A Week in Universal, Trip Report 9/16-9/23 (Completed!!!)

[The Three Cabs]

Hi everyone, we just returned from a fantastic week in the Universal Resort. We had great weather, low crowds, and a lot of fun.

Our traveling group consisted of:
Me (Mom of 2)
My Mom
DS (11)
DS (10)

We stayed at the Royal Pacific, this was my first time staying on property. I have to admit I am hooked. From now on whenever we go to Universal we HAVE to stay on property. Although the crowds were low on most days on the weekend most waits were around 45 minutes. I cannot imagine waiting in line again after walking straight up to a show, bus or moving object and getting right on. The hotel itself is so beautiful and everyone working there was so friendly and went above and beyond to make our stay pleasant. I took a lot of pictures and will try to upload some tonight.

I took a lot of pictures of the food we ate as well. I did forget a few times because we were so hungry.

Our schedule for the week looks like this:
Sept 16th, morning flight, lunch at Circus McGurkus, Supper at PastaMore
Sept 17th, lunch at Louie's, supper at PastaMore (we like this place )
Sept 18th, lunch at Mel's, supper snacks by the pool
Sept 19th, SeaWorld day, lunch at Voyagers, supper NASCAR Cafe
Sept 20th, lunch, Int'l Food Festival, supper PastaMore
Sept 21st, lunch at Mythos, supper at Bubba Gumps
Sept 22nd, lunch at Monsters Cafe, supper at NBA City
Sept 23rd, check out day

 

[The Three Cabs]

Day 1 The Day We Leave for US/IOA

We were up early, way too early, but we had a 7:00am flight to catch. The night before I was sick very sick. I had packing to finish but I knew it wasn't going to happen. I had KFC for lunch that afternoon and it came back to haunt me. Thankfully my son Zack (DS11) was a lot of help. He wandered around adding last minute items to our suitcases. The morning of the flight I felt much better. We ended up meeting my mother at the airport a half hour later than I intended to. I had called her the night before telling her I was sick and that hopefully it would wear off by morning and not be the beginning of the flu. My hubby who was dropping us off at the airport had made me a latte and burnt his finger while trying to rush around to get us out of the house. Meanwhile my mother was waiting at the airport wondering if maybe I was too sick to make it (she doesn't have a cell phone so I couldn't call her)

Anyway our flight leaves and we have a very uneventful flight to Orlando, just the way I like it. I spent most of the flight reading an old copy of Universal With Kids, it was from 2001, very outdated. I have a newer Universal book somewhere, of coarse I couldn't find it. This was our third or fourth trip so I wasn't unaware just wanted to read to hype myself up more than anything.

When arriving in Orlando we were met by our Tiffany Driver, I really liked this service. It was the first time we used it and having a grocery store stop was awesome. After we got back into the car I did a quick check thru my backpack and became panic striken when I realized I couldn't find an envelope with about $400.00 in it. My heart hit my stomach, but thankfully I found it. This would be a short report if I hadn't because that was the majority of my food money.

With all that behind us we finally arrive at Royal Pacific. Now I have seen lots of pictures of this resort, but nothing came close to how beautiful it really is. It was love at first sight When we entered the lobby I was so excited. Thankfully the check in line was short and we were greeted by a very pleasant woman who checked us in quickly. She wished my mother a Happy Birthday (we would be celebrating while on vacation) and told us because it was our first stay they would be upgrading us from garden to pool. This was our view.

We were very happy with it. We are in Tower 1 room 1726. The seventh floor. We have our room keys and are anxious to get to the parks so off to IOA. We are starving by now and head to Circus McGurkus for lunch.

My mother and I both get Chicken.

And the boys get Pizza.
I have pictures and I will get them up soon, but I am having a problem with Photobucket. We just got in last night and I worked today. I am so tired and the computer and I are having issues!!

 

[Melanie230]

Great report so far!!! Keep it up!!!

 

[wen8jr]

Great Report!

 

[The Three Cabs]

Ok, got the pizza picture up! Good size too, it took me awhile to figure it out. I was way too tired to think last night. A week in Orlando has to be one of the most exhausting vacations yet we go back year after year.

After lunch we go thru Suess Landing. I really love this land. It was actually the first land I have gone to each trip we have taken. Not really sure why. We went first to One Fish, Two Fish. I love this ride. I am 33 and still squeal like a little girl on taunting my son to make sure he is rebellious enough not to listen to the song and get us good and wet. From there Cat in the Hat and finally got to try the High in Sky Trolley (is that right, I am having a memory lapse of the name?) I tried Moose Juice or was it Goose Juice, it was the orange color.

From there we headed to Spiderman. I couldn't get my mother to go. For some reason she is scared to death of the final drop. I keep explaining its virtual and they don't exactly throw you from the top of a building. But I can't convince her so off the boys and I go (this was the theme of our vacation, leave grandma behind) Next its the Sinbad Stunt Show and my boys first trip on Dueling Dragons. We rode fire. My youngest son told me closed his eyes tight and prayed thru the entire ride that he would live. But after he got off he proclaimed he loved it and had to try Ice next. We decided to save that for another day because yet again my mother was waiting behind. After waiting what felt like forever for Posidens Fury (yes, we are spoiled now by FOTL) we head to PastaMore for dinner.

I really like this restaurant. I got the most amazing Eggplant Parm I have ever eaten. Its the first time in a theme park that I have actually liked there Italian food. My mother and I split it and also got a Ceaser Salad to share. The boys both had the Chicken Parm. Our waiter who provided excellent service, brought us our bread.

Then I forgot to take pictures. We were halfway thru our dinner when we realized it. I did get Eggplant again later in the week so I do have a picture.

After dinner we waddled over to the water taxi stop and headed back to the hotel. We let the boys swim in the pool and we relaxed after a long day. We wanted to be rested up for Universal Studios in the morning.

 

[Melanie230]

LOVING IT!!! Get in some more before I leave Sunday.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Love it! :]

 

[tlinus]

Great reporting - can't wait to hear more

 

[The Three Cabs]

We were up very early, 6:50 to be exact. I was surprised after the full day before. I think part of the reason we felt so good was these beds were amazing! I usually hate hotel beds but this one was fantastic. Very comfy. We made our coffee with the Keurg machine in the room. I really liked having this in the room. In fact I liked this machine so much I went out yesterday and bought one of my own. I looked out the window and it looked like the hotel across the way was on fire.

The way the sun was hitting the building was reflecting causing it to look like this

We had some time to kill before the 9:00 am opening and ate breakfast in the room. I had left a note for the housekeeper to please change my bedding, at least the mattress pad. I always look things over before climbing into bed and found a rather disturbing stain on the mattress cover. but other than that the room was very clean.

Today was my mothers birthday we were actually suppose to do this trip last year for her 60th birthday but it didn't work out. So last year we decided we would go this year for sure. I actually just got married this past June so leaving my new husband was difficult. I really wanted him to join us but he didn't have vacation time left. We had been to Disney twice this year already once with the kids and once on our honeymoon. He has never gone to Universal before so I would have loved to show him around. I really think he would love it.

We took the water taxi to US We had activated my mothers two year power pass (that we bought her last year for her birthday) the day before, but today it wasn't working. It took us a while at the gate to get everything straighten out again and we were off. Most of the attractions weren't opening until 10 or 11, so we headed to the back of the park and rode MIB. From there we went to Disaster. This is probably my favorite memory from the trip. My mother is a "blend into the crowd" kind of woman. She doesn't like to be in the spotlight so when the casting assistant insisted she come up to be "grandma" she declined twice before he insisted she go. If you have seen this show before you know what they do to poor grandma. I laughed so hard I had tears sliding down my face. She was a good sport and had fun but insisted that next time we go to this attraction we are standing in the back of the room. I honestly wish they would allow photography cause seeing my mother up on stage was hysterical. Especially when she gets in the end!

The park was still pretty empty so we took the JAWS picture

Now it was off to the Mummy, just the boys and I again. This is one of the attractions were I love FOTL, even if the wait isn't too long you can at least have a shorter walk to the front.

After riding we noticed lots of attractions were still closed. We tried Twister but they said they were closed, then we went to Shrek and waiting in line for a very long time, they informed us they were having an issue with the air conditioning. We found a spot in the pre-show in front of a fan. We stood through the show and then were told to get out. No Shrek for us. They were closing the theater. So now what? Lets go to Terminator, sorry NO, we are closed too. Well than lets go across to Mel's for lunch! Sorry we are closed but Louies is open. What the heck is going on? We finally learn that the air conditioning is having a major malfunction park wide. Go to guest services and they can help you. We walked over to guest services and the line was longer than any line I had seen all week. We figured we still have five days left so lets do what is open, that is IF anything is open.

We head to Louie's and get a pizza to split. I did forgot to get a picture of the pizza but I did get a picture of the menu board to make up for it.

I really wanted to ride the Simpsons next, but again another attraction closed. We wandered around a bit and checked out the Halloween decorations

We went to see Animals Actors, since it was one of the few attractions that doesn't have air conditioning.

So to pass some time we go get some ice cream.

We wander through some shops and around 5:00 we hear that Terminator is now open!!! We head over to that and let me tell you by now that cool air feels awesome!

So where do we go for dinner for your birthday mom? PastaMore? We just ate there last night....

 

[The Three Cabs]

Thanks everyone for reading. I will try to get the rest of Day 2 up later today.

 

[The Three Cabs]

We head off to PastaMore for my mother's birthday dinner. She orders Veal and I get the eggplant Parm again. I really liked this as I said before. Both of the boys order Chicken Parm off the kids menu. I had my camera on the table and my mother mentioned to the waitress that I was thinking of writing a trip report on the DIS and that's why I was taking pictures of our food. Anyway she told me I could go back to where the food comes out and take some pictures if I wanted to. She was a great waitress very friendly. As we were walking back to the counter I mentioned it was my mothers birthday and she asked me what type of dessert my mother would like. I told her she would love this:

Its cheesecake with fresh strawberries, I don't like cheesecake so I cannot rate it but my mother thought it was wonderful.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and the boys went swimming again. They loved this pool. It was great to see them playing pool basketball with the other kids. This resort definitely has plenty to do around the pool between the volleyball, ping pong table, pool table and the in pool activities. I think we could have stayed at the resort all day and not have gotten bored. The pool staff was very attentive as well, stopping by to make sure we had everything we needed and brought towels by for us.

I was wondering if there would be anything waiting in the room for my mom's birthday. I have heard that sometimes things are left, but sometimes they aren't so we weren't actually really expecting, its a good thing too because there wasn't anything. But I was glad to see that the mattress pad was changed as well as all our bedding.

The only thing about going in September is everything closes so early. I had an 11 and 10 year old with me so after the parks close the only thing to do is the pool, so we ended up going to bed pretty early every night.

 

[The Three Cabs]

We were up early again. Why is it when I am able to sleep in I can't but on work days I don't want to get out of bed?

We headed back to Universal Studios again, hoping that everything would be in working order today. Thankfully it was the air conditioning problem was solved. We were able to hit all the attractions we had missed. This was our first time on the Simpsons ride and we loved it. My mother wouldn't ride because she doesn't like motion simulated rides. But the boys and I loved it, we were lucky enough to get a seat in the front row.

For lunch we went to Mel's. We ordered:

Three of us ordered the burgers.

This was the kids Chicken Strips

And I got the latte, it was Nescafe, so I didn't love it. But it was ok.

We repeated some attractions before heading back to the hotel. We had bought a bunch of food at the grocery store and decided to eat back at the hotel so the kids could get a early start in the pool. They had enjoyed playing basketball in the pool so much they couldn't wait to go back.

When we got back to the room we found this fruit basket:

and this:

with a card that said Happy Birthday to my mom, it was a day late but she was thrilled to receive it.

The next day we were off to Seaworld.

 

[Metro West]

Great report and pictures so far...waiting for more!

 

[The Three Cabs]

We were able to sleep in a bit since we were using the scheduled shuttle from the hotel. It doesn't leave till 10:00am which isn't the most convenient when going to a theme park that is mostly on a show schedule. But we didn't rent a car so we made sure we knew what we wanted to do the most because the shuttle would be picking us up again at 5:00pm.

After a stop at Wet and Wild we were dropped off. We have been to SeaWorld many times but I was momentarily thrown off because of all the construction going on for the new coaster. I got my bearings together and we decided that since the dolphin show would be starting my mother would go see that (I loved Key West Fest, but I am not a big fan of the new show) so the boys and I decided to do Journey to Atlantis and Kraken since my mother would rather die than board either of these rides. We told her we'd meet her by the exit in about a half hour (wish I had know there were three exits at the time!)

We went over to Atlantis and entered the line and just kept walking, walking, walking, right up to the open boat. We were the only people in line, it was awesome. We didn't get very wet, which was fine because it was about 10:45. After riding we went to Kraken. The boys were excited because this was the first time they were riding it. With sweaty palms we were able to board the next train and off we go. I really love this coaster, in fact its my favorite in Orlando.

We contemplated riding again but it was close to the time to meet my mother. That's when I realized there were three exits. While walking over I was scared out of my mind when a very loud parrot squealed in my ear and then another, I guess they are part of the finale of the show. It took me by surprise for sure. The show was emptying out and we couldn't find my mother so headed over to another exit. Thankfully she was waiting outside the second exit.

We decided to head over for an early lunch since the show times were not going to work if we didn't.

We went to Voyagers we decided to buy two dinners a half of chicken and a full rack of ribs to split.

<a href="http://s362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/jennypennys7/?action=view&current=SeaWorldfood1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/jennypennys7/SeaWorldfood1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I also bought a refillable mug. It was $6.99 I think with refills for $1.69 the rest of the day.

The food was good, we all liked it.

From there it was time to see Shamu. We waited outside for awhile and then when the stadium was open there was a mad rush to get inside. The whale's weren't cooperating too well so they did a different version of the show. It was still great, I love this show the whales are so fun to watch, we sat in the splash zone and only got a bit wet, if we were down about two more rows we would have been soaked.

From there we went straight to Clyde and Seamore. When my son was younger he was chosen as a volunteer so I always have great memories at the show. Its a cute show, we try to catch it every time. I love Sea Lions more than any other critter on Earth. I always have to go buy the expensive dead fish to feed the Sealions.

We wandered around for awhile, we fed the Sealions, went into the Shark Encounter, and to the Penguins.

To end the day gotta catch a bus at 5:00pm, we rode the kiddie Shamu coaster.

Went back to Royal Pacific and changed then went to Citywalk, we decided to eat at Nascar.

We ordered onion rings:

This is the only picture I took, we were distracted because we asked our waiter if we could get the Red Sox game on the TV next to us, they were having a problem getting the channel in even though it was playing on a small TV nearby. Just as the food was brought to our table the game switched on and everything else in the world disappeared.

I do remember what we ordered.
Zack and I split a steak sandwich, it was awesome, I would get it again if I ever ate there again.
My mother got a seafood (salmon, I think) pasta dish, sorry I don't remember what it was called but she loved it.
Collin got chicken fingers, typical kids menu type.

We decided to just hang out it the room after and get to bed early.

 

[loribell]

Great job. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Love it & I love your user-name

 

[The Three Cabs]

We had breakfast in our room yet again, the grocery stop really paid off, it saved us a bundle eating in every morning. We headed over to Universal Studios yet again. I have to say by now I was kinda feeling like I had done just about everything I had wanted at Universal Studios, but I wanted to do Simpsons and MIB again for sure.

On the walk over I spoke to my hubby on the phone, he was missing us bad and still being newlyweds I was feeling a bit sad myself. My mother and Collin (DS 10) rode Jimmy Neutron and Twister. I wasn't feeling so great, I had a headache and just wanted to sit down for awhile, my older son stayed with me and we people watched and took some pictures of the scenery.

After we all went to Disaster again. This time it wasn't quite so funny to me, seeing my mother blown to bits at the end of the ride I still crack up thinking about it.

I am really not sure what we did next, knowing my mother we probably went on MIB again 3 times in a row.

We did end up eating lunch at the International Food Festival ? (sorry if I got the name wrong, my notes are even difficult for me to read!)

I got the sweet and sour chicken

I have definitely had better, but I really wasn't expecting much.

Zachary got a chicken parm, he said he'd give it about a 3 out of 10

And my mother and Collin both got pizza (they were the smart ones in the group)

And for dessert we got chocolate cake, it was pretty good.

We got to ride Simpsons again. This time we were split up we were in the same vehicle just different rows. We also rode E.T. for the bizillionth time, my mother loves this ride. I was ready to go out of my mind with this ride. Don't get me wrong I love it, but honestly you can only save ET's home planet so many times....

We left US and went to IOA. I was soooo proud of my mom she finally rode Spiderman WITH the glasses on. She kept closing her eyes because she wasn't sure when we would "drop". From there me and the boys rode the Hulk Coaster

This is the first time any of us had been on, very cool. I do have to say I prefer DD, but this was good too. From there all four of us went on the Storm Force,

It was hot so we decided to hit some water attractions. First Dudley Do-Right, we would have made it through this attraction pretty dry but every single cannon went off at the bottom, thanks everyone who felt the need to blast us (it was hot, so it was really ok!) We headed to Jurassic Park River Adventure but it was closed So we stopped for a snack

From there we went to Posiden's Fury again, we had an incredible Tour Guide this time. She was so funny. She asked my son Collin if he would be the first sacrifice if we needed one, this was the best experience I ever had at this attraction.

We headed back over to Jurassic Park and were able to ride, the people in front of us didn't realize there was a huge drop at the end, imagine there surprise of coarse we were like this at their reaction, yes we are evil

Since we were already soaked we hit Popeye's again and by now the park was closing we headed back to our room to change and get ready for dinner again. We headed back to CityWalk and I bet you will never guess where we had dinner???



PastaMore.....yes PastaMore again.

 

[The Three Cabs]

Love it & I love your user-name

Thanks for reading, my boys and I always used to refer to ourselves as The Three Caballeros so it sounded like a great screen name, even if we had to shorten it.

 

[The Three Cabs]

That night we went to PastaMore again. However this time it was not quite the same. This quiet spot wasn't so quiet. We were put on a table just inside the restaurant, just as we sat down a band started playing outside on the stage and it was so loud we couldn't hear each other across the table so we asked if another table was available and they moved us to the back of the restaurant. It was very loud in the back as well, I think a group of conference attendees went out together. It was still better than the loud music.

The service which is usually great here was severely lacking tonight. I first thought perhaps she was busy because it was busy but it appeared she only had a few tables and the large party wasn't hers. We never saw her after she took our order and to give us our check. She wasn't the friendliest either but thankfully the food was still good.

I got the fettuccini alfredo

Collin got the pizza

and my mother and Zachary got Eggplant Parm again

We left here not nearly as happy as the last two times, but it was a weekend so the noise and crowds are expected.

We took the water taxi back to our room, and wanted to catch the pool movie, but it was really crowded so we just stayed in our room and relaxed.

 

[BuckeyeGuy28]

Did you see Dr Phillips High School from your resort or on your way to the park? I recently graduated there but still can't get over how I managed to stay in class while I could hear lucky people like you riding rides while I was slaving away in school. Weekends just weren't enough for me. Anyway, next time you're there, come check it out. I was a swimmer.
Glad you had fun! Hope you come visit us again!