themepark
Wanted: Your trip reports!<br><font color=00cc22>I
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
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For those of you who read this trip report first and/or missed the cast of characters, here we are:
Me!, DH, DD (age 9), DS (age 7), DD's friend (age 10)
I tried thinking of cute nicknames for everyone but decided that we will just have to develop those over time. That will be yet another reason to have to go back to Universal soon. I am never at a loss for words so be warned that this is a lengthy read. I added lots of details hoping to perhaps help someone along the way. I know I have gained so much invaluable information from reading these boards and I hope I can pass some of that along to others.
Here's Day One:
Saturday, August 2
We drove up to the front of the RPR and we oohed and awed at the beautiful hotel and the gorgeous plants. Bell men were everywhere. Lots of people were checking in and out. A bellman comes up to our van and says, "Welcome to the Royal Pacific. Rooms are not yet available but we will be happy to take care of your luggage for you." At this point the kids and I leave DH and head for check-in. After you walk across the bridge into the hotel lobby, you turn to the left to reach the front desk. There was a pretty long line for check-in. The Loew's check-in line was shorter however. There were two people working the Loew's check-in which is located to the right of the other lines. I checked the time once I got in line. It was 10:30. I didn't keep up with time very well on this trip unless I harassed DH about it since I did not wear a watch. Check in went smoothly, although I was so excited to be there I did not catch the lady's name who checked us in. I was immediately given a form to choose my Loews welcome gift and which newspaper I would like. I chose the fresh fruit and bottled water and the Miami Herald. The kids were given the shovel and pail and shell necklaces. I asked if there were other gifts but was told no. It was ok though. The kids thought it was neat just to receive a gift for no reason. One souvenir down!! I asked about having a pet free room and she said, "No problem, your room will be in Tower One which is pet free." I was given a card with a number to call to check on our room. I asked about the Grade A program and she said she was not sure if they were doing that anymore or not but she would go check. She disappeared to a back room and when she returned she said they were not but we were given 3 coupons for free sundaes. She went over the hotel map with us, and answered all my questions. I asked if they would be putting a hold on my credit card and she said yes so I explained that it was my debit card and asked if I could change the card on file to my credit card. No problem there and she said I could still pay with my debit card at check-out if I chose. We authorized $100 per day be available for room charges. You can charge anything at the hotel, IOA, USO, or Citywalk to your room. At this time DH showed up and we walked back to the van to retrieve sunscreen and prepare for the day. DH asked if we needed the entertainment card for anything. I then realized that she never asked to see the card upon check-in. I had booked the entertainment rate of $110 for standard room. I didn't ask for any upgrades. Thanks to all the great info I have received reading these boards, I knew that I should have a view of IOA since I was told we would be in Tower One!
We headed out on the path to the parks. Very nice walk with beautiful plants and flowers. The main thing the kids had talked about seeing was Jaws so we headed over to USO. We easily located the CeOsk machines (located to the right of the regular ticket lines). One machine wasn't working just right which was of course the one I was at. A CM came up and headed me to one which was working. Got the tickets very quickly and headed in the gate. I had purchased the 2 Park Preferred AP's online with the burger King code. For DD's friend, we had purchased the 5 days for the price of 2 ticket. Guest Services is located to the left of the entrance. We got in line there to have pictures made for our APs. It took no more than 10 minutes. We walked next door to stroller rental and purchased lanyards with the plastic pouches to store our room keys in. Each lanyard cost $3. This was a great purchase! I told DH to buy only 2, one for him and one for me but then the kids were saying "I want one! I want one!" So we bought one for each person and it ended up being the best decision. The kids liked having their own stuff and they loved wearing the lanyards. Plus, later on we split up so it was nice not having to worry about who has whose card.
Finally, our day in the park begins! We saw Tommy and Angelica riding in on the bus but we didn't stop for pictures. We headed straight into Jimmy Neutron. Wait time posted at 75 minutes. We walked right in with FOTL. Next we went to Shrek. Wait time was 120 minutes. We waited about 10 min. We saw the Ghostbusters drive by while in line. Next we rode Back to the Future then Men in Black where I scored a measly 83,050 which was the high score in our group of first timers. Don't laugh.
Next we rode Jaws, then Earthquake, then Twister all of which we just walked on to with FOTL. We rode Jimmy Neutron again and shopped in the Nickelodeon store you exit the ride through. All the kids got Spongebob shirts, you know the yellow ones with just Spongebob's face on the front. It was now 3:30 and we were starving so we walked over to Citywalk to Margaritaville. We were seated right away. We sat in a booth with a great view of the volcano which we saw erupt spewing margaritas down the side at 4:00pm. Fun place. I had the fajitas which were ok, DH had the Cheeseburger in Paradise and wondered how I could claim to be a parrothead and not eat the cheeseburger in paradise. Hey! I did have a margarita! I told him we would just have to come back. The kids had cheeseburgers and chicken. They liked the kids menus which doubled as parrot masks.
We then rode the water taxi back to the RPR. Checked on the room and were assigned 1252. This was a second floor room so I wasn't expecting much of a view. We were pleasantly surprised to find a view of the water taxi waterway, the Hulk and Dr. Doom! We had plants in front of our window but still had an excellent view. We were as far from the elevator as you could be so it was very quiet except for the quiet roar of Hulk (does that make sense?..You know the sound if you have stayed there) We loved the view since we felt like we were in paradise with all the tropical plants outside the window but at the same time we could feel the excitement of having the rides so close by. Our welcome gift was a nice basket of fruit; apples, 1 orange, mangos, and strawberries plus 3 bottles of Fiji water (the label said it was bottled in Fiji). Iggy delivered our bags to the room and he told us all about the hotel, the room, and some of the hotel services. He was super friendly and DH tipped him $10. We had 8 bags plus one very heavy cooler filled with ice and drinks.
By this time it was raining. We got unpacked, the kids watched cartoons, and we all rested. At 7:00pm, it was still raining but we were ready to do some exploring. We didn't know where were headed so we walked down to Luggage Services to check out umbrellas. Iggy told us about this service. Be sure to take them back or you will be charged $25. We headed out on the walkway in the rain. We decided to check out IOA. We rode Spiderman 2 times with no wait. Then we headed towards Toon Lagoon. We walked right on to Popeye and Bluto with no wait. This was the regular line, no FOTL needed or offered. No one was riding the water rides. Apparently there isn't much demand for them in the rain? We ended up riding Popeye 4 times then Dudley Dooright's Ripsaw Falls 2 times, and Jurassic Park River Adventure once. Of course we no longer needed the umbrellas because we were soaked. And I mean soaked from head to toe. Those water rides are the BEST! We loved the big hill on Ripsaw Falls and everything about Popeye. We watched the fireworks from the bridge between Lost Continent and Suess Landing. There were only a few other people watching from there. The fireworks were a great way to end our first day. We walked back to the RPR, hung all of our wet clothes up to dry and were asleep by 11:30.
Stay tuned for Day Two!
Me!, DH, DD (age 9), DS (age 7), DD's friend (age 10)
I tried thinking of cute nicknames for everyone but decided that we will just have to develop those over time. That will be yet another reason to have to go back to Universal soon. I am never at a loss for words so be warned that this is a lengthy read. I added lots of details hoping to perhaps help someone along the way. I know I have gained so much invaluable information from reading these boards and I hope I can pass some of that along to others.
Here's Day One:
Saturday, August 2
We drove up to the front of the RPR and we oohed and awed at the beautiful hotel and the gorgeous plants. Bell men were everywhere. Lots of people were checking in and out. A bellman comes up to our van and says, "Welcome to the Royal Pacific. Rooms are not yet available but we will be happy to take care of your luggage for you." At this point the kids and I leave DH and head for check-in. After you walk across the bridge into the hotel lobby, you turn to the left to reach the front desk. There was a pretty long line for check-in. The Loew's check-in line was shorter however. There were two people working the Loew's check-in which is located to the right of the other lines. I checked the time once I got in line. It was 10:30. I didn't keep up with time very well on this trip unless I harassed DH about it since I did not wear a watch. Check in went smoothly, although I was so excited to be there I did not catch the lady's name who checked us in. I was immediately given a form to choose my Loews welcome gift and which newspaper I would like. I chose the fresh fruit and bottled water and the Miami Herald. The kids were given the shovel and pail and shell necklaces. I asked if there were other gifts but was told no. It was ok though. The kids thought it was neat just to receive a gift for no reason. One souvenir down!! I asked about having a pet free room and she said, "No problem, your room will be in Tower One which is pet free." I was given a card with a number to call to check on our room. I asked about the Grade A program and she said she was not sure if they were doing that anymore or not but she would go check. She disappeared to a back room and when she returned she said they were not but we were given 3 coupons for free sundaes. She went over the hotel map with us, and answered all my questions. I asked if they would be putting a hold on my credit card and she said yes so I explained that it was my debit card and asked if I could change the card on file to my credit card. No problem there and she said I could still pay with my debit card at check-out if I chose. We authorized $100 per day be available for room charges. You can charge anything at the hotel, IOA, USO, or Citywalk to your room. At this time DH showed up and we walked back to the van to retrieve sunscreen and prepare for the day. DH asked if we needed the entertainment card for anything. I then realized that she never asked to see the card upon check-in. I had booked the entertainment rate of $110 for standard room. I didn't ask for any upgrades. Thanks to all the great info I have received reading these boards, I knew that I should have a view of IOA since I was told we would be in Tower One!
We headed out on the path to the parks. Very nice walk with beautiful plants and flowers. The main thing the kids had talked about seeing was Jaws so we headed over to USO. We easily located the CeOsk machines (located to the right of the regular ticket lines). One machine wasn't working just right which was of course the one I was at. A CM came up and headed me to one which was working. Got the tickets very quickly and headed in the gate. I had purchased the 2 Park Preferred AP's online with the burger King code. For DD's friend, we had purchased the 5 days for the price of 2 ticket. Guest Services is located to the left of the entrance. We got in line there to have pictures made for our APs. It took no more than 10 minutes. We walked next door to stroller rental and purchased lanyards with the plastic pouches to store our room keys in. Each lanyard cost $3. This was a great purchase! I told DH to buy only 2, one for him and one for me but then the kids were saying "I want one! I want one!" So we bought one for each person and it ended up being the best decision. The kids liked having their own stuff and they loved wearing the lanyards. Plus, later on we split up so it was nice not having to worry about who has whose card.
Finally, our day in the park begins! We saw Tommy and Angelica riding in on the bus but we didn't stop for pictures. We headed straight into Jimmy Neutron. Wait time posted at 75 minutes. We walked right in with FOTL. Next we went to Shrek. Wait time was 120 minutes. We waited about 10 min. We saw the Ghostbusters drive by while in line. Next we rode Back to the Future then Men in Black where I scored a measly 83,050 which was the high score in our group of first timers. Don't laugh.
Next we rode Jaws, then Earthquake, then Twister all of which we just walked on to with FOTL. We rode Jimmy Neutron again and shopped in the Nickelodeon store you exit the ride through. All the kids got Spongebob shirts, you know the yellow ones with just Spongebob's face on the front. It was now 3:30 and we were starving so we walked over to Citywalk to Margaritaville. We were seated right away. We sat in a booth with a great view of the volcano which we saw erupt spewing margaritas down the side at 4:00pm. Fun place. I had the fajitas which were ok, DH had the Cheeseburger in Paradise and wondered how I could claim to be a parrothead and not eat the cheeseburger in paradise. Hey! I did have a margarita! I told him we would just have to come back. The kids had cheeseburgers and chicken. They liked the kids menus which doubled as parrot masks. We then rode the water taxi back to the RPR. Checked on the room and were assigned 1252. This was a second floor room so I wasn't expecting much of a view. We were pleasantly surprised to find a view of the water taxi waterway, the Hulk and Dr. Doom! We had plants in front of our window but still had an excellent view. We were as far from the elevator as you could be so it was very quiet except for the quiet roar of Hulk (does that make sense?..You know the sound if you have stayed there) We loved the view since we felt like we were in paradise with all the tropical plants outside the window but at the same time we could feel the excitement of having the rides so close by. Our welcome gift was a nice basket of fruit; apples, 1 orange, mangos, and strawberries plus 3 bottles of Fiji water (the label said it was bottled in Fiji). Iggy delivered our bags to the room and he told us all about the hotel, the room, and some of the hotel services. He was super friendly and DH tipped him $10. We had 8 bags plus one very heavy cooler filled with ice and drinks.
By this time it was raining. We got unpacked, the kids watched cartoons, and we all rested. At 7:00pm, it was still raining but we were ready to do some exploring. We didn't know where were headed so we walked down to Luggage Services to check out umbrellas. Iggy told us about this service. Be sure to take them back or you will be charged $25. We headed out on the walkway in the rain. We decided to check out IOA. We rode Spiderman 2 times with no wait. Then we headed towards Toon Lagoon. We walked right on to Popeye and Bluto with no wait. This was the regular line, no FOTL needed or offered. No one was riding the water rides. Apparently there isn't much demand for them in the rain? We ended up riding Popeye 4 times then Dudley Dooright's Ripsaw Falls 2 times, and Jurassic Park River Adventure once. Of course we no longer needed the umbrellas because we were soaked. And I mean soaked from head to toe. Those water rides are the BEST! We loved the big hill on Ripsaw Falls and everything about Popeye. We watched the fireworks from the bridge between Lost Continent and Suess Landing. There were only a few other people watching from there. The fireworks were a great way to end our first day. We walked back to the RPR, hung all of our wet clothes up to dry and were asleep by 11:30.
Stay tuned for Day Two!
