opal
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2002
- Messages
- 517
Dh had a conference at Universal 4/2-4/6. We haven't been to Universal in almost 15 years. We go WDW every year and dd and I just returned from a trip there in Jan. So when I suggested adding a few days at the end of his conference I was met with a less than positive response. 
Not one to give up easily and knowing the dh seldem denies me anything, we compromised on adding a few days at the Swan for some pool time and WDW resort dining.
We arrived at the Royal Pacific shortly after 11 a.m. on 4/2. Being the end of Easter week I fully expected to store the bags and head to one of the parks. I was pleasantly surprised to find our room ready. We were in a king room on the 6th floor of tower 3 with a view the highway. No big deal, without a balcony it is hard to get excited about the view. The room itself was a pretty typical hotel room. I did like that there is a dimmer light in the sink area. I tend to walk into walls on my dead of the night search for the bathroom. Over the length of our stay there, we did find that housekeeping was lacking. Our room was not vacuumed at all and when they changed the sheets dh has a "gooey" pillowcase. Fortunately the linen room was just down the hall and unlocked.
We has purchased the buy 2 days get 5 day online and headed over to Universal to pick them up at will-call. Very easy!!!! We then had some lunch at the bakery that sells the Cheesecake Factory cheese cake just inside the entrance to Universal. Then we were off to see what we remembered from our last visit 15 years ago. A lot has changed, but we did remember some of the attractions. I especially enjoyed The Mummy, Men in Black and Shrek.
We headed back to the hotel pool about 3. Royal Pacific has a huge pool but on Sat, Sun and Mon it was so crowded it was difficult to find a chair. Partly because they don't do a terribly good job with "chair savers", those annoying people who drop towels on chairs on the way to the Parks in the a.m. and then never return to use them. The water was warm but because of the crowd had a thick sunscreen film.
We had dinner that night at Margeritaville. Food was good and the atmosphere made for a fun evening. The restaurant was crowded but because we were a party of 2, our wait was only about 20 minutes. After dinner we walked through Islands of Adventure. We visited Dr. Seuss and a few of the more tame offerings since we had just eaten.
Sunday morning we returned to Islands of Adventure. We decided to skip the Hulk and Dueling dragons because we not big fans of being up-side-down! I loved Spiderman!! Ripsaw Falls was fun but very wet. With rare exception, the Universal/IOA parks lack theming in comparison to WDW.
Mon & Tues a.m. I visited the parks and re-visited my favorite attractions and spent the afternoon at the pool. Mon evening we had dinner at Bice with a group of about 30 as part of DH's convention. It was very nice. Drinks on the patio and then dinner in a private room.
Wed a.m. we headed "home" to the Swan. Once again we arrived about 11 a.m. and were pleasantly surprised to find the room ready. We settled in and headed to the pool and had some lunch. I had the seafood salad..yum! We spent most of our time at the Swan's pool because the water temp was considerably warmer than the Grotto pool.
Dinner Wed eve was at Jiko. We walked to MGM and caught the bus for AKL. I had the Monkfish (excellent) and dh has the filet with mac & cheese (always good). We split the cinnamon beef rolls as an appetizer, also very good. By the time we were ready to head back MGM was closed so we went to wait for the bus for DTD. A bus came delivering passengers from MGM. We asked the bus driver if we could ride back with him after explaining we were staying at Swan and would walk back from MGM(we know that they are not supposed to transport guests to parks after official park closing) He said we could. Since we were the only ones on the bus, he detoured and dropped us right at the Swan. That folks, is just one example of the Disney Magic. Thank you, David! It is castmembers like you that make WDW special and keep us coming back.
Thursday morning we spent a few hours at the pool. The sun disappeared around noon so we headed to DTD to do so shopping and have a treat from Ghiaradelli's. (Yes, we are dieting now!) The monsoon came about 4 and we headed back to the Swan. Dinner was a Beaches and Cream. It was fairly crowded so we sat at the counter. It was great fun to watch them prepare the Kitchen Sink!
Friday, more pool time (poor us) and then dinner at Blue Zoo. This was our first visit. We had crab claws for an appetizer and splurged and had the Cantonese Lobster. It was unlike any lobster i've ever had. It was good, but different. All in all, we agreed that we had enjoyed Jiko more, but it was nice to try something different.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at Fresh. Also a first for us and it was very good. Then a short visit to the pool and off to the airport.
I was worried when we planned this non-park visit that I would find it difficult not to visit the parks. I kept telling dh that if the weather was cloudy, we had spend a day at one of the parks. But once we got there, I found it to be very relaxing and dh has decided he will join dd and I for our visit next Jan.
Not one to give up easily and knowing the dh seldem denies me anything, we compromised on adding a few days at the Swan for some pool time and WDW resort dining.We arrived at the Royal Pacific shortly after 11 a.m. on 4/2. Being the end of Easter week I fully expected to store the bags and head to one of the parks. I was pleasantly surprised to find our room ready. We were in a king room on the 6th floor of tower 3 with a view the highway. No big deal, without a balcony it is hard to get excited about the view. The room itself was a pretty typical hotel room. I did like that there is a dimmer light in the sink area. I tend to walk into walls on my dead of the night search for the bathroom. Over the length of our stay there, we did find that housekeeping was lacking. Our room was not vacuumed at all and when they changed the sheets dh has a "gooey" pillowcase. Fortunately the linen room was just down the hall and unlocked.
We has purchased the buy 2 days get 5 day online and headed over to Universal to pick them up at will-call. Very easy!!!! We then had some lunch at the bakery that sells the Cheesecake Factory cheese cake just inside the entrance to Universal. Then we were off to see what we remembered from our last visit 15 years ago. A lot has changed, but we did remember some of the attractions. I especially enjoyed The Mummy, Men in Black and Shrek.
We headed back to the hotel pool about 3. Royal Pacific has a huge pool but on Sat, Sun and Mon it was so crowded it was difficult to find a chair. Partly because they don't do a terribly good job with "chair savers", those annoying people who drop towels on chairs on the way to the Parks in the a.m. and then never return to use them. The water was warm but because of the crowd had a thick sunscreen film.
We had dinner that night at Margeritaville. Food was good and the atmosphere made for a fun evening. The restaurant was crowded but because we were a party of 2, our wait was only about 20 minutes. After dinner we walked through Islands of Adventure. We visited Dr. Seuss and a few of the more tame offerings since we had just eaten.
Sunday morning we returned to Islands of Adventure. We decided to skip the Hulk and Dueling dragons because we not big fans of being up-side-down! I loved Spiderman!! Ripsaw Falls was fun but very wet. With rare exception, the Universal/IOA parks lack theming in comparison to WDW.
Mon & Tues a.m. I visited the parks and re-visited my favorite attractions and spent the afternoon at the pool. Mon evening we had dinner at Bice with a group of about 30 as part of DH's convention. It was very nice. Drinks on the patio and then dinner in a private room.
Wed a.m. we headed "home" to the Swan. Once again we arrived about 11 a.m. and were pleasantly surprised to find the room ready. We settled in and headed to the pool and had some lunch. I had the seafood salad..yum! We spent most of our time at the Swan's pool because the water temp was considerably warmer than the Grotto pool.
Dinner Wed eve was at Jiko. We walked to MGM and caught the bus for AKL. I had the Monkfish (excellent) and dh has the filet with mac & cheese (always good). We split the cinnamon beef rolls as an appetizer, also very good. By the time we were ready to head back MGM was closed so we went to wait for the bus for DTD. A bus came delivering passengers from MGM. We asked the bus driver if we could ride back with him after explaining we were staying at Swan and would walk back from MGM(we know that they are not supposed to transport guests to parks after official park closing) He said we could. Since we were the only ones on the bus, he detoured and dropped us right at the Swan. That folks, is just one example of the Disney Magic. Thank you, David! It is castmembers like you that make WDW special and keep us coming back.
Thursday morning we spent a few hours at the pool. The sun disappeared around noon so we headed to DTD to do so shopping and have a treat from Ghiaradelli's. (Yes, we are dieting now!) The monsoon came about 4 and we headed back to the Swan. Dinner was a Beaches and Cream. It was fairly crowded so we sat at the counter. It was great fun to watch them prepare the Kitchen Sink!
Friday, more pool time (poor us) and then dinner at Blue Zoo. This was our first visit. We had crab claws for an appetizer and splurged and had the Cantonese Lobster. It was unlike any lobster i've ever had. It was good, but different. All in all, we agreed that we had enjoyed Jiko more, but it was nice to try something different.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at Fresh. Also a first for us and it was very good. Then a short visit to the pool and off to the airport.
I was worried when we planned this non-park visit that I would find it difficult not to visit the parks. I kept telling dh that if the weather was cloudy, we had spend a day at one of the parks. But once we got there, I found it to be very relaxing and dh has decided he will join dd and I for our visit next Jan.
