Dining at Universal Clear Channel style! Day 1

tarheelmjfan

Proud Redhead
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May 10, 2001
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Who: Kenneth (DH), Buddy (17), Kenny (12), Molly, and myself
When: Sat. July, 10th
Where: RPR, IOA, & Motown

After leaving Tampa, we met 2 of my sisters at IHOP, LBV to pick up my nephew. He was a last minute addition to our trip. They happened to be in Fl. vacationing, and he decided that he'd rather stay with us. We called and added his name to the room 3 days prior to arrival. He had been to US many years ago, but never to IOA, and had never stayed on-site. I was looking forward to seeing every thing through a 1st timers eyes once again.

We arrived at RPR around 3 pm, driving our RV and van. Because we had the RV, we were instructed to park in the Con. Center parking lot. That's a long walk! My DH & I went to check-in, leaving the boys & Molly in the RV playing PS2 in a/c comfort. At the check-in desk, we added a microwave to warm breakfast & food for Molly. It did end up costing us $15 per night, instead of $10, as my DH was quoted over the phone. We didn't argue with them, and it ended up being money well spent. I inquired about a Fl. Res. upgrade, and was told that because we had a pet, and there was only so many pet rooms, it wasn't possible. No biggie! We were pleasantly surprised to see that they only charged us for self-parking our van, not the RV. Car parking is cheaper! :D By the way, my DH forget our Loews 1st card, but that line was longer at check-in anyway. It was the only one with a wait. Our room wasn't ready, so they took our cell phone # and gave us our key cards and a card with the # to call back and check. I asked at check-in about pet amenities, and was told the Concierge would have all the info. The lady we talked to at the Con. desk was clueless. I wondered if she was even aware that they had pets staying there. We gave up and decided to deal with it later. While we waited to get into the room, we decided to head over to pick up my nephews E-ticket. I had ordered it at the last min. over the net. Off to get the ticket and ride a few rides. Not!!! I had forgotten to get my family's tickets out of the RV. Oops!!! :o Trekking back to RPR, we decided to wait in the RV until we could get into the room. My DH called around 3:50pm to check on the room status, no luck. Again at 4:20pm, still sorry but "no". Finally, they called us around 4:35pm to tell us our room was ready. We carried our luggage in, and were the envy of quite a few people when they saw our cooler. I think there was more than 1 person kicking themselves. ;) When you live 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. from the theme parks, you live and learn. We were given room # 2446. If this room had a standard view, no upgrade, I'll take a standard view everytime. :D We had a beautiful view of the foot bridge leading to the Lobby and water down below w/ 2 spraying fountains. We were a couple doors down from the ice machine, very close to the exit stairs leading to the dog walk, and not very far from the elevators. It was a good location for us. Tower 3 looked more convenient than Tower 2, but I don't know if it had pet rooms. Unfortunately, this room wasn't nearly as clean as the deluxe, pool view room that we were upgraded to last yr. at HRH. It was also a pet room, even though we didn't need one then. There were no signs of a pet there. Our room at RPR, definitely showed signs of a pet. One that wouldn't reside in my house, on my off-white carpet. I just pulled out my handy bottle of "Out" pet spray and sprayed all the mishaps that had occurred before we arrived, and voila, they're gone. We called Star Serv. to inquire about the microwave, & were told they would be there within 30 min. 1 hr. & 15 min. later, we decided to give up and head to the parks. When we got back to the room, we had a note stating that they had tried to deliver.

Naturally, we went to IOA 1st, and introduced my neph. to Spidey. I had already sworn my son to secrecy, and allowed my neph. to rattle on about how good could a 3-D show be. My reply was always, "wait & see". After experiencing the ride, his response was great. "Wow, that was the most awesome ride that I have ever ridden. Why didn't you tell me that the cars moved? It felt like we were really flying & falling." It's not easy to impress a 17 yo. boy, but Spidey did. He commented that we probably shouldn't have ridden that one 1st. Next stop JP. Another hit, because he has always had a fascination w/ dinos. The 2 boys then rode Dueling Dragons. On our way back to the Hulk, I convinced them to ride the Cat in the Hat. Believe it or not, they both admitted to enjoying it. My son chickened out on riding the Hulk, so my DH rode w/ my neph. DH has ridden it several times, and says that it's the smoothest coaster he has ever ridden. As expected, the Express line was a huge thrill for my neph. He decided that he wanted to go on vacation w/ us more often. He thought we did it the right way. ;)

Off to Citywalk to eat dinner, because the boys wanted to get back to the room to play MLB on PS2. Go figure! We decided on Motown. We got there a few min. before 8pm & were seated right away. Noone was very hungry, because of the heat, so we decided to eat fairly light. As expected, my son loved the atmosphere and had a great time. Our server was very attentive. Everything about this rest. was wonderful. We will definitely return.

What we ordered:
(4) Cheeseburgers-IMO, this ties with Pat O's for the best burger anywhere
(4) soft drinks-my son always sucks his drink down fast, someone was always there the min. the glasses were empty
(2) bread puddings w/ rasp. sauce- we took these back to the room for breakfast Sun. morning. This was a wonderful dessert, that made a scrumptious breakfast.

The total for our meal was $62.?? (sorry, didn't get a receipt), which inc. tax and 15% grat. already added to the check. We used a $50 Clr. Chnl. GC, and left $15 cash. This inc. a little extra for the great service. We hadn't mentioned the GC prior to this, and the server didn't bat an eye.
 
great post!

i too thought spidey was the best ride i had ever ridden & it even managed to impress my 17 & 16 yr old- although my 5 yr old was kind of scared of the scene where the villan shoots fire at you and you can feel it

looking forward to the rest of your posts

:wave:
 

Great report! Sorry to hear about the lady at concierge. That is not the norm.:(
 














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