First Universal Only Trip - Post Report

KrzyKtty101

KrzyKtty101

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 19, 2019
Hi. I will probably post this in multiple posts. We just arrived home; we had an amazing time.

We arrived at the Lowes Portofino Bay Hotel around 1 pm on Friday the 30th of July. Sadly, our room wasn't ready yet, so we went to the Club lounge and got some drinks and snacks. Over 1.5 hours later, still no update from our room, so we put on our swimsuits and hung out at the pool for a bit. We finally got our text message that our room was ready at 4:30; 30 minutes past check in time. I think part of this reason was because even with Verizon, the cell reception was pretty cagey in the resort, especially by the pool. So part of the problem is that we were not able to receive text messages properly by the pool. As soon as I gave up and walked to the reception area, I got the text massage that said our room was ready.

We had 5:30 dinner reservations at Toothsome, so at that point it was a race to the room, change, and off to the reservation for dinner. We made it in the nick of time. Dinner was very nice, and it was nice to share the cool experience with my youngest who was too young to remember. I got the beer infused with chocolate. My husband got the brownie milkshake, and my children shared the sprinkle shake. Due to covid, we couldn't ask them to clean the glasses, so we cleaned them in the bathroom per the server, and made sure to leave the sink clean.

This first day we planned on going to the parks after dinner for the Harry Potter wand experiences. I generally perfer to go bagless when I can, so I thought one day to get the wand experiences out of the way would be best, then I wouldn't have to worry about them on rides again. We did the Olivander's experience for my daughter. While she didn't get selected, she was still very excited to pick out her first wand. It was cute. She is 8 as of June. She picked Minerva's wand. :) We spent most of the evening going between the two parks doing all of the spells; however, we finished the night with a ride on the Escape from Gringots ride. She wouldn't let us leave without at least one ride. LOL. All in all, it was a pretty awesome start to the day.
 
BTW, our trip was from July 30, 2021 to August 3, 2021. My DH is 37, I am 36, my DS, is 12 (13 next month), and DD is 8. Day 2 was the "Big Day." LOL. That was the day we were going to Islands of Adventure. We woke up at 0630 to make sure we could get to the park at Early Entry, or whatever Universal calls it. We wanted to make sure we got on Velocicoaster. Actually, the entire prior day, it was all the 8 year old would talk about. We had to tell her multiple times we would get to it eventually :P. We didn't want to wait in the 60 minute line then. So up we got, got a quick breakfast at the club, then marched onto the park. We decided to hoof it that morning rather than wait for the boat. There was a bit of a line and we didn't want to be too late. We walked back the night before due to lines, so we already knew the way. It wasn't to bad. Honestly, we only saw the one boat that we wouldn't have gotten on due to the crowd pass us the entire time. So I think we beat the time anyway. The plan ended up working. We got the the park a little before 8 and were still able to get fairly close to the front of the line. We marched straight to Velocicoaster and got a bit confused by the lockers, so that cost us 5 minutes. For those that don't know, the free ones are in the line lol. The line wasn't too long. It moved quickly the entire time; the children never had a chance to get bored. Oh boy, it was so much better than we though, and way more intense. My DD said as she came off, "Mom, I'm dead. That ride killed me. " But she had a big smile on her face. She really did love it. Made poor DH a bit pukey on the last spin though. It was longer than I was expecting. There was a time or two when I thought we were about to come to the end, just for it to be another speed up point! It was the ride of a lifetime; however, with lower back problems, I wasn't willing to do it more than once.

So being the smart family we are, we went to Hargrids next LOL. My daughter was a bit worried that this ride would be like the last one. While she enjoyed it, she wasn't really willing for a second go. I had never ridden Hagrids, just the Dueling Draggons, and the last time I rode that was my honeymoon back in 2006. Slight offshoot, I really really enjoyed the nod to the original ride when you first enter the ruins in Hagrids. That was a bit special for me. So anyway, poor DD was a bit nervous, and I didn't know anything about the ride in relation to the Dueling Dragons. Luckily, a nice couple behind us was able to belay her fears by telling her there were no upside parts, and that if she could do Velocicoaster, then Hagrids should be a piece of cake. When we entered the ride at 0830, the line was an hour. It would have been sorter than that, but it had a glitch pretty early on, and it did take the full hour. It was worth it though. It was amazing, and very fun. That drop was unexpected. My poor back certainly felt that later that day lol. (I herniated my L4-L5 the year prior, and the one above that is/was bulging. So while I am "recovered" I am still very sensitive to what is going on with my back these days. I wasn't willing to sit it out though, because priorities LOL.). So after that, I did what any sane person with lower back issues would do, I got a virtual pass for later that day too :rotfl:. My DS loved this ride, but he is almost a teen and can never show positive emotion. I called it a win when I got a hug. After that, it was onto the Jurassic Park Adventure Ride. I thought this would be the one to freak DD out the most, but weirdly, it was her favorite! I don't know what it was about that ride, but she loved the "Dinos that tried to eat her....:confused3. She even conned me into buying her a "Delta" toy.

You will probably see most of my report will be through DD's eyes. She gave me most of the reactions. DS is 1 month shy of 13, and while he is a good child, emotions are too uncool at this point. So, he enjoyed himself very much, but it was hard to gauge levels of happiness you know?

After Jurassic, we did the two water rides; the log flume and the raft ride. Good lordy, no one warned me that you would be soked on those. There wasn't an inch on the 4 of us that wasn't drenched. I mean drenched. DH loved those the most. The were very fun, but very wet. I mean it, every inch was wet. Not a dry spot left. We went back to the hotel after that to get changed, play in the pool, and relax a bit.
 
I forgot in my earlier post, after completing Hagrids, we finished all of the other rides in Hogsmead as well. DD was to short to ride the Hogwarts ride last time; she loved that thing. The feeling of flying was one of her favorite things. We caught lunch around 11 at The Three Broomsticks. It was relaxing all things considered. We sat inside toward the back.

I was worried on our way back to Islands after our break. Daughter fell asleep in the boat ride. We had a dinner reservation at Mythos that we were very excited for, but with daughter half dead (she wouldn't nap because there was a pool outside of our hotel window....), we were worried about how much fun we would have. Luckily she woke up. Unluckily, we were sat next to a large party celebrating a birthday with a rather loud and drunk guest. Sound in Mythos seems to travel very well, so it was a bit of a nightmare. I spent most of the dinner covering my ears rather than enjoying my food. Might finally try something else next time we are in the park. After that, we rode Jurassic Park Adventure again, because DD loved it so much. Then we caught Kong for the first time. That was fun, but not notable enough to do again. Finally, by this point it was dusk and time to ride Hagrids again. This was special this time. The line was shorter than the morning, and cooler. DD and DS wanted to try the bike side this time because they rode the side car the previous ride. I was more than happy since I am only 5'3" and couldn't reach the handle bars without stressing my back anyway. DD and DH were in front of DS and I; however, there was an issue with the harness in the car behind them, so the last three cars in their train were unused. Actually, an employee was trying to do something to the car behind them while it was on the track. He couldn't get it don in time and got his foot stuck. They almost had to stop the ride to get him off, but he got off at the last moment. DS and I ended up lucking out to the first car in the next train. It was an amazing view and we loved the ride at night. When we came back into the station, they finally stopped the track to let the gentleman deal with the issue in the train before us. So that meant that DD and DH were waiting for us at the exit while DS and I sat on the track for a while. This time was smoother and the issue was dealt with quickly. I guess that DD had such an amazing time on the ride that she thanked the workers, "For the amazing ride," upon her return. It was 9:15 by this point. I guess at this point, the abused and exhausted workers were moved by my DD's heartfelt thanks and enjoyment of the ride, combined with the issue, that they offered to let us ride it again. I didn't understand at first, because I was only with my son, DD and DH were waiting at the exit. I thought they were offering due to DS and I being stuck on the track while they dealt with the issue, and I politely declined pointing to my family waiting for me at the exit. That was when she corrected me stating that she knew, but explained to me what my daughter did, and how sweet she was. Stupidly, I still refused because the park would be closing soon and we still hadn't ridden Spider Man. We hoofed it to Spider-Man after, and called it a day. It was a very nice thing though. Just goes to show that a little kindness can go a long way.

This day was purely an IOA day. It was beautiful weather. Saturday the 31st. No rainstorms all day! By the time we got back to the resort at 9:50, we had enough time to steal a quick drink from the club and crash in our beds. A long day.
 
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Yay, family vacation notes! You did a lot in IOA. Yeah, we wear our bathing suits and flip flops and do the three water rides, then go back to have some pool time or just refresh and go back to the parks. Yeah, particularly Bluto’s can get you as wet as like you jumped in the pool. Even the log flume the water sloshes all around you besides the waterfalls. And dino boat, it really depends on where you sit, and how heavy the boat is. I’ve been dry to eh, more wet than should be.
 


Great report so far! I had to laugh at your comment about your DD and not napping when there is a pool there. DH and I are also guilty of that 😂
 
Great report! That was clever to get the wand stuff out of the way the first night. Is the club far from your room since it's being renovated?
 
Report part 2!

To answer a few questions from above.

Our room was pretty far from the original club, and even farther from the new temporary Club. We were all the way down towards the pool, so we had to take the elevator down two floors, then walk most of the wing to the reception area, then go to the ballroom hall. It was ok; however, it meant you had to hoof it at the end of the day if you forgot to stock up on drinks earlier. Daughter and family did enjoy Spider-man; however it was one of the few one and done rides. Our families largest issue with Universal is the rides are not that original sometimes; the same mechanics but with different characters. Spider-man is almost the exact same as Transformers. And quite honestly, the Simpsons isn't that different from the Minions ride. They are still fun, but not that original the second time you know?
 
So on Sunday, August 1st, 2021, my family went to Universal. Considering Universal doesn't have any non-Express Pass rides, and we rode Hagrids 2x the day before, and did Velocicoaster, we didn't feel a need to wake up at the crack of dawn this time for Early Entry. We slept in until about 8; grabbed a quick breakfast from the Club, and then we were off. We got to the park around 0930 in the morning I believe. We hit Minions first. DD was a bit worried that everything was going to be a coaster. She did enjoy them the day prior, but she seemed done with them in general. I am sure we could have done Hagrids again, and tried, but more on that later. So I assured her that No, Minions was not a coaster, and she seemed fine. After that ride, she was pumped for the day. We skipped the Shrek 4D show. With the COVID numbers the day prior over 21k, and at least 60% of the park not masked, it just didn't seem like the risk was worth it for a stationary theater. At least indoor ride you move.

After Minions, we rode the Jimmy Fallon ride next. The line was really cool; I loved the building. The ride a pretty neat too. DS and DD came out of that one with a smile. I wasn't expecting much, and it wasn't the best of the day, but not the worst either; that would go to the Fast and Furious ride later that day. Since it was nearby, Transformers was next. By this time is was about 10; so we knocked the first three out pretty quick. Transformers was fun, but a lot like Spider-man. DH and I already knew this going into it; however, the children still liked it overall. Some of the excitement was lost for the children though when they realized that they knew what to expect from the ride. Then we fit in the Mummy next. This one surprised us all. I know we rode it last time we were there in 2017. Well, DD didn't because she was to short. However, DH, DS, and I all did. Somehow all 3 of us forgot it was a roller coaster. Somehow the lockers should have clued me in. So, much to my daughter's surprise, we got her on another coaster after all LOL. She didn't kill us for it though. While it surprised us all, and it was fun, she did have a blast on it. We all got a good laugh out of the experience.

By this time it was 10:45. I figured we should make our way to Lombardi's for our 11:15 lunch reservation; however, they were not open yet. So we tried Fast and Furious real quick. My husband loved the original movie, and the next few sequels. He loves fast turner cars; even had one for a while. So we were all pretty disappointed in that ride. The graphics weren't much better than the GTA 5 game he plays all the time.

We were 5 minutes late to lunch, but no biggie. We loved Lombardi's compared to Mythos the prior day. Mythos' food was great, and it looks good, but good golly it was loud. Lombardi's was quite, and amazing food. Even the children liked it, and they normally hate fish. After lunch, we hopped on Gringots again (rode it the first day), then skipped over to Simpsons, ET, and Aliens. Simpons was ok according to DD because while it looked like a coaster, it wasn't really..... I dunno. She is weird. It was fun and weird though. ET was a classic for me; I remember riding it in the early 90s when I was DD's age along with Back to the Future and Jaws. It is one of the only remaining rides from back then. So I knew it was stupid in comparison to the other rides were were on, and my family looked like at me like I was insane afterwards, but I wanted to ride it. So they amused me since I was commanding the ship anyway. I was the only one who knew how to navigate the damn place anyway. The whole family loved MIB. Our competitive streak came out. DD was dismayed that she only got 10k, DS and DH got about 20, and I creamed them all so bad they all were in tears. Ok, not quite tears, but they were confused how I got such a high number. :D I got 168k! The irony is not lost on my btw that we killed aliens in a ride after helping an alien get home on the previous one....

After that, it was time to go to Kings cross station to ride the Hogwarts train in the opposite direction. I really wanted to see the experience both ways. I am a bit of a Potter Nerd. We had a reservation for Hagrids; however, a storm passed through and kept moving our time back. By the time we were done with Hogwarts for the 3rd time in 2 days, we were tired and decided to start heading back. So I cancelled our Hagrids ride because we didn't want to hang in the park until 5 for it. On our way out we made a spur of the moment decision and rode the Blutos's ride again. We got just as soaked the second time as the first.

By then it was 4ish. We stopped by the Christmas store on our way out. My only real souvenir on every trip is an ornament to remember the trip by, so the family had to pick one out. :) We got to the hotel around 5. We went to the club for the Dinner reception for the first time and were not impressed. It was ok, but not really anything to make dinner out of. DD was very disappointed that the chips were missing. So we went to Mama Della's for dinner instead. I am 1/2 Italian. I have been raised only by my fully blooded Italian family my whole life. That place was the real deal. It was great. Reminded me of Sunday dinner at Nonna's. Server was very personable too.

Afterwards we crashed in the hotel room and relaxed for the evening. I think I said earlier, but I have lower back issues. I herniated my L4 disk the year prior, and had a bulging disk right above it. So due to the IOA day, and the horrible mattress, this day my back was really feeling it. I wasn't willing to no have fun, and I know my limits. So I did my stretches and ab exercises through the day when I could. However, I was happy to have a calmer day to give my back a rest this day.

Overall, we found Universal to be more empty than IOA. The walkways were wider, which I am sure helped, but it was still very empty compared to IOA. The rides just aren't as epic as IOA at this park, so it is really more of a half day park in my opinion.

Tomorrow is the water park and our last full day. Family wants me to go watch Troll Hunters though, and husband wants to watch the new Kenshin movie, so that is probably it for the night.
 
So our last full day at Universal was the day we decided to go to Volcano Bay for the first time. The last time we were at Universal, Volcano bay was only open for a few weeks and we didn't want to deal with the crowds. So the Tapu Tapu system, the cabana rental, the fast pass, it was all new for us.

The park was beautiful. We left ourselves a full hour to get there with the buss transportation; we figured it would be similar to Disney and we weren't wrong. An hour was about the correct planning time. We wanted to be there at the 9 am early opening to get our cabana quickly; so we woke up around 7 am; grabbed breakfast, and went to the park. We got there about 15-20 minutes before opening. We booked it straight to the Concierge service when we arrived and were able to get our cabana and fast pass set up quickly. The Upper cabana was a bit of a hike from everything, and didn't have the best view of everything. However, its location meant that it was quite and and a bit more secluded. It was very nice. We tried to book it to our first ride after that; however, the ride attendant didn't realize that sometimes the Tapu Tapu's won't show the fastpass banner until after they are used for the first time, so she didn't let us on. She suggested that we go to the desk again to get it sorted out; however, by then the line was very long. Not knowing what to do, we went to the wave pool for a bit and hoped the line would die down. When it didn't, I found an attendant at our cabana who was able to help us. She basically told us the ride attendant didn't know what she was talking about and our banners were fine. The attendant gave us two "ride anytime" passes which were a godsend. We mostly stuck to the family raft rides; most of the tube rides were a bit intense for my 8 year old who does not swim that well. The Krakatau was the hit of the family. We used our fast pass to get right on, by that time it was a little after park opening and the line was already 120 minutes. By the time we got off, it was 180. By lunch time, it was "forget it, you aren't getting on this ride" time. So we were very thankful for the extra ride passes, it was about the only way we were getting to try it a second time! It was so much fun. We have never been on anything like it!!

The other big family hit was the Fearless river. My daughter was like a little bullet in that river. She made us go around it about 5 times, I thought I was going to pass out trying to keep up with her, so I made everyone get out after that. I'm a party pooper lol. We got to go on it again later though.

A storm hit around 2 that shut everything down for about 1.5-2 hours that afternoon. We just hung out at the cabana and enjoyed our lunch. We got it delivered right before the storm hit. It was a really nice break for DH, DS and I; DD was bored out of her mind lol. But it forced us to really slow down and enjoy the cabana we were paying for. DH said it was the best part of the whole trip lol. It was sooo relaxing. If you have the money to rent one, I definitely recommend it. The snacks they gave us with the cabana were top notch, and it was nice to have the free water. The locker was very convenient too.

After the storm left, we got to ride Krakatau again, along with the fearless river. We hopped on one more quick family raft ride, before another storm rolled through and shut everything down again. This one only shut everything down for a little under an hour. DH and DS were changed and tired at this point. So when things opened up, I took DD to the wave pool and the Volcano walk through experience. By 0530 it was time to leave; we had dinner reservations at the Cowfish that evening.

The Cowfish was amazing. It was our first time there every. My DH isn't very adventurous with food a lot of the time, so I figured he would stick to a burger (won't do sushi). However, he surprised me by trying the All American Burgushi. He said it was like eating a burger wrapped in a tator tot; however, he really did enjoy the food. I got the Tropical Storm Sushi roll. It was so colorful I almost didn't want to eat it, but oh boy, it melted in my mouth it was sooo smooth.

After the prior intense park days, a relaxing water park day with a cabana and a nice dinner was the best way to end the trip! My family will do more Universal only trips in the future. It was nice not planning out a strict ride itinerary to avoid all the lines like I have to do for Disney. It was wonderful not planning our our restaurants 6 months out! It was so much more carefree; and the rides were fun. It was fun watching my little girl turn into a big girl at that park. She actively avoided the sections she thought "were for little kids." It was a bit bitter sweet, but also amazing watching her seek out the biggest baddest rides she could, and having a blast on them.

The Portifino hotel was very nice. It was relaxing, the staff was nice, and the pool was large enough to be spaced out from others while having fun. However, the walk was a bit long sometimes. I might try the Hard Rock next time just for its closer location...

And that was our Trip. :)
 
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