julietsstars
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2014
- Messages
- 129
Never did one of these before 
Up at 3am to drive to Chicago Midway!! Arrived around 10 am on Friday morning at Orlando International and I had arranged for Tony Hinds to pick us up. The plan was to go to Cabana Bay, drop off luggage, pick up Sea World tickets and he would then take us straight to Sea World. My concern was that our Sea World (pre-paid with package) would have to be picked up AT Universal. Tony charged $70 for our one-way to the hotel, stop at hotel and drop-off at Sea World.
We had great luggage service when we arrived at Cabana Bay and were able to check in our bags while we went to the park. Our SeaWorld tickets were printable at a kiosk! Tony waited while we did all of this! Once we had our tickets we were on our way to Sea World.
Having never been to Sea World, we didnt know what to expect. It was... okay. Probably wouldn't go again. For $7 each we fed dolphins...but also waited in line for about 45 min in direct sun. We didn't ride Atlantis but did the Penguin Encounter and Turtle Show.
For Dinner we did Shark Encounter. Terrible. lol.. it truly was terrible. My daughters hotdog looked boiled and she said tasted like what they have in school. I ordered the ceasar salad with chicken. It literally came out with two stalks of romaine drenched in dressing and my (bone-in) chicken on a separate plate. For the first time ever, I sent my salad back. I instead got a Mango something salad. Was okay but by this point I wasnt too hungry and simply exhausted. Remember, we've been up since 3am and our dinner was about 5:30. The rolls and butter were very good though! So..yay for that
Sea World did have a great price on pictures: $35 for 3 including frames. So we did that as our souvenirs. We caught a cab back to Cabana Bay for $23.
Check-in at Cabana Bay was great. We upgraded to a pool view for an extra $15 per day which I now regret. Our "view" was of boulders that surround the lazy river. We also had constant light coming into the room around the drapes from the pool area. But we were on the first floor! I had read warnings about housekeeping here and I was not disappointed. We found dirty towels behind the bathroom door. It did look like the rest of the room was cleaned and toiletries stocked.
After I took my daughter to pool, I went to the front desk to tell them about the towels. They gave us two $15 meal vouchers and sent housekeeping up to get the towels. Then came the inquisition. The woman did not believe that they were left there and she proceeded to grill me on when we arrived, what we did first when we arrived, etc.
Food at Cabana Bay is pricey for what you get. Their food offering is..odd. We also didn't see the food truck that was suppose to be outside by the pool.
Pools. The pools were fantastic. I thought the lazy river was by the slide but its not. There are two separate areas and are quite a hike between them. That said, the entire hotel is huge! From my room to starbucks (including my wait in line) was 45 minutes every morning.
Knowing that this hotel is fairly new, I have faith that some of these kinks (housekeeping, food, etc) will get worked out. We will definitely be going back.
So on to Saturday for Harry Potter! Up at 6am and on the bus at 7am. We never waited for a bus and I think there were 10 of us total this early. It pays to take advantage of the early entry into HP!! Our wait after they let us into the park at 7:30 was 40 minutes...and then we were actually ON the Gringotts ride. All the stores were practically empty and we were ahead of the crowds! We went through Diagon Alley, ate, shopped...with no crowd. This was fantastic! We took the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade and rode Forbidden Journey..after a 20 min wait!
The rest of the attractions at both parks had less than a 30 min wait for everything. Im glad we didnt waste our money on Express Pass because it was not needed.
After 9 hours in both parks, we went to Margaritaville for dinner. Holy drinks, Batman. These were strong....and delicious. Which gave me energy to go back into the parks! We thought to do Gringotts again but the line was closed to make sure that those in the ride would be able to get out of the park before closing.
So we did Transformers, Despicable Me and got a milk shake at the diner....which smelled horrible inside. I think it was called Mel's. After a grand total of 11 hours in the park, we headed back. 4 buses back to CB were waiting with no line. Pool time at Cabana Bay ... and drink time
Sunday morning we planned on doing the Arcade and Bowling. Sadly these didnt open until late morning. We went through the gift shop and packed up. Quite a whirlwind trip and was exhausted after it... but so worth it!
Up at 3am to drive to Chicago Midway!! Arrived around 10 am on Friday morning at Orlando International and I had arranged for Tony Hinds to pick us up. The plan was to go to Cabana Bay, drop off luggage, pick up Sea World tickets and he would then take us straight to Sea World. My concern was that our Sea World (pre-paid with package) would have to be picked up AT Universal. Tony charged $70 for our one-way to the hotel, stop at hotel and drop-off at Sea World.
We had great luggage service when we arrived at Cabana Bay and were able to check in our bags while we went to the park. Our SeaWorld tickets were printable at a kiosk! Tony waited while we did all of this! Once we had our tickets we were on our way to Sea World.
Having never been to Sea World, we didnt know what to expect. It was... okay. Probably wouldn't go again. For $7 each we fed dolphins...but also waited in line for about 45 min in direct sun. We didn't ride Atlantis but did the Penguin Encounter and Turtle Show.
For Dinner we did Shark Encounter. Terrible. lol.. it truly was terrible. My daughters hotdog looked boiled and she said tasted like what they have in school. I ordered the ceasar salad with chicken. It literally came out with two stalks of romaine drenched in dressing and my (bone-in) chicken on a separate plate. For the first time ever, I sent my salad back. I instead got a Mango something salad. Was okay but by this point I wasnt too hungry and simply exhausted. Remember, we've been up since 3am and our dinner was about 5:30. The rolls and butter were very good though! So..yay for that
Sea World did have a great price on pictures: $35 for 3 including frames. So we did that as our souvenirs. We caught a cab back to Cabana Bay for $23.
Check-in at Cabana Bay was great. We upgraded to a pool view for an extra $15 per day which I now regret. Our "view" was of boulders that surround the lazy river. We also had constant light coming into the room around the drapes from the pool area. But we were on the first floor! I had read warnings about housekeeping here and I was not disappointed. We found dirty towels behind the bathroom door. It did look like the rest of the room was cleaned and toiletries stocked.
After I took my daughter to pool, I went to the front desk to tell them about the towels. They gave us two $15 meal vouchers and sent housekeeping up to get the towels. Then came the inquisition. The woman did not believe that they were left there and she proceeded to grill me on when we arrived, what we did first when we arrived, etc.
Food at Cabana Bay is pricey for what you get. Their food offering is..odd. We also didn't see the food truck that was suppose to be outside by the pool.
Pools. The pools were fantastic. I thought the lazy river was by the slide but its not. There are two separate areas and are quite a hike between them. That said, the entire hotel is huge! From my room to starbucks (including my wait in line) was 45 minutes every morning.
Knowing that this hotel is fairly new, I have faith that some of these kinks (housekeeping, food, etc) will get worked out. We will definitely be going back.
So on to Saturday for Harry Potter! Up at 6am and on the bus at 7am. We never waited for a bus and I think there were 10 of us total this early. It pays to take advantage of the early entry into HP!! Our wait after they let us into the park at 7:30 was 40 minutes...and then we were actually ON the Gringotts ride. All the stores were practically empty and we were ahead of the crowds! We went through Diagon Alley, ate, shopped...with no crowd. This was fantastic! We took the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade and rode Forbidden Journey..after a 20 min wait!
The rest of the attractions at both parks had less than a 30 min wait for everything. Im glad we didnt waste our money on Express Pass because it was not needed.
After 9 hours in both parks, we went to Margaritaville for dinner. Holy drinks, Batman. These were strong....and delicious. Which gave me energy to go back into the parks! We thought to do Gringotts again but the line was closed to make sure that those in the ride would be able to get out of the park before closing. So we did Transformers, Despicable Me and got a milk shake at the diner....which smelled horrible inside. I think it was called Mel's. After a grand total of 11 hours in the park, we headed back. 4 buses back to CB were waiting with no line. Pool time at Cabana Bay ... and drink time
Sunday morning we planned on doing the Arcade and Bowling. Sadly these didnt open until late morning. We went through the gift shop and packed up. Quite a whirlwind trip and was exhausted after it... but so worth it!
