Questions from first timers!

[bagsmom]

Hi all! It's 2016 and I'm so excited to be planning our first trip to Universal. We've been to Disney twice and just loved it!!!! Kids are teens now -- 13 and 16 year old boys. We are thinking Universal will have a little more that appeals to them.
I have my Unofficial Guide full of touring plans and information. I swear by it for Disney and it is just as informative for Universal.
But I had a couple of questions to start out. I know there will be more!!!!
First -- hotel. I know that the Royal Pacific includes the "fastpass" thing. (I forget what it's called at Universal.) So there is that. I priced it out for our length of stay, including park to park tickets. It will be roughly 2,200. I priced a family suite at Cabana Bay for the same amount of time, adding in the unlimited pass thing, and it's roughly 2500. We looked at both and although I know RP is super luxurious, it seems very elegant and grown up. The pool is lovely, but only 3 feet deep. We looked at Cabana Bay, too, and frankly, it seems much more fun for teens. It is 300 more, but that gets us some extra space and a frig and microwave, which will be great for breakfast and such. It's a hard decision! RP might be closer, which would be good for walking. I just don't know what to do!
Second question -- I'm looking at touring plans, and again, I LOVE the folks who write the Unofficial Guides. We will get two day park to park tickets. Trying to decide if we should follow the UOG book's two day, park to park plan, which mixes everything up in the most efficient way, saving lots of standing in line time. Then again, they have a one day, park to park plan for Potterphiles. That uses the same computer algorithm program to order your attractions, but keeps you immersed in the Harry Potter World for a full day. I'm sort of inclined to do that, then us a one-day touring plan for the non-Potter attractions.
OK folks! I'd love to hear your two-cents worth on this. I'd love to hear any thoughts or advice on anything! We will arrive the evening of Thursday 5/25 and will check out on 5/30.
THANKS!

 

[Skiton]

Would you be buying express passes if you stay at CB? Because they're very nice to have, especially if you're there at a busy time of year.

I don't have any experience with Royal Pacific, but we did just stay at Cabana Bay and I was very impressed with it. It was much better than I anticipated, for a "budget" property. It's a huge complex and it seemed like we were a mile away from the lobby, but we're all walkers so it didn't really bother us. There are two huge pool areas, one with a lazy river and one with a water slide, that the kids loved. We also went bowling one night at Galaxy bowl. You can either take a walking path to the parks (about a mile, but a very pretty walk) or take the shuttle. While it's farther away, the shuttles only service CB and there are no other stops to or from the park, so it doesn't take very long. The biggest downside to Cabana Bay is the food. They don't have a table-service restaurant, and while there are plenty of choices in the food court, it's not the best food. It's easy to take a shuttle to City Walk, though, or you could get a cab and eat someplace in the surrounding area.

I can't help you with your second question, really. If you have express passes (which we did) you won't have to worry that much about lines, anyway. Just make sure you head straight to the main Harry Potter attraction first thing each day, as those don't have express pass lanes. Also, Minions at Universal Studios had an insanely long line, so if I were you I'd do that first thing after HP on the day you're there.

 

[bagsmom]

Would you be buying express passes if you stay at CB? Because they're very nice to have, especially if you're there at a busy time of year.

I don't have any experience with Royal Pacific, but we did just stay at Cabana Bay and I was very impressed with it. It was much better than I anticipated, for a "budget" property. It's a huge complex and it seemed like we were a mile away from the lobby, but we're all walkers so it didn't really bother us. There are two huge pool areas, one with a lazy river and one with a water slide, that the kids loved. We also went bowling one night at Galaxy bowl. You can either take a walking path to the parks (about a mile, but a very pretty walk) or take the shuttle. While it's farther away, the shuttles only service CB and there are no other stops to or from the park, so it doesn't take very long. The biggest downside to Cabana Bay is the food. They don't have a table-service restaurant, and while there are plenty of choices in the food court, it's not the best food. It's easy to take a shuttle to City Walk, though, or you could get a cab and eat someplace in the surrounding area.

I can't help you with your second question, really. If you have express passes (which we did) you won't have to worry that much about lines, anyway. Just make sure you head straight to the main Harry Potter attraction first thing each day, as those don't have express pass lanes. Also, Minions at Universal Studios had an insanely long line, so if I were you I'd do that first thing after HP on the day you're there.

Thank you! I'm not sure we will even be able to do Minions. We all kind of get motion sick. I read that that ride can do a number on you! Do you agree? (Why go to a theme park if you get motion sick -- you may ask! LOL) It's not so much the actual motion as it is motion combined with certain kinds of 3D. It's caused by visual issues. We all did OK on Star Tours at Disney.

 

[bagsmom]

I think we'll be OK with the food at Cabana Bay. We are really only staying there Thursday night through Monday morning. So three solid days of fast food won't be too terrible, if there are some semi-healthy options in there! And if we get the suite, we can do oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. That will help.

 

[Skiton]

To be honest, after a while, they all made me kind of queasy. So many of the rides there are CGI, 3D stuff that they pair with a moving vehicle. (Minions, both Harry Potters, Transformers, Spider Man, Simpsons, and who knows what else I'm missing.) Minions is definitely frenetic, but Forbidden Journey was the worst for me. I rode it first thing in the a.m. on an empty stomach. Bad idea. Don't skip Spider Man, though, it was everyone's favorite.

 

[kohlby]

I just look away with Minions. You can also request a non-motion seat. I've done both and didn't find much difference with my reaction though - it probably didn't help that the non-motion seats are right in the front row. I wear sea bands and that gets me through certain rides. I cannot go on - or even watch - Storm Force Accelerator. That ride is like teacups. Forbidden Journey has some parts that I struggle with and some are easy. IT goes back and forth between screen and not, so that helps me out. I do wear my sea bands on it though. Gringotts had no problems at all. Spiderman does have one part when I need to close my eyes - but one fast part. So, if you didn't know when, then it would be a big deal. I had no issues on Transformers, but understand how someone could. Simpsons took a lot of eye closing. (But the only essential sea band ride for me was Forbidden Journey since I didn't want to close my eyes and miss anything!) For comparison, I have to close my eyes during part of Star Tours as well. I don't always wear my sea bands on that one, but will if I remember it. (I always remember them at Universal due to Forbidden Journey!)

What time of year are you planning on going? If it's not a busy time, then I'd start out without adding on express pass if you do Cabana Bay. You may not need it. We usually do RPR - including our trip this past Nov/Dec and barely used express pass even though it was included. The crowds were low enough that we would have been fine without easily. Our next trip is in April and we're doing Cabana Bay for the first time - and without adding express pass on. We're taking my nephews so we need to get two rooms and RPR was out of our price range for doing it that way. I'm really excited about staying at CB and the pools and think the kids in my crew will enjoy them. The ages will be 7, 10, 12, 12 (almost 13), 15(almost 16), with four of the five being boys.

We normally bring food from home for breakfast and get some fruit/veggies from the grocery store. RPR has fridges in the renovated rooms as well. We're just getting the standard rooms for CB, so we won't have the kitchenette. No matter what type of trip, we're always in the parks during lunch time. I agree to check out City Walk for restaurants too. We sometimes go off-site for dinner - Sweet Tomatoes and Boston Market are two off-site favorites for feeding pre-teen/teen boys! On our last trip, we ordered pizza from the place on City Walk (Red Oven Pizza I think) to go and took it back to our room at RPR. We've had the opposite issue with food - we usually stay at RPR and it was fancier than my kids wanted and pricier than we always wanted. And there's only so much rotisserie chicken one can eat on a trip - that's our theme park standard.

 

[macraven]

When you stay at one of the 4 onsite hotels, you can pool hop to the others

Bring your room key if you pool hop

 

[Mjkre]

Considering you are there for 5 days, I would strongly consider adding on days. It costs only a nominal amount more and will allow you to tour parks at a more relaxed rate. You can, if you want, purchase the express pass at the park if u decide u need them and only for some of the days. We stay at RPR and we love the express pass, but would prefer to have more park days mixed w plenty of pool time. Depending on the time of year and your willingness to use single rider lines, you may not need Express pass.

Re: CB vs RPR for your family, that's a tough call. I have only been to RPR, but am tempted by the pool at CB as well. Ultimately, the distance to the park and express pass makes RPR the winner for us. But I can certainly see the appeal of CB. We like the pool at RPR, btw. And I have three teens...but we do wish there was a slide .

 

[anierodzik]

We were recently at Universal for a week over Thanksgiving. We did a split stay- starting out at RPR club level- that gave us the unlimited express passes- and club level works great for our family foodwise- we have 5 in the room, and two are teenage boys, so it saves us on snacks, breakfast, and dinners. Then we moved to CB, where we didn't have express passes, but the last days were more about pool, dining at Citywalk at Harry Potter (which doesn't benefit from Express Passes.) We loved both resorts, and plan to return to both sometime in the near future.

We used to do Disney, and I loved the Unofficial guides. Here's the good news: put down your books and your itineraries. If you have express pass, you don't need them. Take your time and enjoy! (Do hit the Minions ride early.) I get sick on rides sometimes, too, and the only one that consistently gets me at Universal is the Simpson's ride- everything else is fine.

Check out my trip report for more ideas:

Giving Thanks for Family...at Universal- Thanksgiving 2015 (Updated and Complete)

 

[squirrel]

I haven't been yet but I chose to stay at Cabana Bay because of our Canadian dollar. We will have at least 7 days in the parks so for my niece and I we should be able to see everything.

Some of the things I like about Cabana Bay is that it has a refillable mug for the resort (kind of like the ones at WDW resorts). I like that there is two pool areas each with a feature (lazy river, slide).

With the kids being older you could do single rider lines if you decide you don't need the express pass. Also you could do just a day or two with the express pass if you feel you need it which would help with the budget.

 

[OOMHS]

For me, the biggest benefit of RPR is being able to come back to the hotel so easily mid-day. I really love getting up early and doing the parks for a few hours, then skipping the mid-day heat and crowds by coming back to the hotel via a 10 minute walk to lounge by the pool, then heading back to the park in the late afternoon/early evening. Having to take a bus back to Cabana Bay wouldn't be as convenient. But I'm a different target audience than teenage boys; being able to re-charge is necessary for my beat-up middle-aged self!

 

[wookiebeck]

FWIW, the bus ride to CB is not like WDW bus rides. If you clocked from time to leave the park until entering resort door, CB travel time is within mere minutes of the water taxi resorts. All-in-all the total resort transportation layout makes it easy to visit the other hotels and pool hop.

 

[bagsmom]

Thanks all! The one I really have to worry about with needing a break is -- my husband! I tease that I have to keep baggies of cheerios and goldfish in my purse for him. If it's time to eat -- then by gosh, you'd better feed him, or he gets hangry! (Hungry + angry = grumpy!) He also needs naps -- he can't go, go, go the way I can. I have more theme park endurance than my kids even do!

We are going May 26 through 30 -- on the 30th, we are having just a few days at a condo on the beach -- something more relaxing than the theme parks -- for -- can you guess which member of our family will need the relaxation? Yup. DH. But he said -- "don't do it for ME! I'd rather stay home and save the money." I told him that wasn't one of his choices!!!! LOL

Here's another question -- do any of you have any guesses when Kong will open? The site says summer 2016. I'm hoping it's later in the summer, so perhaps more people will hold off on their vacations till then -- maybe cutting down on the crowds for us!

 

[wookiebeck]

Here's another question -- do any of you have any guesses when Kong will open? The site says summer 2016. I'm hoping it's later in the summer, so perhaps more people will hold off on their vacations till then -- maybe cutting down on the crowds for us!

That's one way to look at it. You might be the only one who hopes it is not open by then, haha. Being that it is a holiday weekend, crowds will not be affected much either way. If Kong is announced to be open that weekend, you might get a surge from locals with AP's. But then again, they might just want to see the new ride and leave soon after. Either way you sound like a 'glass is half full' kinda person.

 

[macraven]

There is always the possibility of a soft opening week or so before skull island opens

I've been lucky and was able to do a soft opening on 3 different rides on the past