Awesome Spring Break Trip w/o March 20 - stay at Cabana Bay Beach Resort

[mommajen08]

Hello! My family went down to Orlando the week of March 20. We stayed at CB and spent our first two days at WDW and the remaining 3 at Universal. While nervous about spring break level crowds, we braved the parks with our two daughters, ages 8 and 11. This report will just be about our time at Universal.

Day 1 at US
Favorite Rides/Attractions:

• Horror Make Up Show - Hilarious! This was our first stop of the day and it definitely set the mood. The acting was top notch. And even the kids appreciated the humor.
• Transformers - this was incredible. I cannot even begin to understand how these rides work.
• Men in Black - this ride was just fun. Getting to shoot at the aliens was really enjoyable and I would definitely go back to this again and again.
• The Mummy - kind of like Space Mountain, but a million times better!

Least Favorite Rids/Attractions:

• Shrek 4D - So glad the wait for this was only 10 minutes. The humor was odd and the technology was definitely not up to par with everything else we experienced at Universal.

Food:

• Leaky Cauldron - we had lunch here. There was only a 10 minute wait even though Diagon Alley was PACKED! I really appreciate how organized this restaurant is. DH and I had Fish and Chips. The kids ate something off the kids menu. Food was ok. Butterbeer was loved by me and DD11, but hated by DH and DD8.
• Lard Lad's Donuts - we had one of the giant donuts with pink frosting. It was yummy and I recommend trying it once We saw lots of people eating this for breakfast when we returned to US on our last day.

Other:

• We LOVED US! The way the park is set up is amazing. The themeing through each section is so much fun to explore. The shows on the streets were all extremely entertaining. And the atmosphere throughout the park is fabulous.
• The only negative I have to mention is that the employees at US are not as well trained as those at WDW. I felt like service at WDW was always top notch and everything was extremely well organized. I didn't feel the same at Universal Orlando.

ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE:
Day two was spent here.

Favorite Rides/Attractions:

• Forbidden Journey - this was hands down our favorite ride of the week. Just amazing!
• Spiderman - while I didn't enjoy this one as much, I think DH liked it more than Transformers.

Least Favorite Rides/Attractions:

• I don't think anything really stood out as bad here.

Other:

• The water rides will DRENCH you! We were completely soaked head to toe for about two hours, even after using one of the "drying machines". But it was fun
• This park felt much more crowded just because of how it is set up. There also seems to be fewer "diversions" here, so lines were longer on all of the rides.

Day 2 at US:
On our last day, we chose to return to US. DD8 was sick on our first day here, so we had to revisit some rides that she missed out on the first time around. We also wanted to enjoy some of our favorites again.

Additional Favorite Rides/Attractions:

• Rip Ride Rocket - DD11 was not a big thrill ride fan until this week. She LOVED this coaster and, although we live by Cedar Point which has some of the best coasters anywhere, DH said this was the best one he's ever been on.
• The Simpsons - so cool. Not sure how they make it feel like you are flipping over. We all loved this one.

Other:

• While we didn't take advantage of our early park admission, getting to the park as soon as it opened (8am) allowed us to do Despicable Me and Rip Ride Rocket with no wait. Later in the day Despicable ME had over a 3 hour wait and RRR was a little over 2 hours long. We were done with everything we wanted to do this day by 2, even with spring break crowds and allowing DD11 to try all of the magic wand spots in Diagon Alley.

So, after a week in Orlando, we've decided Universal Orlando is the place to be! We loved the rides, loved the entertainment and enjoyed our stay at CBBR. We hope to come back when some of the new rides are finished.

 

[Kivara]

Our dastardly plan to lure folks away from Disney is working; MWA-HAHA...I mean, glad you had a great time! Sounds like another Universal trip might be in your future!

Those wait lines for Despicable Me can get CRAZY!

 

[macraven]

op, i'm glad your trip at the darkside turned out to be a good thing for your family.

like the title of your thread stated, it was awesome!

 

[keishashadow]

welcome home

re CB, what type of room did you book? have never stayed there, considering for when the other onsites are priced out of our budget.

 

[mommajen08]

We stayed in a courtyard poolside family suite. It was perfect for a family of 4 who is not used to sharing a normal sized hotel room We made good use of the kitchenette and most mornings and nights, two of us would be in the living room and two would be in the bedroom. The bathroom setup is pretty handy, too. There's a toilet behind one door, a sink and bathtub behind another and then out in the open a mirror and sink with a nice amount of counter space. This meant no waiting to get ready in the mornings because more than one person could be doing something at a time. The only thing that would've made the stay better would've been Express passes, but we were fine, even without those.