It's happening, finally happening!

[kathfish]

We are here....

Who's We? Where's here?
Check out my pre trip, titled, "Ok, I'll do one...."

We landed yesterday at MCO at 11am. Perfect flight(s) not a single glitch, which is always nice! Happy Limo got us to RPH, check in was a breeze, room is great, a weird smell though. Can't put my finger on it, you get used to it right away so it's not really a bother, but that first minute you walk it... ick... we're good though, no biggie. The room is really perfect for us, I know it sleeps 5, but if my oldest did come, or I was a 2 parent family it would have been tight. I LOVE the Emerils coffee... had a cup right away and what I didn't finish I added ice to and made it iced coffee! Nice bathroom/vanity area, being separate helps. Just a nice, basic hotel.

So, after we prowled around the room for 2-3 minutes we headed out to find food! Plan was to take the water taxi to City Walk and hit Marleys, one of our must do meals. Didn't work out that way.....

For one, the hotel is HUGE! I don't know what I expected.... duh.... but ya, it's quite the hike around! We are in Tower 1, btw. So we found the boat ramp, waited maybe 5 min and decided to walk. We were starving and I'd heard it was a "nice meandering walk" Uhuh. It's a hike. Or maybe it was me, hungry, anxious, tired.... ya, it had to be me, many people have commented on the nice walk. So we'll leave it at that.

We got to CW and hunted down Marleys. We'd never been and my daughter was really looking forward to it. Unfortunatly, they don't open till 4, which I didn't know. No biggie, we have plenty of days, we'll get there! Old standby, Margeritaville worked just fine. Boys got kid meal burgers, they were perfect for them. Me and the Girl decided to share a burger, it really wasn't huge, good size, def filled us, but I've had bigger....all in all, it was yummy! And the volcano is cool to watch, though a little cheesy.

We decided to start the parks and went directly to Suess Landing. Very cute, we all liked this. Cat in the Hat is fun, One Fish Two fish... make sure your on the inside, the outside gets WET! To the delite of my boys, who split up and drove me and the girl, we, of course were on the outside and as soon as they figured out who got wet, oh ya, they drove us right into it! Brats! We did the train.... excellent candy shop at the end of this ride! Spent a bit o time there.

Now we were getting tired, it had been a long day already, we were up at 4am! We decided to go right to Hulk, which my 9yr old had really been looking forward to. We figured him and the Girl would do that and me and the little one would grab a water. My boy is a smidge too short! No Hulk! The devestation! The saddness! The unfairness! And to further his suffering.... the Girl HAS to do this... and she's NOT doing it alone! So the four of us troop to the swap spot, the boys sit, disgruntled, while the Girl and I DO THE HULK! OMG!!! What a ride! If my son wasn't so sad and disappointed about not be able to get on I would of done this OVA AND OVA again! Such fun, such speed, such twists and turns and twirls! Ya, I like it....

So that was it for the parks day one. We headed back to RPH.. on the boat which, yes, is a bit of a wait, but it's a very nice ride. We went to the room, changed into our suites and hit the pool. Nice nice nice. The boys hung on the water boat thing, with the water guns and water falls and all, they had a blast playing together. Me and the Girl grabbed a couple of unattended noodles and just floated around, people watching, chatting, relaxing. Stayed for an hour or so, showed, changed and went to eat again.

It was a toss up between Jakes and Islands. Mostly because they are right across from each other at the hotel. We decided on Islands cuz Skooby Do was slated to make an appearance. This was a good choice, Skooby was great and so was the food! Boys got burgers... again.... but did chose fruit with them this time. Very yummy, big bowl, nice and fresh, good selections. Girl got kids pizza with fruit and I chose the Fish and chips. A little greasy, but it was very tasty. I got the wasabi mashed pots with it... ya, those were good! I'd go back for just that!

After this we headed to the room, got cleaned up, climbed into bed and rented the Chipmunks. Needless to say, I was out before it started.

And here I am 6 am. Actually, I was up at 4. Could not sleep another minute. I'm anticipating another early night for the mom! SO.... I will wake the kids around 7, and start another day. Not really planning on a minute by minute trip report, but if these early mornings continue you just might get it!


I'll be back!

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

I am here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you had a great day!! I take it the weather is nice enough for the pool ! That is just wonderful.

Thanks for the tip on Suess too...

So sad for the boy that he missed out on Hulk (glad you enjoyed it tho!) That is such a bummer for him. He has something to look forward to next time

I will be checking in for your reports! Thank you so much, I have 19 days and I just can't stand it I am so excited

 

[mcbailey]

Thank you for the report! I love it! We are heading to RPR in June and can't wait - our first time at this resort.....so give me the lowdown...how many minutes does it take to "hike" the walkway from Tower 1 to the IOA?????

 

[xApril]

Sounds fun!

I had the opposite experience with One Fish Two Fish. I was in the inside and I got soaked compared to my outside friend. I think we're about the same height too.

Can't wait to hear about how today went for you. I was at US for most of the day and it didn't seem to be too busy, so hopefully you didn't experience any crowds either.

 

[kathfish]

Day 2

So I was up at 4 am, roamed a bit, did a report on yesterday, layed down and THANKFULLY fell back asleep! Till 9am when the kids started waking. We dressed and hit the breakfast buffet at Islands. Great choice again, it was more than I wanted to spend for breakfast, but SO worth it! Wonderful buffet, big spread, everything was so good. We left full and satisfied! Our plan was to hit Universal and do everything we could do till we were done. And that's just what we did.

Started with Hulk, excellent show, we've seen it before, but it's great fun always. We went immediatly to RRR, since 9yr old was determined to make up for missing Hulk. And he did. Twice. We had to do the swap for 7yr old, so 9 got to do it twice. I must say, I didn't love it. It was on the same idea as he Hulk, though I didn't think it was as... I don't know... smooth maybe. It was crazy for sure. Plus, a big part of my not loving it so much is that I'm a big girl. Mostly around the middle, and the lap bar was SO tight... which I was glad for, since I'd hate to be hurled out of it but it made it hard to get a good breath. And the ride really wanted me to scream! So I guess I was uncomfortable a bit. Although the Girl agreed it was not as fun as Hulk, and she is NOT a big girl at all, so there you go.... we headed next to Mummy, since 7yr old really wanted to do something scary too and he's big enough for this one. Ya, it fullfilled all the scare he needed. You'll remember in my pre trip I mentioned he's not into the thrills much. But it gave hiim something to brag about, so... we did Twister, we all love that one. We're big fans of the movie, so... then Jaws, which was more scare than 7yr old wanted. He announced after that ride that he was done. No more rides. And he stuck to it. Simpsons was next... I think this is my favorite ride. I love simulators anyway and this was was just fun! This time the Girl got to ride twice, since, yes, we had to swap.... we then went to Fievels playground and let the boys do their thing. This was nice for them, gave them some freedom to just play and roam. And let me and the Girl sit and relax. After 1/2 hr or so we went to ET, swap, since 7yr old was adament about NO MORE RIDES. We decided to head out, stopped at the big Universal store for some souveniers. Headed to the missed yesterday Marleys.

Marleys... this was not something we enjoyed. We're basic food people, this is not basic food. I'm sure it's yummy for what it is, but we struggled through itl Girl got the best thing, some sort of chicken sandwich, the chicken was wonderful, the bread was great, lettuce and tomatoes. 7yr old got chicken drumsticks off the kids menu, these were basic, but tiny, 3 of them. 9yr old wanted, what else, a burger, and they don't have real burgers. The waitress suggested the closest thing, which was a scrambled hamburger thing, a bit spicy, in some sort of orange pastry. Ick. He didn't like it, I didn't like it.... she was nice enough to take it off the bill, which I did not expect, but did appreciate. I got the same sort of thing but it was billed as a veggie burger. Same thing, scrambled veggies in that weird pastry. Like I said, it wasn't gross, but it wasn't OUR THING. The restaurant was nice, Marley music, all seated outside.... glad we did it...

Headed back to RPH, swam for an hour or so and now we're back in the room. Kids are chillin, watching TV, looking ready to pass out.

Tomorrow is our last day at RPH, we had to Hilton Orlando at 4pm. We are going to hit IOA first thing and ride whatever we can while we have FOTL. Which, I must agree with everyone on, is worth the price of the hotel. We never waited more than 4 minutes! It wasn't mobbed, but it was full, some rides had up to 30 min waits.

That's it for now folks! Thanx SO much for enjoying! I'll be back!

 

[kathfish]

Crowds, weather and the walk...

Crowds were not too bad. Like I said, there were some rides with 30min waits, but not for us! We left US around 4 and it seemed heavy with people coming in.

Weather has been great. Forcast showed party cloudy with scattered rain today and we saw none. It was either sunny or partly sunny all day. Temps are perfect. My 7yr old, who hates heat, actually complained about being hot a few times. I think he just wanted me to buy one of those $70 mister things though We have used the pool both days easy. But we're from New England, so 50 is beautiful for us!

The walk. I can't say timewise how long it was for sure... probably just 10-15 minutes though. Not bad, but to me, when your trying to get there it's long, when your done there and trying to get back, it's long. It is pretty though. Personally, I like the boat. I've been known to be a bit lazy.


Ok, gotta crash, tomorrow is our last day with FOTL privleges. I'm hoping to get all of IOA done.

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

Sounds like you are having good crowds and good weather! That is awesome!!!!!!!!!

Glad to hear fotl is working like everyone says it does! It just seems to good to be true. 4 minute wait time is just amazing to me. lol.

I get where you are coming from about the walk being not long but feeling it. Especially in the evening. I am used to sitting behind a desk all day so I am pretty whooped come evening......

Great report!

 

[Metro West]

Great report so far!

 

[oliver200137724]

great report.....Me and my family will be there in two days.... but won't be in the park until Monday..... So, How long are u staying offsite?

 

[mcbailey]

Thank you so much for the information and the trip report!! Not too bad of a walk, as I'm a walker/runner (although not in the middle of the day in June!)
Great trip report so far!

 

[macraven]

Crowds, weather and the walk...

Crowds were not too bad. Like I said, there were some rides with 30min waits, but not for us! We left US around 4 and it seemed heavy with people coming in.



The walk. I can't say timewise how long it was for sure... probably just 10-15 minutes though. Not bad, but to me, when your trying to get there it's long, when your done there and trying to get back, it's long. It is pretty though. Personally, I like the boat. I've been known to be a bit lazy.


Ok, gotta crash, tomorrow is our last day with FOTL privleges. I'm hoping to get all of IOA done.

i'm with you for the boat ride.
i save my feet for walking in the parks.....


have enjoyed reading your trippie.
sounds like so much fun you all are having!


be sure to take in Mystic Fountain at IOA.
it is a hoot!

 

[tink1957]

It sounds like a good time is being had by all. I'm also with you on the walk, when we stayed at HRH last year we started out walking in the morning and by the time we headed back we were too tired to walk so we took the boat from then on.

Hope the rest of your trip goes well.

 

[kathfish]

Day 3

First off, a correction. If you didn't already figure it out.... on Day 2 I said we started with Hulk. Ummm, no, that should of been Shrek. The other green guy ya know.

So Day 3. We all slept again till 9, got ready and hit Island Buffet again. It still amazes me how much my 9yr old can eat! I think I'm not feeding him enough at home! We then hit IOA. Last day with FOTL, we are determined to do it all. We skipped the Hulk, since Girl and I did it yesterday and we didn't want to rub it in to 9yr old, we started at Spidey, great ride, but became apparent my 7yr old just doesn't like even the littlest scary stuff. I knew he wasn't a big thrill rider, but it's not the ride, it's the theme that throws him. Not going to push him, we will do swap whenever he choses, no biggie. We walked right through TL, figuring we'd come back at the end, to save us from being wet all day. We did just the River Adven in JP, love this ride, my Girl and I were commenting on how dated some of these rides are, just because we've been before, her more than me. We def still enjoyed, they are fun, all rides are dated, it just stands out more at a park like Disney or US due to the movie theming.... we then did DD, which is a fave of the Girls and another 9yr old can't and 7yr old wont do. A bit of awe to be so close to HP, the castle just rises above you. The whole outside part of the line has these black screens up, noway to catch even a peek of what is going on inside. It's going to be amazing for sure!

We headed back to TL, Dudley and Popeye and we.are.soaked!!! Right through! These rides rock, even the 7yr old went on and loved. After seeing the drop on Dudley, from the walkway, he claimed it to be the new Splash Mountain, which has always been his fave! We did have ponchos, bought a bunch years ago for like 3 for a buck, and I just keep them in our suitcases. Smart idea to do that since the ones you buy there are about $10 and you really just want to toss them after the ride. Your butt gets wet though, and on Dudley, if that water comes through, ya, your soaked, even with a poncho. There was a family on with us...hilarious. They obviously had never ridden, the mom saw me putting my backpack in the middle spot and said, gee, do you think I should put my pocketbook in there? Uh, ya, I do, for sure! She did. She was horrified the whole ride. Just watching her poor face had me in stiches everytime a monsoon wave came into the raft! OMG I'm lol just thinking about it now. Poor thing. She asked about half way through, is it over yet??? I'm like, does it matter? Your not gonna get any wetter! Oh, I'm so cruel.... her daughters had a blast though, they were screaming and laughing. It was great.

We actually got kinda stuck on Dudley, luckily we were the 3rd log from exit, but the ride stopped for some reason, mechanical. After sitting for 2 to 3 min they started unloading logs on by one. As we walked through the exit they were clearing out the line waiting to get on too. Lucky we made it on when we did, I'm not sure how long it was down. We headed to Popeye after, along with the masses of people thrown off Dudley. But, FOTL, no worries for us, we walked right on!

So we were wet, and done with riding. We didn't do everything by far, but it was good for us. Now we need to head over to US, Mummy, to get the Girl her necklace. In the gift shop of the Mummy they sell that gold by the inch. She saw the same pattern of my necklace, it's almost like an anchor link. I've had this forever, I think I bought it like 20 yrs ago, and she's always loved it. $3.50/inch. I told her if she didn't find any other souveniers she could get this. So off we headed. The long wet walk out of IOA, through CW and to Mummy. My 9yr old didn't make it, we had to stop at the Universal Store in CW and buy him some $30 shorts. Oh well, it's worth it to avoid a rash on the boy, that's for sure. I highly suggest a change of clothes for IOA day...

Me and 7yr old sat outside Mummy on a bench while 9yr old and Girl did Mummy one more time. It was cool, across the street they put on a little show, Blues Brothers. We got to enjoy the music and watch all the peeps having fun, dancing around. Nice way to pass the time. Got the Girl her necklace, which is really pretty nice, came to $50 and has a lifetime guarentee against tarnish or damage or breakage! Time will tell, but I recommend this if your looking for a nice necklace or bracelet. The design choices are amazing and honestly, that price cannot be beat!

So we moseyed around a bit, stopped in an Irish store and picked up a couple T's for the Boy Left At Home and decided to do Jimmy Neutron before we left, since we skipped it yesterday. This is a fun simulator. 7yr old loved it even though it was rougher than some of the scarier rides. It really is the theme with him that scares. JN IS a rough ride. They stopped it a bit in to let off a little kid who apparently wasn't enjoying at all.

It was close to 5 at this point and we had the limo picking us up at 6 to hit the other hotel, so we hopped on the boat, the glorious boat one more time. This is kinda funny, so my 7yr old, who is a bit of a worrier and really needs to figure things out, know what's what whenever he can... the first time we road the boat he's asking, are there sharks in here? He asks that whenever he sees a body of water. He's fastinated with marine life, sharks and whales in particular. So I tell him, no, no sharks, this is fresh water, sharks are in salt water. I may have mentioned the possibility of gators though. I can be mean that way. So every time we're on the boat he's checking the water, trying to see something... he did notice fish, while we were at CW dock waiting for the boat. There are some big fish in there. Now this is the last ride, he gazing out at the water and turns to me and says, with his little hand pumping up and down, finger pointing like a teacher, his sweet baby voice Mom, there is noway there are sharks in here, just look, there are DUCKS! If there were sharks, those ducks would.not.be.here. So funny, so logical, so sure. He was now satisfied there were no sharks, and he relaxed and enjoyed the ride. I love that kid.

We head to the lobby and grab our bags. Kids are so sad... there is NO WAY this OTHER hotel can be as good as this one they insist. They have already decided their good times are over.

Is it true? Does the Hilton Orlando compare?

I'll be back to let you know!

Probably not until Tues though. I think I'm done with the computer for the rest of our trip. It's Monday now, so a day or two and I'll finish up....

Thanx for reading along, hope I'm doing ok, not boring you all to tears!

 

[macraven]

i'll be here waiting for you.

you have me hooked on your play by place vacation!!

i appreciate you taking the time out to share it with us.

 

[schumigirl]

Not boring at all..........really well written. Sounds like you had a lot of fun, and looking forward to the rest of your trip.

We too never walk fron the RPR....always got the boat...........like mac says keep the walking for the parks

I also bought one of those chains from the shop at the Mummy.................mine was $2 an inch, got 8 inches for a bracelet and thought it may last the two weeks.........................but I`m still wearing it and the amount of people who comment on how nice it is

 

[ATAfamily]

Great job!
Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

[ready4mouse]

Great trip report! I love hearing that you're family slept in and still had no wait with FOTL passes! We're leaving in a few weeks for our first trip and still think those FOTL passes sound to good to be true

 

[kathfish]

I just spent an hour doing a final report and LOST IT ALL!

ARGHHHHHHHHHH

 

[kathfish]

Ok, so WTH, I spent an hour, at WORK no less finishing my report and BAMM... gone. Damn....

So when we last spoke we were waiting for our limo to bring us from RPH to Hilton Orlando, for the last leg, the relaxing leg, of our trip.

Limo shows up on time, we hit a Publix for a few things. HO has a fridge in the room, so I wanted to take advantage and get some snacks and drinks and stuff. Hotel restaurants are just SO crazily overpriced, even if I had a gazillion dollars, it would hurt to spend on their food. We picked up some PB&J, cereal, yogurts, fruit, chips and dip, cheese and crackers, and drinks. It's all good, we head to HO.

This is a brand new hotel, just opened in Sept. When I'm searching for a hotel in FL my main sell is the pool area. My kids are fish. That's what they love. Seriously, I should get plane tix to a beach and spend the week eating grapes and swimming, they would be satisfied. This hotel looked great online, the few reviews I found were quite positive, so I felt pretty good about booking. I was NOT disappointed. Amazing hotel, incredible pool area.... the pool itself is huge, and kinda curvy so there are lots of little private type areas. Basketball hoops in a couple places in the pool made it fun. The water slide rocks, it's not a dinky one, it's a real one with twists and turns. Pretty good size too. The best part was the lazy river. Almost 900 ft of cool relaxing fun. Water canons at a couple spots, two waterfall areas, one part is like 20 ft of bubbles, like a jacuzzi, coming up from the bottom. That was my favorite part. It flowed nicely, you could lay in one of the free provided huge tubes and just float. Some parts gave you quite a push. It was awsome, totally. We never enjoyed any of the restaurants at the hotel, there was a McDonalds, IHOP, Red Lobster and Dennys within walking distance....

Friday night, we unpacked groceries, got comfortable in the room, which was good sized and spent a few hours at the pool. Back to the room and asleep by 10pm.

Saturday was gorgeous, total sun. We got to the pool around 11 and stayed till 4.

We have friends, used to live next door to us at home, that moved to FL about 10 yrs ago. We come down every year and they always drive up to spend a few days with us. Her two kids and my two older ones are the same age, friends since toddlers. This year by Big Boy didn't join us so she came up with just her Girl. They arrived Saturday around 5, we got them settled in our room, which by the way, cost me nothing extra. I told the front desk they were visiting for a night or two and they just gave her a card key, added her to my room. This was surprising. For us it worked fine, her and her Girl had one bed, me and my Girl had the other, by little ones slept on the floor. We were good! We walked to Dennys and had dinner, then spent the rest of the night at the pool. In bed by midnight.

They originally planned to stay just Saturday and Sunday night, but the weather was real crappy all day Sunday, so they ended up staying till we left on Tuesday.

Like I said, weather was crappy Sunday, so we hit the pool with the clouds till 3. My kids will swim, they don't care. It started raining so we headed to the room. Spent the night chatting, playing cards, watching TV and just basically catching up. It was nice. It's what we do, it's the only time we see each other, so it's pretty comfortable. The Girls are funny, they are 15 now and have been bestest friends since they were 3. It's been amazing to see the changes in them, and also to see them get comfortable with each other within hours and revert to giggling like the little kids they are. They were really noticing the difference in each other this trip. Bodies, habits, friends, hobbies... me and the other mom really get a kick out of them.

Monday was cloudy in the am, but cleared up by 11. We decided to get her Girl a Universal one day ticket and leave my 7yr old with her, since she can't do rides, gets real dizzy, and my boy doesn't seem to like them.

Next up... Monday pm and Tues...



Kath

 

[mcbailey]

Can't wait to hear the final episode!