Newbie's Trip Report

[JawsCPA]

Meet the Newbies:
Me (JawsCPA) - Jennifer, 41, workaholic CPA who enjoys the planning of vacations as a respite from the long hours of tax season!
DH - Gary, 41, conservative, hard working husband and dad; usually pinches his pennies, but on vacation he lets those dollars fly!
DS - Matthew, 11, fun-loving; enjoys video games, biggest aspiration is to let his hair grow long and be a rock star!!!

PRETRIP REPORT

Well, I started planning our June 2006 trip back in May 2005 before our June 2005 family beach vacation. What I knew then was that we were going to go to Universal, stay onsite, and visit DH’s brother in Deltona, Florida sometime during the trip. Also, after the family beach vacation with mom, sister and her family, and brother and his family, this trip was just the three of us. Do we really need a 15-minute discussion about where to eat dinner every night?

Well, then the questions - do we fly or drive. We live in West Virginia so our drive is 14-15 hours. DH has not flown and does not care to fly, so this will be a hardsell. Also, we will need a car to visit the relatives so we will have the expense of a rental. We live 2 hours south of Pittsburgh, so we have to drive 2 hours north to the airport to fly south to Orlando. I researched the rates, generally the flights were $220 per person and the only direct flights from Pittsburg to Orlando were between 6-7am and after 6pm in evening. Oh yeah, and they want you at the airport 2 hours before flight time. Also, what if the luggage got lost - how much do we pack, etc? OK, it’s decided we are driving our own vehicle.

I found the DIS boards and read practically every night the Universal threads. I learned about AP and AAA discounts. Debated this one a while, but decided we would not get to come back and use the AP again, and we really needed the coverage of AAA road coverage. (Two weeks before we left, we got to use AAA to come rescue me as I locked my keys in the car outside of my office.) We booked through our local AAA office in mid-April.

Next question - which hotel. I really liked Royal Pacific and Hard Rock. I knew DS would love the HRH so the hotel was decided. I wanted a Queen Deluxe Room. I had seen these earlier, but in April, I couldn’t find them online for our June stay with any of the discounts or regular rack rate. We booked the Queen Deluxe Room with our AAA agent, but I had my doubts as I still could not find this on the hotel’s website.

We decided to get the 4-park flex ticket as we knew we wanted to visit both US and IOA as well as Sea World. I thought we might get a day to enjoy the water park as well.

At this point, we had planned on leaving Saturday, June 24 at 7am and drive until 6 or 7pm that night. We would finish our drive Sunday morning and arrive at HRH before noon. We weren’t’ expecting our room at noon, but wanted to check in, as we wanted to be sure we had a room and that it was non-smoking and non-pets, due to my allergies.

Things I Wonder -
Will we get the right room?
How does this FOTL work - is it really worth it?
How hot will it be in Florida in June?
What we will forget to pack?
Stay tuned for Day #1.

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #1 - Saturday

Well, after working a 60-hour week to get all my work done, we are packed and ready to go. I have made the required pre-vacation trip to WalMart for all of our necessities.

We had DS pack whatever “toys”, etc. he wanted in his backpack. He took some DVDs and his video games. Yes, he has all the videogames (the product of being an only child). He has the PSP, the Nintendo DS and the ones that hook up to the TV as well. He wanted to bring the Playstation as well. You are on vacation, you are not going to spend all day in the hotel room playing video games. We could stay home for that!!

We have a DVD player in the Jeep as ole DH is a shrewd car buyer. We had a 2003 white Jeep Liberty and I wanted to trade it in for a 2005 blue Jeep Liberty. Why - because I really wanted blue and the blue one had a 6-disc CD changer. Well, DH likes to drive his cars until they fall apart. (Case in point, he is driving a 1998 Subaru that has 100,000 miles on it.) Well, DH would not buy the blue Liberty and the salesman really wanted to make the sale that day. So finally, DH goes, if you put in a DVD player or GPS, I’ll take it. Well, the salesman said OK, you get a DVD player. Hooray for us. DH was a little mad, because he didn’t really want the car and thought he was calling their bluff. HA HA - DH is not much of a poker player.

OK - back to our story. We left our house at 7:10 am, not bad, only 10 minutes behind schedule. As we started on the interstate, I told DS to put in in one of his DVDs. Well, he didn’t have the remote. The remote and the headphones are carried in the back area and DH only got the headphones out. So, we stopped at the first rest area - a whole 15 minutes into the trip. OK DH gets the DVD remote and away we go. No, there is still a problem. DS is putting in his Star Wars (first film) in and he is getting some kind of password message. Well, we try to fix it from the front seat and don’t understand what the problem is. Finally, DS relents and puts in another DVD, Madagascarr in, and taa-daa, it works. Then DS tells us he had put the Star Wars disc in his Playstation and set up a password, but now couldn’t remember it. WHAT? Oh and also, he could not watch the other Star Wars films (two and three - the first ones back in the 80’s) as he didn’t get to finish the first film so he didn’t know what happens. WHAT?? Darth is Luke’s father, now watch the movies! (It was OK that he hadn’t seen the first three movies when he had to see the last three at the theatre.) KIDS!

Anyway, he watches his Madagascarr in peace, and everyone’s happy. I take motion sickness pills so I tend to sleep on long trips. We stopped as needed and around 7pm was just outside of Jacksonville. Hooray - we have made it to Florida. Well, DH missed the turnoff for the Comfort Suites and I just said, turn here - we will stay at this Rodeway Inn. I had never stayed at Rodeway Inn but thought it couldn’t be that bad. Beside it was now 7pm and we wanted to leave by 8am the next day. How much do we want to pay for a short 11-12 hour stay. I asked for a room and asked for the AAA discount. Our rate for this lovely room was $48. I thought this was a great rate. Well, as they say, you get what you pay for, and this was your basic economy, “no-frills” hotel. We did walk next door to Millhouse Steakhouse. DH and I both got steaks and I thought the food was good. Our server was excellent as well. I would go back.

Went back to the hotel and got in our double (NOT Queen) beds and laid our heads on the “flat-as-pancakes” pillows and went off to sleep. Tomorrow we would be at HRH.

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #2 - SUNDAY

I should have given this information in the PreTrip Report. DH and I went to Disney with his family back in 1989. We stayed offsite with his brother and stayed at parks all day. We also saw Kennedy Space Center and Gatorland on that trip. DH love Space Center and I loved the gators. We then took DS on a trip in 1998. We stayed at All-star Movies and only went to Magic Kingdom We visited his brother before Disney and stopped at St. Augustine for a trip to their gator attraction. So this trip was going to be Universal and Sea World. I knew DH wanted to go back to Space Center - he loves the astronauts. If he could, he would probably take a ride on the Space Shuttle, yet he won’t go on a roller coaster!! I was still hoping to get back to Gatorland. The purpose of this rambling is that the space shuttle was going to take off on Saturday, July 1st, as we were visiting his brother. Wow, we hoped we could get to a good viewing spot to see it. This would make DH very happy.

Well, we wanted to be on the road by 6:30am. However, with a “no-frills” hotel, you get no alarm clock, so I didn’t wake up until 7:00am. We were ready to leave the room by 8am and checked out. DS and I ate our Pop-tarts in the car to save time; DH is not a breakfast eater. We had packed mini-muffins and Pop-tarts for breakfast and also had snacks and pop and water for drinks.

We arrived at HRH around 11:30am. We (or I) had a problem with navigation and couldn’t figure out which exit we needed, the Interstate signs were different than the AAA map and Mapquest. Anyway we finally found Universal Boulevard and just kept on driving. DH missed the turnoff for the Hotel and we had to turn around. But we finally got there. The loading area was really crowded with both check-ins and check-outs at this time, but we were greeted and the bellman started unloading the car. I left DH with the car and went inside to register.

WOW - my first impression of the lobby was this was a happening and cool place. (Are they sure they will let me “an uncool” person stay at this hotel?) Check-in was very smooth, less than a 1-minute wait. The room and reservations was as we requested from our AAA agent. They had me down for non-smoking and non-pet room. DOUBLE WOW!!! - our room is ready and it is not even noon yet. DH and DS had come in and I told them the room was ready so DH went back out to bellman to tell them to bring our stuff up and then parked the car. DS and I headed to our room. After about 5 minutes in room here come DH and the bellman. DH met the bellman in the hallway and arrived at the room at the same time. So now it is only about 12:30 and we have our luggage and our room and we are ready for the adventures to begin!!!

REVIEW OF HOTEL - We did in fact get a Queen Deluxe room. The room was at the end of the hallway so it was a bit of a walk to the elevator but I understand the Deluxe rooms are in the corners so this was OK. WOW - what a shock walking into our room after staying in that Rodeway Inn. I couldn’t get over the amount of space we had. Our room had 2 queen size beds, and a sofa (this pulled out into a double bed, but we never used it). The room also had a nice size table with 2 chairs. There was also a side chair beside the window with a footstool. Our view was of the entryway where the cars pull up and unload. The view was fine with us, the room was more important to us than the view was.

Not only did we get the normal soap and shampoo all the hotels offer, but we also had cotton balls and Q-tips. I have never had these offered in a hotel before. Also, there was a scale. I’m not sure why people want to weigh themselves on vacation, but certainly I’ve never seen this in a hotel. We opted to not use the mini-bar and had our own cooler for our drinks. It was very nice to have real glasses and not plastic cups for our drinks. The bathroom was normal size but the water pressure was great and we always had hot water. There was also a nice sink and mirror outside the bathroom. We also had a nice dressing area near the closet, so I could dress here, without having to dress in the bathroom.

I would rate the Hard Rock Hotel as a 5-Star resort. I always felt the staff was very nice and the few times we called star services, they responded quickly and called me by name.

I have stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Washington DC many years for a convention. They also charge for parking (I think its $20 a day there) and they also charge for their fitness room.

As far as the pets go, I don’t think any pets were on the 6th floor, we sure didn’t see any. We only saw pets 2-3 times the whole week and these were on the elevators only.

I was worried about staying here after hearing so many negative reviews and comments. I would stay here again in a minute. DH even said the room was so clean, and he had the best sleep he has ever had in a hotel room. He didn’t even bring his pillow in from the car, as the hotel’s pillows were nice and fluffy and firm.

One funny item - we had a picture of the Rolling Stones in our room. The picture was from the late 60’s or early 70’s. DS said, “Oh, look a picture of AC/DC.”

NEXT UP - we hit the parks and try out FOTL.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Thanks for yor report. Can't wait to hear what you think of the parks.

 

[themepark]

Great report so far. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #2 SUNDAY (CONTINUED)

Forgot a couple of things about the hotel. DS was very excited to see a tribute to Slash by the lobby elevators (level 3). There was a tribute to Twisted Sister by the pool elevators (level 1). Our floor had a tribute to N’Sync. It was cool to see the memorabilia in the lobby. Eric Clapton’s guitar was on display right outside the Hard Rock store.

We did get a CD in our room. DS was disappointed in the CD because he didn’t like the songs. What is his problem? Who doesn’t like “I Ran” from A Flock of Seagulls and “Obession” from Animation, and my song “867-5309/Jenny”. Well, guess we won’t have to fight over the CD when we get home.

We headed out to the parks about 1-1:30. I was a little worried about the timing on a Sunday afternoon and worried about the crowds. But we were just planning on doing a couple rides, and knew we had the whole week to enjoy the parks.

The HRH is not a bad walk from either park. Although the first time, we went the long way around the pool and then went towards Portofino instead of the parks. (There is that navigation problem again.) I am not a big fan of walking when you can ride, but the walk was very manageable. My DH could do it in 5 minutes. I walk a little slower. You go down the elevators to the first level and right out by the pool, through a gate and take a right and within 5-10minutes you are at the US entrance. You walk past Hard Rock Café, and NBA City and you are at IOA entrance. I think the guests parking in the parking garage had a longer walk then we did from the HRH.

WOOHOO - We are ready to go into US. Our first stop after entering was looking for lanyards. I had brought 2 with us, but they didn’t have the plastic pocket. We couldn’t find them at the HRH stores. So I figured, we could find at the parks. We found a good one for $5 at the parks. It was kind of mini-wallet that had a zippered compartment for cash. The outside had the plastic pocket for the room key and my AAA card. OH NO - I forgot the AAA card for our first trip into the parks. So, I make an announcement - nothing else gets purchased today - we need to wait until I bring my AAA card so we can take advantage of the discount. Anyway, we purchased 3 of the lanyards and they worked out great. I didn’t have to carry anything else all week at the parks.

Before our first ride we saw Jimmy Neutron outside the store. Here is a picture with DS. We had no wait for any of the characters.

Our first stop was Jimmy Neutron. DS enjoys Nickelodeon and still watches this show. I almost fell asleep when I took him to the Jimmy Neutron theatrical release a few years ago. Anyway we use FOTL and are in the pre-show in no time. I tried to do the Chicken Dance during the ride but the simulator kept me offbeat (I’m sure that was it and it has nothing to do with me having no rhythm!). We all thought this was a good ride. The best part was there was a 45-minute wait but not for us. Afterwards, DH said, “I don’t know how much you paid for this (room key card), but it was worth it”. INDEED.

After the Neutron ride, we saw Spongebob in the store area and got another picture.

Our next stop was across the street to Shrek. I love the Shrek movies. Again we use FOTL and we bypass the herd that is in line and move right into the castle. We didn’t see much of the pre-show because we were near the back. This is my only complaint - it’s hard for short people to see the pre-shows when everyone is standing. Anyhoo, we move into the theatre. I loved the 3D and 4D effects. I found myself reaching out just like the little kids did. We all thought this was a great ride also.

As we were exiting we saw Shrek and Donkey but the line was closing so we moved on - we would catch up with them another day.

It was now about 2pm and we needed some food. I thought DS would like Monsters Café with the theming and of course he did. DS got a pizza while DH and I split the roasted chicken meal. We also got three drinks and total was $25. Sadly no AAA discount today. I thought the roasted potatoes were wonderful. We would eat here again. In fact on Friday, DS asked to eat here again. This restaurant seems to get bad reviews - but I really liked it and thought the food was fine. (Are people expecting fine dining in a theme park?)

Our next stop was the Horror MakeUp Show. I had read good things about this on the DISboards, so I was looking forward to this. Thanks to our FOTL we got to be seated in the second row. For this show, they seat FOTL first and then let the rest of the guests in. So with FOTL you get in the first or second row. Everybody always says they pick an Asian woman who speaks minimal English for the volunteer. I was looking and didn’t see anyone like that and was wondering who they would pick. They actually picked an average 30+ mom from Louisiana. The show was great. I could not believe the knife - it looked so real with the blood. Because of the boards, I knew the monster was going to come to life, but it was still great. This is definitely a great show, and do not miss this one. DS gave this show high marks because he liked all the blood.

Our next stop was ET. Again no wait for us with FOTL. This is a cute ride, but it’s been awhile since I saw the movie. It did feel like we were flying over the city. I could not hear ET say our names as we exited.

Outside ET were Scooby and Shaggy and Woody and Winnie Woodpecker. But the line for Scooby and Shaggy were closing. I think this is great that the CMs let you know where the line ends. My sister also said this as they have been to Universal and Disney both. At Disney the character just leaves and you could be next in line. Here, you know not to bother waiting if the line is closed.


Two other character meetings we had today were the Blues Brothers and Marilyn Monroe. We saw the Blues Brothers in their police car on a side street just before their show.

DS didn’t know who Marilyn Monroe was - he kept thinking I was saying Marilyn Manson. Honestly, where did the kid come from? Anyway, I tried to get DH to get his picture with MM but he wouldn’t.

By now, we were getting tired and it looked like rain, so we headed for the exit. We almost made it back to the hotel before it started raining. But almost doesn’t count. We did make it to the door just before the downpour started.

The rain would become a factor during our stay. We had planned on going to Citywalk for dinner, but the rain didn’t stop. (I thought they said expect a quick thunderstorm during the afternoon in all of the guidebooks, not rain, rain, rain.) We and everyone else just walked around the hotel. We found the arcade, it was a little small. And with the rain it was crowded so we left. We put our names in at The Kitchen for a 30-minute wait. As did everyone else. Because of the rain, no one wanted to leave the hotel. It was almost an hour wait for us.

The waitress was really great and brought our drinks out quickly. But the food was S-L-O-W. Although the food was great, it took forever to get our salads and then our main course. DH got a burger and DS got the kid’s buffet. By the way the kid’s buffet had a great selection. I got the shrimps and scallops. Total was $65. We would try this again as the waitress and food were good, it just was a long drawn-out meal.

After a long day that started out in Jacksonville this morning we were ready to call it a night and have a good day tomorrow.

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #3 - MONDAY

We slept a little later than I wanted to. This was a recurring theme for the week, but we still managed to get to the parks by 10am each day. I just wanted to be there at opening but never made it. With FOTL it wasn’t really needed. DS and I had our breakfast of pop-tarts in the room. This saved big bucks on breakfast and also saved us time. Anyway, we left the room at 9am and headed back to US.

For some reason, my fingerscan never worked after the first day, yet DS and DH always worked.

Today’s first stop was Terminator 3D show at 9:30. I love the Terminator movies and love Linda Hamilton and Governor Arnold so this was a great show for me. We all gave this one high marks. I was amazed the guy could drive the motorcycle on such a small stage. Also the live actors were far enough away and dubbed Linda’s and Eddie’s voices that they really did look like Hamilton and Furlong.

Sometime this morning we saw Donkey and DS and I got in line. You could spend a lot of time just standing there listening to Donkey. Shrek wasn’t out yet.

Our next stop was Back to the Future. Again, I love these movies and DS has actually watched these movies so I thought he would enjoy it. This was the longest wait we had so far about 15 minutes. This ride made me a bit sick, even though I took my Bonine for motion sickness. I decided I would probably set out if the family did this one again. But DS and DH gave this ride high marks.

We then went to Men In Black. DS loves video games and has seen the MIB movies. I thought this would be a sure hit with him. I was not wrong! This ride was awesome. It reminded me in the movie where all the army guys and Will Smith for target practice. I thought they did this part really well. I was disappointed with DS as I thought he would get a better score. He never scored better than 100,000 all week. I beat him every time. My first score was 60,000. I know these are pitiful scores, but we had a great time. We had no wait with FOTL, as soon as we made it through the long que, we were ready to board.

Finally, we have made our way to Jaws. I LOVE LOVE this movie and have been looking forward to Jaws ever since I started planning our trip. I know this is corny compared to the thrill rides of Hulk and Dragons but if you loved the movie, you’ll love the ride. I was in the middle of the row and the middle of the boat and didn’t get a good view. DS and DH did not think much of this ride but DS has never seen the movie. I gave this one high marks and vowed to repeat before the week was over.

It was getting close to noon and we wanted to catch the Fear Factor show. DS and I used to watch FF every Monday night when it was first on a few years ago. DS likes to watch them eat the weird stuff and hopes they will gag and throw up. (Boys will be boys.) DH couldn’t believe actual people signed up to do the stunts. He thought this was a “show”. I said, “Are you kidding, if I was 50lbs lighter, I would have signed up in a minute.”

We then went for another ride on MIB - again no wait, just a long walk to the boarding station with our FOTL. This time, I noticed I was at 99,000 and I was so excited. I thought this was the high score and then I saw my score of 100,000 and not 999,000. HA HA - silly me. I still beat DS though. This time DH beat me but not by much.

It was now about 1:30 and we decided to eat at Richters Burgers. DS got the cheeseburger and fries and I got the chicken sandwich and fries. DS also got a vanilla shake and DH and I shared a drink. DH did not eat much lunch all week and we usually just got 2 adult meals for the 3 of us. Total price as $20. The fries were hot and were better than most theme park fare. I would eat here again.

Next up we did Earthquake. I should do a little offside here and tell you that when DS was 7-8 we went to Pigeon Forge, TN and we did the Earthquake simulator they had on the street. DS and my nephew didn’t know what to expect and they were both screaming their heads off. When we got off, DS had tears. They were really afraid. Bad mommy! So I tried to tell DS about the rides at US and how they were “pretend” and told him what to expect on Earthquake. He finally relented and said he would try it.

On Earthquake we didn’t get to see the miniatures - the screen malfunctioned and hid the miniatures so it was kind of hard to follow. But the special effects with the blue screen were good and the earthquake was pretty good. DS said he was fine and it wasn’t bad at all.

Then we had about 5-7 minutes to make it to the Beetlejuice show at 2:15. We all enjoyed the music and the humor. Thought this was a nice way to have a break in the afternoon heat.

Well after the show it was almost 3pm so we decided to go back to the Hotel. We anticipated coming back around 6pm tonight.

Well the heat and the walking has caught up with me and I caught Joyce on a pedicab and she took me and DS to the Hotel. The cab wasn’t really big enough for all 3 of us to sit in. DH doesn’t care. He walked and arrived at the Hotel about the same time. (I told you it wasn’t much of a walk for those of you in shape.)

Coming up - what to do when it rains on your vacation.

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #3 - MONDAY (CONTINUED)

We got back to the Hotel in the afternoon and relaxed. That means a nap for the adults. After the nap it is now raining for the second night in a row. Well we didn’t want to spend another night in the hotel so we purchased ponchos and off we went back to US. I had ponchos on the list to pack (doesn’t everyone make a list?), but I couldn’t find ours. My husband is 6ft and I am not - so he puts things up high and I can’t find them. Anyhoo, I couldn’t easily find the ponchos before we left and I thought, oh well, it probably won’t rain that much.

I was really surprised at how many people were in the park in their ponchos. I thought it would be deserted but it wasn’t. I asked DS if he wanted to try Twister or the Mummy. He said - no not right now. Another aside - DS is afraid of thunderstorms and I knew Twister would be kind of “iffy” for him. DH and I wanted to go on Twister but we didn’t want to leave him by himself or subject the 11-year old to the Baby Swap room. So we went on.

As to Mummy, DH does not do coasters, we have been married 17 years and he has never ridden any coaster. DS will go on some coasters but not the ones that loop or go upside down. I thought he might give Mummy a try. Oh well, we still have all week to try Mummy.

So where does that leave us - well another ride on MIB of course. This time MIB was crowded as it was an inside ride and it was raining. We had to actually wait this time but no more than 10 minutes. With our AAA package we had a coupon for a free ride picture of MIB, Mummy, Hulk or Jurassic Park. Well, I knew Mummy and Hulk were out and DS said he wouldn’t go on Jurassic Park with that drop. So MIB picture it was.

DS decided he wanted to go on MIB again. So I sat this one at and they probably were only gone about 20-25 minutes. I got to wait by the pictures out of the rain. Again, FOTL worked great - they would never have gotten another ride so fast.

The rain has stopped to a drizzle. The ponchos are so darn hot and reduce your peripheal vision. I HATE the ponchos.

DS wanted to try some of the boardwalk games and finally won his prize at Wac-A-Mole. My beloved Jaws was closed due to the weather.

I knew DH really wanted to eat at NBA City - he is a basketball and sports nut. Honestly, if ESPN televised Pop-Warner flag football - he would watch it! It was about 7:30 when we got to NBA City. We had a 10minute wait. My problem here was there was no place to sit and wait for your table other than the bar where all the seats were taken. On the internet, it looked like the arcade was huge. It was not - rather small and not enough room for all the people waiting for dinner. I saw an open chair at the bar and went for it. I ordered a Strawberry Daquiri (hey I’m on vacation) and it arrived at the same time our “buzzer” went off.

Our waitress was good. We really did not have bad service at any of the sit-down restaurants we went to all week. DS got pizza (again!) and DH got a burger and I got the salmon. All food was good and it was served rather quickly - probably within 15 minutes. Since there was no live NBA game, they showed clips of the top plays on the big screen. DS and DH loved the atmosphere here. Our total bill was $40 - oh yeah the Daquiri was $7 but it was worth it. It was nice and refreshing after getting all hot in that poncho! We would eat here again anytime.

When we got back to the Hotel, they were showing Shrek 2 at the “dive-in” movie. I think it was postponed from Sunday night due to the rain. We kept asking DS if he wanted to come back down and swim and watch the movie, but he said no. So we still haven’t made it to the pool yet. It’s funny, we walked past the pool all the time to get to/from parks and Citywalk but we haven’t got a chance to swim yet. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

Up next - our first trip to the Islands.

 

[lindalinda]

I am enjoying your report. Glad you had a good trip!

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #4 - TUESDAY

Today was our trip to the Islands. We actually left the room about 8:45am. Again, DS and I ate our pop-tarts in the room. Since we were going to IOA we took the water taxi to Citywalk. We still had to walk from the dock to Islands. We got lucky with the taxi and didn’t have much of a wait at the Hotel. I really don’t know how much time or walking it saved. Again, if you’re at the Hard Rock Hotel, the walks to the Parks and Citywalk aren’t bad.

May I just say - this was park was great - the theming is great. I have read other posts from Disney lovers and they don’t think the park is themed as great as Disney. I loved loved Disney the two times we went and hope to go again. However, Islands was great. Each area made you feel like it was completely cutoff from the other areas. And Jurassic Park - wow those gates make me feel like I’m in the movie.

I knew our group would not get to experience the Hulk, the Dragons or Dr. Doom. As I said earlier DH does not do any coasters and DS does not do “upside down” coasters. I showed DS the internet video of Dr. Doom and he said “NO WAY!” He is a little afraid of heights. I would have like to try these rides but I am carrying about 50lbs extra weight and have high blood pressure so I heeded the warnings and skipped these rides. Even though we were missing 3 of the top attractions there was still plenty we were going to try. All other rides were going to be a go. (Although DS kept saying he didn’t want to do Jurassic Park. I really wanted him to try JP because of the dinosaur part and he really loved dinosaurs a few years back. Oh well, we’re not over to that part of the park yet.)

So our first stop was Spiderman. Believe the hype! This ride was GREAT. I’ve never been on anything like it. We all rated this ride very high. DS wanted to go again. This ride made me just a wee bit woozy as I forgot to take my Bonine this morning for motion sickness. So I looked around the store until they were done with their second ride. As soon as they were finished Spidey himself was right across the street. Again, there was no line to meet him. Spidey was really great and even remarked that DH was no Peter Parker as he was having trouble with the camera. It took me a while to get that remark.

Next up we went to Storm Force. I thought DS would like this as it was based on X-Men. Well, he doesn’t like to spin much so he said he didn’t want to go on this one again. As I forgot the Bonine DH got to ride with DS on this one. The spinning doesn’t bother DH just the coasters do.

As we were missing Hulk and Dr. Doom we were finished with Super Hero Island and headed to SeussLand.

A few weeks ago someone posted they took 2 boys under 10 to IOA and left after 2-3 hours as there was nothing to do. They didn’t try SeussLand. I didn’t want to say anything without having been to IOA before. But now that I have - SHAME SHAME DOUBLE SHAME ON YOU LADY!!!

This place was great and would be a haven for young children. DS was 11 and still loved it. Since once you are over 40 you can revert back to childhood - I LOVED THIS ISLAND. The music, the colors, the theming. GREAT! GREAT! GREAT!

DS wanted to ride the Trolley first but it wasn’t open yet. So we went on Cat in the Hat. This is just like the book and it will bring back memories. DS gave this ride high marks. The CM actually was taking pictures with your camera of your group on the ride. This was really nice.

Next up was One Fish. All 3 of us couldn’t fit in one fish so just DS and I went. I also figured DH didn’t know this was a “wet” ride and didn’t want to get wet this early. I LOVED this ride and the sappy song. Since our fish wasn’t red or blue, I couldn’t follow the song. Anyway DS wanted to get sprayed anyway so we got wet. He thinks its fun to get wet. Hi mom does not.

DS then went on the Carouseussal. During our time in Suessland we kept asking about the trolley but it was never open yet. Then we thought it was open but there was a fire alarm that went off and no one was allowed in yet. Unfortunately we never made it back.

While we were in Seussland we saw the Cat and Sam.

While I was shopping in one of the shops I saw Grinch outside. I told DH to go get DS with the Grinch while I checked out.

When I was finished, no one was in line for Grinch, so I got a picture with Mr. Grinch.

This Land is great for the young and the young-at-heart. We wanted to stop at Green Eggs and Ham but it appeared to be closed. This was DS’s favorite Dr. Seuss book.

We then made our way over to the Lost Continent. First up was Poseidon’s Fury. This was our longest wait - I guess you have to wait until the preceding show is over. We waited maybe 15-20 minutes. We didn’t know what to expect on this ride. The first part was a pre-show where everyone is just in one big room. It was hard to see. The next part was a little more organized with rows but was still hard to see if you weren’t in the front. The finale was a little better as it was on big screen and you could see from the back row. None of us thought this show was really good and we gave it low marks. Poseidon would show us his fury later for not liking his show.

It was now around noon and we wanted to catch the Sinbad show at 12:30. Our plans were to eat at the Enchanted Oak after Sinbad and head over to Jurassic Park and then Toon Lagoon and ride the water rides. Plans are good, but Plan B is sometimes needed.

We thought Sinbad was a really good show. I noticed that it was really pouring down the rain sometime during the show. And I thought, how great is this, we are nice and dry and missing the rain. The rain will be over when the show is over and we will be dry. Then this voice stated that they couldn’t finish the Sinbad show because of lightening in the area and the actors couldn’t be near the water. Wow, what a disappointment. So we exited the Sinbad show and the rain had stopped. YEAH!! We carried as little as possible into the park so the ponchos were nice and dry back at the hotel.

When we got to Enchanted Oak it was crowded and you could barely get in the door. We figured everyone was here trying to wait out the rain. So we headed over to Jurassic Park and Plan B was to eat at the Pizza Place. Well, guess what - the Pizza Place has only outside seating which was now all wet. So we tried Burger Digs but couldn’t get in the door and again knew people wouldn’t be giving up those dry indoor seats very quickly.

The water rides and coasters were shut down because of lightening. So we decided to go back to the Hotel and order pizza and come back tonight after the rain. (Any bets that this is what actually happened?)

Those of you that know the park, know that to exit from Jurassic Park you must go through Jurassic Park then Toon Lagoon then Super Hero Island and then the Exit. We were in JP when the downpour hit and Poseidon decided to unleash the water works for giving his ride low marks. We found a little shelter under one of those drink shacks that was boarded up. And I mean a “little”. The wind blew in the rain and we were getting pretty wet. And then the lightening and thunder started. I had not seen a storm like this in along time. We saw at least 6 or 7 big streaks of lightening and the thunder was LOUD. Finally the storm was over and we began our LONG LONG walk back to the exit and then to the Hotel in our soaked clothes. Since it was storming I knew they wouldn’t be running the water taxis so off we walked. Where was that pedicab????

We made it back, tired, wet and hungry to the Hotel about 1:30-2pm. Our room was not made up yet. Normally we wouldn’t have been back this early. Since we only had 1 clean towel left, I called Star Services and asked for more towels - I explained that we were soaked from the rain. About the same time the towels came, housekeeping came - within 10 minutes of my call. DS had taken a quick shower with the one clean towel and had dry clothes on. DH decided to just put on dry clothes. So they went to the arcade while housekeeping made up the room. I decided to just wait in the room and read until they were finished. Before housekeeping came, I ordered a pizza from Flippers (thanks to Robvia). I just got out the phone book - I wasn’t sure which one to call. I assumed to call the one on Universal Boulevard but this was a wrong assumption. However, Flippers was very nice and gave me the number that did deliver to HRH.

After housekeeping left, I took a nice warm shower and got into dry clothes. The front desk called and the pizza was here. We ordered a large pepperoni pizza, breadsticks and a side salad and all were very good. I think total price was less than $25.

Finally, the storm and rain are over - it is now about 4pm. We kept asking DS if he wanted to go to the pool. No, he wanted to play. So we just relaxed in the room.

Since DS didn’t want to go swimming, I decided to do some laundry and DS and DH went back to the arcade.

I had brought 2 rolls of quarters with me - good planning. I hit the laundry room just right as it was empty. There were four washers and four dryers and a television. I brought my book and did the wash. I really hit the room at the right time, because 3-4 people came in while I was there. This was not a bad laundry room. I know people constantly bash Universal and say it’s not Disney. The HRD had 2 laundry rooms so I’m guessing there are 8 washers in total. Now this may seem kind of small for the whole hotel. When we stayed at Disney’s AllStar Movies their laundry room for the whole hotel was about 6-8 washers. So really, not much difference. I guess the trick is go during the offtimes.

I went back to the room about 7pm. Now it is raining again. So now, we can’t go to the pool, and do we really want to go back to the park in the rain. Well, within 30 minutes the lightening starts up again, so we stay in for the night. Poseidon was still mad at us I guess. I was really tired from all the walking and needed a short day anyway.

Coming up - will we get a day without any rain?

 

[tlinus]

I am really enjoying your report....cannot wait to heara the rest!!!

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #5 - WEDNESDAY

Had it not been for the thunderstorm yesterday we would have finished IOA on Tuesday and could have had a free day today for Sea World or Wet-N-Wild. Today’s plans were to go to IOA and ride the water rides and then come back to hotel and go to Citywalk for dinner.

DH wanted to eat at Margarietaville so I called this morning for a reservation. They said that Marg’s was closed tonight for a private party/convention. We then decided we would try Hard Rock Café and I figured if we went about 5-6pm we wouldn’t need a reservation.

We got to IOA about 10am this morning. We took another ride on Spiderman. DS and DH have now ridden this ride 3 times.

Then we went over to Toon Lagoon. Yesterday as we were exiting we didn’t get to enjoy the theming in this island. WOW! This part of IOA was great. I really loved it. We took various pictures here and shopped a little bit before we went on the water rides. We also saw Woody Woodpecker sometime this morning.

Oh Yes - one thing about the shopping. It was great to have the packages delivered to your hotel room. We did not have to carry our purchases with us. DH couldn’t believe that these would magically appear in your room. But it did and was there the next day waiting for us when we came back from the parks. We purchased from about 5-6 different stores in both parks and never had any problem with delivery. Take advantage of this perk if staying onsite.

OK - now the sun is shining and I am hot - time to hit the water rides. First up was Ripsaw Falls. I was not much of a Dudley Do-Right fan but do remember the lady always being tied to the railroad tracks. This is your basic log ride that we have been on many times in different parks. But the difference here is the theming. We all enjoyed the ride and yes we got wet.

As soon as we did the big drop on Ripsaw - DS said he was ready for Jurassic Park. YES! We were going to get to experience JP today!

Next up was Popeye. DH and I are Popeye fans so we loved this ride. Again, we have been on the rapid rides at other parks, but this was one of the best. It seemed longer than most of the other ones also. Believe it when they say you will get wet - you will get soaked no matter where you sit. The end - the boat wash makes sure of this.

Another aside on the water rides - DH had a digital camera and we put it in a plastic Ziploc bag and he put it in his pants pocket. We never had any trouble with the camera. Again it was nice just to wear our lanyards around our neck with our cards and money and didn’t need to carry anything else. This was great for the water rides.

We now go into Jurassic Park. Again, the theming here is great and we took some pictures with the dinosaurs. We get ready to load into the boat and we get the FIRST row. WOO HOO!!! The beginning of this ride is great - I felt like I was on the island just like the movie. We got wet on this ride but by now, who could tell.

We are totally soaked but are having fun. The menfolk wore sandals today and we all had light cotton shorts and shirts - no denim for water ride day.

It was close to 12:30 so we wanted to catch the Sinbad show since we missed the ending yesterday. It looked like a different Sinbad and a different funny guy but the other actors looked the same. WOW - the finale was worth going back for!

OK - back to the water rides.

1st up was Jurassic Park. Again, we got first row. By now the water rides and park are getting crowded and FOTL comes in really handy.

Next up was Ripsaw Falls. The sign said a 90-minute wait. I timed our wait. Our wait and ride was completely finished within 20-25 minutes. Got to love the FOTL. DH decided he would sit this one out and take our picture coming down the chute. He missed.

Then we went on Popeye again. We were in a raft with another group and they were talking about how long the wait was - about 90 minutes. I didn’t have the heart to tell them we had 5-10 minute wait at best. We did talk about how we had already rode this morning and there was not much of a wait in the morning.

So now we are totally soaked and we need to get back to the Hotel. Let the chafing begin!

We stopped at Cathy’s for milkshakes to tie us over since we had no lunch yet.

We also stopped in the Christmas store at the entrance/exit. It is our tradition to always buy a Christmas ornament when we are on vacation. That way when we put up our tree we can remember all of our vacations with each ornament.

We decided to take the water taxis (because of the chafing). We had a really long wait for the boats so DH and DS decided to walk. I decided to wait (I knew as soon as I left, the boat would come, so I waited). About 5 minutes later they closed the boats due to a threatening storm. The CM did tell us about the shuttle bus near the entrance to US. Well, as I said the HRH is only about 5-10 minute walk from US so by the time I made it over to US entrance I just kept on walking back to HRH.

I got to the room and took a nice hot bath.

About 5pm we headed out to Hard Rock Café. We had no wait and went right in. One of the guys at the front desk had a green mowhawk and numerous piercings. Although this may have been shocking for some of the other restaurants he actually looked “cool” here at the Hard Rock Café. I thought it actually added to the atmosphere. We ate at HRC in Myrtle Beach last year. There they played more classic rock, here they played more modern rock. I like the classic rock better but DS loved it. Our food and service was good. DS got the chicken with macaroni and cheese (adult size) and actually ate a good bit of it. DH got the salmon and I got the BBQ chicken. All was good.

We exited through the store and looked around for a bit. And then the rain came - and where were our ponchos - back at the hotel nice and dry. Unfortunately, everyone else was packed in the store as well so it was crowded but they didn’t make us leave. We waited out the rain and bought DS a Hard Rock Café T-shirt.

We then just walked around Citywalk looking at the shops and bought some more souvenirs at the Universal Store. Oh yeah, except for that first Sunday afternoon at the parks, I took my AAA card everywhere and used it at all places. Sometimes, I forgot to use it at the drink stands. Everywhere I used it I usually got 10% off. I think a couple of times we got 15% off.

Tonight they were having Spy Kids 2 at the Hotel pool at 8:30 and I had planned on going to this. But the pool was closed tonight due to the weather. It wasn’t raining, only drizzling, but you could hear thunder.

So DH and DS went to the arcade.

It is now Wednesday night and we still haven’t gotten to use this magnificent pool.

Coming up - do we ever get to the pool?

 

[No11's Mom]

I am really enjoying your reports. We have some things in common...I love Jaws (my favorite movie) and the Jaws attraction is my favorite. Now that it is just open seasonally, I'm afraid it will be closed when we are there in January. We also collect Christmas ornaments from all of our vacation destinations. I have several Universal/IOA ornaments and I enjoy hanging them on the tree each year.

Looking forward to the rest of your reports...I hope you make it to the pool!

 

[MamaKate]

Get Report!!

Looking forward to the rest & to see if you ever make it to the pool!

 

[iluvet]

Great report. Thanks for all the details; it makes me feel as if I was there with your group!
Can't wait to read the rest of your report.

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #6 - THURSDAY

Today we were going to Sea World. I had wanted to leave about 8:30am but I had to check in with the office and this took a little longer than expected. As usual DS and I had our pop-tarts in the room to save time and money.

We finally got on the road and I thought DH knew how to get there. He said he looked at the map. Well, we ended up getting back up on I-4, missed our exit and got on some parkway. Basically we took almost an hour to do the 10-15 minute drive to Sea World, all because we did not ask the hotel for directions.

So we got to the parking lot and walked to the entrance. Really, the walk from HRH to US wasn’t much longer than our walk from the parking lot to the front of the gates. It was almost 10am when we entered.

By being a little late, we couldn’t catch the 10am Sea Lion Show, so we just started walking to the Shamu show at 11am. I was expecting Sea World to be less crowded than Universal but it seemed that everyone was here today. We had several day-care/children groups and several Brazil teen groups.

We saw the 11am Believe show. We thought this was really good. We sat up high in the shade out of the splash zone. We had gotten our fill of the water rides yesterday. I had read some negative reviews about Believe and that there was not much whale interaction. WRONG! The whales were a big part of the show and did several jumps/tricks. Great show.

We then decided to go to the 12:30 Sea Lion show. There wasn’t a whole lot of shade here. By this time the heat was really starting to affect us. I’m not sure if it was because we had been “on-the-go” for 4-5 days or if it was that much hotter today. But today we really felt that Central Florida Heat of Summer. We also like the Sea Lion show.

After the Sea Lion show we went to Shark Encounter. This was hot and crowded but the sharks were great. People just moved at their own pace and many did not move at all.

After this DS was really hot and wanted to eat. So we looked for a good place to eat. I know the Sharks Grill is nice, but I figured it would be crowded and the menu didn’t appeal to us at lunchtime with the heat. We went to Voyagers Pizza and got to sit inside and have pizza and cold drinks. This made us feel a little better and we went to the Penguin Encounter.

We liked the Penguins and this cooled us off a little. However, as soon as we got back outside, the heat started working on us. DS said he wanted to go back to the hotel as he was really hot. I did not object as I was tired and hot, too. Even DH was feeling the heat.

Earlier I said DH and DS don’t do the coasters so Kraken was out. And since we didn’t want to walk around in wet clothes DH and I did not want to do Atlantis.

We stopped at Dolphin Cove and got to see the dolphins. DS liked this even though one never came that near him. It was nice to see.

We stopped at Stingray Lagoon before leaving and headed for the exit.

We all liked Sea World but the heat and the crowds were just too much for us. I had brought a mini-fan mister from home (way to save the bucks for DH as they charged $15 at the parks). I carried this in my pocket at Universal and used occasionally. Today, I used it constantly when DS wasn’t using it.

We’re sorry we didn’t get to do more here and think this is a good park.

We went back to the hotel and that is when we discovered it is only a 10-15 minute drive from Sea World to HRH. Oh well, we were hot and tired, so I guess if you are going to get lost and drive around, the time to do that is in the morning when you still had energy.

Surprise - it has not rained yet today and it’s around 3:30pm. This is probably why we were so hot. Anyhoo, DS and I changed into our suits and headed for the pool. FINALLY! DH came down with us, but he does not swim. The pool didn’t seem that crowded but we had trouble finding 2 chairs without towels on them. We walked around the pool and finally found 2 chairs. The only problem were that they were far from the slide. DS went on the slide and DH walked up with him to watch him a couple times and then he went back to the room. I settled in with my book and I’m sure I fell asleep. I just relaxed. I knew the pool was only 3-4 feet deep so I wasn’t too worried about not being able to see DS constantly. He went on the slide many times and played around some. He had a good time. My only complaint - I couldn’t hear the music - it needed to be turned up! It was sometimes hard to hear the music over the normal noise of kids in the pool. DS said he was ready to go back to the room. As soon as we got to the pool, the sun went behind the clouds and I thought it was going to rain. But, it didn’t it was just overcast. In fact, now I wasn’t even hot enough to go in the pool. The HRH’s pool is great and we would have enjoyed it more if the weather had cooperated earlier in our stay.

We headed over to Citywalk about 6:15. I had called earlier for a reservation at Margaretivelle, but was told it was first come, first serve, and they were no longer taking reservations for tonight. We got there about 6:30, using the water taxis, and were told there was 1 hour and 45 minute wait for the normal folk. For us staying onsite, it would be shorter, but they couldn’t tell us how much shorter. I went in and ordered a strawberry dacquiri and went outside and sat in their beach chairs and listened to Jimmy Buffet music. This was the life.

We had almost an hour wait. We had a good table near the volcano and actually saw the end of the eruption as we were being seated. I got crab cakes, DH got salmon, and DS got chicken. Food and service were great. We had been at Margaretivelle in Myrtle Beach. I thought the atmosphere was a little better at Myrtle Beach. There it was only Jimmy Buffet music and then a special report comes on with Jim Cantori of the Weather Channel saying Hurricane “Rita” is headed our way. Here they played some other videos as well as Jimmy Buffet and then just went right into the Volcano song. At Myrtle Beach the stilt-walkers got the crowd fired up and were singing along to “5:00 Somewhere” and of course “Margaretivelle”. Here, not everyone was singing, only a few tables.

This is a great restaurant if you are a Jimmy Buffet fan and the volcano was cool. We got to see it twice. My suggestion if you want to go is call earlier than the day of for a reservation so you don’t have such a long wait.

After dinner, it was almost 9pm so we went back to the Hotel. DS and DH stayed and played some boardwalk games on Citywalk.

Tonight at 9:45 US was having a sneak preview of their night show 360. We had originally planned on seeing this. But I was so tired, I didn’t think I could make until 10pm. DH decided he was tired too and didn’t want to see it either. I’m sure this was a good show - we read about in the Orlando paper later. If the show had been presented every night, we probably would have gotten a chance to see it.

Coming up - check out day and one last ride on Jaws.

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #7 - FRIDAY

Today was our last day at the HRH and Universal. We were sad to leave as we all had a great time.

Forgot a couple of things from yesterday. When we got back from Sea World Thursday afternoon, the lady at the parking gate said all cars needed to be valet-parked at no additional charge. So we got to unload at the entrance and had less of a walk to the lobby.

Tonight the HRH was hosting their Velvet Sessions with Foghat. I know I have heard of this band, but I couldn’t think of one song they had. We could see they were setting up the lobby with additional tables, etc.

As we came back that evening from Citywalk at the pool entrance, you could hear the music. They had the big staircase roped off, but you could stand there and listen to the music if you wanted. The music was loud in the common areas, but we could not hear the music in our rooms.

I should also mention that we pulled up to the Hotel at noon on Sunday and we had no need to move our car until Thursday when we went to Sea World.

Anyhoo, our last morning, we packed and got everything ready to go. I called Star Services so a bellman could come up with the luggage carrier. Star Services asked if we had a car in valet parking and I gave her the ticket number and said it would be waiting on us. In less than 10 minutes the bellman was there and loaded our luggage. Even though I didn’t need to officially check out at the front desk, this is just something I always do. (This is just part of my anal-retentive personality.) The checkout was efficient and when I left the lobby the luggage was loaded in our car and we were ready to go.

We were ready to go all the way to the self-parking lot. So we parked and then proceeded to walk to US today for a brief morning. DH didn’t understand how we could check out and still have FOTL. He thought you had to leave your room keys at the desk. But I knew better, as I have been lurking on these boards for almost a year and knew how the system works.

So we head to US. I decided I was going on Twister. DS did not want to go (remember we got caught outside in the thunderstorm at IOA on Tuesday afternoon), so he and DH went on Jimmy Neutron again.

I loved the Twister movie and didn’t want to miss the attraction. Today, they had to scan your FOTL keycard. On every other day we only had to show them our card. The CM said this was new. I really liked Twister. I just want to say a big “GREAT JOB” to the firemen at Universal. Those fire attractions - wow - you could feel the heat.

After Twister I asked DS if he wanted to try Mummy - no he didn’t so we bypassed this.

As we went into San Francisco, DS said he wanted to do Earthquake again. So we got in the express line. I’m not sure what the hold-up was here but we had 15-20 minute wait here. Anyway, this time in the first preshow, the screen worked and we could see the miniatures. This made more sense once you could actually see them.

After surviving Earthquake I wanted to do Jaws. Well, DS and DH did not love this ride as much as I did so they headed to Men In Black.

I used FOTL and as I soon as I walked through the que, I was ready to load. “Party of one”, I told the attendant. Yes, I am my own party. The attendant loading the boats was actually our guide the last time we did Jaws. I thought she did a pretty good job until I met Justin. He did an outstanding job. I got to sit on the right side of the boat but because of the people this time, I had a better view of Jaws coming up on the left side. Anyway, it was a great ride and I’m glad I got to go on twice.

I met up with the men at MIB. DH was ready to head out and start our trip to the relatives. DS had wanted to stop at the T-3 shop and buy something else. Before we got there we decided to eat so we wouldn’t have to stop on the road. It was between 11-12 which is the worst time to eat lunch at a theme park, but we had no choice. We had better experiences waiting until after 1pm to eat. We tried Mel’s Drive-In as I knew DS could get a milkshake.

Unfortunately we ran smack dab into a child camp group and each child had to order their own meal. So the service was a little slow here. We got burgers and fries. I read a lot of negative reviews on Mel’s. It is true - the food was bland. However, the atmosphere was great as they had a DJ playing music, so this was nice. I think if you want burgers and fries at US, you should go to Richters instead of Mel’s.

So after Mel’s we go back to the HRH self-parking lot and get in our car and drive to DH’s brother’s house in Deltona, Florida (about 45-60 minute drive).

Of course, my navigating got us in trouble again. I could not read DH’s directions he got from his brother - he blamed it on “bad cell-phone connection.” These directions conflicted with MapQuest so we went around in circles for awhile. We finally get there and have a nice evening.

We had not been there more than 5 minutes and DH says we will be leaving Sunday morning. I had hoped to stay a little longer in Florida but what can you do? (By the way they had 2 cats and I am highly allergic to cats, so I didn’t want to take too much chance of me having a severe allergy/asthma attack so Sunday it is.)

Coming up - the last day in Florida, the trip home, and final thoughts on Universal.

 

[JawsCPA]

DAY #8 - SATURDAY

My brother-in-law recently purchase a boat and fishes about 3-4 times a week. So, the plan was to go fishing Saturday morning at 6:30am. I decided I would not go and enjoy just sleeping and lounging around. The men left bright and early. DS enjoys fishing so I knew he would have a good time. Around 10am, BIL calls the house and his wife takes me out to the lake so I can get a ride on the boat. We went to Lake Monroe. DH said he saw some alligators, but I didn’t get to see any. In WV, boating means getting in the water for some swimming, etc., but I guess you can’t do that in Florida with the gators.

We had a nice morning. The Space Shuttle was going to take off about 3:49 today. DH is a super space nut and since we didn’t make it to Kennedy this trip, this would be a nice treat for him. So we headed out about 2pm towards the Cape. I’m not sure where we were but there were other people there also. It looked like a good place to see the launch. We got there about 3pm and waited and listened to the radio. At 3:30 it was official, there would be no launch today. Well, we were disappointed, and this would have been a nice ending to our vacation. This would have been the icing on the cake. But well, we at least had the cake!

We had a nice evening and got ready to go the next morning.

DAY #9 - SUNDAY

We left the house about 7:30am. We had no problems navigating the way back home.

Oh yeah - one other thing. The room DH and I were in was suffocating HOT. DH said the house a/c was only on 80. 80 - we set ours on 74 in WV. Anyway, the nights were miserable as we had to keep the door shut to keep the cats out. Well a closed up room was HOT HOT HOT with no air movement. So we were happy to get on the road and back to cooler temperatures.

We were making good time and DH had planned on driving all the way through and should get home by 9pm tonight.

Somewhere around noon in Columbia, SC the air conditioning went out in the Jeep. Thank you, Jeepster, for allowing us to enjoy that Central Florida weather for a little bit longer. The temperature read 98 and went as high as 101 during our hot hot drive home. We drank lots of water and made it into WV that evening with a temperature of 74. Thank you, Mountain Momma.

We made it home without any trouble. If the AC had to go out, I would rather have it go out on the way back, then the way down. Also, we need to be thankful it wasn’t raining, so we could have our windows down.

FINAL THOUGHTS
We had a GREAT GREAT TIME. Any vacation at a theme park is not relaxing as a vacation at the beach. But you have FUN, and besides DH is not much of a beach person.

Too many people on these boards bash Universal because it isn’t Disney. No, it isn’t Disney, but Universal isn’t pretending to be Disney either. It is a different experience.

The Hard Rock Hotel is the best hotel we have ever stayed at. I just can’t get over all the space we had in our guest room. (When we stayed at All Star Movies, we were cramped.)

We enjoyed both parks but would have to say US was our favorite. If you like movies and especially the movies the rides are based on, you will love US. IOA is great for the water rides. If you are a coaster freak, you will love IOA for Hulk and Dragons. If you have young children, you will love IOA for Seussland. Since we aren't coaster folks and DS is 11, we are going to choose US as our favorite.

We took our time and enjoyed the parks at our pace. Again, too many people want to know if they can do both parks in one day. People, slow down and enjoy life and take your time at the parks.

We wanted to have time to ride our favorites again. We did all the water rides at IOA twice. DH and DS did Spiderman three times. DH and DS did Men In Black 6-7 times. They did Jimmy Neutron twice. We did Earthquake twice and I got to do Jaws twice.

We had a lot of character interactions with minimal waits.

Do not listen to all of the negatives on these boards. I think more people like to post negatives than positives. These parks are great. I did not see anything “Shocking” to report.

If you are going to visit in the summer, stay onsite and use FOTL. Go early in the morning as the crowds after noon are unbelievable. Prepare for your trip by walking and getting in shape before you go. (I wish I would have done this.) Buy your mister-fan at your local discount store before you go. This was a life-saver in the Florida heat. If you are going in summer, understand it will be HOT, and CROWDED. You can’t control this, but you can control your attitude. If you have a good attitude, you will have a great time.

We probably won’t get to return to Florida for a couple of years. I envy those of you who live nearby. If I was in Florida, or even Georgia, I would absolutely get an Annual Pass. I would love to see the parks for Halloween and Christmas.

Thanks to all on these boards for giving advice. These boards are a great source of information.

 

[No11's Mom]

Thank you for taking the time to post your trip reports. I really enjoyed reading them. I'm glad you had a great time.

 

[lindalinda]

I cant believe your air conditioner broke too! I hope yours doesnt cost as much to fix as mine. (1100$) Yes i am 2000 miles over warranty and completely screwed. Sounds like you had a great time too, I am already trying to figure out how and when I can go back myself!