elaine amj
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2012
- Messages
- 6,180
So we returned from our 2nd visit to the Dark Side (Friday, Sept 4 - Monday, Sept 7, Labor Day weekend, 2015) . I didn't take many photos at all so I am not going to do a full TR like I did for our first visit in May (see TR in my signature). Just some random thoughts here.
EDIT April 2016 - Hmmm, just noticed that all my image links to my FB photos are dead. FB must have changed their location. Will update all image addresses again).
(just my son and I - I have to hunt down our whole group photo from another phone)
And here's our whole group!
We are not massive Potter fans and after our first visit (in May), agreed that WDW still has our heart. That said, when it only cost us about $20ish pp to upgrade to Power Passes, it was too good a deal to turn down. So we returned for Labor Day weekend. As we made our plans, it turned out that some good friends were going there for their first visit the SAME WEEKEND after spending the week at WDW.
What we quickly discovered was:
- the wife and son were scared of pretty much every ride at Universal (then again, they were scared of most of the rides at Disney too). They didn't like anything dark or with loud noises. Which is pretty much everything. They LOVED the Animal Actors on Location show
It worked out OK though - my son skipped the rides and spent 2 days with their son in the incredible playgrounds in Jurassic Park, Fievel's Playland, and Curious George (they didn't end up taking the time to visit any of the other playspaces).
I had no idea this ball play area was behind the Curious George splash pad. It was a blast. DH and DD already requested playtime here for our next trip. Super fun even for older kids (and adults).
We all said that the playgrounds were worth the cost of admission My husband spent some of his time with the wife and the boys and some of the time with the rest of us (he skipped all the big coasters).
- The rest of us had a blast on the big roller coasters, the rides and the shows. When I asked them how they felt UOR compared to WDW, they commented that Disney was much much more ruthlessly organized. Universal's loading just felt slightly more chaotic. I thought about it a little and ultimately agreed. Universal loads rides almost as quickly - but I like how Disney lines up 2 sets of guests for most rides. Allows some extra time for any switching around. Occasionally, Universal would split our family groups up because they didn't take the extra time.
- Saturday was insanely busy in the parks. I should have checked the crowd calendar. We went for EE but ran a little late, entering the line for FJ about 8:10am with the sign saying a 20 min wait. After 20 mins, we were just near the end of the greenhouse. It was awful. We decided to bail and hop on Dragon Challenge quickly. We got out about 8:40am to find a lengthy line already for the Hogwarts Express. Debated it a little and decided to walk over instead. Figuring that Gringotts would have a crazy line too, we decided to go one Despicable Me and other rides instead.
All in all, EE was a bit of a bust for us. Because my family is not a fan of FJ, I do find that EE has less value for us. I did try it again on Sunday. This time we were only a little late so had just enough time to ride Dragon Challenge and took the train over to ride Gringotts. Next time we will just skip EE and go to USF for 8:30am open.
- We tried RRR with Express Passes just before closing on Saturday night. The Express Line took 30 MINS!!! It was insanity. I had no idea. Thinking about it now, I bet it's the addition of all those Premier Passes having their EP after 4pm and ALL the resort guests having checked in for the weekend. On Sunday night at about the same time, EP was 15 mins.
- We didn't have EP on Monday and were surprised to run into a 35 min lineup for ET at noon. In comparison, Transformers was only 30 mins
- EP was great but wasn't always all that needed for what we did. We still had to spend a fair bit of time in lines. Still, it was nice to have it and not have to think, plan, and worry. And there were a number of times when it was VERY useful (like 2 rounds of MIB during a thunderstorm).
- We finally saw Beetlejuice and the Horror Makeup Show. Both very well done and we enjoyed it more than we expected. They will be a must do on our next trip. Unfortunately we missed Sinbad. It's a bummer that Universal times all their shows at about the same times. Makes it very hard to go from one to the other. Wish they staggered the show times instead of all shows running at 12:45, 2pm, etc.
- We discovered that RPR allows guests to use the Kids Club facilities until the club opens at 4:45pm. It was raining endlessly on Sunday so DS and I played cards and then I trashed him in foosball WE WILL RETURN.
- the minigolf was fun and well themed.
We did the scavenger hunt thing they have and won a BOGO pass for our next trip.
- My DH and DD flew home early on Sunday while my DS and I stayed until Monday. We moved offsite to the Doubletree across the street to save money (worth the switch). We were tired out by Sunday and took both days really easy. It turned out to be rather nice to have a chilled out vacation! We swam, watched shows, strolled through the parks. Usually I am a go, go, go commando type. On the flip side, it also meant that we had run out of stuff to do in the parks. We don't relax so much at WDW because there is ALWAYS something else we want to do there. I guess this is one of those - it's a good thing and a bad thing.
- I have decided that we are going to relax and stroll around on our next trip. It will be mostly a resort trip (we are staying at RPR again) with a few park things thrown in to keep us from getting bored.
RESORT
- Royal Pacific Resort was beautiful. I appreciated that during heavy rains, they sat out towels at the lobby to help guests dry out. However, I (and every other guest we encountered) felt that the hallways at RPR (at least in Tower 3) were kept at a ridiculously low level. It was ALWAYS FREEZING. Way colder than any of the indoor attractions at the parks. Also, we had to call down 3 times to ensure that we only had a 1 day parking charge on our bill (we returned the rental after a day). That was rather annoying. Also, their smoke alarm (or whatever) is placed above one of the beds in the room. So all night long, we got to stare at a wonderful blinking red light. I have no idea why they didn't put it in the entrance area or a section of the room that is not directly above a bed. We had maintenance come check it out just to make sure it was normal and not malfunctioning. Terrible design.
- We poolhopped to Portofino Bay one morning. Loved their beautiful hot tub and the slide was fun. After now trying all 3 pools out, our favorite is RPR. We loved how giant and expansive it was. The large amount of pool noodles and beach balls out meant that you pretty much always had one if you wanted it. The volleyball was lots of fun for active families. I liked that it was shallow enough to stand (and that there were varying depths in different sections of the pool) and yet deep enough to swim (HRH is not deep enough to swim in). We do miss that RPR doesn't have a slide though. Service was good - except when we finally decided to order food and all the servers were hiding in the bar because it was raining. The nachos was gigantic and very good value for the price. And our server (after we went to the bar to ask for service) was VERY good. They ran out of ice cream and DD had to go to a separate spot to get a pint. My feet were hurting so I didn't want to walk her there to use my CC. He ended up walking her over to ensure she could use my CC with no problems. Wow.
FOOD
- As for food, we had nice meals. By day 3 though, I ran out of "must eat" food. I really wanted something special for dinner on Sunday night but we just couldn't come up with anything. I spoke to the Concierge at RPR and everything he suggested, we had already eaten at or we weren't interested in the menu. It was weird. I guess it didn't help that it had rained for hours by then (maybe I was grumpy?) Plus it was too late in the evening for Mythos and I didn't want to wait in line. We ended up leaving the parks early and going to our hotel room and ordering food from Miller's Ale House.
- Cowfish was a huge highlight and is now on our MUST EAT list. WOW.
The sushi was incredible and DS LOVED his burger. We had a light lunch here and gave up park time to return for dinner on Monday. Don't like the thought of no reservations on busy nights though - so we'll plan this for off-hours. I completely didn't expect to like it this much. I had read several blah reviews from when they first opened.
- We had Tchoup Tchop for dinner one night. Overall, it was good but there were many missteps. I do appreciate that the manager went to the extra effort to make sure we were happy though. I wasn't as impressed with our server - he was often unavailable and didn't keep an eye on our water levels either.
I ordered a Magical Dining Month meal - lobster cheesecake (pretty good, but not much lobster taste and a little too salty. They sprinkled too much sea salt all over the salad this was served with. YUCK - totally inedible. I did mention it when the manager asked how things were and he apologized). Rib Eye steak (I found this a bit fatty and chewy but overall we enjoyed it. Very big and enough to share with my son. The Yucca Steak Frites were odd - basically like yams. It was OK, but not my favorite). Waffle Sundae Sandwiched (I did NOT like this. The waffles tasted just like frozen waffles or cheap waffles from the Comfort Inn. I was expecting slightly crispy, float in the air, yummy waffles like you get in good breakfast places. I did complain about this one to my server. He said they made them in house on waffle irons. The manager came out to talk to me and insisted on a replacement dessert. At first I told him it was fine as the ice cream was good but he kept insisting. So I tried the Acai Bowl. WOW!!! Now THIS blew me away. Really really good.). So overall, we had a good meal. I felt bad that I complained a couple of times but really, if they don't know, they won't know, right? And it is an expensive meal.
My DH decided to do the order and entree, get an appetizer free deal since he didn't like the MDM menu. He got the calamari (YUM!) and the seared sea scallops (the highlight of our meal. And ACK I just discovered that what I thought were the most delicious mashed potatoes ever...are actually pureed celery root. I don't like celery AT ALL. I'm still dreaming about how they tasted though...mmmmmm)
My DS ordered the Chicken Alfredo Tortellini (kids menu). Unfortunately, our waiter forgot TWICE to bring the kids menu so I finally looked it up on my phone and we ordered from there. He neglected to mention that they had a huge amount of cheese to the sauce. It ended up tasting basically like mac and cheese (which my DS hates). We ended up just giving it to my DD and DS shared my steak instead. We were hungry and it wasn't worth the time to send it back.
- we had dinner at the Islands Dining Room on Saturday night. Unfortunately we had JUST missed the cutoff for the Wok Experience (it smelled sooooo good) and had to order off the menu. I thought the Magical Dining Month menu was ridiculously overpriced here. Overall food was good and we got a large portion of good calamari ($10). However, my friend ordered the Beef Satay ($8) and it was the most ridiculously tiny dish on the face of the earth. Each were about half the size of a regular skewer and there were 3-4 tiny sticks. I regret that we didn't send it back. They also ordered the Tofu and Broccoli Lo Mein and they found it very sweet for their tastes (in comparison, they really enjoyed a similar noodle dish served the night before in the RPR Club Lounge). We ended up complaining to the server and returned it (they took it off the bill). So unfortunately, a disappointing way for my friends to end their trip. We would have returned for the Wok Experience - but it is only available Friday and Saturday nights.
This got much longer than I expected
EDIT April 2016 - Hmmm, just noticed that all my image links to my FB photos are dead. FB must have changed their location. Will update all image addresses again).
(just my son and I - I have to hunt down our whole group photo from another phone)
And here's our whole group!
We are not massive Potter fans and after our first visit (in May), agreed that WDW still has our heart. That said, when it only cost us about $20ish pp to upgrade to Power Passes, it was too good a deal to turn down. So we returned for Labor Day weekend. As we made our plans, it turned out that some good friends were going there for their first visit the SAME WEEKEND after spending the week at WDW.
What we quickly discovered was:
- the wife and son were scared of pretty much every ride at Universal (then again, they were scared of most of the rides at Disney too). They didn't like anything dark or with loud noises. Which is pretty much everything. They LOVED the Animal Actors on Location show
It worked out OK though - my son skipped the rides and spent 2 days with their son in the incredible playgrounds in Jurassic Park, Fievel's Playland, and Curious George (they didn't end up taking the time to visit any of the other playspaces).
I had no idea this ball play area was behind the Curious George splash pad. It was a blast. DH and DD already requested playtime here for our next trip. Super fun even for older kids (and adults).
We all said that the playgrounds were worth the cost of admission
My husband spent some of his time with the wife and the boys and some of the time with the rest of us (he skipped all the big coasters).- The rest of us had a blast on the big roller coasters, the rides and the shows. When I asked them how they felt UOR compared to WDW, they commented that Disney was much much more ruthlessly organized. Universal's loading just felt slightly more chaotic. I thought about it a little and ultimately agreed. Universal loads rides almost as quickly - but I like how Disney lines up 2 sets of guests for most rides. Allows some extra time for any switching around. Occasionally, Universal would split our family groups up because they didn't take the extra time.
- Saturday was insanely busy in the parks. I should have checked the crowd calendar. We went for EE but ran a little late, entering the line for FJ about 8:10am with the sign saying a 20 min wait. After 20 mins, we were just near the end of the greenhouse. It was awful. We decided to bail and hop on Dragon Challenge quickly. We got out about 8:40am to find a lengthy line already for the Hogwarts Express. Debated it a little and decided to walk over instead. Figuring that Gringotts would have a crazy line too, we decided to go one Despicable Me and other rides instead.
All in all, EE was a bit of a bust for us. Because my family is not a fan of FJ, I do find that EE has less value for us. I did try it again on Sunday. This time we were only a little late so had just enough time to ride Dragon Challenge and took the train over to ride Gringotts. Next time we will just skip EE and go to USF for 8:30am open.
- We tried RRR with Express Passes just before closing on Saturday night. The Express Line took 30 MINS!!! It was insanity. I had no idea. Thinking about it now, I bet it's the addition of all those Premier Passes having their EP after 4pm and ALL the resort guests having checked in for the weekend. On Sunday night at about the same time, EP was 15 mins.
- We didn't have EP on Monday and were surprised to run into a 35 min lineup for ET at noon. In comparison, Transformers was only 30 mins
- EP was great but wasn't always all that needed for what we did. We still had to spend a fair bit of time in lines. Still, it was nice to have it and not have to think, plan, and worry. And there were a number of times when it was VERY useful (like 2 rounds of MIB during a thunderstorm).
- We finally saw Beetlejuice and the Horror Makeup Show. Both very well done and we enjoyed it more than we expected. They will be a must do on our next trip. Unfortunately we missed Sinbad. It's a bummer that Universal times all their shows at about the same times. Makes it very hard to go from one to the other. Wish they staggered the show times instead of all shows running at 12:45, 2pm, etc.
- We discovered that RPR allows guests to use the Kids Club facilities until the club opens at 4:45pm. It was raining endlessly on Sunday so DS and I played cards and then I trashed him in foosball
WE WILL RETURN.- the minigolf was fun and well themed.
We did the scavenger hunt thing they have and won a BOGO pass for our next trip.
- My DH and DD flew home early on Sunday while my DS and I stayed until Monday. We moved offsite to the Doubletree across the street to save money (worth the switch). We were tired out by Sunday and took both days really easy. It turned out to be rather nice to have a chilled out vacation! We swam, watched shows, strolled through the parks. Usually I am a go, go, go commando type. On the flip side, it also meant that we had run out of stuff to do in the parks. We don't relax so much at WDW because there is ALWAYS something else we want to do there. I guess this is one of those - it's a good thing and a bad thing.
- I have decided that we are going to relax and stroll around on our next trip. It will be mostly a resort trip (we are staying at RPR again) with a few park things thrown in to keep us from getting bored.
RESORT
- Royal Pacific Resort was beautiful. I appreciated that during heavy rains, they sat out towels at the lobby to help guests dry out. However, I (and every other guest we encountered) felt that the hallways at RPR (at least in Tower 3) were kept at a ridiculously low level. It was ALWAYS FREEZING. Way colder than any of the indoor attractions at the parks. Also, we had to call down 3 times to ensure that we only had a 1 day parking charge on our bill (we returned the rental after a day). That was rather annoying. Also, their smoke alarm (or whatever) is placed above one of the beds in the room. So all night long, we got to stare at a wonderful blinking red light. I have no idea why they didn't put it in the entrance area or a section of the room that is not directly above a bed. We had maintenance come check it out just to make sure it was normal and not malfunctioning. Terrible design.
- We poolhopped to Portofino Bay one morning. Loved their beautiful hot tub and the slide was fun. After now trying all 3 pools out, our favorite is RPR. We loved how giant and expansive it was. The large amount of pool noodles and beach balls out meant that you pretty much always had one if you wanted it. The volleyball was lots of fun for active families. I liked that it was shallow enough to stand (and that there were varying depths in different sections of the pool) and yet deep enough to swim (HRH is not deep enough to swim in). We do miss that RPR doesn't have a slide though. Service was good - except when we finally decided to order food and all the servers were hiding in the bar because it was raining. The nachos was gigantic and very good value for the price. And our server (after we went to the bar to ask for service) was VERY good. They ran out of ice cream and DD had to go to a separate spot to get a pint. My feet were hurting so I didn't want to walk her there to use my CC. He ended up walking her over to ensure she could use my CC with no problems. Wow.
FOOD
- As for food, we had nice meals. By day 3 though, I ran out of "must eat" food. I really wanted something special for dinner on Sunday night but we just couldn't come up with anything. I spoke to the Concierge at RPR and everything he suggested, we had already eaten at or we weren't interested in the menu. It was weird. I guess it didn't help that it had rained for hours by then (maybe I was grumpy?) Plus it was too late in the evening for Mythos and I didn't want to wait in line. We ended up leaving the parks early and going to our hotel room and ordering food from Miller's Ale House.
- Cowfish was a huge highlight and is now on our MUST EAT list. WOW.
The sushi was incredible and DS LOVED his burger. We had a light lunch here and gave up park time to return for dinner on Monday. Don't like the thought of no reservations on busy nights though - so we'll plan this for off-hours. I completely didn't expect to like it this much. I had read several blah reviews from when they first opened.
- We had Tchoup Tchop for dinner one night. Overall, it was good but there were many missteps. I do appreciate that the manager went to the extra effort to make sure we were happy though. I wasn't as impressed with our server - he was often unavailable and didn't keep an eye on our water levels either.
I ordered a Magical Dining Month meal - lobster cheesecake (pretty good, but not much lobster taste and a little too salty. They sprinkled too much sea salt all over the salad this was served with. YUCK - totally inedible. I did mention it when the manager asked how things were and he apologized). Rib Eye steak (I found this a bit fatty and chewy but overall we enjoyed it. Very big and enough to share with my son. The Yucca Steak Frites were odd - basically like yams. It was OK, but not my favorite). Waffle Sundae Sandwiched (I did NOT like this. The waffles tasted just like frozen waffles or cheap waffles from the Comfort Inn. I was expecting slightly crispy, float in the air, yummy waffles like you get in good breakfast places. I did complain about this one to my server. He said they made them in house on waffle irons. The manager came out to talk to me and insisted on a replacement dessert. At first I told him it was fine as the ice cream was good but he kept insisting. So I tried the Acai Bowl. WOW!!! Now THIS blew me away. Really really good.). So overall, we had a good meal. I felt bad that I complained a couple of times but really, if they don't know, they won't know, right? And it is an expensive meal.
My DH decided to do the order and entree, get an appetizer free deal since he didn't like the MDM menu. He got the calamari (YUM!) and the seared sea scallops (the highlight of our meal. And ACK I just discovered that what I thought were the most delicious mashed potatoes ever...are actually pureed celery root. I don't like celery AT ALL. I'm still dreaming about how they tasted though...mmmmmm)
My DS ordered the Chicken Alfredo Tortellini (kids menu). Unfortunately, our waiter forgot TWICE to bring the kids menu so I finally looked it up on my phone and we ordered from there. He neglected to mention that they had a huge amount of cheese to the sauce. It ended up tasting basically like mac and cheese (which my DS hates). We ended up just giving it to my DD and DS shared my steak instead. We were hungry and it wasn't worth the time to send it back.
- we had dinner at the Islands Dining Room on Saturday night. Unfortunately we had JUST missed the cutoff for the Wok Experience (it smelled sooooo good) and had to order off the menu. I thought the Magical Dining Month menu was ridiculously overpriced here. Overall food was good and we got a large portion of good calamari ($10). However, my friend ordered the Beef Satay ($8) and it was the most ridiculously tiny dish on the face of the earth. Each were about half the size of a regular skewer and there were 3-4 tiny sticks. I regret that we didn't send it back. They also ordered the Tofu and Broccoli Lo Mein and they found it very sweet for their tastes (in comparison, they really enjoyed a similar noodle dish served the night before in the RPR Club Lounge). We ended up complaining to the server and returned it (they took it off the bill). So unfortunately, a disappointing way for my friends to end their trip. We would have returned for the Wok Experience - but it is only available Friday and Saturday nights.
This got much longer than I expected
Last edited:
We ended up skipping the Raptor Encounter. The lines were crazy every time we walked past. My son and I were going to do it on our last day, but when we stopped to watch, he was pretty freaked out and decided he didn't want the photo. It's crazy how realistic that dino is! Made for fun watching (from a safe distance). Amazing technology.
