AlexandNessa
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=green
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2003
- Messages
- 5,407
Who: semi-fearless Universal Crusaders and happy AP holders, Mike and Jodie. We also answer to Alex and Vanessa by default. Couples who Universal Together, Stay Together. Yes, we say this since we don't pray together. We pray. Just not at the same time.
For the record:
This is the most lady-like Nessa:
And this would be Alex:
What: two 30-something kids at heart take birfday trip in lieu of lavish gifts, or "How to Create Your Own Club Level 101"
When: May 3 - May 8, 2007
Where: Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando Resort
Why: Why not?!
How: By plane, by town car, by rationalizing that we do not have to save for anyone's college education. Following our logic, this means that any money that would otherwise have been earmarked for some hypothetically ungrateful offspring's education goes into a big, bad vacation fund, and we aren't afraid to use it. SO PLEASE STEP BACK!
Our vacation planning adventure begins in January. Now, some of you may remember that Mike is typically Mr. Just-Tell-Me-Where-and-When-to-Show-Up-and-What-to-Bring.
That gets old after a while.
For me anyway.
He wasn't getting away with that this time.
For our last 6 trips to Universal, we have stayed at RPR Club. No questions asked. There wasn't any place else for us to stay. We were like the Norm and Cliff of the club lounge. Bona fide Clubbies. Then, our favorite staff member left, and I got tired of not using our Loews Platinum benefits. Most of you know that if you're Loews Platinum, you get a comped upgrade to a suite. There is no comped upgrade to club level for Loews Platinum so we paid what anyone else would pay for RPR Club. I made the argument to Loews First Customer Service that they should offer club in lieu of a suite upgrade.
Wrote a business case even. They didn't want to hear it. They just said they were delighted I had an upcoming reservation at the Hard Rock. Hmpph. Sorry for the tangent. Next time I'll make it clear I'm about to go off on a tangent. Now, WHERE WAS I?
Oh, yes ... tired of not using our Loews First Platinum bennies, sad our favorite RPR Club Staffer was gone, and wanting to blame someone else in case my change of heart went bad, I made Mike pick where to stay this time.
Mike hemmed and hawed. He wasn't sure. Could we stay in a suite at the RPR knowing that our room would not be in Tower 3, Floor 7? Could us clubbies handle a non-club stay? Were we ready to try the PBH again after a very lackluster stay 3 years ago? Are we really cool enough for the HRH? Or is it kewl enough? We're in our 30s. What do we know?
Ultimately, I showed Mike the renovated King Suites (thanks to the link from Fan2CSkr), and I quote here, "Dam! That would be our suite?"
Yes, apparently, California Mission is right up Mike's alley. Perhaps I should call in a decorator to revamp our house.
And, so with that, I booked us at the HRH, and we'll take a King Suite, thank you very much. (Tangent Warning here: note to Disneyphiles ... yes, it's possible to plan and book your Universal Vacation < 6 months in advance, without panic, without being on the phone right at the crack of 6:59:59 am Eastern, get a discount without a random pin code that was accidentally addressed to your dog that you can't use anyway since your dog can't stay in the room with you, and pretty much get your choice of rooms as long as you aren't going during Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter Week. And, bonus, no need for 180 day "ADRs." There are no ADRs over here. So stop saying that.
)And, so after some unfortunate circle jerking trying to take advantage of the Loews First Express Yourself program, exclusively for Platinum members (which you can read all about here (http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1430830), we were fairly confident that our stay wouldn't be a total disaster.
And, so, we headed into work where we have our town car service meet us and drop us off at Newark Airport. We do this so that we can cut down on the cost of the car service because work is half way between our home and the airport (keep reading.... You'll see that this really is the equivalent of ordering a Big Mac and Super Sized Fries and compromising with a diet coke to save calories). This also provides us with the most important opportunity to rub it in to our co-workers that we are simply at work in our shorts, flip flops, and tees to head to the airport for some fun in the sun. They hate that. Especially since I always forward the WESH link to them before we leave so they can all check on us. (http://www.wesh.com/wxcam/1456166/detail.html) I like to tell them we'll wave. They hate that too.
To our surprise, we had no traffic issues, no lines at security, and an on-time and uneventful Jet Blue flight where I enjoyed the Shear Genius marathon on Bravo, and Roger from Sunray was waiting for us at baggage claim. We never have travel that smooth, and we counted our blessings.
A nice touch that Sunray offers is that they have a list of what items are in which aisle at the Publix for your scheduled grocery stop. Here of course, recreating our own club level, we picked up beer, chips, water, sodas, breakfast bars, some fruit, and peanut butter. (Mike likes to eat peanut butter with a spoon for a quick protein fix. Ick.
) I couldn't figure out how to manage hot appetizers though. We had brought a collapsible cooler with us, and too embarrassed to show up at the HRH with an entire case of beer, Mike quickly unpacked the cooler and emptied the 12 pack of Miller Lite bottles into it. Yes, the HRH would think much more highly of this dynamic duo with the beer in a nice red cooler than right in the case of clearly labeled beer. It also didn't help that Roger told the bellhop to be careful with the "red bag because there are bottles in it." The HRH surely knew what we were up to. Mike hates that. I figure they've seen worse.
So, no sooner did we hand our bags and tip to one bellhop did we get inside and spoke to another bellhop to tell him we were pre-registered. He went in the back, got our welcome packet, we stopped at the concierge to get our coupon savings booklet, and off we went to our room that was all ready by 3:00. Bonus!
We had room 6065, which was right near the elevators, and more importantly, the ice machine. It overlooked the front entrance of the hotel, which ultimately we didn't mind because the location was just that convenient. I wonder if all the King Suites are located in the same general area, the first door next to the elevators. Does anyone know?
Now, I have been told (and tend to agree) that I have the photographic skills of my 6-year-old niece. I can't help it. Our camera sux. Plus, I really have no sense of perspective. I also tend to amuse myself, but I will spare you the half dozen pics I took of my feet this trip.
But, perhaps you can muster what our suite looked like from these pics:
I took this one sitting on the couch (which was a pull-out). You can see the wall is curved, and the bed is behind that wall:
No, this one isn't all Alice in Wonderland. And, for the record, I had not started drinking yet:
One thing I had read regarding the King Suites at the HRH were that they had a shower only, no tub. I am not sure if this was part of the renovations, or we just got lucky, but our room had a tub.
Walk in closet across from bathroom:
Here is our meager attempt to recreate Club Level in #6065:
In unpacking, I discovered my electric toothbrush didn't have such a smooth flight, and it was working pretty anemically. Don't you just love Home Sweet Loews? A quick call to them to ask them to send up a toothbrush was painless. How about toothpaste? Can we get you some toothpaste too? The toothpaste survived the trip, but they sent me up some toothpaste anyway. And extra pillows.
We quickly finished settling in, and Mike said that he assumed that we were going to hit the parks. But, really, it was such a beautiful day, I just wanted to sit outside and have a drink at the Beach Club. I made the mistake of ordering the Purple People Eater. If you like grape ice pops, this is the drink for you. I don't really care for them, but drank it anyway. (I mean, this was almost a $12 drink!) Mike started to help me with it because I knew I couldn't finish it. So, I ordered a beer, and pretty soon we were fisting and a half. After about an hour, I got the uh-oh feeling. I told Mike, "I think I'm half lit. What in the world was in that drink that tlinus made me order?" Mike said he didn't know, but he had a small buzz going on as well. So since it was only about 5 pm at this point, we thought it was best to leave so we weren't stumbling home at 6:30. Unfortunately, our buddy Paul who was working the Beach Club that day refilled our beers, told me happy birthday, and said that round was on him, and who are we to turn down a free round of drinks?
So, after 2 drafts and ½ of a Purple People Eater each, Mike and I decided that we'd take a stroll over to City Walk and get me something to eat. I am almost embarrassed to admit what comes next. And, I prefer to blame this next incident on three things.
One is that my caloric intake of the day was a breakfast bar at 8:30 am and a snack bag of Blue Chips at about noon or so.
Two is that we were HRH virgins.
Three, Paul.
But, really, what is a trip report without at least one self-deprecating incident? This one is probably the first of many.
As we were trying to find the path to the parks and City Walk, somehow we got a little lost.
And, we wound up at the top of the pool slide.
Yes, the pool slide. Where we found a lifeguard who was at least somewhat humored by my "Woops! This isn't the path to City Walk."
No kidding, Einstein.
She said it sure wasn't, but I was welcome to take a ride down the slide. I passed.
Really, it was barely 6 o'clock. We had better slow it waaaaaay down. This was just absolutely embarrassing.
I mean, what kind of friggin idiot can't find the path to City Walk and winds up at the pool slide?
Don't answer that.
And so with that, we headed to the Lone Palm. With our conversation going pretty much like this (and I wonder if you can guess which one of us was saying what):
Let's go to The Lone Palm.
Where?
You know, that bar right outside Margaritaville. I want to sit outside.
Wait. What bar?
You know, the one that's right across from Margaritaville.
The hut thingie? That bar has a name?
Yes.
What is it again?
The Lone Palm.
I never knew that place had a name.
What did you think it was called?
I just thought it didn't have a name at all.
Seriously, Mike and I have had many a beer here on our way back to RPR for beer o'clock in the club lounge, and the man didn't know this place had a name. (This was all said in the sense of fairness. After all, the pool slide incident was entirely my fault.)
And so now that we were on the same page, we opted to grab a table at The Lone Palm (formerly "that place outside Margaritaville" or "the hut thingie.") and enjoy the festivities with the DJ who was organizing activities. The DJ tried to get me to make a balloon animal, but I couldn't. And for the record, that is not something I'm able to do sober, either.
We ended the night inside Margaritaville at the Volcano Bar so I could have a Cheeseburger in Paradise. Mike had a quesadilla. But I forgot to take food pictures for Bubba's Mom.
We did get a pic of the Volcano blowing, however. And, I did manage to bore some lady about how American Idol votes are routed through the telephone network and counted. If you're the nice lady out there reading this, I am quite sorry about that.
Sadly, my poor readers, I have no drunken pictures of our very sad selves that night. Fear not. They're coming.
Well, I have managed to bore even myself at this point.
I'd best stop here for now, as I'm sure you can guess, it was bedtime for Jodie by this hour, and bedtime in #6065 is censored. 
about your lack of navigation. Afterall, it wasn't your fault anyways.....right?!?!?
You need to clear your mind of the last trip, so you can start planning the next one. 
very nicely dun! 
mad: ) Our camera sux worse! Bobby cleared it 3 times by dropping it and dumping the batteries. I have pretty much given up on photos anyway. He always wants to take one of the globe and the damn surfboard. We have hundreds of those photos. 
Ya know the HRH pool employees hung your picture after you made your way to the slide, by accident! Not laughing since I totally can see that happening.
