Fantastic time!!!

MouseGirl

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 9, 2001
Messages
543
Our family of 4 (me, DH, and DDs 11 and 10) spent two days at US/IOA on March 14 and 15, staying at HRH, and had an absolutely wonderful time. This was our first time at HRH, after having stayed at RPR on our last trip, and while we thoroughly enjoyed RPR, I think we have found a new home at the HRH for our future stays. It was so much fun - the refurbished rooms were beautiful, music everywhere, great pool and food options, friendly staff, easy walk to the parks - our girls and us both loved it.

We got there at 8:00 a.m. on our first day, left our car and bags, checked in (we ended up getting the call at 11:30 a.m. to advise that our room was ready, yay!) and walked over to the parks. We couldn't believe how close it was. We got there for park opening of IOA and immediately rode Hulk twice in a row, Spiderman twice, and then headed for a yummy Cinnabon breakfast. Then we were off to Dueling Dragons with our little daredevils. We rode Fire first, then our daughters and I rode Ice twice (my husband wimped out after Fire, hee hee). What a great way to start off your day. After some more time touring we headed to Mythos for lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal there, and thanks to the good advice on these boards I knew to ask for a table by the window. Is there anything better than looking out over Hulk and the rest of the park while eating a delicious meal in a beautiful restaurant?

After that it was getting hot and more crowded, so we headed over to HRH and our room. It was so nice that I had a hard time pulling the girls down to the pool for a swim, but once we got there they didn't want to leave! Then after a nap we headed over to NBA City for dinner, which again was delicious. We are all big basketball fans, and our girls both play, so they were in heaven. Then it was off to US, where we rode Jimmy Neutron 3x, Mummy, and MIB (we did it 3X and actually closed down the ride).

We had a great night's sleep after our busy day, then got up and grabbed a quick bite before heading to the parks. We started at IOA, where we did all our favorites again, followed by a yummy lunch at Margaritaville (we love that place), and a few more hours at US, before grabbing dinner at the Nascar Cafe. It was delicious and the service was wonderful - do you notice a theme emerging here:)? We couldn't get over the fantastic food and friendly, efficient servers everywhere we ate. It was uniformly excellent, both in the parks and at Citywalk. We finally dragged our tired selves out of the parks, after stopping to say hello to Phamton, whom I can't thank enough for all the pre-trip assistance and good advice. It was a real pleasure to get to meet you!! And thanks to everyone else on the boards for your advice and tips - for example, I beat my husband at MIB every time and he couldn't figure out why! ROTFL....

While we enjoyed the limited time we spent at WDW on our trip, our family agreed that US/IOA will be our destination of choice in Orlando for all future trips. The rides, atmosphere, and quality of the experience (including HRH and FOTL access) were just excellent on all fronts, and I really think it has more to offer...can't wait to go back!

All the best,
MouseGirl
 
Our family of 4 (me, DH, and DDs 11 and 10) spent two days at US/IOA on March 14 and 15, staying at HRH, and had an absolutely wonderful time. This was our first time at HRH, after having stayed at RPR on our last trip, and while we thoroughly enjoyed RPR, I think we have found a new home at the HRH for our future stays. It was so much fun - the refurbished rooms were beautiful, music everywhere, great pool and food options, friendly staff, easy walk to the parks - our girls and us both loved it.

We got there at 8:00 a.m. on our first day, left our car and bags, checked in (we ended up getting the call at 11:30 a.m. to advise that our room was ready, yay!) and walked over to the parks. We couldn't believe how close it was. We got there for park opening of IOA and immediately rode Hulk twice in a row, Spiderman twice, and then headed for a yummy Cinnabon breakfast. Then we were off to Dueling Dragons with our little daredevils. We rode Fire first, then our daughters and I rode Ice twice (my husband wimped out after Fire, hee hee). What a great way to start off your day. After some more time touring we headed to Mythos for lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal there, and thanks to the good advice on these boards I knew to ask for a table by the window. Is there anything better than looking out over Hulk and the rest of the park while eating a delicious meal in a beautiful restaurant?

After that it was getting hot and more crowded, so we headed over to HRH and our room. It was so nice that I had a hard time pulling the girls down to the pool for a swim, but once we got there they didn't want to leave! Then after a nap we headed over to NBA City for dinner, which again was delicious. We are all big basketball fans, and our girls both play, so they were in heaven. Then it was off to US, where we rode Jimmy Neutron 3x, Mummy, and MIB (we did it 3X and actually closed down the ride).

We had a great night's sleep after our busy day, then got up and grabbed a quick bite before heading to the parks. We started at IOA, where we did all our favorites again, followed by a yummy lunch at Margaritaville (we love that place), and a few more hours at US, before grabbing dinner at the Nascar Cafe. It was delicious and the service was wonderful - do you notice a theme emerging here:)? We couldn't get over the fantastic food and friendly, efficient servers everywhere we ate. It was uniformly excellent, both in the parks and at Citywalk. We finally dragged our tired selves out of the parks, after stopping to say hello to Phamton, whom I can't thank enough for all the pre-trip assistance and good advice. It was a real pleasure to get to meet you!! And thanks to everyone else on the boards for your advice and tips - for example, I beat my husband at MIB every time and he couldn't figure out why! ROTFL....

While we enjoyed the limited time we spent at WDW on our trip, our family agreed that US/IOA will be our destination of choice in Orlando for all future trips. The rides, atmosphere, and quality of the experience (including HRH and FOTL access) were just excellent on all fronts, and I really think it has more to offer...can't wait to go back!

All the best,
MouseGirl


Nice report...just curious, I know you had FOTL, but did you notice what the crowds were like for the rest of people in line? Did yo happen to notice the wait time clock? We are going in a supposedly slower time also for our first trip.
 
You might have to change your name! Shrekgirl...Hulkgirl....Spideygirl!
 

This was our first time at HRH, after having stayed at RPR on our last trip, and while we thoroughly enjoyed RPR, I think we have found a new home at the HRH for our future stays.

This sounds like our trip too! We just returned, stayed at RPR previously, and don't think I'll be leaving HRH for anywhere else unless required to (ie: sold out etc)
 
Thanks for the trip report! It was great to finally get to meet you!
 
Very nice report! I enjoyed reading it and I'm glad you had another great trip to Universal. HRH really does have an outstanding atmosphere.:thumbsup2
 
Nice trip report!! Makes me more anxious for our trip!!
Thanks so much for sharing!!
 
Thanks so much everyone - brooker, in answer to your question, we saw wait times of upwards of 60 minutes on Hulk, MIB, Shrek, Jimmy Neutron and Mummy while we were there both days by midday. Everything else had minimal waits early in the day, and no more than 30-40 minutes during peak hours. If you are staying offsite and go early in the days you should be able to get quite a bit in before the crowds arrive.

The one thing I found particularly interesting was how quickly the Hulk line grew. When we arrived around opening there was almost no wait time. By the time we exited after riding once, the standby line showed a 15 minute wait. We ran in again in the express line for our second ride, and by the time we exited the standby line was up to 30 minutes! It really does build quickly...
 
Ok....thanks for the info, we will be going on a Wednesday and Thursday the first week of May, we will be arriving early so I'm thinking we should be ok.
 
i'm a little late in reading your report, but loved it.


isn't the hulk great first thing in the morning !
you get the fog at the dip of the ride more so then than later in the day.
 














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