FOTLacces : blessing or curse ?

[pietnoeck]

We 're just back from a 11 day trip to Orlando.
We had 5 day passes to Universal and stayed 2 nights at the RPR (great resort, got room 1719 as requested eventhough they wanted to upgrade me to gardenview) so we got FOTL.
This great because you get to ride everything with no wait at all.
So it is a blessing.
BUT, at noon we had done everything, sometimes twice and ran out of things to do. Put some thunderstorms in this mix and each day we left the park at 5, not knowing what to do anymore.
And after 3 days we left again for the Hilton@WDW not returning anymore to US.
It left us with a strange feeling, unsatisfied. Is waiting at least for 10-15 minutes (we never waited any longer in WDW using fastpasses) part of a themepark experience or is US missing something vs WDW ?
We are regulars at Universal in Spain and maybe compared it to much. In Spain there at least half a dozen 30 minutes shows (animal, magician, chinese, cowboy, polynesian...) and the weather is comparable ( at least as warm but NO rain !) and that was lacking in Orlando. The rides were to short, not entertaining enough with The Mummy as a prime example. To moment you expect it to start it's already finished (the evil part).
So maybe waiting in line covers all of this up and gives you a better overal feeling or maybe Disney still has a better atmosphere I don't know.

 

[hftmrock]

With a 4 year old and a 9 year old. I loved the no wait. I stayed at RPR for 5 days a few weeks ago and what FOTL access did for us was try everything we wanted to and then gave my kids the opportunity to ride whatever they wanted over and over. My son was hooked on MIB mostly. We rode it over 50 times (Try that with a 15 minute wait!). I think if we were only able to ride what we wanted 2 or 3 times, it would have been disappointing. My son and daughter still talk about it and for me, thats what counts. I guess it really depends on who is going and if you get hooked on something.

 

[Prince Eric1]

It is a great thing. If you want to do something else, do it if you are done there. There can never be anything good about waiting in lines. We were there 5 days with 1 1/2 days for seaworld included, and still missed things. We did, however, ride numerous rides many times over. Waiting in line is never a necessary theme park experience in my book and the reason we go so turned on to Universal.

 

[goofy!]

I have to agree with everybody else, FOTL is always a winner. We had to wait once, just once, in the Mummy FOTL line for 45 minutes. I certainly wouldn't want to do that on any other ride at any other time.

We were there for 6 days, (did spend one of them in Sea World), and thought it was just right. It allowed us to see some shows we never saw before, such as Horror makeup show and Ghostbusters. I can't believe we never stuck around before to see those. It has been a month, and I just heard my Ds14 and Ds7 goofing around in the family room. Ds7 "Well, it can't get any worse.", then both of them laughing hysterically while they crank up the Shania Twain CD and start singing "Man, I feel like a woman." Guess it made quite an impression on them

We saw the horror magic show a few times and that was fun to see how the different "hosts" handled the jokes. Each one put a different twist on it.

Our last couple of days, we focused on the rides we loved. Trying for those high scores on MIB, riding Mummy, Hulk, Spiderman.

I definitely could have stayed a few more days. But then, that is just our family. We are the types that love to ride the same ride over again a few times.

 

[damo]

I love being able to do a park in 4 hours. Any longer than that is too long.

 

[donnaannod]

Is there something special about this room? I saw somewhere that someone requested. Are there certain rooms that should be requested? Thanks

 

[hftmrock]

Is there something special about this room? I saw somewhere that someone requested. Are there certain rooms that should be requested? Thanks

I think you should start another thread on this. People might not see it here.


I stayed in 1733 and the view there is amazing. Its a corner room so it was nice and quiet. I put pictures of the view in Trip reports called "RPR Perfection part 1"

 

[pietnoeck]

There several threads on room-assignments.
These rooms give a very good view of the park and waterway to it.

As to the initial thread. We had a strange feeling after 3 days at US and IO. Something along the lines "is that all ?"This was after 6 days of WDW.
I asked myself if this was due to the fact that WDW is better or we had to high expectations (comparing to Universal Spain) or the was distorted somehow by the FOTL, which off course is a great perk !!!
Any thoughts ?

 

[tricia451]

The only problem with FOTL that we have is that we were spoiled by it! After that experience, I don't even want to wait in line at the local grocery stores!!! Some things are worth paying extra for, and FOTL is one of them, in my opinion.

Pat

 

[zaxmom]

Well, there are only 2 parks as compared to 4 + water parks. You really only need 2-3 days at Universal with the FOTL and you can see everything. It is the main reason we keep going back there.

 

[Tinkbell]

Nobody says you HAVE to use the FOTL. If waiting in line makes you happy, go for it!