This was our first trip to USO and IOA. I bought my trip through Universal Vacations for my son (12), step daughter (11) and myself for 7 nights at RPR. I would say that the rate I got as part of the package was not good. For a standard room, I had to pay $179 per night. I didn't find this discussion board until after I had booked my trip. I tried to see if the hotel had any of the other discount rates but they did not and I only planned the trip three week ahead. I was still pretty happy that all the tickets and vouchers came all together.
We all came in on Sunday 07-06 on different airlines which came in at all different terminals. It was a little hard to get everyone together in one place because the Orlando airport has a weird design. First of all there are four different satellite terminals that you have to ride a different tram to each. Two terminals are on one side with one security checkpoint and the other two are on the other end with its own security checkpoint. You can not go to all four terminals once you are inside of security. You can only go to the two terminals on your own side. Also there are two separate sides for ticketing and two separate side for baggage. So, if you have people coming in from multiple places it might be hard to find people.
I used FL Tours for my transportation to the hotel. They were very patient while I had to run to the other baggage claim and we also did a grocery stop. The round trip rate was $85 for the transportation. They were on time for both trips and I would highly recommend them.
We got to RPR at 4:00pm. I did not have to wait to check-in. I asked about upgrades but the prices were not good and I needed the two beds. They did mess up and give me a room for with a King but they changed it to a standard room. We had room 1133 which is tower 1, floor 1, all the way at the end of the hall toward the lagoon. I found this convenient because we could go out the back door in the stairs and already bo on the path to City Walk without having to go through or around the pool. The room was nice enough and the maid service was very good. They did forget our welcome gift and I had to call to get it, but it did come the night that I called for it.
A couple of other things about the hotel. The ice machine is not far away from any room. They put them near the junction where the three wings of the tower meet in the middle. There are nice self service laundry rooms that you can get to from a door on the outside of tower 1 and 2 on the inner court yard side near were the towers link up with the main building. The cost for detergent is $1 and you can do a big load of wash for $2 and $2 for the dryer.
Some people think the pool is too warn or shallow. I did not find it as a problem and if you want really cold water you can go stand in the kids water play area and get cooled off by the stray.
We went to USO and IOA for 2 days each, and 1 day at Wet N Wild and 1 day at Sea World. I was really surprised by the size of Sea World. We had to do a lot of waling at Sea world to see everything. It took so long to walk from the back of the park when we left that we missed our coach bus back to RPR. There are plenty of taxis and the trip back cost $15. I found that the coach bus departure and pick up times were a little limiting. They only drop off at Wet N Wild two times a day and only picks up once at 5:40pm. This schedules must change a lot because the schedule I got from the hotel was only dated for 1 week. There was three departures for SW, the latest being 1:05 pm and two pick ups for SW with the latest at 10:15 pm.
All the parks were great. FOTL at USO and IOA was the only reason we stayed at RPR. We got a early entry voucher as part of our package but we didn't even use it because it was so easy to get on rides with FOTL access. We rode the Hulk five times, Dueling dragons twice and Spider Man probably four times. I found IOA a little small and with FOTL I though we did almost all the rides with in just a few hours. Every one should also do the Cat in the Hat ride it was very fun.
I think USO was the best for variety and originality. We went to several of the shows and all the rides. Shrek 4D and Jimmy Newtron had the longest waits with FOTL. We also went to a mock game show at universal studios where my son got picked to play one of the games. It was not filmed, but it felt like a real show with host and they split the audience into a red section and blue section and they pulled kids from each side to compete for their side and so on. Some of the attractions are very loud. Terminator I think was the loudest. They also use a lot of fire bursts in several rides. So if you have kids that are sensitive make sure you warn them. Jaws has a very big fire ball and you can really feel the heat off of it.
The only real complaint I have is with some of the restaurants. We went to Emeril's for lunch and I had to ask three times for my ice tea. I did not think they were trying to do things a notch higher like Emeril says he wants all of his people to do at his restaurants. The food was average and I would not go back again. Also the Island restaurant at RPR was the worst. On two different times our table was almost totally ignored. It was not a busy time when we went and they never refilled our cups and it would take 15 min to get our check. I complained to the manager and he took off the kid meals. I find that most of the male servers at any restaurant I went to at City Walk or RPR were not attentive. I think the males are always thinking about their tip or lack of tip since I was only 1 adult with two kids. All the lady servers were nice. We went to NBA Cafe, Motown, Hard Rock, NASCAR Cafe, and Pastamre. Pastamore was nice because they didn't have any TV's or big screens like the other ones did.
We also went to see the Hulk movie at the 20 screen movie theater in City Walk. The theater is huge and is neat to see. It was kind of fun to see the Hulk movie after getting to ride the Hulk coaster. They also gave us a Shrek DVD for each kid ticket which I think is the same thing you see on Shrek 4D but I have not watched the DVD yet. They also do sneak previews at the theater and people were lined up to see a sneak preview of Bad Boys II.
I learned a lot of tips off this site that really worked or came in handy. Asking for free ice water really saved us money in the parks. We went to all of our meals at off peak times and we never had to wait for a table. I have my own tip, checkout from the hotel using the TV remote in the room. You can pick "Guest Services" from the interactive menu on the TV and review your charges and also checkouot so you don't have to stand in line. In all it was a very good trip.
We all came in on Sunday 07-06 on different airlines which came in at all different terminals. It was a little hard to get everyone together in one place because the Orlando airport has a weird design. First of all there are four different satellite terminals that you have to ride a different tram to each. Two terminals are on one side with one security checkpoint and the other two are on the other end with its own security checkpoint. You can not go to all four terminals once you are inside of security. You can only go to the two terminals on your own side. Also there are two separate sides for ticketing and two separate side for baggage. So, if you have people coming in from multiple places it might be hard to find people.
I used FL Tours for my transportation to the hotel. They were very patient while I had to run to the other baggage claim and we also did a grocery stop. The round trip rate was $85 for the transportation. They were on time for both trips and I would highly recommend them.
We got to RPR at 4:00pm. I did not have to wait to check-in. I asked about upgrades but the prices were not good and I needed the two beds. They did mess up and give me a room for with a King but they changed it to a standard room. We had room 1133 which is tower 1, floor 1, all the way at the end of the hall toward the lagoon. I found this convenient because we could go out the back door in the stairs and already bo on the path to City Walk without having to go through or around the pool. The room was nice enough and the maid service was very good. They did forget our welcome gift and I had to call to get it, but it did come the night that I called for it.
A couple of other things about the hotel. The ice machine is not far away from any room. They put them near the junction where the three wings of the tower meet in the middle. There are nice self service laundry rooms that you can get to from a door on the outside of tower 1 and 2 on the inner court yard side near were the towers link up with the main building. The cost for detergent is $1 and you can do a big load of wash for $2 and $2 for the dryer.
Some people think the pool is too warn or shallow. I did not find it as a problem and if you want really cold water you can go stand in the kids water play area and get cooled off by the stray.
We went to USO and IOA for 2 days each, and 1 day at Wet N Wild and 1 day at Sea World. I was really surprised by the size of Sea World. We had to do a lot of waling at Sea world to see everything. It took so long to walk from the back of the park when we left that we missed our coach bus back to RPR. There are plenty of taxis and the trip back cost $15. I found that the coach bus departure and pick up times were a little limiting. They only drop off at Wet N Wild two times a day and only picks up once at 5:40pm. This schedules must change a lot because the schedule I got from the hotel was only dated for 1 week. There was three departures for SW, the latest being 1:05 pm and two pick ups for SW with the latest at 10:15 pm.
All the parks were great. FOTL at USO and IOA was the only reason we stayed at RPR. We got a early entry voucher as part of our package but we didn't even use it because it was so easy to get on rides with FOTL access. We rode the Hulk five times, Dueling dragons twice and Spider Man probably four times. I found IOA a little small and with FOTL I though we did almost all the rides with in just a few hours. Every one should also do the Cat in the Hat ride it was very fun.
I think USO was the best for variety and originality. We went to several of the shows and all the rides. Shrek 4D and Jimmy Newtron had the longest waits with FOTL. We also went to a mock game show at universal studios where my son got picked to play one of the games. It was not filmed, but it felt like a real show with host and they split the audience into a red section and blue section and they pulled kids from each side to compete for their side and so on. Some of the attractions are very loud. Terminator I think was the loudest. They also use a lot of fire bursts in several rides. So if you have kids that are sensitive make sure you warn them. Jaws has a very big fire ball and you can really feel the heat off of it.
The only real complaint I have is with some of the restaurants. We went to Emeril's for lunch and I had to ask three times for my ice tea. I did not think they were trying to do things a notch higher like Emeril says he wants all of his people to do at his restaurants. The food was average and I would not go back again. Also the Island restaurant at RPR was the worst. On two different times our table was almost totally ignored. It was not a busy time when we went and they never refilled our cups and it would take 15 min to get our check. I complained to the manager and he took off the kid meals. I find that most of the male servers at any restaurant I went to at City Walk or RPR were not attentive. I think the males are always thinking about their tip or lack of tip since I was only 1 adult with two kids. All the lady servers were nice. We went to NBA Cafe, Motown, Hard Rock, NASCAR Cafe, and Pastamre. Pastamore was nice because they didn't have any TV's or big screens like the other ones did.
We also went to see the Hulk movie at the 20 screen movie theater in City Walk. The theater is huge and is neat to see. It was kind of fun to see the Hulk movie after getting to ride the Hulk coaster. They also gave us a Shrek DVD for each kid ticket which I think is the same thing you see on Shrek 4D but I have not watched the DVD yet. They also do sneak previews at the theater and people were lined up to see a sneak preview of Bad Boys II.
I learned a lot of tips off this site that really worked or came in handy. Asking for free ice water really saved us money in the parks. We went to all of our meals at off peak times and we never had to wait for a table. I have my own tip, checkout from the hotel using the TV remote in the room. You can pick "Guest Services" from the interactive menu on the TV and review your charges and also checkouot so you don't have to stand in line. In all it was a very good trip.
