theycallmewinnie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 5, 2001
- Messages
- 85
We did some other touring of Florida (Ft. Myers Beach, Cocoa Beach) and then a couple of nights in Tennessee, so that is why this report is not very "timely."
Upon check-in at 3:00 our room was ready, a bit of a trek from the elevators and a parking lot view, but we weren't there to be looking out the window anyway! Our fruit, water and paper were sent up immediately.
We picked up our tickets from the kiosks outside of US, found a couple of lanyards to keep our keys, and did about 5 attractions before calling it quits at the park (MIB was down this day.) The boys wanted to try out the great pool. They used their grade A cards for drinks (my 7 year old charmed the bartender for a fistfull of cherries to top his off.) Then a great night's sleep in very comfortable beds. (Although some idiot had his music blasting until 12:00.)
Day 2: IOA. We did the water rides in early morning and stayed wet most of the day even thought it was hot. I wouldn't recommend this, but my boys were having fun and I didn't want to run back to the hotel just to get dry. Spiderman was a favorite as was Jurassic Park. The 7 year old like Cat in the Hat. Had to talk my 9 year old out of riding Hulk - I just can't do those inversions and I wasn't sure he would be OK by himself. Did most of the attractions by 4:00 so we went back to the hotel for a rest, returning that night for the fireworks which were nice, but the only time we ran into very rude smokers (a lot of them) who didn't care that they were in a crowd. Did a load of laundry which took forever because some guy had left his stuff in the washer for hours, so my husband took it out and put it on the counter, a good plan, but then the guy comes back with just 5 minutes of our wash time left and grabs the dryer. When I came in to relieve my husband, I could tell by the look on his face alone what had happened. Later some lady came in and was complaining about how someone had left laundry all day and the guy stood there and said nothing which was very funny to me and another lady who had been there through the whole thing. I guess some people don't know how to be considerate. This inconvenienced the whole line of people behind me who were waiting for their turn.
Day 3: Seaworld. Very hot. Couldn't get ice without buying a $7.00 cup at the stand we were near. Stands ran out of bottled water even though they were charging ridiculous prices for it. Universal was similar in price, but we were given ice for our spray bottle for free. Someone with clout has to tell these parks that water should not be an item to try to make enormous profits on.
Shows were great, but very crowded. I hadn't been to see Shamu for a long time and loved the preshow camera/ quizshow thing they do now. My son had a great picture taken as he pet a dolphin and my youngest liked the manatees. We did have to skip the Seamore show as it wasn't fitting into our schedule that included leaving early because we were hot and utterly exhausted. Also, the Arctic ride had a power surge just as we were in the seats ready to begin the ride, so we were ushered out and given passes that would get us to the front of the line later in the day. Because of the location of this attraction, we didn't return for the ride.
Day 4: US. The day seemed much more tolerable in part because of the enclosed theatres, but it also was more overcast. MIB was working, but my kids, 7 and 9, wanted to redo ET instead of multiples on anything else. My 7 year-old kept asking if everything was real, so Twister somewhat scared him. This ride too, experienced difficulty as we were entering, but it only caused about a 10 min delay. Shrek was definitely one of the coolest attractions; it lives up to the movie in terms of the fast paced jokes, and with the 3D and other effects, well . . . it was really great.
Day 5: We decided to skip doing anything at the parks and used the pool before checking out and heading to the beach for the next part of our trip. FOTL had helped us enjoy so much of the parks that the 2 1/2 days spent there were enough.
Along the way we ate at NBA City and Hard Rock Cafe which were both reasonably good meals. Because of the heat, we were more likely to snack both in the parks and on what we had brought than to sit down to a large (and expensive) meal.
HRH was definitely worth it - location and FOTL alone make it such, but the service, quality, and nice pool area also add up big with my family.
I'll surf the other boards in the next couple of days so if you have any questions, let me know.
Upon check-in at 3:00 our room was ready, a bit of a trek from the elevators and a parking lot view, but we weren't there to be looking out the window anyway! Our fruit, water and paper were sent up immediately.
We picked up our tickets from the kiosks outside of US, found a couple of lanyards to keep our keys, and did about 5 attractions before calling it quits at the park (MIB was down this day.) The boys wanted to try out the great pool. They used their grade A cards for drinks (my 7 year old charmed the bartender for a fistfull of cherries to top his off.) Then a great night's sleep in very comfortable beds. (Although some idiot had his music blasting until 12:00.)
Day 2: IOA. We did the water rides in early morning and stayed wet most of the day even thought it was hot. I wouldn't recommend this, but my boys were having fun and I didn't want to run back to the hotel just to get dry. Spiderman was a favorite as was Jurassic Park. The 7 year old like Cat in the Hat. Had to talk my 9 year old out of riding Hulk - I just can't do those inversions and I wasn't sure he would be OK by himself. Did most of the attractions by 4:00 so we went back to the hotel for a rest, returning that night for the fireworks which were nice, but the only time we ran into very rude smokers (a lot of them) who didn't care that they were in a crowd. Did a load of laundry which took forever because some guy had left his stuff in the washer for hours, so my husband took it out and put it on the counter, a good plan, but then the guy comes back with just 5 minutes of our wash time left and grabs the dryer. When I came in to relieve my husband, I could tell by the look on his face alone what had happened. Later some lady came in and was complaining about how someone had left laundry all day and the guy stood there and said nothing which was very funny to me and another lady who had been there through the whole thing. I guess some people don't know how to be considerate. This inconvenienced the whole line of people behind me who were waiting for their turn.
Day 3: Seaworld. Very hot. Couldn't get ice without buying a $7.00 cup at the stand we were near. Stands ran out of bottled water even though they were charging ridiculous prices for it. Universal was similar in price, but we were given ice for our spray bottle for free. Someone with clout has to tell these parks that water should not be an item to try to make enormous profits on.
Shows were great, but very crowded. I hadn't been to see Shamu for a long time and loved the preshow camera/ quizshow thing they do now. My son had a great picture taken as he pet a dolphin and my youngest liked the manatees. We did have to skip the Seamore show as it wasn't fitting into our schedule that included leaving early because we were hot and utterly exhausted. Also, the Arctic ride had a power surge just as we were in the seats ready to begin the ride, so we were ushered out and given passes that would get us to the front of the line later in the day. Because of the location of this attraction, we didn't return for the ride.
Day 4: US. The day seemed much more tolerable in part because of the enclosed theatres, but it also was more overcast. MIB was working, but my kids, 7 and 9, wanted to redo ET instead of multiples on anything else. My 7 year-old kept asking if everything was real, so Twister somewhat scared him. This ride too, experienced difficulty as we were entering, but it only caused about a 10 min delay. Shrek was definitely one of the coolest attractions; it lives up to the movie in terms of the fast paced jokes, and with the 3D and other effects, well . . . it was really great.
Day 5: We decided to skip doing anything at the parks and used the pool before checking out and heading to the beach for the next part of our trip. FOTL had helped us enjoy so much of the parks that the 2 1/2 days spent there were enough.
Along the way we ate at NBA City and Hard Rock Cafe which were both reasonably good meals. Because of the heat, we were more likely to snack both in the parks and on what we had brought than to sit down to a large (and expensive) meal.
HRH was definitely worth it - location and FOTL alone make it such, but the service, quality, and nice pool area also add up big with my family.
I'll surf the other boards in the next couple of days so if you have any questions, let me know.
