! They can accomadate all our luggage !!The other company I tried was $80 plus an extra $60 for a Caddy so this one is cheaper I am also thinking of getting a quote for taking us to Pop the next day!!!

It's always good to shop around & see who is cheaper. Sounds like you are getting a good deal. Were you originally planning to take a cab to Pop?? It might be cheaper for you to go through Happy Limos. Worth checking out. You will need to get a pic of the girls sitting in their surprise limo!!

We like those early flights. It gives us the whole day in Disney World. It doesn't affect me, since I get up so early regularly, but the others do have to make the sacrifice of getting up early. The good thing is Magical Express is not busy on those early arrivals. Unfortunately, Nashville seems to be cutting out more and more of the 6:30 flights and having 8-ish ones as the earliest choice.

Sorry about your weather. We have been very pleased with what we've been getting here! Spring was and is very welcomed and embraced here this year!

Can you push some of that nice weather north??? It is supposed to be warmer today so hopefully these few inches that fell yesterday will be gone by tomorrow.

Yes I love leaving early morning & getting most of the day in Disney. Not sure just how tired we will be on Sunday night but the good thing is that Universal closes at 8:00 (early) while we are there so back to the room for us.