Just back from Universal

[left210]

We stayed at RPR for 4 days 3 nights. Just got back last night. We had a great time. The hotel at RPR was nice. Nothing outstanding but we really did not use their amenities much. Definitely worth the $149 rate we got. We got in about 3:00 and were at the parks by 4:00. It was so nice to be so close to the parks. We went to Universal the first day. We stopped to eat before hitting the rides. We ate at Finnegans. About a 5 minute wait to be seated. The food was good but the service was terrible. It took about 10 minutes for our server to even come to our table to take our drink orders. Then another 10 minutes to even get them and that was only after we asked. Then my sons chocolate milk did not taste right and it took another 10 minutes for him to get another drink. Needless to say our server did not get a good tip. We did get to see a little bit of the Blues Brothers Show while we waited. We then went on to the rides and stayed til right before the parks closed at 7. We went on Jimmy Neutron, Shrek, Curious George play area, Barney show. We ate dinner at Islands Dining at RPR to see Shaggy & Scooby. I did not think the food was worth the $22 per person for the buffet. Food was not that great. Kids buffet was cheap but the food was also not that great. Let me just say that I am not a big fan of this type of food so my opinion would not be so great anyway but typically when you have a buffet of any sort there is a few american food items but not here. My husband loves this type of food and he said it was just ok. Before our meal we had considered eating there again the next night to see Shrek but did not after the first meal.

The next day we went to Islands of Adventure. Again we were able to see the whole park in one day with extra time to spare. We took our time, played in the kids play areas for a long time. It was so nice not to be rushed. We went to Disney last year and this is so different. We just snacked in the park and then went to Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch/early dinner (4:30 PM). The food and service was great. We then went back to the hotel and swam. It was so nice to have time to do everything.

On Wednesday we went to Universal first and my husband went and did some of the rides he wanted to do while I took my son back to ride Jimmy Neutron and ET again. We saw the Madagascar characters, did Barney again, played in the Fievels and Curious George areas again, and saw Animal Planet Live. Make sure you take swim wear for Curious George (and If I ran the Zoo at IOA) so they can fully enjoy it. I got that tip on here and it worked great. We then had time to go over to IOA and hit some things again there too. We went back to the hotel and swam and then went to Margaritaville for dinner around 6:30. The food and service there was great also. My husband got the mushroom cheeseburger, I got the chicken broccoli pasta and our son got the chicken fingers. All very good.

Our last day we were getting picked up at 12:30 so we just went over to Hard Rock Hotel and swam that morning. The pool there was very nice and our son liked it better that the one at RPR. It was nice because he was able to fully walk around the pool - no areas over about 3 1/2 feet. Although this would not be good for older kids or adults I guess. He really liked the slide too.

Our son is 5 and the vacation was really centered around him. We did not do any roller coasters but still had a great time. His favorites were Jimmy Neutron, Cat in the Hat, ET and the Jurassic Park Discovery Center and play area. We will definitely go back and next time try out Hard Rock Hotel. FOTL is awesome and we never had to wait over 2-3 minutes for anything if a wait at all. We went to WDW last year and this was such a nice change. I really liked WDW but the fast pass system is nothing compared to FOTL. Also, stay onsite as it is so nice to be able to walk to everything and ride as many times as you want.

 

[minniemee]

It sounds like you had a great time. I am glad to hear the positives about the
Universal parks. We are going for the first time in June and I hope my 4 and 11 year old boys enjoy it.
We are planning to dine at the Islands restaurant also. I am sorry to hear that the food is so bad. We are mostly going to see the characters, but some good food wouldn't hurt! I hope their buffet improves before then!

I am looking forward to the slower pace at Universal as compared to Disney, don't get me wrong, I'm a big Disney fan, but that pace wears me out!

I enjoyed the report!

 

[left210]

It sounds like you had a great time. I am glad to hear the positives about the
Universal parks. We are going for the first time in June and I hope my 4 and 11 year old boys enjoy it.
We are planning to dine at the Islands restaurant also. I am sorry to hear that the food is so bad. We are mostly going to see the characters, but some good food wouldn't hurt! I hope their buffet improves before then!

I am looking forward to the slower pace at Universal as compared to Disney, don't get me wrong, I'm a big Disney fan, but that pace wears me out!

I enjoyed the report!

I think your boys will love it. The food was not horrible at Islands but not up to par for that type of price. If you like that kind of food then maybe it wont be so bad - plus you can order from the menu vs. the buffet. The part I liked the most was the laid back atmosphere. No big rush to get everything in because you have plenty of time to ride, shop, eat, etc. as compared to Disney when we went commando style trying to see and do everything. We didnt even make reservations on Universal whereas at WDW you had to do that way in advance to even get a character meal. Now in June you might want to check with concierge in case you need to reserve a seat but if you stay on site you still get priority seating if you show your room key at any restaurant. Have fun. I wish I was still there! (Just got back last night).

 

[Katy]

I enjoyed reading your report. We stayed at RPH in February for the first time and loved it. The HRH is still our favorite though. I have to agree with you about Islands. We were very disappointed with our dinner there. My husband had the buffet and I ordered off of the menu. The buffet food did not seem quite hot enough and my meal was just ok. Our server was also not having a good evening so our drinks didn't arrive for quite a while. I did enjoy the hotel though, the pool was very large and my son loved the burgers that they served at the pool. We'll be staying at HRH in July!

 

[AllieKat]

Thank you so much for your trip report. I really enjoyed reading it. I'm happy to hear that you and your family had a good time. I love FOTL and the hotels. I'm sorry to hear about your dinner at Islands. I've had breakfast there 2 or 3 times and it was wonderful, but I've never had lunch or dinner there. Did you happen to notice if Green Eggs & Ham at IOA was open? Thanks again for your report!

 

[jayster]

Glad you had a great time....I m leaving monday morning (veeerrryyy early) to fly down and expect to be in the park by 10:30 am. Im staying at the RPR as well, we (my wife and 5 year old) had such a great time last year. One question, how were the crowds? I was told after 4/7 it is a complete madhouse crowd wise, but not so bad up until then. We have the fotl too, which is great, but hope it wont be overly crowded so you can't push a stroller through the huge crowd. Also, did you have the Lowes card upgrade? that also comes in pretty handy, we got alot of upgrades and freebies last year this time.

 

[left210]

The crowds were not bad at all. We never had a wait for anything with FOTL. No problem with pushing our stroller around. I do have the Loews card but ended up getting an AP to get a better room rate ($149) so they didnt give me any of the Loews benefits with the AP rate. We enjoyed WDW last year but this was so different and much more relaxing and so much fun. We never felt rushed and took our time to see everything. The first day I was in my usual lets go mode and not take as much time but I realized real quick that we didnt have to do that. Have fun.

 

[JuneChickie]

THank you Left for sharing your experience ,, We have a our 5 year old grand daugher coming to live with us and as u know we are going the 2nd week in May. It was nice
to read that you centered your trip around him. We will be doing the same thing,
so I am going to have to remember what you wrote as I sure want it to be fun for her and for us. I'm going to be taking lots of pictures and will be in no hurry to jump
from ride to ride. I was glad to hear Universal has some areas for kids to just "play".

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing, and I'm glad y'all had such a good time. I never thought the words "relaxing" and "theme parks" could be used in the same sentence until I went to US/IOA.

I've never had the buffet at RPR, but I have had the breakfast buffet several times at HRH. Ick. I gave it three shots over the course of a couple years before giving up. Maybe it's just a buffet thing at the resorts at USO; I don't know. They seem to need help from what I've read on these boards and my own experience...or at least drop the price considerably if they're not going to improve the food -- and the food temperature in my case (nothing like cold, watery eggs to start your day off!)

We also enjoy Hard Rock Cafe. It doesn't matter if it's just DH and I, sitting at the bar pounding some beers back, eating nachos, or a larger group with small kids sitting upstairs, looking at everything...we always enjoy ourselves there.

 

[left210]

I was glad to hear Universal has some areas for kids to just "play".

Make sure your granddaughter wears her swimsuit under her clothes to the parks so when she is at the play areas she can fully enjoy them and get wet!

 

[left210]

We are planning to dine at the Islands restaurant also. I am sorry to hear that the food is so bad. We are mostly going to see the characters, but some good food wouldn't hurt! I hope their buffet improves before then!

FYI- If you are just dining at Islands to see the characters you might want to reconsider. I was amazed at how accessible and quickly the lines moved when the characters came out. We didnt wait over 10 minutes to see any of them and the longest wait was because Shrek took a break once while we were in line. I am not sure if the lines will be longer in June but you might ask around because if not then you might want to eat elsewhere and see the characters at the parks because we really did not get much time with them at the restaurant.

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks for posting, we are looking forward to staying there in Aug 07.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[Snoopymom]

We chose the HRH over RPH because of the pool for our 5 yr old ds, so I really appreciate the review. Thanks for the report.

 

[deanie119]

How did you get your room for 149$? the website lists it as 249!
please let me in on this great offer!

 

[robvia]

Great TR. Considerng how many people they have to serve, a buffet will be just ok. For your next trip, stock a cooler before checkin. That way you can have doughnuts and milk in the room for breakfast. The character meals are a toss up. Some rave about them if the characters talk to their kids and give them attention. If that doesn't happen, then the people complain they didn't get their money's worth. I guess it's luck of the draw.

 

[left210]

I bought an annual pass. Not sure if we will make it back again before the annual pass expires but it was still cheaper for me to buy the pass and get the room discount plus all the other perks of the pass like discounts on eating, shopping, etc. From what I have read they dont list the AP room rates until like a month or so before but you can go on the loews website and put in AP under promotion code and it will tell you the AP rates. You can also book your room now and then keep checking the AP rates and call back and update it to the lower rates.

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

We are planning a trip for next May and I was trying to decide if it was worth the extra $$$ to stay on site and get the FOTL or just stay off site. We stayed offsite our last trip (2003) and we definately waited in long lines! Thanks for the report! Sounds like it is worth the $$$ to stay on site.