A Disney Girl visits the Darkside - Complete!!!

[ThinkTink09]

Welcome to my trip report (first one ever)!!!

Well versed in all things Disney ( I think ), planning the Universal portion of my recent split-stay vacay to FL was uncharted territory!! Reading the trip Reports here was fun and helpful, so I think I will share the wealth

I just love Florida...warm weather, sunny skies (mostly), the mouse (gasp....can I say that here)!?!?!

October is my favorite time of year to visit. Love Halloween stuff (HHN / MNSSHP) and the F&W festival...just a perfect time to visit in my book.

Fabulously long vacation this year, starting 9/27 through 10/8. My sister was my traveling buddy, and we started at the World staying in the Coronado Springs resort, then switched over to Cabana Bay 10/3. We had an awesome time; it was sooo sad having to leave!!!

More to come...

 

[ArwenMarie]

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Threeboysandachickie]

subbing!

 

[Shock13]

Woo hoo! Another trip report to read!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm in . Looking forward to more!

 

[sydneysmom]

can't wait to read more !

 

[ThinkTink09]

Looking forward to hearing more!

Thank you! Hopefully my ramblings will offer some enjoyment

subbing!

Welcome

Woo hoo! Another trip report to read!

It's a bit selfish on my part; I want to relive my trip!!

I'm in . Looking forward to more!

Thanks!!! Hope I don't disappoint

can't wait to read more !

Thank you, and welcome!!

 

[ThinkTink09]

I love to get a good deal, in fact I get a bit obsessive about it when it comes to my vacation dollars! Sooo when it came to planning the universal portion of our trip, I was a bit lost.


There were so many variables it seemed....

- Should I get an AP for room discounts and free parking? Should I book with universal directly or use external websites? Which park ticket was best? Was calling the reservation line with a snail-mail code my best bet? And on and on and on....


I usually book directly with Disney when they release their "discounts" so I found my inexperience with Universal a bit of a headache. But In the end, after pricing everything out, I think I made the right choices (hopefully).


I booked Cabana Bay through Orbitz with a 15% off promo code. Selected a standard room with pool view ( I know not really necessary, but I hate looking at a parking lot) for 5 nights, for a total of $592. I bought a 14 day 3 park unlimited ticket from tickets-at-work (offered through my employer) for 175.99 (plus taxes). And purchased the HHN rush of fear ticket for 75.99. We ended up cabbing it to the resort and then back to the airport.


I thought I'd share my numbers with you for comparison's sake. I hope it helps someone plan their trip. Maybe you can find a better way!!!

Now that the boring stuff is out of the way....


Up next: Arrival!

 

[rnorwo1]

I'm in! Trip reports are helping me make until our Feb trip!

 

[ThinkTink09]

I'm in! Trip reports are helping me make until our Feb trip!

Welcome!! If time continues to pass as quickly as the summer has, your trip will be here before you know it!!!

 

[ThinkTink09]

Arrival Day!

We checked out of Coronado Springs at 11, ate lunch, and then caught a cab over to Cabana Bay! Woohoo!! And no sadness leaving Disney this time since it was time to start vacation #2

After a 20-ish minute drive, we arrived! Yay!!!



This pic doesn't do the front justice. It was lovely with a sign board reading "we have color TV and cold air". Just adorable

We were welcomed outside by a very friendly guy who brought our suitcases into the main lobby. It was so nice, but I'm used to doing that stuff myself, and then I felt super guilty because I didn't have cash and couldn't give him a tip. Oops

The lobby was bright, clean, and cheerful and I thought it was great! There was surfer music playing in the background (this was true of many areas around the resort) and the staff had the cutest retro uniforms.



Check in was a breeze. Annnnd....wait for it.....we got upgraded for free to a family suite! Score!!!

I was really excited to hear this. I much prefer rooms that open to the outside, and knew that the standard rooms were all interior corridors.

We received an excellent resort, park, and transportation explanation from (I wish I could remember his name), were given our room keys (OK, I'll admit I really enjoyed the magic bands as the room key), and then headed to our room.



Um, loved it!!



It was crazy to have so much space for just 2 people. A sink, a fridge, a microwave, sitting area, 2 very nice flat screen TVs. Hello, when can I move in???





The view...



Amazing!

I could get used to this!!!

 

[ThinkTink09]

After a rest in the room we were ready for Horror Nights!

We grabbed the bus and headed to the studios just before 5. The Cabana Bay buses were awesome! Never did we have to wait more than a few minutes.

It was our first time using stay and scream. We stayed in the area by Finnegans and people-watched. We also found it amusing watching security perform the final park sweep!


We were super excited. Love haunted houses, and Universal knows how to do them right! Aside from knowing which houses were there, I didn't do any reading on the event. I like to be surprised!


Our first house was AVP.
I liked it. There were a few good scares. But I was expecting to like this house the best, and it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Those alien things are made of nightmares!! The predators were silly looking IMO, but I never did see that movie. Wait was 10 minutes.


Next we headed to Roanoke.
I can't remember too much about this one. We did like it. It was very similar to a house that we have at a Halloween event near home, which we've been to a few times. Fun, but not super memorable. Wait was 5 minutes.


Doll house of the Damned next.



Loved it!!! This was my favorite house for sure. The theming was amazing and creepy and just plain awesome!



My sister swears the one room smelled of baby diaper poo...whether that's true or not, I don't know LOL. 5 minute wait.


Halloween was up to a 60 minute wait so we headed to
From Dusk To Dawn.
Ok....this house.....LAME!
I mean I'm not super critical, but this house had no scares. It's easily the worst house we've done at Universal. Ever. 15 minute wait. No desire to repeat.


Giggles and Gore next.
It was better than expected. If you have a clown phobia I'm sure it'd be down-right terrifying! I was glad it wasn't 3D (for some reason I'd thought it was). We enjoyed it. 15 minute wait.


Dracula was our last house tonight. I liked it a lot! Very cool looking house. I didn't catch many scares, but it was fun.


Dinner was fish tacos at the bumble bee man stand. Very filling, but a bit soggy. Don't think I'd get them again.


On our way out we walked through face off. Love that show! This was a very cool addition to horror nights!




This one was my favorite!


So we had a great night, but were losing steam. (2 am the night before was catching up to us)!!! Back to the room it is.


Next: Diagon Alley

 

[macraven]

i'm in for the rest of the trip...

keep it coming!

 

[schumigirl]

Nice pics.........yes the diaper room has a smell of "used diapers"

Sorry you didn't like the Halloween house.......I loved it.......think it's my favorite house ever from HHN ........then I do have a thing for Mr Myers.........

Looking forward to reading more

 

[ArwenMarie]

Great pictures!

 

[ThinkTink09]

Nice pics.........yes the diaper room has a smell of "used diapers"

Sorry you didn't like the Halloween house.......I loved it.......think it's my favorite house ever from HHN ........then I do have a thing for Mr Myers.........

Looking forward to reading more

Oh my the diaper room!!!!!!! how in the world did they do that, and do I even want to know!?!? LOLOL!!! I have to tell my sister she was right! I also enjoyed Halloween We hit that house Saturday night

Great pictures!

Thank you!! My phone takes pretty good daytime shots, but I have the darnedest time getting good nighttime shots.

 

[ThinkTink09]

After a restful night we were ready to take in Diagon Alley!

Who doesn't like Harry Potter? I grew up with those novels and loved the movies! I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that at 25, when the last movie came out, I sobbed out-loud in the silent movie theater - during the scene where Snape dies. One of my top 5 embarrassing life moments....

(Also I will never forgive JK Rowling for killing Fred and Hedwig. I mean, come on, we get it, a lot of people died....but was that necessary?? Yes. I. Am. Bitter. LOL).


Anyway, I was really looking forward to getting in there!


It was about 1130 when we got to the studios. Headed right to the back of the park, and we were there!



There are so many adjectives I can think of to use to describe this addition to the wizarding world, and I'm sure they've been used countless times in many reviews. I'm left with Wow. Just Wow!



First can I just say I can not believe the massive amount of work that was done in a short year. The skeleton of the London facade was there the year prior, during our last visit, but not much more. It's just amazing so much was accomplished so quickly! ( I'm looking at you Disney)


Love how they designed the entrance into Diagon Alley, with creative passageways in the wall. You really feel that you are walking through the bricks! And they didn't forget the sound of bricks moving!



Just lovely


Each shop was so detailed! Loved Zonkos and Madam Maulkins with the talking mirror. Loved the ambiance and music of the whole area! There are just so many things to look at and see.





I grabbed a Frozen butterbeer of course! And then we caught a bit of the Celestina Show.

Knockturn Alley was way cool! Borgin and Burkes may be my favorite gift shop of all time. So many cool things to look at!



We stopped at Fortescue's ice cream parlor next. I had the strawberries and cream soft serve with shortbread crumbles. It was very good, but way too much ice cream!! My sister tried the banana soft serve. She said it was vanilla with yellow banana flavoring mixed in like a twist.




Gringotts was a 90 minute wait and the Hogwarts express was 45, so we headed out, over to MIB...I won! ET was next. It was cute.

Afterwards Gringotts was down to 30 minutes, so we headed back over. It was up to 45 by the time we got over there, but we got in line.




Welllll ..... 45 minutes turned into 90.

The ride must have broken down at least 3 times while we were in line. At this point it's 4:30, and there was a lot of regret over the butterbeer breakfast and ice cream lunch. Ugh what had we been thinking! I blame my sister

It seemed we were in a never ending queue, I was tired, and would've killed for water and a piece of beef jerky! Finally we reached the point in line where there was a water fountain AND it didn't work!! I could've cried.

Once inside the wait was much better. So much to see and, again, amazingly detailed. The ride itself was very fun.







I must say it seemed to be a theme, the breaking down of that ride, throughout our visit.

Finally we stopped for some real food at the Leaky Cauldron.

Really loved it in there! Felt like we were right in the movie.

We both had the banger sandwich which tasted great. The pumpkin juice on tap was pretty icky. I'd had it before in the bottle and enjoyed it, but found it pretty gross here. Gilly water was just water, but adorable! I saved the bottle.




Time for Stay and Scream already!

 

[ThinkTink09]

i'm in for the rest of the trip...

keep it coming!

Thanks for reading!

 

[ksack]

Definitely keeping an eye on this one! We too are crossing over to the Dark Side next year and I'm at a total loss....

 

[schumigirl]

Nice update.......I liked the soft serve ice cream better than the hard.......the toffee was gorgeous