AlexandNessa
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=green
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2003
- Messages
- 5,407
Well, Day 6 was our last full day at Univesal, and on the last day of vacation, we always get a bit depressed. We had toyed with going back to Sea World, but we just felt like doing the best of both parks, and hanging "at home."
We went to IOA first to have another go at Hulk, Spidey, and Dueling Dragons. We did Fire first, and I am proud to say that I kept my eyes open this time! I screamed bloody murder, and Mike just laughed and laughed. Then he laughed some more. And then a little bit later, more again. We turned back around to ride Ice, and I learned my lesson this time. I would scream, but not as loud, but I did still scream. I think I had nightmares about the near miss that night.
We took a small break before walking over to UO, and I got a lemon slushie. Yum! We played a game of "Who needs a friend." We've all played it (even if you call it a different name), and theme parks are the perfect place to play. The premise is simple: A good friend would never have let you leave the house dressed that way. People who need friends defy the laws of modesty and good taste. You get the idea: a good friend will tell you if you can't pull off a belly shirt with low rider jeans. Shortie shorts, tank tops on women who have no business going without support. The whole gamut. Mike and I can just sit and mutter, "Friend," and we'll immediately know who the other is talking about. This lasted half of my slushie, and we were off to UO, I mean, MIB.
I'm ashamed to say that I have a lot of training to do. My best score was 224K. Mike's might have been 300K (this kills me). We rode it about 3 more times, and these would be our best scores. Hmpphh. Oh, I have to tell you that there was a couple in front of us in the Express Line for MIB. When they got to the second attendent who checks the express passes/hotel keys, they didn't have any. The attendent said, "You need to go in the Single Riders Line. Both of you. You're not riding together." So, this is what happens when you try to cheat the Express System!
We headed over to City Walk for dinner, but it was about 8 o'clock, and that was a huge mistake. The parks had let out, and it was an hour and a half wait to eat anywhere, even with our hotel keys. We had wanted to eat at Margaritaville, but it just wasn't happening. Then I remembered: my handy, dandy All Access Card to get us to FOTL at the HRC. This time it didn't work its magic. We flashed the card and were sent over the Priority Seating Line with everyone else. Oh well, it worked once! The HRC is huge, and the PS line moved very quickly. I had the shrimp fajitas. Mike had the baked mac & cheese. Both were good, and again the service was good. With beers, I think our bill was $47 + tip. It was our last night, and so we decided to head back to the Thirsty Fish which had happy hour from 10 - closing ($2 bud/bud lite draughts, $2.50 for bottles). We had a few beers there and called it a night.
We found this odd, but remember that room service that we ordered from the night before? It was still in our room, on the table. We had stacked it up figuring that housekeeping would see it and take care of it. We were going to call star service, but we figured maybe turn-down service would see it and get it. Nope. We found it odd that 2 different staff members would be inside our room with food that obviously needed to be cleared away, and no one did anything about it. I guess that's really the restaurant staff so we did have to call if we wanted to get rid of it (it's not like in some hotels where you get set the tray outside your door. There was no tray.).
The next morning, FL Tours greeted us in the lobby at about 10:30, and we were off the airport
, our only condolence was that we have another trip scheduled in October.
We decided on our way back to the airport that we would not be staying at the PBH again. Although it is a gorgeous resort, we never felt welcome there (easy to figure out why: no one ever welcomed us!). Check-in made us feel like we were a herd of cattle to be processed instead of guests. The only staff member to smile at us was the one who told us we were upgraded to Club Level without Club Privileges! What a nice upgrade for us! Bizarre. Not once, ever, when we passed staff in the halls or lobby did anyone even smile, ask if we were enjoying our stay, say hello. Nothing. I'd say hello first, and then barely get a head nod back.
We had other odd little housekeeping issues as well. Nothing major, but like sometimes we had a towel mat to step onto after getting out of the shower. Sometimes we didn't. I had worn one of the robes once and left it hanging over a chair. Housekeeping took it instead of just hanging it up some where, and didn't gave us a second one. Mike never wore the robe so we didn't call down for another, but I keep checking my credit card statement, waiting to find a bathrobe charge on it. There was also the day our room wasn't made up until turn-down service. And, this is bizarre: we threw out an empty soda bottle in the garbage in the bathroom, and housekeeping took it out of the garbage, put it on the floor and left it there. Twice. How weird is that?
Plus, when counting up our list of gripes, we had to include the lazy porter, and how we were practically ignored by the pool staff who took a full hour and a half to get a silly sandwich, with no warning of the wait, or apology for the delay.
Anyway, all these things were minor, but added together led us to believe that the staff didn't try very hard and were barely hospitable for a 4-star hotel. Maybe we expected too much. My aunt said it was because I was raised on Disney Deluxe resorts in the 80s when they were in their prime, but I don't think so. I think we were just unlucky and probably the odd exception. None of these things ruined our stay, but they were just enough for us not to have a real affinity for the resort and to make us want to try some place new.
When I called to cancel our ressie for another Deluxe room at the PBH in October, the agent asked why I was canceling. I told her we were just back from the PBH and didn't really feel welcome there. She apologized profusely, and said, "We don't want you to feel that way! We want you to feel like you're at home!" She changed our ressie to an RPR Club. Later that night, I got a message from Universal customer service asking me to document our experience and send it to them in an e-mail. At least they care! I did send them the e-mail, though neither Mike nor I are expecting anything. Nothing was egregiously wrong; we just thought our stay was nothing special and told them so.
Well, that's all folks! Thanks for reading! Stayed tuned for pictures!
We went to IOA first to have another go at Hulk, Spidey, and Dueling Dragons. We did Fire first, and I am proud to say that I kept my eyes open this time! I screamed bloody murder, and Mike just laughed and laughed. Then he laughed some more. And then a little bit later, more again. We turned back around to ride Ice, and I learned my lesson this time. I would scream, but not as loud, but I did still scream. I think I had nightmares about the near miss that night.
We took a small break before walking over to UO, and I got a lemon slushie. Yum! We played a game of "Who needs a friend." We've all played it (even if you call it a different name), and theme parks are the perfect place to play. The premise is simple: A good friend would never have let you leave the house dressed that way. People who need friends defy the laws of modesty and good taste. You get the idea: a good friend will tell you if you can't pull off a belly shirt with low rider jeans. Shortie shorts, tank tops on women who have no business going without support. The whole gamut. Mike and I can just sit and mutter, "Friend," and we'll immediately know who the other is talking about. This lasted half of my slushie, and we were off to UO, I mean, MIB.
I'm ashamed to say that I have a lot of training to do. My best score was 224K. Mike's might have been 300K (this kills me). We rode it about 3 more times, and these would be our best scores. Hmpphh. Oh, I have to tell you that there was a couple in front of us in the Express Line for MIB. When they got to the second attendent who checks the express passes/hotel keys, they didn't have any. The attendent said, "You need to go in the Single Riders Line. Both of you. You're not riding together." So, this is what happens when you try to cheat the Express System!
We headed over to City Walk for dinner, but it was about 8 o'clock, and that was a huge mistake. The parks had let out, and it was an hour and a half wait to eat anywhere, even with our hotel keys. We had wanted to eat at Margaritaville, but it just wasn't happening. Then I remembered: my handy, dandy All Access Card to get us to FOTL at the HRC. This time it didn't work its magic. We flashed the card and were sent over the Priority Seating Line with everyone else. Oh well, it worked once! The HRC is huge, and the PS line moved very quickly. I had the shrimp fajitas. Mike had the baked mac & cheese. Both were good, and again the service was good. With beers, I think our bill was $47 + tip. It was our last night, and so we decided to head back to the Thirsty Fish which had happy hour from 10 - closing ($2 bud/bud lite draughts, $2.50 for bottles). We had a few beers there and called it a night.
We found this odd, but remember that room service that we ordered from the night before? It was still in our room, on the table. We had stacked it up figuring that housekeeping would see it and take care of it. We were going to call star service, but we figured maybe turn-down service would see it and get it. Nope. We found it odd that 2 different staff members would be inside our room with food that obviously needed to be cleared away, and no one did anything about it. I guess that's really the restaurant staff so we did have to call if we wanted to get rid of it (it's not like in some hotels where you get set the tray outside your door. There was no tray.).
The next morning, FL Tours greeted us in the lobby at about 10:30, and we were off the airport
, our only condolence was that we have another trip scheduled in October.We decided on our way back to the airport that we would not be staying at the PBH again. Although it is a gorgeous resort, we never felt welcome there (easy to figure out why: no one ever welcomed us!). Check-in made us feel like we were a herd of cattle to be processed instead of guests. The only staff member to smile at us was the one who told us we were upgraded to Club Level without Club Privileges! What a nice upgrade for us! Bizarre. Not once, ever, when we passed staff in the halls or lobby did anyone even smile, ask if we were enjoying our stay, say hello. Nothing. I'd say hello first, and then barely get a head nod back.
We had other odd little housekeeping issues as well. Nothing major, but like sometimes we had a towel mat to step onto after getting out of the shower. Sometimes we didn't. I had worn one of the robes once and left it hanging over a chair. Housekeeping took it instead of just hanging it up some where, and didn't gave us a second one. Mike never wore the robe so we didn't call down for another, but I keep checking my credit card statement, waiting to find a bathrobe charge on it. There was also the day our room wasn't made up until turn-down service. And, this is bizarre: we threw out an empty soda bottle in the garbage in the bathroom, and housekeeping took it out of the garbage, put it on the floor and left it there. Twice. How weird is that?
Plus, when counting up our list of gripes, we had to include the lazy porter, and how we were practically ignored by the pool staff who took a full hour and a half to get a silly sandwich, with no warning of the wait, or apology for the delay.
Anyway, all these things were minor, but added together led us to believe that the staff didn't try very hard and were barely hospitable for a 4-star hotel. Maybe we expected too much. My aunt said it was because I was raised on Disney Deluxe resorts in the 80s when they were in their prime, but I don't think so. I think we were just unlucky and probably the odd exception. None of these things ruined our stay, but they were just enough for us not to have a real affinity for the resort and to make us want to try some place new.
When I called to cancel our ressie for another Deluxe room at the PBH in October, the agent asked why I was canceling. I told her we were just back from the PBH and didn't really feel welcome there. She apologized profusely, and said, "We don't want you to feel that way! We want you to feel like you're at home!" She changed our ressie to an RPR Club. Later that night, I got a message from Universal customer service asking me to document our experience and send it to them in an e-mail. At least they care! I did send them the e-mail, though neither Mike nor I are expecting anything. Nothing was egregiously wrong; we just thought our stay was nothing special and told them so.
Well, that's all folks! Thanks for reading! Stayed tuned for pictures!
