Day 2-
We awoke early to grab some breakfast before heading to SeaWorld. We ate at the hotel breakfast buffet. Forgot to mention the buffet in my dining reviews. Great food, nice selection. Some have complained about the price, but I found it reasonable. I never have time for breakfast at home, so it was nice to indulge. Great homemade cinnamon rolls dripping with icing. I also liked the fact that the waitress asked if I wanted any coffee to go. A nice touch. We had a leisurely breakfast and were worried about making the hotel shuttle which was arriving at 10am. We got to the loading area around 9:50 and there was already about 40 or so people ahead of us, but we had been assured by the concierge that they send extra shuttles if there are alot of people waiting. The shuttle arrives at 10:15 am. The driver gets out and says there is no room and that they would send another shuttle as soon as they could. I thought there was going to be a riot. I don't allow myself to stress out on vacation, so I said to my son we'll just go tomorrow. If only the others inline had taken it as well as us. I'm not sure what screaming at that poor shuttle driver was supposed to accomplish.
I did speak to the concierge about the shuttle issue. She thanked me for being nice about it, as she had been taking abuse all day. She said the hotel was packed and the company they use for the shuttles was unable to handle the traffic that day. She assured me that the shuttles would be back on track the next morning. I decided to reserve a taxi after she told me it was about $15 each way, plus the shuttle doesn't leave until 10am and SeaWorld opens at 9am. Any time I had an issue or concern the concierge staff at RPH were very helpful.
My son had been dying to use the pool since our arrival, so we decided to spend the morning swimming. As we made our way past the pool, we noticed the cabanas scattered around. I inquired as to the price. $75 for the entire day. That included a fruit basket, TV, phone, 6 cans of soda and two bottles of water. SOLD!!
I spent the next six hours sipping some concotion called the Witch Doctor, watching TV and sometimes coming out of the cabana to sit in the hottub which was right outside, while my son quickly made friends at the water Bball hoop. I could not get him out of the water. We had a late lunch by the pool.
By 5pm I was ready to go to the parks. We decided that we would do Universal. We arrived at about 6pm. We made a beeline to the Mummy. Posted wait was 90 minutes. FOTL we were on in 15 minutes. THE MUMMY ROCKS!!! This is the best ride ever. I won't spoil it by describing too much, but the technology and effects are unbeliveable. We were so thrilled that we immediately got back on line to ride again. You gotta love FOTL.
We backtracked to Twister. It was OK. I expected it to be a bit more exciting, but the part where the roof starts to fall is pretty cool. Next we headed over to Jaws. As brave as my son is coaster wise he has a thing about sharks. i kept telling him that the shark didn't even look real. I knew from the boards where to position my son to reek my Hulk revenge. He was on the left side of the boat in the middle right next to the edge. When the shark first breaks the surface and opens its jaws my son was staring right into the mouth. He was genuinely scared. I didn't think it was possible. After the ride he said he liked it, but definitely did not want to ride again. If you go on Jaws I recommend going at night..it adds much to the adventure. i picture the ride being a bit cheesier during the day.
Off to MIB. Very much like Buzz lightyear at Disney, but still fun. I was not crazy about all of the spinning, but we had fun. We also had to wait almost 20 minutes even with FOTL. For some reason this ride loads slowly. We left MIB it was 9:45. We decided to head back to the hotel. There was a bit of a wait to catch the water taxi, but we saw some of the Universal fireworks while we were waiting. Got back to the hotel about 10:20 and realized we were hungry. Room service at RPH is very expensive (even for a resort). We ended up at Islands Dining Room. My son actually started falling asleep at the table. It was cute still seeing that little boy inside. Guess that swimming can really tire you out. Looking forward to SeaWorld tomorrow I hope!
We awoke early to grab some breakfast before heading to SeaWorld. We ate at the hotel breakfast buffet. Forgot to mention the buffet in my dining reviews. Great food, nice selection. Some have complained about the price, but I found it reasonable. I never have time for breakfast at home, so it was nice to indulge. Great homemade cinnamon rolls dripping with icing. I also liked the fact that the waitress asked if I wanted any coffee to go. A nice touch. We had a leisurely breakfast and were worried about making the hotel shuttle which was arriving at 10am. We got to the loading area around 9:50 and there was already about 40 or so people ahead of us, but we had been assured by the concierge that they send extra shuttles if there are alot of people waiting. The shuttle arrives at 10:15 am. The driver gets out and says there is no room and that they would send another shuttle as soon as they could. I thought there was going to be a riot. I don't allow myself to stress out on vacation, so I said to my son we'll just go tomorrow. If only the others inline had taken it as well as us. I'm not sure what screaming at that poor shuttle driver was supposed to accomplish.
I did speak to the concierge about the shuttle issue. She thanked me for being nice about it, as she had been taking abuse all day. She said the hotel was packed and the company they use for the shuttles was unable to handle the traffic that day. She assured me that the shuttles would be back on track the next morning. I decided to reserve a taxi after she told me it was about $15 each way, plus the shuttle doesn't leave until 10am and SeaWorld opens at 9am. Any time I had an issue or concern the concierge staff at RPH were very helpful.
My son had been dying to use the pool since our arrival, so we decided to spend the morning swimming. As we made our way past the pool, we noticed the cabanas scattered around. I inquired as to the price. $75 for the entire day. That included a fruit basket, TV, phone, 6 cans of soda and two bottles of water. SOLD!!
I spent the next six hours sipping some concotion called the Witch Doctor, watching TV and sometimes coming out of the cabana to sit in the hottub which was right outside, while my son quickly made friends at the water Bball hoop. I could not get him out of the water. We had a late lunch by the pool.
By 5pm I was ready to go to the parks. We decided that we would do Universal. We arrived at about 6pm. We made a beeline to the Mummy. Posted wait was 90 minutes. FOTL we were on in 15 minutes. THE MUMMY ROCKS!!! This is the best ride ever. I won't spoil it by describing too much, but the technology and effects are unbeliveable. We were so thrilled that we immediately got back on line to ride again. You gotta love FOTL.
We backtracked to Twister. It was OK. I expected it to be a bit more exciting, but the part where the roof starts to fall is pretty cool. Next we headed over to Jaws. As brave as my son is coaster wise he has a thing about sharks. i kept telling him that the shark didn't even look real. I knew from the boards where to position my son to reek my Hulk revenge. He was on the left side of the boat in the middle right next to the edge. When the shark first breaks the surface and opens its jaws my son was staring right into the mouth. He was genuinely scared. I didn't think it was possible. After the ride he said he liked it, but definitely did not want to ride again. If you go on Jaws I recommend going at night..it adds much to the adventure. i picture the ride being a bit cheesier during the day.
Off to MIB. Very much like Buzz lightyear at Disney, but still fun. I was not crazy about all of the spinning, but we had fun. We also had to wait almost 20 minutes even with FOTL. For some reason this ride loads slowly. We left MIB it was 9:45. We decided to head back to the hotel. There was a bit of a wait to catch the water taxi, but we saw some of the Universal fireworks while we were waiting. Got back to the hotel about 10:20 and realized we were hungry. Room service at RPH is very expensive (even for a resort). We ended up at Islands Dining Room. My son actually started falling asleep at the table. It was cute still seeing that little boy inside. Guess that swimming can really tire you out. Looking forward to SeaWorld tomorrow I hope!
He still didn't like it at 9 and 11, this year he is 16 so I don't think he will find it as bad. He is a rollercoaster junkie though, doesn't bat an eyelid. He went on the Kumba at 9 and loved it, though he had to prise his fingers off the hold rail when the ride stopped.
