Aren't Graduations Grand! - May 2015 TR (New 10/30 - MK and California Grill)

[SimplyGoofy]

Fun on the Boardwalk
Day 2 — Part III

We finished our lunch in about an hour. After lunch, we decided to look around at the Epcot resorts. First, we looked at the back of the Beach Club resort:

So pretty!

We then decided to make our way toward the Boardwalk. We’d been there in 2013 for a breakfast ADR at Kouzzina (how I miss that restaurant – it was so good! ), but we’d never had a chance to see most of the resort.

It was really fun to wander through the Boardwalk!

We enjoyed searching through the shops and even tried on a few ears:

We really got a kick out of the Maleficent “ears”:

Love the face, Anika!

The Boardwalk is such a fun resort to walk around in! It was so nice to see the water and the food carts and all of the fun touches!

We also visited the Boardwalk Bakery for a few treats to enjoy later:

We got a few pastries for the next morning, as well as this beauty:

A strawberry cupcake! I ate part of it a day later (photo taken at that time) and it was pretty good!

We meandered pretty slowly around the Boardwalk as I was hoping to meet up with another DISer. @Dugette and her family were finishing their last few days at Disney following their cruise on the Dream, and they were currently at Epcot. I was pretty excited about our second DISmeet!

I must preface this meet a bit. Any of us on the DISboards have a few DISers that we’d LOVE to meet in real life – that lists grows longer the longer we’re on the boards, but there were a few DISers whose reports I’d read from the beginning of my time here. One of those DISers for me was Dugette. She reintroduced her husband to Disney World back in 2009, and that was followed by their “Year of Disney” in 2010. I loved reading the “Year of Disney” reports, especially their fabulous December trip where they got an unexpected upgrade to Poly Club Level. It was somewhere in that year of reports where they created an awesome “Four Parks in One Day” video, which I loved (and has sadly since disappeared). I was SO excited to meet one of my favorite DIS-celebrities! (I only hoped I wouldn’t come across as a crazy person due to my excitement!)

Dugette and her family were finishing up lunch in Epcot, but started heading out the International Gateway around 2:30. We headed that way to meet them.

And, here we are!

As a bonus, all of our eyes are open in a single picture! (Dugette didn’t have the same luck on her photos – as I often close my eyes in pictures, I’m glad we got at least one!)

I can’t say enough how NICE Dugette and her family are! Izzy seemed to be close to naptime as she was pretty shy, but we got a few smiles out of her so I thought that was pretty good! She's even looking at the camera for our picture! Anika thought Izzy was just adorable (and honestly, I think the fact that this DISmeet was a family with a young child made Anika feel a bit better about the whole thing!). We chatted for just a few minutes, as they were on their way back to the Boardwalk and we were excited to make our way to Universal.

It was such a pleasure to meet you, Dugette, and I hope our paths cross again! Thank you for continuing to write such fabulous trip reports that I’m STILL enjoying!

With our successful DISmeet, it was time to say goodbye to Disney for a few days and head over to the dark side.

We had to catch a glimpse of the pirate ship in Stormalong Bay on our walk back to the Beach Club lobby:

We enjoyed a few minutes in the lobby before we departed (and to soak up some air conditioning):

Anika was pretty overheated by the time we made it back to the Beach Club, so I took one for the team and went to get the vehicle and drive it to the front of the resort for personal valet service.

Anika sat in one of these fancy chairs and waited for my text message that I was at the front door:

The only bummer is Anika set her sunglasses down on the table next to her and left them sitting there! She was sad, but at least she had a few extra pairs with her.

Our drive to Universal was pretty uneventful, which is the way I like drives to be. It wasn’t long before we say this beautiful site:

Why, hello Universal! We’re SO excited to see you!

Oh, and also...

HARRY POTTER HERE WE COME!!!



Up Next: Checking in to the Royal Pacific Resort

 

[heathsf]

You're making up for lost time with all the new updates! I love it, keep 'em coming!!!

How awesome you guys got to meet. Great picture! @Dugette

HARRY POTTER HERE WE COME!!!

 

[pkondz]

After our fabulous time at Hoop Dee Doo, it was time to head back to our resort.

OMG. I actually remembered that you were there.
And you posted that... what? Six years ago?

I was able to identify Soarin’ after just one note. The other family (and Anika!) were impressed!

Dang! I'm impressed too!

(Speaking of Soarin’, while I’m excited to see the new ride, I am REALLY going to miss the old experience. It wasn’t my favorite attraction at Disney World but it was right up there. And as evidenced by my trivia knowledge above, I LOVED the song. I’ll really miss the song!)

Have you seen it yet?
If you haven't, word of advice. Make sure you ask for a seat in the middle.

Just... trust me on this one.
You do not want to be on either side.

The entire transportation area was CRAZY and FLOODED with crowds of people. We figured out from the chatter that the monorails were down, so the thousands of people attempting to leave after Wishes were incredibly backlogged on the boat and the busses.

Considering we couldn’t even find our way to the busses (we could see the busses, just not the path to get there!) we made a quick decision. We wrangled ourselves out of the crowds and managed to find the walking path to the Contemporary. We figured our best way to get back was take a quick cab to Pop Century.

Good idea!

Attempt is the operative word. Apparently many other folks had the same idea, and the Contemporary entrance was FULL of people attempting to do exactly the same thing!

Or... maybe not so good an idea?

There were a few weenies that attempted to jump the line and take their own cab, but the valets jumped right in there to make sure the cabs were picking up in the order of the list. Like I said – rock stars!

That's great! Pretty impressive.

Even though it was later than we were planning, I still wanted to see a bit of the resort in the dark.

I spent a few hours doing just that.

Our wandering was cut short, as it was after midnight and we were EXHAUSTED. We made our way back to our room and crashed. With a successful travel day, a DISmeet, pool time, and our first visit to Hoop Dee Doo, it was a very successful first Disney day!

Man, that is a loooong day.

After our long day and late night, it was wonderful to do something that’s rarely done at Disney – sleep in!

I'm sorry. I don't understand. You mean, instead of getting up at 5am, you slept in to 5:05?

Here’s our transportation to Universal, a very nice VW Passat:

Have you seen this commercial?
(Sorry, looked but can't find it.)
Basically there's a family of 3 or 4 sitting at the dinner table.
The father is extolling the virtues of VW.
The young boy at the table gets upset because that's all they talk about or something.
Finally, the dad has had enough and says:
"That's it! Go to your room Passat!"

Anika chose a make-your-own yogurt parfait:

That was an option? Dang!

It wouldn’t be a complete trip to Pop Century without its famous dessert:

Tie-Dyed Cheesecake!

And I didn't know about this!!! Poop.

Not surprisingly, our first stop was for me to pose with surfer Goofy:

Why "not surprisingly"?

It was pretty fun to see the Big Wheels – like many others, I had one when I was a kid:

I didn't... but I sure wanted one!

I also love the decades in their decade-appropriate fonts:

I took a very similar photo... for the same reason.

Aren’t these luggage carts the best?!

I don't think I saw those! Or if I did, they didn't register.
Good eye!

I also walked through a grassy area to get this awesome picture of the resort sign:

"Where I was promptly chased off by an angry ground hog."

Pop is such a fun resort! I’ve read reports that it’s become a bit dodgier (some service issues and such) recently, but we really enjoyed our time there. I enjoyed it so much that I returned there during my most recent trip in 2016 with my mom!

I would absolutely stay there again.

Anika was able to list a few “must-do” restaurants for our trip, and one of her choices was our lunch destination… Beaches and Cream!

Yay!

It would be really fun to stay at the Beach Club someday!

Love to be able to try that pool.

I know many folks comment that the restaurant is small – and they’re not kidding! I know I’ve thought that “it really can’t be THAT small…” Well, the entire restaurant consists of one row of booths, one row of tables and the counter. It is SMALL. No wonder it’s so difficult to score an ADR here!

Yep. It's tiny all right.
Had a tough time getting an ADR.

It didn’t take long to receive our food. Here’s Anika’s cheeseburger and onion rings:

I watched how they made the burgers.
They take a baseball sized ground beef ball and then flatten it out on the grill.
I was very pleased to see they weren't frozen patties.

Anika thought her burger was good and I thought my grilled cheese and soup was fine, but we both agreed that the food was just okay here. The onion rings were pretty good, though! Overall, the food wasn't bad, but it wasn’t nearly as tasty as other restaurants with similar fare.

I'm a little saddened by that. I'd heard this was the place in Disney for burgers.

We’re no fools, so we ordered the No Way Jose Sundae:

I had that! Wasn't that delicious??

Helpful tip: if you’re super full, you can order a smaller version of a sundae at Beaches and Cream. There’s not much of a cost savings (a few bucks?) but you feel a whole lot less guilty leaving less food on the table!

Yeah... I found that out... too late.
I left... more than half behind.

Although it would’ve been too much for us, we got to see another family enjoy a Kitchen Sink:

When I went with my DD, the plan was to get that.
And then.... I realized how foolish I was being. Ordering something that big just to say we'd ordered it.
We would've left 90% of it behind.

It was really fun to wander through the Boardwalk!

I'd love to take the time to do that some day.
I did see a bit, but... I'd like to take the time and slow down.

We really got a kick out of the Maleficent “ears”:

Did she buy them?

Love the face, Anika!

We got a few pastries for the next morning, as well as this beauty:

A strawberry cupcake!

OMG! Want!

Any of us on the DISboards have a few DISers that we’d LOVE to meet in real life – that lists grows longer the longer we’re on the boards,

I only hoped I wouldn’t come across as a crazy person due to my excitement!)

She's probably used to it!

I can’t say enough how NICE Dugette and her family are!

Not at all surprised.

Anika was pretty overheated by the time we made it back to the Beach Club, so I took one for the team and went to get the vehicle and drive it to the front of the resort for personal valet service.

Nice of you!

 

[cindianne320]

Awesome that you got to meet @Dugette ! We live in the same state, so I hope to meet her family someday, too!

 

[Tracy161]

I think the fact that this DISmeet was a family with a young child made Anika feel a bit better about the whole thing!

Now come on, Anika, I wasn't that scary!

 

[pkondz]

Now come on, Anika, I wasn't that scary!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

You're making up for lost time with all the new updates! I love it, keep 'em coming!!!



How awesome you guys got to meet. Great picture! @Dugette

I'm definitely trying to make up for lost time! (And trying to prove I can handle more than one update every 6-12 months! )

It was SO much fun to meet Dugette and her family! Definitely a highlight of the trip!

Harry is DEFINATELY deserving of some dancing bananas!

OMG. I actually remembered that you were there.
And you posted that... what? Six years ago?

I know, I know...

Dang! I'm impressed too!

Thanks! Score one for (nearly) useless Disney knowledge!

Have you seen it yet?
If you haven't, word of advice. Make sure you ask for a seat in the middle.

Just... trust me on this one.
You do not want to be on either side.

I haven't yet - hopefully I like it! It seems to get mixed reactions from those who liked the original attraction.
Thanks for the tip!

Good idea!

Or... maybe not so good an idea?

You win some, you lose some. At least it was a good story for the trip report!

That's great! Pretty impressive.

They were totally awesome!

I spent a few hours doing just that.

I wish we could've had more time - we were just SO TIRED...

Man, that is a loooong day.

I'm sorry. I don't understand. You mean, instead of getting up at 5am, you slept in to 5:05?

Close. I slept until a whopping 7:30/8:00. Anika may have still been sleeping when I returned...

Have you seen this commercial?
(Sorry, looked but can't find it.)
Basically there's a family of 3 or 4 sitting at the dinner table.
The father is extolling the virtues of VW.
The young boy at the table gets upset because that's all they talk about or something.
Finally, the dad has had enough and says:
"That's it! Go to your room Passat!"

I haven't! Now I feel like I should go and find it on YouTube.

That was an option? Dang!

Anika LOVED it! I don't remember it from our more recent trip at Pop in 2016, but I didn't really look for it? (See my love above for the Everything bagel!)

And I didn't know about this!!! Poop.

You have to have one the next time you go! You can find them in the refrigerators with other snacks and desserts. It's a layer of cheesecake on top of a thin layer of red velvet cake. Anika does not like red velvet (I love it!) and still liked the dessert. We both thought it was very good!

Why "not surprisingly"?

I didn't... but I sure wanted one!

I took a very similar photo... for the same reason.

It's so fun!

I don't think I saw those! Or if I did, they didn't register.
Good eye!

Thanks! I found these sitting near the front of the resort... perhaps a bus or truck with Magical Express luggage was due soon?

"Where I was promptly chased off by an angry ground hog."

Thankfully no groundhogs were harmed during the taking of this picture.

I would absolutely stay there again.

Me, too!

Yay!

She was SO excited to eat there!

Love to be able to try that pool.

Us, too! Hopefully one of these trips...

Yep. It's tiny all right.
Had a tough time getting an ADR.

REALLY tiny. I was quite surprised! You can definitely see why it's tough to score an ADR there!

I watched how they made the burgers.
They take a baseball sized ground beef ball and then flatten it out on the grill.
I was very pleased to see they weren't frozen patties.

I'm a little saddened by that. I'd heard this was the place in Disney for burgers.

Don't get me wrong, the food was okay... Anika just decided she likes the burger from Liberty Tree Tavern a bit better. My food also didn't agree with me very well (I have that issue occasionally due to having my gall bladder removed a few years ago), so that may have tainted my thoughts of the restaurant a bit. I think we'd try it again, it's just not a must-do every trip.

I had that! Wasn't that delicious??

YES!

Yeah... I found that out... too late.
I left... more than half behind.

I'm so glad I knew about that before we ordered! We almost didn't order ice cream (our stomachs had not yet expanded to vacation-level capacity), but you can't go to Beaches and Cream and NOT order ice cream!

When I went with my DD, the plan was to get that.
And then.... I realized how foolish I was being. Ordering something that big just to say we'd ordered it.
We would've left 90% of it behind.

Considering we didn't finish our tiny ice cream, the kitchen sink would've been out of the question!

I'd love to take the time to do that some day.
I did see a bit, but... I'd like to take the time and slow down.

It was a great resort to wander through! I highly recommend it!

Did she buy them?

Unfortunately, no...

OMG! Want!

SO GOOD!!!

She's probably used to it!

Not at all surprised.

Seriously, so nice! It's so fun to meet in person after "meeting" on the boards!

Nice of you!

I have my moments.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Awesome that you got to meet @Dugette ! We live in the same state, so I hope to meet her family someday, too!

She and her family were so nice! It was great that it worked out to meet them!

You're from Minnesota, too!? I grew up there and return often as I have lots of extended family up there. I also may still drive to Minneapolis to get my hair cut... but that's a story for another day!

Now come on, Anika, I wasn't that scary!

No, not scary at all, Tracy! As you know, Anika just wasn't sure about this "meeting Internet strangers" business (I'm sure we can thank Dateline for that!), but she was feeling much better about it all after our first meet. She agreed after the fact that everyone we met was very nice!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Getting Tropical at the Royal Pacific
Day 2 – Part IV

As much as we’re big Disney fans, we were both pretty excited for our first stay at a Universal resort:

I chose the Royal Pacific for two reasons: first, it was the least expensive of their resorts that would give us an unlimited Express Pass, and second, I really loved the theming at the resort! Fun and tropical was right up our alley (and seems perfect for a Florida vacation!). I thought Anika would really like it, too.

I dropped Anika off at the front entrance of the resort with all our luggage and then drove to the self-parking lot. And then I drove around, and around, and around… AND DID NOT FIND ONE SINGLE EMPTY SPOT! To say I was aggravated was a bit of an understatement. Why on earth was this (seemingly large) parking lot not big enough?!

One really annoying thing about the Universal resorts is you have to pay for parking at your resort. You either pay the self-parking fee (I believe it was around $18 when we were there?) or pay to valet-park your vehicle (with a slightly higher price). You pay for parking every single day. I must admit that this is a big negative for the Universal resorts.

Rather than continue to get irritated (I seriously drove around the lot for more than ten minutes!), I gave up and decided to eat the additional parking fee. I drove back to the front and handed the keys to the valet. (Perhaps this illustrates why they make the self-parking lot so small – to make all of us pay the higher prices for valet! )

My aggravation subsiding, we went on our merry way into the resort:

I thought the entrance was pretty cool!

There was a small crowd in the lobby, which was surprised me. It was the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the holiday weekend – you would think most people would’ve arrived on Saturday!

Soon we were up at the front and speaking to a lovely front desk gal (it’s weird to not call her a cast member!). She asked if we’d been to the resort before, and when we told her we hadn’t, she provided tons of information about the resort and its perks. She also let us know that we could charge items purchased in the parks back to the room, which I didn’t know about and was very convenient! She was very friendly and a wonderful first impression of their resorts!

She gave us a nice folder with a map of the resort, a dining and activity guide, times guides, a map of City Walk, and she described how to find the boat dock and the walking path to City Walk.

She also gave us these beauties:

As far as I know, you can’t request which characters are on your room key (otherwise mine would’ve certainly had Harry Potter!), but they were still fun.

We also stopped at these kiosks to obtain our Express Passes:

I believe you swiped your room key and attempted to smile fast enough before the kiosk took your picture for the pass. You could show this pass at the Express Pass entrance at certain attractions in order to get into the Express line. The only negative (at least back in 2015 - perhaps it's changed?) is the Express Pass is a card made of paper. It becomes yucky once wet - so keeping it in a lanyard pouch is the easiest way to go!

For those of you who are unfamiliar to Universal, here’s an Express Pass primer. Universal’s version of Fastpass is the Express Pass. Unlike Fastpass, Express Pass is something you usually have to pay for each day, and you either purchase a one-time Express Pass (allowing you to use the Express Pass once per eligible attraction per day) or an unlimited Express Pass (allowing you to use the Express Pass as many times as you want at eligible attractions each day). You may add the Express Pass to your park ticket at any time, but it is more expensive at busier times as there is a higher demand for the Express Pass. One major perk at the higher-end Universal resorts (Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel, and Royal Pacific) is you receive unlimited Express Pass during the length of your stay without paying any additional fee, and it lasts from the day you check-in until midnight of the day you check-out. A major perk!

Let me tell you that the Express Pass is AWESOME! We sailed through lines past crowds of people in the “regular” line – a major plus for a holiday weekend! We could ride things again and again, and in practically any order we wanted – not nearly the same amount of “ride attractions in a certain order” that is required at Disney World. I realize Universal’s Express Pass and Disney’s Fastpass are usually described as a similar thing, but we found we moved much faster in the Express Pass lines than we often do in the Fastpass lines. We really enjoyed it!

One thing to keep in mind for Express Pass is the Harry Potter headliners are excluded (Forbidden Journey at IOA and Escape from Gringotts at US) as well as some “brand new” attractions and some less popular attractions. I would highly recommend looking at the higher-end resorts if you’re going to Universal at a busier time – the “free” Express Pass can save TONS of time and aggravation! You can also see if it makes sense to add the option to your ticket depending on the cost and expected crowds.

Room keys in hand, we made our way to Tower 1. I had requested this tower as it was closest to the walking path to the parks and also close to the pool!

Here we are at room 1617. Here are some views of the room:

The room was REALLY nice. Anika and I agreed it was one of the nicest of our vacation (and that includes our stay at the Grand Floridian!). It definitely seemed higher-end, which may the higher price tag less painful. The beds were VERY comfortable (we both loved them!) and even the toiletries were above-average. We also really liked the decoration at this resort – it felt very fancy.

I loved the little details, like these mini-reading spotlights:

Here are a few shots of the bathroom area:

The sink was outside the toilet room, which is similar to many of the Disney resorts and something we really like. It’s nice to have one person in the shower while the other person can use the sink! We also LOVED the lighting by the bathroom sink – it doesn't appear so in the pictures, but it was nice and bright. It was also nice to have the makeup mirror. I also thought the frosted glass door was a nice fancy touch!

Another major plus of this resort was the coffee maker:

A Keurig! They had several K-cups available as well as actual creamer (not just the powdered creamer!). As we're big coffee people we were both very happy about the coffee maker!

I didn’t book a fancy park view as we didn’t intend to spend much time in the room, so here was our view of the front of the resort. It was very tropical!

Overall, we LOVED the Royal Pacific! Many Disney folks seem to be ho-hum about the Universal resorts, but we really liked staying on property at Universal. The resort was very clean and nice, the resorts are SO CLOSE to the parks (easy walking distance!), and Universal comes with some awesome onsite perks (hello, free Express Pass)! I wouldn’t hesitate to stay onsite at Universal again – and, in fact, will be doing so in September! (Although, we will be paying for a transfer or limo service – no valet daily parking fee for us! )

Up Next: Touring and Dining at the Resort

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Did You Say Sushi?
Day 2 – Part V

Once Anika and I settled our stuff in the room, we decided to relax by the pool before dinner. We threw on our suits and sat on the loungers, but did not go in the water as it had become overcast and a bit cool. It’s a super-cool pool and always seemed to be busy!

I did not bring my camera down to the pool that day, but grabbed a few pictures another day:

There was a zero-entry area, a fun kid’s area, and plenty of space for many people.

There were also a TON of loungers:

We really took advantage of those! Another nice thing is you can leave your towels in your room and get towels directly from the pool area:

They also had self-serve water sitting at the pool – the fruit-infused water was really good!

After relaxing at the pool, we decided to grab dinner at the resort before heading to the parks.

We’re both big sushi fans and I’d read many great things about the sushi at Orchid Court:

We arrived just after they opened at 5:00 and were the first people there. In fact, it was still pretty quiet when we left (as shown in the picture of the restaurant below, which I took on our way out):

Anika and I both love sushi, so it didn’t take us long to decide on our order.

We ordered the Dragon Roll, with kanikama, cream cheese, cucumber, and avocado, topped with eel and eel sauce; and a Tropical Roll, with tuna, smoked salmon and mango, which is topped with kiwi and cream cheese:

You may probably guess, but the Tropical Roll is in front and the Dragon Roll (complete with eyes!) is in back.

We also ordered the Krab Rangoon (spelled that way in the menu, I swear!), which came with tropical salsa and Thai sweet chili sauce for dipping:

Eating at the resort turned out to be an EXCELLENT idea as our meal with great! Anika and I agreed that the sushi was very fresh and the crab Rangoon was above-average. It was also nice and quiet in there, which was a nice way to ease into the craziness to come at the theme parks. I would highly recommend the Orchid Lounge for sushi or other drinks and snacks!

We were on our way in just over half an hour (that’s another perk of this restaurant – speed!) and found our way to the City Walk walking path:

It’s a very nice walk to City Walk and only took us about 10 minutes. When you hit City Walk, you can either turn left and go to Islands of Adventure or walk through City Walk and toward Universal Studios. We were excited to see the new attractions, so Universal Studios it was!

Up Next: We finally enter a theme park!

 

[heaven2dc]

I just found your TR and can't believe I didn't reply back in 2015 when you originally posted it! So much to catch up on - you are such a great sister to Anika treating her to to WDW and Universal Studios! I loved watching the videos of her opening her surprises - too cute!

Thank you for posting pics of the Art of Animation! We are staying there this October and can hardly wait to go back to WDW (our last visit was 2010). We had hoped to stay at BWV or AKL for a couple of nights but my car decided it needed its transmission replaced and we already had our Art of Animation booked so for right now will keep that reservation. With 2 granddaughters coming for their first visit, I think it's the perfect resort!

So sad to hear about your family's pet It's tough to lose a member of the family!

Congratulations on your engagement/marriage!! Beautiful wedding <3 Love your decision to visit San Francisco and Yosemite National Park - perfect way to relax!

We will be visiting Universal Studios for one day (hopefully) on our trip and am now enjoying reading about your stay at the Royal Pacific. Amazing accommodations and pool area! Excited now to see how you liked the Harry Potter attractions!

 

[KathyM2]

Wow that unlimited Express pass sounds fantastic. The resort looks amazing too. The competition between Disney and Universal makes it really hard and expensive to add a day at Universal to your trip without changing hotels...it seems like the way you did it is the way to go if you want to do both. I guess that's why they do it lol. That sushi looked really good, I've never seen it with kiwi on top!

 

[pkondz]

Thanks! Score one for (nearly) useless Disney knowledge!

You win some, you lose some. At least it was a good story for the trip report!

Close. I slept until a whopping 7:30/8:00. Anika may have still been sleeping when I returned...

Whoa! That's like... practically the whole day!

I haven't! Now I feel like I should go and find it on YouTube.

Good luck. I tried but couldn't find it.

You have to have one the next time you go! You can find them in the refrigerators with other snacks and desserts. It's a layer of cheesecake on top of a thin layer of red velvet cake. Anika does not like red velvet (I love it!) and still liked the dessert. We both thought it was very good!

Okay. (Gotta put this on my list!)

Thankfully no groundhogs were harmed during the taking of this picture.

You is kind to animals.

My food also didn't agree with me very well (I have that issue occasionally due to having my gall bladder removed a few years ago),

I understand that. DW had hers out too.

you can't go to Beaches and Cream and NOT order ice cream!

 

[pkondz]

I chose the Royal Pacific for two reasons: first, it was the least expensive of their resorts that would give us an unlimited Express Pass, and second, I really loved the theming at the resort! Fun and tropical was right up our alley (and seems perfect for a Florida vacation!). I thought Anika would really like it, too.

So... really, three reasons then. Sounds like a wise decision.

I dropped Anika off at the front entrance of the resort with all our luggage

Did you slow down? Or just make a tight turn and reach over and pop her door and let centripetal force do the rest?

One really annoying thing about the Universal resorts is you have to pay for parking at your resort.

Totally sucks.

(Perhaps this illustrates why they make the self-parking lot so small – to make all of us pay the higher prices for valet! )

Staff Memo
All staff. Please park your vehicles in the guest parking lot.
Bonuses will be paid to those who do not car-pool.
Free long term storage offered!

I thought the entrance was pretty cool!

I was looking at that. I like it!

(it’s weird to not call her a cast member!).

I totally get that.

She asked if we’d been to the resort before, and when we told her we hadn’t, she provided tons of information about the resort and its perks.

Nice!

As far as I know, you can’t request which characters are on your room key (otherwise mine would’ve certainly had Harry Potter!), but they were still fun.

I like the Cat in the Hat one.

One major perk at the higher-end Universal resorts (Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel, and Royal Pacific) is you receive unlimited Express Pass during the length of your stay without paying any additional fee, and it lasts from the day you check-in until midnight of the day you check-out. A major perk!

Gotta remember that for future trips.

I realize Universal’s Express Pass and Disney’s Fastpass are usually described as a similar thing, but we found we moved much faster in the Express Pass lines than we often do in the Fastpass lines.

Really! Interesting.

One thing to keep in mind for Express Pass is the Harry Potter headliners are excluded (Forbidden Journey at IOA and Escape from Gringotts at US)

Oh. That's too bad. Those would be the busiest, no?

The room was REALLY nice. Anika and I agreed it was one of the nicest of our vacation (and that includes our stay at the Grand Floridian!).

Really! High praise.

Another major plus of this resort was the coffee maker:

A Keurig!

I don't drink it myself, but I can appreciate that touch.

I didn’t book a fancy park view as we didn’t intend to spend much time in the room, so here was our view of the front of the resort. It was very tropical!

Love that view.
Beautiful.

They also had self-serve water sitting at the pool – the fruit-infused water was really good!

Nice added touch.

We arrived just after they opened at 5:00 and were the first people there. In fact, it was still pretty quiet when we left (as shown in the picture of the restaurant below, which I took on our way out):

Place is empty!

We ordered the Dragon Roll,

Never seen one with eyes before!

Tropical Roll, with tuna, smoked salmon and mango, which is topped with kiwi and cream cheese:

That sounds interesting. I'd try that.

It’s a very nice walk to City Walk and only took us about 10 minutes.

Another nice perk. Nice and close.

 

[Dugette]

The views throughout Yosemite are pretty spectacular, and I highly recommend visiting sometime.

My dad and step-mom go there fairly frequently and love the hiking. I went through there many years ago on a solo trip and actually stood by that same waterfall...but it was mostly frozen, since it was the off-season. When Izzy gets a bit older, we'd love to do a driving trip along the coast with her and introduce her to some of the beauty there.

After our fabulous time at Hoop Dee Doo, it was time to head back to our resort.

I may have to go back and re-read that post, as we FINALLY have a Hoop Dee Doo planned for our next trip (October). We've never done it!

(Speaking of Soarin’, while I’m excited to see the new ride, I am REALLY going to miss the old experience. It wasn’t my favorite attraction at Disney World but it was right up there. And as evidenced by my trivia knowledge above, I LOVED the song. I’ll really miss the song!)

I loved the song too. It used to put Izzy to sleep when she was a baby. Ironically, now that she's big enough and has ridden Soarin', it's only been the new version, so different music (but still pretty good) - she loves (the new) Soarin', by the way!

Statues from her favorite movie, Lady and the Tramp!

Well, there's something Anika and I have in common!

I love how many things in this one are familiar.

I also love the decades in their decade-appropriate fonts:

As many times as we've stayed at Pop, you'd think we'd have noticed this. But, nope, neither Dug nor I had until now.

Aren’t these luggage carts the best?!

But I've definitely noticed these and agree - they are so cool!

Pop is such a fun resort! I’ve read reports that it’s become a bit dodgier (some service issues and such) recently, but we really enjoyed our time there.

We always enjoy it as well. Our experience last stay had a few mousekeeping misses, but nothing that would keep us away (however, they did feel bad enough to give us a free 6-night Value stay - which we are using at AoA!) I've heard all WDW resorts have gone through some lacking service spells lately, but Disney was doing something about it (I can't remember exactly what the article said).

We’re no fools, so we ordered the No Way Jose Sundae:

Mmmmmmm, good choice! I'd like one now, please.

Although it would’ve been too much for us, we got to see another family enjoy a Kitchen Sink:

That's a lot of ice cream!

Holy moly! Do they have a Kitchen Sink AND a couple other sundaes?!?! Insanity!

I must preface this meet a bit. Any of us on the DISboards have a few DISers that we’d LOVE to meet in real life – that lists grows longer the longer we’re on the boards, but there were a few DISers whose reports I’d read from the beginning of my time here. One of those DISers for me was Dugette. She reintroduced her husband to Disney World back in 2009, and that was followed by their “Year of Disney” in 2010. I loved reading the “Year of Disney” reports, especially their fabulous December trip where they got an unexpected upgrade to Poly Club Level. It was somewhere in that year of reports where they created an awesome “Four Parks in One Day” video, which I loved (and has sadly since disappeared). I was SO excited to meet one of my favorite DIS-celebrities! (I only hoped I wouldn’t come across as a crazy person due to my excitement!)

You are far too kind and flattering. I distinctly remember feeling like a hot, exhausted, frazzled mess at that time. And I'm just regular ol' boring me - definitely don't feel like a celeb. Though, I will say, I know of a couple other TR writers that were quite popular and had random people run up to them at WDW to tell them they were fans - and I thought, "Wow, I guess that's when you know you've made it." Well, I didn't have exactly that happen, but in December, a CM came up to me at Chef Mickey's and said she'd read my cruise report (I'd made a separate copy/paste post of just the cruise portion on the DCL TR board). She was so happy to read it, as she had trouble finding many cruise TRs with small kids. She was a veteran cruiser on DCL, but now had a young son and was thinking about taking him for the first time. So, I think that makes me a celebrity on the level of "hey, it's that dude that I see on some shows, can't remember which ones, not sure what his name is, but I know I've seen him!"

I do get the sentiment, though. I feel similarly about the former DIS-er that wrote the first TR I ever really got into. I think those first TR writers that draw you in can create a lasting impression. But I totally was just the random reader/lurker who tiptoed in and decided to start posting like I maybe belonged here. And people actually read and now I've been here quite a while, I guess.

Oh, also, those videos for the 4 parks 1 day are still there, but for some reason Photobucket isn't linking right to the old post they were in....I never changed things, but they have been on there a long time, so who knows? Here's the link that should go right to the folder:

http://s938.photobucket.com/user/yearofdisney2010/library/4 Parks in 1 Day Video?sort=3&page=1

I think it's the red one first, then the one w/the watch, then the green menu. Enjoy!

And, here we are!

I still love how it looks like we all actually tried to color coordinate.

It was such a pleasure to meet you, Dugette, and I hope our paths cross again! Thank you for continuing to write such fabulous trip reports that I’m STILL enjoying!

It was great meeting you and Anika as well. You were both super nice and I'm sorry it was so brief. It would be great to meet up again. (And you're welcome for taking nearly 2 years to finish my TR. )

How awesome you guys got to meet. Great picture! @Dugette

Thanks!

She's probably used to it!

Well, you are, I'm sure. The DIS is funny, because in my real life, I don't think I have any "fans" (other than the 4 year old one that lives here). It's so funny to me, since I'm pretty non-celebrity-like. But, at the same time, I've met a lot of great people/friends here, so that's what matters.

Not at all surprised.

Awesome that you got to meet @Dugette ! We live in the same state, so I hope to meet her family someday, too!

Yes, we have to do that sometime! Maybe we can find somewhere nice to play outside this summer or something?

Now come on, Anika, I wasn't that scary!

You are like the least scary person ever.

It was SO much fun to meet Dugette and her family! Definitely a highlight of the trip!

She and her family were so nice! It was great that it worked out to meet them!

You're from Minnesota, too!? I grew up there and return often as I have lots of extended family up there. I also may still drive to Minneapolis to get my hair cut... but that's a story for another day!

Oh, hey, when you come get your hair cut, we could all meet up or something.

 

[Tracy161]

Beautiful room photos! Yikes, the parking at Universal would be a big turn off for me. But... I haven't ventured over there since 1997. I'd like to again someday, though. If I can ever drag myself away from the Disney bubble that is Nevertheless, excited to read about your experience there!

 

[cindianne320]

LOL- too funny that you drive to MN to get your hair cut.

My husband and I stayed at Royal Pacific back in 2007. We loved the closeness to the parks and it just felt fancy- granted, his work was paying for it, so I really loved all the perks!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I just found your TR and can't believe I didn't reply back in 2015 when you originally posted it! So much to catch up on - you are such a great sister to Anika treating her to to WDW and Universal Studios! I loved watching the videos of her opening her surprises - too cute!

Thank you for posting pics of the Art of Animation! We are staying there this October and can hardly wait to go back to WDW (our last visit was 2010). We had hoped to stay at BWV or AKL for a couple of nights but my car decided it needed its transmission replaced and we already had our Art of Animation booked so for right now will keep that reservation. With 2 granddaughters coming for their first visit, I think it's the perfect resort!

So sad to hear about your family's pet It's tough to lose a member of the family!

Congratulations on your engagement/marriage!! Beautiful wedding <3 Love your decision to visit San Francisco and Yosemite National Park - perfect way to relax!

We will be visiting Universal Studios for one day (hopefully) on our trip and am now enjoying reading about your stay at the Royal Pacific. Amazing accommodations and pool area! Excited now to see how you liked the Harry Potter attractions!

Thanks so much for reading and saying hello!

Anika and I are very close despite our age difference - it's wonderful how well we get along considering we're each other's only sibling. She's the best!

I had fun videotaping the reactions - and love watching them several years later!

You're welcome! AoA was AWESOME and I bet you'll have a fabulous time staying there! Make sure you enjoy the Landscape of Flavors (and get the fresh chips!). I'm especially jealous of your ability to swim in the Big Blue Pool (the Finding Nemo themed main pool) as it just always looked so fun. Although BWV or AKL would've been great fun, I think your granddaughters will LOVE AoA!

It was very sad and I still miss him. My husband is not much of a dog guy (he likes them - he just didn't grow up with them), but I'm hoping once children come along and beg for a pet that he'll cave.

Thanks so much! It was a wonderful day. We get to see our formal photographs on Sunday and I'm SO excited to see how they turned out! San Francisco and Yosemite were both great - I'd highly recommend traveling to both of them!

The Royal Pacific was beautiful and we really enjoyed it! Universal is not quite Disney, but I will say that I was more impressed than I expected to be. I'm so glad that we included Universal in our plans!

Wow that unlimited Express pass sounds fantastic. The resort looks amazing too. The competition between Disney and Universal makes it really hard and expensive to add a day at Universal to your trip without changing hotels...it seems like the way you did it is the way to go if you want to do both. I guess that's why they do it lol. That sushi looked really good, I've never seen it with kiwi on top!

It was AWESOME! I know I'd read about the perk, but man alive it was SO useful during that busy weekend! It was so nice to stroll right into nearly every attraction with a minimal wait!

Staying onsite at Universal made sense for us due to the length of our trip, but it would be tough to justify if we had a shorter vacation. Just going to Universal for just one day is expensive enough (which I've also done before!).

I can be picky about sushi, so I was really impressed! It was super fresh and they had some really interesting choices. I'd never seen sushi with kiwi either, but it was very tasty!

So... really, three reasons then. Sounds like a wise decision.

Absolutely! It was a great resort.

Did you slow down? Or just make a tight turn and reach over and pop her door and let centripetal force do the rest?

I may have slowed down. A little.

Totally sucks.




Staff Memo
All staff. Please park your vehicles in the guest parking lot.
Bonuses will be paid to those who do not car-pool.
Free long term storage offered!

Seriously. I was SO ANNOYED.

Nice!

She was just delightful! What a wonderful first impression of Universal's resorts.

Gotta remember that for future trips.

It's such an awesome perk!

Really! High praise.

Absolutely! We thought the Royal Pacific was REALLY nice! I know the hotel had been recently redone (the soft goods and décor at least - I'm not sure about the bathrooms?), but it was really well decorated. It was still on the pricy side (it's attached to a theme park after all!) but definitely felt higher-end.

Love that view.
Beautiful.

The grounds were very well done! Very tropical!

Nice added touch.

And REALLY appreciated in the middle of a warm afternoon!

Another nice perk. Nice and close.

Other than the unlimited Express Pass, this was the second best perk of the Universal resorts - close to both parks!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

My dad and step-mom go there fairly frequently and love the hiking. I went through there many years ago on a solo trip and actually stood by that same waterfall...but it was mostly frozen, since it was the off-season. When Izzy gets a bit older, we'd love to do a driving trip along the coast with her and introduce her to some of the beauty there.

It was even more beautiful than we expected! I think it's a wonderful idea to take a trip there in a few years!

I may have to go back and re-read that post, as we FINALLY have a Hoop Dee Doo planned for our next trip (October). We've never done it!

YAY - you'll love it! I've done it twice now (I did it again on a trip with my mom in 2016) and enjoyed it immensely both times. The food is really tasty (especially the sides and the strawberry shortcake!) and the performance is campy and fun. I'm excited that you'll finally get a chance to see it!

I loved the song too. It used to put Izzy to sleep when she was a baby. Ironically, now that she's big enough and has ridden Soarin', it's only been the new version, so different music (but still pretty good) - she loves (the new) Soarin', by the way!

I figured it would be different music...

However, I am glad to hear from you (and others) that they enjoy the new Soarin'... so I guess we'll see!

Well, there's something Anika and I have in common!

Anika would be thrilled to know that - she truly loves that movie!

I love how many things in this one are familiar.

I know! I also appreciated the 90's boxes - both decades are such a throwback to my younger years!

As many times as we've stayed at Pop, you'd think we'd have noticed this. But, nope, neither Dug nor I had until now.

How funny! You've obviously been so focused to either get inside the lobby or get to the busses that you didn't notice! You'll have to take a look at them next time!

But I've definitely noticed these and agree - they are so cool!

They are! I'm sure the other resorts have resort-specific carts as well (the Grand Floridian's come to mind), but they are neat!

We always enjoy it as well. Our experience last stay had a few mousekeeping misses, but nothing that would keep us away (however, they did feel bad enough to give us a free 6-night Value stay - which we are using at AoA!) I've heard all WDW resorts have gone through some lacking service spells lately, but Disney was doing something about it (I can't remember exactly what the article said).

That's good to know! I've really enjoyed both of my stays at Pop!

Mmmmmmm, good choice! I'd like one now, please.

Me, too!

Holy moly! Do they have a Kitchen Sink AND a couple other sundaes?!?! Insanity!

I didn't even remember that until I looked at the picture - what on earth were those people thinking?!

(I don't know if they finished them - this was one of the last pictures I took before we left the restaurant!)

You are far too kind and flattering. I distinctly remember feeling like a hot, exhausted, frazzled mess at that time. And I'm just regular ol' boring me - definitely don't feel like a celeb. Though, I will say, I know of a couple other TR writers that were quite popular and had random people run up to them at WDW to tell them they were fans - and I thought, "Wow, I guess that's when you know you've made it." Well, I didn't have exactly that happen, but in December, a CM came up to me at Chef Mickey's and said she'd read my cruise report (I'd made a separate copy/paste post of just the cruise portion on the DCL TR board). She was so happy to read it, as she had trouble finding many cruise TRs with small kids. She was a veteran cruiser on DCL, but now had a young son and was thinking about taking him for the first time. So, I think that makes me a celebrity on the level of "hey, it's that dude that I see on some shows, can't remember which ones, not sure what his name is, but I know I've seen him!"

I do get the sentiment, though. I feel similarly about the former DIS-er that wrote the first TR I ever really got into. I think those first TR writers that draw you in can create a lasting impression. But I totally was just the random reader/lurker who tiptoed in and decided to start posting like I maybe belonged here. And people actually read and now I've been here quite a while, I guess.

Oh, also, those videos for the 4 parks 1 day are still there, but for some reason Photobucket isn't linking right to the old post they were in....I never changed things, but they have been on there a long time, so who knows? Here's the link that should go right to the folder:

I think it's the red one first, then the one w/the watch, then the green menu. Enjoy!

I think you're absolutely right about the first few TR's... several of the other folks I followed at the beginning are no longer on the boards, so it makes me even happier that you're still around. It really is strange to meet someone in person when you've read about them for several years!

How fun that someone else recognized you!

You absolutely MADE MY DAY with the Four Parks in One Day video! Thanks so much!

I still love how it looks like we all actually tried to color coordinate.

I know! It looks like we were expert planners!

It was great meeting you and Anika as well. You were both super nice and I'm sorry it was so brief. It would be great to meet up again. (And you're welcome for taking nearly 2 years to finish my TR. )

Taking longer makes the TR better, doesn't it?

Even if you felt frazzled that day (I likely was myself - we weren't used to the heat yet!) you were all so nice! It was an absolute pleasure to meet you and your family! Thanks so much for making our DISmeet work with your day!

Oh, hey, when you come get your hair cut, we could all meet up or something.

Yes, that would be great fun! Perhaps we could meet up at the Mall of America or something...

My hairstylist is in St. Louis Park, but the Mall would be a heck of a lot more fun. If you're willing to travel to the west side, the Yum! Bakery (where I always have either breakfast or lunch on the haircut days) is another great option - and they have AWESOME cupcakes!

Beautiful room photos! Yikes, the parking at Universal would be a big turn off for me. But... I haven't ventured over there since 1997. I'd like to again someday, though. If I can ever drag myself away from the Disney bubble that is Nevertheless, excited to read about your experience there!

Thanks! The parking was definitely annoying, but I did my best to forget about the parking once we made it into the resort.

I know the pull of Disney over Universal, but I'd definitely recommend giving it a try one of these trips. The Universal parks have some very neat attractions and things to see!

LOL- too funny that you drive to MN to get your hair cut.

My husband and I stayed at Royal Pacific back in 2007. We loved the closeness to the parks and it just felt fancy- granted, his work was paying for it, so I really loved all the perks!

It amuses many people.

I completely agree that the Royal Pacific is fancy! We really enjoyed staying there!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

And… You Took the Train to Hogsmeade?!
Day 2 – Part VI

It was great to finally be in a theme park after being in Florida for more than 24 hours – that’s never happened before!

We enjoyed soaking in the sights at Universal Studios. Although it’s not Disney, Universal certainly has its own type of magic.

Since we’re thrill-ride fanatics, we couldn’t pass this up as our first ride of the trip:

Hooray for the Mummy! What a great ride! We rode this back in 2012 and really enjoyed it, but it was great to put that Express Pass to use over and over again to ride this many times this trip!

After that exciting diversion, we headed toward the new Harry Potter section in the back of the park.

Our original intention was to search for the entrance to Diagon Alley, but we may have been distracted by this huge building:

King’s Cross Station!

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try out the train…

They did such a great job on King’s Cross Station! There were lists of upcoming departures and arrivals on the boards:

I was also amused to see this advertisement, which is from the beginning of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie (apologies for the quality of the picture – people were really moving!):

I also loved the pieces of luggage that were everywhere in the train station:

It’s difficult to get a picture of a member of your own party, but here are some random strangers entering the magical barrier to Platform 9 ¾ (including someone in a Hogwarts robe!):

It wasn’t much longer before we passed through the magical barrier ourselves and we were here:

PLATFORM 9 ¾!!!

(I may have been a smidge excited.)

We walked past more luggage and saw Harry Potter’s favorite friend, Hedwig, waiting for departure:

Once you looped around the corner, you had a great view of the train:

It was SO well done!

Anika fit right in with her Platform 9 ¾ lanyard while standing at Platform 9 ¾!

Our train arrived and we were ready to board!

I loved the outfits of the train conductors:

I didn’t get any pictures inside the train during this journey, both because it was rather dark and my travel companion was giving me death glares every time I started to pull out my camera.

So no pictures from today’s journey on the Hogwarts Express, but here are two pictures I took on our journey the other direction (it's rather dark on the train, so apologies in advance for the picture quality):

***SPOLIER ALERT – TRAIN RIDE FROM KING’S CROSS TO HOGSMEADE***
Once you’re seated in your compartment, you begin your journey from London to Hogsmeade. Once you leave the train station, you see the sights of London. Soon you’re in the country and some dementors board the train – but don’t worry, as Harry sends them away with an Expecto Patromum spell. Not long after, you pass Hogwarts castle and arrive at Hogsmeade station and are greeted by a waving and smiling Hagrid.

Such a fun ride (especially for us Potter nerds!).

Here we are, back in Hogsmeade.

Also known as NOT the new section of Harry Potter, but the part we’ve already visited.



So, not exactly our plan, but we might as well enjoy it while we’re here!

(continued in next post)