Am I Supposed to Feel Like This?!

vital

<font color=darkorchid>Pirate-wench<br><font color
Joined
Feb 9, 2006
Messages
2,189
I feel like I'm being too lax in planning. My DS14 and I will be staying at HRH for 3 nights (May 31-June 3) after 8 days (May 23-31) at AKL in WDW. Here are my "problems":

1. I have zero plans on what rides to do first. Is this ok since we are going to have Express Pass? I do know we will take advantage of early entry to see Harry Potter, but we are not huge fans so it's not our priority. We want to do the coasters and rides like Transformers and Spider-Man.

2. Food. Is it true that we don't need advanced reservations!?!? If so, this is a wonderful thing :-D. I never know when hunger is going to strike and I hate planning for it a few months out. The only restaurant I know my son HAS to go to is T-Rex. Are there any places that we will not be able to get into without a prior reservation? We don't mind waiting and I usually head to the bar and grab a drink while we do.

3. I'm actually looking forward to relaxing by the pool as much as I am going to the parks. I don't anticipate thinking I'm "missing out" on something by slowing down and chilling out. This is a foreign concept to me whenever we go to WDW. Don't get me wrong, I'm planning on taking full advantage of the pool at AKL on Memorial Day because I want to avoid the mayhem at the parks that day.

So will the Universal experts please tell me I'll be ok by not having everything planned to the minute?
 
You're fine. Especially because you are going Sunday-Wednesday. If you get really lucky, Diagon Alley might be opening for softs.
 
I know it is a weird feeling for those of us who are "addicted" to planning the details of WDW vacations because we know it is the only way to get the most from that experience. Universal vacations are the complete opposite in many ways.

We have found no need to plan out our park attractions (with the exception being HP of course). By staying onsite, the FOTL pass takes care of the attraction waits so we do not feel the need to plan headliners at park opening.

We have never found the need for dining ressies. We like the variety of CS in the parks and eat "wherever" in the parks for lunch. Because the parks are not as spread out, you can also easily go across the park for another CS without too much effort. We enjoy eating dinner at our resort as we love the food choices at PBH. Can't comment on the food at the HRH.

The pools are very relaxing. We enjoy the atmosphere and amenities at the PBH beach pool. Fun slide, fun theme, good food and drinks poolside, and very friendly staff. This upcoming trip we are renting a cabana for a pool day. Very excited for that one :beach:

Relax! Universal is the relaxing vacation after your WDW vacation:rotfl:
 
This is one of the main reasons as we only visit Universal Resort and stay onsite. We are normally there monthly and it's a true vacation. You do what you want when you want. Don't sweat it, you will never look at Disney the same way.

BTW: We will be there that weekend too.:thumbsup2
 

a few days before my trip to the darkside, i check out damo's menu sticky.
do a quick look through for any changes on menus that have been posted at the eateries.

also check the www.universalorlando.com for the listed menus at the food places.
all places take walk ups, a few will take ressies for the day.


once i am checked into the onsite hotel, i check the weather on tv.
(do i need a poncho type of day.....)


that is about all the pre planning i do.
 
Thank y'all for the reassurance! I'm thinking I could get used to this way of vacationing! It reminds me of our Caribbean trips.....we decide what to do that morning. Very relaxing!
 
I'm taking my 14 year old daughter in May, and the ONLY planning I've done is to book two nights at Royal Pacific and the offsite hotels for our first night in town and our 3 nights in town post-Universal. We are planning NOTHING else, because there's simply no need! Ride what you want, eat when/where you want, and you will NOT have to worry about anything ahead of time! We went for the first time last August and had a blast with ZERO planning. Can't wait to do it again.
 
You've already done the most planning you need to for your trip....which Resort to stay at. :) Have fun!
 
I felt the same way on our first trip.After that we loved Unviersal and how relaxing it was so much, we decided to not do Disney ..LOL..It is the first time we ever came home from vacation and felt like we HAD a relaxing vacation..We are headed back in Jan 2015 ( we wanted to go in early December, but I cant get off work)
 
That's the nice thing about staying on site. You can get up early go to the parks, come back and relax at the pool, eat and then go back to the parks again. You don't feel rushed or you are missing out on anything.
 
I'm so glad we added Universal at the end of our trip instead of the beginning! It sounds awesome!
 
I'm so glad we added Universal at the end of our trip instead of the beginning! It sounds awesome!

You will love it I`m sure.....especially at the end of your trip as you will love having Unlimited Express Pass with your onsite stay.

We stay for 17/18 nights and don`t plan anything ever....apart from meeting up with friends....that`s it.

Never made a dining reservation, and we make up our minds what to do for the day when we get up usually. And we don`t go to Disney either :) We fill our time happily at both parks, the resort itself and time around the Orlando area and further afield.

The Universal parks are amazing.....so much fun and as the resort hotels are so close it`s perfect for mooching back during the day for a swim or just relaxing at the resort.

Hope you have a great trip :thumbsup2
 
I feel like I'm being too lax in planning. My DS14 and I will be staying at HRH for 3 nights (May 31-June 3) after 8 days (May 23-31) at AKL in WDW. Here are my "problems": 1. I have zero plans on what rides to do first. Is this ok since we are going to have Express Pass? I do know we will take advantage of early entry to see Harry Potter, but we are not huge fans so it's not our priority. We want to do the coasters and rides like Transformers and Spider-Man.

It's ok not to plan everything. You really can just do what you want when you want to with the EP.

We just went for spring break, and I researched some to give myself an idea of what was available ride and restaurant wise, but I didn't plan out a schedule or anything like I normally do. As far as fitting everything in, I didn't need a plan for that. You really can just walk around and walk right onto whatever you want.

We started out plan-less, and as far as flexibility and riding things, it worked great. It was nice not worrying about where we needed to be when. As the week went on, however, I discovered that not planning just doesn't work well for our large family. There are just too many different people all wanting to go different ways. We realized pretty quickly that we were wasting a lot of time on deciding what to do next and dealing with tantrums / whining from kids and adults! who didn't get their way. So about halfway through the trip, I made us a plan, and things went much better from then on out. We were still flexible, the plan was more of a guide than anything, but it worked for us.

I'm only mentioning this because I never thought not planning would be an issue in and of itself, but it was for us. Who could have guessed that not having a plan would upset the kids. I learned this trip they like to see everything written out in black and white. It gives them an assurance that we will do what they want to do at some point because it is listed on the schedule. It's just something to think about if your family is use to relying on a scheduled plan, how not having one may effect them.

Since it's just the two of you, you'll be fine without a plan, and I'm sure will enjoy the laid back pace.

I wouldn't discount HP. I actually think its a pretty cool ride, not because it's HP, but because it is so different from any other type of ride I've ever experienced. It really puts you in the action, and you don't really need to understand HP to enjoy it. It's kind of like how I don't care anything about Transformers, but think its a really cool ride. Well, I think HP takes the immersive Transformer type ride up a notch, but it may just be me who feels that way. And if you aren't big HP fans, you can always enjoy a little extra sleep, and just ride it single rider line later in the day. You can't see the person beside you anyway.

2. Food. Is it true that we don't need advanced reservations!?!? If so, this is a wonderful thing :-D. I never know when hunger is going to strike and I hate planning for it a few months out. The only restaurant I know my son HAS to go to is T-Rex. Are there any places that we will not be able to get into without a prior reservation? We don't mind waiting and I usually head to the bar and grab a drink while we do.

You don't have to make reservations months in advance. It's not a bad idea to make reservations a few weeks or days in advance if there is somewhere you really want to eat at. You can make reservations through Opentable. We never made reservations in advance and didn't have any issues. Although sometimes there were long waits or they would put us down to come back later in the day. For instance, we tried for lunch, but the first opening was for dinner. We were a large group too though. I think you will have better luck with just two, and for the most part, we just walked in and sat down.

Your best bet for Trex is to call the restaurant direct and book through them. They only open a small number of reservations through the Disney system, but you can almost always get reservations even a few weeks out, when Disney shows nothing, if you call the restaurant directly.

Also, don't forget to check out the restaurants at CityWalk as those are close enough to leave, eat, and go back without loosing any time. About like walking from one side of MK to the other, maybe closer depending where you are going to, and there are a number that appeal to young men, the Nascar restaurant, the NBA restaurant, Hard Rock among others.

If you really want to plan, I found reading ahead of time about how the refillable drink program, the picture package, the EP, and parking works, to be useful.
 
Sounds like you are ready to go :) The only reason we plan anything is when we have everyone going and then I do make reservations on opentable since we have a party of 15+ people sometimes. If I don't make one then there are kiosks in the parks or the hotel will help make some plans too.

We like to leave at least a half day to play at the pool, remember you can visit the other resorts and check out their pools too :)

DD11 loves Margaritaville so we hit that one up at least once during the trip :) don't forget if you have AAA you can get discounts and then you can also find discounts online to for some of the citywalk restaurants.
 
If you're planning on Emeril's, you'd probably need reservations. Maybe for the hotel restaurants, depending on what's going on. The only in park restaurants that accept reservations are Mythos at IoA, and Lombard's Seafood Grille and Finnegan's Bar and Grill at USF. Most of the time you can just walk in, unless the park is really busy.
 
I think this is the first year ever I'm going to Universal without a single dining reservation. I usually have at least one, usually Mythos. With all the Disney planning for the 2nd half, I'm really just trying to be lazy with Universal. Heck I may not even hit the parks the day I get there!
 





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