May 2020 May 2021 Trip to Universal

[gstack74]

Booked a family trip to Universal in February of 2020 for the first week of May 2020. Airfare, hotel, park tickets were paid for.....and ultimately cancelled. I have airline points, airline credits, hotel was credited back to my credit card, and my park tickets which had an expiration of Dec 2020, luckily was extended to Dec 2021.
Its been a nightmare, keeping track of everything.

So, here we are, booked again for May 2021, Monday May 3 through Friday May 7.
Staying at Portofino Bay (PB) all nights.
Flying from Boston with a planned arrival at MCO by 11am.

We plan to spend the day at the resort by the pool on check in day
We also have reservations for Bice at PB.
We will be celebrating a 50th birthday for the wife and daughter made National Honor Society for Masters Nursing, my birthday is also this month

Not expecting anything else on the 1st day, unless really bored after dinner and take water taxi to CityWalk


Day 2

Will be spent at the park.
Will get in line for rope drop and/or early hours depending on which park has them
Will probably tackle the park in the following order....
Hulk and Fearfall may be the 2 rides I venture on myself, (thoughts on which is faster EP or SR?)

can anyone venture a guess on where the bottleneck will be and guesses of where we will be at noon, 3pm, 5pm

I can only imagine the 1st 2 places will take a lot of time, but they are a must.......perhaps Ollivanders will be something we can do on Day 3 when done with the pool
Please share all your thoughts.........

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

Ollivanders

Flight of the Hippogriff – Ep

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - Ep

Skull Island: Reign of Kong – Ep

Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges – Ep

Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls – Ep

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man – Ep

Dr. Doom’s Fearfall – Ep Sr?

The Incredible Hulk Coaster – Ep Sr?

Starbucks and Cinnabon

The Cat in the Hat – Ep

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish - Ep

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! – Ep

The Hogwarts Express – Ep

The Hogwarts Express back– Ep

Jurassic Park River Adventure - Ep

Day 3

POOL and hit the park once overwhelmed with the Sun

Dinner reservations Toothsome 8pm

Day 4

Universal Studios (itinerary to come)

Dinner reservations Mama Della's (PB) @ 8:30pm

 

[bobbie68]

Booked a family trip to Universal in February of 2020 for the first week of May 2020. Airfare, hotel, park tickets were paid for.....and ultimately cancelled. I have airline points, airline credits, hotel was credited back to my credit card, and my park tickets which had an expiration of Dec 2020, luckily was extended to Dec 2021.
Its been a nightmare, keeping track of everything.

So, here we are, booked again for May 2021, Monday May 3 through Friday May 7.
Staying at Portofino Bay (PB) all nights.
Flying from Boston with a planned arrival at MCO by 11am.

We plan to spend the day at the resort by the pool on check in day
We also have reservations for Bice at PB.
We will be celebrating a 50th birthday for the wife and daughter made National Honor Society for Masters Nursing, my birthday is also this month

Not expecting anything else on the 1st day, unless really bored after dinner and take water taxi to CityWalk


Day 2

Will be spent at the park.
Will get in line for rope drop and/or early hours depending on which park has them
Will probably tackle the park in the following order....
Hulk and Fearfall may be the 2 rides I venture on myself, (thoughts on which is faster EP or SR?)

can anyone venture a guess on where the bottleneck will be and guesses of where we will be at noon, 3pm, 5pm

I can only imagine the 1st 2 places will take a lot of time, but they are a must.......perhaps Ollivanders will be something we can do on Day 3 when done with the pool
Please share all your thoughts.........

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

Ollivanders

Flight of the Hippogriff – Ep

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - Ep

Skull Island: Reign of Kong – Ep

Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges – Ep

Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls – Ep

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man – Ep

Dr. Doom’s Fearfall – Ep Sr?

The Incredible Hulk Coaster – Ep Sr?

Starbucks and Cinnabon

The Cat in the Hat – Ep

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish - Ep

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! – Ep

The Hogwarts Express – Ep

The Hogwarts Express back– Ep

Jurassic Park River Adventure - Ep

Day 3

POOL and hit the park once overwhelmed with the Sun

Dinner reservations Toothsome 8pm

Day 4

Universal Studios (itinerary to come)

Dinner reservations Mama Della's (PB) @ 8:30pm

Hi if IOA has early entry on day 2 go and go on Hagrid's stand by first thing. You should be off the ride within 30 to 45 minutes. I wouldn't worry about Hulk and fearful with the express pass you will be fine. It is your best chance to get on it because you may not be able to get a VQ during your stay. There are times during the day it will have a stand by line but not usually.
If IOA does not have early entry while you are there plan to be ready on the app for a VQ time for Hagrid's. It will first be posted at park opening. Then they dump at 11 2 and sometimes 4.

If the studios has early entry I would go to HP world and try for Olivander's then go on Gringott's. HP worlds are best in the morning less crowds.

The exit to Hagrid's will have you go by Olivander's if it doesn't look busy you can get in line.

Your bottle neck in IOA at that time is usuallyl the HP worlds.

Toothsome is our favorite restaurant enjoy it!!!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

1. There are no single rider lines right now.
2. EP is almost always faster. Except on MiB sometimes, that SR line is speedy!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You will be fully soaked on Popeye and Dudley. Plan accordingly.
You may consider doing Jurassic Park during that part of your day instead, and put Popeye & Dudley before a pool or hotel break. Unless you don't mind being soaked for the rest of the day (like, wring out the undies soaked), then you're all set

 

[cfoxga]

Day 2

Will be spent at the park.
Will get in line for rope drop and/or early hours depending on which park has them
Will probably tackle the park in the following order....
Hulk and Fearfall may be the 2 rides I venture on myself, (thoughts on which is faster EP or SR?)

can anyone venture a guess on where the bottleneck will be and guesses of where we will be at noon, 3pm, 5pm

I can only imagine the 1st 2 places will take a lot of time, but they are a must.......perhaps Ollivanders will be something we can do on Day 3 when done with the pool
Please share all your thoughts.........

With EE/EP and small crowds with kids in school those days, I would expect very short lines pretty much everywhere. You should be able to take your time and soak everything in. Hagrids, Bourne, and Ollivanders are really the only things that you need to plan around.

POOL and hit the park once overwhelmed with the Sun

Dinner reservations Toothsome 8pm

Given the heat in FL, I would swap the park/pool. Start in the parks in the morning when the crowds are smallest and the temperature is nicest. Once it starts getting too hot, head back to the pool.

Did you get an APH rate for PBH? You will save quite a bit over the regular rates. Even with the increase in Annual Passes, you should come out way ahead...

 

[gstack74]

It’s been over a decade since we were at Universal, Harry Potter was still be being built, so everything HP is new to us.

I can’t remember how wet we were after riding the wet rides, but we definitely did not go back to the hotel, given our increase and age, we may need to consider that.

last year we started watching all of the HP movies, then stopped once our vaca was cancelled....we started watching them again. (I admit I have only read the 1st 2 books....nor seen them all) we are on movie #4 (goblet of fire)

thank you all for the responses, please keep them coming

 

[Bethany10]

I hear you on keeping track of things. we were supposed to go in June of 2020, then punted to August then June of 21. Tickets, hotel rooms, plane tickets etc all paid for/ deposits made. it's been a nightmare keeping everything straight and I've still got airline credits to use.

 

[ksdaveb2003]

I can’t remember how wet we were after riding the wet rides, but we definitely did not go back to the hotel, given our increase and age, we may need to consider that.

My son and I are going this Saturday through Tuesday and we are staying at PBH. I also strongly recommend either bringing a change of clothes to the park for the water rides in IOA, or plan on going back to the hotel to change. The biggest soaker is Bluto's. I have been lucky once or twice and missed getting drenched, but the other dozens of times I have come off completely soaked to the skin everywhere. We go to IOA with a small backpack with bathing trunks, quick dry shirts, sandals/beach shoes and a beach towel in it. We go in the restroom by Bluto's, change into the water clothes and stow the bag in a locker. We do the three water rides multiple times, grab the bag, dry off, change back into regular clothes, and go back to the regular attractions.

 

[gstack74]

[QUOTE="cfoxga, post: 62870507, member: 245261"

Did you get an APH rate for PBH? You will save quite a bit over the regular rates. Even with the increase in Annual Passes, you should come out way ahead...
[/QUOTE]

I did not, and am reading up on this now....
So, for park tickets I have 2 day P-P, + 2days free from UNDERC T .......they cost $289 per person.
RP Hotel rate booked was $368 a night....

from what I see and understand and please help me
cheapest AP ticket is seasonal and currently is $350, that would cost me $60 to upgrade and we would only need to upgrade 1 to get hotel AP rate

Hotel AP rate is $284 a night.....which over 4 nights, would save us $336 + tax differences.

So, upgrading to AP ticket for $60 to save $336, saves me $270+.

And to do this, I can upgrade the ticket at the hotel.....and then when checking-in provide this AP ticket to get the AP hotel rate

Does not look like there is any other value to upgrade the 2 other tickets, nor to go higher than season AP, since we are not going back to UT within 1+ years.

thank you for your help!

 

[cfoxga]

I did not, and am reading up on this now....
So, for park tickets I have 2 day P-P, + 2days free from UNDERC T .......they cost $289 per person.
RP Hotel rate booked was $368 a night....

from what I see and understand and please help me
cheapest AP ticket is seasonal and currently is $350, that would cost me $60 to upgrade and we would only need to upgrade 1 to get hotel AP rate

Hotel AP rate is $284 a night.....which over 4 nights, would save us $336 + tax differences.

So, upgrading to AP ticket for $60 to save $336, saves me $270+.

And to do this, I can upgrade the ticket at the hotel.....and then when checking-in provide this AP ticket to get the AP hotel rate

Does not look like there is any other value to upgrade the 2 other tickets, nor to go higher than season AP, since we are not going back to UT within 1+ years.

thank you for your help!

I've never upgraded tickets (always bought APs from the start), but I've heard they are pretty easy to do. It can be done at any point during your stay, so you don't have to present the AP at check-in.

No need to upgrade the other tickets. It used to only be $10-20 before the recent price changes, so it was worth a shot in case you decided to come back. But at $60 each, it does not seem worth it...

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You have to book the stay at the AP rate. They don't discount your stay down to the AP rate at the desk. You can book without the AP in hand at an AP rate. Those rooms do sell out, so it's a good idea to book it now (before it disappears).

 

[gstack74]

Booked the AP rate. Just concerned about the process to upgrade my ticket. Sounds like I need to have upgraded park ticket before I check in

 

[CAPSLOCK]

No, you don't need to do it before check-in. Any time before you check out.

 

[Bethany10]

Booked the AP rate. Just concerned about the process to upgrade my ticket. Sounds like I need to have upgraded park ticket before I check in

as the previous poster indicated you just need to upgrade before checkout. We did this in 2019, only upgraded everyone. as we intended to make another trip in 2020 before they expired (quietly crying). Upgrade is very easy, I chose to do it outside the parks on our third day of a 5 day trip. The only snag was the 45 minute line I got stuck in with bouncing teenager who wanted her ticket back so she could get in the park. Once we reached the window it was easy and honestly very fast.

 

[gstack74]

So, never was able to make our May trip due a death in the family......so had to cancel everything for a 2nd time

trying to cram a lot information in this one post

So, here we are, booked again, i did add an extra day to the vacation than the past so, will be in Orlando, Monday Aug 23 through Sat Aug 30.
Staying at Portofino Bay (PB) all nights. Club Level..
Flying from Boston with a planned arrival at MCO by 11am.
and flying out or Orlando Sat 7am
Me 47, wife 50, daughter 26 (entering final year grad school to become a nurse practitioner)


to do:
We have the final harry potter movie to watch before going, none of us have read all of the books.
Plan
so far making dinner reservations have been easy, so have not seen time slots fill up yet.....have toothsome, but will probably change, as those shakes do look amazing, but only one of us is truly interested and generally will have a few sips of a shake before being done.


I just started to learn about discovery cove, so contemplating if that and a day at seaworld should fit into our plan
(i want to ride the roller coasters!!) but also want to not be overwhelmed.

So, thinking of this

Mon, arrive
land at MCO @ 11pm, Arrive at hotel around 1pm, and head to one of the parks, and upgrade one of my tickets to AP to ensure no issues with my hotel AP rate.......still need to figure out what park, rides vs walking around Diagon Alley etc or just hit the pool.

Tues, full day at IO
(what is the best approach, Universal has early morning hours, so should we go there first then head to IO or just go to IO)

Wed,
this is new and was originally thinking Cabana at PB and then city walk or a park, but now thinking Discovery Cove would be interesting and can be relaxing day, 2 of us have swam with the dolphins in Anguilla....so may substitute for another add on (we have fed the sting rays in the Caymans, so may feed the flamingos)

Thurs
full day at Universal with early morning hours

Fri
this is new, go to Seaworld with 50% ticket price paid when adding on to Discovery Cove price.
Really want to only go on the rides, the animal encounters have no interest to me, so thinking this can be an early day back to the hotel

Sat
Flight 7am

We went to universal and Seaworld back in 2007,.......we probably will not be back for a few years so, trying to make the most of this trip.......
but do not want to be overwhelmed, tired from cramming too much in.

normally we go to the parks as early as possible and stay until closing, well that was when we were younger, so not sure that will happen again.
luckily the universals parks close at 7pm, so no late late nights, like going to a DW park.

Your thoughts on the above, and if discovery cove is a relaxing day, (while still taking part in the entire park and a dolphin experience or other add on), would be greatly appreciated


thank you for helping with our new plan

Oh, based on all of the recommendations we have Tony for car service to/from MCO.

Ugh, so must to think about and do.....

Between the lose of my mother in law, and wife's 50th birthday, and daughter entering final year of graduate school, budget is swelling for this trip....

 

[macraven]

Glad you returned back here
Very sorry about your loss of family member

 

[CAPSLOCK]

DC is definitely a relaxing day. No rush anywhere, swim or just float around as much as you want, all meals/snacks/drinks included throughout the day, etc. It is effectively a rest day. And closes at 5pm, so you have a free evening too.

I'm a go go go type person, so for me I would do everyone APs so you could hit the parks on DC or SW evenings if desired.

SW coasters are not to be missed, you will not be sorry to add that day. Particularly Manta. A very unique ride!

 

[gstack74]

Glad you returned back here
Very sorry about your loss of family member

Thank you,

So have AP rate for next week, this past week , while I re-started to plan, I caught an error I made, I had booked the hotel, with the AP rate, for the correct days however only had it for 1 person......thank God I checked, and luckily AP rates were still available and was $250 cheaper!!!!

 

[macraven]

Sweet!

 

[gstack74]

And it begins

wake up 3:40am
Car service to airport 4:30
Airport arrival 5:10
Air tickets: Check in last night so had boarding passes saved to my phone (check those carefully- more to come)

getting ready for the trip I made it a point to get TSA precheck….and wow what a difference that makes breezing through security …what have I been missing.

which leads to my first Recommendation

recommendation #1:TSA precheck is the best in airport pre planning upgrade one can have, I had 1 person in front of me in the security line, don’t have to take out liquids, don’t have to remove shows


One caveat, one must ensure the boarding pass has the “TSA check-in” written on the boarding pass, luckily this morning I noticed that 1 of 3 was missing on the boarding pass and I was able to quickly log in to the delta website, and re add the number, it immediately was added and new boarding passes was generated

concerns over the last few days was hurricane Henri and it’s impact and we were fortunate that hurricane Henri missed eastern Massachusetts and we have no impact flying out of Boston… (Prayers for all those effect)

Time to text Tony that our flight is rescheduled 20 min later than what I sent him a couple weeks ago…but I’m sure he already knows and is tracking the flight number

leaning towards heading to UIA for a few rides then checking into the hotel and having a nice Italian dinner at PB