Universal trip report 12/7-12/14 2019
Stayed in deluxe 2 queen room at hard rock hotel. Had a view of the pool. Room was large enough to have the pull out queen open and still walk around. Plenty of counter space to keep cereal and snacks and then had the whole counter beside the tv open.
Places we ate and our take
-The kitchen for lunch – food was okay but service was awful.
-Toothsome chocolate emporium for lunch – food was good and too full for dessert. Penelope came around and girls really enjoyed talking with her multiple times.
-Toothsome for dessert – was great! Girls really enjoyed their desserts. Penelope didn’t come around to our table and service was really slow. We went after the park closed at 7 so we had an hour wait even with showing our room key.
-Three broomsticks lunch – got the chicken and it was good. The kids mac n cheese none of them would eat it even with bribing with more butterbeer! For the price I don’t think the food is worth it but if on the dining plan its def worth it.
-Snookers cotton candy was fun for the experience but the flavor needed to be stronger
-Margaritaville late lunch – food was really good as well as the service. Balloon person didn’t start till after 4 so we missed that part. Their volcano show wasn’t very big. We go to the myrtle beach location with the hurricane and they make a big deal about it.
-Green eggs and ham lunch – decent enough for park food but it was a one an done for us. $10 for tater tots is not worth the money.
-Vivo dinner – DH enjoyed his food. Kids and mine were lacking flavor. Service was really slow but the restaurant was full and showing the room key we got seated right away.
-Leaky caudron breakfast – food was good and we used the dining plan on this. Kids couldn’t finish their food as it was a lot. We went around 945 and it wasn’t too busy.
-Antojitos authentic Mexican food dinner – was really loud. We were seated in a back corner so didn’t see the stage show. Food was nothing to rave about and the picky eater didn’t touch her meal. Service was friendly when she came around but they were really busy. We had a short wait with showing the room key.
-Mels diner for lunch – standard burger place. Kids burger is the same size as adult but half the price. They do have from the heart cheese so it was nice to have a cheeseburger. Their drink machines are coded to not allow for refills
-Voodoo doughnuts – yumm! Ordered 11 doughnuts and only 1 wasn’t eaten by DD. We will def stop by here again. The line was long but it moved quickly.
-Honeydukes – caudron cake and pumpkin cake DDs said were good. Their butterbeer fudge wasn’t as good as DD thought it would be. The pink cupcake was ok according to DD5. But getting to go in honeydukes was a fun experience for the girls
-Captain America diner lunch – same as mels, standard burgers. Lots of seating and wasn’t busy
Olivenders was a nice experience having their wands chosen. DD9 got picked and then had to do it again and then DD7 and DD5 got theirs picked. I noticed if you are the first in the room you get picked.
As a whole, someone in the family, we did every open ride and watched all the shows. Had the express pass and really only needed it on the weekend. The weekdays the waits weren’t bad. DD7 rode the hippograph roller coaster 10 times in a row. Harrid’s motorbike had a delayed opening every day. We stood in line one morning for 3 hours. Many of the days we tried in the early afternoon it was closed. They also closed it early every day we were there. Their favorite rides in no order were shrek, minions, haggrids motorbike, hippograph, gringrots, Hogwarts castle ride (sorry can’t think of the name), one fish two fish, ET, curious George, fear factor, and MIB. We did fear factor last show on two days and all three got to volunteer. They had fun doing all the spells in both parks.
I will say we went with no plans for each day. We got to the parks when we were all ready and just walked around and rode the rides or watched the shows as we came up on them. As for meals we just tried to eat at a different place each time. The dining plan does save you some money if you plan to get some snacks and the drink. We did the dining plan for two days. Did the souvenir cup and we all shared it. The girls loved the endless icee! Universal was nice for a change but I still like Disney more. once you are 48" you can ride everything. DD5 couldn't do two rides at USF and not sure how many in IoA.
Total value of trip $6316.65. Purchased 2 day get 2 free day base tickets from UCT in 2016. Upgraded one ticket to the preferred season pass and the other 4 to a seasonal pass. Hired Tony Hinds but he had Transmax Transportation do our MCO, publix, HRH and HRH to MCO. It was $100 so I didn’t think that was bad and he had the 2 booster seats. Paid $2805 plus 138277 UR points and $500 in SWA vouchers for the 8 days. Having the preferred pass saved us $136.38 this trip. Would we do this again sure we had a fun time and it was nice not planning anything. We didn't try to save money while in the park. If we were hungry we ate or if they wanted butterbeers we got them. we did icecreams almost every day. Thanks to all to shared tips about saving or trying out rides/restaurants!
Though I missed your initial post, skimming too fast. And no, there is nowhere as good. 
Cheaper in LA area though, we usually go to the Arcadia location when we’re down there.
I'll be seeing it this week!
