My Trip Report (5/14-5/19)-BW Movieland, Universal, Wet 'n Wild, International Drive

[Showstopper]

I used this site as a reference in planning my vacation and figured I'd write some notes from my experience in Orlando that I think might be helpful to future vacationers.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.

Overall:

• This time of May is the perfect time to go down, especially if you want to get the orlando experience without kids everywhere you look. The weather was hot but not too hot. All the restaurants, hotels and parks were pretty much empty.

BW Movieland:

• If you are interested in doing Universal and Wet 'n Wild you could not possibly beat the location. It is directly across the street from Wet 'n Wild (we just went in our bathing suits and crossed the street) and only a short ways from Universal. The hotel has the look of a place that was constructed 30 years ago but renovated 5 years ago. The room was very clean and the sheets and comforter were new looking. Each room has a computer with free internet access. The personnel at the hotel were all nice and helpful. The pool was nice, clean and quiet.

• I saw reports on the board that a taxi from Movieland to Universal will run you 8 bucks.. i took cabs to and from Universal 4 or 5 times and it was 4 bucks and I threw the guy a buck.. so 5 bucks each way. Additionally, there is a shuttle to Universal and Sea World everyday. The times the bus comes and goes varies every week. For the week I went they had a pickup from the hotel at 8, 9:10, and 10 or 11. They picked us up in a coach bus. The bus also stopped at Rodeway Inn and the Holiday Inn, both hotel that are practically next door to Movieland. I would say the trip from start to finish is 25 minutes to the park. The shuttle also picks you up from the park, our week, there was a pickup at 5, 6:20 and 8. On the weekends there is a later pickup from Citywalk, but we never stayed late.

Universal:

• We got to the parks when they opened. The parks were pretty much deserted which was great for us, especially in the beginning of the day. The parks were so empty that we probably could have done 75% of the big rides in both parks in one day (and remember that the parks are open 9-7 at this time of year). For some of the rides, the express lane line was longer than the regular line. The longest I waited was 20-25 minutes for the Popeye Water Ride on the hottest day.

• When you first get to the park you see all sorts of signs and people pushing the meal deals and the movie/meal deal..While at first glance, they both sound like great deals, when we started looking at them a little closer we realized that while they werent bad deals the prices of food and movies were around what you would spend on the meal deal or movie deal except if you don't get themyou can do whatever you want when it comes to food. For example, at Pat O'Briens the burgers were 8 bucks and the larger entrees were 13-15 and the movies are 7 bucks.

• In the park, it is difficult finding anything healthy to eat but we were able to find the TCBY hiding in Citywalk which proved to be both health and cheap (a 4 dollar lunch).. a great combo.

• The only restaurant we went to in CityWalk was Pat O'Briens. We went at around 5:30 on a Tuesday. It was a nice day and we dined outside in the back. Since the park was pretty much deserted, no reservations were needed and we were one of two groups dining. Their special on Tuesdays were two fers. So all of their mixed drinks were two for ones. Unfortunately me and my party all got drinks and the only one that had a decent amount of alcohol in it were their Hurricanes. The food was poor. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger medium-rare and what I got was a small burger that was well-done. The other person in my party ordered the coconun shrimp, which she enjoyed, but they later made her ill.

Wet 'n Wild:

• We purchased the length of stay pass for 50 bucks and used the park as essentially our pool area since it was so close to the hotel. Our plan of attack was to basically start out at Universal, wait until it got nice and hot around 1 o'clock or so and quickly take a cab back to the hotel and change.

• Our trip was almost entirely during the week. Monday-Thursday the park was deserted. The waits on the slides were 10-15 minutes max and the lazy river was relaxing and devoid of children. On Friday, many local schools had graduation celebrations at the park and the park was a little more packed.

International Drive:

• The hotel is a close walk from a 7-eleven, Walgreens, Dairy Queen, Starbucks and every chain restaurant under the rainbow. Unfortunately, it is a 30-minute walk to the nearest liquor store. We didn't rent a car and I assumed that we would use the I-Trolley but there was so much around us that we never even had to. While in Orlando we dined at the following restaurants on international drive; Red Lobster (delicious), Buffalo Wild Wing (On Tuesdays all you can eat wings 11.99, 23oz beer $3), Chilis (good dining experience) and Bennigans (disgusting) and Pizza Hut (a pretty typical Pizza Hut). None of the restaurants had waits of any kind.

• We also played Congo River Golf which was around 10 bucks and was fun.

• Probably my only complaint with the Orlando area is that there isn't much to do if the weather isn't good.

 

[dougsmom98]

Thanks for the great information! We have never been to Universal but hope to in the next year or two. We are also considering Wet n' Wild on our next trip.