micksn
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2010
- Messages
- 1,096
We got back on Saturday morning from a 2 week holiday. We flew from our local airport on the Thomson Dreamliner had 2 nights at Royal Pacific Resort in Universal and 12 nights at Coronado Springs in Disney World. I travelled with my DH and DD (19).
Dreamliner
We were quite impressed! Flying from our local airport made a huge difference, usually Thomas Cook from Manchester is much cheaper for us, but this time the prices were similar.
We liked that everything was included once on the flight; decent in flight entertainment, drinks and meals. The food was pretty good and the flight times were great.
Universal
The Royal Pacific Resort was very nice, lovely rooms and decor, easy water taxi or walking to the parks and a nice pool area with thick towels and complimentary infused water.
There were quite a few food choices, we ate at Jake's bar on arrival night and used the Orchid Court for breakfast. The food was good at both, but we found them expensive compared to Disney and the service not quite as genuine. A food court or counter service option would have been good. We also found the shop more expensive than Disney for water, snacks etc.
We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 days in the Universal parks and made good use of early entry and express pass. It was my DH's first visit there and he really enjoyed the theming and humour. We rode Kong and the refurbished Hulk ride which were great and I particularly enjoyed Gringotts. We enjoyed all the rides, but were tired of putting on 3D glasses by the end of our second day.
I'm glad that we stayed on site and we loved our time at Universal, but it was an expensive addition to our holiday (maybe the poor exchange rate didn't help!)
Disney
We loved Coronado Springs and were very pleased we made the choice to stay there, particularly after 2 great trips to OKW. I phoned prior to arrival and did on line check in and we were very pleased with our room. We were in Cabanas 8b in a corner room. The steps led down to our quiet pool and laundry room and across the car park to the bus stop. The rooms are ready for a refurb (but we knew that!) however our room was clean and in good condition.
We enjoyed the pepper market and thought it had a good range and it was easy to share quick service credits. Our quiet pool was delightful, we visited the main pool once just to say we'd been, but preferred what felt like our own private pool at times.
We had a great time in the parks, making good use of FP+ and taking things at a more leisurely pace. I enjoyed the new Frozen attraction and the new Soarin film, although it is very distorted unless you sit in the middle. I loved being in Animal Kingdom at night, we had a great meal in Yak and Yeti, enjoyed the safari and Expedition Everest in the dark. I also liked the jungle book show, but then I really like the film! I thought the singers particularly were very good. We waited after in had finished to see the tree of life in a very quiet park which was amazing! My DD loved Star Wars at Hollywood Studios, we had a very scary meet and greet with Kylo Ren and thought the fireworks and projection were out of this world!!
We upgraded to the Disney Dining Plan from free Quick Service and had some lovely meals. However I'm not sure that the upgrade price and tips made it good value for money this time.
We particularly enjoyed Kona Cafe, Yak n Yeti, Tutto Italia, Boma, Crystal Palace breakfast and Raglan Road. We tried 50's Prime time and Diamond horseshoe, but wouldn't return to either.
My DD starts University in October so this might be our last trip for a while, but we had a lovely time together, great weather and lots of fun!
Dreamliner
We were quite impressed! Flying from our local airport made a huge difference, usually Thomas Cook from Manchester is much cheaper for us, but this time the prices were similar.
We liked that everything was included once on the flight; decent in flight entertainment, drinks and meals. The food was pretty good and the flight times were great.
Universal
The Royal Pacific Resort was very nice, lovely rooms and decor, easy water taxi or walking to the parks and a nice pool area with thick towels and complimentary infused water.
There were quite a few food choices, we ate at Jake's bar on arrival night and used the Orchid Court for breakfast. The food was good at both, but we found them expensive compared to Disney and the service not quite as genuine. A food court or counter service option would have been good. We also found the shop more expensive than Disney for water, snacks etc.
We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 days in the Universal parks and made good use of early entry and express pass. It was my DH's first visit there and he really enjoyed the theming and humour. We rode Kong and the refurbished Hulk ride which were great and I particularly enjoyed Gringotts. We enjoyed all the rides, but were tired of putting on 3D glasses by the end of our second day.
I'm glad that we stayed on site and we loved our time at Universal, but it was an expensive addition to our holiday (maybe the poor exchange rate didn't help!)
Disney
We loved Coronado Springs and were very pleased we made the choice to stay there, particularly after 2 great trips to OKW. I phoned prior to arrival and did on line check in and we were very pleased with our room. We were in Cabanas 8b in a corner room. The steps led down to our quiet pool and laundry room and across the car park to the bus stop. The rooms are ready for a refurb (but we knew that!) however our room was clean and in good condition.
We enjoyed the pepper market and thought it had a good range and it was easy to share quick service credits. Our quiet pool was delightful, we visited the main pool once just to say we'd been, but preferred what felt like our own private pool at times.
We had a great time in the parks, making good use of FP+ and taking things at a more leisurely pace. I enjoyed the new Frozen attraction and the new Soarin film, although it is very distorted unless you sit in the middle. I loved being in Animal Kingdom at night, we had a great meal in Yak and Yeti, enjoyed the safari and Expedition Everest in the dark. I also liked the jungle book show, but then I really like the film! I thought the singers particularly were very good. We waited after in had finished to see the tree of life in a very quiet park which was amazing! My DD loved Star Wars at Hollywood Studios, we had a very scary meet and greet with Kylo Ren and thought the fireworks and projection were out of this world!!
We upgraded to the Disney Dining Plan from free Quick Service and had some lovely meals. However I'm not sure that the upgrade price and tips made it good value for money this time.
We particularly enjoyed Kona Cafe, Yak n Yeti, Tutto Italia, Boma, Crystal Palace breakfast and Raglan Road. We tried 50's Prime time and Diamond horseshoe, but wouldn't return to either.
My DD starts University in October so this might be our last trip for a while, but we had a lovely time together, great weather and lots of fun!
