Bonus Chapter 1: Fulfilling a Promise
My daughter had spinal surgery in November of 2017. She had grown up with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and had worn a brace for 2 years, from 6th – 8th grade, in the hopes of keeping it from getting worse through puberty and avoiding the need for surgery. Obviously, that failed, and sometime in 2017 the curvature finally got bad enough that our doctor recommended a spinal fusion. Not only that, but she would also have two titanium rods attached to her spinal column in order to help keep it straight—for the rest of her life.
Clearly, this was no mere outpatient procedure.
Fortunately, the Good Lord blessed us with a life in proximity of one of the leading pediatric hospitals in the country—A.I. Dupont Hospital in Wilmington, DE. The spinal surgeons there are recognized around the world for their expertise—they have developed both braces and surgical procedures that area used worldwide. Families from many nations will actually fly in to have their children undergo this surgery at A.I. Dupont Hospital. So we were very happy to live just about a 35-minute drive away.
Even with their expertise, we were still somewhat nervous when the day came for the operation. It’s only natural as a parent, right? Major surgery is always a risk. Even with the best in the world performing the procedure.
As much as Julie and I were worried, it was Sarah who had the worst assignment by far. She’d be the one having her spine fused and a month or more of painful recovery. It broke our hearts for her to have to go through it. And we wanted to do something special for her, to give her something to look forward to and work towards during her recovery.
So, on the day of the surgery, we woke up ridiculously early. Something like 4 in the morning. We had to get her to the hospital very early (and get our coffee). And we put something out on the kitchen table at Sarah’s seat for her to see.
Sarah is the World’s Biggest Harry Potter Fan. This is not an exaggeration. She’s one of those people who can tell you every single character (no matter how minor) and every single fictional location (no matter how trivial) and every single magical spell (no matter how useless). She’s a super-fan. And she had always wanted to go to Universal Studios to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
So, we left a stuffed owl and a ticket for the Hogwarts Express at her seat, with a promise to take her to Universal Studios in February 2020.
Why that specific date? Well, I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but we’d already kind of mapped out our trips over the next few years because we’re obsessive vacation planners like that. All of the summers were already taken, and even a spring break or two. Also, no one in their right mind would spend spring break in Florida. Sarah’s birthday is in February, so we leaned towards that month for what would hopefully be a slower time in the parks for a long weekend.
We could only do a weekend trip because of the kids’ school schedule, as well as the fact that Julie is a teacher. Sometimes I really wish we had home-schooled the kids, and the only reason for that is so I could vacation in the offseason.
Anyway, we ended up beating our estimate and scheduling a Universal trip for Jan. 24-27, 2020. That was when I was able to get the best deal on both the vacation package and the flights.
In case you were wondering, her surgery was a total success, she fully recovered, and should be able to live a completely normal life—she was all-conference in high school field hockey, played golf, will be able to have children, and most importantly for this trip report, would have no restrictions for riding roller coasters.
I’ll be clear: our family’s loyalties lie firmly with Disney World. We have had several trips there over the years and it’s number one in our hearts. Yes, it’s not perfect, and I could even make the case it’s not as good as it used to be (I’m earning my Grumpy Old Man card day by day), but it is still the place that has given us magic and family memories for a lifetime. We were eager to see how Universal Studios would hold up in comparison.
I tried to pull off this excursion as cheaply as possible, mostly because we were still planning our big Alaskan Extravaganza for Summer 2020 which I knew would be insanely expensive, but there was no way that trip was ever going to be cancelled. So saving money was important.
How important? Well, for the first time ever, we flew on Frontier Airlines.
Frontier is one of the “ultra-discount” airlines in the U.S., meaning they offer lots of ridiculously low airfares (I’ve seen as low as $19 one-way) and then nickel-and-dime you for every single service in order to try and make up their profits. They charge fees for checked baggage, carry-on baggage, snacks, wi-fi, entertainment, etc. I’m surprised we didn’t get hit with a fee for having a seat cushion or one of those deluxe “transparent” windows.
I’d largely avoided them (and airlines like them) in the past because with such a large family, we’d get destroyed with the bag fees alone. Especially for some of our 2-week long vacations. But for a long weekend, it seemed much more cost-effective. We planned to check one bag, and then I learned from a friend that a backpack counts as a “personal Item” (no fee) rather than a “carry-on” for Frontier. So we ended up paying one bag fee and then everyone jammed everything they could into 6 backpacks. It worked.
The kids and Julie took a half-day from school on Friday the 24th so we could get up to Philadelphia airport before rush hour began. In keeping with the cost-effective theme, our dinner came via the airport McDonald’s. In cost-saving mode, everyone gets one (1) double cheeseburger. And fries, because what’s the point of eating at McDonald’s if you don’t get the fries?
Those sweatshirts are pretty cool, right? Get ready to see a LOT of them.
We flew out of Philadelphia around roughly 5:30 p.m. The flight was uneventful, save for the 10-minute long sales pitch for the Frontier credit card. That was a new experience for me—I couldn’t recall being on a flight where I was hit with such an aggressive sales pitch before. It kept going and going and going…I mean, I’ve endured halftime shows that went by more quickly than this. All I wanted to do was read my book in peace.
Anyway, we landed safely in Fort Lauderdale, which is where the Orlando runway seems like it’s located, and then taxied for another hour back to the main terminal. Because there is no Magical Express to Universal Studios, we had to suffer the indignity of retrieving our own luggage from the baggage claim. Call that a point in Disney’s favor.
Instead of paying for an airport shuttle (having a big family means the cost adds up quickly), I found it to be a better use of resources to rent a minivan. We picked up the rental ( a nice Chrysler Pacifica, night and day better than our usual Dodge Caravan) and headed off to Universal.
But first, we got off I-4 to stop at a Walmart. This was not for peanut butter and jelly supplies, either—since it was a quick trip, we’d just planned to buy lunches along the way. But we still needed something in the mornings for breakfast, so we figured we’d get a better deal at Walmart than in the hotel gift shop.
That side trip went well except for the part where I rounded a corner and came face to face with a driver going the wrong way on the road.
I don’t know how he got that way—he must have made a wrong turn out of the shopping center. But I slammed on the brakes and just sat there—I had cars behind me—and waited until he finally did a 23-point turn and got out of the way. That woke us up.
By the time we got our Pop Tarts and donuts and made our way to the hotel, it was close to 9:15 p.m. We were tired and just wanted to check in, go to sleep, and hit the parks early in the morning.
We had decided to stay at the relatively new Cabana Bay Hotel & Suites. This was by far the most cost-effective option for our family. We could easily fit into one suite there.
On the downside, this hotel does not come with the free Express Pass that gets everyone to the front of the lines. Those are only available to guests at Universal’s high-end resorts. I’ve heard many arguments that the free Express Pass is worth the upgrade in hotels. Unfortunately, I did the math and it doesn’t work for a family of 6. In order to stay at a deluxe hotel, I’d have to rent 2 rooms. None of them could accommodate us (unless I got the Presidential Suite or something). And the cost of 2 rooms was way more than the cost of buying the Express Pass (roughly $500-600 by itself). So we went with the cheaper hotel. I was still trying to save money, so I didn’t buy the Express Pass, either. We’d just have to stand in line with the rest of the peons and hope it wasn’t so crowded that we’d be stuck there forever.
I’d heard good things about Cabana Bay, so I was hoping we’d at least enjoy the stay there. I do have to admit up front that I’m just not a fan of the theme. They pulled off the kitschy 60’s theme very well, and it does absolutely nothing for me. Both of those things can be true at the same time. I prefer the transporting, exotic feel of the Wilderness or Animal Kingdom Lodge. Or, if we’re comparing moderates, I liked Port Orleans Riverside and Coronado Springs more. Another point in Disney’s favor.
I drove around the main entry and found not a single available parking space. Not a good sign. We saw some people inventing their own spaces, so after another pass I did the same. Then the family waited in the van while Scotty and I went inside to check in.
The lobby was insanely crowded. So much for light January crowds. As it turned out, park was hosting two nights of Christian rock groups and performing artists, and it appeared that every church in America had taken a road trip that weekend and was staying at Cabana Bay.
We got into the check-in line and proceeded to crawl forward at roughly the speed of your 9-year-old going clothes shopping. It felt like every person ahead of us was taking forever. Even better, I spotted one of my pet peeves: employees behind the desk working on something and studiously avoiding eye contact with all of the people standing in line that they aren’t helping.
45 minutes later—no Express Pass for check-in—we finally got called up to the desk to check in. It was then that we were informed that the computer systems were down and everyone was getting checked in by hand. They were using the computers and entering in our information, but maybe it wasn’t connecting to the servers or something. I had to write down my credit card info by hand, which made me nervous, but they couldn’t scan cards at all.
The check-in process itself took another 20 minutes. They had to print each person a room key separately. And I couldn’t get my park tickets, either. I’d have to try and retrieve them in the morning somehow. Hopefully that wouldn’t cost us too much time.
We were given a room in the Starlight building, which of course was in the back of the property. I was told to drive my van around, use my room key to open the gate, and then park in the back closest to my building.
We got back in the van and drove up to the gate. The room key didn’t work at all. I had to hit a button to ask the desk for help, and they immediately buzzed us through without even asking any questions, so I’m guessing we were not the first people to buzz them for help.
We drove around back and struggled to find a single open parking space. We might have had an easier time of it if this guy hadn’t decided to sleep in a hotel rather than the camping trailer he’d brought along to take up 6 spaces.
We finally found a space. Staggering into our hotel room sometime after 10:30 p.m., we crashed as quickly as we could. Julie quickly took a couple of photos before we could trash the room too much.
So, it’s a nice room. The sofa pulls out into a bed, and we felt like there was plenty of room for all of us. Overall, I’d say it’s a very good place for a large family to stay. I’m just not wild about the theme.
This was our building:
And the view across the way:
We got up early for Rope Drop (of course). Here’s a better shot of the lobby with much fewer people around. Gotta love Rope Drop.
The main lobby has a gift shop and a bar across the way from the check-in desk. Upstairs they actually have a bowling alley, which is a cool feature that we did not have the time or money to take advantage of (it was something like $15/person to bowl). There’s also a $tarbucks for your overpriced burnt caffeine. Julie had gotten a bunch of gift cards here from her students at Christmas time, so that at least made it less overpriced for us.
Just outside the lobby, they had a bunch of classic cars lined up. I thought that was a nice touch.
This was before we read the sign saying to please not lean on the cars. Whoops.
We walked down to the bus stop, ready for our first day in Universal Studios. And….
Coming Up Next: We’ll fill in the “…”
) (Kidding of course, I know this is a serious situation and some countries are handling it..differently than others, and I will also miss the USA if not allowed to travel there)
Nonetheless, we will we need to go somewhere this summer! Although, I'd really love a family picture at Zion with masks on.
Steven, and thanks for reading! I can't believe you'd want to torture yourself by reading more, but I appreciate you spending the time.
