Cast: Me, DW, 43
DH, 46
DD1, 15
DD2, 12
Wow, I can't believe our vacation is already over. Here's my trip report.
Sunday, August 4
We flew from Cleveland, via Atlanta on Delta (got a great fare, $134.50 each). The flights were on time, and we got to MCO at around 12:30pm. Had to wait at Dollar for about an hour for our full-size rental (an Intrepid, I was really impressed with this car). Managed to find our way to HRH at around 2pm. We got into our deluxe room right away ($155 with Entertainment card, which by the way they never asked to see). I was extremely happy with the deluxe room. It has a couch that folds into a bed, and since my two DDs can't stand to sleep in the same bed, it worked out great. It also had a separate dressing area with a vanity that came in handy for DD1. She loved it!
We went over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch. We got seated right away and split some appetizers. We were pleased with the food and the service, as usual.
We went back to the hotel to unpack and settle in. There was a late afternoon thunderstorm, and we didn't make it to our 7pm Mythos reservation until almost 8pm, but they weren't busy. Now, I have to make a disclaimer here, I was not feeling well at this point (sinus headache), but I was not at all happy with Mythos that night. Our server was the worst we've encountered on all of our trips to Orlando, or anywhere else for that matter. Also, I ordered the shrimp salad and just didn't like it (remember I wasn't feeling well, that may be why). The rest of the family liked their food, though. After an interminable wait for our check, we set out to explore IOA. We had never been there after dark. It did seem magical, there was hardly anyone there. We went on Spiderman, Dr Doom, and the Incredible Hulk and stayed to see the fireworks. They are much better up close in this park. We were all tired, so we went back to the hotel and made it an early night.
Monday, August 5
We started the day at Universal Studios. We did ET, MIB twice, Jaws, and Kongfrontation. Our daughters think this park is boring, by the way. We decided to go back to the hotel, since we had rented a cabana for the day. We got lunch from the Beach Club, it was excellent. We spent a relaxing afternoon by the pool.
We dropped the girls off at the movies, and had dinner at Emeril's. The food and service were excellent. DH had the filet with crab meat, and I had the ribeye. For dessert, I had the hazelnut creme brulee, and he had the banana cream pie. Our bill, with tip, was $175.00 (we split an appetizer and salad, and each had a drink).
We picked the girls up at the movies and spent the rest of the evening at the cabana. We let them have ice cream for dinner (well, it was vacation!). They had brownie sundaes from the place by the Sunset Grill ($6.00 each).
While the girls were swimming, we walked over to the Studios to see their fireworks up close (and ride MIB a few times). They were not nearly as impressive as IOA's on the ground, but were better in the air (does that make sense?).
Tuesday, August 6
We spent the morning at IOA. We went on all the rides, including the water rides, and were ready for lunch at Confisco Grill by 11:30am. The food here was quite good. By the way, now I know just how wet you get on the water rides. We were soaked!
Back to the hotel. We rented the cabana for the day again. We spend the afternoon chilling out there.
We found our way to Downtown Disney later, so DH could go to Sosa's for some cigars. I thought the DDs would want to shop there, but after some time in the Virgin Megastore, they were ready to leave.
From there, we went to the Polynesian to have dinner at 'Ohanas. I thought DH would like this place, and he did. We all did. The food and the service were great. After dinner, we took a spin on the monorail, just to get a little taste of Disney. We walked over to look at the pool, and ran into our neighbors who were staying there.
The girls went for a swim when we got back, and afterwards we left them in the room to watch Monsters Inc while we went to the Velvet Lounge for a drink. Nice place.
Wednesday, August 7
We woke up to what looked like a steady rain, so we changed our plans and spent the day at Sea World. We had lunch at the Hospitality Center with our free beer samples. It was very good (the lunch and the beer!). Sea World did not seem terrible busy that day, probably because of the rain. It did clear up for a while, then there was an afternoon thunderstorm at around 2:30pm. We got soaked again! We rode Kraken and Journey to Atlantis, and saw the dolphin show, the Clyde and Seymour show, the Shamu show, most of the waterskiing show and the Penguin encounter. The Dolphin feeding area was packed, but DD2 did get to touch one (this made DD1 extremely upset, since she's the dolphin lover). We left at around 4pm, wet but happy.
Since I had to spend the day at Sea World, I made the family take me out to a nice dinner. We ate at the Palm. I was very impressed. They have a steak and lobster for two special that was $85, and included salads, side dishes and cheesecake for dessert. It was fabulous! DD1 got a grilled chicken ceasar salad and DD2 got the chicken parmesan. We thought our dinner here was just as good as Emeril's.
After dinner, we walked over to Citywalk to see both the fireworks displays at once. Cool!
Thursday, August 8
We headed out to Cocoa Beach. It was easy to find, once I got turned around on I-4 (I kept getting east and west mixed up. Shouldn't they be north and south?). Anyway, it took about an hour to get there. We went to Ron Jon's to buy beach towels, and rented an umbrella and some chairs. Well, after months of pestering us to go the the beach, DDs didn't like it! They didn't like the salty water, and it was pretty wavy and windy. Our umbrella almost blew away! They are used to our more sedate freshwater beach here on Lake Erie. It was neat seeing the cruise ships coming and going. We only stayed for an hour or so. After lunch at McDonald's, we headed back to HRH.
This was the only glitch at the hotel. We got back at around 2:30pm and the room wasn't cleaned yet, so I called star service and they said they would send someone. We spent some time at the pool, and at 4:30 when we got back to the room, it still hadn't been cleaned. Someone from housekeeping came to the door to ask if anyone had been there yet. We went to dinner at Motown (very good food, and the service was good also. Beware, they add a 15% tip to the bill.) and DH went back to the room to get a camera at around 7pm, and the room still hadn't been cleaned. He called again.
We spent some time at IOA on our favorite rides (Cat in the Hat, Dueling Dragons, Incredible Hult, Spiderman and Dr Doom). When we got back to the room at around 9:30, it had finally been cleaned, but they did not leave the extra towels I requested.
We rented another in-room movie, but we all fell asleep before the first half hour was over.
Friday, August 9
Back home. We left at 9:30am to make our 12:05pm flight. I wanted to give myself plenty of time in case I got lost again (I didn't). The flights home were on-time, and it felt nice to get back to Cleveland and temperatures in the 70's.
A Few Final Thoughts
We were very happy with the hotel, with the exception of the room cleaning snafu. The employees are all very friendly. I started asking the Valet guys for directions when we went somewhere, and they were very helpful. We were very pleasantly surprised with the Palm restaurant.
Universal Express is great! We did get our cards swiped at a few of the rides, and we all needed a room card. One of the employees told us they will be going to a system where you can only use your hotel key once every hour in the express line, but they were just testing it out and weren't sure when that would be. I didn't notice the express lines being any longer that last August when we were there, but we tended to only do the parks in the mornings and evenings, so I'm not sure about the lines in the afternoon.
Our neighbor staying at Disney was a bit jealous when I told him what we were paying for our room, and what the benefits are of staying on-site at Universal. He doesn't feel Disney is doing much for their on-site guests (no more early entry, for example). Maybe next time they'll try Universal!
I'll be happy to answer any questions. Thanks to all of you that post here, your inside information made our stay much more enjoyable.
Cindy
DH, 46
DD1, 15
DD2, 12
Wow, I can't believe our vacation is already over. Here's my trip report.
Sunday, August 4
We flew from Cleveland, via Atlanta on Delta (got a great fare, $134.50 each). The flights were on time, and we got to MCO at around 12:30pm. Had to wait at Dollar for about an hour for our full-size rental (an Intrepid, I was really impressed with this car). Managed to find our way to HRH at around 2pm. We got into our deluxe room right away ($155 with Entertainment card, which by the way they never asked to see). I was extremely happy with the deluxe room. It has a couch that folds into a bed, and since my two DDs can't stand to sleep in the same bed, it worked out great. It also had a separate dressing area with a vanity that came in handy for DD1. She loved it!
We went over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch. We got seated right away and split some appetizers. We were pleased with the food and the service, as usual.
We went back to the hotel to unpack and settle in. There was a late afternoon thunderstorm, and we didn't make it to our 7pm Mythos reservation until almost 8pm, but they weren't busy. Now, I have to make a disclaimer here, I was not feeling well at this point (sinus headache), but I was not at all happy with Mythos that night. Our server was the worst we've encountered on all of our trips to Orlando, or anywhere else for that matter. Also, I ordered the shrimp salad and just didn't like it (remember I wasn't feeling well, that may be why). The rest of the family liked their food, though. After an interminable wait for our check, we set out to explore IOA. We had never been there after dark. It did seem magical, there was hardly anyone there. We went on Spiderman, Dr Doom, and the Incredible Hulk and stayed to see the fireworks. They are much better up close in this park. We were all tired, so we went back to the hotel and made it an early night.
Monday, August 5
We started the day at Universal Studios. We did ET, MIB twice, Jaws, and Kongfrontation. Our daughters think this park is boring, by the way. We decided to go back to the hotel, since we had rented a cabana for the day. We got lunch from the Beach Club, it was excellent. We spent a relaxing afternoon by the pool.
We dropped the girls off at the movies, and had dinner at Emeril's. The food and service were excellent. DH had the filet with crab meat, and I had the ribeye. For dessert, I had the hazelnut creme brulee, and he had the banana cream pie. Our bill, with tip, was $175.00 (we split an appetizer and salad, and each had a drink).
We picked the girls up at the movies and spent the rest of the evening at the cabana. We let them have ice cream for dinner (well, it was vacation!). They had brownie sundaes from the place by the Sunset Grill ($6.00 each).
While the girls were swimming, we walked over to the Studios to see their fireworks up close (and ride MIB a few times). They were not nearly as impressive as IOA's on the ground, but were better in the air (does that make sense?).
Tuesday, August 6
We spent the morning at IOA. We went on all the rides, including the water rides, and were ready for lunch at Confisco Grill by 11:30am. The food here was quite good. By the way, now I know just how wet you get on the water rides. We were soaked!
Back to the hotel. We rented the cabana for the day again. We spend the afternoon chilling out there.
We found our way to Downtown Disney later, so DH could go to Sosa's for some cigars. I thought the DDs would want to shop there, but after some time in the Virgin Megastore, they were ready to leave.
From there, we went to the Polynesian to have dinner at 'Ohanas. I thought DH would like this place, and he did. We all did. The food and the service were great. After dinner, we took a spin on the monorail, just to get a little taste of Disney. We walked over to look at the pool, and ran into our neighbors who were staying there.
The girls went for a swim when we got back, and afterwards we left them in the room to watch Monsters Inc while we went to the Velvet Lounge for a drink. Nice place.
Wednesday, August 7
We woke up to what looked like a steady rain, so we changed our plans and spent the day at Sea World. We had lunch at the Hospitality Center with our free beer samples. It was very good (the lunch and the beer!). Sea World did not seem terrible busy that day, probably because of the rain. It did clear up for a while, then there was an afternoon thunderstorm at around 2:30pm. We got soaked again! We rode Kraken and Journey to Atlantis, and saw the dolphin show, the Clyde and Seymour show, the Shamu show, most of the waterskiing show and the Penguin encounter. The Dolphin feeding area was packed, but DD2 did get to touch one (this made DD1 extremely upset, since she's the dolphin lover). We left at around 4pm, wet but happy.
Since I had to spend the day at Sea World, I made the family take me out to a nice dinner. We ate at the Palm. I was very impressed. They have a steak and lobster for two special that was $85, and included salads, side dishes and cheesecake for dessert. It was fabulous! DD1 got a grilled chicken ceasar salad and DD2 got the chicken parmesan. We thought our dinner here was just as good as Emeril's.
After dinner, we walked over to Citywalk to see both the fireworks displays at once. Cool!
Thursday, August 8
We headed out to Cocoa Beach. It was easy to find, once I got turned around on I-4 (I kept getting east and west mixed up. Shouldn't they be north and south?). Anyway, it took about an hour to get there. We went to Ron Jon's to buy beach towels, and rented an umbrella and some chairs. Well, after months of pestering us to go the the beach, DDs didn't like it! They didn't like the salty water, and it was pretty wavy and windy. Our umbrella almost blew away! They are used to our more sedate freshwater beach here on Lake Erie. It was neat seeing the cruise ships coming and going. We only stayed for an hour or so. After lunch at McDonald's, we headed back to HRH.
This was the only glitch at the hotel. We got back at around 2:30pm and the room wasn't cleaned yet, so I called star service and they said they would send someone. We spent some time at the pool, and at 4:30 when we got back to the room, it still hadn't been cleaned. Someone from housekeeping came to the door to ask if anyone had been there yet. We went to dinner at Motown (very good food, and the service was good also. Beware, they add a 15% tip to the bill.) and DH went back to the room to get a camera at around 7pm, and the room still hadn't been cleaned. He called again.
We spent some time at IOA on our favorite rides (Cat in the Hat, Dueling Dragons, Incredible Hult, Spiderman and Dr Doom). When we got back to the room at around 9:30, it had finally been cleaned, but they did not leave the extra towels I requested.
We rented another in-room movie, but we all fell asleep before the first half hour was over.
Friday, August 9
Back home. We left at 9:30am to make our 12:05pm flight. I wanted to give myself plenty of time in case I got lost again (I didn't). The flights home were on-time, and it felt nice to get back to Cleveland and temperatures in the 70's.
A Few Final Thoughts
We were very happy with the hotel, with the exception of the room cleaning snafu. The employees are all very friendly. I started asking the Valet guys for directions when we went somewhere, and they were very helpful. We were very pleasantly surprised with the Palm restaurant.
Universal Express is great! We did get our cards swiped at a few of the rides, and we all needed a room card. One of the employees told us they will be going to a system where you can only use your hotel key once every hour in the express line, but they were just testing it out and weren't sure when that would be. I didn't notice the express lines being any longer that last August when we were there, but we tended to only do the parks in the mornings and evenings, so I'm not sure about the lines in the afternoon.
Our neighbor staying at Disney was a bit jealous when I told him what we were paying for our room, and what the benefits are of staying on-site at Universal. He doesn't feel Disney is doing much for their on-site guests (no more early entry, for example). Maybe next time they'll try Universal!
I'll be happy to answer any questions. Thanks to all of you that post here, your inside information made our stay much more enjoyable.
Cindy
