ruthies12
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2011
- Messages
- 1,844
I always love reading just back reports so thought I'd do one. We flew down on Thursday the 29th and spent 4 days at Art of Animation at Disney, then on Monday the 3rd, we got picked up at AOA by Tony Hinds and taken to Hard Rock for one night. I have a seasonal AP and bought one day tickets for my DH and 2 DD's. It was my bday as well as my oldest DD who was turning 10.
Some thoughts:
Tony was great! Friendly, on time, kept in touch with texts, and I felt very safe with his driving. I hate being on the road in Orlando no matter what I'm riding in or driving myself, all the tourists not knowing where they are going makes that place insane and scares the crap out of me lol. I felt very comfortable with Tony's driving.
I liked Hard Rock. It was super close to the park, especially with where our room was located. They let us do early check-in and our room was actually ready so we got to stow our stuff before heading to the park which was very nice. They gave me a free birthday pin with a coupon for one free drink at beach club and when I mentioned it was my dd's bday also they gave me another pin and coupon. I thought the beds were super comfy, but maybe that's because I was just coming from AOA lol. There was definitely an upgrade in beds between those two resorts. The kids liked the pool a lot and the shower room in the fitness center was fine for showering off before we headed to the airport since we had already checked out of the room at that point, they had towels and soap and shampoo in the locker room.
The parks were crowded and they weren't. We had express pass which we didn't really need, none of the ride lines were long at all. They were still nice to have though. The walkways, however, seemed very crowded and hard to walk through the parks. And it was all over, not just the harry potter areas which are always crowded. Maybe it's because the lines were short and people weren't spending time in line? IDK why but it seemed crowded walking around, but then the lines were all really short, very weird.
For some strange reason I felt like the team members at Universal were way friendlier than the ones at Disney on this trip. I've never noticed a big difference in this before, but this time was really obvious and even my DH noticed it. My DD and I wore birthday buttons both at Disney and at Universal even though our actual bday was on our Universal day. We got a few happy birthdays from cast members at Disney but mostly the pins were ignored (which is fine, I don't expect more so I'm not complaining). The team members at Universal, however, seemed like they went out of their way to say happy birthday to both of us and several commented and asked if we really had the same bday (which we do) and chatted with us about it. We got cotton candy in Suess Landing and one of the team members sang us Happy Birthday, then he said since it was Suess Landing he had to sing it backwards. Then he turned around so that we were looking at his back and sang Happy Birthday again. It was very silly and fun and we loved it. When I got a beer at the hog's head, the bartender wished me a happy 21st birthday (I don't look anything close to 21 since it was my 40th lol). It was just little stuff like that all day long where I felt like the team members really interacted with us.
The Christmas decorations all around the park were great but I thought it was really awesome that they decorated all of Grimmauld Place except for number 12.
Fast and Furious is so incredibly bad it is comical.
33 days until my next trip which will be a girls weekend with my sister and no kids along, can't wait!!
Some thoughts:
Tony was great! Friendly, on time, kept in touch with texts, and I felt very safe with his driving. I hate being on the road in Orlando no matter what I'm riding in or driving myself, all the tourists not knowing where they are going makes that place insane and scares the crap out of me lol. I felt very comfortable with Tony's driving.
I liked Hard Rock. It was super close to the park, especially with where our room was located. They let us do early check-in and our room was actually ready so we got to stow our stuff before heading to the park which was very nice. They gave me a free birthday pin with a coupon for one free drink at beach club and when I mentioned it was my dd's bday also they gave me another pin and coupon. I thought the beds were super comfy, but maybe that's because I was just coming from AOA lol. There was definitely an upgrade in beds between those two resorts. The kids liked the pool a lot and the shower room in the fitness center was fine for showering off before we headed to the airport since we had already checked out of the room at that point, they had towels and soap and shampoo in the locker room.
The parks were crowded and they weren't. We had express pass which we didn't really need, none of the ride lines were long at all. They were still nice to have though. The walkways, however, seemed very crowded and hard to walk through the parks. And it was all over, not just the harry potter areas which are always crowded. Maybe it's because the lines were short and people weren't spending time in line? IDK why but it seemed crowded walking around, but then the lines were all really short, very weird.
For some strange reason I felt like the team members at Universal were way friendlier than the ones at Disney on this trip. I've never noticed a big difference in this before, but this time was really obvious and even my DH noticed it. My DD and I wore birthday buttons both at Disney and at Universal even though our actual bday was on our Universal day. We got a few happy birthdays from cast members at Disney but mostly the pins were ignored (which is fine, I don't expect more so I'm not complaining). The team members at Universal, however, seemed like they went out of their way to say happy birthday to both of us and several commented and asked if we really had the same bday (which we do) and chatted with us about it. We got cotton candy in Suess Landing and one of the team members sang us Happy Birthday, then he said since it was Suess Landing he had to sing it backwards. Then he turned around so that we were looking at his back and sang Happy Birthday again. It was very silly and fun and we loved it. When I got a beer at the hog's head, the bartender wished me a happy 21st birthday (I don't look anything close to 21 since it was my 40th lol). It was just little stuff like that all day long where I felt like the team members really interacted with us.
The Christmas decorations all around the park were great but I thought it was really awesome that they decorated all of Grimmauld Place except for number 12.
Fast and Furious is so incredibly bad it is comical.
33 days until my next trip which will be a girls weekend with my sister and no kids along, can't wait!!
(Great read for all parents out there):
