We arrived around 4:30 on Wednesday - much later than
planned due to DH not leaving work at noon! Check in
was pretty quick - but the guy was of no help with anything.
We had such a wonderful check in in September that I
guess I just thought that was the norm. He didn't know
the answer to any of my questions - and pretty much had
to be prompted to do everything. They were out of kids
gifts - seems they would come up with a back up since they
advertise it so heavily. They had no upgrades (Lowes member)
available - but it was late and a holiday. The parking lot was
packed the whole time - cars parked everywhere - but the
hotel never really seemed full. Kind of odd - I guess it hides
the people well. We did see lots of dogs this trip. We bring
our lab and didn't see many dogs in September. Our dog
loved it - it was a social dream for him.
Our room view was very nice even without the upgrade - but
the room itself was disappointing. It didn't seem like the
cleaned it very well and there were huge gross stains on the
carpet and it clearly had not been vacuumed. I called house
keeping and asked them to bring up a carpet cleaner and a
vacuum. Well - a girl who is afraid of dogs shows up empty
handed about 20 minutes after calling. Eventually they did
clean it - DH stayed in the room with the dog and waited
for them while DS and I headed to City Walk to see The Cat
in the Hat. Our carpets did get cleaned but we had wet
feet for the next 24 hours while is slowly dried.
We actually enjoyed the movie - didn't expect to after the
reviews - but we were ready for fun and in the mood to
laugh. Oh - our wine and nuts showed up while we were
out so we took that down to the pool and DS swam until
it closed and we enjoyed our wine! It was actually pretty
good - and the nuts were very good. They gave us a ton
of them in a cute coconut shell bowl.
We did Universal on Thanksgiving. The lines were very short
but we still used FOTL - actually it makes you not even pay
attention to the lines - but the park wasn't crowded. It was
warm so DS played in the water area of Curious George for
a very long time. We all then did the balls for a long time.
I think DS would stay in that area all day. We headed back
to the room around 5 to clean up for dinner at Tchoup Chop
at 6:30. They were busy but not packed. We had a booth
in the back - seemed to be the "kid"area. DS loved his kid
drink - but it was small and gone quickly. He got the first
one on the list but I forget what it was called. We just
had wine - it was good. For dinner DS had the chicken nuggets.
They were really good - I tried one and they were delicious.
DH was the only one who liked the puff things they bring
instead of bread. I got the Chicken - it was very good. Moist
and flavorful. The sides - a cornbread pudding, bok Choy and
carrots - were all good. DH got the Quail and liked it but it
was over cooked a bit and afterwards the richness gave him
a bit of a stomach ache. DS is the only one who got a dessert
and he got the chocolate dipped strawberries - I tried one and
they were very good. A bit small but yummy.
The next day we went to IOA and really enjoyed seeing the
Grinch and getting DS's photo with him. I posted a bit more
on this in the regular group in the Grinchmas post. We had
a fun day and did some of the things we had missed in September. The barge had been closed then - so we rode it.
DS loved it and said it was his favorite thing - he likes to get
wet! The water was very cold. We also explored back behind
Popeyes boat which we had not even noticed last time. We had
an early lunch of Pizza and salad and were SUPPOSED to have
an early dinner at Mythos. But DH and DS got tired early and
wanted to head back to the hotel. I was disappointed but
ended up getting a yummy Turkey Burger at Jakes. They had
a tree lighting ceremony at the Luau area that evening. It
almost got rained out - but luckily they stuck around and just
had it a bit late. They had tons of yummy cookies and milk.
Plus the hula dancers and fire act. Then they lit up the tree.
It was fun - and free! We were going to do the Dive in that
night - but since it was raining we went to some outlets.
The final day we went back to Universal. Odd - but my son seems
to prefer it. It was now cold - so no water play. But we must
have been in that ball area for 1.5 hours! My knees were sore
from crawling around picking up balls.
So we all had fun - even the dog. I think he could get used to
living in a hotel with no problem. Oh - they sent his dog bag
up pretty quickly and this time he got a big bone instead of
the treats. That was perfect since we forgot to bring him a toy
to chew on. I'm wondering if they adjust the treat to the size
of the dog? This bone was as big as a small dog!
planned due to DH not leaving work at noon! Check in
was pretty quick - but the guy was of no help with anything.
We had such a wonderful check in in September that I
guess I just thought that was the norm. He didn't know
the answer to any of my questions - and pretty much had
to be prompted to do everything. They were out of kids
gifts - seems they would come up with a back up since they
advertise it so heavily. They had no upgrades (Lowes member)
available - but it was late and a holiday. The parking lot was
packed the whole time - cars parked everywhere - but the
hotel never really seemed full. Kind of odd - I guess it hides
the people well. We did see lots of dogs this trip. We bring
our lab and didn't see many dogs in September. Our dog
loved it - it was a social dream for him.
Our room view was very nice even without the upgrade - but
the room itself was disappointing. It didn't seem like the
cleaned it very well and there were huge gross stains on the
carpet and it clearly had not been vacuumed. I called house
keeping and asked them to bring up a carpet cleaner and a
vacuum. Well - a girl who is afraid of dogs shows up empty
handed about 20 minutes after calling. Eventually they did
clean it - DH stayed in the room with the dog and waited
for them while DS and I headed to City Walk to see The Cat
in the Hat. Our carpets did get cleaned but we had wet
feet for the next 24 hours while is slowly dried.
We actually enjoyed the movie - didn't expect to after the
reviews - but we were ready for fun and in the mood to
laugh. Oh - our wine and nuts showed up while we were
out so we took that down to the pool and DS swam until
it closed and we enjoyed our wine! It was actually pretty
good - and the nuts were very good. They gave us a ton
of them in a cute coconut shell bowl.
We did Universal on Thanksgiving. The lines were very short
but we still used FOTL - actually it makes you not even pay
attention to the lines - but the park wasn't crowded. It was
warm so DS played in the water area of Curious George for
a very long time. We all then did the balls for a long time.
I think DS would stay in that area all day. We headed back
to the room around 5 to clean up for dinner at Tchoup Chop
at 6:30. They were busy but not packed. We had a booth
in the back - seemed to be the "kid"area. DS loved his kid
drink - but it was small and gone quickly. He got the first
one on the list but I forget what it was called. We just
had wine - it was good. For dinner DS had the chicken nuggets.
They were really good - I tried one and they were delicious.
DH was the only one who liked the puff things they bring
instead of bread. I got the Chicken - it was very good. Moist
and flavorful. The sides - a cornbread pudding, bok Choy and
carrots - were all good. DH got the Quail and liked it but it
was over cooked a bit and afterwards the richness gave him
a bit of a stomach ache. DS is the only one who got a dessert
and he got the chocolate dipped strawberries - I tried one and
they were very good. A bit small but yummy.
The next day we went to IOA and really enjoyed seeing the
Grinch and getting DS's photo with him. I posted a bit more
on this in the regular group in the Grinchmas post. We had
a fun day and did some of the things we had missed in September. The barge had been closed then - so we rode it.
DS loved it and said it was his favorite thing - he likes to get
wet! The water was very cold. We also explored back behind
Popeyes boat which we had not even noticed last time. We had
an early lunch of Pizza and salad and were SUPPOSED to have
an early dinner at Mythos. But DH and DS got tired early and
wanted to head back to the hotel. I was disappointed but
ended up getting a yummy Turkey Burger at Jakes. They had
a tree lighting ceremony at the Luau area that evening. It
almost got rained out - but luckily they stuck around and just
had it a bit late. They had tons of yummy cookies and milk.
Plus the hula dancers and fire act. Then they lit up the tree.
It was fun - and free! We were going to do the Dive in that
night - but since it was raining we went to some outlets.
The final day we went back to Universal. Odd - but my son seems
to prefer it. It was now cold - so no water play. But we must
have been in that ball area for 1.5 hours! My knees were sore
from crawling around picking up balls.
So we all had fun - even the dog. I think he could get used to
living in a hotel with no problem. Oh - they sent his dog bag
up pretty quickly and this time he got a big bone instead of
the treats. That was perfect since we forgot to bring him a toy
to chew on. I'm wondering if they adjust the treat to the size
of the dog? This bone was as big as a small dog!
