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

[pcstang]

I'm about 99% sure I saw you and R a few times at RPR and the parks. Too bad I didn't know it was you or I would have said hi.

 

[pepperandchips]

I'm about 99% sure I saw you and R a few times at RPR and the parks. Too bad I didn't know it was you or I would have said hi.

Aw man! I would love to meet a DISer in real life. One time I saw Craig from the podcast at Studios but I was too bashful to say hi. Also I once saw one of the more prolific Disney Instagram photographers staked out on Main Street long before the afternoon parade but too sheepish to say hi to her too! Long story short... If any of you guys ever see me in the park... Make the first move! I hope you had a great visit @pcstang

 

[princesserin1350]

Can't wait for the next update! That Cowfish meal looks so good!!

 

[J'aime Paris]

Really enjoying your TR!

I agree about RRR being a bit too rough, as we noted it when we rode in March.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Finally all caught up! I took a break from my packing duties specifically to read your updates and was NOT disappointed .

Your pictures are stunning, as always. Love the unicorn and so glad it was purchased!! I think they are just so stinking cute!!

Your weather looked nothing but perfect......I hope we are equally as lucky when we arrive next weekend.

Keep the posts....and the photos.....coming!

 

[pepperandchips]

loving your report

Thank you, Stephanie! I have read all of yours as well but can't remember whether I've said hello or whether I've only been a lurker. You always look like you have such a lovely time - it was one of the big reasons I was so confident booking my mom and sister at Cabana Bay!

Can't wait for the next update! That Cowfish meal looks so good!!

Thank you, Erin! It was so good. Put it on your to-do list for sure!!!

Really enjoying your TR!

I agree about RRR being a bit too rough, as we noted it when we rode in March.

I had much better luck in the first row as @schumigirl has pointed out a few times. You have to be brave but it is like a whole different ride in row one - you almost feel as if you are the only ones on the coaster (and I personally feel less beat up). I wonder if the modified seats in row 3 allowed us to bash ourselves about more in that row? So glad to have you here following along!!!

Finally all caught up! I took a break from my packing duties specifically to read your updates and was NOT disappointed .

Your pictures are stunning, as always. Love the unicorn and so glad it was purchased!! I think they are just so stinking cute!!

Your weather looked nothing but perfect......I hope we are equally as lucky when we arrive next weekend.

Keep the posts....and the photos.....coming!

Thank you, Gina! I am so excited for you guys nearing the end of your countdown. It's the best agony being this close. I always love your TRs and PTRs for a little extra excitement right before I travel so I hope I can share the feeling for you too. The weather was so amazing - it's funny that we only live 6 hours north but the temperature is so vastly different in Florida. I am sure it will be night and day from Canada weather!

 

[pattyw]

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.

Ha, ha! I thought I was weird because when we were at the Hard Rock Hotel and I went into the lobby bathrooms, I was totally blown away! I took pictures (nobody was in there at the time-really!). They have a sitting area with booths and tables in there!

 

[RocketCityMama]

Joining in! Off to a good start! I can't wait to read and see more pics

 

[pepperandchips]

Ha, ha! I thought I was weird because when we were at the Hard Rock Hotel and I went into the lobby bathrooms, I was totally blown away! I took pictures (nobody was in there at the time-really!). They have a sitting area with booths and tables in there!

Oh man, I will have to check that out! I really love the Loews resorts at Universal. They do a great job of blending value and luxury. Glad I am not alone in my potty-admiring...

Joining in! Off to a good start! I can't wait to read and see more pics

Thanks, Frances! Glad to have you here another update coming right up!

 

[pepperandchips]

Day 2 of Universal - 4/9 - Part One

Okay, advance warning: this day might take me about 50 installments because it was so jam packed with amazing Universal experiences! But you guys don't mind, right homies?

R and I slept peacefully in the Royal Pacific Resort delightful beds and woke up plenty bright and early to make it to early entry at Studios... actually... funny story (well, it's funny now, it wasn't funny then)

Remember the delightful young lady who checked us in yesterday? Well she told us that early entry would be at 7:00 at Studios for the duration of our stay. I took it for granted and we made plans with D at dinner on Friday night to meet at 7:00 at the Studios entry on Saturday morning. So on Saturday morning the alarm went off at 6:00 and I immediately realized the mistake. I knew (had practically memorized) that the hours on Saturday had both parks opening at 9:00, meaning early entry would be at 8:00. I dialed the front desk and received confirmation that studio early entry hours would indeed begin at 8:00. Thus we had plenty of time to enjoy our coffee, eat the pistachio muffin we'd gotten from the Beverly Hills Boulangerie the afternoon prior, and get out the door in advance of the early entry time. It's funny and not a big deal now, but then I was pretty irritated with myself for waking us all up at the crack of dawn.

I just love the walk from the Universal Resorts to City Walk and into the parks.

We got scanned in quickly and beelined it to Diagon Alley - it was still pretty quiet when we arrived and we had a short (maybe 15 minute) wait for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringott's. I like this ride a lot so I was glad to ride it with a fairly short queue. Upon Bill & co.'s restoring Gringott's to the safest place on earth, we noted the queue had jumped to a 45 minute wait. D and L had just arrived at Diagon Alley and we decided to bite the bullet and wait. We stowed bags in lockers and jumped in line... Only to find out there was no way this was a 45 minute wait. The outdoor queue was full and the day was getting warmer. We hopped back out of line and decided to make ourselves some of the first into Islands of Adventure by grabbing early seats on the Hogwarts Express.

It was very cool experiencing this attraction (and its queue) with my sister, a first time visitor. I really enjoyed sharing this with her and I just hands-down love this ride any way you slice it. So we rode over to Hogsmeade.

We both enjoyed taking our fluffy backpacks on a train ride.

And got in line at Forbidden Journey. The ride was inoperable at the time we entered the queue, but the crowd inched forward slowly. By 9:40 we got an announcement that the technical issues had been corrected and that the ride was working. In total we probably waited about 45 minutes for Forbidden Journey. This ride continues to grow on me, is R's favorite ride, and my mom and sister needed to experience it, so I was happy to wait.

Another facet of Universal team member magic: during our wait, D had a "nature emergency" and had to leave the line to find the nearest restroom. She told all of the team members on the way out what she was doing, so on her way back in they all remembered her and helped her find her way back to us -- apparently the way they permit this is by sending the lost person through the 'accommodation queue' and the two lines converge in Dumbledore's Office. They warned D that it could be up to 30 minutes difference between her line and when we reached her, but we somehow ended up in Dumbledore's Office together. Hogwart's Magic! We'd all left our phones in lockers that day so we were certainly grateful for the team member help.

After our unofficial tour of Hogwarts, we decided to try the Flight of the Hippogriff, a new attraction for me. I thought this was a cute ride with amazing views of the park, and I wished I had longer to enjoy the experience. I will definitely do this again - it was probably still a 10 minute wait with express and I wouldn't want to wait for this without express.

By this point, we were growing hungry. Now, my family travels to Orlando quite a bit and over the years we've established a rule: two drink minimum, especially for my sister who suffers from a gastrointestinal disorder that often makes her feel unwell. We're not lushes (okay, maybe we are) but we do enjoy a few adult beverages in the theme parks that sell them. So I knew there was one place to go for refreshments, and one new-to-me libation I'd be getting - Hog's Tea from the Hog's Head! Mom and I got Hog's Tea, D got a tequila sunrise (her drink of choice) and R chose a frozen butterbeer. I really liked the Hog's Tea but it was very strong! You're probably all saying "duh" and you're right. I don't think I've ever ordered a Long Island iced tea before, but this was really good with the triple sec and the splash of raspberry iced tea. I took my time with it and really enjoyed this beverage.

Knowing we'd need a little something to fill our tummies in addition to the booze, we hit Honeydukes to procure some pastries. Upon recommendation and by virtue of hanging out together too much, both duos (R and I / Mom and D) chose the same two pastries to share - the amazingly delicious cauldron cake and a pumpkin pasty.

I liked the pumpkin pasty to round out the sweetness from the cauldron cake. I expected it to be sweeter but I liked this item. I think it actually makes a decent breakfast pastry and I would recommend it for someone not wanting a diabetic coma before lunch. The cauldron cake was chocolatey and decadent as ever.

We enjoyed the views from the patio behind the Three Broomsticks and soaked up some sunshine before hitting Dragon Challenge. For obvious reasons, I have no photos of this endeavor. We waited for the front row and enjoyed the Chinese Fireball. R, D, and my mom wanted another brush with fate but this ride can be too much for me, so I let them enjoy a round two with the beast while I waited under the shaded pavilion. Does that clock under there sound ominous to anyone else?

Once our party was reunited, we surveyed the swelling crowd and bid farewell to Hogsmeade. After all, there was much more to do in IOA than just Harry Potter!

Up next: a colorful end to our morning, a visit to my favorite restaurant in City Walk, and NAPS!

 

[princesserin1350]

Beautiful photos and a great update! I'm going to have to get my hands on that Hog's Tea

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Absolutely gorgeous photos once again! I love those early-morning, blue sky, hardly-another-soul-in-sight pictures .

You and your sister looked freaking adorable with your unicorn and owl backpacks . Now that I have seen the unicorn actually on a person's back, it is much bigger than I pictured it in my mind! What great souvenirs, though. You two totally rocked them .

Don't ever apologize for a multitude of installments....in my book, the more photos and detail there is, the better the report. Keep those updates coming!

 

[tortilla24]

The backpacks are so cute! And that pumpkin pasty has my name all over it. I wouldn't have paid much mind to it but it looks awesome in photos!

 

[tink1957]

Enjoying your adventures so far and I've added a few items to try for my next trip...Hog's Tea and pumpkin pasties...maybe both at once

 

[gsikes]

Love all the pics! Definitely just added pumpkin pasty and cauldron cake to my "must do". And maybe a Hog's Tea too! DH can't do dark liquors so this one would be all mine

 

[Raeven]

Your backpacks are adorable! Wow those cauldron cakes look good, I'll have to get one next time.

 

[pepperandchips]

Day 2 of Universal - 4/9 - Part Two

I found out that the disboards cap your posts at 35 pictures, so that's what I've got ready for this installment.

Leaving Hogsmeade that morning, we ventured out into Islands of Adventure for the first time on this trip (for me and R) and for my mom and sister's first time ever. They'd gotten a nice sneak preview on the Flight of the Hippogriff but it was a neat experience watching them see the incredible themeing here for the first time.

The Hulk is looking like its usual self, which was a cool sight to behold since it wasn't all in once piece during our last visit in January - in fact there was basically just one piece there!

We passed through the Lost Continent just sort of wandering and came upon some attractions everyone was interested in experiencing in Seuss Landing.

We stopped to enjoy the colorful storefronts and snap a few pictures with the photo props:

Before using express pass to essentially walk on to the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. Now, I view this attraction as the Universal counterpart to the Disney People Mover, but I have to give the People Mover the edge for ride vehicles. I don't find the Seuss Trolley Train very comfortable, but I do loooove the view

These are some of the best vistas in the park, in my opinion.

and I didn't realize until reviewing my photos that you could see Rip Ride Rockit or the Hard Rock restaurant from this attraction. Pretty cool!

I took this one from the exit ramp:

I wouldn't want to wait long for this ride, as we saw firsthand that the afternoon crowds can push the wait upward of 45 minutes, but for Express this was a great use of our time.

Next, we walked straight on to Cat in the Hat with Express. I don't think there was much of a wait in the regular standby queue at this time.

That dumb cat made such a mess of things!

Despite our fish pal's best warnings, we still managed to let him wreck the house while mom was out.

Fortunately he helped clean it up just in the nick of time!

People say that this ride is trippy or scary, and I guess I agree that it's a bit trippy, but I find it no more so than the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Disney World. I like Universal's family friendly dark ride.

We spent some time playing with some of the offerings in the gift shop before deciding to move on from Seuss Landing and on to the next part of our day.

Legend has it that many of the Imagineers behind Animal Kingdom jumped ship and helped develop the beautiful themeing at IOA. Perhaps that explains my love for these two parks.

There were a good number of folks traveling through Port of Entry, but how can you pass through without snapping a few photos?

If they put a good band in Port of Entry I could stay here all day. Happily!

For better or for worse, we ventured on.

Out in City Walk, someone discovered a kiosk of FLUFFY merchandise.

and nearly died...

And I found a minion I thought I could take home with me!

It was time for lunch, so we decided to try NBC Sports Grill and Brew's reliably good fare.

We requested and were seated on the patio as the day continued to be sunny and mild. After checking out the menu, we we are all having a hard time deciding between the delicious sounding options, so we ordered a variety of things from the appetizer menu to share.

While we were waiting, we saw another table nearby served an absolutely massive and delicious looking chicken pot pie. If it were cooler out, that might be a good option. In fact, everything coming out of the kitchen looked good.

Soon, our good-looking dishes arrived.

First up: fried calamari ($11.99) flash fried and served with spicy tomato jam. This was good, nice and crisp without being soggy or greasy. These might be a bit overpriced for the serving size but if you like calamari this is a good choice.

Next, fire grilled wings, which we elected to have served in medium buffalo sauce. Served with celery, carrots, and blue cheese ($11.99). As you can see, ours arrived with a side of more hot sauce rather than with blue cheese dressing. We suspect that there may have been a kitchen mix up as our medium wings were very spicy and you could visibly see chili flakes on the wings and in the side of hot sauce, so perhaps we were served another table's order in the hot variety. Nevertheless, they were tasty and cooked perfectly. These have a very nice flavor, slightly different from your garden variety fried chicken wing with a good grilled/roasted flavor. Our server brought us ranch dressing after we pointed out the hot sauce. I will order these again!

This is the fire grilled chicken flatbread ($8.99) basil pesto, mozzarella, ricotta, caramelized onions, peppers. We ordered this because it sounded good and also for a variety of different dishes but this was my least favorite - not because it was bad (it wasn't), it just wasn't memorable. I think the only thing left on the table after we ravenously descended on the plates was one piece of this flatbread. If you have a picky eater this might be a good choice. I probably wouldn't order another flatbread here - the other options are standouts and this just wasn't a star.

Finally, we have the MASSIVE chicken nachos. You may notice that a few are missing from this pile of goodness as we dove in as soon as the dish arrived, before I recalled my senses and took a photo. These are good and an extremely large portion ($12.99). Pulled chicken, jalapeno queso, beans, pico de gallo, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, fresh jalapenos. You can see from the photo that the "toppings" are mainly served on the side so I could have used a much larger bowl of toppings for this massive serving of chips. They are also a little light on the queso on these, so the bottom chips in the pile are kind of naked. No worries, we managed to polish these almost all the way off. I definitely recommend this showstopper appetizer for a group.


We once again enjoyed our meal at NBC Sports Grill & Brew. We had a very frazzled, somewhat brusque server who seemed to have an inordinate number of tables to serve, and who pretty comically threw things down on our table and dashed off in all directions any time she visited us. My mom was particularly offended by her, but I thought she was gruff but adequate. The service here is like roulette - we have had absolutely AMAZING service (Shawna, are you out there?) and some misses as well. It won't prevent us from coming back but next time we might ask if Shawna is working and request her section.

Having downed a filling and delicious lunch, we headed back to our respective resorts for much-needed naps.

 

[pepperandchips]

Beautiful photos and a great update! I'm going to have to get my hands on that Hog's Tea

Thank you! I am glad I rented a better point and shoot so I could better document this trip. The Hog's Tea was good. I will more than likely get another one on my next trip!

Absolutely gorgeous photos once again! I love those early-morning, blue sky, hardly-another-soul-in-sight pictures .

You and your sister looked freaking adorable with your unicorn and owl backpacks . Now that I have seen the unicorn actually on a person's back, it is much bigger than I pictured it in my mind! What great souvenirs, though. You two totally rocked them .

Don't ever apologize for a multitude of installments....in my book, the more photos and detail there is, the better the report. Keep those updates coming!

Yes, the unicorn backpack was MASSIVE! One reason why I discouraged her from getting it on the way INTO the park for the first time to carry around with her! It did fit into the lockers though. We got quite a few comments about our plush backpacks. It's the little things that make you happy sometimes and this fluffy unicorn put D right onto cloud 9. ARE YOU LEAVING TOMORROW?! SO jealous!

The backpacks are so cute! And that pumpkin pasty has my name all over it. I wouldn't have paid much mind to it but it looks awesome in photos!

Honestly I wouldn't have picked it either, as I am a creature of habit and I really liked the pumpkin cake we tried in January, but R wanted to try something new so that's what we had... and glad we did! It was good.

Enjoying your adventures so far and I've added a few items to try for my next trip...Hog's Tea and pumpkin pasties...maybe both at once

Oh yes, that is definitely the way to go! I think you have to have something to eat with your Hog's Tea or you will be on your behind!

Love all the pics! Definitely just added pumpkin pasty and cauldron cake to my "must do". And maybe a Hog's Tea too! DH can't do dark liquors so this one would be all mine

I didn't spend enough time describing the dreamy qualities of the cauldron cake in this TR, since it was a repeat for me. It's very rich and perfectly chocolatey with a nice ganache/mousse center to keep you from feeling overly "sweets-ed out". I like the very dark chocolate handle best myself. Certainly a great choice to accompany the Hogs Tea! I recommend the raspberry iced tea in there.

Your backpacks are adorable! Wow those cauldron cakes look good, I'll have to get one next time.

Oh man, are they ever! And I got to eat most of two of the chocolate handles I wish I had one right now!!! They could make a fortune off shipping these for home delivery. Thanks for saying hi!

 

[schumigirl]

Beautiful pictures once more!!! Weather was gorgeous.........

I adore POE! Amazingly themed and like you could spend ages there.........they had a dance troupe one day last year in front of Cinabon..........so they do have entertainers at times there too.

We are definitely trying NBC grill this year.........missed it last year, but food looks so good! Chicken nachos and spicy wings sound good to me..........

Hope you enjoyed the nap!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Yes, the unicorn backpack was MASSIVE! One reason why I discouraged her from getting it on the way INTO the park for the first time to carry around with her! It did fit into the lockers though. We got quite a few comments about our plush backpacks. It's the little things that make you happy sometimes and this fluffy unicorn put D right onto cloud 9. ARE YOU LEAVING TOMORROW?! SO jealous!

We actually don't leave until Saturday, but its getting super close. I need to buckle down and get all the last minute stuff done tonight. I am woefully behind in my packing efforts.

I agree wholeheartedly with the bolded.....life is way too short to pass up on that kind of merriment and enjoyment. Looking at your pictures, I have been thinking to myself.....my current purse/backpack looks rather boring . I may have to splurge on something equally as fun for our park days .