curlyjbs
My heart belongs to the beach
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2001
- Messages
- 1,799
This was our second trip to US/IOA. 8/21-8/28 We stayed offsite at Windsor Hills but did reserve one night (8/23) at Royal Pacific for FOTL. The parks were crowded but not overly so. Most lines averaged 50 - 75 minutes but with EP the wait was no more than 5-10 minutes. NICE!
For the record: There were 12 of us in all 2 families - ages 5-42
We did IOA first. Checked into RP about 10:30, asked about an upgrade and got a pool view room (1332) took the boat over and just worked our way around the park starting on the left with the Hulk - front car YEAH! By 4pm we had rode everything at least 2x and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying poolside beverages at RP. Went to Carraba's for dinner - didn't like it much.....way too much cheese in everything.
and then back to WH. The next day we went back to RP (HINT: At checkin they asked us about our car - I told them we took public trans and they DID NOT charge us for parking.) Again we took the boat, this time to US. Once again, FOTL was awesome! I think we started with Jimmy Neutron and worked our way around the park! Did the mummy 3x in a row! But those lockers suck! Everyone had such a hard time with the fingerprint thing!!! Loved the horror makeup show - couldn't wait to get out of the beetlejuice show 
. Jaws was corny as ever and our captain was a riot! ET was cute! A nasty storm rolled in and we ran for the exit only to get completely soaked - we actually thought about staying in the park and waiting it out but it just kept getting worse so we huddled with the masses on the front porch of the NASCAR cafe. The host came out and announced $2 beers till the rain stops! WOOHOO! Big silver lining in that storm cloud LOL. (great onion rings btw) Later that evening we returned to WH and whined to each other that going to the parks tomorrow (saturday) would be insane without FOTL and decided to take it easy. The guys played golf and we hung at the WH pool.
Fast forward to Monday: We were going to do Busch Gardens but DH couldn't stand the thought of waiting in line so we decided to hit IOA one last time.
Armed with out "expired" room keys we once again parked at RP - DH purposely looked confused and just flashed the card at the gate and Wallah! The arm went up and we were waiting in line for the boat in no time! Ok so now we are Universal Felons! It was like playing russian roullette. My stomach was in knots!! Which ride attendant would be the one to see through our evil ruse? Well, none of them actually. In fact sometimes we had to get past 2 attendants one of whom would ask to see our dates! 
I don't know how all 12 of us pulled it off again and again but we did! (maybe they couldn't read? 
Or didn't know what day it was?) Anyway, we did both parks, re-rode our favorites, DD 15 got a henna tatoo, DH actually waited 55 minutes (so NOT worth the wait) to ride pteronadon flyers with DD11 while we hung out in Camp Jurassic and got soaked by the water guns!!
Tired and with aching feet we bid farewell to the parks and took our last boat ride back to RP. Grabbed a drink at the pool (sigh) and reluctantly drove back to WH knowing we had to pack, clean up the TH and get to bed early for our 8:30am flight
(sigh)
All in all a great trip!!
If anyone has any questions I'll be glad to help!
~Connie
For the record: There were 12 of us in all 2 families - ages 5-42
We did IOA first. Checked into RP about 10:30, asked about an upgrade and got a pool view room (1332) took the boat over and just worked our way around the park starting on the left with the Hulk - front car YEAH! By 4pm we had rode everything at least 2x and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying poolside beverages at RP. Went to Carraba's for dinner - didn't like it much.....way too much cheese in everything.
and then back to WH. The next day we went back to RP (HINT: At checkin they asked us about our car - I told them we took public trans and they DID NOT charge us for parking.) Again we took the boat, this time to US. Once again, FOTL was awesome! I think we started with Jimmy Neutron and worked our way around the park! Did the mummy 3x in a row! But those lockers suck! Everyone had such a hard time with the fingerprint thing!!! Loved the horror makeup show - couldn't wait to get out of the beetlejuice show . Jaws was corny as ever and our captain was a riot! ET was cute! A nasty storm rolled in and we ran for the exit only to get completely soaked - we actually thought about staying in the park and waiting it out but it just kept getting worse so we huddled with the masses on the front porch of the NASCAR cafe. The host came out and announced $2 beers till the rain stops! WOOHOO! Big silver lining in that storm cloud LOL. (great onion rings btw) Later that evening we returned to WH and whined to each other that going to the parks tomorrow (saturday) would be insane without FOTL and decided to take it easy. The guys played golf and we hung at the WH pool. Fast forward to Monday: We were going to do Busch Gardens but DH couldn't stand the thought of waiting in line so we decided to hit IOA one last time.
Armed with out "expired" room keys we once again parked at RP - DH purposely looked confused and just flashed the card at the gate and Wallah! The arm went up and we were waiting in line for the boat in no time! Ok so now we are Universal Felons! It was like playing russian roullette. My stomach was in knots!! Which ride attendant would be the one to see through our evil ruse? Well, none of them actually. In fact sometimes we had to get past 2 attendants one of whom would ask to see our dates! I don't know how all 12 of us pulled it off again and again but we did! (maybe they couldn't read? Or didn't know what day it was?) Anyway, we did both parks, re-rode our favorites, DD 15 got a henna tatoo, DH actually waited 55 minutes (so NOT worth the wait) to ride pteronadon flyers with DD11 while we hung out in Camp Jurassic and got soaked by the water guns!! Tired and with aching feet we bid farewell to the parks and took our last boat ride back to RP. Grabbed a drink at the pool (sigh) and reluctantly drove back to WH knowing we had to pack, clean up the TH and get to bed early for our 8:30am flight
(sigh)All in all a great trip!!
If anyone has any questions I'll be glad to help!
~Connie
We eat there almost once a week at home, and I think we ate there 3 times during our last trip in Orlando as it's our comfort food home-away-from-home place. And yes, we absolutely love cheese. There's no such thing as "too much cheese" as far as we're concerned. So, that's probably why we love it so much! Just wanted to provide another viewpoint. 
I'd appreciate it if you'd stop now. It's amazing how "holier than thou" people become when they see an opportunity to bash someone on these boards. 
