Back from First trip to US/IOA

[grlzmom]

We just returned from a two week combo disney/us trip.

Me, dh, dd 16, 14, 12, 10, 5, 3 and ds 3, and dd friends 16 and 14. Also, my mom and dad. So a grand total of 13 of us. We stayed off site in a house in Formosa Gardens and used the buy 2 days get three free passes.

This was our first trip to US/IOA and we had a GREAT time.

Things we loved:

Spiderman breakfast. We thought the character interaction was way better than what we have experienced with Disney. The kids loved it and the price was very reasonable. Now I will have to make all our pancakes red.

Cast members (not sure if that is what they are called there) were great. Our son loved the Jurassic park area and all the dinosaur exhibit stuff and could have spent the whole week there.

We tried Mythos which we loved and the little dessert glasses (1.75 each) we thought were a wonderful bargain.

The big kids loved the coasters and thrill rides. The little kids loved that there was always somewhere to splash in the water. The childswap at Universal worked much better than at Disney.

Thought all of the rides with the exception of the Suess Trolley well worth the wait (I think the little ones rode cat in the hat a dozen times). The first day we went it rained pretty hard and the crowds stayed away while my family rode everything without lines. Worked out great. The other days, we got there early (by 8:30 and we were always able to get into the parks and ride), did several main attractions and left by around 1 or 2 to swim.

Wish the parking wasnt so far away and it was very crowded, but we had a blast and I thank everyone on this board for all of the great information I got pretrip.

We will definately be heading back to US/IOA again. We still consider our family to be disney addicts, but now we will have to have time for Disney and Universal.

Oh, we also took the autotrain down which was another new thing for us, and that was GREAT.

 

[Metro West]

Thanks for sharing and I'm glad you had a wonderful time!

 

[lindalinda]

whats the autotrain?


BTW I am in total shock when I look at that list of kids. Youve been busy!

 

[gschmerl]

The auto-train is a train which not only takes passengers, but takes their cars also.

 

[dtuleya]

The autotrain leaves from outside of DC in Lorton, VA and arrives in Sanford, FL. You can pay to take your car along while you ride in the passenger compartments.

grlzmom - Glad to hear you had a great time! Less than 30 days until our very first US/IOA vacation at RPR! Can you tell me more about the character breakfast. This is the only reservation I've made so far and am having a hard time find information on it.

 

[wdwnut61]

Welcome back

Thanks for your report. Glad to hear you enjoyed Universal. We are leaving in 41 days and really looking forward to our first trip to Universal. We are also doing a 2 week combo trip. I'm glad your son enjoyed the Jurassic Park area. My youngest DD also loves dinosaurs and has seen all the Jurassic Park films. I have a feeling when we get there, the kids aren't going to know what to ride first.

 

[DonnaLeah]

Grlzmom--glad to hear you enjoyed Universal!!

 

[grlzmom]

dtuleya

The breakfast was very nice. I am not sure if you have been to a Disney character breakfast, but as a comparison, it is on a much smaller scale. When we were there, instead of the characters just rounding table to table for pictures (which they also did), they interact with the kids all over, when entering, while getting food, etc. There was no rush for the photos, everything was very laid back. The restaurant was probably only set up for about 75 diners the day we were there (Sunday). I am not sure if this was unusual or not.

The meal is set up as a small buffet, with plenty of choices. There was fruit, cereal, sausage, bacon, french toast, pancakes (red of course), eggs, yogurt, pastries, the whole deal. Only coffee, tea and soda are included with the breakfast. Juice is an extra cost. It was my daughters bday and she got a HUGE chocolate chip cookie covered in chocolate and other goo with a candle in the middle (think this was 2.50 extra, not sure). Service was great.

Spiderman interaction in particular is great as he carries on quite a conversation with the kiddos. My son is still talking about going to superhero college.

In addition to taking your own photos, there is a Universal photographer there taking them which I think you can view and purchase later. Thanks to the instant gratification of the digital camera, we were able to see that ours turned out wonderful and didnt need to purchase theirs.

I hope that your breakfast is as nice as ours was. That is one we definately plan on repeating.

 

[Dislifer]

dtuleya

The breakfast was very nice. I am not sure if you have been to a Disney character breakfast, but as a comparison, it is on a much smaller scale. When we were there, instead of the characters just rounding table to table for pictures (which they also did), they interact with the kids all over, when entering, while getting food, etc. There was no rush for the photos, everything was very laid back. The restaurant was probably only set up for about 75 diners the day we were there (Sunday). I am not sure if this was unusual or not.

The meal is set up as a small buffet, with plenty of choices. There was fruit, cereal, sausage, bacon, french toast, pancakes (red of course), eggs, yogurt, pastries, the whole deal. Only coffee, tea and soda are included with the breakfast. Juice is an extra cost. It was my daughters bday and she got a HUGE chocolate chip cookie covered in chocolate and other goo with a candle in the middle (think this was 2.50 extra, not sure). Service was great.

Spiderman interaction in particular is great as he carries on quite a conversation with the kiddos. My son is still talking about going to superhero college.

In addition to taking your own photos, there is a Universal photographer there taking them which I think you can view and purchase later. Thanks to the instant gratification of the digital camera, we were able to see that ours turned out wonderful and didnt need to purchase theirs.

I hope that your breakfast is as nice as ours was. That is one we definately plan on repeating.

ok, now....don't laugh....would my 10 year old be too old for the Spiderman breakfast??? If you don't think so, can you tell me where this is held, how much and how to go about making reservations???
Thank you!!!

 

[JoyG]

I don't think anyone is too old for a Spiderman breakfast!

He probably won't be as impressed with the Cat in the Hat and Things 1 &2 who will also be milling about.

It's held at Confisco Grill in IOA.

My boys really enjoyed it too.

 

[Michelle2]

Glad you had a great time! Sorry that this is about 2 months too late, but I knew you were planning a trip there this summer sometime. We went there in 2003 and LOVED it there. Hope your family is all doing well!