Orlando-Universal-DiscoveryCove-? PT report

[disneyavonohio]

I have not been on in quite some time. I owe at least 1.5 trip reports at this time!

My wife and I are doing a last second trip-3 nights-May 17th through the 20th. No kids--been forever since we did something without the kids. Thanks to Grandma for watching them.

We will be staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek-got the 3 nights for $300, so that was a great deal I thought. And we have stayed there before and really like the resort.

Itinerary
May 17th-Tuesday- Getting in around 10:30 AM EST. Will probably get some lunch and hang by the pool at WBC during the day. In the evening going to hit either Boardwalk at Disney or Citiwalk for some dinner/relaxing.

May 18th- Wednesday- Discovery Cove-I have AP's for Seaworld so can do this for $100 each. Never been, but looks really relaxing-open to tips for those that have been. Dinner we plan to hit the opposite of the night before-Citwalk or Boardwalk at Disney.

May 19th Thursday- This day is open right now, not sure what to do yet-we have AP's for Universal, Seaworld and Aquatica--but my wife is not a "ride" person. So looking for idea's outside the parks as well. So if you have any ideas, I would appreciate them.

May 20th Fri-flight out of Orlando is in the morning.

Thanks!

 

[Lynne G]

We're starting to love that "us" trips rather than a family trip. My kids are old enough to be by themselves.

We love DC. Just relax and enjoy a usually not that crowded day. The water,except for the dolphins and rays, is warm, like bath water. I enjoy an adult slushie from the snack stands in the afternoon. They also have beer. You can eat and snack all day. Bring a change of clothes, the bathrooms aren't that bad, and I bring my own shampoo and soap, as I don't like the wall pumps of shower gel and shampoo.

Since you DW is not a ride person, I'd choose SW. There's shows and exhibits to do, as well as the coasters. It's a pretty park too. If it's hot, then Aquadica. While there's some slides, the Roa Rapids I could spend hours in. Pretty park too. And, show your AP, might get a good price on a cabana, and that would be a nice splurge.

Joining.

 

[Kivara]

Sounds like a fun vacation, no matter what you choose! For me, I don't think I could be in Orlando and not have a Butterbeer...but we are theme park lovers. Can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

Welcome from another Northern Ohio traveller. DC is just plain awesome. Go to the birds early when they are hungry, it is crazy fun in there. As for the lazy river, wear water shoes, the depth changes can be dramatic at times. I could easily spend all day in the reef, and it is cold! I love it, the family does not (the cold).

You can graze there all day, so if there is a particular eating establishment at CityWalk/Boardwalk that has appetizer appeal to you, that might be the way to go after DC. I can't say that I am full for the night after a day at DC, but a full meal for dinner can be tough as well. We really enjoy all of the meals/snack at DC.

Tough decision on Thursday, but I agree with Lynne G, Sea World is a great place to visit if you are not "ride" buffs. That said, I assume attractions (Turtle Trek/Penguins) are still in the mix?

We head out on June 11th, so looking forward to an update before we travel. Enjoy!!!

 

[disneyavonohio]

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it.

We are excited about trying Discovery Cove, looks so relaxing.

I think we are going to try and hit the following restaurants:
Antojitos in CitiWalk
Trattoria at Disney Boardwalk (late dinner after Discovery Cove I am thinking)
Probably hit Margarittaville for lunch on one of the days-as the wife really likes it.

Still trying to decide on one more dinner place. CowFish at Citiwalk, something not at Uni or Disney maybe.

I have to wait and see who my Cleveland Cavs are playing and what dates next week--because we may be hitting NBC Sports or ESPN Zone so we can catch the game while eating one of the nights!

We are excited to be going just the two of us--but I have a feeling we will really miss the kids by the 2nd day!

 

[kittylady1972]

We love our adults-only trips as well. We've done one to Universal (MANY years ago...during our 2-kid era) and to Disney (a few times for F&W festival, and also for my 40th birthday) and though we miss the kids...it's still nice to hang out without them and have nice quiet meals with very little pre-planning. Our next trip is with our whole family though and we are also planning to try DC for the first time, so can't wait to hear how you like it!

 

[disneyavonohio]

We are back-will try and do a quick recap of each day.

Tuesday May 17th-

• Flew from Cleveland to Orlando on Spirit Airlines--I know they have quite a few bad reviews out there, but we have flown them twice with no issues at all. I think knowing what you are paying for is important when dealing with the budget airlines. You get to take 1 carry on (needs to be 16x14x12 and they have the bins, but we saw not one person have their bag checked for size), no drinks, the seats are a bit smaller and don't recline. That being said, I am 6'1" 250 lbs and for a 2 hour flight the seats were just fine.
• Rented F150 from Alamo-did online check in so it was quick and easy.
• Headed to WBC (Wyndam Bonnet Creek) and we got lucky they had a room available. We got a 2 BR condo-it was same price as 1 BR so the Wyndham owner I went through just booked it for us. $300 for 3 nights--such a great deal for this place. This was our 3rd time staying at WBC. Tip for those looking into WBC- SKIP the parking pass counter, it is NOT needed (your room key gets you in the gate), this is where they try and pitch you to attend a time share meeting.
• Got settled in and then headed to Disney Springs for Lunch at Earl of Sandwich--we had been before, it is a nice place for a quick bit--amazing how many people they get through that line though.
• It was overcast the entire day--and right after lunch it let loose for a bit. So we headed to Walmart for a few items then back to WBC.
• For Dinner we headed to CitiWalk-Antojitos. We had reservations for around 8, I tried online to move up the reservation-but it showed no availabilty. So I had called and she said to just go ahead early, it didn't look like it would be busy. So we got there around 6:30 and she was right, it was pretty dead inside--which was surprising as it was raining on and off and Universal Parks were about to close. Really nice atmosphere here. We did get the Guacamole they make at our table-it was very good--but it was a LOT for 2 people. The meals themselves were so-so. We got the chicken and steak fajitas for two. The steak had a tequilla marinade that seemed burned. I would try it again--as another poster here had a really nice write up and I would make it a point to order one of the meals they got.
• The plan was to head over to NBC to watch my Cavaliers play the Raptors. But it was still raining hard, the wife was getting tired--so we just headed back to the condo to watch the game. It was a great game by my Cavaliers, they stomped the Raptors (sorry Gina!)--they have been in a zone all playoffs so far. I used to be a season ticket holder-the last few years we have just not had the time in between the kids sports schedules to make many games-so we gave up the season tickets.

Here is my oldest when he was around 7 at one of his first playoff games:

Here are all 3 boys in their Cavs gear (this was last June at Universal--my oldest was 12 in this one)

 

[Kivara]

Shame about the steak fajitas, hopefully next time is better The pictures of the boys are so cute (doesn't hurt that I have 3 boys about those ages as well) Can't wait to read more!

 

[disneyavonohio]

Wednesday May 18th

The weather forecast was calling for rain the entire time we were there--but it was switching back and forth on more rain Wed, then more Thursday. Originally we were going to do Discovery Cove on Wednesday, but due to the forecast we decided on Thursday (it was good we had not booked it in advance-or so we thought!).

So we decided to head to Universal Islands of Adventure for breakfast at Croissant Moon. They have good muffins and it is a nice place to sit outside and enjoy breakfast. After we ate, we headed over by the Hulk/Kong to get some pics to send to the boys.

This was about the time I was missing my boys a bit--as they are ride junkies like Dad. Like I mentioned earlier, my wife is not a ride person. Mainly because she gets motion sickness pretty easy-we have tried the Dramamine-Gum, etc nothing seems to help her. So we took a stroll around the park and headed back to the resort -as you can see in the pictures, the sun was out-so we wanted to take advantage of the pool at the resort before it was too late!

So back to WBC we went--got a few adult beverages and headed to the main pool, laid out a bit, hit the lazy river and just relaxed for a few hours.

As we really had no set plans-we were deciding what we wanted to do next. I had read about drinking around the monorail. We are not that big of drinkers, but we did want to try one place.

So we headed to the Polynesian Resort at Disney next.

First up was Tambu Lounge and these two drinks:

After this we hit the place we wanted to really try- Trader Sams Tiki Bar.

A note, this place is small--and they get very busy with a long wait time. They opened at 4:00. And I just so happened to walk by the door around 3:45 and someone was handing out pagers for opening time. So I grabbed one. And when we went back around 4:00, the line took up the entire hall way to get in. So it was a very good thing we got one of those pagers when we did!

This place is pretty cool-the bartenders basically are entertaining you while you drink!

Our bartender-she was very funny.

Our Drink (I think it has 5 shots in it, very potent and meant for two to share!)--it is 20 bucks for the drink and 20 more if you want to take home the glass-we opted out as my wife didn't want to have to pack it on the plane! It was good. It has some cinnamon in it.

As we had not eaten lunch yet, we got an appetizer here as well-it was a Raw Tuna something or other--it was very good.

So after this we decided to head to the Disney Boardwalk. We had dinner reservations for 8:00 at the Trattoria Al Forno. It was around 5:30 when we got to the boardwalk-so we walked in to see if they could move us up-they said 6:45. So we walked around the boardwalk, got another drink and just relaxed.

We went to Trattoria around 6:30 and they seated us in a few minutes. Now I am not sure what Disney's plan is--but online there was no availabilty for this place between 6:00 and 8:00. Yet I would say that half the restaurant was empty when we were eating between 6:30 and 7:30. Seems like bad management of their reservation system to me.

Sorry I don't take pictures of food! The wife got a tuna steak-she loved it. I got the chicken parm-I thought it was really good. After that we hit the stand for an elephant ear and fried ice cream.

This is the part when I know we are getting old! We both agreed to go back to the room and rest for the next day-Discovery Cove!