Just back, small review . . .

I’m staying at Sapphire Falls next week and I keep hearing it’s nicer than Royal Pacific. So why isn’t it included with the express passes if it’s just as nice or nicer?
 
I’m staying at Sapphire Falls next week and I keep hearing it’s nicer than Royal Pacific. So why isn’t it included with the express passes if it’s just as nice or nicer?
Because (1) even though it's nice, it's less expensive, and (2) the whole value of express pass is that they are limited so it's unlikely more hotels will get them.
Universal owns the parks. Loews owns the hotels. I'm sure UO would much prefer people pay a premium to buy express passes from them for the day than give them away with SF rooms. I personally prefer Cabana Bay over Royal Pacific (I have kids who love the retro vibe and awesome pools), but no express passes at CB, either. It is what it is. If people are willing to stay at the hotels without express passes, then there's no real incentive for those hotels to start offering them.
 
Is it any better at Disney at the moment? Staffing is the biggest hurdle I have been hearing.
I'd rather have a table than be holding a tray of food and looking for a table, especially if people at the tables are just holding tables and not eating. Having a take out option in the app would be useful though. But, I assume people would take advantage and use that to skirt the table wait.

We didn't go to Disney this trip unfortunately. I was referring to a trip we took in Nov 2018. Back then we could mobile order and pick up food at a designated location without having to wait for a table. My wife would typically go find a table for us while I waited on the food. That usually worked out. A couple times we needed to take it to go and eat in a shaded area outside. I'm not sure how Disney is looking now unfortunately.
 


Thank you for sharing. I sure hope they get this figured out soon, we will be there in 5 weeks. I also wanted to ask if you stayed on-site? I’m wondering how the food options are doing at the hotels as far as wait times.

We stayed a couple nights at the Doubletree and then one night at the Royal Pacific Hotel. Since we had a car, we usually ended up eating offsite so I can't comment on the hotel food options.
 
Just so I understand, are you guys saying that the lines for the refills at the Coke freestyle machines are really long? We're going for one day next Monday and I've only gone before during lighter crowd times. When I've been there before there's usually no wait for those machines.
 
Just so I understand, are you guys saying that the lines for the refills at the Coke freestyle machines are really long? We're going for one day next Monday and I've only gone before during lighter crowd times. When I've been there before there's usually no wait for those machines.

We were there the first week in June, and the lines for ANY food option - refill machines, kiosks that will refill the cup for you, any kiosk that sells food were incredibly long. If you could find a machine open chances are it would be out of ice.

It took me as long to get a refill on one of our cups as it did for my kids to ride Simpsons.
 


Thank you for sharing. I sure hope they get this figured out soon, we will be there in 5 weeks. I also wanted to ask if you stayed on-site? I’m wondering how the food options are doing at the hotels as far as wait times.

We stayed at both Royal Pacific and Cabana Bay. We used the market at RP the most, we did have reservations for Jakes one night but with the restaurants as booked as they are, I was surprised how smoothly the quick service hotel options were running. The market at RP was very reasonable, we ordered pizza one night and enjoyed nachos at the Bula Bar another night.

Cabana Bay bayliner diner had lines almost every night, but it appeared that there were some huge groups staying while we were there. Everything was open and running smoothly, just a lot of people. The diner itself is a huge space and has lots of options all of which were readily available, there were just times it took a little longer than others.
 
UO is in the process of new hiring
Hopefully they will be more staffed by end of the month.

This will stop the long waits for the eateries, drink refills and other needed services.

Many let go when the park closed last year.
Attendance in the park October 2020 was low when I went and also low when I went also this February

With the lifting of masks, etc, more are coming to the Florida parks now.

The new wage that begins end of June, will bring in more employees. That $15 hourly wage will entice new hires.
 
We were there the first week in June, and the lines for ANY food option - refill machines, kiosks that will refill the cup for you, any kiosk that sells food were incredibly long. If you could find a machine open chances are it would be out of ice.

It took me as long to get a refill on one of our cups as it did for my kids to ride Simpsons.
Wow, that's crazy. I guess we'll have to bring our own water bottles. Are there at least available cold water fountains to refill water bottles?
 
Wow, that's crazy. I guess we'll have to bring our own water bottles. Are there at least available cold water fountains to refill water bottles?
There are water fountains near just about every restroom. There were a few in some queue lines I noticed as we went through as well. The lines were def long this past two weeks but hopefully with the new hiring, it'll be better soon!
 
Thanks for your review. I have mentally prepared myself to put up with some inconveniences on our trip, but I have to say that the lack of housekeeping really rubs me the wrong way. The UO website lists the lack of housekeeping as a covid safety measure. But if it is safe to have the property at full capacity with no distancing measures, then why wouldn't it be safe to have someone make my bed and clean my toilet for me? I really hope this isn't going to be the new normal for hotels.
 
Thanks for the review, very helpful! We are staying at Royal next month. Would you recommend requesting rooms in any specific area?
 
That sucks about the refillable cups - we're big fans. The ice is always a challenge, though. At many machines, you have to shove the ice out of the way just to get your cup in the receiver.

We have been at UOR since Saturday. We have NEVER had to shove ice out of the way, that's for sure! We filled our cups probably 15 times and maybe twice there was ice available. Rarely have to wait more than maybe a minute for our turn to fill it, though.
 
We have been at UOR since Saturday. We have NEVER had to shove ice out of the way, that's for sure! We filled our cups probably 15 times and maybe twice there was ice available. Rarely have to wait more than maybe a minute for our turn to fill it, though.
So the waits aren’t so bad at the freestyle machines?
 
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.
FWIW, almost all hotels have limited or no housekeeping still. At WDW, they are doing every other day trash and towel service but it often ends up being every 3-4 day trash or towel service. I much prefer full service as well, but it is what it is in the current environment. At first it was due to covid precautions, but now I think its due to staff shortages. I don't think I'd hold that one against RPR or the price you paid since its the same everywhere.

Also, consider the cost of the unlimited EP each day and subtract that from your nightly room rate. That will give you the true cost of your lodging. Looking at it from the perspective of the fact that you're also paying for unlimited EPs, it makes the cost and value easier to swallow.
 
We have been at UOR since Saturday. We have NEVER had to shove ice out of the way, that's for sure! We filled our cups probably 15 times and maybe twice there was ice available. Rarely have to wait more than maybe a minute for our turn to fill it, though.

I think the OP was referring to ICEE not ICE.
 
So the waits aren’t so bad at the freestyle machines?
We were there June 9-16. The freestyle machines had some lines, but they were usually not too long. The later in the day, the less likely there would be ice though.
To get ICEE free refills in the cups you had to go to a regular stand line, and those could get quite long. (Short or no line after the brief rain storm breaks though!)
 
We are finishing up our stay at RPR. No housekeeping didn’t bother us and when we texted we needed something, they were super fast at getting it to us. The staff was so happy and helpful everywhere.

Food was hard to get since the restaurants aren’t all open every day. The market seemed to run out of the wok bowls early as well as some other grab and go items. I think the evening thunder storms may have kept more people at the resort during dinner times making it more busy. Many people were using door dash. We walked over to Saphire Falls and the tavern was closed there until Thursday. Counter service in city walk was very slow and understaffed. We waitedover an hour for Panda Express. Only 2 people working the serving, drinks and register. Mobile order not available at the times we were there. I had made reservations for dinner each night but we never made it back to city walk most nights because of the heavy rains and just not wanting to get so wet and walk in the lightening so we were left with barely no options at the resort. Jakes was 3 hour wait or 1.5 for take out. Orchid cafe was 1.5 hour wait. Even the line at Tulk Tuk was 45 min for very limited options as many things were sold out. Try to go as early as possible. Pool bar was fantastic but again not open much of the time due to weather.

The boats were great when we could use them however they were shut down a lot due to lightening. Security line to enter city walk was very long in the mornings when walking so you may want to consider that in your timelines. We split up to see if the boat or walking was faster for early entry. They had to wait for 2 boats and we were in a long line for security on the walking path. We arrived at exactly the same time. They barely made that 2nd boat though which probably made walking the better option.

Express pass was great and needed. Early entry as well. We were so happy and relaxed with everything we got done in the parks. There is no distancing in the parks at all. Full 8 per cabin in Hogwarts Express. We were fine about the precautions being lifted but being shoulder to shoulder in that small enclosed space was a bit too close for comfort.

Hopefully this helps. I felt like I knew what to expect going in but some of the things I mentioned still caught me off guard.
 
Make a food reservation every day for lunch and dinner was my take away. The understaffing is everywhere on food and you ain’t getting anything, not a pretzel or an icee or god forbid something with protein in it without waiting forever, any time between 10:45 and 2:30 for lunch and anytime after 5 for dinner.
The 40 minute wait at Red Oven the first day got me, so I had a lunch res the next day at NBC Grill and watched sad faces when people came up trying to get lunch: the same face I had the day before. You can do it easy in OpenTable but you MUST do it.
I saw a line for Richter’s all the way back to the Starbucks towards Transformers: that’s an indictment. If you can’t feed them, don’t let them in.
 

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