Cocoa Beach/Universal/IOA/HRH 6/3-6/7/03 Part 2

[MDCU2003]

Continuation of our Florida Adventure.

Tuesday - we left Cocoa Beach and arrived at HRH around 10:30 or so. Checked in. We had a garden view room for $125/Entertainment rate. No line at check in. Room not ready, no upgrades available. Did receive Grade A Kids program. So we left stuff in car and off to Universal we went. Had ordered on tickets on line 5 day bonus pass. Picked them up at the machine outside entrance to Universal. Smooth/Quick. Went into Universal and did almost everything except the kid area and shows by 5:00. FOTL is awesome! I would never go back without staying on site. Only problem we had was MIB was having technical difficulties so we had to wait awhile but they kept us informed. We ate lunch at the International place and bought our refillable mug for $4.99. I think it was a wise investment. DS had pizza, DH & I shared a chinese combo plate. For supper, we ate pool side at HRH.

Wednesday - IOA. Again I can't express how wonderful FOTL is. We were able to do so much in such a short period of time. The park itself wasn't that crowded but a lot of the rides were 20 minute waits and we walked on. I found myself getting irritated if I ever had to wait! LOL! At one point I did see regular line for Spiderman at 60 minute wait and we walked on. I can't tell you what rides we did in what order because everything was so easy to get on we did some things several times. We had lunch at The Enchanted Oak. The three of us shared a combo plate. Probably not really enough for 3 but we like to save room to experience other things through the day. Left the park around 6:00 so we could go to the nearby Bass Pro Shop for my DH. Fun way to spend your 20th wedding anniversary huh? LOL!

I can't for the life of me remember what strategy we used on Thursday but I'm sure we split the day between the 2 parks. But we did leave the water rides for last as you WILL get soaked. Friday we did the same thing. We did IOA first and did all the roller coasters again then the water rides, went to hotel and played in pool for a few hours and then went to Universal to ride MIB for the millionth time and we saw the Animal Planet show. I think the only thing we weren't able to do was the Sinbad show because we were never there at the right time. We didn't do any of the kid areas (Barney, Fievel, Suessland) because my son is 14 yo. We did ride Cat in the Hat several times though and ET a couple of times.

So if anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer as best as I can. Perhaps my memory will get clearer with specific questions. Thank you to everyone for all your wonderful tips/advice. It certainly helped!

 

[ellie&mattys mom]

Any tips for HRH...did you eat there...and how many nights were you there...

we are there in Nov...

thanks!!

 

[shpedly]

Tell us about your room. Location, condition, etc. I'm sure everyone would be interested in what you had at the ent. rate. When I went on ent rate, my room looked pretty good, but a llight had no light bulb, the remote for tv didn't work, the cordless phone by the bed didn't work, and the closet door was off track. Maintenance fixed everything within 10 minutes when I called about it. That was great. Made me wonder who had the room before, and didn't say anything about it?!? Enjoyed the room otherwise.

 

[corvair]

did you like cocoa beach... amy

 

[MDCU2003]

To answer shpedly & ellie&mattys mom-We stayed at HRH for 4 nights. I found the rooms to be very nice but nothing outstanding. We had garden view room 3082 which was located at the very end of the hallway of the main lobby floor. In fact our hallway had the gift shop and office along the left side of the hallway and hotel rooms on the right side. We didn't have any problems with the room itself and I found the room location very convenient. Convenient to the elevators. Only problem I encountered was finding the ice machine. I asked at the concierage desk and they informed me there was an ice machine on every floor by the elevators except for the floor we were on. I never actually went to look but my son informed me they were not near the elevators and then I think he later actually found one on our floor. Obviously the desk didn't have a clue.

As for food- we ate at the Beach Club by the pool one evening and we ate at the Sunset Grill one afternoon. It was a rather upscale place. We laugh that DS had $10 macaroni/cheese. He did say it was very very good. DH & I split a southwestern type chicken sandwich. Very good. DS received free cheesecake for his Grade A Kids program. They wrote "Grade A Kids Rock" around the plate in chocolate sauce. Cute! There was an ice cream parlor there but we didn't try it. At City Walk, we ate at Margaritaville and Nascar Cafe. Both were good.

To answer corvair - Cocoa Beach was good for what we were wanting. We went to Kennedy Space Center, a planetarium and did a sea turtle walk but mainly just hung out at the beach. The area didn't seem to be very walker friendly like I remember Daytona being. We like to browse shops after dinner but the area wasn't conducive for such activities.

 

[TINK61]

Regarding the live shows - is there a schedule listing the times for these shows? Thanks. Oh - are there any moderately priced restuarants on and off property (nearby), and one more question - Do you need a reservation at Mythos if you are an on-site guest? Thanks so much.

 

[MDCU2003]

I can't answer the Mythos question because we didn't eat there. As for the shows, at the entrance you can pick up a park map and get a paper with all the show times on it. I don't know if anyone has it posted somewhere on a website or not.

 

[jonemick]

We ate at Mythos last Tuesday, They open at 11:30am and we were the first ones to be seated. There was no wait and the food was very good ! There was a line waiting to be seated when we left at around 12:20pm.

 

[ellie&mattys mom]

Where did you purchase it and where else can you use it!!!

Thanks!!

 

[MDCU2003]

The refillable mugs are EVERYWHERE! We bought ours at Universal at the International Food place. It was the $4.99 (I think) Men In Black. They also had the Spongebob for $11+ but that seemed way too bulky for me. They had different designed mugs at different places. Refills were either $2.99 or $1.99 I can't remember which because DH usually filled it. We used it at both parks for all 4 days with no questions asked. Never asked for our receipt. We all three shared it. One day we even filled it with pop from our room to save a little money. We figured we saved a big chunk of money that way.

 

[cpl100]

About the drink refills: did you mean that you were not sure of the price or the price varied by refill location? Thanks.

 

[workin4vacation]

hi MDCU ~
I'm planning next Easter's break which will include Disney, Cocoa Beach & Universal/IOA, in that order.

Did you stay just one night in Cocoa Beach? I'm wondering if we should schedule 1 or 2 nights there.

The Holiday Inn Oceanfront has a great deal for $60.00 a night. I've heard the place is huge and can be loud and overrun w/kids. We're traveling w/2 teens. Not sure about our hotel choice. I will want a "walking" location, just like you mentioned. Having been there, done that, do you have any better recommendations than the Hampton?

Any advice you may have about length of stay, etc. re: Cocoa would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Minniespal]

Thanks for sharing - Wonderful, detailed review!!!!!

 

[MDCU2003]

To answer workin4vacation: I had heard great recommendations about the Holiday Inn but opted for the Hampton because it was a little cheaper and included breakfast. We actually stayed there 3 nights. The first night we went to the planetarium. The second we went to Kennedy Space Center and the third was for just sitting on the beach doing nothing then we did our sea turtle walk that night. There didn't seem to be any neat stores in the area, only t-shirt souvenir type stores. So I was a tad disappointed. Cocoa (not Cocoa Beach) had an area with a bunch of neat little shops but they were all closed at 6:00 on a Saturday night??? I have no idea why. So I can't say there were any wonderful places to shop and there were definitely no areas that I saw for walking. We had to use the car the whole time. So I guess it all boils down to what you have planned for that area. If its just beach time, then I think the Holiday Inn would be great.