themepark
Wanted: Your trip reports!<br><font color=00cc22>I
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 1,469
Cast of Characters:
My Family
Me - Grinch Admirer, Universal Vacation Planner and Deal Getter
DH - Thrill ride fan and people watcher. Lover of all things that are scary
DD age 10 - Banana Split Dippin Dots lover and roller coaster rider
DS age 8 - Flying Unicorn fanatic who would never take a bath or comb his hair unless under force
Our Friends
LL - (those are her initials) - shopper and napper, hater of water rides
K - (LL's husband) - Goes with the flow. Mummy and Bilge Rat Barges fan
C - (LL and K's son, age 8) - Dr. Doom and Hulk riding maniac
Day 1 - Tuesday, May 25
We drove in from Cocoa Beach where we had stayed for 3 days and had a great time and great weather. Translation: we were all sunburned. As we drove in on the Bee Line, we passed by the extremely noisy and awful hotel where the kids and I stayed back in March. I felt justified in all my complaining about it as I pointed out to DH the 5 trucks lined up in front of it. If you read that trip report, you might remember the loud trucks going by at all hours of the night. On to better things...
We arrived at RPR around 10:00am and pulled up to the hotel front. I didn't even wait for the bellmen to greet me. I hopped out, grabbed LL, and we both ran in to get us checked in. Well we didn't actually run but it was fun listening to her oh and ah over the hotel just like I had done on my first visit. We had 2 rooms booked at the APH rate and had requested them to be connecting and in Tower 1 facing IOA. I walked up to the Loews check-in where 2 people were working. I got up to the desk and stupid me forgot to bring in my driver's license so I couldn't get checked in! I go back out to the front of the hotel where the bellmen had all our luggage loaded up on carts. I walked up to our luggage cart and before I could say anything, the bellman standing with our bags said, "Hello, Mrs. H. Mr. H is parking the car. Did you forget something?" How did he know my name? Remember...I ran in when we first pulled up. Evidently he had just seen me with DH before I flew out of car. I waited for DH and retrieved my ID.
Back to check-in. I walked right up to the Loews check-in and was greeted by Pia who had also checked us in back in March. She was just as friendly as I remembered her. She said our rooms were ready!! They were connecting and facing IOA! Rooms #1648 & 1650. I was psyched! Pia took note of our requests for fruit and water as our welcome gift for both rooms and asked what time we would like them delivered. She also let the kids choose what color shovel and pail they wanted. While we were talking and she was having trouble getting the room key printer to work, she asked me if I had been there recently. I told her yes and that she had checked us in. She said she remembered us. I shall write another letter to RPR praising her. She gets the vacation off to such a great start with her friendly nature and helpfulness. Thomas was our bellman who took our bags to our rooms. On our way to the elevators, he said "I have helped you before. Have you been here recently?" I honestly didn't remember him and I do recognize several of the bellmen from previous visits. But anyway, by this time I am feeling like quite the celebrity! Maybe that's part of their training, I don't know. But that still wouldn't explain the bellman outside knowing my name. And I do believe Pia is sincere. She is so nice. Do try to get in her line at Check-in if at all possible.
We made it up to our rooms and Thomas dropped off all our bags and I patted myself on the back (and silently thanked Pia) for getting us rooms with such great views. We could see Hulk, Dr. Doom, Ripsaw Falls, and Dueling Dragons and the side of Nickelodeon Studios (the kids liked that) plus the water taxi route. WOW! We quickly departed the rooms and headed for IOA. Our friends had never been to Universal so we let them choose what they wanted to do first. They wanted to go to the park they could see, so off to IOA we went! We rode the water taxi so they could get the full experience of entering Citywalk and the parks. This is what we did the first time and I remember it being very exciting.
Our friends had ordered the 5 days for the price of 2 tickets from the kraft deal, but they had forgotten to bring the confirmation number. We walked up to Guest Services and LL was greeted by a very nice lady named Paula. She had to do some searching and when she finally did locate their ticket purchase on her computer she threw up her arms and cheered! She seemed genuinely excited to have found them. LL declared Paula to be her very best friend in the whole world and told Paula's supervisor who just happened to be there how wonderful she was.
I wanted to wow my friends so I headed us all straight to Spiderman. They were very impressed with the "magic" room keys and how quickly we boarded the ride. The ride was going great and then right before the "big drop", we stopped in darkness. We still had the sound from the fall but no motion.
It did start back up after a few seconds and we got to experience the fall into the web but minus the accompanying sound. It just wasn't the same. Our friends said they liked the ride but they didn't seem wowed like they should have been.
We headed over to Toon Lagoon where we saw Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Bullwinkle, Woody, Betty Boop, and Broomhilda. This was the first time we had ever seen Broomhilda. We didn't get pictures because she was on her way out of the area. We rode Ripsaw Falls (my favorite) "I say...You're going the wrong way"...that's my favorite quote. I love all the little signs along the way too. DS loves the sign on the drop where you go under the water that says "Highly Kaboomable". We got fairly wet but wanted to get a good soaking so headed over to the Bilge Rat Barges. We rode once and got our soaking. This is when I discovered LL was not a big fan of water rides. Oops! We explored Me Ship The Olive. I took some pictures while the kids (including the dads) shot the water cannons on riders below. DD tried to convince me that the only way down was on the slide. I am a blonde but I am not that dumb! I know I got up there using steps so I find them and walk back down. Sneaky child..you enjoy making me look like a fool but it didn't work this time!
After rounding everyone up, we wandered on to Jurassic Park. We let the kids play in Camp Jurassic for awhile then walked right on to JPRA after convincing my reluctant children to ride. The very first time we rode this was at night last August and it scared them silly so they haven't liked it ever since. I sat in the front and got soaked again. DD and DS said they still didn't like it.
Everyone was getting hungry so we started discussing lunch. DD chimed in and said, "Let's go to that cave place." YES! I have trained the girl well! Off to Mythos we go! It was close to 3:00pm by now so there was no wait at Mythos. We were seated in a circular booth near the big window with a great view. I ordered the Bay of Fundy Cedar Planked Salmon which was just as wonderful as I remembered it. I was so engrossed in my own meal that I don't even remember what anyone else had. Oh...I do remember that I asked the waitress if the kids chicken fingers had those funky multi-colored sprinkles on them. She looked at me like I had a unicorn horn sticking out of my head and said "uh no." Ok...some of you remember these, right? DS had them last summer and hated them. Well, we felt safe and 2 of the kids ordered them and they did indeed come out as perfectly normal looking chicken tenders. Maybe they had alot of complaints about the the sprinkled ones and gave up on trying to make a presentation on the kids menu items. After I devoured my salmon, I told everyone about the Warm Gooey Banana Chocolate thingy all my disboard friends rave about. We decided to give it a try. When it arrived, I thought it was a helicopter. I took a picture and will try to post it later. We all thought it was good especially the bananas that were on the sides. They should put more of those on it. YUM! I didn't understand the peanut butter ice cream on top...I would rather it had been vanilla.
After we finished eating, I took the kids out the back door and took some photos across the lagoon. I love it back there. When everyone made it out, we headed off to Dueling Dragons. Silly thing to do after eating a big meal isn't it? DS is still not tall enough to ride and K wasn't interested in riding so they headed for guess what? The Flying Unicorn! We had forgotten to give K all our bags and stuff so one of us would have to sit out the Dragons. LL chose to. By the time we got all that arranged, I lost DH and the kids and didn't know if they had chosen Fire or Ice so I ended up riding Ice alone. Both coasters were pretty much walk ons. I had to wait for about 2 minutes for the next train only because they had just shut the gate and loaded my row empty when I walked up. They exited Fire on the ride after mine. LL and DH and the kids went back and rode Fire. When they came out, LL and I took the kids back in for one more ride on Fire. LL felt quite queasy after that ride and the big Mythos lunch so we walked on over to the Flying Unicorn. DD, C, and I joined DS for a ride. The kids all rode one more time after that. K said that DS rode at least 12 times. Yep...I believe he may like this ride!
We finally drug him away from the Unicorn...Fare Thee Well! We made it to the Sindbad show just as they were letting Express in. DD wanted to sit in the splash zone and I wanted to sit on the left side of the ship/stage since we had always been on the right side before. We sat in the last row of the splash zone and DD complained that there was no way we were going to get splashed up there. She continued to complain until we were splashed and were just as wet as if we had just gotten off Ripsaw Falls. We were splashed again later in the show. I was smug in reminding her about the great seats I had chosen. LL, thinking she was done with water rides for the day, did not seem as impressed with my choice of seating. After the show the kids hung around to get pictures with Sindbad, Princess Amora, and Kabob. C wanted some autographs and a nice little girl overheard this and tore pages out of her autograph book for him to use. I thought that was the sweetest thing.
We walked on to Seuss Landing and DH and DS decided to go back to the hotel. LL followed them. I think she was afraid we might trick her into riding another water ride. DD, K, C and I rode Cat In The Hat. It was a walk on from the regular line. Then C really, really, really, really, really wanted to ride Hulk. His dad tried to get him to wait, but I said I would ride with him. DD had never ridden either (which I had forgotten). Off we went. We walked right on through the express line. Seriously, when we walked through the line and entered the loading dock, we immediately got on a train. Both kids LOVED it and were screaming for more. We saw K standing on the bridge waving at us during the ride. DD kept screaming "I love this ride" all the way through. C wanted to ride again but we put him off until later and walked back to RPR.
We went to our rooms, changed into swimsuits and joined DH and DS at the pool. LL was napping. She said riding Fire twice after eating lunch was a mistake she would not make again. DH told me about the torch lighting ceremony he had just seen. We had always missed it on previous stays. While at the pool, a waitress walked by and somehow we started talking about Hurricanes (not the storms but the drinks) and she said it was 2 for Tuesday at Pat O'Briens. I had forgotten all about this and here we even had the 1/2 price GC's! We hurried up to our rooms to change. I knew that kids would not be allowed after 9:00 and it was already 8:00 so we really did have to hurry.
When we arrived at about 8:30, they were no longer taking names for dinner but they told us that we could come back in 30 minutes and get a first-come first-served table. I asked about kids being there after 9:00 and the hostess said "oh yeah, you're right" but then a waiter or maybe it was a manager came up and said "oh it's ok for kids their age, we know they won't be drinking." Ok? We wandered down to see the Emeril taping. He was there for 3 days taping shows at the stage area down by the water. We found a spot where we could actually see him quite well. Since we walked in in the middle of the show, I couldn't tell much that was going on, but it was neat to see him. We walked back up to Pat O's and were seated in the outside area in the back. Yes, it's true 2 for 1 Hurricanes, Heinekens, and Appetizers! Maybe some other stuff...I can't remember. We ordered hurricanes and beers for the adults and soft drinks for the kids. To eat we had the Crawfish Nachos and Buffalo Wings and the kids had something off the kids menu. LL and K ordered something too. I don't remember what since the Hurricane was starting to take effect.
One strange thing here...or at least I thought it strange. When you order your 2 for 1 drinks, they don't bring out 2 at once or mix doubles. You have to order the second one. The 2 for 1 deal ends at 10pm. I got both my hurricanes but when DH tried to order his "free" one, it was like 10:04 and the waitress said she could get it but he would be charged full price. We don't go out much anymore or go to happy hours at all, but I do remember a time when I frequented them and normally you either get the 2 drinks at once or at least the waitress reminds you "hey! it's about to end, can I bring you something?" Not here. So we requested our bill. Oh somewhere in here LL and K had taken the kids who were exhausted back to the hotel. So we are now child free. The waitress had charged us full price for one of the appetizers. 
We did get that straightened out but it took an unusually long time to do so. We paid with our GC and went on our way. The piano bar looked fun but we were kind of soured on Pat O's at this point so we just walked around Citywalk and the shops until they closed at 11:00 then rode the water taxi back to RPR. All in all, Pat O'Briens was a good deal with the 2 for 1 specials and the 1/2 price GC. I love a bargain!
Summary: IOA was very uncrowded, the regular lines were not long at all and there just weren't alot of people walking around. The weather was hot but low humidity so really it was perfect weather. Everyone was exhausted from a long, but fun day.
Stay tuned for Day 2 at USF!
My Family
Me - Grinch Admirer, Universal Vacation Planner and Deal Getter
DH - Thrill ride fan and people watcher. Lover of all things that are scary
DD age 10 - Banana Split Dippin Dots lover and roller coaster rider
DS age 8 - Flying Unicorn fanatic who would never take a bath or comb his hair unless under force
Our Friends
LL - (those are her initials) - shopper and napper, hater of water rides
K - (LL's husband) - Goes with the flow. Mummy and Bilge Rat Barges fan
C - (LL and K's son, age 8) - Dr. Doom and Hulk riding maniac
Day 1 - Tuesday, May 25
We drove in from Cocoa Beach where we had stayed for 3 days and had a great time and great weather. Translation: we were all sunburned. As we drove in on the Bee Line, we passed by the extremely noisy and awful hotel where the kids and I stayed back in March. I felt justified in all my complaining about it as I pointed out to DH the 5 trucks lined up in front of it. If you read that trip report, you might remember the loud trucks going by at all hours of the night. On to better things...
We arrived at RPR around 10:00am and pulled up to the hotel front. I didn't even wait for the bellmen to greet me. I hopped out, grabbed LL, and we both ran in to get us checked in. Well we didn't actually run but it was fun listening to her oh and ah over the hotel just like I had done on my first visit. We had 2 rooms booked at the APH rate and had requested them to be connecting and in Tower 1 facing IOA. I walked up to the Loews check-in where 2 people were working. I got up to the desk and stupid me forgot to bring in my driver's license so I couldn't get checked in! I go back out to the front of the hotel where the bellmen had all our luggage loaded up on carts. I walked up to our luggage cart and before I could say anything, the bellman standing with our bags said, "Hello, Mrs. H. Mr. H is parking the car. Did you forget something?" How did he know my name? Remember...I ran in when we first pulled up. Evidently he had just seen me with DH before I flew out of car. I waited for DH and retrieved my ID.
Back to check-in. I walked right up to the Loews check-in and was greeted by Pia who had also checked us in back in March. She was just as friendly as I remembered her. She said our rooms were ready!! They were connecting and facing IOA! Rooms #1648 & 1650. I was psyched! Pia took note of our requests for fruit and water as our welcome gift for both rooms and asked what time we would like them delivered. She also let the kids choose what color shovel and pail they wanted. While we were talking and she was having trouble getting the room key printer to work, she asked me if I had been there recently. I told her yes and that she had checked us in. She said she remembered us. I shall write another letter to RPR praising her. She gets the vacation off to such a great start with her friendly nature and helpfulness. Thomas was our bellman who took our bags to our rooms. On our way to the elevators, he said "I have helped you before. Have you been here recently?" I honestly didn't remember him and I do recognize several of the bellmen from previous visits. But anyway, by this time I am feeling like quite the celebrity! Maybe that's part of their training, I don't know. But that still wouldn't explain the bellman outside knowing my name. And I do believe Pia is sincere. She is so nice. Do try to get in her line at Check-in if at all possible.
We made it up to our rooms and Thomas dropped off all our bags and I patted myself on the back (and silently thanked Pia) for getting us rooms with such great views. We could see Hulk, Dr. Doom, Ripsaw Falls, and Dueling Dragons and the side of Nickelodeon Studios (the kids liked that) plus the water taxi route. WOW! We quickly departed the rooms and headed for IOA. Our friends had never been to Universal so we let them choose what they wanted to do first. They wanted to go to the park they could see, so off to IOA we went! We rode the water taxi so they could get the full experience of entering Citywalk and the parks. This is what we did the first time and I remember it being very exciting.
Our friends had ordered the 5 days for the price of 2 tickets from the kraft deal, but they had forgotten to bring the confirmation number. We walked up to Guest Services and LL was greeted by a very nice lady named Paula. She had to do some searching and when she finally did locate their ticket purchase on her computer she threw up her arms and cheered! She seemed genuinely excited to have found them. LL declared Paula to be her very best friend in the whole world and told Paula's supervisor who just happened to be there how wonderful she was.
I wanted to wow my friends so I headed us all straight to Spiderman. They were very impressed with the "magic" room keys and how quickly we boarded the ride. The ride was going great and then right before the "big drop", we stopped in darkness. We still had the sound from the fall but no motion.
It did start back up after a few seconds and we got to experience the fall into the web but minus the accompanying sound. It just wasn't the same. Our friends said they liked the ride but they didn't seem wowed like they should have been. We headed over to Toon Lagoon where we saw Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Bullwinkle, Woody, Betty Boop, and Broomhilda. This was the first time we had ever seen Broomhilda. We didn't get pictures because she was on her way out of the area. We rode Ripsaw Falls (my favorite) "I say...You're going the wrong way"...that's my favorite quote. I love all the little signs along the way too. DS loves the sign on the drop where you go under the water that says "Highly Kaboomable". We got fairly wet but wanted to get a good soaking so headed over to the Bilge Rat Barges. We rode once and got our soaking. This is when I discovered LL was not a big fan of water rides. Oops! We explored Me Ship The Olive. I took some pictures while the kids (including the dads) shot the water cannons on riders below. DD tried to convince me that the only way down was on the slide. I am a blonde but I am not that dumb! I know I got up there using steps so I find them and walk back down. Sneaky child..you enjoy making me look like a fool but it didn't work this time!
After rounding everyone up, we wandered on to Jurassic Park. We let the kids play in Camp Jurassic for awhile then walked right on to JPRA after convincing my reluctant children to ride. The very first time we rode this was at night last August and it scared them silly so they haven't liked it ever since. I sat in the front and got soaked again. DD and DS said they still didn't like it.
Everyone was getting hungry so we started discussing lunch. DD chimed in and said, "Let's go to that cave place." YES! I have trained the girl well! Off to Mythos we go! It was close to 3:00pm by now so there was no wait at Mythos. We were seated in a circular booth near the big window with a great view. I ordered the Bay of Fundy Cedar Planked Salmon which was just as wonderful as I remembered it. I was so engrossed in my own meal that I don't even remember what anyone else had. Oh...I do remember that I asked the waitress if the kids chicken fingers had those funky multi-colored sprinkles on them. She looked at me like I had a unicorn horn sticking out of my head and said "uh no." Ok...some of you remember these, right? DS had them last summer and hated them. Well, we felt safe and 2 of the kids ordered them and they did indeed come out as perfectly normal looking chicken tenders. Maybe they had alot of complaints about the the sprinkled ones and gave up on trying to make a presentation on the kids menu items. After I devoured my salmon, I told everyone about the Warm Gooey Banana Chocolate thingy all my disboard friends rave about. We decided to give it a try. When it arrived, I thought it was a helicopter. I took a picture and will try to post it later. We all thought it was good especially the bananas that were on the sides. They should put more of those on it. YUM! I didn't understand the peanut butter ice cream on top...I would rather it had been vanilla.
After we finished eating, I took the kids out the back door and took some photos across the lagoon. I love it back there. When everyone made it out, we headed off to Dueling Dragons. Silly thing to do after eating a big meal isn't it? DS is still not tall enough to ride and K wasn't interested in riding so they headed for guess what? The Flying Unicorn! We had forgotten to give K all our bags and stuff so one of us would have to sit out the Dragons. LL chose to. By the time we got all that arranged, I lost DH and the kids and didn't know if they had chosen Fire or Ice so I ended up riding Ice alone. Both coasters were pretty much walk ons. I had to wait for about 2 minutes for the next train only because they had just shut the gate and loaded my row empty when I walked up. They exited Fire on the ride after mine. LL and DH and the kids went back and rode Fire. When they came out, LL and I took the kids back in for one more ride on Fire. LL felt quite queasy after that ride and the big Mythos lunch so we walked on over to the Flying Unicorn. DD, C, and I joined DS for a ride. The kids all rode one more time after that. K said that DS rode at least 12 times. Yep...I believe he may like this ride!
We finally drug him away from the Unicorn...Fare Thee Well! We made it to the Sindbad show just as they were letting Express in. DD wanted to sit in the splash zone and I wanted to sit on the left side of the ship/stage since we had always been on the right side before. We sat in the last row of the splash zone and DD complained that there was no way we were going to get splashed up there. She continued to complain until we were splashed and were just as wet as if we had just gotten off Ripsaw Falls. We were splashed again later in the show. I was smug in reminding her about the great seats I had chosen. LL, thinking she was done with water rides for the day, did not seem as impressed with my choice of seating. After the show the kids hung around to get pictures with Sindbad, Princess Amora, and Kabob. C wanted some autographs and a nice little girl overheard this and tore pages out of her autograph book for him to use. I thought that was the sweetest thing.
We walked on to Seuss Landing and DH and DS decided to go back to the hotel. LL followed them. I think she was afraid we might trick her into riding another water ride. DD, K, C and I rode Cat In The Hat. It was a walk on from the regular line. Then C really, really, really, really, really wanted to ride Hulk. His dad tried to get him to wait, but I said I would ride with him. DD had never ridden either (which I had forgotten). Off we went. We walked right on through the express line. Seriously, when we walked through the line and entered the loading dock, we immediately got on a train. Both kids LOVED it and were screaming for more. We saw K standing on the bridge waving at us during the ride. DD kept screaming "I love this ride" all the way through. C wanted to ride again but we put him off until later and walked back to RPR.
We went to our rooms, changed into swimsuits and joined DH and DS at the pool. LL was napping. She said riding Fire twice after eating lunch was a mistake she would not make again. DH told me about the torch lighting ceremony he had just seen. We had always missed it on previous stays. While at the pool, a waitress walked by and somehow we started talking about Hurricanes (not the storms but the drinks) and she said it was 2 for Tuesday at Pat O'Briens. I had forgotten all about this and here we even had the 1/2 price GC's! We hurried up to our rooms to change. I knew that kids would not be allowed after 9:00 and it was already 8:00 so we really did have to hurry.
When we arrived at about 8:30, they were no longer taking names for dinner but they told us that we could come back in 30 minutes and get a first-come first-served table. I asked about kids being there after 9:00 and the hostess said "oh yeah, you're right" but then a waiter or maybe it was a manager came up and said "oh it's ok for kids their age, we know they won't be drinking." Ok? We wandered down to see the Emeril taping. He was there for 3 days taping shows at the stage area down by the water. We found a spot where we could actually see him quite well. Since we walked in in the middle of the show, I couldn't tell much that was going on, but it was neat to see him. We walked back up to Pat O's and were seated in the outside area in the back. Yes, it's true 2 for 1 Hurricanes, Heinekens, and Appetizers! Maybe some other stuff...I can't remember. We ordered hurricanes and beers for the adults and soft drinks for the kids. To eat we had the Crawfish Nachos and Buffalo Wings and the kids had something off the kids menu. LL and K ordered something too. I don't remember what since the Hurricane was starting to take effect.
One strange thing here...or at least I thought it strange. When you order your 2 for 1 drinks, they don't bring out 2 at once or mix doubles. You have to order the second one. The 2 for 1 deal ends at 10pm. I got both my hurricanes but when DH tried to order his "free" one, it was like 10:04 and the waitress said she could get it but he would be charged full price. We don't go out much anymore or go to happy hours at all, but I do remember a time when I frequented them and normally you either get the 2 drinks at once or at least the waitress reminds you "hey! it's about to end, can I bring you something?" Not here. So we requested our bill. Oh somewhere in here LL and K had taken the kids who were exhausted back to the hotel. So we are now child free. The waitress had charged us full price for one of the appetizers. We did get that straightened out but it took an unusually long time to do so. We paid with our GC and went on our way. The piano bar looked fun but we were kind of soured on Pat O's at this point so we just walked around Citywalk and the shops until they closed at 11:00 then rode the water taxi back to RPR. All in all, Pat O'Briens was a good deal with the 2 for 1 specials and the 1/2 price GC. I love a bargain! Summary: IOA was very uncrowded, the regular lines were not long at all and there just weren't alot of people walking around. The weather was hot but low humidity so really it was perfect weather. Everyone was exhausted from a long, but fun day.
Stay tuned for Day 2 at USF!
