We just got back from an incredible week on the dark side. This was our 6th trip to Universal and by far the best. I'll start with the players:
Teresa (Me) - 33 uber planner and Universal geek.
Ben (DH) - 34 most laid back guy you will ever meet. He totally balances me.
Aiden (DS1) - 6 sweetest kid in the world. He is generous to a fault and very smart.
Jack - 4 (DS2) my Stinker Bean. Funniest person I have ever meet.
We were also joined by my Mom (DM), my sister Sally (DSIS), my Mother in Law Mary (DMIL) and Father in Law Tom (DFIL). Ben's brother Joe (DBIL), his wife Lida (DSIL), my niece Marissa (DNIE) and my nephew Caleb (DNEP).
There were 12 of us total. Wow, it seemed like a good idea when we were planning it, but 12 people can really be a challenge to please. We got through it fine though. How can you not have fun at the greatest vacation destination on Earth.
Myself,DH, DS1, DS2, DM and DSIS left on Sunday, Feb.1 at 4:30 a.m. to drive to Indy for our 8:00 a.m. flight. It's a pain to drive 2 hours from KY to Indy, but the Cincinnati airport has some of the highest fares in the country. It's an average of $587 for a round trip ticket
. We paid $140 per round trip ticket for a non stop flight on Airtran, so the drive was just fine with us. The flight was great, Airtran has always been a good fit for us. The crew was super friendly. Each child on the flight got little wing pins and everyone gets headphones for the XM radio. The flight left early and we arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule. They were not messing around getting there. The pilot must have had a hot date or something 
We were greeted by our driver from the car service we used. I'm not sure if we can post the companies name, but he was excellent. The round trip to and from the airport was $105.00 for 6 people with a half hour stop at Publix. Totally worth the money. I tipped him $20 each way as well.
We arrived at the RPR by 11:30 a.m. and our rooms were ready!!!
We had requested connecting rooms to my Mom's. We were in 1728 and she and my sister were in 1726. What a view!! (I'll post pictures later). We were an the pool side of the building. The only hitch we had the whole time was getting the refrigerator for my mom's medicine. I requested it in August when I made the reservations, verified it every time I called reservations but it still took 7 hours to actually get it. 
The RPR has always been the hotel we stay at. We love the atmosphere and the laid back attitude they have there. We received our paper every morning and turn down service every night. They were very consistent in their service.
We still had a few hours before the rest of our group arrived so we headed to Margaritaville for lunch. It was a little chilly, but we still sat outside. Man, I love this place. If Heaven exists it would be the Porch of Indecision and a cold Miller Lite for me. After lunch we hooked up with the rest of our group and headed to Islands of Adventure. For the rest of our trip we hung out in the parks. People ask if there's enough to fill up 7 days and 6 nights. I always say we still need more days. We hit the ground running every morning and were in the parks till 6:00 every night. The weather was very cold from Monday to Thursday. The wind chills were in the 20's. Boy, Universal made a lot of money off of us buying sweat shirts, hats and gloves!! We just weren't prepared. It was fine though. The parks weren't very crowded at all. The only times it seemed crowded were when large tour groups were around. There were a lot of teenage girl groups touring.
Some of the highlights of our trip were the Spiderman Breakfast and our dinner at Latin Quarter. Both were new things for us to try and both I highly recommend. The character interaction was incredible. Spiderman guided my family through the buffet telling the kids about his own breakfast and what his favorite items were. (It got all of them eating fruit. Thank you Spidy!!) Cat and the Hat and the Things sat down at our table and teased the group while we ate. There were only about 5 other tables in the restaurant so Spiderman came back around several times. It was a blast. The food was just O.K., but I was so impressed by the characters that an average meal became extraordinary. Latin Quarter was the best meal we had. We weren't planning on eating here, but the wait for Margaritaville was 1 1/2 hours for our party of 12. We walked right into Latin Quarter and boy am I glad we did. The highlight was the guacamole prepared table side by a chef. It was the best we have ever had!! The fajitas were outstanding, as well as the sangria. This will definitely become a must for us. We also saw the best Horror Makeup Show we have ever seen. The women they picked was quick witted and talked back to the hosts. I cried I laughed so hard. She gave them a run for their money for sure.
Another new place for us to eat was Mythos. I had read so much about this place that I insisted we go there. I have to say, it was the worst place we ate the whole trip. I know, I could not believe how bad it went. I am a server for a living, I forgive a lot and I make my family be more patient because I know how things that can't be controlled can effect service. That said, here's what happened. We had reservations for 1:30 for 12 ppl. We were seated right away and greeted by our server. (I'm not going to use the servers name, I think it would not be fair to him.) He got our drink and appetizer orders and went to get the drinks. I took my son to the bathroom and when we returned the drinks still had not arrived. It was about 5 minutes later that the server came with our drinks. We just ordered sodas, 1 beer and 1 wine. We then ordered lunch. Our appetizers came out in a reasonable time. No refills for drinks between apps and lunch. Luch took some time, about 25 minutes to come out. We still had empty plated from our apps on the table and now no one had any drinks left. Our server was not the one to run our food out, so we didn't get drinks for a while. Half of the groups food came out. We waited for the second half to come, it didn't. The first half started eating so their food wouldn't get cold. I was almost finished with my filet when I got up to look for the second half of our food. The other servers were coming out of the kitchen at that time with the other food. The first half of the table were done eating when the second half got their food. Still no refills. I went to speak to the manger. She was nice, she apologized, but said the weirdest thing, she said the restaurant put strict restrictions on her to fix a situation, she would offer us dessert shots. I said no thank you, we had been there an hour and a half at that point, no refills and we ate as two seperate groups. We just wanted to go. She said she would see what she could do. She came over and got refills for everyone and still brought by the desserts. No takers. She said our server would be over with the bills soon. 13 minutes later our server (who we had not seen since we ordered lunch) came with the bills. They took 10% off. I thought my husband would have a stroke. He went and talked to the manger. After 15 minutes I went to pull him off of her, but they were laughing. She hadn't realized how bad it had been, she took care of the whole bill. Wow. Her name was Kelly and she saved the experience. I was impressed by her. She was great. We will try Mythos again, the food and atmosphere were outstanding. Our server just had a bad day.
Overall we had a great trip. Best vacation ever!! We rode everything several times and saw all the shows except Poseidon. We just never seemed to time it right. HR3 is coming along and looks like a wicked good time. Harry Potter is also progressing, but it was hard to see anything. They have done a great job of concealing the construction. Every TM I talked to was so nice and helpful. They always seemed happy to be there. It's sad that it's over and we're all back to work and school.
I tear up when I look at pictures from past trips and this latest trip. My boys are growing so fast. We are already planning our trip for next February. It's just to bad we have to wait another year for our next visit. I'll try to post pictures tonight.
Teresa (Me) - 33 uber planner and Universal geek.
Ben (DH) - 34 most laid back guy you will ever meet. He totally balances me.
Aiden (DS1) - 6 sweetest kid in the world. He is generous to a fault and very smart.
Jack - 4 (DS2) my Stinker Bean. Funniest person I have ever meet.
We were also joined by my Mom (DM), my sister Sally (DSIS), my Mother in Law Mary (DMIL) and Father in Law Tom (DFIL). Ben's brother Joe (DBIL), his wife Lida (DSIL), my niece Marissa (DNIE) and my nephew Caleb (DNEP).
There were 12 of us total. Wow, it seemed like a good idea when we were planning it, but 12 people can really be a challenge to please. We got through it fine though. How can you not have fun at the greatest vacation destination on Earth.
Myself,DH, DS1, DS2, DM and DSIS left on Sunday, Feb.1 at 4:30 a.m. to drive to Indy for our 8:00 a.m. flight. It's a pain to drive 2 hours from KY to Indy, but the Cincinnati airport has some of the highest fares in the country. It's an average of $587 for a round trip ticket
. We paid $140 per round trip ticket for a non stop flight on Airtran, so the drive was just fine with us. The flight was great, Airtran has always been a good fit for us. The crew was super friendly. Each child on the flight got little wing pins and everyone gets headphones for the XM radio. The flight left early and we arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule. They were not messing around getting there. The pilot must have had a hot date or something We were greeted by our driver from the car service we used. I'm not sure if we can post the companies name, but he was excellent. The round trip to and from the airport was $105.00 for 6 people with a half hour stop at Publix. Totally worth the money. I tipped him $20 each way as well.We arrived at the RPR by 11:30 a.m. and our rooms were ready!!!
We had requested connecting rooms to my Mom's. We were in 1728 and she and my sister were in 1726. What a view!! (I'll post pictures later). We were an the pool side of the building. The only hitch we had the whole time was getting the refrigerator for my mom's medicine. I requested it in August when I made the reservations, verified it every time I called reservations but it still took 7 hours to actually get it. The RPR has always been the hotel we stay at. We love the atmosphere and the laid back attitude they have there. We received our paper every morning and turn down service every night. They were very consistent in their service. We still had a few hours before the rest of our group arrived so we headed to Margaritaville for lunch. It was a little chilly, but we still sat outside. Man, I love this place. If Heaven exists it would be the Porch of Indecision and a cold Miller Lite for me. After lunch we hooked up with the rest of our group and headed to Islands of Adventure. For the rest of our trip we hung out in the parks. People ask if there's enough to fill up 7 days and 6 nights. I always say we still need more days. We hit the ground running every morning and were in the parks till 6:00 every night. The weather was very cold from Monday to Thursday. The wind chills were in the 20's. Boy, Universal made a lot of money off of us buying sweat shirts, hats and gloves!! We just weren't prepared. It was fine though. The parks weren't very crowded at all. The only times it seemed crowded were when large tour groups were around. There were a lot of teenage girl groups touring.
Some of the highlights of our trip were the Spiderman Breakfast and our dinner at Latin Quarter. Both were new things for us to try and both I highly recommend. The character interaction was incredible. Spiderman guided my family through the buffet telling the kids about his own breakfast and what his favorite items were. (It got all of them eating fruit. Thank you Spidy!!) Cat and the Hat and the Things sat down at our table and teased the group while we ate. There were only about 5 other tables in the restaurant so Spiderman came back around several times. It was a blast. The food was just O.K., but I was so impressed by the characters that an average meal became extraordinary. Latin Quarter was the best meal we had. We weren't planning on eating here, but the wait for Margaritaville was 1 1/2 hours for our party of 12. We walked right into Latin Quarter and boy am I glad we did. The highlight was the guacamole prepared table side by a chef. It was the best we have ever had!! The fajitas were outstanding, as well as the sangria. This will definitely become a must for us. We also saw the best Horror Makeup Show we have ever seen. The women they picked was quick witted and talked back to the hosts. I cried I laughed so hard. She gave them a run for their money for sure.
Another new place for us to eat was Mythos. I had read so much about this place that I insisted we go there. I have to say, it was the worst place we ate the whole trip. I know, I could not believe how bad it went. I am a server for a living, I forgive a lot and I make my family be more patient because I know how things that can't be controlled can effect service. That said, here's what happened. We had reservations for 1:30 for 12 ppl. We were seated right away and greeted by our server. (I'm not going to use the servers name, I think it would not be fair to him.) He got our drink and appetizer orders and went to get the drinks. I took my son to the bathroom and when we returned the drinks still had not arrived. It was about 5 minutes later that the server came with our drinks. We just ordered sodas, 1 beer and 1 wine. We then ordered lunch. Our appetizers came out in a reasonable time. No refills for drinks between apps and lunch. Luch took some time, about 25 minutes to come out. We still had empty plated from our apps on the table and now no one had any drinks left. Our server was not the one to run our food out, so we didn't get drinks for a while. Half of the groups food came out. We waited for the second half to come, it didn't. The first half started eating so their food wouldn't get cold. I was almost finished with my filet when I got up to look for the second half of our food. The other servers were coming out of the kitchen at that time with the other food. The first half of the table were done eating when the second half got their food. Still no refills. I went to speak to the manger. She was nice, she apologized, but said the weirdest thing, she said the restaurant put strict restrictions on her to fix a situation, she would offer us dessert shots. I said no thank you, we had been there an hour and a half at that point, no refills and we ate as two seperate groups. We just wanted to go. She said she would see what she could do. She came over and got refills for everyone and still brought by the desserts. No takers. She said our server would be over with the bills soon. 13 minutes later our server (who we had not seen since we ordered lunch) came with the bills. They took 10% off. I thought my husband would have a stroke. He went and talked to the manger. After 15 minutes I went to pull him off of her, but they were laughing. She hadn't realized how bad it had been, she took care of the whole bill. Wow. Her name was Kelly and she saved the experience. I was impressed by her. She was great. We will try Mythos again, the food and atmosphere were outstanding. Our server just had a bad day.
Overall we had a great trip. Best vacation ever!! We rode everything several times and saw all the shows except Poseidon. We just never seemed to time it right. HR3 is coming along and looks like a wicked good time. Harry Potter is also progressing, but it was hard to see anything. They have done a great job of concealing the construction. Every TM I talked to was so nice and helpful. They always seemed happy to be there. It's sad that it's over and we're all back to work and school.
I tear up when I look at pictures from past trips and this latest trip. My boys are growing so fast. We are already planning our trip for next February. It's just to bad we have to wait another year for our next visit. I'll try to post pictures tonight.
