ADP Live From Universal

[ADP]

Saturday, July 25th

Aaron - ADP
Kim - DW
Anna (9) - DD

Pre Trip Report

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to post our trip experiences during our Universal portion of our vacation here since I'll be posting live from the Universal parks, resorts, and restaurants.

It's kind of funny, but when you plan a trip to Orlando a year or so in advance it does kind of creep-up on you. You think about it, but as the days, weeks, and even months go by its hard to believe when you are only 1 day away from leaving for your magical trip. A good example was the podcast cruise. We talked about it for 18 months and suddenly it was upon us.

This trip has a twist to it for us. Anna and I are headed down to Orlando tomorrow and Kim will be joining us later in the week as we move over to Disney World. For me and Anna we will be in Orlando for 2 solid weeks; 4 nights at the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando, 8 nights at AKV Jambo House in the Kilamanjaro Club Level, and 2 nights at the new Bay Lake Tower.

We plan on seeing many of our friends during this trip. Some of them are local and others are coming in at the same time as us. A very welcomed coincidence. As someone who doesn't live locally in the Orlando area its a great feeling knowing you have connected with people on a personal level in Central Florida. We are looking forward to seeing everyone.

Here are some other things we are looking forward to during this trip:
- Seeing the progress of the new Harry Potter themed land at Islands of Adventrue
- Staying at the Royal Pacific Resort
- Attending the Wanitian Luau at the Royal Pacific Resort
- Staying in the Kilamanjaro Club Level at the Animal Kingdom Villas
- Dining at Narcoosees with Kim
- Trying the new dessert party at the Magic Kingdom
- Staying at the new Bay Lake Tower
- Meeting with several of our friends

There are many other things we are looking forward to like seeing Luxo Jr. at the Studios and seeing the refurbished Hall of Presidents.

Our plan for most of our days while at the parks will be to get to the gate early, head back to the resort around 1:00PM, take the afternoon off, and head back to a park in the evening. That strategy seems to work very well in the dead of summer. Our time at Universal will be more relaxed since we have front of the line access on most of the attractions in the parks. A great perk for being a Universal resort guest.

For the next 2 weeks I'll be updating this thread with pictures and updates of our experiences at the parks, resorts, and restaurants. I'll also be posting pictures and status updates on my Facebook page. I hipe you can follow along as we share our experiences with you.

Tomorrow is one of the best days of our trip. It's arrival day! I love riding in the tram to the main airport terminal. For us it signifies our vacation is in front of us and excitement awaits. An excellent feeling!

Much more to come!

Next Up:
Arriving in Orlando
Checking-in at the Royal Pacific Resort
Swimming at the Royal Pacific beach pool
Universal 360

 

[macraven]

i have a feeling that i am going to your reporting!


It is going to be exciting "joining" you on this vacation.


I won't set my alarm for the morning as I know you won't be posting until later


i can hardly wait for your first report.

 

[donaldduck352]

Broadcasted live from Universal

 

[Metro West]

Sounds good so far...don't keep us in suspense too long now.

 

[tlinus]

A Live Report?!?!

I'm in for the ride

 

[Laurabearz]

We should try and hook up.

My family and i will be at the RPR tomorrow!!! Through Friday, then we too move to AKL Jambo House (not club though, lucky duck, we went the other way and booked Value lol)

So if you see a fat lady fiddling with her iPhone poolside say howdy!!

 

[ADP]

Hi Everyone

We are in Universal Studios. They are testing Rock It with no people in the cars. I'll have pictures later.

Laura. I'll send you a PM.

 

[macraven]

I hope the rain stops so you can enjoy your time at the resort and in the parks!!!

 

[ADP]

Sunday, July 26th

Hi Everyone,

We are back from Universal Studios. We had a very nice day. We spent some time at the Royal Pacific Pool. I managed to soak up about 20 minutes worth of sun before the clouds moved in and the rain took over.

After the pool and rain we walked over to Margaritavile located at City Walk. There is a walking path you can take from Royal Pacific that will drop you off right near Margaritaville on City Walk; very convenient.

One of the staples to a meal at Margaritaville is a frozen margarita with salt. I've noticed they've made the margarita glasses smaller. Maybe 10oz instead of the usual 16oz. I was a little disappointed with it.

Our meal was very good. We had an appatizer of volcano nachos which were HUGE! . I had the cheeseburger in paradise while Anna had the kids Mac & Cheese. I think the food here is very good; however, it is a bit pricy. Between 3 adults and 3 children we paid $110 which included the tip because we had a party size of 6 people. I also saved us 10% with my Universal AP. We did have 3 alcoholic drinks with our meal.

One of the attractions of the restaurant is a volcano at one of the bars which erupts every 30 minutes. The volcano lava goes into a giant jar at the base of the bar.

As we left the restaurant a pirate on stilts showed up and made all 3 kids baloon items.

Afterwards we headed over to Universal Studios to catch a ride on the Simpson's attraction.

Anna got caught in the act!

After we rode the Simpsons we decided to stop and get Anna an air brushed tattoo. Everything was going great until the artist dropped his brush on Anna's shorts. He got black ink on them and they were ruined. I stopped up at guest relations and showed them what happened. They were very apologetic and walked us over to the Universal Studios store and replaced Anna's shorts with a new pair of Universal shorts. A very nice gesture.

While in the store I noticed this sign. If you have an American Express card this should be a welcomed site.

During our time at Universal Studios tonight I saw testing of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. There were no people in the cars, just empty cars going through the attraction all evening.
Here are some shots of the attraction

Finally, a shot of me and Anna enjoying our dinner at Margaritaville!

We never did make it to Universal 360 tonight; however, we did see some of the show from afar. From what I could tell, it wasn't too spectacular, but I'll withhold an overall opinion until I can see it up close and personal.

Next Up:
Islands of Adventure
Pool Photos
& More

 

[macraven]

hey, it's almost 2:00 cst............and your green light is still on..

what are you doing up this late?



just don't ask me that question....



loving the pictures and your live report!

 

[Laurabearz]

Nice to see you holding down the fort!!

We should be sauntering in around 130 today.

Ok I am off to hit the show and catch a PLANE!!!!

 

[ADP]

Good Morning Everyone!

We headed down to the Orchid Court lounge in the main lobby for some breakfast and brought it back to our room. While I was near the lounge I noticed they have a sushi bar offering in the evenings much like the Polynesian Resort. I bet Corey would love this!

Also, we are waking up each morning to the roar of the Hulk roller coaster. The Hulk has a very unique roar to it when the cars pass through the track. We have a great pool and Islands of Adventure view from our window in tower 3 on the 6th floor.

We are headed out the door to Islands of Adventure this morning. I Must, MUST ride the Spiderman attraction at least 3 times. I also want to check out the progress of the Harry Potter themed land.

I'll have more later.

 

[ADP]

Monday, July 27th

Hi Everyone,

We are back from our morning/afternoon at Islands of Adventure. The park still looks great after 10 years. Spiderman is still my favorite attraction of all time. I'm sure the new Harry Potter themed land will give it new life once its completed.

Here are a few shots I took of the construction progress. I'll try and get a few more this week.

One of the places you can grab a quick breakfast in the morning is the Crossiant Moon Bakery located just inside Islands of Adventure.
They sell pastries as well as other quick breakfast items.

We like to head left and go clockwise around Islands of Adventure. This puts us in Marvel Superhero Island first. The Hulk was in its usual roar.
Darn finger!

During our tour of Islands of Adventure Anna got her face painted. They did a great job!

We also played a game or two and Anna came away with a Universal teddy bear by popping 3 baloons with 3 darts.

while in Suess Landing we saw a couple Suess characters

We stopped at Mythos for lunch today. I wasn't very hungry so I didn't order too much. I had a few bites of my grilled chicken sandwich and that was about it. Anna had a kids cheese pizza. The food was very good. They server you some sort of Fochaccia (sp) before you meal. The bread was a little too hard for my liking. Otherwise, our meal was perfect. With my 10% AP discount the meal came to $19 with tax and tip included.

Front of the line access worked great today. Spiderman had a 60 minute wait; however, with our room keys we only waited 5 each time we rode the attraction. Most attractions had lengthy wait times, but we waited very little.

We also survived a soaking on Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls. We came off soaked, but we dried up pretty quickly in the Orlando heat.

That's all for now. I'm not exactly sure where we are headed tonight. More to come!

 

[mysparky]

Thanks so much for posting a live trip report - it's so much fun to read. We'll be there in 2 1/2 weeks and reading these live reports helps with the wait! Great to hear that FOLT pass is working so well for you!

 

[ADP]

Hi Everyone,

We managed to make it over to Universal Studios tonight. We wanted to get a few rides in and grab a bite to eat inside the park.

Tonight we rode The Simpsons, Jimmy Neutron's Blast, Men in Black, and we made a stop over at Curious George's Playhouse.

After we finished with attractions we dined at Mel's Drive-in. I wasn't crazy about the food this time. I got a hamburger which seemed to be very overcooked. I didn't eat too much of it. Probably a good thing.

At 6:00PM the Simpson's attraction had a 40 minute wait; however, with the Express Pass we only waited 5 minutes.

Here's a shot of inside the Men in Black attraction. I scored a measley 148,000. Not too good!

On our way out of Universal Studios I stopped at the largest Betty Boop store anywhere! It has just about everything you could imagine.

Tomorrow we plan on staying close to the resort. Anna and I are hoping to spend a lot of time at the pool, get a workout in at the fitness center (The Gymnasium), and attend the resort's luau (The Wanitian Luau). I'll have photos of the Luau for tomorrow night.

Up Next:
Photos of the Royal Pacific Pool
A Trip and Photos of the Fitness Center
The Wanitian Luau

P.S. I forgot to mention in an earlier post that on the plane down to Orlando Anna and I got to sit next to Divine; the tree lady who wanders and entertains guests at the Animal Kingdom. She's a contortionist who can walk on stilts. She told us all about her job and how often she works. A very cool way to start our Orlando vacation.
Here's a photo of Divine

 

[macraven]

i'm so impressed over your meeting and talking with Divine.

Tell me everything about her !!!

 

[ADP]

Tuesday, July 28th

Hi Everyone,

We are back from our morning/afternoon at the pool and the gym. I got A LOT of sun today. The weather has been very nice so far and the pool was very crowded.

We stayed at the pool for about 3 hours and enjoyed relaxing and swimming. Anna got caught up play volleyball in the pool. I think she could have done it all day if I would have let her.

The RPR pool is very nice, pretty large, and has several chairs around for guests to choose from. Here are some pictures I took while we were at the pool
The pool has a ship water feature which shoots water in several different directions. This pool does not have a water slide, but the ship does help make up for the lack of a slide.

This resort has a very nice pool bar. I got the chance to enjoy a drink during our time at the pool.

There is also an ice cream stand at the pool. You have to eat it fast though or else it will melt.

The pool workers conducted kids actvities at the top of each hour. One of the contests was a splash contest. Anna participated in the contest and won the event out of 5 other girls. I was so proud at the splash she made belly first.
Here's Anna entering the pool and starting her splash.

After the contest we took a picture with the activities coordinator.

Once we left the pool we headed back to the room. I changed and decided to head down to the gym. this is a first for me. I never dream of working out while on vacation. I usually workout on Tuesdays back home with Kim so I wanted to stay on our routine. It wasn't the same without her. I had a good workout, but missed her company.

After the workout I took some pictures of the gym. They have a combination of machines and free weights as well as treadmills and bikes. I focused on cardio, core, and upper body today; arms, shoulders, chest, etc.

Here are the photos.

Tinight we are headed for the Royal Pacific Wanitilian Luau. We are looking forward to it. I'll have pictures and share our experience tonight.

More to come!

 

[ADP]

i'm so impressed over your meeting and talking with Divine.

Tell me everything about her !!!

She's pretty cool. She's really a contortionist (sp?) who can walk on stilts. She was in Indianapolis at a private party....A BBQ in the back of someone's mansion. She said the party was over the top. She loves her job, but said this is the worst time of year for her because of the heat.

 

[mysparky]

I'm also so impressed that you met Divine. We catch her act every time we're in Animal Kingdom and I think she's fascinating to watch! I have also thought about how difficult it must be to perform this time of the year. You didn't recognize her, did you? I mean, her face isn't stained green, is it?

 

[ADP]

I'm also so impressed that you met Divine. We catch her act every time we're in Animal Kingdom and I think she's fascinating to watch! I have also thought about how difficult it must be to perform this time of the year. You didn't recognize her, did you? I mean, her face isn't stained green, is it?

No, I couldn't tell it was her. She volunteered to tell us. After she said I connected the dots though.