Just back tonight - best trip ever!

[Cinderella822]

I just returned from a week at Universal for the first time. My family and I just LOVED it! We stayed at PBH and it was one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at. I just loved all the friendly people there and how attentive they all were to our needs. The parks were great also and found FOTL to be priceless! We rode our favorite rides over and over again with no more than a 10 minute wait for anything. Great restaurants also. We had some really nice meals there. Thanks so much for everyone's tips I've read on here. They really helped make our first trip to Universal a great one. I can't wait to go back again!

 

[Amity 3]

it's not a bad way to spend a vacation, is it?

favorite attractions and meals, please. how did you like the Portofino?

 

[Muffy]

I just returned from a week at Universal for the first time. My family and I just LOVED it! We stayed at PBH and it was one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at. I just loved all the friendly people there and how attentive they all were to our needs. The parks were great also and found FOTL to be priceless! We rode our favorite rides over and over again with no more than a 10 minute wait for anything. Great restaurants also. We had some really nice meals there. Thanks so much for everyone's tips I've read on here. They really helped make our first trip to Universal a great one. I can't wait to go back again!

Glad to hear you that enjoyed your stay! We stayed at PBH last year and early this year in a villa suite. It is our favorite onsite resort at Universal. We're headed back to Universal this sunday but just for that one day. I'm trying to decide if I want to get a room for FOTL access or not. How crowded was it last week? TIA for any info!

Muffy

 

[Cinderella822]

I have to admit, I was a die-hard Disney fan until this week. I'm really glad I gave Universal a chance. We loved PBH. I will definitely be staying there again. The Villa pool was wonderful. We were there every afternoon, sipping drinks. Very relaxing after running around the parks all morning. We had some great meals at Mama Della's, Emeril's, and Tchoup Chop. Loved them all. We did all the rides except Hulk and Dr. Doom (couldn't get up the nerve for those). My favorite rides were Mummy, Spiderman, and Dueling Dragons - all of which we rode over and over. The new 360 show at night was nice too. I don't think I could say much in the way of negative comments at all. We did have a boating incident one night leaving the hotel. The driver must have been new or miscalculated and steered us straight into an embankment and got us stuck. But with the help of some other men on the boat, they managed to pry it loose and we were on our way. Made for an interesting night anyway!

 

[Cinderella822]

Glad to hear you that enjoyed your stay! We stayed at PBH last year and early this year in a villa suite. It is our favorite onsite resort at Universal. We're headed back to Universal this sunday but just for that one day. I'm trying to decide if I want to get a room for FOTL access or not. How crowded was it last week? TIA for any info!

Muffy

It wasn't too bad at all. I didn't really keep track of the posted times as we had FOTL but I think the average wait for the really popular rides was about 30 minutes. I was very surprised at the short wait times since I'm a Disney regular and used to the LONG times there for most of the popular rides. Have fun!

 

[Amity 3]

I have to admit, I was a die-hard Disney fan until this week. I'm really glad I gave Universal a chance.

so are we, I'm happy to hear you had such a great 'vacation from the ordinary'.

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

It wasn't too bad at all. I didn't really keep track of the posted times as we had FOTL but I think the average wait for the really popular rides was about 30 minutes. I was very surprised at the short wait times since I'm a Disney regular and used to the LONG times there for most of the popular rides. Have fun!

Sorry, just to clarify - you waited 30 minutes - or the average joe waited 30 minutes. I sure hope I won't be waiting 30 minutes with FOTL. Maybe I set my expectations too high

 

[lindalinda]

I just returned from a week at Universal for the first time. We rode our favorite rides over and over again with no more than a 10 minute wait for anything.

When I was there in June we did have to wait 15- 20 mins a couple of times....the fotl times can vary just by chance. A couple of times we would just skip the ride and come back later if it looked like the express line was gonna have a wait.

 

[damo]

Sorry, just to clarify - you waited 30 minutes - or the average joe waited 30 minutes. I sure hope I won't be waiting 30 minutes with FOTL. Maybe I set my expectations too high

Pretty sure she meant that the regular lines were about 30 minutes.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

I'm so glad that you had such a great time! Tell your princess friends. Haha.

 

[Cinderella822]

Sorry for the confusion, the regular lines were about 30 minutes. With FOTL, the longest I waited was about 10 minutes. Usually, it took longer to walk through the ride to the front of the line than it did to wait there. A lot of rides we just walked right on. Since I've never been there before, the only thing I have to compare it to is Disney and I found the crowds to be MUCH lighter than Disney at this time of year.

 

[robvia]

Crowd levels will drop now that school is starting.
The PBH is a nice hotel. We stayed there in June, and we're going back at the end of September for HHN. The size of the room and huge bathroom are worth the extra money, plus the staff is very friendly.

 

[indsun]

Glad to hear goood reports! We will be there next month! I love Disney but it's exciting to be going somewhere new to!

 

[aztecgoods]

I love Disney too, but to me Universal is the best and greatest park in the world. I usually do a lot more time at U than Disney everytime I go, but haven't been to the AK yet so will hit that this time, but will still stay the majority of the time at U Royal Pacific. Did you get depressed coming back home? I know I always do, its a real downer.