Official 5/1 - 5/6 Food Picture Tour (Updated 06/15)

[nyfinfan]

Thanks for the great info and the well-wishes for our trip!

 

[Nana Annie]

Excellent trip report! You had me drooling. I am so glad I started coming over this side of the boards again as I am just starting planning another trip. Reading and seeing things like this is now making it much harder to wait till spring!

 

[Kath2003]

See, Universal food is MAJORLY underrated (as are the parks!)

Your sons are adorable, I love that they rode Spiderman. We took my 48-year old mother on it and she screamed the whole way through and then refused to go on again because it was "terrifying"

Thanks for the trip report.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Love the Pics.. TFS

 

[JMCDAD]

 

[MSUBB1]

On to Universal and Tchoup Chop......................

Well, so far we had visited Shamu at Sea World and had breakfast with Spiderman at IOA so now it was time to check out Shrek and the others at Universal Studios. As a bonus, this was our anniversary and we had an evening planned (without the kids) at Tchoup Chop - so I knew that it was going to be a great day!!

Even though this was taken a couple of days earlier, it seemed like a good way to get things started:

Once again, we woke up to another sunny, hot day and we arrived at the park around 9:00 am. First on the agenda was a visit to the Jimmy Neutron ride, as both kids are big fans of Nickelodean. We all enjoyed this ride, although I admit that I was still feeling the motion from the simulator for several minutes after. The kids were absolutely thrilled to meet yet another of their favorites after exiting through the gift shop:

Next, it was on to Shrek where we had a bit of a wait - but only because of the nature of the attraction (had to wait for the theater to empty) Again, we all enjoyed this and thought that it was really well done. DS 4 wasn't able to feel some of the effects though, because of his low position in his seat. After, we discovered a couple of entertaining fellows:

Donkey was great, as he had comments for everyone that came up (or even walked by!)

We continued down the street and made a family decision to try Twister - big mistake!! Actually, if we were able to go right into the attraction it probably would have been ok. Unfortunately, you have to wait in the pre-show rooms which had the kids all freaked out by the time that we actually made it to the main show. By the time that we entered, we had two "cling-tights" and neither would even look at the show. They were fine as we exited to the bright sunshine, and we took a time-out to re-establish that it was only "movie magic". Again, both wanted to try it and I'm glad that they did. (although they made it known that Earthquake and Terminator were out of the question!!)

We continued through New York:

Since the kids were too young for the Mummy, DW and I decided to come back at another time to take turns and ride it. Amazingly, we forgot to do this and it remains my one big disappointment of the trip!! Oh well, I guess it gives us yet another reason to return!

We then ventured into Amityville to meet the resident little fish:

Even though he is a huge fan of sharks, notice how DS7 keeps his distance!! Again, all voted "yes" to trying the ride although the oldest was still a little reluctant:

We all enjoyed the ride, as DS7 really enjoyed the ending with our boat captain saving the day!! We had worked up quite an appetite, so we decided to circle back and go to Finnegans for lunch, which was quite good. Even though the park was noticibly busier because it was Friday, we were able to get seated right away.

I had the Fish N' Chips:

DW went with the Chicken Sandwich:

and I believe that the kids both had cheeseburgers. The food was really good, especially when paired with a nice frosty mug!!

After lunch we found ourselves outside of MIB:

This was probably the family favorite at Universal, and we used Front of the Line to ride it several times. My best score wasn't that impressive (177,000 I think) but at least I beat the rest of the family thanks to secrets that I learned on this board!! Anything for that competetive edge!!

We continued on to the Curious George section of the park, where the boys had a blast with all of the water toys on such a hot day:

I liked the fact that there was really only one way out, so those that didn't want to get wet could wait at the front and watch for their kids. I did go in at one point to shoot the kids from above with water cannons - not realizing that the "big bucket" that was getting ready to dump above me would go right through the ceiling. Needless to say, I wasn't able to stay very dry!! Next they explored the playground and found a water slide:

We finished up by walking through Hollywood, which was pretty deserted.

By this time, we had done most of which we had set out to do so we made another family decision to return to the HRH pool for the remainder of the afternoon (and countless more trips down the waterslide!)

Around 6:00 we dropped the kids off at Camp Little Rock. I was impressed with this room, as they had lots of stuff to keep the kids occupied including games, crafts, and a small playground right outside. Next, DW and I took the water taxi to Citywalk where we decided to enjoy a Margarita outside at Buffet's which was really relaxing. Before you knew it, it was time to head over to the Royal Pacific and our 8:00 reservation at Tchoup.

When we arrived, we had the option of an immediate table for 2 right by the kitchen, or a quiter booth in the back of the restaurant which we would have to wait 15 minutes or so for. Since we were definitely NOT in a hurry, we chose option # 2 and decided that this would be the perfect time to check out the bar and the famous Mai-tai. Not cheap, but you definitely get your moneys worth in alcohol!! After a couple of sips, DW decided that she needed to tone it down a little so she asked the bartender if he could assist. He did, after playfully mentioning to her that "way back then, they didn't have convenient little cans of pinapple juice laying around". After diluting the drink with the juice, she was much happier. Before you knew it, they came to take us to our table which was in a perfect location. As stated many times before on this board, the restaurant itself is beautiful and the food was wonderful!! We selected the chefs tasting menu with the wine tasting as well. The meal started off with the "chefs thank-you" for ordering the chefs tasting package which was a lettuce wrap appetizer:

Next, we we on to a saled with encrusted tuna. I have never ordered tuna, because I was wary of the way that it is prepared (medium rare) but this was delicious:

Our next course was also incredible - seared scallops with pasta:

Because we just needed MORE food, it was onto the main course - filet with black bean hoisen sauce:

To top everything off, they brought a very nice desert to celebrate our special occasion:

The food and service was wonderful and we had a great time for our "date"!! Believe me, in this case the pictures do not do the food justice and everything tasted soooooo good!! The total bill with tip came to around $200 or so and I thought that it was worth every penny. We didn't leave the resteraunt until around 10:20 or so and it was a very relaxing evening. I probably wouldn't do the wine tasting next time, though, as DW had a hard time finishing all of the wine after the margarita and the mai-tai.

We returned to the hotel to pick up the kids. We left a 4 year old and picked up Spiderman!! Our son had his entire face painted to look like Spiderman and he was actually passed out after a very long day. DW carried him to our room and in the process, Spiderman rubbed off on her as well!! (luckily, it all came out in the wash) Both kids gave the Camp Little Rockers an enthusiastic and it allowed us to have a worry free special evening on our anniversary - thanks HRH!!!

Well, our vacation was winding down, but we still had one relaxing day left (as well as some great food) to look forward to

 

[macraven]

i have totally enjoyed reading your trip report.
the pictures were fantastic!

 

[GemmaPixie]

Another fantastic day. Kids are adorable!! Can't wait to read the last day.

 

[JMCDAD]

great stuff

 

[tlinus]

WOW!!!

This is a great report!!!! Makes me want to go back again now!!!!

 

[soxnation]

just fell into your report, those nachos!! we adore them the fruitcakes that we are we had to hit margaritaville the moment we landed on our trip to las vegas and well with being up since 4am and flying across the country 2 girls can easily finish off those nachos washing them down with margaritas!!!!

Me mid nacho bite!!

can not wait to read more!

 

[bubba's mom]

WOW!!!

This is a great report!!!! Makes me want to go back again now!!!!

i think you SHOULD go back.....how about June 29th?

 

[ky07]

Sorry it too so long but we had a great time in orlando 6/4-6-11 and we stayed at the doubletree at the entrance to universal and after seeing some bad reviews I have to sa it was a great hotel and they wnt out of thier way to meet all our needs and not to mentation it was only a 10 minute walk to univesal.
we went to universal for a few hours a day almost everyday except for maybe one day so we got to see and do everyday universal and even ate at some of our favorite places and since we haven't been for two years they are still as good as we remebered.
have some pics but don't know how to post them but thanks to all with the help we had a great time and if all works out we will go next year.