Seeker615
Harry Potter Fanatic!
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2009
- Messages
- 1,326
Hi all
I will be keeping this brief and sorry...no pics!
We stayed at Royal Pacific from November 10-15th. Weather was great. We had one cooler day but that was all.
We booked a package from Universal's website that included 4 nights on the dining plan, Blue man Group Tickets and a Three Broomsticks Breakfast.
We arrived at the airport around 11:30 and our car service was already there waiting for us. Julio was our driver and he was awesome! Just a great personality and so helpful!
We got to Royal Pacific and were upgraded to a King Room overlooking the park. Tower 1 7th Floor! It was perfect. Just a quick elevator ride and out the doors to the pool and the walking path to the parks!
I really liked the hotel. It had a nice relaxing vibe to it. The pool area was much smaller than I expected though. Staff was nice and helpful and our room was cleaned early every day. Only dislikes were that everything there was so pricey!
We did 3 days park to park and I could have easily done another day!
Highlights of the parks:
Universal Studios - Loved the Express Pass! OMG it was awesome to skip the lines. Even if the line was 10 minutes we still used it. We did all the rides at this park in half a day and went back for more. I don't think I can ever go back and wait in a line anywhere ever!
Had a great time at the character meet and greets. My favorite interaction was with Woody WoodPecker. He took my hands and kissed them and then danced me around and made my hubby take several pictures of us in various poses. It was so cute. We also met a minion, Doc Brown, Curious George and Scooby and Shaggy! So fun!
Loved the new Minion ride. It was so cute. Mummy is still my favorite ride in the park. We also enjoyed the Beetlejuice show. I always skipped it before but I am glad we did it this time. It was pretty cute.
On our last night there we walked around before the evening show and the NY area was so romantic. It was lit up and slightly chilly so we snuggled together and really enjoyed the atmosphere. It almost was like being in old NYC.
I thought the night show was pretty good. We sat over by Lombardi's and it was pretty empty. (I think because it was chilly) I was standing up by the rail and got drenched when the water started spouting off!
Islands of Adventure:
My hubby has never been to IOA so it was fun showing him around.
Again loved the express pass!
We spent a lot of time in the Harry Potter area. I just think the theming is amazing. We rode Forbidden Journey several times and took one long look around the castle. My usually not easily impressed hubby was blown away by the castle and the ride! I also got some great pics and one with a lady dressed in full Wizard attire - complete with a sorting hat on her head and a stuffed owl!
We rode Dr Doom and it surprised the heck out of my hubby. He thought it was going to go up slowly and then drop us. So it was funny hearing him yelp when it shot up so fast! He loved it!
We did everything here except for Poseidon's Fury. There was never a good time to get in line.
I think my favorite thing about IOA is there is so many great photo ops. The cartoon area is just full of them!
Food: we had a 4 day full dining plan. Overall it worked great. I posted a review on the main boards if interested.
We ate most of our dinner's at City Walk. Loved Pastamore's and Pat O'Brien's. Great food and we got huge desserts with our dining plan. We also ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe on our last day. Expensive but the food was delicious. As far as counter service...it was okay. The pizza we had in the Jurassic Park area was terrible though.
The other highlight was the Blue man group. I can't even explain the show but it was highly entertaining. It baffles me how they can tell a story without talking and without many expressions. I can almost "hear" what they are saying by watching the body language!
A tip if you go - don't be in a hurry to leave. If you linger a bit 2 of the Blue Men come out to the main area and pose for pictures. I just happened to be waiting for my hubby to use the restroom and suddenly they were there. I got right in line and we got great pics with him!
We did do a day over at MK to attend the Mickey Christmas Party. We took a Mears shuttle over around 4pm. Wow - it was a madhouse the first hour we were there. We ducked into a restaurant and had an early dinner. After that the crowds thinned out quite a bit. Most rides were 5 minutes and a few were up to 15-20. My husband joked that he wanted to use his express pass and he made a few jokes about Disney not being like Universal!
The party was fun though and the night show was pretty! No character pics as we did not want to wait in long lines.
Check out was easy. No issues there at all. (except I didn't want to leave) We asked for a late check out and they gave it to us with no problems.
A great trip!
I will be keeping this brief and sorry...no pics!
We stayed at Royal Pacific from November 10-15th. Weather was great. We had one cooler day but that was all.
We booked a package from Universal's website that included 4 nights on the dining plan, Blue man Group Tickets and a Three Broomsticks Breakfast.
We arrived at the airport around 11:30 and our car service was already there waiting for us. Julio was our driver and he was awesome! Just a great personality and so helpful!
We got to Royal Pacific and were upgraded to a King Room overlooking the park. Tower 1 7th Floor! It was perfect. Just a quick elevator ride and out the doors to the pool and the walking path to the parks!
I really liked the hotel. It had a nice relaxing vibe to it. The pool area was much smaller than I expected though. Staff was nice and helpful and our room was cleaned early every day. Only dislikes were that everything there was so pricey!
We did 3 days park to park and I could have easily done another day!
Highlights of the parks:
Universal Studios - Loved the Express Pass! OMG it was awesome to skip the lines. Even if the line was 10 minutes we still used it. We did all the rides at this park in half a day and went back for more. I don't think I can ever go back and wait in a line anywhere ever!
Had a great time at the character meet and greets. My favorite interaction was with Woody WoodPecker. He took my hands and kissed them and then danced me around and made my hubby take several pictures of us in various poses. It was so cute. We also met a minion, Doc Brown, Curious George and Scooby and Shaggy! So fun!
Loved the new Minion ride. It was so cute. Mummy is still my favorite ride in the park. We also enjoyed the Beetlejuice show. I always skipped it before but I am glad we did it this time. It was pretty cute.
On our last night there we walked around before the evening show and the NY area was so romantic. It was lit up and slightly chilly so we snuggled together and really enjoyed the atmosphere. It almost was like being in old NYC.
I thought the night show was pretty good. We sat over by Lombardi's and it was pretty empty. (I think because it was chilly) I was standing up by the rail and got drenched when the water started spouting off!
Islands of Adventure:
My hubby has never been to IOA so it was fun showing him around.
Again loved the express pass!
We spent a lot of time in the Harry Potter area. I just think the theming is amazing. We rode Forbidden Journey several times and took one long look around the castle. My usually not easily impressed hubby was blown away by the castle and the ride! I also got some great pics and one with a lady dressed in full Wizard attire - complete with a sorting hat on her head and a stuffed owl!
We rode Dr Doom and it surprised the heck out of my hubby. He thought it was going to go up slowly and then drop us. So it was funny hearing him yelp when it shot up so fast! He loved it!
We did everything here except for Poseidon's Fury. There was never a good time to get in line.
I think my favorite thing about IOA is there is so many great photo ops. The cartoon area is just full of them!
Food: we had a 4 day full dining plan. Overall it worked great. I posted a review on the main boards if interested.
We ate most of our dinner's at City Walk. Loved Pastamore's and Pat O'Brien's. Great food and we got huge desserts with our dining plan. We also ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe on our last day. Expensive but the food was delicious. As far as counter service...it was okay. The pizza we had in the Jurassic Park area was terrible though.
The other highlight was the Blue man group. I can't even explain the show but it was highly entertaining. It baffles me how they can tell a story without talking and without many expressions. I can almost "hear" what they are saying by watching the body language!
A tip if you go - don't be in a hurry to leave. If you linger a bit 2 of the Blue Men come out to the main area and pose for pictures. I just happened to be waiting for my hubby to use the restroom and suddenly they were there. I got right in line and we got great pics with him!
We did do a day over at MK to attend the Mickey Christmas Party. We took a Mears shuttle over around 4pm. Wow - it was a madhouse the first hour we were there. We ducked into a restaurant and had an early dinner. After that the crowds thinned out quite a bit. Most rides were 5 minutes and a few were up to 15-20. My husband joked that he wanted to use his express pass and he made a few jokes about Disney not being like Universal!
The party was fun though and the night show was pretty! No character pics as we did not want to wait in long lines. Check out was easy. No issues there at all. (except I didn't want to leave) We asked for a late check out and they gave it to us with no problems.
A great trip!
It was warm for us last week, and I was prepared for chilly...
