Our first trip to Universal and Sea World

[Cara]

Trip: September 28-October 6
Me, DH, and DD 12.
We are Disney veterans, but this is our first trip to the "Other Side." We are all exhausted and need a fun, relaxing vacation!

Friday, September 28

The trip to Orlando

It was a rough week at work, preparing to be out for a week! I worked quite a few extra hours – two nights until 10:30 or 11 p.m. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time Friday rolled around. I left work early to pick DD up after school, and we drove home. I finished packing and we loaded up the car to head out to the airport. I always want to allow for traffic, especially on a Friday afternoon. We arrived early, so we stopped off to eat at Chili’s before we headed to the airport.

After our first fattening meal (Chicken Crispers and Southwest Eggrolls!) of the vacation, we made our way to the airport, where we found the world’s best parking spot in long-term parking, just adjacent to the parking garage for rentals and short-term. We made a short walk into the airport, had a short wait to check out bags, and an even shorter wait at security.

Our 8:20 p.m. flight was pretty full. I have never headed to Orlando on an evening flight before, but we still had lots and lots of kiddos on board! I was pretty surprised! We touched down in Orlando at 11:20 p.m., and the place was eerily vacant! I have never seen MCO looking so bare! We made our way to the shuttle to take us to Thrifty Car Rental. At this point, we are all tired and grouchy, and my husband is wondering WHY I didn’t choose one of the two million ONSITE rental companies. Uh, cause I got a midsize for $137, with taxes and fees, for eight days, that’s why!

When we arrived at Thrifty, DH advised me to beat the crowd into the rental office while he and DD got the bags. After refusing the insurance, the extra driver fee, and the prepaid gas (which would have doubled our rate!) we headed out to find our Red Sebring. As we loaded the bags into the car I said, “Where’s the toiletry bag?” I was met with a blank stare. “Toiletry bag??”

Guess SOMEBODY (ahem) left it on the shuttle. (sigh) Several radio calls later, the guy at the desk finally locates our bag on one of the shuttles. We wait an additional 20 minutes until he loops back around to deliver it. By this point it is 12:30 p.m.

We drove across the street to the Marriott Orlando Airport (which I won on Priceline for $60 plus tax) and checked in. It was a nice enough business Marriott, although it did take a while for us to get checked in. They were not very responsive or organized at the front desk. Once in our room, we realized we had no foam pillows, and DD and I are both allergic to feather pillows. No problem. I know Marriotts have foam pillows available. I hit the service button on the phone, and they promise to have someone deliver two foam pillows right away. We wait. And we wait. 30 minutes later, still no pillows. I call again, and they promise to take care of it right away. We wait. And we wait. Finally, I went downstairs in my PJs, where I personally requested foam pillows and said I would wait while they got them for me. They sent security to find them for me. I wait. And I wait. Bad news. No foam pillows. This took an hour to determine?

Finally I went upstairs and made it in to bed, with a stupid feather pillow, at 2 a.m. DH had packed his temperpedic pillow, so he gave it to DD. I woke up the next morning with a stupid feather rash on my face.

 

[Cara]

Saturday, September 29

Hanging out at the resort, the Florida Mall, and the Boardwalk

After our late night, we awoke between 9:30 and 10 the next morning. Showered, checked out, and drove to Denny’s for breakfast. We chose Denny’s because we wanted breakfast, and it was the only place still serving breakfast after 11 a.m., LOL. This would become a trend for the remainder of our trip. DH and I chose the Grand Slam, and DD had an omelet.

After fortifying ourselves, we drove to check in to our condo at Silver Lake Resort. I had bought a timeshare deal from Ebay, and we were to receive three nights in a one-bedroom unit and two free Sea World tickets in exchange for taking a 90-minute tour. We have toured timeshares before and were interested in the point values available in Orlando. We were interested in buying in for an RCI exchange.

Check in went smoothly, but our room was not yet ready. Therefore, we decided to make a trip to the Florida Mall! That place is simply huge. DD immediately honed in on the fact that the place had an Abercrombie kids store, so away we went. We found several good deals for her there. DH was happy at the Apple Computer Store, where he bought a Bible program and an i-pod case for DD. We also checked out the Godiva Chocolates store and chose 12 candies for our own box. Yum!

We then stopped by Publix to buy bottled water, soft drinks, snacks, milk, and Danish for the next morning’s breakfast. By this time our room was ready, so we drove back to Silver Lakes. You are always a bit afraid of things like this, but we had a great room with a Jacuzzi tub, washer & dryer, and full kitchen. The pool area also looked GREAT! I unpacked while we tried to decide what to do that evening. Still undecided, we hopped in the car and started driving. DH asked me to call to see if we could get in at a Disney Restaurant. Due to our marathon Disney trip two years ago, I still had the Disney Dining number memorized, LOL. We decided to eat at Flying Fish Café and tool around the Boardwalk area.

Unfortunately, the Flying Fish was a big, expensive mistake. We ordered a calamari appetizer, which was good. I had the Orecchiette Pasta Frutti di Mare, which consisted of rock shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, fennel, tiny tomatoes, arugula and shellfish reduction; it was fairly tasty, but nothing spectacular. DD had the kids steak, and DH ordered Potato-Wrapped Red Snapper, which was described as a creamy Leek Fondue and Red Wine Butter Sauce. DH is a pretty adventurous diner, but he absolutely hated this dish. He said the red wine sauce tasted charred. I said it wasn’t worth it to try to eat a $34 dish you hate, so he sent it back and ordered a New York Strip Steak. At $110 without alcohol or dessert, this meal was a big disappointment. :-( The funny thing was, DD decided to order a kids salad. I am not kidding when I say it was literally THREE (3) leaves of romaine lettuce, a small pile of chopped tomatoes, a small pile of croutons, and a cup of ranch dressing. We all just cracked up when we saw the pitiful thing! Oh well, live and learn!

After dinner, we walked around the Boardwalk and enjoyed the evening. We saw a few street performers, including a fun mime guy. Then it was back to the room for baths, television, and a late bedtime.

 

[Cara]

Sunday, September 30

Timeshare tour day, a day at the pool, and the Boardwalk

Today was our time share tour day, and that was on the agenda for 10 a.m. We had a quick breakfast of pastries and headed down for our presentation. Those guys are REALLY convincing. We came really, really close to being owners, but luckily we came to our senses just in the nick of time.  We left with our two free Sea World tickets.

By the time we were finished, it was lunch time, so we headed out for pizza at Pizza Hut. After lunch we changed into our bathing suits and enjoyed the nice pool at the resort. DD and I had fun trying to play water volleyball, although the wind was too strong. It kept blowing our beach ball away!

After our swim, we cleaned up and headed back to the Boardwalk for another evening of fun. We had dinner at the Big River Grille. We all three had hamburgers, and the meal was very good. And much cheaper than the night before. The next stop was for a funnel cake the Boardwalk vender place. Yum! We saw a few more street performers. The mime was back, and we also saw a magician. We walked all around the Boardwalk; it is really pretty at night. Before we headed back to the condo, we stopped off at the Boardwalk Bakery to pick up treats for the following morning. Cinnamon rolls for me and DD, a huge chocolate muffin for DH, and fruit to share.

Tomorrow it’s SEA WORLD DAY!!!!

 

[Cara]

Monday, October 1

Sea World!

Sea World today, yay! I have always wanted to visit Sea World. We awoke early today, ate our Boardwalk Bakery treats, and headed out to Sea World in time to be there before the 9 a.m. opening. When the opened the place up, we headed for Journey to Atlantis, but the ride was down. Waah. Instead we moved to Kraken, and wow! That is a GREAT ride. We rode it twice more, but I was kind of dizzy after the third ride, LOL. We walked over to JTTA, and they were finally bringing it back up. We rode that one twice too. It was a unique ride.

We decided to see the Penguins after that. I love those guys. I have always been partial to penguins. We then decided to head over to the nearby theatre wait for the first Blue Horizons show. I loved this show! We saw the turtles after exited and decided we were ready for some lunch. We headed over to Smoky Creek Grill for some barbeque. DH had the chicken, and DD and I just had the kids’ chicken fingers, LOL.

Now it was time for Believe! That show was magnificent. Seeing Shamu that close is just amazing. We had great seats at the tip top of the Soak Zone, and we stayed dry. Believe and Blue Horizons were worth the price of park admission on their own. After Believe we saw the Clydesdales and the sharks and then headed over to Pacific Point Preserve to see the Sea Lions. I was pretty sad that Clyde and Seamore was being refurbished during our trip. :-( We bought food for DD to feed the Sea Lions. They are noisy, demanding creatures, aren’t they? She only lost one fish to one of the dreaded birds.

Over the course of the day, we visited several gift shops and DD got souvenirs for our neighbor kids. Since she is a horse fiend, I also bought her a stuffed Clydesdale. DH also won her a stuffed Shamu.

We then visited the Stingrays, the Dolphins, and the Manatees. By this point, it was 3 p.m., and I was honestly exhausted! I still wanted to see Pets Ahoy and Odyssea, but I was just too wiped. We decided to have our tickets validated for a second day’s visit at guest services. I give Sea World a big two thumbs up. It was a great visit!

We were all hot and tired, so we decided to hit the pool when we returned to the condo. More water volleyball for all! When it started to rain, we headed inside for showers. We all decided we were just TOO TIRED to go out to eat, so we ordered pizza from Pizza Hut AGAIN. Tomorrow we move over the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal.

 

[Cara]

Tuesday, October 2

Our move to Royal Pacific Resort and Universal Orlando

Today is the day we move over to Royal Pacific! We extended our checkout at the condo till Noon, so we could sleep in. Got up, packed, loaded the car, and made our second trip to Denny’s for a late breakfast. DD had the omelet again, I had the Grand Slam again, and DH had some kind of sausage breakfast thing.

Now, the moment I have been waiting for! We drove to Royal Pacific Resort. Wow, the resort grounds are really beautiful! DH waited in the car, while DD and I went inside to check in. There was NOBODY there but us. I had called a few days earlier with a room request. Higher floor, tower 1, renovated room. I had specifically mentioned that we did not want tower 2 due to pet allergies.

The guy was very helpful and told us we were in a king suite. I said, nope, just a regular standard king. He said, “Evidently, you have been upgraded.” Go us!!! :-D I was very happy about that. DH parked the car and I went with bell services to take the luggage up to the room. The room was lovely; everything looked very fresh from the renovation, and the two-room suite with a separate bedroom was great. It had a pull-out sofa bed, chair, end tables, coffee table, and television armoire in the living area. Large closet in the entry way. In the bedroom, we had a king-size bed, night tables, dresser, a chair and ottoman, and another large closet. GREAT room!

After I unpacked, we decided to head over to Universal for a while. We got a bit turned around leaving the hotel, and had to walk around the building a bit before we found the path to the boats, LOL. The boat came within 10 minutes, and it was a quick, easy ride over to City Walk.

We had two tickets with our hotel package, and I activated the third ticket we had bought online by using one of the kiosks at the entrance. Very easy and quick! Tickets in hand, we headed to Shrek 4-D for our first attraction of the day. This was a great show! Then we visited Revenge of the Mummy, which we rode twice, I believe. DD really liked this one. Next we took in Twister, and stopped and watched the Blues Brothers for a few minutes. In San Francisco/Amity, we checked out Jaws and Earthquake. Both are pretty much what I remembered from my visit to Universal Hollywood in 1994. In the World Exp we experienced Men in Black AGAIN, and again, and AGAIN. I never did get very good at this. I had forgotten to bring my tip sheet, and all I remembered was “aim high,” LOL. Next we checked out the E.T. Adventure, which, strangely enough, my husband really liked. We were just in time to catch the last Universal Horror Make-Up Show of the day, so we checked that out. My daughter really, REALLY wanted to volunteer and waved her hand wildly. In fact, she was the ONLY person who volunteered, but evidently that don’t pick kids. Even 12-year-olds. She was bummed. This was a great show and is not to be missed. VERY FUNNY!

We used our front-of-the-line access, and it was nice. However, the park was very uncrowded on a Tuesday in October, so it wasn’t necessary. The park was getting ready to close, so we called it a day. We headed back out to City Walk and decided to eat at Bubba Gump’s. DH and I had visited Bubba Gump’s in Chicago, but this was DD’s first trip. We all loved it. Cute atmosphere, good food, and good service. We enjoyed the trivia too! We were hungry, so we started out with a basket of garlic bread and ordered HUGE meals. DH had the Bucket of Boat Trash, I had the Shrimper’s Heaven, and DD had the kids’ shrimp basket. Yum, yum! Stuffed, we waddled out of the restaurant. It was then that I realized we started the day with artery-clogging breakfast and ended it with artery-clogging fried food. Ah, well. We’re on vacation!

Given that mindset, we decided to partake of Cinnabon the next morning!

We headed back to the room, cleaned up, watched a movie, and went to bed. Rather than someone sleeping on the sofa bed, we all three cuddled in the king-size bed. I remind myself that with my daughter being 12, our cuddling days are numbered. So I enjoy my little third of the bed.

It was a great day!

 

[Cara]

Wednesday, October 3

Islands of Adventure, Mythos, and Tchoup Chop

We slept late AGAIN today! Very late. After taking the boat to City Walk, we stopped off at Cinnabon for some early morning treats! Yum! My caloric intake is out of control on this trip… Today was designated as Islands of Adventure Day. We headed to Hulk for our first ride of the day. Wow! This ride was incredible. We did expect that super-fast takeoff! We did Hulk twice more, and DH and I both felt a little icky after that. I suggested we go to Spider Man, since I thought it was “just a 3D show.” LOL! OK, Spidey is NOT just a 3D show!!! It was really a great ride or whatever you call it. With our hotel keys, we went through express again for a second ride.

May I just say that express may well have spoiled us for future theme parks? No, the parks were not crowded, and it was probably unnecessary. Still, many of the rides did post 30-minute waits, and we never waited for anything longer than three to five minutes! AND we slept late EVERY DAY! I highly recommend the express experience.

Neither DH nor I was feeling up to Dr. Doom at the present time, so we made our slow way around through Toon Lagoon. We also weren’t in the mood to get wet, so we skipped the rides here. It was neat just to see everything! We went to Jurassic Park and experienced the ride there, which I rate a solid OK. Next we headed over to Dueling Dragons and rode Ice. Good ride, except for the fact that two very foul-mouthed teenage girls were behind us in the express line. I don’t know why girls that age think they need to talk that way, kwim?

After riding Ice, we, of course, had to check out Fire. We thought Fire was the better side; however, after our ride I was decidedly woozy. Very woozy. One thing I discovered about express pass; without a line, you do NOT have a chance to recover before your second ride. Thankfully, I managed not to toss my cookies, but the heat was really getting to me. By this point, it was 2:30 or so, and DH declared that I needed to be inside, somewhere cool, and have some real food – not sticky cinnamon buns from Cinnabon.

We had reservations at Tchoup Chop for tonight, so I didn’t want to get too full. DH promised to split something with me, so we headed over to Mythos. Mythos earns two thumbs up from me. DH and I split the risotto of the day, and now I can’t remember exactly what it was. It was served with chicken, and the risotta was kind of cheesy. I do remember it was absolutely delicious!!! DH and I also shared the warm chocolate banana gooey cake, which was to die for! Yum! DD had the kid’s steak, which she deemed far superior to her steak from Flying Fish. She also had ice cream with chocolate sauce, and our server brought her some of the caramel sauce that was prepared to go with our dessert. We were not completely stuffed, but we didn’t want to be. All in all, a very good meal! I would definitely return!

After eating, I felt much better, so we moved on to Poseidon’s Fury. This experience was OK, but not one of my favorites. The tunnel of water was pretty cool, and I loved the temperature changes!

After Poseidon, we moved on to Seuss Landing! I am a huge Dr. Seuss fan!!! We rode the High in the Sky Trolley Train Ride. This had quite a wait, but we used our express pass and were in very quickly. Next we checked out the Cat in the Hat ride, which DH deemed “Winnie the Pooh on Steroids.” LOL. After that I dragged my family on to the Caro-Seuss-el, a move that brought many rolled eyes from the two of them. It was fun, though! Alas, I could not convince anyone to ride One Fish, Blue Fish with me. Waaah.

Tired, we headed back to Royal Pacific after that. We donned our suits and spent some time at the pool. More water volleyball for all, and DH and DD swam laps. I did not. I sat on my chair! We enjoyed our pool time, and then headed up to the room to get cleaned up for our much-anticipated meal at Tchoup Chop.

Our reservations were for 7 p.m., and we were seated right away. DH and I are not drinkers, so we opted for iced tea, and DD had the “Hang Ten,” which was a kiddie lemonade with strawberry. After a review of the menu, I decided to try to the Chef’s Tasting Menu, while DH created his own tasting experience from the regular menu. DD opted for a Caesar Salad ($11!), followed by the kid’s filet mignon ($20!).

For the first course of the tasting menu, I had Sopporo Beer Battered Jumbo Gulf Shrimp served with a pickled ginger wakame salad, garlic lime butter sauce, drizzle of Kecap Manis and Tobiko Caviar. This dish was wonderful! The wakame salad and sauce were the perfect complement to the shrimp, and I made sure to try to get everything on my fork at one time! Except for the two bites I shared with DH, I ate every bit of this dish! DH had the homemade dumpling box, which was delicious. Still, I thought my appetizer was better! For the next course, DH had the chef’s soup of the day. I didn’t’ taste it, so I can’t remember what it was. He said it was tasty, but I’m sure it was nothing compared to my second course! DD’s salad was served during our second course.

For the second course of the tasting menu, I had Pan-Seared Swordfish served with a fire-roasted corn and pepper jack polenta cake, roasted rock shrimp butter sauce and a sun-dried tomato relish, sesame guacamole, and cilantro sour cream. I am a big seafood nut, and by far, this was the BEST fish dish I have ever had! The tastes worked perfectly in harmony with one another! The polenta cake was divine with the fish, and the sauce could not have been better. Except for the bites I shared with DH, I ate every bite of this dish too!!

For the third course of the tasting menu, I had the pepper berry grilled Demi Hereford Filet of Beef served with a cracked black pepper and goat cheese potato gratin, wild mushroom brandy ragout and tempura green onions. This was my least favorite course of the meal. The beef itself was very good, but I did not really care for the potato gratin. Maybe I was just getting full. I ate the beef, but left most of the potatoes. DH had the pan-roasted filet mignon, which he deemed very good, but not the best he has ever had. He said the mixture of seasoning was almost overpowering to the beef. He prefers the filet at Ruth’s Chris to this one. Still, he shared a few bites and had no trouble finishing his steak. DD had the kid’s filet, which she deemed the best steak she had ever tasted. She ate every bite!

By this point we were full but unwilling to forego dessert! The dessert with the tasting menu was, thankfully, a light dish of coconut custard with fresh tropical fruit salsa, coconut tuile, and sweet cream. It was yummy and the perfect light complement to a very heavy meal. DH ordered could not pass up Emeril’s banana cream pie, and this dessert was absolutely amazing! This must be the most perfect banana pie ever created! DD had the kid’s vanilla bean ice cream with chocolate drizzle and a cookie. Ate half of the ice cream but ran out of room for the cookie and the remainder.

After paying our bill ($205 with tip and no alcohol!) we waddled out and up to our room. The meal was a wonderful experience, but we certainly cannot afford to repeat it every night! We watched a movie on pay-per-view while our meal started to digest and went to bed late.

Another very good day!

 

[Cara]

Thursday, October 4

We slept sinfully late again. This is vacation after all! We finally managed to make it out of the room around lunchtime. Since we consumed mucho calories yesterday, we decided to walk to City Walk. We settled on Hard Rock Café for lunch. Burgers all around, of course! Sadly, even after our food fest the night before, we still managed to scarf down our burgers. DD was very impressed by one of the servers who had an absolutely awesome Mohawk! She introduced herself and I actually took a picture of them, LOL. We bought our Hard Rock Café photo package (blush). We all looked decent, the package was reasonable ($20 for a 5x7 in a folder, four wallets, a keychain, and a magnet!).

We decided a low-key afternoon was on our agenda, so we headed over to Universal to enjoy the few things we had missed our first day. The Jimmy Neutron simulator was first on the list. I ranked that a big “eh,” but DD and DH enjoyed it more because they love Sponge Bob, LOL. Then we checked out Terminator. I thought this was a pretty neat attraction, actually. Next up was the Animal Actors on Location show, which was pretty cute. Then, of course, we had to take another (or four) spins on Men in Black. I got the bonus twice in a row – go me! On our way out of the park, we checked out the Lucy Tribute and I found a book for my mom, who is a huge Lucy fan.

We took the boat back to our resort and decided to check out the pool again. Water volleyball, anyone? ;-) The Royal Pacific pool is really wonderful. After we got cleaned up in the room, nobody wanted to go out again! We ordered pizza (again!!!) and watched another movie. Late to bed again. This low-key vacation is really enjoyable!

 

[Cara]

Friday, October 5

Guess what happened this morning? That’s right. We slept REALLY LATE again. After all, we’re on vacation and we’re not at Disney! We don’t have to get up early!! We slowly started moving around and decided to get ready and go out to find some breakfast. Or lunch. Or whatever. DD wanted breakfast, so we ended up at Denny’s AGAIN. (You know, you just can’t leave the room at Noon and get breakfast just anywhere!) I had the French toast, DH had eggs and sausage, and DD had the ham and cheese omelet again. Very grease-laden meal!

DH wanted to return something at the Apple Store, so we headed back to the Florida Mall for a while. I took DD shopping and DH set off to take care of his stuff. We hit the Abercrombie store, and DD spent the remainder of her souvenir money on a duffle bag and a shirt. We piddled around the mall a bit more and decided to head back to the resort.

DH really wanted to stay in, but DD and I wanted to go back to Islands of Adventure to ride the water rides. She and I headed out on our own for a while. We took the boat over, and about the time we got there the skies opened up. No problem. We have our handy, dandy ponchos. Before we headed back to the water rides, she and I decided to ride Hulk once more. This was a Friday, and we could tell the crowds had picked up quite a bit from earlier in the week. It still wasn’t horridly crowded though, and we used our room keys to zoom to the front of the line. We rode Hulk twice more and decided to head on toward the back of the park.

We got in line for Dudley Do-Right’s Ripshaw Falls. It was a nice long ride, and we did get wet. (Though we were already wet and wearing our ponchos!) However, it really seemed in need of a good refurbishment. I noticed some chipped paint and some things that just really looked old. Hopefully this one is on the refurbishment list! After that, we headed over to Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges. Everyone we met heading out was absolutely soaked! But we had ponchos and we were already wet. There was quite a line for this one, but we used our room keys and went to the front of the line. This was your typical river ride, but much wetter! The family who was riding with us got absolutely, positively, soaked through. Not only did buckets of water dump right into our barge, but sadistic people on the sidelines got their kicks by putting their quarters in the machines to shoot even more water our way.

DD’s shirt got pretty wet (water went down the neck of her poncho) and her shoes were soaked through. The seat of my shorts also got pretty wet, but luckily I was wearing flip flops. We decided to call it an afternoon and head back to the resort. By this time, it was absolutely pouring and we were cold and wet! Rather than wait for the boat, we decided to catch a Rickshaw back to the resort. For just a tip, they will take you right to the pool entrance. A great bargain, and well worth it! He even had an umbrella for us to use.

We headed back upstairs and got hot showers. And guess what? Nobody wanted to go out again! So we decided to order pizza and cinnamon sticks. If you are keeping track, today marks our FOURTH time to have pizza this week and our THIRD time to have breakfast at Denny’s! We kicked back, packed to leave tomorrow (waah!) and decided what to do our last day. I called to get a late checkout (I think it was Noon) and we all headed off to bed.

 

[Cara]

Saturday, October 6

Sea World again, our trip home, and the crazy lady on the plane

Waaah. This is our last day of vacation. *sniff* But it has certainly been a good one – very relaxing, and we all needed that! To end our week of slothfulness, we slept in yet again! Got ready, finished packing, checked out with the television, and made it out just before Noon.

Hey, Denny’s, anyone? Might as well go for four visits this trip! I was a big geek and made the family take a picture outside Denny’s, since we went there so many times.

After our meal we decided to hop over to Sea World to try to see some of the things we missed on Monday. Sadly, when we arrived we learned they were having their Halloween Spooktacular celebration, and we had just missed the last Pets Ahoy show of the day. Waaah. Just a reason to go back again, I suppose! We headed over to Odyssea to check out that show. It was great! The guy at the beginning was hysterical, and we loved the Chinese acrobats. After that show, we decided to see Believe again. The show was quite different from the one we had seen on Monday, with different trainers. They did not bring “BIG” Shamu out, but Baby Shamu had a much larger role in the show. Must be based on whose trainers are there. Still very impressive and lots of fun!

Next we headed over to Wild Arctic and waited in our longest line of the week – 15 minutes! Next time I will definitely skip the simulator. Ugh, and icky! It was lots of fun to see the polar bears, the beluga whales, and the walruses! I love walruses! They are so BIG! On our way out of the park, we headed through Shamu’s Happy Harbor, where DD got a bag and trick-or-treated through the various candy stands.

I am definitely a Sea World fan after this trip. Even though it was pretty crowded, it never felt oppressive. It is a nice, relaxing park, although it involves lots of walking!

Sadly, it was time to head over in the direction of the airport. We stopped off at Chili’s for a final meal, where DD and I had chicken crispers and DH had fajitas. We then headed over to Thrifty, dropped our car off, and caught the shuttle to the airport. We made it through checking our baggage and security in record time and arrived at the gate 90 minutes (!) prior to our 8:35 p.m. departure.

Now, I will confess that I am just a bit claustrophobic, so I like to sit in the front of the plane. That way I don’t get stuck in the traffic jam of folks waiting to get out of the plane after we land. Since we were flying Southwest, I parked myself in the queue to get a seat close to the front. We lucked out and got a seat in the second row.

It was then that we encountered crazy lady. We were safely settled in row two, when an older woman entered the plane and chucked some of her stuff in the window seat of row one, right in front of us. There was already a lady sitting in the aisle seat. Crazy lady then proceeded to repeatedly push the button of the overhead compartment, trying to get it open. Then she proceeded to push it harder. Finally, she began to bang it. The flight attendant came over and told the lady that it was a bin for emergency equipment but that she would be glad to find a place for her bag. Meanwhile, a mom and her son seated themselves in two seats opposite crazy lady. They stowed their bags and even buckled in.

Then crazy lady looks over at them, gets a wild look in her eyes, and starts SCREECHING, “DID YOU SEE THEM?!?! They cut right in front of me and STOLE those seats. I was getting ready to move over there!”

Everyone is looking at crazy lady like she is… well, crazy. The flight attendant explained that everyone thought she was going to sit in the other side. And crazy lady, just yelled, “I HAVE HAD A BAD DAY! I was BUMPED. Everything has gone wrong. And NOW THEY STOLE MY SEAT!” The flight attendant gently suggested she stay where she was, and crazy lady yelled, “BUT THERE’S NO PLACE FOR MY BAG!”

The flight attendant reminded her that she would take care of the bag and advised crazy lady to just sit down and relax. Meanwhile, the other passengers are filing in, and although the plane is pretty full, NOBODY sits in the center seat next to crazy lady. I am wondering why she flew Southwest when she could have just taken her broom. :-D

Once crazy lady settles into her seat, she starts muttering, “Look at all these kids. I HATE kids.”

Uh, it’s a flight from Orlando, lady. There WILL be kids on the plane. We then had to wait about 20 minutes for our co-pilot, as his flight in from Phoenix was running behind. Once he made it on board, we all applauded. He bowed and made his way to the lavatory. Crazy lady said, “We’ve been sitting here all this time, and now he goes to the BATHROOM?!?” For heaven’s sake, lady, he flew in from Phoenix. He obviously has to pee. Give him a break! During the course of the flight, crazy lady asked for drinks twice and had the flight attendant get things out of her bag three times.

I figure crazy lady must have missed her meds during her flight delays.

We arrived home just a few minutes behind schedule, picked up our bags, and headed home. Another wonderful vacation!

Final thoughts:

We were all very stressed before the trip, so this laid back trip was just what the doctor ordered. It probably sounds pretty boring to most of you, but we thought it was nice not to run around all of the time. If we ever do Universal again, I will probably opt for two nights onsite with three days at the parks. That would probably be just about right.

We loved Royal Pacific Resort! It was just lovely, and being upgraded to a king suite wasn't half bad! :-D The resort is beautiful and very relaxing. We would definitely stay here agian.

All in all, a very fun trip! Thanks for your help as I planned this vacation.

 

[AlexandNessa]

Enjoyed your report. Glad you liked the RPR. We do too! Welcome to the "Dark Side."

 

[tlinus]

What a great vacation. We like 3 park days and one whole day at the pool (that is by far the MOST expensive day of vacation )

You will now be spoiled by front of the line!!

 

[bubba's mom]

So glad to hear you enjoyed your 'relaxing' vacation! Maybe you shoulda titled it "Our Denny's & Pizza Hut vacation...with a side of Universal" Seriously, you did the right thing. The EP (room key) is totally worth it (imagine it in mid-summer ) The one thing Disney people don't understand is how laid back Universal vacations are....eat where/when ya want, ride when ya want, etc..... Like Jodie said, "Welcome to the Dark Side"

 

[Cara]

Bubba's Mom!

Seriously, we were probably just in shock that we spent $300 on food in one day! I guess we figured we needed more cheap meals!

Honestly, we had planned to eat breakfast at the hotel, but we never got up in time for that!

 

[bubba's mom]

We actually don't mind spending more for the food there....we think the quality and selection is way better at UO than Disney. We usually hit Mville at least once per trip, and we are working our way around the City Walk restaurants I think for the food you get, the price is reasonable. For breakfast, we usually grab a stryofoam cooler and stock it with the waters, juices, milk, etc...and have donuts, danish, bagels/cream cheese for breakfast. We "cheap out" on the breakfasts in the room, have snack for lunch, and have the nice dinner. You ate at Denny's for breakfast a lot...and that's the difference. Oh, and i forgot to mention, we NEVER make it to the parks before 11am either We are NOT morning people by any means! Vacation is fer sleepin' in!

 

[Cara]

I agree. Tchoup Chop is definitely on our list for our next Orlando vacation. It was a fabulous meal. And we had planned to go back to City Walk more often at night. We were just seriously lazy!

 

[bubba's mom]

We were just seriously lazy!

Easy to do there!

 

[JawsCPA]

Thanks for the trip report. Love to read these!!

Alas, I could not convince anyone to ride One Fish, Blue Fish with me. Waaah.

I wish I was there with you - I really like this ride. My DS was 11 and went with me.

It probably sounds pretty boring to most of you, but we thought it was nice not to run around all of the time.

Not at all boring. I hate having no time to relax on vacation before you go back to work!!

Glad you had a good time

 

[micksterlee]

Be sure to keep huggin and cuddlin that daughter as much as she can, because like you said those chances get harder to find as time goes by.We have a daughter that will be 16 in December and she is so busy with school and teen life that vacation has become something she would like to do if she can work it in.

 

[Cara]

micksterlee, that is so true!!! Thanks for the reminder.

 

[phamton]

It sounds like you had a great trip. Nothing wrong with sleeping late as long as you have FOTL.