Not Another Universal Trip Report.. With ME! & My Friends

[nerdboyrockstar]

Our annual trip to the Universal Orlando Resort has come and gone again. Each year the trip gets a little bit longer, a little more thrilling, and a lot more memorable!

CAST:
Me (Anthony), 24
Quinisha, 25
Luis, 25
Maria, 25

After a week-long movie marathon of Universal-inspired movies like The Mummy, Men in Black, and Terminator 2 (does anyone else do this??), I was so hyped for our upcoming Surf & Turf trip: Sea World/Discovery Cove & Universal/Islands.

We left Miami Wednesday evening and headed to West Palm Beach to catch No Doubt in concert! There was awful traffic and we missed the opening act (Paramore, for those wondering..) and I didn't even catch a glimpse of the lead singer's red hair. But we did hear her perform the song from "Twilight."

Here's some pics from the show, which was amazing.. as were our seats.

After the show, we got back in our car (Luis was driving this time.. thank you, Luis!) and waited.. and waited.. and waited. I understimated how long it would take us just to leave the parking lot of the Cruzan Amphitheatre. I told the RPR our expected arrival time was 12am..

Cut to us arriving at 2am! Needless to say, there was no line at check-in. And James at the front desk was extremely helpful. He was awesome and it didn't take too long.. I requested Theme Park View but didn't get it.. but no biggie. Water View was a nice change.. We had room 1716 and I don't know if it's because it was at an angle, but the room did seem a little bigger. We loved it.

They had some nice touches waiting for us in the room, like a bowl of fruit and two free Fiji waters. My usual request is milk and cookies but everyone was really happy with the fruit instead. (Probably because I don't like to share the resort's AMAZING cookies.. but some kiwi and grapes.. yeah, you can have 'em.)

We had Sea World planned for Thursday and there was no need to wake up early. So we did some winding down, some of us got showers in, and it was time to sleep for our first night at the Royal Pacific.

Decided to hide these in Luis' bed while he was in the shower.. you know.. in case of any accidents.

 

[NashvilleTrio]

Enjoying it so far - we'll be at the RPR this Saturday!

Love the newspapers in the bed! Ha!

 

[rpbert1]

Nice start Anthony, love your pics, wow 2am.
Looking forward to the SW portion of the trippie, and Photos.

 

[jdmark]

Wow! Did you have amazing concert tickets or do you have an amazing camera, cause those pics are great!

 

[Faith09]

Enjoying your trip report. As previous poster stated your pictures are amazing what kind of camera do you own.

keep the trip report coming.

Faith

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Wow! Did you have amazing concert tickets or do you have an amazing camera, cause those pics are great!

Actually our seats were pretty good! There was a pit in front of the stage and then we were the 2nd row behind the pit.. I'm so glad I wasn't in that but it looked like a nice, well-behaved pit.

Enjoying your trip report. As previous poster stated your pictures are amazing what kind of camera do you own.

keep the trip report coming.

Faith

Thanks so much. My camera is actually a Casio Exilim which they sell here but I actually bought mine in Japan when I was there in December. Not sure if that makes a difference..

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Like so many other trips, I can only sleep for so long and I'm usually the first one up and out of the room. I got ready to head to the pool and probably my favorite spot in the resort: the hot tub.

Me taking a pic by one of the poolside cabanas which I did not rent nor pay for.

Luis and Maria joined me after.. but Nisha opted to say dry (which you'll find wasn't much of an option throughout most of the trip..).

Luis, Pictured Here Choking Me And Drowning Maria


While we were hanging out in the pool and playing with the pool noodles inside, we started to get rained on.. so we headed just a few feet over to the covered section of the Bula Bar & Grille for our first meal on-site.

We ordered the nachos to share which were a big portion, so good, but a little messy to eat. So worth it though. Then for our meals, we had the steak wrap, the chicken sandwich (on that awesome Hawaiian bread), and the creamy shrimp dip. Nisha found the nacho chips with her dip to be way too salty (you could actually see the salt on them) so she told them if she can get some that were unsalted. They fried her up a fresh batch of nacho chips and they were so much better.

Check out the food pictures in our Universal Food Pics Thread Here!


After lunch, we headed back to the room to get ready for Sea World. We were dancing all around the room listening to the new Black Eyed Peas album (I can't leave home with my iPod and my Bose speakers!) and it was definitely the soundtrack to our trip! It's so catchy and fun and the energy is amazing.

Maria giving us a tutorial on how to use the in-room coffee maker.

At about 2:30pm, we headed over to Sea World. Now, this is pretty late to get to a theme park but we've been to Sea World enough times that we don't feel the need to see everything. Especially since the park would be open until 10 and we were more interested in checking out the Park After Dark offerings, like Shamu Rocks and Sea Lions Tonight.

We were also really psyched for our first ride on Manta, Sea World's new roller coaster. This would also be our first time riding a flying roller coaster!

We headed to Manta first and waited about 10-15 minutes for the front row. Once we boarded, the ride would get us into the flying position.. and then keep us there.. waiting.. and waiting.. before going back to the original position. Not even exaggerating, we did this FIVE times before finally being able to ride. There was a problem with the station and they had us move to the next one before it finally worked. By the time we finally got to ride, I was starting to get dizzy from being kept in the flying position for so long. The actual ride is great! It's intense, disorienting and definitely an entirely new sensation for coaster rides who haven't done a flyer before.

We came back at the end of the night and rode it again! Shamu's stadium, where we watched Shamu Rocks, is a long ways away from the front of the park. With only a minute left until park closing, we RAN and dropped our stuff off in the lockers to get in line for the last ride. We had to wait in the flying position for another little while before riding. The length of the position is okay for the duration of the ride but they keep you in it even after the last brake run and until you finally pull into the station, which could take another a few minutes. I wasn't feeling so good after my last ride on Manta. By that point, I had dubbed it "Hanging: The Ride."

We also checked out Sea Lions Tonight which is HILARIOUS and a must-see. It's a spoof of all the Sea World attractions, so make sure you see all the shows before coming back to watch it. We also checked out A'Lure: Call of the Ocean, the new show in the Nautilus Theater (or Narcoleps Theater.) Replacing the sleep-inducing Odyssea, A'Lure is SO cheesy but worth a watch. We were just happy to get out of the rain.

We also got out of the rain for dinner at Voyagers Smokehouse. It was our first time ever eating counter service at Sea World. We usually do Sharks Underwater Grill or one of the other dining experiences. But with a special 30% off counter service meals for passholders, it was too good a deal to pass up. And if anyone knows me, I LOVE DEALS! The food was surprisingly good. We had the ribs and chicken and it was all great. We all ate for under $10 each.

We also checked out Kraken (one of the best coasters in Florida), Journey to Atlantis (a lot of effects and audio not working), and Pets Ahoy. We also caught some of the new fireworks show.. I forgot the name of it.. but it was pretty impressive. The truth is, we usually keep going to attractions during nighttime shows and take advantage of the loud bangs to pretend that we're shooting at each other.

After our last ride on Manta, we headed to the park exit and to the hotel. We had to be up early for our day at Discovery Cove.

 

[rpbert1]

Good Time had by all. Love the pics, and the details of what to expect on Manta, getting excited as we go in just over 2 weeks.
Awaiting pics and report on DC as i decided to book this for our trip .

 

[EPRV We love Disney]

Loving the trip report! You all look like you're having such a good time! Do you travel together a lot?

The pix are fabulous and the food.... the food.... yuuummm.

So cool to hear about Manta and the "hanging" experience!

Can't wait for Discovery Cove!

E

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Loving the trip report! You all look like you're having such a good time! Do you travel together a lot?

The pix are fabulous and the food.... the food.... yuuummm.

So cool to hear about Manta and the "hanging" experience!

Can't wait for Discovery Cove!

E

Thanks so much!

We do travel together a lot, especially to Orlando. We're from Miami so it's about a 3.5 hour drive so it's definitely nice to only how to drive a bit to get a vacation that feels like it's a world away sometimes.

Discovery Cove coming up next!

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Our first picture inside Discovery Cove

The only day we had to wake up early on our vacation was Discovery Cove day. We heard the best time to get there was right at 8am so you can take advantage of the full day. This is a great idea assuming 1 person in your party's snoring isn't louder than standing under a bridge in IOA with the Hulk coaster running over it. We got NO sleep.. except for Luis, who we HEARD had a great night's sleep. WE HEARD IT ALL NIGHT.

I was the first one up at 6:30am with about 3 hours of sleep. We got ready and were on the road by 7:30. This was everyone's first time at Discovery Cove and I was really excited.. everyone else didn't really know what to expect or that it would be much fun, especially the two that weren't participating in the dolphin swim. Only me and Nisha got it this time.

We arrived at D.C., parked, and made our way into the lobby for check-in. It was an extremely easy process and before we knew it, we were making our way through the lush grounds of Discovery Cove where lots of the employees would stop us to talk to us and help you on your way. Me and Nisha got the first Dolphin Swim of the day so we had to report to our cabana, Starfish Cabana, by 9am. Before that time, we all changed into our Discovery Cove swimwear.

I opted for the wetsuit since I heard it keeps you warm in the ultra-cold temperatures of the snorkeling and dolphin waters. The first wetsuit I tried on.. just.. didn't fit me. It was so tight.. I couldn't breathe.. I could see the outlines of what I had for dinner the night before through my wetsuit, not to mention my unmentionables. (In fact, some pictures I can't post here because you can see the outline of my Nathan's Famous.)

So I headed back out of the changing rooms (which were really nicely appointed and clean) and asked for a size up. They said that's how its supposed to fit.. the other girl gave me another one to try.. but I swear, I think it was the same size. Either way, I sucked it up and sucked it in and made my way to join everyone else by the lockers. We left all our stuff in there except for my backpack with some important items we wanted throughout the day, including the camera.

This is what you look like if you're doing the dolphin swim.

This is what you look like if you're not.

We then headed to grab a quick breakfast. I had a croissant, a blueberry muffin, and a cinnamon roll and two 2% milks. They also had danishes and bagels and all that. Me and Nisha had to make it quick as it was time to report to our cabana. There we had to fill out some papers and watch a video. It felt like we were in class, which me and Nisha have never taken together so it was funny. I was laughing the entire time at the video because it was SUCH a fluff piece! It was like watching a Discovery Cove promo.. no important info there at all. But in this time, we were assigned our groups. Me and Nisha were in group A and before we knew it, we were in the waters and soon meeting our dolphins Scooner and Hutch.

Scooner was a 2-year-old dolphin who we had for most of the interaction. Now I've done a dolphin swim before in Punta Cana, DR but this was nothing like that. This was so much better! And I hear people say that the Discovery Cove dolphin swim is so quick and so sanitized but they must be riding dolphins in the wild because I don't know how much more interaction we could've gotten unless we slipped the guy the tongue during the kiss.

The interaction was great and it was really fun. Best part was that we were the group closest to the shore so Luis was able to get awesome pictures of us in the water!

Hutch was an older and much bigger dolphin who we did our swims with since Scooner wasn't quite ready for that part yet. I loved interacting with both of them and the experience was so great. The trainers there do an amazing job. We were able to ask all kinds of questions and we learned a lot about them and so up-close.

Next time, Luis and Maria said they would do it for sure while me and Nisha take a backseat as their official photographers.

After the dolphin swim, I got the hell out of my wetsuit. There was no way I was going to be able to stuff myself in those rubber spanx all day. So I opted for the vest instead and it was so comfortable. We headed for the aviary next.

This was the best aviary experience I've ever had. The birds there are great and really interactive. They give you free food cups where the birds land on your hands and I even had one land on my shoulder.

From there we did our first round on the lazy river, which was a blast.. and then we tried snorkeling for the first time, which was so awesome. Swimming with all the fish and the rays.. I've snorkeled a few times but this was Luis, Maria, and Nisha's first time snorkeling ever. I told them not to get used to it.. this isn't like the real thing at all. It's even better.

We had some of the snacks there, including free beer and the awesome little pretzels. They had fig newtons, chips, Oreos, and more all for the taking. They also got some of the cherry icees that they had. I stuck to the Bud Light and unsalted pretzels. SO REFRESHING after a mouthful of salt water. Yeah, it happens.

After some more snorkeling, we headed for lunch. Now, they have a lot of things on the menu but really, you can mix and match however you like with all the items they have there. You can ask for a salmon chicken finger platter and they'll make it happen. Or a cheeseburger jambalaya mac and cheese platter. I'm serious. I had the salmon with alfredo pasta and I also got a side of chicken fingers. So good! The food was awesome. My advice is to try to get a meal in early and go back for seconds before it closes at about 3:00 or 3:30pm.

We spent our time between the aviary, the lazy river, the snorkeling reef, the stingray lagoon and the resort pool all day. The day is so fun and relaxing and yet goes by so fast. We didn't waste any time looking at our dolphin swim pictures until we were ready to leave, at about 4:30pm. The line wasn't bad at all but got longer closer to the 5pm closing time. We actually did buy the basic package, which was about $60. I think it was a pretty good deal. We got about 3 big pictures, 1 4x6 and 2 wallets for the price. Oh, and two keychains. Oh, and you also get your free picture from when you first arrive too! So if you're looking for a package under $100, that's the best bet for sure.

We headed back to the resort and after relaxing in the room for a bit, we headed out for dinner. Luis and Maria head to CityWalk where they grabbed some pizza, while me and Nisha stayed in the resort to have some sushi at the Orchid Court Sushi Lounge. Check out the food pictures at our Food Pics Thread Here! We spent the rest of the night talking about Discovery Cove. We all agreed it was one of the most memorable experiences we've had together.

 

[dogodisney]

A little TMI on the fitting of the wetsuit but I am enjoying the rest of your TR. Great pics!
You all look like you are enjoying yourselves and fun group to be around.

 

[rpbert1]

What a great day, and the pictures are excellent.
I booked the dolphin swim for my DD on the 12th July, she doesn't know about it, plan to surprise her when we drive into DC instead of SW that morning.
Your report has made it even more exciting as i never really knew what to expect, only what i had read on their site.

 

[EPRV We love Disney]

Very cool at Discovery Cove! My kids would LOOOOVE it there...

Laughed out loud at the fit of the wetsuit. (I notice that your photo has you hiding behind Nisha...)

What is the adorable little deer critter? Too cute!

And the peacock photos are great!

Very fun! Thanks!

 

[troobabiee7]

Hi! I've always seen you on these boards bot never got to read one of your reports, and I'm loving this one! It's fun reading not only a Universal report, but one from a group of friends around my age (I'm 22). You cracked me up with the dolphin swim comments! DC looks amazing... I've heard nothing but good things about the place and hope to get to visit someday!

I'm looking forward to reading more! I have my own Universal pre-trip started on here. We're driving down from NY and renting a condo for 2 weeks. We're spending a week at the Universal parks, and a few extra days at CityWalk, the Disney Resorts, and a few other attractions. Check it out if you get a chance!

ETA: I do a movie countdown too! We leave in a month and a half and I already have Jurassic Park, The Mummy, Men In Black, ET and Spiderman all ready to go. They get me soooooooo psyched for the trip!

 

[klacey1]

Yay! Love it! We're such a Universal/Islands family, but this year I'm taking DBF to Disney for the first time. We're only going for 5 nights, so I'm trying to see if there's any way to squeeze in a day (or a couple of hours!) at Universal. Not too sure if I can go to Orlando and not ride the Mummy (...unless I when I was younger...and it wasn't built yet...)

 

[donaldduck352]

Great pics.I love the ones of DC.I got to try that place it looks awesome!!
Love the way you right your TR's also!!

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

A little TMI on the fitting of the wetsuit but I am enjoying the rest of your TR. Great pics!
You all look like you are enjoying yourselves and fun group to be around.

I seriously thought I would look like one of the Sea World trainers.. Their's must be custom-made. Thanks

What a great day, and the pictures are excellent.
I booked the dolphin swim for my DD on the 12th July, she doesn't know about it, plan to surprise her when we drive into DC instead of SW that morning.
Your report has made it even more exciting as i never really knew what to expect, only what i had read on their site.

You guys are going to have such a good time. Get there early though! You can get an early dolphin swim and after that, you never have to worry about what time it is again.

Very cool at Discovery Cove! My kids would LOOOOVE it there...

Laughed out loud at the fit of the wetsuit. (I notice that your photo has you hiding behind Nisha...)

What is the adorable little deer critter? Too cute!

And the peacock photos are great!

Very fun! Thanks!

Thanks! The deer was in the aviary randomly. So cute. And the peacock was such a good sport.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Hi! I've always seen you on these boards bot never got to read one of your reports, and I'm loving this one! It's fun reading not only a Universal report, but one from a group of friends around my age (I'm 22). You cracked me up with the dolphin swim comments! DC looks amazing... I've heard nothing but good things about the place and hope to get to visit someday!

I'm looking forward to reading more! I have my own Universal pre-trip started on here. We're driving down from NY and renting a condo for 2 weeks. We're spending a week at the Universal parks, and a few extra days at CityWalk, the Disney Resorts, and a few other attractions. Check it out if you get a chance!

ETA: I do a movie countdown too! We leave in a month and a half and I already have Jurassic Park, The Mummy, Men In Black, ET and Spiderman all ready to go. They get me soooooooo psyched for the trip!

Oh awesome! 2 weeks? You're so lucky.. We're already dying to go back. I definitely need to check out your trip report..

And good to know I'm not the only one who does the movie countdown. I've been doing it for years.. I even get stressed about how I'm going to watch them all since I have every movie Universal has an attraction for except Curious George and Barney.. haha But now even if I'm busy, I'll just put them on in the background.

Yay! Love it! We're such a Universal/Islands family, but this year I'm taking DBF to Disney for the first time. We're only going for 5 nights, so I'm trying to see if there's any way to squeeze in a day (or a couple of hours!) at Universal. Not too sure if I can go to Orlando and not ride the Mummy (...unless I when I was younger...and it wasn't built yet...)

DBF to Disney for the first time.. That will be.. make or break for the relationship. Make sure you come back and let us know how it goes!

Great pics.I love the ones of DC.I got to try that place it looks awesome!!
Love the way you right your TR's also!!

DC was so fun and such a nice change of pace from the parks. It felt like we were in another world. I feel like we're gonna have to add it to all our trips from now on! I can't afford it!

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Without any further introduction, ladies and gentlemen.. I present to you..

The best omelette I've ever had.

:applause:

The wonders to be found at the Islands Dining Room breakfast buffet were entirely unbeknownst to me before this trip.. We woke up early that morning.. And by early, I mean.. 11am. But I saw that the hours for breakfast were until noon on the weekends. I am not a breakfast person at all.. I love the food but I can't really stomach it in the morning but if I eat at a decent time the night before and make it a late breakfast, I can do it. (Side note: Does anyone else remember the year that Circus McGurkus did the midnight breakfast buffet during Horror Nights?? I wanna say 2003 - Islands of Fear? :dead

Okay so.. this breakfast was so good. The omelette and those potatoes were just the best combination. The biscuits and gravy were good too. The bacon was especially crispy. They even had a nice selection of fruit and yogurt parfaits and.. oh the cinnamon rolls were to die for. I am going to stop eating dinner on my trips so I can make this breakfast more often. :laugh:


Check out more pictures from the Islands Dining Room breakfast at our Universal Food Pics Thread HERE!


Oh wait.. I just remembered there's a little piece missing from my trip report. I swore that after a day at Discovery Cove, we were good boys and girls and went to bed early. I LIE! We had tickets to Wanda Sykes that night at the Hard Rock Live. It was HILARIOUS! She's definitely one of my favorite comics and she did not disappoint. I didn't have any pictures of us this night because cameras weren't allowed at the Hard Rock Live. They even have security check you and they make you go under metal detectors. I wouldn't have taken pics during the show but I still wished I could've had it with me.. I'm just a dorky tourist!

After the show, we went to CityWalk for as long as Nisha could stand walking on her heels. Which is probably as long as it took you to read this sentence. So that was when we went back to the hotel for sushi. But while we were there, we noticed a little something about the Universal Cineplex board. Among the movies listed that were Now Showing.. was MY FAVORITE MOVIE EVER.... JURASSIC PARK!

So the next day, after breakfast we got ready for the movie and to head to the parks after. So we'd be watching Jurassic Park and then riding Jurassic Park River Adventure.. and then I would come full circle and my soul might leave my body during the drop and my friends would say, "He wanted it this way." We caught the 1:55 showing and honestly, they just played the DVD.. lol which was pretty disappointing but it was still great seeing it on the big screen.

Me sneaking up on an unsuspecting fan.


Afterwards, we headed to Islands for the first time. We got in rides on Hulk, Spider-Man, Dudley Do-Right's, Popeye's, Jurassic Park, Dueling Dragons, Cat in the Hat (twice), and even the Caro-Seuss-al. Express felt really fast on this trip. I don't know if less people were buying it but the line was less than five minutes every time.

After we conquered Islands, we headed back to the hotel. With Black Eyed Peas as our soundtrack, we got ready for the nighttime. We were hoping to visit Latin Quarter tonight but we had a slightly bad experience. So while in the room, I called Universal Dining and I asked them about Latin Quarter's operating hours and if they do reservations or what not. They don't but being an on-site guest, you get priority seating with your room key. I asked them the hours for dinner and they said the restaurant closed at 10:00pm.

So, leave the hotel by 9:00 and between waiting for the water taxis, we end up arriving to Latin Quarter at 9:30 on the dot. When we get there, the girl at the front says it's too late to be seated. We took out our room key to see if it helped.. lol.. nothing. The girl at the front was kinda rude too. We weren't going to fight it. If you don't want to sit us, then we probably don't want to eat at your restaurant and most importantly, I don't want to give you a DIME of my money. So as soon as I got home, I sent Guest Services an e-mail detailing what happened. I told them I'm sorry but if you're not going to sit someone after 9:30pm then your closing time isn't 10:00pm, it's 9:30pm.

They gave me a call after receiving the e-mail because they wanted to find out more and they were really good about it. They offered me priority seating at any CityWalk restaurant next time I come but I didn't take it. I was like just figure out the closing time and that's enough for me.

With no real plans, the Universe was ours.. which could be a terrifying thing if we were at Disney.. haha.. but here it was as easy as getting some menus on our phones and checking out our options. I had read on the Dis that someone said the Kitchen was really good so I suggested we go there. AND AND.. it was open until 11:00pm. :haha:

So we head to The Kitchen and have another AMAZING meal. I mean, I was really surprised by how good it was. It's just a restaurant that I don't hear too much about but the food is GREAT. We were treated really well and we just had an awesome meal. Try the fried tomato appetizer. It's so good. The meatloaf was great. I had some kind of deconstructed chicken ravioli. Really good. Just.. everything. We'll be going back to this place in a heartbeat. We loved The Kitchen.

Check out more pictures from The Kitchen at our Universal Food Pics Thread HERE!


Nisha, once again, wore the wrong footwear and had to retreat back to the room. The rest of us stayed to spend the rest of the night in CityWalk. We had a blast. We hung out in the new Element store and met the nicest manager. I got a beer from a vendor while they played Britney Spears, the most important woman in my life, on the jumbotron.

The lines at CityWalk's clubs were LONG. Universal has the Orlando nighttime scene on lock. I'd never seen Downtown Disney have that kind of action. It was really cool to see, a lot of locals there. We hung out in front of Red Coconut Club, my personal favorite there and we just had a great time.

When we got back to the hotel, we met up with Nisha, got into our PJ's and headed to the game room until late.