Any suggestions or thoughts on my itinerary??

[folgersnyourcup]

Hi everyone! I have been lurking for some time here and viewing threads and just finished booking hotel rooms for my visit in May. I purchased the majority of my park tickets back in October in preparation for a visit this summer. I have always liked purchasing things ahead of time...makes the vacation a tiny bit more fun when I have paid for a lot of it months before!

I am taking my girlfriend of 4 years as a surprise. She is graduating from college and is about to embark on an 8-10 year journey to receive her MD and P.H.D. degrees! She has been accepted to a number of med schools and is deciding on that right now, and will be completing her P.H.D. at either Oxford or Cambridge! I am very excited for her and want to do something really fun before our relationship turns into a long distance one for the near future...

Anyway, I would love for any suggestions or things I may have missed... Here is my itinerary right now...

1. Drive to Orlando and check in at the Hilton Garden Inn SeaWorld late on Friday, May 18th. I went with this hotel for the first three nights of my trip as it was free with Hilton Honors points AND you get Quick Queue Unlimited vouchers for Sea World each day you are there!

2. Spend Saturday, May 19th at SeaWorld. I will have the Quick Queue Unlimited vouchers from the hotel and have booked the Behind the Scenes Tour for 3:15PM. My girlfriend's favorite animal is a penguin, and I was disappointed the Penguins Up Close tour was cancelled while they prepare for the upcoming Penguin ride and themed area to open next year. However, it looks like there is some penguin interaction as part of the Behind the Scenes Tour so she should really enjoy that!

Some background on this, I purchased two buy one day get one day free passes for SeaWorld back in October. I was thinking about buying the unlimited meal deal, but am intrigued by lunch at the Sharks underwater grill which is not included. That looks really cool. Of course, please let me know if you think this isn't worth our time!

3. Spend Sunday, May 20th doing whatever we left at SeaWorld and then spending the remainder of the day at Wet N Wild. The Wet N Wild tickets were included as part of the 14 day Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Wet N Wild passes I purchased back in October. This is where my first main question comes up. Today, I purchased 2 tickets to Aquatica using the Print at Work promotion for what seemed to be a great price ($29.99 each). My plan was to do either Wet N Wild or Aquatica on May 20th... Perhaps Aquatica will make more sense as I believe it is right next to Sea World? If I didn't do Wet N Wild on Sunday, I would go there on Friday, May 25th. Any thoughts would be great! As far as Aquatica is concerned, has anyone purchased the picnic lunch? For $9 per person, it looks interesting and I plan to reserve this unless anyone had a very negative experience.

4. Check out of the Hilton Garden Inn early Monday, May 21st and make our way over to the Portofino Bay Hotel! I am really excited for this one! I just finished booking this for Monday May 21st through Thursday, May 24th, so three nights. I structured my trip this way to get the lower weekday AAA rates as well as the potential for the lowest crowds along with what appears to the be unbelievable Express Pass Unlimited... I have a garden view room, and have requested a balcony if possible and any potential upgrade to a bay view room... I figure it doesn't hurt to ask. I signed up for the Loewsfirst program as well, and booked my stay with that.

I want to get to the Portofino Bay Hotel as early as possible so that we can pick up our express passes and make our way over to Universal Studios. It sounds like the rooms generally aren't ready until the afternoon though, so we will make our way back to the hotel whenever they are ready. Is there an area they will allow me to leave my luggage while I am at the park?

I plan to spend all Monday at Universal Studios. Are there any specific shows or restaurants I should check out during my visit that day? Also, any recommendations for dinner either at the resort or at City Walk? I am really hoping the new fountain show will be open by the time we visit and we will be able to do that at least one of the nights we are there.

5. I am planning to spend all day Tuesday, May 22nd at Islands of Adventure. We will definitely head there early for the breakfast at the 3 Broomsticks and spend our morning at Harry Potter World. Then likely late that night head over to City Walk for whatever is going on. Does anyone know the hours for miniature golf? We love miniature golf, and the pictures I saw of the two courses look AWESOME. For dinner, either somewhere at City Walk or back at the hotel. It appears there is nightly entertainment back at the Portofino Bay Hotel so we may want to head back and take part in that.

6. On Wednesday and Thursday I figured I would play it by ear whether to visit either Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure... We may just hop back and forth or over to City Walk. Or spend all Wednesday at Universal, then all Thursday at Islands of Adventure.... We will likely end up doing the early entry to Harry Potter World every morning depending on how much we like it. We are both HUGE fans...

Any particular Wednesday or Thursday benefits I have missed at either of these parks or City Walk? I have heard great things about Emeril's restaurant and may try to do that Wednesday evening... Thoughts on that? We will be checking out of the hotel on Thursday morning so we will have our express passes to use for all of Thursday!

7. Thursday evening is the only hotel I have yet to book. I know I want to stay at a Hilton property (I have plenty of points for free nights), and may choose something over towards Wet N Wild? I would still like to do this park. The other option would be to do Wet N Wild on Sunday as I mentioned earlier. Then I would book a Hilton hotel over near Aquatica to do that on Thursday. Any thoughts? We also love zoos and noticed the Central Florida Zoo is somewhat nearby... At $13 per person, the price doesn't seem terrible even if the zoo isn't that large. Do you feel that is worth doing?

I am going to skip all things Disney entirely this visit... I will leave that for a future year. Anything I should be looking into that I have not already?? Or is my itinerary already loaded to the max and I have set us up for a truly AMAZING vacation? Should I look into the unlimited dining deals at Universal/Islands of Adventure along with the unlimited drinks at least one of the days? I figure based on the weather, we would likely get our money's worth in drinks at the very least...

Thank you very much for any comments or suggestions!! Again, I have lurked here for quite awhile and was able to use a lot of the info I found while planning our vacation. Thank you!!

 

[macraven]

any potential upgrade to a bay view room... I figure it doesn't hurt to ask. I signed up for the Loewsfirst program as well, and booked my stay with that. [/SIZE]

the Loew youfirst perks begin after you have 2 stays.
since you are going near the memorial holiday period, i have no idea on what the occupancy level will be at pbh.
you can pay for an upgrade or if occupancy is low for the period you are there, you can ask for a free upgrade.

i couldn't say which way that will go for you but i wish you the best in being successful for the upgrade.

I want to get to the Portofino Bay Hotel as early as possible so that we can pick up our express passes and make our way over to Universal Studios. It sounds like the rooms generally aren't ready until the afternoon though, so we will make our way back to the hotel whenever they are ready. Is there an area they will allow me to leave my luggage while I am at the park?


once you check in, leave your belongings with valet.
you can have your items put in your room waiting for you when you do return to the hotel.
you can request to be notified by cell to advise you of your room number.
no need to check back in with the front desk.
they will program your hotel key to your room so they will workable.

rooms are ready by 4:00.


I plan to spend all Monday at Universal Studios. Are there any specific shows or restaurants I should check out during my visit that day? Also, any recommendations for dinner either at the resort or at City Walk? I am really hoping the new fountain show will be open by the time we visit and we will be able to do that at least one of the nights we are there.

doubt that the new shows will be running in May but who knows....
anything is possible i guess.
when the parks have later closing hours and it is dark outside, the shows would be best run at those times.
just my opinion.

Horror Make Up Show is a favorite of mine.
try to take it in at the studios side.
if you like music and monsters, try beetlejuice review.

city walk, my favs are NBA City, HRC, Latin Quarters.
everyone has favorites so be ready to hear from others on their likes at CW.


5. I am planning to spend all day Tuesday, May 22nd at Islands of Adventure. We will definitely head there early for the breakfast at the 3 Broomsticks and spend our morning at Harry Potter World. Then likely late that night head over to City Walk for whatever is going on. Does anyone know the hours for miniature golf? We love miniature golf, and the pictures I saw of the two courses look AWESOME. For dinner, either somewhere at City Walk or back at the hotel. It appears there is nightly entertainment back at the Portofino Bay Hotel so we may want to head back and take part in that.
hotel guests are allowed early entry into the park for parry hotter and the spiderman ride.
take advantage of that!
check out the uo website for the minigolf hours.

if you did not book a package, have the TM who has the clipboard outside of the 3B's to add your name to the waitlist if you want to do breakfast there.

the musicians that perform at pbh in the evening are a big hit with the guests.
i'm sure both of you will enjoy that!



Any particular Wednesday or Thursday benefits I have missed at either of these parks or City Walk? I have heard great things about Emeril's restaurant and may try to do that Wednesday evening... Thoughts on that? We will be checking out of the hotel on Thursday morning so we will have our express passes to use for all of Thursday!

if you go to the citywalk website, you will see that at Emerils the $22.00
3 course deal is still available. you need to make a ressie if you plan to eat there in the evening.
the menu choices for that deal is posted on the menu site.



I am going to skip all things Disney entirely this visit... I will leave that for a future year. Anything I should be looking into that I have not already?? Or is my itinerary already loaded to the max and I have set us up for a truly AMAZING vacation? Should I look into the unlimited dining deals at Universal/Islands of Adventure along with the unlimited drinks at least one of the days? I figure based on the weather, we would likely get our money's worth in drinks at the very least...

save your money on that meal deal.
not worth it since you will be there for a short time.
only 3 restaurants in each park are on the program.
beverages are not included in that promo.

there is a separate beverage promo though.


Thank you very much for any comments or suggestions!! Again, I have lurked here for quite awhile and was able to use a lot of the info I found while planning our vacation. Thank you!!

check out the menu sticky and peruse thru some of the threads.

also read up on citywalk site.
www.citywalk.com


hope you enjoy your stay at the darkside!!

 

[folgersnyourcup]

Thank you very much for the reply Macraven! I did not realize until now that I did not automatically have the option of breakfast at the 3 broomsticks with the hotel I am staying at... How likely is it to get to eat breakfast after putting your name on the waiting list? How does that process work?

Thank you for the suggestions and also for the very useful hotel tip. I did not realize I would not even have to stop back by the front desk and that my card would be updated with access to my room when it is ready! I will definitely have to check out the horror make up show.

 

[macraven]

Thank you very much for the reply Macraven! I did not realize until now that I did not automatically have the option of breakfast at the 3 broomsticks with the hotel I am staying at... How likely is it to get to eat breakfast after putting your name on the waiting list? How does that process work?

Thank you for the suggestions and also for the very useful hotel tip. I did not realize I would not even have to stop back by the front desk and that my card would be updated with access to my room when it is ready! I will definitely have to check out the horror make up show.

you're very welcome, i like to help when i can.

if you booked a package which would be room and tickets with universal travel, you would receive the 3B's breakfast.

it is much cheaper to book everything separate and ressies can be cancelled without penalty 6 days out.
with a package, it is over a month for the cancellation clause.

do FJ.
then go to 3B's.
there will be a TM outside with a clipboard.
that TM is checking people in for breakfast per their ressie.

(this place does not take regular ressies in advance for breakfast)

there will be times that not all the time slots are taken.
there can be cancellations.

therefore, put your name on the list if the TM has openings.

the process:
the TM will check the reservations on the list.
if there are openings for walk ins, she/he will place you in that spot.

you will be told a time to return for breakfast.

breakfast is prepaid.
i know it has been discussed before about payment for walk ins.
if i remember correctly, you will be directed by that TM for payment.

someone will come along and give you a better reply on payments for breakfast as a walk in...

since you have the AAA card, show it when you buy merch, show it when you order food. you will receive a 10% discount.

don't know if Emerils honors AAA.

AAA is accepted at the parks, city walk, and some places in the hotels.
some carts do not accept the card.

go to youtube.
you can find some of the shows listed there by park guests .

 

[folgersnyourcup]

Thanks for the tips! It sounds like it is probably likely that we would be able to get in for 3 Broomsticks at least one of the 4 mornings we are there... If we make it to the park and are not able to get in at 3 Broomsticks, are there any other options for breakfast at the parks themselves?

Also, anyone who walked into 3 Broomsticks for breakfast know of the price?

 

[folgersnyourcup]

Hmmm was just looking at the hours for everything. Maybe it makes sense to push everything back by one week? One week later SeaWorld is open until 10 instead of 7 on the days I would go... and on May 21st, Islands of Adventure is only open until 6PM (?) as opposed to 9PM a week later. Right now, we were planning to do Universal Studios that day anyway, but if we decided to do IOA that day 6PM closing seems very early.

Any thoughts? 7PM vs. 10PM closing time for SeaWorld seems to be the biggest difference.

 

[folgersnyourcup]

Hmm probably answering some of my own questions here, but I just realized that is memorial day weekend, hence the reason for some of the longer hours.