Finishing up my trip accounting so here's where we ended up.
Flights: 9k RRs + CP one way, 26k URs home on United (earning 860pts each)
Night 1: Pop via Hotels.com $211 - GC stash = $30ish OOP (plus portals, plus free night credit, etc gets me ~$30 back)
Nights 2-3: Dolphin, room rate including resort fee came to $456.75. Charged $59 to the room - sunscreen and a phone charger because I forgot them, Mickey bars and drinks to sit on the balcony one night. Charged $200 to DHs SPG Lux to get his $40 credit, charged the remainder to mine to get my $40 credit plus $300 credit. Total OOP $135.45 and earned 6800pts
Nights 4-6: Pop with RO offer for one night, $535. Charged $285 to my Arrival and $250 to DHs. Redeemed a total of $560 in Arrival credit.
Used Uber credits going to Universal, but ended up paying $25 OOP for a Lyft back including tip after the OI Meetup. It was 2am and Uber kept connecting me with drivers by the airport that were 20min away, or one's who were 'completing a trip nearby' which really mean they were a mile away from us and needed to go another mile past us before dropping off their current fare (and still a 20min arrival time), plus were in surge pricing. Lyft was not surging and I had 10% off, and I gave a really big tip too in that $25 because our driver was great. If it hadn't been 2am I would have used DHs Lyft app for 25% off and paid with a Discover card.
Gift card spending was almost $600
but it came from my stash so actual cash paid for that was $275
. We ate at Yak n Yeti using Landry's gift cards that I got on sale from Sam's, $67.50 for $90 worth which I covered with Discover cashback since that was better than getting a Landry's GC through Discover which is $50 GC for $45 cb. The rest of our cash spending was miscelaneous airport stuff, Timberline tip, Pop food court (I burned a $15 VGC but forgot to grab a GC for the remainder), last few bucks at YnY plus tip on a card, and a meal at Toothsome at Uni Citywalk. Plus OI Meetup tickets and we decided to add the HEA Dessert Party. We were worn out getting to MCO at 3:45am but at least we got to use precheck... we skipped the lounge because we didn't feel like dealing with swtiching terminals since our flight was supposed to board at 6:10am and the lounge opened at 5am... and good thing as we started boarding around 5:45am.
OI Meetup Review: $186pp including tax (further breakdown of pricing/hours vs regular park hours/tickets is in quote below)
Grain of salt, we messed up here which didn't help... forgot our Seasonal APs were blocked out
through the day of the meetup, so we headed over around 3pm, got checked in and got our wristbands and dining cards... and couldn't get in the park like we thought we'd be able to. There were 2 QS places in Citywalk that would have taken the dining card, but we had a long time to kill and ate at Toothsome. Delicious but filling, sooooo... we ended up not using our dining cards at all! Getting in was a bit chaotic. They hadn't really said where you'd enter but it was over by the exit turnstiles and the line seemed crazy long and no one knew what was happening. We went into IoA first thinking regular guests would head to Studios as it was open later. It was a busy day and all the lines were long, like 60mins+ so we ended up doing Poseidon's Fury and that was really it before park close - wanted to do Seuss trolley but it went down. I think we would have been better off starting in Studios even waiting in lines. We tried to use our dining cards to get drinks/snacks at some of the carts before park close, as the unlimited food didn't start until an hour after park close, but they cut all the lines off about 10-15mins early so that was a bit disappointing. At park close we jumped in the Spiderman line figuring it wouldn't be as popular, and did it twice. Rode JP River ride twice, and Kong. All walk ons. Then headed to Forbidden Journey. It was about time for the food to start and we were hungry by that time, so we hit a QS place. Then Suess trolley then Hulk. Then decided to head to Studios via a path they opened between the parks, around 10:30pm. Rode the Mummy a couple times, then headed for Gringotts but the ride went down while we were in line. Gringotts, Rip Ride Rockit, Hulk, and FnF rides all closed at midnight, so we headed for RRR. Ran into a few disboards friends so I chatted with them for a few while Zack went to ride (it's not my favorite). Hit another QS place, then went to MIB and Simpsons, then the Mummy 3 more times before it ended.
Pros: the lines were short after the parks closed, I'll give them that. 15-20ish min mostly. Gringotts was pretty long. Hulk and RRR were very backed up at the metal detectors (like wait 20min for them then basically walk on ride). I was a little miffed that we didn't get to use the dining cards, though part of that was obviously our planning so I still think they were a pro overall, if they keep doing them (I've seen mixed reviews on if they expire or not, so I'll probably hold on to them til the next trip and check to see if they are good still). Free food?
Cons: All rides with lockers were a giant issue as they are usually tied to ride times... but that feature must have been turned off, and it would tell you you had 3.5hrs even though the line was 10 mins. I think people were just leaving their stuff so not many lockers were open, plus Uni didn't have all of the locker banks open either. The QS places we hit were S.L.O.W. like 20min for a gyro/chicken finger place. I walked up to the Italian place and could get spaghetti and meatballs, pizza, breadsticks, salad, and cannolis... but they were backed up on Chk Alfredo. And they had the chicken ready, had to wait 10min for a bowl of crappy alfredo? It seemed a bit weird, it's all basic mass produced food but I felt like we waited many times longer than the times we've had QS in the park on a normal day. We even avoided the HP QS because we though they'd be the worst. Butterbeer lines were pretty crazy mostly, and a lot of the frozen BB machines were down (I can't drink the normal kind). HP areas still felt really busy and the Hogwarts Express line was always listed at 30-70mins. Rides weren't running at full capacity, like slow to load, not all the trains out. So that was disappointing to go in and the lines not that long but it takes twice as long as when the park is open to get through the same number of people.
Verdict: DH was not impressed overall. Id have felt better about the value of wed been able to use the dining cards or have more food, but it was a big time waster. And food was mainly 1hr after park close to midnight. We would give it another shot maybe instead of day tickets, but as long as our passes are valid our $375 is better spent on a night at an EP hotel.
Well two hour in on the ten hour drive. Didn’t have time to write up the character meals. So here goes... it’s been 2 adults and 3 kids each meal. Also we have had others join us at time and that hasn’t changed our experience. We used the dining plan most of the time but have paid for some out of pocket. Also we have food allergies.
We have 3 Krogers in this town and to distinguish them everyone knows there is Gucci Kroger, Ghetto Kroger and Student Kroger. I personally prefer Ghetto Kroger.
