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 bargain hunter
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 3 - Thursday, May 27
We got up late again (9:00amish) and everyone was very tired even after a good night's sleep. We decided it was time to lounge around the pool. My kids heard one of the other hotel's pool slides calling their names. We chose to go check out PBH's Beach Pool. We have swam at the HRH pool twice before but never at PBH so off we went! On our way out of the hotel, we noticed the RPR ship's water play area was working. It had been roped off and closed for the past two days. We rode the water taxi to Citywalk and the PBH water taxi was there waiting on us. I am sure they were holding it for us being that we are celebrities and all. Hey! I can dream...I'm on vacation!
Our friends were wowed by the site of PBH when it came into view just as we had been back in January. We went straight to the pool area so we could deposit our stuff and find chairs. No need to rush. The pool was not crowded at all. We claimed chairs in the sand on the zero depth entry side of the pool. DH had gone exploring the hotel. When he returned, he told the rest of us adults that we had to go check out the lobby. He said it was gorgeous. So LL, K and I left to go exploring. We got lost along the way and ended up in the area where the ballrooms and convention facilities are located. Let me tell you it was beautiful. Even in the hallways, it appears as though you are strolling through an Italian village. The atmosphere at PBH cannot be beat. We did finally make our way to the lobby. It was very impressive and beautiful. Very upscale. There were alot of people resting in the lobby and stirring about. Many looked like business travelers. We walked through the lounging area to look out a window and passed by a man who was asleep in a chair. Just as we walked by him, he let out a loud snore! We giggled and went on our way exploring.
When we returned to the pool, the kids had already been on the slide numerous times and insisted we all go try it out. Very fun slide with nice little drop! And I didn't even hit my backside on the bottom of the pool like I had at HRH before. I rode the slide several times. I am a big kid and LOVE water slides and water parks. We swam and played in the water and relaxed in our loungers. Now having sat in the pool chairs at all 3 resorts, I can report that RPR has the best chairs. HRH has the worst. IMHO. During our time at the pool, we ordered 2 Rum Runners, 1 Coca-Cola, and 1 Banana Smoothie. Total with tax and tip: $27. One time I came back to my chair after swimming and noticed LL was asleep. I got out a magazine to read. LL started snoring. Obviously PBH is a very relaxing place.
We were having so much fun that we didn't even realize the time. We had taken some snacks along to the pool so the kids were satisfied with that for quite awhile. We dried off and left around 2:30 and explored some of the hotel shops and took some photos of the kids on the mopeds at the bay. My children began fighting while we waited on the water taxi and I threatened that I would be taking future vacations without them if they didn't shape up. Imagine the fun mom would have riding the rides and seeing all the kids' favorite attractions without them! They got along the rest of the day.
We rode the water taxi back to Citywalk and ate at NBA City. I had the Chicken Quesadillas which were yummy! The other 3 adults all had the Philly Cheesesteak. They all raved about how delicious it was. The kids had Bulls Burgers and Denver Nuggets and enjoyed the kids menu. It has lots of activities on it to pass the time away including a design your jersey. This is my family's favorite Citywalk restaurant with Margaritaville running a close second. NBA City has the best food IMO. After our late lunch, we thought it a great idea to go to IOA and ride water rides since we were still in our swim gear.
LL took this opportunity to bow out and go off on her own. She ended up shopping in Citywalk for several hours and found these cool American Idol Simon talking bobbleheads. He is very insulting but funny. They were on clearance too! She found some other neat stuff and enjoyed browsing in all the stores. She said when she rode the water taxi back to RPR, she chatted with a lady who had just checked in and was asking her all kinds of questions about the parks, etc. She told LL that her husband had gotten them a great deal on the hotel because he had been reading message boards. LL said her friend, themepark, got them great deals too. I wonder who he was and if he is reading my trip report?
Back at IOA: DH, DD, K, and C all went to ride the Hulk. DS is not tall enough for it yet so I took him to Spiderman. The others ended up riding Hulk twice while DS and I rode Spidey once and waited. We saw the superheroes ride in...only 2 X-Men, Spidey, Captain America this time. Where was the Hulk? I also miss Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin. We saw them last summer before they were canned. We all met back up and headed for Ripsaw Falls. I sat in the front and got soaked. This is my favorite water ride anywhere. I love all the drops and the quirky signs along your journey. And the last drop is Kaboomable! We waited longer than usual to ride so decided not to do this again for right now. We headed over to Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. The express line moved rather quickly so we rode this 3 times. K kept asking, "Do you guys want to ride again?" This was his favorite ride. We had to oblige! Each time DS got squirted by people from Me Ship The Olive, he would shake his fist at them while screaming "Curse you evil people!" I do not know where he got this from but he has done this on prior visits also. Never mind the fact he enjoyed being one of the evil people a few days before. I followed the story closer this time than ever before and enjoyed singing, "I'm strong to the finish cuz I eats me spinach" at the end of each ride.
Next we headed to Jurassic Park River Adventure. My kids agreed to this but only one more time they said. They have hated it since last summer when we rode one night in the dark and it scared them silly. Oh by the way...what happened to the big doors that opened up when you hear "Welcome to Jurassic Park" and the music begins playing? They must have had technical difficulties with those huge doors opening every minute or so. Bummer because that was a neat way to start the ride. After looking at our photo, DD proclaimed that she now loved this ride. Okey dokey! She went from hating it to loving it. We decided we need to ride again and make goofy faces for the photo so we went back through the express line and boarded. I know all the people in our boat must have thought "what a bunch of goofballs". Some of us had rabbit ears and all 6 of us made some sort of goofy face and threw our arms in the air. The picture was hysterical.
We then let the kids play in Camp Jurassic. They discovered the water guns there and had a blast. Except for DS who sat down for awhile saying he wasn't feeling good. I think he was just hot and thirsty because after I got him something to drink, he perked up. Next we got Dippin Dots for the kids. The stand near Popeye's has Banana Split. Most of the carts do not. DD was thrilled with the size of her cup of Dippin Dots. It better be big...it was $5! LOL. We were sad to see the water turned off at Ripsaw Falls. It does look funny with no water running down. We walked on to Dr. Doom and DS and C began begging to ride it. This was DS's first time to ride and he was excited about it but a little nervous. K sat this one out. He had announced upon first seeing the ride from the hotel window that he would not be riding. The kids wanted to ride again so off we go to the express line where the lady working at the front measured DS again (she had just done this 10 minutes ago) and said she wasn't sure if he was big enough. She shooed us on and he did ride again and we got much better air time for some reason. We were facing RPR which I had not done before. DS said he came way up out of his seat at the top. DH said he didn't remember ever coming up out of his seat like that before either. Awesome airtime! C was ready to ride the Hulk again now. DD and I went with him while DH and DS rode Storm Force. I don't do spinny rides. I really can't even watch them without feeling nauseous. Hulk was great as always. I love the takeoff. DD once again screamed the whole time, "I love this ride!" Afterwards, DD and C joined DS for one more ride on Storm Force. I sat nearby but did not watch.
It was now time to go...or was it? When we were turning to head to Port of Entry, the kids began begging..."Let's ride Cat in the Hat!" So K and I took the 3 kids on the ride while DH disappeared. Yes, CITH does spin but it is not a continuous spin so I can handle that. DH was still nowhere to be found so we let the kids ride One Fish Two Fish. C and DD wanted to ride again so they got back in line while I took DS to CITH again. DH finally reappeared with a Merry Grinchmas t-shirt for me! They were finally on sale and with our AP discount ended up costing about $7! Did I mention that I love the Grinch? We all went back to Gertrude McFuzz's Fine Feathered Finery to look at Grinch merchandise. I bought some Whoville keychains that were originally $6 for 80 cents a piece. They had been marked down to 99 cents then I got the AP discount! I bought a few small things for friends back home who were keeping our pet guinea pig and getting our mail. The kids rode One Fish one more time then the park closed. OMG! It was after 8:00pm. I bet LL was wondering where we were! We walked back to RPR. DH stopped on the way at Margaritaville to put our name in for dinner. They said it would be an hour and a half wait even for hotel guests.
We got back to RPR and contemplated what to do. The kids said they were hungry and really wanted some balloon hats so we quickly cleaned up and headed to Margaritaville. I had showered and washed my hair and when I went to use the hair dryer, it just sort of grumbled and started smoking. I turned it off and called Star Service to report this. Before we left, we also noticed one of the lights next to the bathroom mirror was burned out. We left them on so maybe that would be fixed if they came to fix the dryer. I cannot believe how late we ate dinner. By the time we got our food it was after 10:00pm and they had turned the Jimmy Buffett tunes off and a band called The Kyle Henderson Project began playing. No balloon hats. I guess we were just there too late. The band was pretty good but naturally it was loud and the kids didn't like that too much. I would rather have continued hearing Jimmy and seeing the volcano erupt. The kids were upset about not getting the balloon hats too. We made a mental note to not eat there so late again. I don't know what got into us with all this late eating. We have eaten at our normal meal times on other visits to Universal. I guess we just got carried away this trip. When we returned to our room, there was a new hair dryer and the bathroom light had been fixed.
Everyone hit the sack except for me who stayed up a short time making notes for my trip report. You know me...if I don't write it down, I won't remember it! As I was writing, DH began snoring quite loudly. Another great day with perfect weather comes to a close! Speaking of weather, it was hot (95-97 degrees) during our stay but there was very low humidity so it was actually quite pleasant especially on those water rides!
Edited to add: When we left RPR for Citywalk, there was a huge party going on at the pool. I have never seen so many people in and around the pool. They had all kinds of special lighting on each individual palm tree making each tree a different color. The whole area was very festive and colorful and it was rockin' with a band playing. There were bars set up and you could only access the pool from one area. It was not closed to hotel guests but you had to enter at a certain spot. They were winding down and beginning to clean up when we returned. We asked what was going on and it was a function for one of the conventions (I can't remember now what company). WOW...can't imagine what all that must have cost. The decorations alone were incredible. When DH's company has a party, they get cake and maybe some sandwiches in the break room!
Stay tuned for Day 4 - More park fun, DH and I go out alone to Revenge of the Mummy Passholder Night!
My Family
Me - Grinch admirer, Universal Vacation Planner and bargain hunter
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 3 - Thursday, May 27
We got up late again (9:00amish) and everyone was very tired even after a good night's sleep. We decided it was time to lounge around the pool. My kids heard one of the other hotel's pool slides calling their names. We chose to go check out PBH's Beach Pool. We have swam at the HRH pool twice before but never at PBH so off we went! On our way out of the hotel, we noticed the RPR ship's water play area was working. It had been roped off and closed for the past two days. We rode the water taxi to Citywalk and the PBH water taxi was there waiting on us. I am sure they were holding it for us being that we are celebrities and all. Hey! I can dream...I'm on vacation!
Our friends were wowed by the site of PBH when it came into view just as we had been back in January. We went straight to the pool area so we could deposit our stuff and find chairs. No need to rush. The pool was not crowded at all. We claimed chairs in the sand on the zero depth entry side of the pool. DH had gone exploring the hotel. When he returned, he told the rest of us adults that we had to go check out the lobby. He said it was gorgeous. So LL, K and I left to go exploring. We got lost along the way and ended up in the area where the ballrooms and convention facilities are located. Let me tell you it was beautiful. Even in the hallways, it appears as though you are strolling through an Italian village. The atmosphere at PBH cannot be beat. We did finally make our way to the lobby. It was very impressive and beautiful. Very upscale. There were alot of people resting in the lobby and stirring about. Many looked like business travelers. We walked through the lounging area to look out a window and passed by a man who was asleep in a chair. Just as we walked by him, he let out a loud snore! We giggled and went on our way exploring.
When we returned to the pool, the kids had already been on the slide numerous times and insisted we all go try it out. Very fun slide with nice little drop! And I didn't even hit my backside on the bottom of the pool like I had at HRH before. I rode the slide several times. I am a big kid and LOVE water slides and water parks. We swam and played in the water and relaxed in our loungers. Now having sat in the pool chairs at all 3 resorts, I can report that RPR has the best chairs. HRH has the worst. IMHO. During our time at the pool, we ordered 2 Rum Runners, 1 Coca-Cola, and 1 Banana Smoothie. Total with tax and tip: $27. One time I came back to my chair after swimming and noticed LL was asleep. I got out a magazine to read. LL started snoring. Obviously PBH is a very relaxing place.
We were having so much fun that we didn't even realize the time. We had taken some snacks along to the pool so the kids were satisfied with that for quite awhile. We dried off and left around 2:30 and explored some of the hotel shops and took some photos of the kids on the mopeds at the bay. My children began fighting while we waited on the water taxi and I threatened that I would be taking future vacations without them if they didn't shape up. Imagine the fun mom would have riding the rides and seeing all the kids' favorite attractions without them! They got along the rest of the day.
We rode the water taxi back to Citywalk and ate at NBA City. I had the Chicken Quesadillas which were yummy! The other 3 adults all had the Philly Cheesesteak. They all raved about how delicious it was. The kids had Bulls Burgers and Denver Nuggets and enjoyed the kids menu. It has lots of activities on it to pass the time away including a design your jersey. This is my family's favorite Citywalk restaurant with Margaritaville running a close second. NBA City has the best food IMO. After our late lunch, we thought it a great idea to go to IOA and ride water rides since we were still in our swim gear.
LL took this opportunity to bow out and go off on her own. She ended up shopping in Citywalk for several hours and found these cool American Idol Simon talking bobbleheads. He is very insulting but funny. They were on clearance too! She found some other neat stuff and enjoyed browsing in all the stores. She said when she rode the water taxi back to RPR, she chatted with a lady who had just checked in and was asking her all kinds of questions about the parks, etc. She told LL that her husband had gotten them a great deal on the hotel because he had been reading message boards. LL said her friend, themepark, got them great deals too. I wonder who he was and if he is reading my trip report?
Back at IOA: DH, DD, K, and C all went to ride the Hulk. DS is not tall enough for it yet so I took him to Spiderman. The others ended up riding Hulk twice while DS and I rode Spidey once and waited. We saw the superheroes ride in...only 2 X-Men, Spidey, Captain America this time. Where was the Hulk? I also miss Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin. We saw them last summer before they were canned. We all met back up and headed for Ripsaw Falls. I sat in the front and got soaked. This is my favorite water ride anywhere. I love all the drops and the quirky signs along your journey. And the last drop is Kaboomable! We waited longer than usual to ride so decided not to do this again for right now. We headed over to Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. The express line moved rather quickly so we rode this 3 times. K kept asking, "Do you guys want to ride again?" This was his favorite ride. We had to oblige! Each time DS got squirted by people from Me Ship The Olive, he would shake his fist at them while screaming "Curse you evil people!" I do not know where he got this from but he has done this on prior visits also. Never mind the fact he enjoyed being one of the evil people a few days before. I followed the story closer this time than ever before and enjoyed singing, "I'm strong to the finish cuz I eats me spinach" at the end of each ride.
Next we headed to Jurassic Park River Adventure. My kids agreed to this but only one more time they said. They have hated it since last summer when we rode one night in the dark and it scared them silly. Oh by the way...what happened to the big doors that opened up when you hear "Welcome to Jurassic Park" and the music begins playing? They must have had technical difficulties with those huge doors opening every minute or so. Bummer because that was a neat way to start the ride. After looking at our photo, DD proclaimed that she now loved this ride. Okey dokey! She went from hating it to loving it. We decided we need to ride again and make goofy faces for the photo so we went back through the express line and boarded. I know all the people in our boat must have thought "what a bunch of goofballs". Some of us had rabbit ears and all 6 of us made some sort of goofy face and threw our arms in the air. The picture was hysterical.
We then let the kids play in Camp Jurassic. They discovered the water guns there and had a blast. Except for DS who sat down for awhile saying he wasn't feeling good. I think he was just hot and thirsty because after I got him something to drink, he perked up. Next we got Dippin Dots for the kids. The stand near Popeye's has Banana Split. Most of the carts do not. DD was thrilled with the size of her cup of Dippin Dots. It better be big...it was $5! LOL. We were sad to see the water turned off at Ripsaw Falls. It does look funny with no water running down. We walked on to Dr. Doom and DS and C began begging to ride it. This was DS's first time to ride and he was excited about it but a little nervous. K sat this one out. He had announced upon first seeing the ride from the hotel window that he would not be riding. The kids wanted to ride again so off we go to the express line where the lady working at the front measured DS again (she had just done this 10 minutes ago) and said she wasn't sure if he was big enough. She shooed us on and he did ride again and we got much better air time for some reason. We were facing RPR which I had not done before. DS said he came way up out of his seat at the top. DH said he didn't remember ever coming up out of his seat like that before either. Awesome airtime! C was ready to ride the Hulk again now. DD and I went with him while DH and DS rode Storm Force. I don't do spinny rides. I really can't even watch them without feeling nauseous. Hulk was great as always. I love the takeoff. DD once again screamed the whole time, "I love this ride!" Afterwards, DD and C joined DS for one more ride on Storm Force. I sat nearby but did not watch.
It was now time to go...or was it? When we were turning to head to Port of Entry, the kids began begging..."Let's ride Cat in the Hat!" So K and I took the 3 kids on the ride while DH disappeared. Yes, CITH does spin but it is not a continuous spin so I can handle that. DH was still nowhere to be found so we let the kids ride One Fish Two Fish. C and DD wanted to ride again so they got back in line while I took DS to CITH again. DH finally reappeared with a Merry Grinchmas t-shirt for me! They were finally on sale and with our AP discount ended up costing about $7! Did I mention that I love the Grinch? We all went back to Gertrude McFuzz's Fine Feathered Finery to look at Grinch merchandise. I bought some Whoville keychains that were originally $6 for 80 cents a piece. They had been marked down to 99 cents then I got the AP discount! I bought a few small things for friends back home who were keeping our pet guinea pig and getting our mail. The kids rode One Fish one more time then the park closed. OMG! It was after 8:00pm. I bet LL was wondering where we were! We walked back to RPR. DH stopped on the way at Margaritaville to put our name in for dinner. They said it would be an hour and a half wait even for hotel guests.
We got back to RPR and contemplated what to do. The kids said they were hungry and really wanted some balloon hats so we quickly cleaned up and headed to Margaritaville. I had showered and washed my hair and when I went to use the hair dryer, it just sort of grumbled and started smoking. I turned it off and called Star Service to report this. Before we left, we also noticed one of the lights next to the bathroom mirror was burned out. We left them on so maybe that would be fixed if they came to fix the dryer. I cannot believe how late we ate dinner. By the time we got our food it was after 10:00pm and they had turned the Jimmy Buffett tunes off and a band called The Kyle Henderson Project began playing. No balloon hats. I guess we were just there too late. The band was pretty good but naturally it was loud and the kids didn't like that too much. I would rather have continued hearing Jimmy and seeing the volcano erupt. The kids were upset about not getting the balloon hats too. We made a mental note to not eat there so late again. I don't know what got into us with all this late eating. We have eaten at our normal meal times on other visits to Universal. I guess we just got carried away this trip. When we returned to our room, there was a new hair dryer and the bathroom light had been fixed.
Everyone hit the sack except for me who stayed up a short time making notes for my trip report. You know me...if I don't write it down, I won't remember it! As I was writing, DH began snoring quite loudly. Another great day with perfect weather comes to a close! Speaking of weather, it was hot (95-97 degrees) during our stay but there was very low humidity so it was actually quite pleasant especially on those water rides! Edited to add: When we left RPR for Citywalk, there was a huge party going on at the pool. I have never seen so many people in and around the pool. They had all kinds of special lighting on each individual palm tree making each tree a different color. The whole area was very festive and colorful and it was rockin' with a band playing. There were bars set up and you could only access the pool from one area. It was not closed to hotel guests but you had to enter at a certain spot. They were winding down and beginning to clean up when we returned. We asked what was going on and it was a function for one of the conventions (I can't remember now what company). WOW...can't imagine what all that must have cost. The decorations alone were incredible. When DH's company has a party, they get cake and maybe some sandwiches in the break room!
Stay tuned for Day 4 - More park fun, DH and I go out alone to Revenge of the Mummy Passholder Night!
i got a sound machine from star service which helped me to ignore his snoring
Just wanted you to know I read them right after we got back & promptly got sick so I apologize for not letting you know how AWESOME they were! I even went back & read them again & laughed all over.
Your family sounds alot like mine....fun loving and noisy...never a dull moment, eh?
Forgive me if I read it wrong, but isn't there supposed to be a Day 5? Did I miss it, or miss read it? Don't hold back on us.
