Queen of Oakville
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2011
- Messages
- 357
Appreciate all the advice I got before my trip and would like to pay it forward. This isn’t’ a trip report per se, but just some feedback on our experience. For context DH and I are in our mid-40s and have two kids 7 and 9. We’re healthy and active, so walking was never an issue. We were there March 5th through 12th.
Cabana Bay – loved the hotel and had no issues. We had a family suite in the Thunderbird (unfortunately, our view was facing the parking lot.). When i booked (through universal) I made sure to request a higher level room, but that never made it on to my reservation. We checked in to find out we were assigned a ground level, but they graciously reassigned us. Not a big deal, but if the hotel were full, it might have been an issue. If you have any special requests, you may want to call the hotel ahead of time. The room was plenty spacious. The microwave did not seem “brand new” for a new hotel. We had to lift and slam the door to close it. The fridge was plenty cold and we had no problem storing milk and keeping it ice cold. WARNING that this property is HUGE and if walking is an issue for you, want to pick a room close to the lobby. There is no fan in the toilet room, so if that is an issue for your family, you may want to bring some air freshener.
Shipments to hotel – I shipped about 4 packages to the hotel. All arrived in time. There were 3 waiting for me when I arrived, and the last arrived before we left. There was not charge or hassle to pick up.
Cabana Bay Food – food options are not the greatest. The Bayliner diner was okay at best, although we really liked the Pizza. Ate one night at the Bowling Alley. Service was slow and food quality was just okay. Warning that the Bayliner Diner IS open for breakfast, but the signs for this are only out in the morning. Any other time of day and it says open for lunch and dinner. It was our last day before we realized we could have had breakfast there.
Ride Waits – this was the one downside of the Cabana Bay stay. I think it would have been nice to have the Express Passes through one of the premium hotels. We rode despicable me on day 1 with a 20 min wait, after that it was usually 45 minutes plus. It was VERY frustrating, waiting in line and then watching the express passers get ahead of you L
Crowds and Shuttles – We unknowingly booked during the NDA highschool finals. There were crowds of teenage girls EVERYWHERE. After the first shuttle ride, my son looked at me, exasperated, and asked “don’t teenage girls every stop talking?” lol. Shuttles would easily fill up with one or two dance teams. Lineups in the park and Starbucks were exceptionally long this time of year due to the dance teams. Many times, the shuttles were packed and standing room only. Unless you are tall and strong, don’t bother, there is always another bus around the corner. On the second or third morning, I was being flung all over the bus, fell into someone’s lap and then fell forward into someone else. After that, if we got to the front of the line and the bus was full, we just let those wanting to stand get ahead of us, and we waited it out for the next bus which was never more than a few minutes away.
US/IoA Food – Our best meal (and most expensive) was probably at Emerils. We really enjoyed Vivo and ate there twice. Hardrock was consistent with other locations. Confisco Grille and Mythos were also good as was Finnegan’s Pub. The worst meal we had was at Richters – the burgers were awful!
Photoconnect – We paid for the 14 day pass. We got pictures taken on the way in and on the way out. But we were tired of posing by the end of the trip. We ended up with 48 pictures overall, not quite sure it was worth it. I think though that a few of our pictures went MIA and we ended up with pictures from a few strangers in our package. This wasn’t explained to me, but we realized on the last day that our package came with two printouts – I think it was one 5x7 and one 4x6. But you have to ask for it at the time (ex. for ride photos). Some of our phots (like the mummy) we could not even be seen in the photo due to front rows raising their hands. This was disappointing as the Mummy photo is really cool and I could not convince my son to ride it a second time. Some attendants were really good and would ask how many people were in your party, so if only 3 of us rode Forbidden Journey, though would crop the fourth person out of the picture. Be sure to pose for at least one photo at Gringott’s.
AMEX Discount – I got the AMEX discount whenever I asked. I was the one who was worried about currency exchange, and wondered about AMEX traveller’s cheques. YES, it works! We only used the USD travellers cheques (not the actual card) and saved our 10 to 15%. I think this worked out to about $150 in savings for the week! Some places just figured out how to do it – others just gave us the AAA discount. On the first day we bought two interactive wands at Ollivanders and got the 15%. For all other souvenirs, we the merchandise gets repeated through many stores. Both the front stores at US and IoA, have just about EVERYTHING you see elsewhere in the parks. This allowed us to save 15% on all our souvenirs rather than buying them piecemeal.
Mardi Gras Parade – this was AWESOME. Really well done and we had so much fun catching necklaces. If you have the chance to do during this time, don’t miss the parade. Our free concert was Trace Adkins, but we’re not country music fans, so we didn’t bother.
Duration of Stay - We stayed for 7 days, and had 7 day tickets which is honestly quite excessive for US and IofA. To be honest if were not for the HP areas, the park would be flailing. There are a handful of rides that are worth the wait, but some things like Twister and Disaster have been there just far too long (I remember visiting there as a kid). 25 years ago, I remember being wowed by Disaster, but for today's kids, it is just not that impressive. We NEVER got our act together early enough to take advance of EE. On those days that we did, the shuttle line at Cabana Bay was ridiculous and we ended up waiting half an hour or more, making it to the park with just minutes left for EE. Most days, we be at the park from 9 to lunch. Eat lunch at the park, and then had back to cabana bay for pool time. Sometimes, the kids and I would head back for an hour or two, and then meet up with DH at City Walk for dinner. Often after dinner, the kids and I would head to the parks for a ride or two, and DH would head back to the hotel. A 3/4 day stay is more then enough, unless you just want a relaxing holiday like we had.
Walking – the walk from the Thunderbird to the shuttle added to it, but with my FITBIT, I was able to log, on average, at least 25,000 steps a day!
Any questions?
Cabana Bay – loved the hotel and had no issues. We had a family suite in the Thunderbird (unfortunately, our view was facing the parking lot.). When i booked (through universal) I made sure to request a higher level room, but that never made it on to my reservation. We checked in to find out we were assigned a ground level, but they graciously reassigned us. Not a big deal, but if the hotel were full, it might have been an issue. If you have any special requests, you may want to call the hotel ahead of time. The room was plenty spacious. The microwave did not seem “brand new” for a new hotel. We had to lift and slam the door to close it. The fridge was plenty cold and we had no problem storing milk and keeping it ice cold. WARNING that this property is HUGE and if walking is an issue for you, want to pick a room close to the lobby. There is no fan in the toilet room, so if that is an issue for your family, you may want to bring some air freshener.
Shipments to hotel – I shipped about 4 packages to the hotel. All arrived in time. There were 3 waiting for me when I arrived, and the last arrived before we left. There was not charge or hassle to pick up.
Cabana Bay Food – food options are not the greatest. The Bayliner diner was okay at best, although we really liked the Pizza. Ate one night at the Bowling Alley. Service was slow and food quality was just okay. Warning that the Bayliner Diner IS open for breakfast, but the signs for this are only out in the morning. Any other time of day and it says open for lunch and dinner. It was our last day before we realized we could have had breakfast there.
Ride Waits – this was the one downside of the Cabana Bay stay. I think it would have been nice to have the Express Passes through one of the premium hotels. We rode despicable me on day 1 with a 20 min wait, after that it was usually 45 minutes plus. It was VERY frustrating, waiting in line and then watching the express passers get ahead of you L
Crowds and Shuttles – We unknowingly booked during the NDA highschool finals. There were crowds of teenage girls EVERYWHERE. After the first shuttle ride, my son looked at me, exasperated, and asked “don’t teenage girls every stop talking?” lol. Shuttles would easily fill up with one or two dance teams. Lineups in the park and Starbucks were exceptionally long this time of year due to the dance teams. Many times, the shuttles were packed and standing room only. Unless you are tall and strong, don’t bother, there is always another bus around the corner. On the second or third morning, I was being flung all over the bus, fell into someone’s lap and then fell forward into someone else. After that, if we got to the front of the line and the bus was full, we just let those wanting to stand get ahead of us, and we waited it out for the next bus which was never more than a few minutes away.
US/IoA Food – Our best meal (and most expensive) was probably at Emerils. We really enjoyed Vivo and ate there twice. Hardrock was consistent with other locations. Confisco Grille and Mythos were also good as was Finnegan’s Pub. The worst meal we had was at Richters – the burgers were awful!
Photoconnect – We paid for the 14 day pass. We got pictures taken on the way in and on the way out. But we were tired of posing by the end of the trip. We ended up with 48 pictures overall, not quite sure it was worth it. I think though that a few of our pictures went MIA and we ended up with pictures from a few strangers in our package. This wasn’t explained to me, but we realized on the last day that our package came with two printouts – I think it was one 5x7 and one 4x6. But you have to ask for it at the time (ex. for ride photos). Some of our phots (like the mummy) we could not even be seen in the photo due to front rows raising their hands. This was disappointing as the Mummy photo is really cool and I could not convince my son to ride it a second time. Some attendants were really good and would ask how many people were in your party, so if only 3 of us rode Forbidden Journey, though would crop the fourth person out of the picture. Be sure to pose for at least one photo at Gringott’s.
AMEX Discount – I got the AMEX discount whenever I asked. I was the one who was worried about currency exchange, and wondered about AMEX traveller’s cheques. YES, it works! We only used the USD travellers cheques (not the actual card) and saved our 10 to 15%. I think this worked out to about $150 in savings for the week! Some places just figured out how to do it – others just gave us the AAA discount. On the first day we bought two interactive wands at Ollivanders and got the 15%. For all other souvenirs, we the merchandise gets repeated through many stores. Both the front stores at US and IoA, have just about EVERYTHING you see elsewhere in the parks. This allowed us to save 15% on all our souvenirs rather than buying them piecemeal.
Mardi Gras Parade – this was AWESOME. Really well done and we had so much fun catching necklaces. If you have the chance to do during this time, don’t miss the parade. Our free concert was Trace Adkins, but we’re not country music fans, so we didn’t bother.
Duration of Stay - We stayed for 7 days, and had 7 day tickets which is honestly quite excessive for US and IofA. To be honest if were not for the HP areas, the park would be flailing. There are a handful of rides that are worth the wait, but some things like Twister and Disaster have been there just far too long (I remember visiting there as a kid). 25 years ago, I remember being wowed by Disaster, but for today's kids, it is just not that impressive. We NEVER got our act together early enough to take advance of EE. On those days that we did, the shuttle line at Cabana Bay was ridiculous and we ended up waiting half an hour or more, making it to the park with just minutes left for EE. Most days, we be at the park from 9 to lunch. Eat lunch at the park, and then had back to cabana bay for pool time. Sometimes, the kids and I would head back for an hour or two, and then meet up with DH at City Walk for dinner. Often after dinner, the kids and I would head to the parks for a ride or two, and DH would head back to the hotel. A 3/4 day stay is more then enough, unless you just want a relaxing holiday like we had.
Walking – the walk from the Thunderbird to the shuttle added to it, but with my FITBIT, I was able to log, on average, at least 25,000 steps a day!
Any questions?
I hope they never get rid of Twister, just love that ride. It's different, unique, sometimes you just don't want to do a roller coaster and it just feels like Universal. And everybody can enjoy it. Same thing with ET, even at my age it never gets old for me. hehe 
