littlejewel
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 12, 2010
We just returned today from 6-nights at Royal Pacific with a 3-park, 4-day pass. Upon writing this review, I took into consideration that restaurants/hotels/theme parks, etc. are going through a major employee shortage. Did this affect our trip? Yes and no. So here are a few tips/reviews for those going to the parks this summer:
Service - everyone we encountered were so nice and working extra hard to meet the needs of guests. Service wasn’t always top notch, but some places were severely understaffed and this had an impact on timeliness, cleanliness, quality. Keep that in mind and try to be patient and understanding with staff
Crowds/Distancing/Masks- crazy busy, everywhere! Make dinner reservations if you can and I highly, highly, highly recommend Express Pass. Also, Universal is wide-open with very few wearing masks. If this may be a problem, I would recommend rescheduling your trip.
Hotel- Royal Pacific’s location can’t be beat! We used the ferry maybe two times the whole week and walked to/from the park the rest of the times. Ferry wait times were on the longer side (20ish minutes) and walking was a quick 7-8 min.jaunt along a quiet path. Overall, I wasn’t impressed by this resort for the price I payed. The rooms were small, the pool was just ok, we didn’t care for the food offerings(ate at Jakes, Bula Bar, and Tuk Tuk Mkt.), and there was no in-room housekeeping services at this time. I made our beds, took out the trash, cleaned the sink, etc. I’m not complaining, per se, but I probably overpaid for this resort and I work really hard throughout the year to have a week off from housekeeping. After visiting Portofino Bay one evening, I would recommend trying to stay there (beautiful resort!) or staying at Cabana and splurging for the Express Passes. We loved Cabana Bay so much more over RP.
Rides- Express Pass made our vacation seamless. We did all the rides more than once (except for a few one-and-dones), never waited more than 10 or so minutes, and loved this perk! It’s a must right now with the crowds! Hagrid’s never went to virtual, so I just set an alert on the Universal app to let me know if the ride went to 60 minutes. We ended up riding it three times during our trip and the line moved very quickly! Also, we only used Early Entry one morning. With Express Passes, we really didn’t need to be in any hurry to get up early.
Food/Beverage - We bought a few of the universal souvenir cups for refills. This was a waste of time and money. Machines never had ice and people were lined up in hoardes to fill their cups. Lines to get Icee’s were too long to be bothered with. I think all of this is due to employee shortages as most food and beverage kiosks were either closed or had one persons working. It was a mess! I don’t recommend getting these cups at this time. Instead, bring a refillable water bottle and fill up at water fountains or bring bottles of water into the parks. Also, we either had food reservations, ate early (11:00am), or went back to the hotel and ordered food to be delivered. Delivery was very efficient and cost effective. We had Chik-fil-a, Panda Express, and Marcos Pizza delivered at points throughout the week and the food was always fresh and deliveries were timely.
We really had a good time, but it did take more planning than usual for Universal. If you have any other questions, ask away! Thanks!
Service - everyone we encountered were so nice and working extra hard to meet the needs of guests. Service wasn’t always top notch, but some places were severely understaffed and this had an impact on timeliness, cleanliness, quality. Keep that in mind and try to be patient and understanding with staff
Crowds/Distancing/Masks- crazy busy, everywhere! Make dinner reservations if you can and I highly, highly, highly recommend Express Pass. Also, Universal is wide-open with very few wearing masks. If this may be a problem, I would recommend rescheduling your trip.
Hotel- Royal Pacific’s location can’t be beat! We used the ferry maybe two times the whole week and walked to/from the park the rest of the times. Ferry wait times were on the longer side (20ish minutes) and walking was a quick 7-8 min.jaunt along a quiet path. Overall, I wasn’t impressed by this resort for the price I payed. The rooms were small, the pool was just ok, we didn’t care for the food offerings(ate at Jakes, Bula Bar, and Tuk Tuk Mkt.), and there was no in-room housekeeping services at this time. I made our beds, took out the trash, cleaned the sink, etc. I’m not complaining, per se, but I probably overpaid for this resort and I work really hard throughout the year to have a week off from housekeeping. After visiting Portofino Bay one evening, I would recommend trying to stay there (beautiful resort!) or staying at Cabana and splurging for the Express Passes. We loved Cabana Bay so much more over RP.
Rides- Express Pass made our vacation seamless. We did all the rides more than once (except for a few one-and-dones), never waited more than 10 or so minutes, and loved this perk! It’s a must right now with the crowds! Hagrid’s never went to virtual, so I just set an alert on the Universal app to let me know if the ride went to 60 minutes. We ended up riding it three times during our trip and the line moved very quickly! Also, we only used Early Entry one morning. With Express Passes, we really didn’t need to be in any hurry to get up early.
Food/Beverage - We bought a few of the universal souvenir cups for refills. This was a waste of time and money. Machines never had ice and people were lined up in hoardes to fill their cups. Lines to get Icee’s were too long to be bothered with. I think all of this is due to employee shortages as most food and beverage kiosks were either closed or had one persons working. It was a mess! I don’t recommend getting these cups at this time. Instead, bring a refillable water bottle and fill up at water fountains or bring bottles of water into the parks. Also, we either had food reservations, ate early (11:00am), or went back to the hotel and ordered food to be delivered. Delivery was very efficient and cost effective. We had Chik-fil-a, Panda Express, and Marcos Pizza delivered at points throughout the week and the food was always fresh and deliveries were timely.
We really had a good time, but it did take more planning than usual for Universal. If you have any other questions, ask away! Thanks!