stevenpensacola
<font color=red>Sometimes I sits and thinks, and s
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2000
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Well, the family and I spent Dec. 1-Dec 6 in Orlando. Stayed two nights at POR and attended Thursday Dec 2 MVMCP. Friday afternoon we transferred to Universal and spent 3 nights at Royal Pacific and visited both parks.
Some observations and comments from the trip.
Port Orleans Riverside: First stay here. We loved it. Beautiful grounds. Stayed in Bldg 24 recently renovated. Kids loved the big pool with the water slide (as did Dad). Nice beds.
Downtown Disney: starting to show its age. What happened to the sleeping LEGO man? Universal Citywalk is much nicer.
MVMCP: Arrived at 3:45, got in at 4 (thanks to this board). From 4-6 we were able to do: rent locker, Swiss family treehouse, aladdin, Jungle boat, Pirates, Splash and Big Thunder. Longest wait was at aladdin..about two cycles of the ride. This was our 4th or 5th party...just never seemed to feel the magic their this time. Kids are older, characters don't interest them anymore. Stitch attraction is terrible. Mickey's Philharmagic is TERRIFIC. Why is everyone is such a hurry? The smoking area beside the castle needs to be moved. Walked through there, the smell was not very "magical". Wishes fireworks were also excellent. No flying rudolph though. no mvmcp button, just postcard with advertising on it. Had a nice time though.
Boardwalk went here for first time. walked all the way around the lake. lunch at ESPN. nice area/resorts, not much happening there though.
Left here, went to EPCOT parking lot...kids wanted to ride monorail, they got to ride up front!
Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Very Nice! Everyone was so nice here. From driving up through check in-was made to feel like a celebrity. luggage to room guy was really nice and helpful...we started to think he was just going to stay with us and visit the parks. INCREDIBLE water pressure in the showers! Front of The Line access in the parks!!! (FOTL).
Universal CityWalk Loved the atmosphere/energy here! Much more than we did at Downtown Disney. Ate dinner at Hard Rock (loud but large portions). Ate dinner two nights at PastaMore's...We LOVED this place. Good food, nice atmosphere, very family friendly.
Universal Studios first visit. The Mummy ROCKS!!!!! WOW!!! Kids liked Shrek, Nick movie, ET and MIB. I loved the Mummy and really liked Twister. Would be nice to skip the pre-shows after you've seen them once.
Had lunch at Finnegans bar/grill....was OK, nothing special. Loved the atmosphere in the park. Much more laid back than Magic Kingdom. Did not see anyone in commando mode there. Also loved Animal planet show...wife got picked to hold the big snake...when she saw what it was, she was out of there! CheeseCake place on the way out-two thumbs up!
Islands of Adventure WARNING: Do not ride the Hulk two times in a row if all you had for breakfast was cheesecake from the night before, washed down by coffee, then followed by the bottle of OJ you're kid didn't drink. Just barely made it to the bushes. While coming down the exit after the second ride, told my oldest daughter that if the folks in front of us didn't hurry up, they're not gonna like what they see, or maybe wear!
WE LOVE THIS PARK!!! Hulk=WOW! Spiderman=WOW! Suess land =WOW!
Mythos restaurant=WOW! Dudley Do-Right and Jurassic ride=WOW! Did not ride Dueling Dragons...stomach still shakey from Hulk. Longest wait we saw for Spidey was 10 minutes. Got an instant re-ride due to the ride stopping during the ride. Loved the talking fountain. The Grinch was out...he was acting really Grinchy!
I think we're being pulled over to the dark side (prefer US/IOA over Disney).
Loved the proximity of everything to each other. Loved the laid back atmosphere at the hotel, the parks, citywalk. Loved the Christmas music they had playing everywhere. Asked if a CD was available with the Christmas music mix, but was not.
"Most Unique McDonalds in the World" Leaving town we stopped at the big McDonalds at I-4 and International drive. It was more like the tackiest McDonalds in the world. While eating breakfast, lady walks up, asks where we're from, and then tries to get us to come to a time share presentation: tacky tacky tacky!
Next stop, Pensacola!
Some observations and comments from the trip.
Port Orleans Riverside: First stay here. We loved it. Beautiful grounds. Stayed in Bldg 24 recently renovated. Kids loved the big pool with the water slide (as did Dad). Nice beds.
Downtown Disney: starting to show its age. What happened to the sleeping LEGO man? Universal Citywalk is much nicer.
MVMCP: Arrived at 3:45, got in at 4 (thanks to this board). From 4-6 we were able to do: rent locker, Swiss family treehouse, aladdin, Jungle boat, Pirates, Splash and Big Thunder. Longest wait was at aladdin..about two cycles of the ride. This was our 4th or 5th party...just never seemed to feel the magic their this time. Kids are older, characters don't interest them anymore. Stitch attraction is terrible. Mickey's Philharmagic is TERRIFIC. Why is everyone is such a hurry? The smoking area beside the castle needs to be moved. Walked through there, the smell was not very "magical". Wishes fireworks were also excellent. No flying rudolph though. no mvmcp button, just postcard with advertising on it. Had a nice time though.
Boardwalk went here for first time. walked all the way around the lake. lunch at ESPN. nice area/resorts, not much happening there though.
Left here, went to EPCOT parking lot...kids wanted to ride monorail, they got to ride up front!
Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Very Nice! Everyone was so nice here. From driving up through check in-was made to feel like a celebrity. luggage to room guy was really nice and helpful...we started to think he was just going to stay with us and visit the parks. INCREDIBLE water pressure in the showers! Front of The Line access in the parks!!! (FOTL).
Universal CityWalk Loved the atmosphere/energy here! Much more than we did at Downtown Disney. Ate dinner at Hard Rock (loud but large portions). Ate dinner two nights at PastaMore's...We LOVED this place. Good food, nice atmosphere, very family friendly.
Universal Studios first visit. The Mummy ROCKS!!!!! WOW!!! Kids liked Shrek, Nick movie, ET and MIB. I loved the Mummy and really liked Twister. Would be nice to skip the pre-shows after you've seen them once.
Had lunch at Finnegans bar/grill....was OK, nothing special. Loved the atmosphere in the park. Much more laid back than Magic Kingdom. Did not see anyone in commando mode there. Also loved Animal planet show...wife got picked to hold the big snake...when she saw what it was, she was out of there! CheeseCake place on the way out-two thumbs up!
Islands of Adventure WARNING: Do not ride the Hulk two times in a row if all you had for breakfast was cheesecake from the night before, washed down by coffee, then followed by the bottle of OJ you're kid didn't drink. Just barely made it to the bushes. While coming down the exit after the second ride, told my oldest daughter that if the folks in front of us didn't hurry up, they're not gonna like what they see, or maybe wear!
WE LOVE THIS PARK!!! Hulk=WOW! Spiderman=WOW! Suess land =WOW!
Mythos restaurant=WOW! Dudley Do-Right and Jurassic ride=WOW! Did not ride Dueling Dragons...stomach still shakey from Hulk. Longest wait we saw for Spidey was 10 minutes. Got an instant re-ride due to the ride stopping during the ride. Loved the talking fountain. The Grinch was out...he was acting really Grinchy!
I think we're being pulled over to the dark side (prefer US/IOA over Disney).
Loved the proximity of everything to each other. Loved the laid back atmosphere at the hotel, the parks, citywalk. Loved the Christmas music they had playing everywhere. Asked if a CD was available with the Christmas music mix, but was not.
"Most Unique McDonalds in the World" Leaving town we stopped at the big McDonalds at I-4 and International drive. It was more like the tackiest McDonalds in the world. While eating breakfast, lady walks up, asks where we're from, and then tries to get us to come to a time share presentation: tacky tacky tacky!
Next stop, Pensacola!
