We arrived at HRH at 8:30 a.m. on the 1st. We didn't think our room would be ready, but we wanted to check in so we could get our keys for FOTL. The lady at check-in was very friendly. My dks both had straight A reports cards, so that was put on the room key. They were out of the mugs. They did get welcome bags, but not what I expected. Our room was ready, so we went ahead and went to the room. It was room 4142 a very long walk from the elevator. We liked the room, but was not overly impressed with it. We did have a pool view, but mostly all we could see was the slide, not much of the pool. It was not as noisy as what I thought it would be.
After we got our luggage in the room and all took a potty break, we left for Universal through the pool area, not too bad of a walk, however it was our only time to walk because my son fell in love with the water taxi, so we took it the rest of the week.
Got our tickets (5 day 2 park passes) at Guest Services and then went on in. Walking into Universal just doesn't have the same affect as walking into the Magic Kingdom and being on Main Street facing the castle.
I'll be honest, my family and I were just not as impressed with Universal/IOA as we are with Disney. We did LOVE the FOTL, that is the best thing that Universal has over Disney.
We rode Jimmy Neutron, MIB, Back to the Future, and Jaws the first morning. We were in line for Twister, but both of my kids chickened out of riding it, so we left it. My 8 yr old dd was more into the rides than my 6 yr old ds was. He was very afraid of all the rides and it took a lot to get him on most of them. I love MIB, however, while we were waiting to ride, the ride broke down and we waited probably 30 mins for it to get fixed. On the final day there Jimmy Neutron broke down during the ride, took maybe 5 mins to get it going. We ate lunch at Mel's Diner, not very impressed with it. Chocolate Milkshake was good though, don't eat the chili dog. We went to see the Animal Planet Live show, very cute, my ds loved it! We left the park to go back and swim at the pool.
HRH has a GREAT pool! The kids loved the slide. They wanted to spend every minute there.
The next morning we went to IOA. I knew that we would not do any of the roller coasters, so I had my kids wear there bathing suits. We stoped at City Walk and let them play in the water sprinkler thing there in the middle for about 20 mins. We ate brunch at Green Eggs and Ham - too expensive for this type of food. I did try the Green Eggs & Ham sandwich, but it wasn't that great. We let the kids play in the water area there in Suess Landing. Then we rode the Cat in the Hat ride. My dd loved it! We rode it probably 4 times that morning. She and my dh rode One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish which they both like. My dks wanted to go back and swim at the pool by then so we did.
That night we ate at Hard Rock Cafe. They had some confussion with Priority Seating line, but after they got it fixed we were escorted right in. I love Hard Rock Cafe's and this one did not disappoint.
The next morning my dd and my dh went back to Universal and IOA while my son and I decided to stay and swim. He wasn't riding any rides anyway, so we just stayed and went swimming. That night we ate super at Margaritaville. It was very good!!! My dks loved the Volcano when it went off. Very fun! We went back to IOA after we ate so my dd could ride the Cat in the Hat for 7 and 8th time.
Friday morning we went back to Universal and did Jimmy Neutron, Shrek, and the Nick Studio Tours. My dd was picked for the games that they did. It was very fun. There was a child there from Make a Wish and it was very cool how he was treated. I was very impressed with that. They choose him to play a game and made sure that his team won. I'm sure that meant a lot to him. My dh wanted to do Twister, so we went back for him to do that while me and the kiddos waited. We then went back to IOA for the Cat in the Hat again. We ate lunch at the Nascar Cafe and it was wonderful. Probably the best food we had all week. That night we went back to IOA. My dd and I rode Storm Force Accelaration. That are the kind of rides we really liked and it was a lot of fun. I wish we had found it earlier in the week. We walked through the Marvel Super Hero area and the Toon Lagoon. When we got to Jurassic Park, my dd wanted to ride Pteranodon Flyers, so her and my dh did. While they did that my ds and I went to watch people coming down from Jurassic Park River Adventure. My ds stood down in the area where you get drenched, he had a blast!! There were a lot of kids there having a lot of fun. After my dh and dd got done we hurried through the Lost Continent to Suess Landing so we could ride the Cat in the Hat again.
We were trying to hurry back up to the Water Taxi. Since it was the 4th, they were shutting down the Water Taxi's at 9:00 for the fireworks. We wanted to watch the fireworks from the pool area at HRH. Getting through City Walk was not an easy task, but we did it. Got on the last boat back. We went to our room and got our swim suits on and then went back down the pool. The were showing "Independence Day" on the Dive in Movie. My dks thought that was really cool. However, when they fireworks started, they turned to movie off. There is nothing like sitting in a pool with a Margarita watching those fireworks! They were wonderful. We had a really good view of them.
Saturday morning we were leaving. The kids and my dh went back to Universal and IOA really quick to by suveniours and ride two or three more rides one more time. I stayed in the hotel room to get packed up.
We really were not overly crazy with Universal. We are more Disney people. However, you can not beat FOTL - we did not have to wait any longer than 15 mins in line (other than when MIB broke down). I was not impressed with HRH, there were two days we came back to the hotel around 1:30 or 2:00 and the cleaning staff was in our room so we had to wait before we could go in, I didn't like that, especially after being so hot and sticky from the parks.
I can say I experienced Universal, but can't say that I will be any hurry to go back.
After we got our luggage in the room and all took a potty break, we left for Universal through the pool area, not too bad of a walk, however it was our only time to walk because my son fell in love with the water taxi, so we took it the rest of the week.
Got our tickets (5 day 2 park passes) at Guest Services and then went on in. Walking into Universal just doesn't have the same affect as walking into the Magic Kingdom and being on Main Street facing the castle.
I'll be honest, my family and I were just not as impressed with Universal/IOA as we are with Disney. We did LOVE the FOTL, that is the best thing that Universal has over Disney.
We rode Jimmy Neutron, MIB, Back to the Future, and Jaws the first morning. We were in line for Twister, but both of my kids chickened out of riding it, so we left it. My 8 yr old dd was more into the rides than my 6 yr old ds was. He was very afraid of all the rides and it took a lot to get him on most of them. I love MIB, however, while we were waiting to ride, the ride broke down and we waited probably 30 mins for it to get fixed. On the final day there Jimmy Neutron broke down during the ride, took maybe 5 mins to get it going. We ate lunch at Mel's Diner, not very impressed with it. Chocolate Milkshake was good though, don't eat the chili dog. We went to see the Animal Planet Live show, very cute, my ds loved it! We left the park to go back and swim at the pool.
HRH has a GREAT pool! The kids loved the slide. They wanted to spend every minute there.
The next morning we went to IOA. I knew that we would not do any of the roller coasters, so I had my kids wear there bathing suits. We stoped at City Walk and let them play in the water sprinkler thing there in the middle for about 20 mins. We ate brunch at Green Eggs and Ham - too expensive for this type of food. I did try the Green Eggs & Ham sandwich, but it wasn't that great. We let the kids play in the water area there in Suess Landing. Then we rode the Cat in the Hat ride. My dd loved it! We rode it probably 4 times that morning. She and my dh rode One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish which they both like. My dks wanted to go back and swim at the pool by then so we did.
That night we ate at Hard Rock Cafe. They had some confussion with Priority Seating line, but after they got it fixed we were escorted right in. I love Hard Rock Cafe's and this one did not disappoint.
The next morning my dd and my dh went back to Universal and IOA while my son and I decided to stay and swim. He wasn't riding any rides anyway, so we just stayed and went swimming. That night we ate super at Margaritaville. It was very good!!! My dks loved the Volcano when it went off. Very fun! We went back to IOA after we ate so my dd could ride the Cat in the Hat for 7 and 8th time.
Friday morning we went back to Universal and did Jimmy Neutron, Shrek, and the Nick Studio Tours. My dd was picked for the games that they did. It was very fun. There was a child there from Make a Wish and it was very cool how he was treated. I was very impressed with that. They choose him to play a game and made sure that his team won. I'm sure that meant a lot to him. My dh wanted to do Twister, so we went back for him to do that while me and the kiddos waited. We then went back to IOA for the Cat in the Hat again. We ate lunch at the Nascar Cafe and it was wonderful. Probably the best food we had all week. That night we went back to IOA. My dd and I rode Storm Force Accelaration. That are the kind of rides we really liked and it was a lot of fun. I wish we had found it earlier in the week. We walked through the Marvel Super Hero area and the Toon Lagoon. When we got to Jurassic Park, my dd wanted to ride Pteranodon Flyers, so her and my dh did. While they did that my ds and I went to watch people coming down from Jurassic Park River Adventure. My ds stood down in the area where you get drenched, he had a blast!! There were a lot of kids there having a lot of fun. After my dh and dd got done we hurried through the Lost Continent to Suess Landing so we could ride the Cat in the Hat again.
We were trying to hurry back up to the Water Taxi. Since it was the 4th, they were shutting down the Water Taxi's at 9:00 for the fireworks. We wanted to watch the fireworks from the pool area at HRH. Getting through City Walk was not an easy task, but we did it. Got on the last boat back. We went to our room and got our swim suits on and then went back down the pool. The were showing "Independence Day" on the Dive in Movie. My dks thought that was really cool. However, when they fireworks started, they turned to movie off. There is nothing like sitting in a pool with a Margarita watching those fireworks! They were wonderful. We had a really good view of them.
Saturday morning we were leaving. The kids and my dh went back to Universal and IOA really quick to by suveniours and ride two or three more rides one more time. I stayed in the hotel room to get packed up.
We really were not overly crazy with Universal. We are more Disney people. However, you can not beat FOTL - we did not have to wait any longer than 15 mins in line (other than when MIB broke down). I was not impressed with HRH, there were two days we came back to the hotel around 1:30 or 2:00 and the cleaning staff was in our room so we had to wait before we could go in, I didn't like that, especially after being so hot and sticky from the parks.
I can say I experienced Universal, but can't say that I will be any hurry to go back.
