First Time to Univeral

[jtdl]

Ok, here goes. I'm not much of a story teller and can't remember what we did each day so I'm just going to tell the highlights and show lots of pictures!

WHEN: January 16 - 21, 2008

WHO: Myself, DD16, DDBF17, DS6 (DH declined the invite - he's not much for theme parks or crowds )

WHERE: Royal Pacific Hotel, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios

WEATHER: Mostly cloudy, misty rain, chilly, couple of warm sunny periods on two days and really cold on Jan 20 (57° F!)

CROWD LEVELS: Almost nonexistant until (MLK weekend) Friday Jan 18 and busiest on Sunday Jan 20.

Right after work on January 15, I stopped home, gathered up the kids and started on our way. First stop was the Ramada Inn in Romulus (a Park, Stay & Fly package out of Detroit airport).



The next morning we caught the shuttle to the Detroit airport:



Our plane:


We had a great flight, although we were delayed about 20 minutes due to having to get de-iced before take-off:

We arrived in Orlando and our ride was waiting (****** Transportation (guess I can't mention them - PM me if you'd like the name of what I consider a very good company):


We checked into the Royal Pacific Resort and found we had room 1727. From recommendations on these boards I had requested, via email, room 1725 but it wasn't ready yet. I figured the room right next door would have the same view so agreed to take 1727.







And the view......it was awesome:







Zoomed in on the Dueling Dragons:


Zoomed in on the Hulk:



Zoomed in on the Hard Rock Hotel (I LOVE my zoom!):



After getting unpacked and settled in we decided to head over to Islands of Adventure for a couple hours. We walked and it took about 7 minutes.





Randoms of Islands of Adventure:











We only had a couple of hours to check it out before closing. So we headed to City Walk:







And here I am beside my fav driver - Carl Edwards!


We had supper at the Nascar cafe - it was ok but nothing spectacular. I was actually pretty disappointed in the restaurant as a whole. I expected a lot more memorabilia and Nascar "stuff". I hear the one in Orlando/Kissimmee is awesome.

Well we called it an early night and headed back to the hotel to get a good nights' sleep.

 

[angela3676]

I'm looking forward to reading more and seeing more pics. We'll be staying at the RPR in June. Just made my ressies TODAY. I'm really excited to be staying there.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Your camera takes really nice pictures. Can't wait to hear and see the rest.

 

[jtdl]

We had the 7 day passes so we visited the parks every day for 6 days. We had planned to spend a day or two at the pool, but the weather never cooperated.

Here are some randoms of Universal Studios:





Shrek was absolutely hillarious! He kept us entertained for quite awhile before allowing a picture to be taken!


Twister - my son cried in this show!!!! But after a few days of me telling him that everything was just a show, he wanted to see it again!


Be prepared to have a little hitchhiker jump on your shoe and run up your leg!


Fievel's Playground. Be careful on this one - Dylan went down this slide so many times and never got wet, I go down it the first time and my bottom half got soaked.


The Ball Factory at Curious George


Nonexistent crowds January 17


Blues Brothers


ET's Adventure


We finally catch site of Scooby and Shaggy while Dylan's playing in Curious George's Water park, but at least it was a way to get him out of there! This was one of the warmer days.


Since line-ups were virtually non-existent what FOTL got us was front seats!

 

[damo]

Very nice. Looks like you had a great time. Loved the hitch-hiker picture.

 

[EverythingDisney]

Great review, great pictures.... Sounds like you had a blast !!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Great Pictures! What kind of camera do you have? Keep going!!!!

 

[jtdl]

Great Pictures! What kind of camera do you have? Keep going!!!!

Thanks - it's a Canon A720IS and I love it

 

[jtdl]

THE POOLS - RPR and HRH

We did get in the pools - it was pretty cool in the evenings but the pools are heated

Royal Pacific:







The Dive-In Movie:




One of the hot tubs:


The beach at RPR:




The Hard Rock pool







They are on their knees and sitting in this picture (that's how deep the pool is!):


Dylan enjoyed the Hard Rock pool because of the slide - he never played at all in the pool, just continuously went down the slide. The rest of us preferred the Royal Pacific pool by far. As you can see in the pictures, the HR pool is very shallow all over, the RP pool is about 3 1/2 to 4 feet deep except for at the entry areas. Much nicer for swimming. The HR pool is quite a bit smaller as well and not at all "tropical" feeling.

 

[maggieb9975]

Great trip report and awesome pics! Thanks for info on pools! I agree the HRH pool was way too shallow!

I live in Ontario too, 1 1/2 hrs North of London. We are flying out of Detroit also> Just my oldest DD 26, hubby same as you ...no interest...

I was thinking of driving to London and getting the Robert Q airbus from there to Detroit. You can leave your vehicle at the Ramada inn for the entire trip no charge.....cost $236 for the 2 of us....OR...drive myself to Detroit...how did you find the drive...is it hard to find your hotel etc. and last question did you go thru customs at Detroit or Sarnia......

Looks like you had a great time!

maggie

 

[jtdl]

Great trip report and awesome pics! Thanks for info on pools! I agree the HRH pool was way too shallow!

I live in Ontario too, 1 1/2 hrs North of London. We are flying out of Detroit also> Just my oldest DD 26, hubby same as you ...no interest...

I was thinking of driving to London and getting the Robert Q airbus from there to Detroit. You can leave your vehicle at the Ramada inn for the entire trip no charge.....cost $236 for the 2 of us....OR...drive myself to Detroit...how did you find the drive...is it hard to find your hotel etc. and last question did you go thru customs at Detroit or Sarnia......

Looks like you had a great time!

maggie

We did have a good time and I'm sure you and your daughter will as well. It's nice going with just the kids once it a while

I live just outside Sarnia so we crossed at Sarnia and went through customs at Port Huron with no problems. The bridge line ups are typically the longest from mid morning to afternoon but I really haven't heard much about back-ups lately - you could always check the Fox 99.9 FM website before leaving (google it) - they have "The Bridge Report". The drive is straight through and I had no problems finding the hotel (and it was dark). I find the traffic around Detroit to be pretty trying (in my opinion the drivers in Michigan are a whole lot more "daring" than in Ontario!). I paid $89 for the night at the Ramada in Romulus and it included parking the car in a secure lot across the street for 7 days, free deluxe continental breakfast and shuttles to and from the airport.

Have a great trip

 

[Metro West]

Love the report and pics!

 

[jtdl]

Random pics of IOA:



This was a kinda neat thing in the Discovery Centre at Jurassic Park - you answer questions about yourself and put your face on the screen and it develops you as a dinosaur! This is me:


This is the HILARIOUS Mystic Fountain. We tried and tried to wake him up but he wouldn't stop snoring. So as the kids were standing there waiting for me to return from the washroom, they hear "hey you, stripes" (referring to DDBF who was wearing a striped shirt) and then starting conversing with them and squirting them. We had a ball with him.





Jurassic Park River Adventure


That's us in the back row (this was one of DS6 favorite rides):


Taken from the Seuss High in the Sky Trolley:


Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls (another of Dylan's fav rides!):


Well, I guess that's about it. I do have lots more pictures so if there is a specific thing you would like to see, just ask and I may have it.

SUMMARY: We are big WDW fans but we did have a great time at Universal. I almost changed my mind, about 6 weeks before our trip, and switch everything over to WDW....I'm really glad we didn't.

YOUNGER KIDS: I was worried that DS6 would not like Universal, but he really loved it. The first dark, loud attraction we did was Twister and he was very scared and even cried. After that I kept telling him that everything there was a show for us and nothing was real. He eventually tried Poisiden's Fury and Disaster and liked them both. I was very surprised that he absolutely loved Jurassic Park River Adventure (we didn't get wet) and Ripsaw Falls (we wore rain ponchos, otherwise you will get soaked) with the huge, almost straight down, drops. The first time we went on Jurassic River Adventure, he was terrified when we were taken into the dark building with a huge T-Rex just before the drop, but again, after he realized it was a "show" he begged to go on it again and again! He loved all the rides in Seuss Landing. He didn't like Spiderman at first and wouldn't wear the 3D glasses but after riding it a few times, he liked it as well. I think Spiderman was my favourite ride! Unfortunately Popeye & Bluto's Barges were closed - I'm sure that would have been a good ride as well!

Over at Universal he loved Curious George's water play and ball factory. You can get a little wet or a lot wet there. There was only one day that was warm enough for him to get WET. The other times we visited he played with the squirt guns and various little squirters, got a bit wet but not so that he froze all day. The ball factory was great - we all loved shooting each other with the balls! Feivel's Playland was fun for him as well - especially the water slide. You ride in rafts and he didn't get wet all the times he went on it but I went on it one time and my legs and bottom got soaked! There's also ET's Adventure, Jimmy Neutron and Shrek 4D that are good for the younger ones. He also liked Men in Black. The only attraction he refused to go on was Jaws.

FOOD: We ate at Mel's Drive In, Circus McGurkus, International Food and Film Festival, Comic Strip Cafe, ThunderFalls Terrace, Nascar Cafe and Pastamore.

IOA - The chicken was awesome at Circus McGurkus. We all agreed that Circus McGurkus was the best in the parks. I tried the chicken at Comic Strip Cafe and it was not as good as at Circus McGurkus but I had it for supper there (lunch at Circus - different days) so maybe they cook it all fresh in the morning and reheat as it's ordered?? At Thunder Falls Terrace, two of us had the chicken wrap and it was not very tasty.

US - We had Chinese food at Internation Food and Film Festival and it was not good. The burgers were pretty good wherever they were had (the kids had lots). I had a burger at Mel's and it was really good.

City Walk - We were not impressed with Nascar Cafe - food or decor - not alot of Nascar stuff at all, except for the cars outside. We ate at Pastamore twice. The counter service area is very reasonably priced and really good. The second time we ate there it was about 55° outside and way too cold to eat outside, even though they had patio heaters amongst the tables, so we ate in the full service part. It was good as well.

We wanted to try Margaritaville but they do not accept reservations or priority seating. I was confused by that place - we stopped in there one morning asking for priority seating for that evening and were told to come back after 11 am. So we went back around 3 pm and were told they do not take priority seating - only FOTL for people staying onsite. So I said ok we have that, we'll come back later. Then he proceeded to tell me that we probably wouldn't get in that evening cause it was full!!!! But we could use the FOTL right then - at 3 pm. How could it be full if they don't take ressies or PS??? Two other evenings before this we tried to go and the first time it was closed for a private party and the other night we were again told we wouldn't get in even with FOTL because it was full - this was early evening, not 1/2 prior to closing! It almost seemed as though they did not want to accommodate parties staying onsight with FOTL access.

ROYAL PACIFIC RESORT: We loved this place.

When we arrived a "bellboy" brought a luggage cart up, loaded our luggage and took it to the lobby. Check in was a breeze. The "bellboy" took our luggage up to the room. Prior to doing that he gave us a little tour of the place.

We did have a couple problems with a wet carpet (air conditioner malfunctioned and a chambermaid who didn't replenish anything for two days, but nothing that we couldn't live with. Star Services is absolutely great for any problems, items you need, etc.

I used the conceirge a couple of times for inquires and to print our boarding passes for our return flight and they were absolutely great - very helpful and very friendly.

We had the buffet breakfast at Islands Dining Room and it was fabulous. I wish I had some of the pure Florida orange juice right now. Funny how even though the cartons say "pure Florida" orange juice, it just doesn't taste at all like the stuff you get in Florida

WEATHER: Well, I don't think I'll go to Florida again in January, the weather is just too unpredictable. I think I'll put up with the peak season room rates and go in March or April next time.

But, it was better than what we returned home to:

 

[DonnaLeah]

I really enjoyed your TR and the pics!! Sounds like you had a great time!
We went to Orlando last Feb.....I think I would rather pay more for the room and deal with the crowds to be warmer!

 

[angela3676]

Your trip report was great and loved all the pics. We're looking forward to staying at RPR on our next trip. We plan to eat at Emeril's on City Walk and I'm going to try to make resssie before we leave and I hope we don't have the same problem you had with Margaritaville.

 

[phamton]

What a great trip report! You could be a professional photographer. I really enjoyed reading your report and loved the pictures!

 

[jtdl]

Why thanks.... Glad you are all enjoying them. I do like taking pictures and I am really impressed with my new camera - got it for Christmas especially for the trip.

 

[keishashadow]

luved the back home pic , great TR - we like the RPR pool better too.

 

[Holic]

Why thanks.... Glad you are all enjoying them. I do like taking pictures and I am really impressed with my new camera - got it for Christmas especially for the trip.

Great report, and great pics.

 

[Holic]

LMAO, I just realized Shrek was giving someone the finger!