Just home today, thank heavens for FOTL!

[rcraw45425]

We decided Thursday at lunch (with the car already loaded for a trip to Chattanooga) to head to US/IOA instead. Ran back home to pick up extra clothes and sneakers, only to find out from reservations that they were completely booked for that night. Regrouped, booked HRH for Friday and Saturday night with AAA, then hit the road for ORL. Stayed Thursday night at the Doubletree Castle I Drive (okay, not as nice as we remembered). HEaded over to HRH on Friday morning to pick up our FOTLs and hit USO. Crowds were manageable, got a call from HRH at 1 that our room was ready. In the room by around 4pm, okay, garden view (well, some trees and a sidewalk). Saturday was unreal, humid, humid, humid! Crowds at IOA were insane (think south american tour groups, ), the Express line for Spiderman at one point was back around the sidewalk in front of buildings! BAck over to USO, still crowded. We missed the fireworks, had no idea they were planned, oh well, maybe another time. Checked out yesterday, hit the parks for a while, FOTL was great again. The rain came in buckets, we wound up soaked, decided to check in at the Doubletree at the entrance to US for $62 a night with AAA, came home today.

 

[Metro West]

Glad you had a great trip!

 

[rcraw45425]

Thanks, this was the untimate last minute trip, lol. Our kids were flabbergasted to say the least. Rip Ride Rockit looks really cool, we saw it running both Saturday and Sunday, looks really really smooth. Simpsons was fun, much less jerky than BTTF. JAWS had a few kinks, the tour guide was nice enough to announce a password to everyone to get them an Express line ride anytime that day. All of the TMs we encountered were courteous and some seemed extra sweet, apologizing that we didn't get front car for ROTM(we hadn't asked for it), offering to let us wait for the next car. WE did encounter a lot of problems with room charging, it actually got to the point Saturday night at PBR that the gift shop clerk announced that even Visa and MC weren't working. Also encountered really nice sales clerks at Element in Citywalk, faced with the room charge problem, they tried everything in their power to make the sale, even stuck the merchandise back for me (I returned later armed with my Visa (before those started giving problems).

Had great meals with no waiting (unlike Disney) at Hard Rock Cafe and The Kitchen. Servers were attentive, and the 10% AAA discount on everything was nice!

 

[3mmm]

Just back last night and we had a great trip. Stayed at PBH - loved it again. We were very surprised at the relatively light crowds on Thurs and Friday - we walked on just about everything with basically no wait. It was crowded on Sat and Sun morning, but the express was still very manageable. The only wait we really encountered was 20 min at Ripsaw in the heat of the afternoon - I don't usually care for water rides, but I couldn't wait to get soaked - it was HOT, HOT, HOT (Okay maybe I'm used to Michigan summers)

My point in posting here is that the crowds were nothing like our previous Spring Break trip (1st week April 2008) That trip, we waited even with FOTL - still nothing like the non express riders waited, but quite a bit more than we waited this time. Everyone says stay away from the parks in the middle of the summer because of the crowds, but I would go back in July over April next time. I can handle the heat - my husband less so. And universal has so many water rides that it is manageable. I would never go without FOTL though.

 

[3mmm]

Here's an idea of how our days went

Thurs - entered just past 9. Did Simpson's, MIB twice, Jaws, Disaster, ROTM twice (with child swap) and sat down for lunch at Finnegans at 11. We went on to see Blues Brothers, Animal actors and played in the Curious George area for over an hour, saw Jimmy Neutron and had plenty of time to swim and nap before dinner at downtown disney's T-Rex restaurant

Fri - did Character Breakfast at 9, then Pteranodon Flyers and playground, Jurassic Park, Ripsaw, Pluto's Barges, Spiderman, Cat in the Hat, REd Fish- Blue fish, the carousel, and the trolley , ate lunch there, and had an hour to kill before the Sinbad show at 2. My husband met up with us and we did DD twice (with child swap), Jurassic Park, Ripsaw, the Barges, Spiderman again. Then added Hulk (Twice with child swap), and acceletron and made it back to the room showered and over to the Ritz Carlton for a business dinner by 7:15.

It was incredible what we were able to do.

Sat was more crowded. Got there a little after 9. Did Spiderman, Took my boys to DD, backtracked and did the Flyers with 5 year old - went back and got older sons- they finished about 2 minutes ahead of me. Did JP, Ripsaw, had a sit down snack at 11, did Hulk and acceletron, Cat in the Hat, Red fish- Blue fish and Poisedins adventures (my 5 year old was terrified) and were over half an hour early for a 1:30 Mythos reservation. We were seated right away - loved it. We looped around again after lunch and filled in Sun morning with what we skipped at US and repeats we wanted to do.

We loved our trip. Did way more than I expected and swam 3 times

 

[rcraw45425]

I agree, FOTL is the only way to go. DH is one that does not like to wait, if there's another option. We were able to accomplish so much with out having to kill ourselves to do so!

My only complaint was our housekeeping at Hard Rock Hotel. On Saturday we returned to our room at 4:30 to find that it had not been touched (they were still way up the hall). I wound up asking a maid to just swap towels for me and give me more shampoo, conditioner and coffee. The next morning they were at our door at 9:15 even though the Do Not Disturb sign was out.

 

[macraven]

thanks for sharing your trip with us...!!





i have to agree.
i did not have good housekeeping service at hrh the last two times i stayed there.

 

[poeticdiabetic]

FOTL can be fun, I guess. I wish I had it in April for Spring Break. The wait times after 11AM in some places were insane. (Hulk's ride had a 160 minute wait! I thought we were being Punked!)

But we went again the last few days in May- first week in June and the longest wait that day was 30 minutes (Everyone decided to ride Spiderman at the same time. Oh, and that Flyers ride in IOA had it's usual 60 minute wait.)

 

[rcraw45425]

FOTL can be fun, I guess. I wish I had it in April for Spring Break. The wait times after 11AM in some places were insane. (Hulk's ride had a 160 minute wait! I thought we were being Punked!)

But we went again the last few days in May- first week in June and the longest wait that day was 30 minutes (Everyone decided to ride Spiderman at the same time. Oh, and that Flyers ride in IOA had it's usual 60 minute wait.)

Pteranadon Flyers does not use express pass