We just got home from a 5 night vacation to Orlando. Me (37) and my husband (36) and our daughter (9). We have been on 2 disney cruises, and one trip to Disneyworld when daughter was 5. Now that she is older, and tall enough to ride big rides, we decieded to try out Universal since they have more roller coasters/thrill rides than Disney, and also since it was ALOT cheaper than Disney.
We flew in from St Louis Airport to Orlando on Sunday. Our plane arrived about 2:30pm and we had arranged for Florida Tours to pick us up in a town car at the airport and take us to a grocery store and the hotel. The price was $109 roundtrip plus driver tip. We got to luggage claim, and there was a guy with a sign with our name on it. He helped us get our luggage to the car. It was a nice Lincoln Towncar. He took us to a Publix grocery store. We grabbed soda, juice boxes, chips, doughnuts and muffins, milk, a styrofoam cooler ($4.99 - nice size) beer, wine, and bloody mary mix and cosmo mix. They only sold beer and wine, no liquor, but someone informed us that a few doors down in the shopping center was a liquor store. My husband ran down there to grab some vodka for bloody marys while I checked out at the store. Then we were off to hotel.
We pulled up at The Beautifull Royal Pacific Resort. A bellman came out and helped us load our luggage and groceries. I went to the check in desk. They noticed I was a Loews first blue member and gave me an upgrade to a park view room, #1452. Our view was of a bit of the water taxi route and of Dr Doom's Fearfall ride. Our rooms was average size and had plenty of room for the 3 of us. The piece of furniture that the flat screen TV was on was very tall, and had 6 large drawers. We used 3 of the drawers for snacks and drink storage, and the other 3 for clothes. There was also a nice size closet where we hung up the rest of our clothes and kept our shoes and suitcases. There was also a safe in the closet which you open with a 4 digit code of your choosing. I was glad the sink/mirror was outsdide of the bathroom, so I could be doing hair/make-up while someone else was in shower. We kept our cooler filled with ice, with the milk and other beverages in the floor in the entry way. There was a full lenghth mirror and a bit of space that we kept cooler on tile floor. The cooler kept everything cold, even the milk and never leaked a drop. The Styrofoam cooler was square and was about 2 inch thick with a handle. We put more ice in once per day, sometimes twice. When we got to the room, we cranked the air down to 65. It cooled down, but when we came back from the pool, it wasn't cold. I called the front desk and they said they are a green hotel, and the air is on a sensor, so when no one is in the room, it goes back to 75. Well, my husband doesn't like to be hot, so he wasn't very happy about that! But, it only took about 10 minutes to cool back down when you came back into the room, so it ended up being ok. We were worried what would happen at night when you were in bed still, but the air stayed at 65 all night, so that wasn't a problem.
After unpacking we went to the pool. The pool area was beautifull! We choose some loungers in the sand. We snuck a couple beers in my tote bag and I made a cosmo in the room and brought it down in one of the insulated coffee cups with lids from the room. No one ever said anything about our drinks, and we saw all kinds of people who brought there own coolers down to the pool all week with no problem. My husband bought a beer at the pool once, and I think it was over $8 becase they add grat. My hubby would make a bloody mary in the morning and put it in the coffee cups and take anywhere, pool, water taxi, theme park etc..
After a couple hours at the pool, we got cleaned up and went to city walk to eat before our Blue Man Group Show at 9pm. We picked the Nascar Cafe, cause it looked close to BMG and we didn't want to be late. It was a neat place, with tv's that you could change the channel at each table. Oh I forgot to mention when we checked in, I asked about the savings guide that I was supposed to get for ordering park tix online, and where I should go to get one, the lady and the check in desk got me one. There was a free coupon for the Nascar Cafe, so we used it. I can't remember if it was a free kids meal, or 10% off, because that is what most of them were. I got a buffalo chicken sand (great), husband got the chicken fried chicken that was supposed to come on top of mashed potatoes with gravy, but he got fries insead, and they forgot his gravy on the chicken so it was kinda dry, but I said they probably thought he didn't want it without the pototoes. Daughter got the kids pizza which was good. It think we had 2 sodas and a beer, and with our coupon the bill was $35.
Next we headed to Blue Man Group. The show was amazing! I had bought our tickets about a month in advance and we were in the 2nd row after the poncho section. The music and lights and visual effects were great!!! We all 3 loved it! The Blue men come out in the lobby 5 minutes after the show. My daughter had bought a program and he signed it with his thumb in blue paint. I didn't bring my camera, so I didn't get a picture of her with them
After the show we headed over to citywalk and into Margaritaville, who had live music. It was about 11pm. We asked if we could come in with our daughter, and they said sure! We all ordered a drink and listened to the music for a little while. It was a really good band and we enjoyed it! We headed off to bed around midnight. Up tomorrow, Universal Studios......
We flew in from St Louis Airport to Orlando on Sunday. Our plane arrived about 2:30pm and we had arranged for Florida Tours to pick us up in a town car at the airport and take us to a grocery store and the hotel. The price was $109 roundtrip plus driver tip. We got to luggage claim, and there was a guy with a sign with our name on it. He helped us get our luggage to the car. It was a nice Lincoln Towncar. He took us to a Publix grocery store. We grabbed soda, juice boxes, chips, doughnuts and muffins, milk, a styrofoam cooler ($4.99 - nice size) beer, wine, and bloody mary mix and cosmo mix. They only sold beer and wine, no liquor, but someone informed us that a few doors down in the shopping center was a liquor store. My husband ran down there to grab some vodka for bloody marys while I checked out at the store. Then we were off to hotel.
We pulled up at The Beautifull Royal Pacific Resort. A bellman came out and helped us load our luggage and groceries. I went to the check in desk. They noticed I was a Loews first blue member and gave me an upgrade to a park view room, #1452. Our view was of a bit of the water taxi route and of Dr Doom's Fearfall ride. Our rooms was average size and had plenty of room for the 3 of us. The piece of furniture that the flat screen TV was on was very tall, and had 6 large drawers. We used 3 of the drawers for snacks and drink storage, and the other 3 for clothes. There was also a nice size closet where we hung up the rest of our clothes and kept our shoes and suitcases. There was also a safe in the closet which you open with a 4 digit code of your choosing. I was glad the sink/mirror was outsdide of the bathroom, so I could be doing hair/make-up while someone else was in shower. We kept our cooler filled with ice, with the milk and other beverages in the floor in the entry way. There was a full lenghth mirror and a bit of space that we kept cooler on tile floor. The cooler kept everything cold, even the milk and never leaked a drop. The Styrofoam cooler was square and was about 2 inch thick with a handle. We put more ice in once per day, sometimes twice. When we got to the room, we cranked the air down to 65. It cooled down, but when we came back from the pool, it wasn't cold. I called the front desk and they said they are a green hotel, and the air is on a sensor, so when no one is in the room, it goes back to 75. Well, my husband doesn't like to be hot, so he wasn't very happy about that! But, it only took about 10 minutes to cool back down when you came back into the room, so it ended up being ok. We were worried what would happen at night when you were in bed still, but the air stayed at 65 all night, so that wasn't a problem.
After unpacking we went to the pool. The pool area was beautifull! We choose some loungers in the sand. We snuck a couple beers in my tote bag and I made a cosmo in the room and brought it down in one of the insulated coffee cups with lids from the room. No one ever said anything about our drinks, and we saw all kinds of people who brought there own coolers down to the pool all week with no problem. My husband bought a beer at the pool once, and I think it was over $8 becase they add grat. My hubby would make a bloody mary in the morning and put it in the coffee cups and take anywhere, pool, water taxi, theme park etc..
After a couple hours at the pool, we got cleaned up and went to city walk to eat before our Blue Man Group Show at 9pm. We picked the Nascar Cafe, cause it looked close to BMG and we didn't want to be late. It was a neat place, with tv's that you could change the channel at each table. Oh I forgot to mention when we checked in, I asked about the savings guide that I was supposed to get for ordering park tix online, and where I should go to get one, the lady and the check in desk got me one. There was a free coupon for the Nascar Cafe, so we used it. I can't remember if it was a free kids meal, or 10% off, because that is what most of them were. I got a buffalo chicken sand (great), husband got the chicken fried chicken that was supposed to come on top of mashed potatoes with gravy, but he got fries insead, and they forgot his gravy on the chicken so it was kinda dry, but I said they probably thought he didn't want it without the pototoes. Daughter got the kids pizza which was good. It think we had 2 sodas and a beer, and with our coupon the bill was $35.
Next we headed to Blue Man Group. The show was amazing! I had bought our tickets about a month in advance and we were in the 2nd row after the poncho section. The music and lights and visual effects were great!!! We all 3 loved it! The Blue men come out in the lobby 5 minutes after the show. My daughter had bought a program and he signed it with his thumb in blue paint. I didn't bring my camera, so I didn't get a picture of her with them
After the show we headed over to citywalk and into Margaritaville, who had live music. It was about 11pm. We asked if we could come in with our daughter, and they said sure! We all ordered a drink and listened to the music for a little while. It was a really good band and we enjoyed it! We headed off to bed around midnight. Up tomorrow, Universal Studios......
BTW: The a/c sensor is in the corner right by the front door in the ceiling. Like they said it senses the door openning and shutting to turn on the air. It cools down real fast though.
About the taxi, it was the return trip from Seaworld that I was asking about.....
