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

[pepperandchips]

I went to grab a Cinnabon while R headed toward Croissant Moon.

Sorry, I cut it up before remembering to get a photo. I also got an extra cup of icing on the side, which I definitely recommend! Sugar for breakfast on the last day!

Of course, we had to have our favorite pastry for a final time:

My beloved pistachio muffin.

These were both tasty and a great sugar breakfast.

We walked over to Universal Studios to continue with another adventure sure to make us smile - a visit with our favorite minions!

Gru's house has really amazing detail

And, as with that other theme park in Orlando, don't forget to look up!

I love that the fish got a piece of someone's undershorts...

The pre-show was really cute and WE got picked to be the "spotlight" family!!! We did bathe, I swear...

Despicable Me is one of my favorite movies of all time and the ride was also very cute.

Our dance party with the Minions didn't lead to much of a great photo... Oh well!

My mom found a nice souvenir in the gift shop for her dog, who also has a ferocious underbite and a bit of a 'tude... (we didn't buy this but think it's hilarious!)

After our shopping concluded we rode Rip Ride Rockit and then the mummy - everyone in my family loves that ride!

We stopped for drinks at Chez Alcatraz before magically entering Diagon Alley through an amazing feat of moving bricks - my photos were getting a bit lax but hey, it was the last day of vacation!

We took in the Ollivander's wand selection show where we hoped one of us might be chosen by a wand (no luck).

Afterward, my sister did some spells around Diagon Alley.

Soon, we found ourselves making the saddest walk toward the front of the park...

(I love how relaxed this gentleman is with his coffee on the steps there...)

We collected our bags from the Royal Pacific Resort and stopped at Miller's Ale House for lunch on the way out of town.

The fluffy unicorn sat on our side of the booth

There was no traffic on i-75 and we were back at home in Atlanta by 11:00.

It was an absolutely fabulous trip and I was so glad to be able to introduce my mom and sister to the magic of Universal.

Stay tuned for a little bonus content from my most recent Universal trip!

 

[schumigirl]

Fabulous update!!!

Shame about FJ....there`s always next time.......

The details on rides and queues are amazing and so much fun to see.......love DM....so cute! It is a sad walk on the final day, but looking forward to your bonus content.........

 

[macraven]

Great ending and thoroughly enjoyed reading your trippie!

 

[pepperandchips]

Fabulous update!!!

Shame about FJ....there`s always next time.......

The details on rides and queues are amazing and so much fun to see.......love DM....so cute! It is a sad walk on the final day, but looking forward to your bonus content.........

Great ending and thoroughly enjoyed reading your trippie!

Thank you, friends! And thank you for the encouragement to come back and finish it up. Our passes are sadly lapsed for the time being but we are already missing Universal something fierce! Fortunately for me, there is a new Cowfish in Atlanta not too far from where I work so we get a little taste of the Universal magic at home from time to time

Listening to the Universal podcast is making me wish that we were planning a trip in the near future. Maybe we will get back down there in the fall. We definitely got good use out of our annual passes!

 

[pepperandchips]

Bonus content: a short day and a half report from December!

In December R and I did a huge Disney bucket list trip but we love Universal so much (and our passes were expiring in January) that we needed to get back to Universal another time before our year ran out. I am copying this over from my dining report from the Disney trip, so if you have already read that, you don't need to read this again! But I love reading trip reports so I hope this helps someone else plan in the future. Sorry about the photo quality, I actually went bagless at Universal so all I had was my phone camera. Anyway, without further delay here you go!

On December 27th, we woke up at midnight and got on the road headed for Orlando. We arrived at the Loew's Royal Pacific Resort around 6:30 in the morning and waited in a bit of a line to check in. Upon giving my name, the team member on the desk informed me that my reservation was actually for December 27, 2017, which meant I was checking in a full year early. She figured this was a glitch and asked me to pull up my reservation, so I did, and it also said 2017 but fortunately she told us she could book us in a standard room for one night. About that time, she called her supervisor for assistance, who apparently told her she could not book us into one of the rooms showing in inventory as they were full. At this point I basically went full meltdown. I'd been planning this for months, had driven through the night, knew this was the busiest week of the year for theme parks (so I was relying on express pass) and was there trying to get in the park for 7:00 early entry. I asked her to find out if there was a room available at one of the other resorts and eventually we ended up being accomodated at Hard Rock Hotel. It was like pulling teeth to get the help and despite having amazing experiences at the Loew's Portofino Bay and at our previous visit to the Loew's Royal Pacific Resort, this team member soured my opinion of RPR a bit with her attitude and all-but-refusal to help us. I mean, really, we're trying to give you a whole bunch of money, how hard is it to help?

And that, my friends, is how the bucket list really started... because the only room they had available at the Hard Rock was a "rock royalty" CLUB LEVEL room. We scuttled over to Hard Rock as quickly as possible, checked in, and printed our express passes. The Universal Loew's hotels now text you when your room is ready, so we left our bags in the car and made for the gates of Universal Studios. Of course this had eaten about an hour of our precious time and we were headed into the turnstiles at 7:35, having lost a good bit of the early entry benefit due to the booking error.

Oh but how sweet a sight this was!

We hit Gringott's at 7:45 and despite having the switchbacks open in the back outside, the wait and ride probably "only" took about 50 minutes. By 8:40, I had this baby in hand!!!!

Chocolate raspberry and salted caramel blondie ice cream scoops from Florean Fortescue's in Diagon Alley (I don't have the receipt but this was $6something even with our AP discount). I think this is the only time I have had ice cream before 9:00 am and also the only time I've been the only party inside Florean Fortescue's. We love the salted caramel blondie ice cream, and the heavenly feeling of enjoying that salty sweet goodness while simply taking in the sights of Diagon Alley is the experience that had called us back to Universal for a quick stay ahead of our Disney trip.

I mean, how bad the morning have been when the sight of this dragon accompanies your sweet morning snack? (ignore the massive crowd, just like I did ) R wanted to get the chocolate raspberry scoop which is why we did, but I would have been fine with two scoops of salted caramel blondie. So so good.

We hung around in Knockturn Alley for a bit while enjoying our sugar high before we took Hogwarts Express (no wait) to Islands of Adventure.

We rode the new Skull Island Reign of Kong attraction, which I had been really looking forward to! Unfortunately this didn't do much for me, and the part where your truck is swinging back and forth really made me feel wobbly despite wearing a motion sickness batch! ... but it has an Express Pass line so it wasn't much of a commitment to see something new and I am glad we finally got to see it. The area nearby is really cool and one of these days when I get my courage up we will have to do the full queue experience to get to see the scareactors.

We moved on and took in the gorgeous morning and one of our favorite simple attractions - Dr. Doom's fear fall which gives you a beautiful view of the parks. I usually laugh the whole way through on that one! We actually had a bit of a wait in the EP line, which is unusual for us, so it goes to show how busy the parks were.

The Hulk coaster was back open after an extended refurb, but I felt like I needed something more on my stomach before conquering all of those inversions, so we dipped inside Croissant Moon Bakery for my other favorite Universal breakfast:

The amazing (and amazingly green) pistachio muffin. I had to borrow these pictures from my previous trips since I neglected to take pictures of our snack this time. I love these - they have a lovely almond flavor, and despite being an unnatural hue are a delicate and moist pastry option. I have to have one of these on every visit!

We got in line for Hulk but basically as soon as we got in line the attraction went down, and having already gotten our "room ready" text, we decided to bail. Again we had some issues when our room door wouldn't open with our keys and we had to visit the Club lounge for assistance - the staff there acted a bit put out that I'd requested the help so Loew's was really on my bad side that day. Anyway, we finally got into our room (note: handle opens up, not down ) The room itself was gorgeous - we were overlooking the parking lot but our room was convenient to an exit stair and side door so it was a good location.

Cutting our losses and in need of libations, we moseyed over to Citywalk for lunch. Well, we moseyed via boat transport. The gorgeous day combined with a dining review we'd heard on the Dis Universal podcast took us out of our usual routine and we decided to give Margaritaville a whirl.

We arrived around 1:15 and there was no wait, though the outside patio was hoppin'. We had a good (if overextended) server who, upon consultation, informed us we'd made great drink selections:

I had the Perfect Margarita "Margaritaville Gold and Silver Tequilas, triple sec, orange curaçao and lime juice served on the rocks... for margarita aficionados only" while R had the Uptown Margarita "Margaritaville Gold tequila, Cointreau® orange liqueur, our house margarita blend topped with a Gran Gala® float. Excellent on the rocks". Mine is the one in the coupe and R's is in the pint glass. These were excellent and quite potent. I have lost the receipt for this meal but the price wasn't "egads" high - I think both margaritas were in the $10-11 range and... I have to say it because they've been getting so much press here on the Dining Reviews board recently... I think they're better than the margaritas at La Cava.

Anyway, beverages in hand, we quickly selected two yummy appetizers that were big enough to serve as our meals.

Traditional wings "Served with fresh veggie chips and your choice of sauce" and we chose them "Clipper - Buffalo style" the online menu reflects a price of $11.99 for these. I believe there were 8 or 10 good sized wings. Maybe not the best ever value but they had great flavor, and we'd seen them on a neighboring table and they sold themselves.

As well as the...

Volcano Nachos "Tortilla chips layered with chili, cheese, pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, sour cream and jalapeños" (menu online says $15.99). Now, these were what we'd heard such rave reviews about since they sauce each layer of nachos with toppings, so that you don't get naked chips at the bottom of the pile. That would be indecent after all! The picture absolutely does not do these things justice. They were MASSIVE!!! And really quite good. Outside of a Mexican restaurant, I kind of expect "bar nachos" and these were great on the bar nacho scale. Maybe middling on the Mexican restaurant scale but they sure hit the spot!!!

By now you have surely noticed the empty margarita glasses, but we were feeling the happy effects of tequila, and not wanting to go to sleep for the night after lunch, decided to switch to the great "slow down my buzz" invention - cerveza.

We each had a Florida Swamp Ape IPA. We enjoyed them, but despite really liking beer I am not great at describing them. Not too hoppy and pretty well balanced is about all I can manage. It was wet and cold and went with nachos and wings. We paid the tab and hit the road, soaking up the Florida sunshine.

Back at the HRH, we had the traditional afternoon nap, preceded only by scavenging in the Club Lounge where we picked up the afternoon offerings of packaged cookies and chips and canned soda and bottled water. Obviously pre-packaged snacks was not what I was hoping for but the unlimited Diet Coke cans were appreciated.

Refreshed from our nap, we hit the Club Lounge again for their evening appetizers. Color me cynical but I was unimpressed:

Barbecue chicken skewers, crudites, and deep fried mac-n-cheese balls

The chicken skewers tasted like the chicken had not been seasoned prior to being shellacked in bottled barbecue sauce and the mac-n-cheese bites just tasted like... fried. I ended up muching on a couple of cheese cubes and loading up on veggies and house white wine. R had a couple of coronas. I guess I have been spoiled by my friend @schumigirl 's RPR club lounge photos because I was underwhelmed and the staff there was nothing like what Carole describes at the Royal Pacific! The team members manning the bar were very kind but the club lounge was just so chock full of people it was impossible for the staff to do anything extra beyond clean tables and corral people into behaving.

We found the shortcut to the parks through the HRH parking lot and waited for the front row of the Hulk coaster.

The Hulk was fun but nothing can top the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket for me, so we trotted over there and happened to get the front row of RRR by chance and it was melt your face off amazing as always. We caught the holiday parade after screaming our heads off.

(SANTA! I know him!)

It was a cute parade. We rode the Mummy (probably more than once, as I love that ride) and shockingly were getting hungry again by this point so we decided to call it a night at 8:50 to find dinner at Citywalk. We wanted something to take back to the room so we meandered over to the Red Oven Pizza company where we ordered the Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza "Fresh Mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Lemon and Oregano" ($14) and Arugula Salad "Prosciutto, Organic First Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Lemon, Cured Tomatoes and Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano" ($11).

I failed at photos since the food took FOREVER to come out (they said 15 minutes... haha no) but I yoinked one from the internet for you lovely people:

thanks tripadvisor!

Anyway, to add insult to the injury of waiting all night on mediocre take out, the restaurant neglected to give us silverware for our salad so I had to trot down to the bar at the HRH to ask for silverware. The bartender was exceptionally nice (HRH: +1) but then we found out the HRH sells no bottles of wine in its gift shop (HRH: -1) after visiting for shaving cream, so we were forced to dip into our "room booze" brought from home and we had some drinks in the room before hitting the hay.

 

[pepperandchips]

December 28th dawned bright and EARLY EARLY EARLY for us as we wanted to make the most of Early Entry this day. We were at the entrance of Islands of Adventure at 6:55 and were treated to a nearly empty Hogsmeade Village as we sailed through on our way to queue up for Forbidden Journey.

This was a first for me - the queue extended all the way out through the entry "gates" and doubled back across the bridge toward Jurassic Park before snaking in to the usual queue. The inside queue was moving well, so I think this hang up was caused by folks needing lockers. Fortunately we were traveling with no bags so we were in the clear.

After our wild tour of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it was time to hit up the main attraction: snacks.

A butterbeer was necessary, of course.

The traditional chilled (not frozen) butterbeer is my favorite. It's like a butterscotch cream soda and is so sweet that one between the two of us was perfect.

We grabbed some sweets from Honeyduke's and headed to the patio behind the Three Broomsticks to enjoy them along with this view:

We had a cauldron cake - chocolate cupcake filled with a creamy chocolate mousse and topped with a dark chocolate handle. This is decadent, chocolatey, and a great treat.

No, this is not a calzone, it is the delicious pumpkin pasty! Kind of like a hand pie (is that a southern term?), the pastry dough enrobes a spiced pumpkin filling. I really like this snack because it's not too sweet but it does have that perfect pumpkin flavor. (as you may notice, I lifted these photos from my stash from previous trips as well, that person in the background is not R or a stranger)

(inside)

After the delicious snack, I feel certain we did some attractions but I don't recall what they were. We decided to take a break to get checked out of our room so we went back to HRH and had some breakfast in the Club Lounge.

Breakfast was much better than the paltry offerings the day before - lots of donuts, pastry, fruit, oatmeal, eggs of a couple sorts, some hot items that apparently did not look appetizing to me since I didn't try them, yogurt, toast, bagels, etc. (also check out R's awesome Dobby shirt I found online)

The fruit (a few blueberries and strawberries in a giant bowl of honeydew... typical) and blueberry donuts were my favorite. Still, the coffee was good and it was a pretty decent spread. We packed our things and stowed the bags in the car, moving it closer to the back of the lot near the theme parks entrances and headed back in for more fun.

Here we got our first taste of the insane crowd levels this week. This was IOA entry around 11:00 AM, and the day was really warming up so this was pretty unpleasant. We rode the Hulk again, this time not bothering to wait for the front, and it was just as awesome closer to the back.

R wanted to ride the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train ride, and we requested and got the Sneetches side (versus the ABCs which I don't like as well). You first get to go through Circus McGurkus and then are treated to some lovely views of the park, like the one above which shows the constant stream of folks pouring in and out.

The Hulk! And some rando guy's shoulder!!!

CASTLE PIC!

"That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars and whether they had one, or not, upon thars."

And with that, we decided our starless bellies needed some pool time and traipsed out of Universal to head to the Disney resort where we'd be staying the rest of the week.

Author's post-script: After we returned home, I got a survey from Loew's about our hotel experience and I wrote an honest but negative review of what had happened during our stay. They ended up refunding me the difference between Club Level and a standard room of the same type, so I really appreciated the gesture to "make it right". Do I think the hassle was worth "free" club level? No, but I did get a room for about the same price as what I'd reserved and sincere apologies. I wanted to include this because I don't think the service we got at Hard Rock's Club was typical of what they offer - the club was full to bursting any time there was food out, and the staff was constantly having to refresh things and clean up. It left no time for any kind of guest interaction. And I am a member of a RED RED REDNECK family (my dad is a four-wheelin, deep-sea fishin, card carryin member of the NRA) and there were for sure some big rednecks in that club - I'm talking fresh out of the pool, no shoes, wearing a bathing suit, touching communal food with their bare hands, leaving messes, sprawling out on the floor type behavior. Really, the club level experience was poor because of poor guest behavior, and I am not sure how Loew's controls that. So while our experience wasn't one I'd be willing to pay for in the future, I am sure it was strongly related to the time of year and capacity at the hotel, not the service that Hard Rock usually provides. The room itself was lovely and comfortable and I would definitely stay there again if the price was right.

 

[TEAMJACOB]

OMG, caldron cakes and frozen (our preferred) butter beer is what we get every time we go. I sure would love some now.
So sorry about the hassles of checking in. Sounded stressful. Shame on the staff for not caring. Glad they apologized later.

 

[schumigirl]

Oh my!!! A year early!!! Stuff of nightmares isn`t it..........

Despite the negatives, and CL at HRH doesn't always get a lot of love for some reason, although sounds like the staff were on a losing battle by your description of the patrons during your visit........I`m glad you still had a lovely visit....

Love your pictures........pumpkin pasty is on our to do list.....but we never seem to be hungry at the time......lol.....again, glad you had such a nice visit on your bonus time and your trip report.......Thanks so much for taking the time to do it......really enjoyed reading it.......

 

[macraven]

Such an interesting read!

I've done club level at hrh and rpr and for me, rpr is the better of the two hands down

Great you got a refund from hrh
Kind of takes the sting out of the issues you encountered

 

[HM]

Great report and pictures. Making me look forward to my short trip in two weeks and gave me some new ideas. Thanks for writing it.

 

[Lynne G]

Ooh thanks for your bonus. For the first time, though I've been an AP holder for years, a short stay at the end of the year. We've only gone in end of August and the first 2 weeks of October. While we are used to crowds, I'll have to remind my 20 and 16 year kids they have to wake up early! I have to tell ya though, the idea of the new Christmas stuff they are saying they will have, is making me giddy, even though I am still gulping at the price of the 3 nights we're staying at RPR.

Very much reading your report.

 

[ChipDale]

Thank you for your honest reporting. Sorry you encountered some less-than-helpful Team Members, glad to hear that Loews acknowledged it and gave you some compensation. I think you have convinced me not to try Universal the weeks surrounding Christmas (due to the crowds)! Thanks for sharing with us!