It's My Birthday Everyday!-A May 2022 Disney/Universal TR-Completed 8/6

[Raeven]

Today was our first Disney day!



After a disappointing meal at Amatista Cookhouse where what I was served was most definitely not queso dip.

We headed over to the Dolphin!

Because our room wasn’t ready yet we walked over to the Boardwalk.

After getting some food at Boardwalk Bakery we headed back to The Dolphin to check out our room. We’d stayed at The Dolphin before in 2018, and were kind of disappointed with our room and the hotel in general. I’m not sure if it was the different category, not booking through Hotwire, or if they remodeled since then but we loved our room this time!

I decided to splurge a little for a balcony view and access to the Epcot/MK extra hours. And somehow we got a corner room with two balconies! The views were great and it really was the best part.






The room was really large and bright with lots of light and windows. The bathroom was a good size, and the views were great. The bed was also really comfortable. The one balcony door was a little iffy, it didn’t close all the way there was a bolt on it to keep it closed; but it didn’t connect to anything so it didn’t really matter.



On the balcony Josh said I was “chairing” weird which means I sit on chairs weird.

Here's his interpretation of how I sit on chairs:



After relaxing for awhile and checking out the view we headed over to Epcot.

It was a nicer day, breezy but still hot; and we didn’t go till like 5 pm which made the heat easier.



We were eating around the world for Flower and Garden.

Here are some highlights of our trip around the world:

In France I ran from a large bird.



We used our individual LL's for Remy's. (It was cute and worth a one time paid LL I think, but I wouldn’t pay to do it again.)


We briefly saw The Commodores, and then rode the Gran Fiesta Tour. While the people behind us loudly debated how it was and wasn’t like Pirates.


I also knew we couldn’t go on Guardians, but was hoping to get a picture out front... which nope wasn’t happening . It was all blocked off so this was the best I could do.





Once the sun set it got A LOT colder so this Violet Lemonade was a weird choice, but we had to get some.



We went on Spaceship Earth where I missed the memo about making silly faces.



We did a little shopping, and saw some fireworks from a distance.


The extra hours had officially started!

Journey to the Imagination was closed (not sure if it always is during these but it was that night). We walked on Soarin’, and then tried to go to Test Track which was down…So we walked over to FEA, but it was a 45 min wait still.

So the Epcot extra hours for us were kind of a bust. I would not recommend staying deluxe just for the extra hours. I was really happy with our room, but was disappointed with this perk. It's really only an hour and half once most people are out, the food is closed, and I'm not sure if it was a bad night but most the rides were closed or had long waits. We didn’t buy LL for the whole day just the one ride because of the extra hours, and I was a little disappointed because we had to skip rides like TT and FEA that should've been easy to get on during the extra hours.

Here's Josh and his favorite troll:



I did find this statue I was looking for though.




After that we took the boat back, and watched Dexter.

Next up
Our first trip to Animal kingdom in years!

​

 

[schumigirl]

Love the two balconies and the room is lovely. I thought you had stayed there before. Shame the after hours didn`t work out for you, that should be a good perk.

Josh is so funny!! I`ve never heard of chairing before.....

Did the folks behind you expect that to be like Pirates??? Odd conversation......lol.....

Love your pictures again and yes, MM is a little off in the gif.......lol........

 

[jrmint427]

And somehow we got a corner room with two balconies! The views were great and it really was the best part.

A balcony would be so nice! The Dolphin is nice but the room is a a little more dated than I expected it to be. Ours was booked on Expedia I think so I wonder if that really does make a difference.

It was a nicer day, breezy but still hot; and we didn’t go till like 5 pm which made the heat easier.

That is a good strategy for the heat! We just took our first June trip and tried to go all day, I learned that doesn’t work well when it’s so hot out.

We didn’t buy LL for the whole day just the one ride because of the extra hours, and I was a little disappointed because we had to skip rides like TT and FEA that should've been easy to get on during the extra hours.

I’d be disappointed too!

 

[Raeven]

Love the two balconies and the room is lovely. I thought you had stayed there before. Shame the after hours didn`t work out for you, that should be a good perk.​

Yeah it was a really nice room. It seems like a good perk, but it used to be a free perk of all hotels, and I think that was better. Then you didn't have to book specific hotels for it or feel like you had to use every minute of it. ​

Josh is so funny!! I`ve never heard of chairing before.....​

I think he just made it up ​

Did the folks behind you expect that to be like Pirates??? Odd conversation......lol.....​

They were having a full our critical discussion comparing the two lol ​

Love your pictures again and yes, MM is a little off in the gif.......lol........​

Thank you! He is ​

A balcony would be so nice! The Dolphin is nice but the room is a a little more dated than I expected it to be. Ours was booked on Expedia I think so I wonder if that really does make a difference.​

That's why I'm wondering now if it does make a difference. We stayed there in 2018 twice because of Hotwire deals, and the first time they insisted we booked the double beds instead of the king bed which was awful. But the second time even the king bed room was dated, and we had other issues like with the shower and the towels not being clean. But this room looked nothing like that it was a lot more spacious and a lot nicer. So idk if it was the rate or if they remodeled at some point. None of the ones we previously booked were balcony view either, but I don't think the regular rooms would be that different. ​

That is a good strategy for the heat! We just took our first June trip and tried to go all day, I learned that doesn’t work well when it’s so hot out.​

It's mostly what we do. We're not morning people, and I know some people think it's a waste of time, but I like to try to get there when the sun is closer to going down if I can lol​

 

[Raeven]

Hi Zebra, Hi Chicken!

Today we were going to Animal Kingdom! I haven't been to AK since 2019, and Josh hadn't been since 2018.



But first we made a stop at Boma.




Boma Review

This was my first day trying out Genie+ and the Lightning Lane system. I grabbed an individual LL for Flight of Passage, and then tried to stack a few passes before we got there. I managed to get a good amount, but due to not really being able to pick times I do feel like I stacked a few too close together where we had to get from one to the other kind of quickly, and had to forgo doing a few other things so we didn't have to backtrack. But overall I feel like I did pretty good with my first time using the system.



Our Flight of Passage LL was first.

I haven't ridden FoP in years, and it was always the kind of ride that's really towards the edge of what I can ride because I get motion sick easily, but it was always so clear and felt so realistic that it helped alleviate some of that.

Sadly, since then the video has become pretty blurry, and the ride just made me feel queasy. The CM also pushed the restraints really far in, like to a point where it was pressing really hard into my back so it was an all around unpleasant ride. I actually found it easier to look at the screen without the glasses on. I've heard other people talk about how the video is blurry now since I got back so I guess it wasn't just me.



Our next stop was the safari! We had a good ride, and saw a lot of animals. My favorite part though was the kid in back of us who was determined to say hi to all the animals, but wasn't sure what some of them were. She was also kind of narrating to her sibling so it would go like: "where's the zebra? hey that's a zebra! HI ZEBRA! and then HI animal! A moose?! A deer?! HI Chicken! (to the ostrich)




We also went down the trail in Africa, but not many animals were out on the trail.

Then we headed over to ride Dinosaur.
I don't know why but I also find the slightly traumatized, crazy eyed look in the dinosaurs eyes very funny too.



I love Dinosaur, and in my controversial opinion I think I like it even better than Indiana Jones because every time we ride it Josh leans over and is like "this ride has the weirdest storyline ever, that guy was going to kill us for a dinosaur".

Our last LL was for Na'vi River Journey.
Then we learned a fun lesson which was...there are no buses to our hotel from AK.



I did read that recently there were some transportation changes at the Swan/Dolphin (probably not really recent but since we last stayed), and that the MK bus let off at the TTC, but I somehow didn't connect that there were any changes with the other parks, and because we'd Lyfted to the hotel and took a bus there we didn't have to think about it that morning. So we ended up getting on the Boardwalk area bus.

I was not happy with the walk back, but at least I got ice cream.

We watched the sunset from our balcony, and there was a wedding going on across the beach at the Swan Reserve. The guests seemed to really enjoy Flo Rida because they played a whole medley of Flo Rida songs.




For dinner we went to Shula's, and it was a great birthday meal despite the pouty face Josh is making in this picture.







Shula's Steakhouse Review

Next Up
Our Magic Kingdom day!

​

 

[schumigirl]

All caught up now.......

Your pictures are lovely, I`m glad you had such a good day there, the animals are neat to see..I adore elephants!

That dinosaur!!!!! That expression is hilarious!!

And that steak......I think we need to consider Shula`s, never been there before, that steak looks amazing! Is it one of these places you need to have booked 45 years before you get there?

 

[Raeven]

All caught up now.......

Your pictures are lovely, I`m glad you had such a good day there, the animals are neat to see..I adore elephants!

That dinosaur!!!!! That expression is hilarious!!

And that steak......I think we need to consider Shula`s, never been there before, that steak looks amazing! Is it one of these places you need to have booked 45 years before you get there?​

Thank you!

I love it's tortured expression

Shula's is amazing! And no, but I'd book maybe a couple days in advance. They mostly do reservations on Opentable. It's not a Disney owned restaurant so I think that helps. ​

 

[Raeven]

The Main St Chaos Parade

This morning we slept in and went to Disney Springs.



We had a delicious lunch.

Dluxe Burger Review


We went back to the resort for awhile before our night at MK, and sat out on the balcony.



We had stacked a few LL passes, and our first was Talking Mickey...er well he was silent today.



We're not the biggest on character meet and greets, but they had just resumed after more than two years so I wanted to hug Mickey.



Our first stop after the meet and greet was Adventureland!

Our second LL had us cruising with some pirates.



Then we cruised the jungle.

We had this kid on our boat that hated the joke the skipper told about how elephants never forget, with the joke being that she's repeating the joke because she "forgot". She said it about three times before this kid started yelling: YOU ALREADY SAID THAT ONE!", and then when we got stuck behind another boat at the end she kept saying it every so often and he'd roll his eyes and complain. I don't think he got it.

We also had some snacks:

MK Snack Review

Then we hung with some Tiki Room Birds:



And visited the ghosts of the Haunted Mansion:



We had a BTRRM LL, but it was down during the time so I think we switched it to the Haunted Mansion one.

I wasn't planning to watch the fireworks, but we were walking around Fantasyland when they started so I figured I'd watch. The fireworks were fine, but I just don't really like the show overall. I really loved Happily Ever After, and Enchantment seems like a downgrade to me. (I have seen the full show on Youtube with the projections too). Even at the end, people seemed surprised it was over, and the end didn't seem to have as many fireworks as usual.





MK had the extra hours tonight, but had also extended the regular hours before our trip. So the park was still open for awhile after the fireworks.

We decided to take on a ride on the Peoplemover.

And our last LL was for Buzz.




We actually did pretty good with LL's for MK, and were able to stack a lot of them and get whatever else we needed once we were in the park. I think I did better with scheduling them than the day before, but they still weren't perfectly timed. (We almost missed the first one).


We shopped in the Main St chaos that comes after fireworks. There's no nighttime parade right now just the chaos of people shopping.



adorable 50th statue:



I love the ones in the middle of flowers, they look so pretty!

We ended up deciding to wait the 45 mins for 7DMT, but it was only 35 mins. I think the extra hours were starting around this time, but we'd done everything we wanted to and we were getting tired so we decided to head back.

We were planning to take the monorail to the closest resort, and then Lyft from there but we got on the wrong one and ended up at the TTC. We weren't sure when a bus to our resort was coming so we called a Lyft. I don't know if it was the location or time of night or the service being spotty, but it took them almost 20 mins to come which is probably longer than I've ever waited for an Lyft.

Next Up
We head back to Universal!

​

 

[jrmint427]

We had this kid on our boat that hated the joke the skipper told about how elephants never forget, with the joke being that she's repeating the joke because she "forgot". She said it about three times before this kid started yelling: YOU ALREADY SAID THAT ONE!",

Sounds like a really fun day at MK! This is too funny because our skipper did the same repeating joke and I didn’t get it until the 3rd time he said it. The second time I was seriously thinking, did he forget he did the same one earlier? And then we were saying it along with him by the end.

 

[Raeven]

"You Grabbed a Wild Turtle?"

This morning we said goodbye to our gorgeous view at The Dolphin.



We loved our room at The Dolphin. It was really spacious, and had lots of windows/light. It was a corner room so we had two balconies which was really cool. (Although one of them seemed to draw a lot more bugs than the other). The main room was so large, but the bathroom area with the shower was very narrow in comparison to other bathrooms we've had in hotel rooms (and didn't have a lot of hanging space for towels). We also didn't have very many pillows in the room, but we're able to request more. Unlike the Universal TVs, there were options for Prime and Netflix which was nice, but we did have some Wifi issues. (We did at all our hotels this trip, and I have no idea why). Being at the end of the hallway I also think helped with noise, we didn't really hear any at all from other guests. But it was a lot nicer than the other two rooms I've had at The Dolphin when we stayed there twice in 2018. We loved being so close to Shula's, and obviously there are multiple other food options. The biggest downside to The Dolphin was the issues with transportation since they no longer use Disney buses, but we were also walking distance to a lot of areas.

We went to Disney Springs for lunch before going back to Universal.
Homecomin' Lunch Review

Then we checked into Royal Pacific Resort:











We were in tower 1 this time, and as always it was a very nice room. Spacious, and it looked like it had recently been updated. We also had this view:



We didn't do a crazy amount this day because I had a headache and some acid reflux. This ended up persisting the last few days, so I did spend more of the last few days resting than I'd planned to. It was a little bit disappointing, but I was glad I'd felt good through the earlier part of the trip when we had more plans, and that we'd be fortunate enough to come back to Universal later this year so I don't feel like I missed too much. Once we got to the room, I napped a bit, and we watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

I was feeling a little better for dinner so we headed out to Citywalk.



At the water taxis a man was telling someone how he took a turtle home to his girlfriend, and the lady goes "you grabbed a wild turtle?", and he was like "no...I mean yeah". And I'm not sure why, but I thought that was hilarious.



Antojitos Review



Next Up

A trip to Universal

​

 

[schumigirl]

Loved you MK day, pictures fabulous as always!

Talking Mickey didn`t talk??

Hope you felt better after you got back to Universal, headaches are mean! And acid reflux.....bleurgh. But, looking forward to your Universal time, and yes, resting is fine when you have other trips just around the corner.......

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Fellow acid reflux and headache sufferer here-its the worst especially on vacation! I always pack enough pepcid and tylenol/excedrin now wherever we go! I always feel horrible hearing other people also go through it! I got your back Raeven! (And if for some reason our paths ever cross-said pain relievers and antiacids above!)

 

[Raeven]

Loved you MK day, pictures fabulous as always!

Thank you! ​

Talking Mickey didn`t talk??​

No, I think sometimes it doesn't work, but I also think the only time I met Mickey and he did talk was a few years ago so maybe that feature isn't even something they use anymore. ​

Hope you felt better after you got back to Universal, headaches are mean! And acid reflux.....bleurgh. But, looking forward to your Universal time, and yes, resting is fine when you have other trips just around the corner....... ​

We're getting so close to September! ​

Fellow acid reflux and headache sufferer here-its the worst especially on vacation! I always pack enough pepcid and tylenol/excedrin now wherever we go! I always feel horrible hearing other people also go through it! I got your back Raeven! (And if for some reason our paths ever cross-said pain relievers and antiacids above!)​

Lol I was taking lots of Tums It worked alright, but it wasn't working as much as I'd hoped. But if our paths do cross and I have acid reflux at that time, I'll take you up on that. ​

 

[Raeven]

Airport Drama

(I don't have a ton of pictures from the last two days because I still wasn't feeling great and then we flew out after breakfast the last day, so I'm going to combine them in this post).

Today we were headed to Universal Studios!

I decided the best thing for my acid reflux would be to have ice cream for lunch.



And you know what...I think it worked!




The first thing we did was head to Men In Black.



Where I of course won.

Normally we play more, but I still wasn't really up to all that spinning.

Next we headed to Diagon Alley.



We did some shopping & rode Gringotts.

After cooling down a bit in Knockturn Alley we decided to head back to the room. Since the rain was coming, and I wanted to take a nap.

We stopped at Josh's favorite bench.



Later went to dinner at Bice!



We had a terrible time getting there though!

We had just planned to Lyft even though it isn't too far. But what we didn't know was there was a Grad Bash that night. (I could've sworn they told us the Grad Bashes were over when we got there but I guess not). A large part of the road we needed was blocked off, and though you could get down it eventually I guess none of the Lyfts wanted to try. We were about to be late, and had been cancelled on by about three Lyfts when one of the employees working valet at the hotel offered to drive us over.



And we made it right on time!



Bice Ristorante Review



They had said we could call them on the way back too, but we actually didn't have any trouble getting back. The road block seemed to be mostly on the way there but not the way back to RPR so we got back easily.

On the last day after check out we really only had time for breakfast and for Josh to grab some Voodoo Doughnuts before we left for the airport.

Islands Dining Room Breakfast Review

My final review for the room/hotel was that it was an amazing stay at RPR as always. This is my favorite hotel on property, and I love staying here. Our room was clean and comfortable, and we had no issues with our stay.

The airport on the other hand...



We arrived at the airport early (which we always try to do), and I'm glad we did because we had a major issue! After checking our bags curb side they discovered that somehow both the tickets for the flight were in my name. This makes no sense to me at all, and has never happened before. The ticket there had Josh's name on it, and obviously I didn't buy two for myself, but they started acting like I was trying to pull one over on them, and I had the hardest time fixing it.

They did say if I had caught it before I checked the bag that it would've been an easy fix but instead what happened was the curbside desk told me to buy another ticket for the flight. (Which last minute would be over $600 if any were available, and I already had one). So they told me to call the help line who told me to speak to a manger inside. We went to a desk inside, and they told me they couldn't help me, and to call their customer service again who said they could make a one time exception but then saw I checked a bag and said only a manager inside could help.



They called another manager to the desk and they told me they had to do it on the phone. But since we only checked one bag they could change the ticket that didn't have a checked bag. On the phone again they finally fixed it, but told me they easily could've done it at the desk they just didn't want to. It was all very confusing and frustrating, and took about an hour. I was nervous we wouldn't have time to make it through security but luckily we did.

After that I'm happy to report nothing exciting happened.

Next Up

A Wrap Up of Our Trip​

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

What is with airports lately?!?!? Makes me more and more sound on our decision to do carryons!

Also you might be one of those weird acid reflux sufferers like me where diary helps and does not hinder!

 

[Raeven]

What is with airports lately?!?!? Makes me more and more sound on our decision to do carryons!

Also you might be one of those weird acid reflux sufferers like me where diary helps and does not hinder!​

I don't know! I guess the ticket thing is our fault, although I don't know how it happened. But the way they didn't want to help even though from what the person on the phone was saying it could be resolved easily was so frustrating. I put most my stuff in the carry on, but there's always a few bigger liquid things and whatnot that we need the checked bag for.

I think that's the case! Dairy/milk always seems to help.​

 

[Raeven]

Wrap Up

I had a great trip celebrating my 30th birthday!



We had so much good food, stayed in 3 beautiful hotels, and visited both Disney and Universal. And I feel like we got to do everything we planned to (even though I wasn't feeling so well the last two days).

Other things I loved:

I finally got to meet @schumigirl & try out Strongwater Tavern which was delicious!



I attempted to eat this nacho volcano:





Trying the holiday brunch at Portofino Bay.



Having amazingly low crowds at IOA & watching the sunset by Mythos.



Our great night at F&G.



Our first trip to AK in years.



My birthday dinner at Shula's, which was delicious.



Our double balcony room at The Dolphin which had the most amazing views.

& our first experience with Genie+ in MK which went very well and we were able to ride everything we wanted to before the extra hours even started.



If you want to follow my PTR we're a little over 4 weeks out from our next trip for HHN. I'm so excited for this one, and can't wait to be back for our favorite time of year!

HHN 31 Time
​

 

[schumigirl]

Lovely trip report and excellent pictures as always.....really enjoyed reading about your time there in May and getting to meet you both too.

And yes......HHN up next.....I know how excited you are for that one, it does sound so good this year!!! Look forward to reading along with that one too.....

 

[Raeven]

Lovely trip report and excellent pictures as always.....really enjoyed reading about your time there in May and getting to meet you both too.

And yes......HHN up next.....I know how excited you are for that one, it does sound so good this year!!! Look forward to reading along with that one too.....​

Thank you! It was great to meet you too! And I’m sure we’ll see you at Strongwater or HHN this time too.

We have 30 days till we leave! I’m very excited for HHN. I can’t wait till they announce all the houses and food. (Even though we all have a good idea of what the houses are). ​

 

[summerlvr]

Hi Raeven, wonderful trip report, and I also enjoyed the dining report. Looking forward to your next reports!
Also, just in case you ever stay at the Dolphin again, they do have buses to/from Animal Kingdom, they just aren't in the same area as the Disney buses. They are towards the parking lot, in the area with charter buses and ride share. Sounds like it's a horrible location, but actually it's as close/closer than the Disney buses.