Sharing the Love: a Gorgeous Spring Weekend at RPR and CBBR updated 3/12/17 and complete!

[pepperandchips]

HI HOMIES! I've missed you guys since I wrote my last trip report. If I have any new friends you can find my last report over here.

I'm back for another trip report - shortish this time but with a lot more photos! I've officially lost my mind and will be writing my Universal trip report concurrently with the Disney portion of my TR. I wanted to write the whole thing chronologically but I guess I am more excited about the Universal portion (Shhhh don't tell the mouse) and wanted to get to it while it's fresh. So here we go.

This is all of us:

Pictured here left to right are R (my partner), Thing 1, L (my mom), the Cat in the Hat (no relation), D (my sister), me, and Thing 2.

We all spent 9 glorious nights April 1-April 10 enjoying the fine Florida weather, theme parks, a beach, our resort, and tons of delicious food! The first part of our stay we enjoyed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek resort and we did our resort and relaxation days as well as Disney from that home base. If you are interested in that trip report, just hop on over here to read along. At Universal, R and I stayed at the Royal Pacific Resort for the first time. My mom and sister tried out Cabana Bay Beach Resort.

This is me:

(Well, me and R). I'm the one with the long hair. My name is Melinda and I am in my late 20s. I have a rewarding but often stressful job in the bustling metropolis of Atlanta. My mom, sister, and most of our family live not too far from me in one of the Atlanta suburbs, so we're all about six hours' (with no traffic) drive from Universal Orlando. I'm also a huge Disney fan so we try to get to Orlando as often as possible. R and I visited Universal for the first time together in January and we both absolutely loved it. My favorite Universal attractions are The Mummy, E.T., and NBC Sports Grill and Brew. Just kidding about that last one! (Sorta )

This is R:

Ah, my beloved better half. R and I met about a year and a half ago and have been mostly inseparable ever since. Since we started dating, we've traveled together a lot. You could say it's our shared passion, though I love Orlando way more than poor R. Together we've spent several weeks exploring Costa Rica, taken a Caribbean cruise, road-tripped to Savannah and Fort Lauderdale, toured the lovely city of Asheville NC, and logged more hours in Orlando than any sane couple has a right to. (Spoiler: the insane one is me )

Here is the rest of my adorable family:

My annoyingly photogenic and beautiful little sister, D, who is 22 and loves thrill rides, Harry Potter, and all things unicorn. She's a modern hippie and she's okay with that.

My beautiful mom, L, was initially not into the idea of a Universal trip. Don't worry - she wasn't into the idea of Disney at first either! I like to take credit for making this cynic a believer on both counts. My mom likes roller coasters, is super crafty, and is generally willing to try anything once - except drop tower rides. She hates those.

So that's the full cast of characters!

Please say hello if you're reading along. I do love having friends here to talk to. I'll be back shortly with another update and the beginnings of the Universal part of our trip.

 

[gsikes]

I'm in! I read your previous TR and it along with a few other ones really got me excited about planning our trip in May/June. We will be staying at RPR too. Can't wait to see what you thought and the pics. Thanks for sharing!

 

[princesserin1350]

I'll be following along! Your sister sounds exactly like my sister who I'm taking to Universal with me in May!!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Yay! I'm definitely along for this report, too . You have a beautiful trio of travelling partners for this adventure....what fun to have your mom and sis along with your beloved .

Looking forward to the next installment.....and all the pics!!

 

[schumigirl]

Hey Melinda.........

Yay......another trip report to read!! Love it........

Lovely pictures so far, you do have a lovely family.......looking forward to reading along again.......it's lovely seeing the parks and hotel from another point of view.......

 

[Kivara]

I'm here! Can't wait!!You all look so lovely (even though your mom was sporting the mouse on a Universal day :sigh: Just kidding!)

 

[pepperandchips]

friends! So glad to have you all here reading along! These things are so much more fun when you don't feel like you are talking to yourself...

I'm in! I read your previous TR and it along with a few other ones really got me excited about planning our trip in May/June. We will be staying at RPR too. Can't wait to see what you thought and the pics. Thanks for sharing!

Oh man, you have selected a wonderful hotel! We loved Royal Pacific. So much so that we never actually made it over to Cabana Bay (spoiler alert!) to visit my mom and sister's family suite. And that's saying a lot because I really wanted to check out CBBR. Oh well, that just means I am saving plenty of things to look forward to in a future visit!

I'll be following along! Your sister sounds exactly like my sister who I'm taking to Universal with me in May!!

I love her to pieces but it's annoying how cute she is all the time Universal is great for a sister trip. And I love your avatar!

Yay! I'm definitely along for this report, too . You have a beautiful trio of travelling partners for this adventure....what fun to have your mom and sis along with your beloved .

Looking forward to the next installment.....and all the pics!!

I rented a better quality point and shoot specifically for Universal (my bigger camera didn't fit in poor Hedwig) so I took a LOT of pictures. So glad to have you here following along!!!

Hey Melinda.........

Yay......another trip report to read!! Love it........

Lovely pictures so far, you do have a lovely family.......looking forward to reading along again.......it's lovely seeing the parks and hotel from another point of view.......

Hi Carole!!! Thanks for saying hi they are a lovely family most of the time.. haha! We had a great time at Universal. Looking forward to remembering all of the details through my TR!

I'm here! Can't wait!!You all look so lovely (even though your mom was sporting the mouse on a Universal day :sigh: Just kidding!)

Oh man I am actually guilty too! The Cat in the Hat photo was from our departure day and it was supposed to be a little cooler (haha, it certainly wasn't) so I wore leggings and a Minnie Mouse top because I planned on needing a sweater and pants. You also can't see that my shoes have Minnie Mouse on them...

We had some really funny interactions with the security screeners at bag check because my "Orlando wallet" is... you guessed it... Minnie Mouse, which I was carrying around inside my Hedwig backpack. They had plenty of jokes about me killing the poor owl from the inside out. All in good fun and we loved interacting with them!

 

[tortilla24]

Yay a new trip report on these boards!

 

[pepperandchips]

Yay a new trip report on these boards!

yay! Hi Tortilla!! Welcome aboard my crazy longwinded TR!!!

 

[pepperandchips]

Universal Day 1 - 4/8 - Part one

Morning came too early for us this day as we'd had a late night on Thursday between closing down the Magic Kingdom and packing up as many of our things as we could. This morning we were checking out of the Wyndham Bonnet Creek and heading to Universal on-site hotels!

We still wanted to have most of the day at Universal, so we set our alarms early to finalize packing and we were on the road reasonably early. We made the short drive up I-4 and before we knew it we were all pulling in to the Loews Royal Pacific Resort. This was our first indication that we’d picked a BUSY weekend at RPR – there were signs out and about directing conference attendees to park in the garage. We left our things in the car and headed across the bridge to reception.

How cute are these little frog mascots?

Fortunately there were just a few families ahead of us to check in and we were helped by one of the most wonderful front desk employees we’ve ever interacted with (Rachel). Rachel saw my sister eyeballing the brightly colored floral leis at each check in station and before even getting to the meat and potatoes of check-in, she allowed us to each pick a lei in our desired color choice. This is such a silly thing to get excited over, but it went a long way in welcoming us to the resort and starting our trip on the right welcoming Aloha note.

Excited for her pink and purple lei

I booked our room at Royal Pacific via Orbitz (which is my preferred travel booking engine – for tips and my grievances on their recent changes check out this thread) and we got what I thought was a really great rate during a spring break busy season - $262.26 per night including tax. I did use Orbucks and a promotional code to get this rate. I booked in late January and kept price checking via Loews directly and via discount travel booking engines but shortly after I booked, the hotel must have fully booked up for the conference and spring break travelers, because there was never anything better available (and shortly thereafter there were no rooms available at all). The point of me saying this is that when I booked I wasn’t sure whether my mom and sister were going to be able to join us so I didn’t add them on to the reservation. At check in, I asked Rachel to add them and she very generously added them at no charge to the reservation using some Hogwarts Magic (I hope I am not getting anyone in trouble for mentioning this) so that we weren’t charged extra for the additional adults. I was fully prepared to pay the extra $50 per night so that we would all have the advantage of Express Pass. No rooms were available for us at check in (it was around 10:00 AM so I was not at all surprised) but Rachel took my request for a room in tower one and my cell phone number and we went off on our merry way. Rachel really went the extra mile for us and we were off to a great start.

Above is one of my favorite photos from the trip – R and D being silly in the lobby – which may have been a protest for how many photos I wanted them to pose for… oops. You can see the lovely courtyard in the background here – one of my favorite features at RPR.

Photos really don’t do justice to the lovely lobby area at RPR. We loved the open, airy, comfortable feel of this resort. I also felt like the layout of the towers and the design of the floorplan of the whole place made a large resort feel intimate. Plus - is this weird to say? - I loved the lobby restrooms here. They were some of the nicest restrooms I've been to in Orlando.

We printed our Express Passes and did some window shopping in the lobby gift shop. Soon we headed out for our first trip down the short path to City Walk.

This is a short and absolutely gorgeous walk when the weather is nice (as it was for the duration of our stay). In fact, we only rode the boat on the way back from City Walk a couple of times – never when we were headed toward the parks.

Our first agenda item was to procure lanyards for everyone but me (I had purchased a Marauder’s Map themed lanyard during our January trip). This meant we ducked in to the Universal Studios Store at City Walk to check out the merch on offer. D had already eyeballed this SO FLUFFY unicorn backpack online… some people are pretty serious about stuffed unicorn merchandise, so she immediately wanted to pick this up. I encouraged her to wait and check out the locker sizes to see if she really wanted to schlep this thing around all day since she already had on a Duffy the Disney bear backpack, and one of the two backpacks would need to be carried around in hand. For the record, the fluffy unicorn backpack fits just fine in the ride lockers. I don’t know if both Duffy and the Unicorn would have cohabitated in there comfortably - we waited until leaving the park before she purchased said backpack. R snagged a jazzy Cat in the Hat/Seuss themed lanyard here.

Our next stop would be the Super Silly Stuff in order to continue our quest for the perfect lanyards, but first we needed to upgrade D and L’s park tickets to power passes. This was an easy task with the help of efficient team members at guest services just inside Universal Studios. My mom’s upgrade was free (although the team member helping her was in training and seemed surprised by this – ) and my sister’s was $31.95. This was great – we’d bought D’s ticket before the ticket price increase and L’s was upgraded from one of the
buy two days get one free" park to park promotional tickets that we got for a great price on UT. Both passes ended up working out to about the same amount out of pocket after the upgrade – around $195. Deal of the century!

Super Silly Stuff was browsed, no satisfactory lanyards were available, so my shopping crew ventured onward. Here are some shots of the Mardi Gras decorations still going strong in mid April….

We spotted a couple of wayward singer brothers rounding up fans for some sort of concert performance

And then I had the honor of introducing my family to THE MUMMY! We prepared to forfeit our souls, beheld our fate, and did not savor riches beyond measure. Twice. Yes, it was AWESOME! I knew my mom would love this one and she did. The Express Pass line also blew their minds. My plan to convert my family into Universal enthusiasts was well underway. By this point it was probably around 11:15 or so and we were all feeling the beginnings of hunger so I suggested we head toward Diagon Alley to check out the line for Leaky Cauldron before the lunch rush hit.

D checked out the Knight Bus

And we got in the nearly nonexistent line for Leaky Cauldron.

We had somewhat of a hard time choosing, but I chose the Ploughman’s Platter for one ($9.99, not on the menu for one person, but offered to me by the team member), R and my mom both chose fish and chips ($13.99 each), and D chose the chicken sandwich ($11.49). We were apparently ravenous as I took a photo of our drinks (3 dragon scale beers at $8.49 each) and a pumpkin juice ($4.49) but none of our food – which I realized more than halfway through my meal. Oops. I guess it’s good this isn’t a dining review!

I really enjoyed the Ploughman’s platter and everyone else gave me a few bites of theirs as well. The scotch egg really was my favorite part so next time I will order an extra one of those – it’s not on the menu but I’ve heard it’s available. The blue cheese was a little too pungent for me (and I normally love blue cheese) but everything else was wonderful and after having had a week of heavy food, I was grateful for the lighter option. The wedge potato “chips” were excellent as usual, the fish was as good as expected, and I actually really enjoyed my sister’s chicken sandwich. It tasted a bit to me like the chargrill chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A (which costs a lot less than $11.49 but my local dwarf house isn’t nearly this scenic). The total with my preferred pass discount and tax was $78.83, or approximately the cost of one cheeseburger at Disney. Just kidding!

I think that’s enough for the first installment. I took a lot more photographs in this day so I am going to break up the day into a couple of chunks.

Ahead: my sister sightsees in Diagon Alley for the first time, we experience some attractions, check in at RPR, and then conclude the day with a delicious City Walk dinner.

 

[princesserin1350]

Great post! That unicorn backpack is enticing...do you have any idea how much it is? I might have to snag it on my trip! Great tip about the Ploughman's platter for one, I've been eyeing it but my sister said yuck when she saw it on the menu. Can't wait for the next part!

 

[pepperandchips]

Great post! That unicorn backpack is enticing...do you have any idea how much it is? I might have to snag it on my trip! Great tip about the Ploughman's platter for one, I've been eyeing it but my sister said yuck when she saw it on the menu. Can't wait for the next part!

I actually DO know exactly how much it is because my crazy sister scoped out all of her souvenir options online before we even left (I guess she got a smidge of the planning gene too, albeit in a different way). It was $36.95 but we used my preferred pass for a 10% discount.

Check it out online here: https://www.universalorlando.com/Merchandise/Gift/Despicable-Me-Unicorn-Plush-Backpack.html or check out ALL the fluffy unicorn options here: https://www.universalorlando.com/Merchandise/ProductList.aspx?q=Fluffy+Unicorn.

The ploughman's for one was a good surprise - I was totally prepared to pay for the larger size, but the small one was enough for me to share the cheese with everyone in our group. I also shared my scotch egg but then I wished I had another one soooo maybe tell her it's gross. haha!

 

[schumigirl]

Lovely start!!!

Love seeing pics of my favourite places, especially RP! Making me homesick..........lol.........

Look forward to next update.........

 

[princesserin1350]

I actually DO know exactly how much it is because my crazy sister scoped out all of her souvenir options online before we even left (I guess she got a smidge of the planning gene too, albeit in a different way). It was $36.95 but we used my preferred pass for a 10% discount.

Check it out online here: https://www.universalorlando.com/Merchandise/Gift/Despicable-Me-Unicorn-Plush-Backpack.html or check out ALL the fluffy unicorn options here: https://www.universalorlando.com/Merchandise/ProductList.aspx?q=Fluffy+Unicorn.

The ploughman's for one was a good surprise - I was totally prepared to pay for the larger size, but the small one was enough for me to share the cheese with everyone in our group. I also shared my scotch egg but then I wished I had another one soooo maybe tell her it's gross. haha!

Thank you so much for the link! I had no idea you could look at all the merchandise online...I will definitely have to do some browsing before my trip! Quick question about the cheese (oddly specific lol): is it more mild or stinky? I do love cheese, but really pungent varieties can be a bit too much for me. Definitely going to get an extra scotch egg though!!

 

[pepperandchips]

Thank you so much for the link! I had no idea you could look at all the merchandise online...I will definitely have to do some browsing before my trip! Quick question about the cheese (oddly specific lol): is it more mild or stinky? I do love cheese, but really pungent varieties can be a bit too much for me. Definitely going to get an extra scotch egg though!!

I wish I had taken a picture but I'm not good at remembering when I'm super hungry so I lifted this one from touring plans - which I don't feel too bad about since I pay for their service and I'm rehosting it myself. Couldn't find one on WDWInfo. To give credit where it is due though, here is the link: https://touringplans.com/universal-studios-florida/dining/leaky-cauldron (with my luck this will be not ok on the boards and then i'll really be a bonehead) The blue cheese is in the bottom left.

I am used to mild, creamy blue cheeses with a distinctly "blue" flavor - I am good with maytag, camembert, etc. I don't know what was up with the blue cheese on my ploughman's that day but it almost had a flavor like it had gone bad. The other two cheeses (on the far right) were much tastier and I received a fair portion of those so I didn't feel like I needed the blue. I actually gave one big hunk of the sharp cheddar-like to R and polished off all the herbed cheese myself. If the photo looks at all appealing to you, I would go for it! The worst thing that happens is that you don't care for it and leave more room in your tummy for some Florean Fortescue ice cream

 

[princesserin1350]

The other two cheeses (on the far right) were much tastier and I received a fair portion of those so I didn't feel like I needed the blue. I actually gave one big hunk of the sharp cheddar-like to R and polished off all the herbed cheese myself. If the photo looks at all appealing to you, I would go for it! The worst thing that happens is that you don't care for it and leave more room in your tummy for some Florean Fortescue ice cream

You had me at "herbed cheese" I definitely need to get this platter! Thanks so much for answering my questions!

 

[pepperandchips]

Universal Day 1 - 4/8 - Part Two

With our hunger in check after our tasty meal at Leaky Cauldron, we went out into Diagon Alley for a little look around. We started in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, then stepped into the newly opened Sugarplum's, both of which were chock full of people. This very kind lady stepped right in front of my camera to take her picture but the only others I took were even more badly out of focus so here's a shot of Sugarplum's and the back of rude lady's head:

They had almost the exact same stuff as Honeyduke's so we made quick work of getting our tails outta there.

We walked through Carkitt Market and stopped in for a chat with the goblin at the money exchange, but D was too shy to ask him about the Gringotts dragon.

I found the above picture pretty funny since anyone who's been to Diagon Alley knows that the dragon's fire is LOUD and IMPRESSIVE but this photo made it look like a sad little cough of flame.

We went into the Magical Menagerie as someone had been eyeing pygmy puff merchandise in her pre-shopping (cough cough my sister), and R was interested in checking out whether any Dobby merchandise was available. Slim pickins as far as Dobby goes, so no one made any purchases. I like that shop a lot though and it's never crowded when we go in.

The dragon looking a little more fearsome here...

We stopped for a visit to the public conveniences and then ducked into Knockturn Alley. R thinks it was because we said "diagon alley" wrong when we were using our Flue Powder.

Is that a ghost next to R?!

We figured we'd better avoid the dodgy sorts hanging around in Knockturn Alley and decided we'd battle some aliens at Men in Black. This was a walk on with express - R got the red button bonus and I still can't figure out how that works, timing-wise. Can more than one person in your car get it? The other car spun us a good amount - D told me later she didn't understand we were supposed to aim for their car.

Next we helped E.T. find all of his friends on his home planet. I wasn't sure we would recognize them but Botanicus and Steven Spielberg sure helped. Then we set out for our first group experience with this guy:

The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit! When it was our turn to board, my mom and sister were assigned row 2 and R and I drew row 3. Well, this was poor sorting by the team member because due to my mom's body shape she ended up needing a modified seat on this ride - she didn't have trouble with the other roller coasters but I guess the way this restraint goes around your body did not work well with her dimensions. So since it was her first time riding, she didn't know to ask for a modified seat and they couldn't get her clicked in by the end of the conveyor belt. They ended up pulling her and my sister off and sent them in row 3 on the next train! If only we had known to swap. We all thought that the ride was a little rough this time and we were frazzled a bit so we decided that we wouldn't re-ride. The express pass line was probably 10-15 minutes.

By this point we were all getting tired, but as it was a Grad Bash evening, the parks would be closing at 6:00 so we didn't want to leave yet. Of course, that's foolish - if you're tired, you should take a break and listen to your body. We decided we all needed a pick-me-up since we'd had lunch so early, and we ended up deciding to walk toward Florean Fortescue's. My sister and I stopped for a starbucks iced coffee on the way.

Florean Fortescue's had a HUGE wait - the queue was all the way down the street to Knockturn Alley! We didn't want ice cream THAT bad. We decided to check out the line for the Hogwarts Express and see about getting a refreshment in IOA, which would put us slightly closer to the RPR when it was time to leave. But the Hogwarts Express wait was posted at 45 minutes, and at this point we got the midafternoon blues - we were all tired, hot, and not eager to wait in a queue for 45 minutes. Had I been feeling myself, I would have suggested we all grab a beverage from Chez Alcatraz and just wait for the HE since the queue is nice and cool, all indoors, but alas - I was in need of a snickers.

We cut our losses and decided to try NBC Sports Grill & Brew for a restorative cocktail.

Along the way, Bumblebee was coming out for a meet so we stopped to watch for a minute. The Transformer meet and greets equally fascinate me and freak me out. I like Bumblebee though because of the interaction with guests via songs.

The parade sort of cut us off from being able to get out of the park but it was cute seeing some of it.

We had a drink at NBC Sports Grill & Brew but everyone was just overly exhausted so we decided to go get our room and take a rest - I had gotten the text that our room was ready at precisely 2:32, and it was well past check in time so I knew that D & L's room would be ready as well. We were all in need of some down time so we headed for our respective check in desks to be assigned rooms.

Up next: Our room!

 

[pepperandchips]

Universal Day 1 - 4/8 - Part 3

Once again, the front desk staff was exceptional but I did not catch her name because I was so tired! We were assigned room 1124 (I think, if I am remembering correctly) which was in tower one as I had requested. We had booked a standard view, but as with our previous stay at Portofino, got an obscured pool view. This room was very loud during the afternoon because of the music at the pool area. Otherwise I liked this room as we were in one of the most convenient rooms to the walking path.

I like the decor in the room, and the beds and pillows were very comfortable. We knew that the RPR had replaced the minibar with a standard minifridge so we liked being able to cool our beverages and leftovers there. RPR rooms are outfitted with Keurig coffeemakers and I brought along some K cups that we like - I don't care for what's provided (french roast and some type of tea).

Here's a look around the room - crappy phone pics, sorry.

I didn't get a photo of the toilet and shower portion of the bathroom, but they are in their own separate room and it is basically a standard tub/shower combination.

While I love the style of the rooms and the location of the resort, I actually preferred our room at Portofino Bay when we stayed there in January. I think overall I liked the feel and ambiance of Royal Pacific more but I have to give PB the edge on the rooms.

We rested for a while, woke up and made some coffee, and headed out in search of dinner. Of course, R and I had one place in mind we wanted to make sure we visited after our last experience there....

COWFISH!

We were initially apprehensive since the whole area around Cowfish had been barricaded off for the Grad Bash staging, but by the time we arrived (8:35) the Grad Bash barricades were off to the side, not in use. Thanks to the use of text as their wait system, I know we waited exactly 13 minutes. We were seated on the second level on the patio (we had requested outdoor seating since it was so nice out).

We started out with drinks.

I had the Bourbon Smash - $11.50:

D had the Rising Sun Margarita (a tequila sunrise basically) - $10.50:

L had the Farmer's Daughter - $12.00:

We also ordered a firecracker roll as an appetizer and then I went up to floor three to use the ladies' room, and when I came back half the sushi was gone so I did not get a photo. It was good though! We finished it all.

We liked our drinks but all ordered something different for the second round - I can't remember what everyone else got and I didn't take additional photos of those, but I switched to bourbon and ginger beer and it was perfect.

For dinner, R had the CBCLT - beef burger, cheddar cheese, applewood bacon, white cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, cowfish sauce. This comes served on a Brioche bun but R asked for no bun. He had grilled veggies as a side and this meal was absolutely delicious. The veggies have a great flavor. ($14)

I went with the Dynamic Duo - beef burger, braised short rib, sweet roasted garlic, provolone cheese, tomato onion jam, lettuce, onion, tomato, onion roll. I ordered the house seasoned fries as my side and they were great. I ended up removing most of my bun and eating this with a fork and knife - it was very good but had a lot going on. I took most of the yummy short rib off and ate that separately as it had a very sweet flavor and I didn't like it with the rest of the burger flavors going on. I would recommend it. ($15)

D had the Bento Box - a combo meal featuring both burger and sushi, including a mini burger with American cheese, pickles, and chopped red onion, sweet potato fries, Thai cucumbers, edamame, and a choice of 4 pieces of sushi - she picked California I think. ($15) D liked this but did not like the Thai Cucumbers which was fine because my mom and I ate most of them for her

I didn't get a photo of my mom's for some reason but she had the Black Truffle Cheese Burger - beef burger, black truffle cheese, roasted shallots, sauteed mushrooms, roasted garlic aioli, lettuce, brioche bun ($15). This was also good, very decadent. She ordered seaweed salad as her side and it was also good but I wasn't crazy about the texture.

Here's another picture of my burger:

Lest you think he was being healthy with the veggies and bunless burger, R had eyeballed the desserts and picked out the Candy Bar Ice Cream Cake - layered Oreos, Reese's, ice cream, fudge, caramel, and fresh cake. ($10) This was good but not something I would go out of my way for, or even order again. The portion was plenty for sharing but this didn't have a depth of flavor beyond "sweet":

Overall this was a great meal. Including my pass discount, tax, tip, drinks, appetizer, entrees, and dessert we spent $186.54 for four people, which was very reasonable for a nice dinner out.

Crappy phone pics from the way back:

We slept well that night, resting up for our big day ahead - a full day at Universal!

 

[schumigirl]

Wow.........fabulous update!!! Yes the first dragon picture is a hoot.........but the pictures are lovely!!

You all did well and got to do plenty..........were the parks busy?? It doesn't look too bad......The parade is cute, we really enjoy it despite it not being overly elaborate.......fun and colourful.

Cowfish food is so good.......glad you enjoyed it!

 

[dixonsontour]

loving your report