Tales from the Universal Side

[kbelle8995]

Hi there,

This is my first trip report ever. I was inspired to write a trip report of my experience. First I will say that there are two visitors to Universal.

I am a long-time Disney fan. I can count the numbers of the times I have been to Universal on one hand. I love tales of Fantasy and vivid imagination.
We went on this trip to experience Diagon Alley.

There are two people on this trip, Me and My Sister. It was a girls out weekend. We both love theme parks.

Our hotel was Cabana Bay. We chose this because it was inexpensive and new.

Hope you enjoy this.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Hi there! Looking forward to reading!

 

[glocon]

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

Do You and Your Sister often do sister trips together? My sisters and I talk about it but have never actually done one.

 

[schumigirl]

Looking forward to reading along with you

 

[kbelle8995]

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

Do You and Your Sister often do sister trips together? My sisters and I talk about it but have never actually done one.

We try to every once in awhile.

I am actually trying to get some pictures from her.

 

[kbelle8995]

Cabana Bay Arrival-

I drove and arrived at Cabana Bay slightly after Noon. There was a bit of a line at the check in. We did get a room. A Standard in the Americana. The room is bright and cheery. I will talk about the hotel more later.

We dumped our stuff and headed to IOA to ride the train over the Diagon Alley.

The line was not too bad for the train. I believe we waited 10 minutes and that's it. The train is fabulous. So detailed and Air-conditioned. There were a few adults and two young girls. The Train is one of my favorites. Shows the characters and my goodness are the stations well done. The Hogsmeade station was next to dueling Dragons and you could see people flying by. The train itself is beautiful and you feel like you are going over the tracks and heading around the curves.

When we arrived in "London" we said how much it looked just like the stations in London. We went many years ago.

Next up- Leaky Calderon and tour the hotel.

 

[schumigirl]

The train is really good.......we got the compartment to ourselves twice as it was so quiet........other times we did share.

I'm glad they didn't emulate the some of the nastier smells that some stations have

Look forward to reading more

 

[kbelle8995]

Day 1-Continued

Leaky Cal (It's too late can't spell) Sister got Mini pie combination and Wizard Beer. I got a Bangers sandwich and Tongue tying Lemon Squash. Also Toffee Pudding for dessert. Bangers sandwich was the winner. A warm sausage on a soft bun. Very good. Lemon squash was tart stir well before sipping. I love tart flavor but this one was Whoa. I put a cup of water to temper it. The Toffee was like a warm soft cinnamon roll with ice cream. It was so good. The LC was amazing. You are escorted to the table so you don't have to look for one. We were at the tail end of lunch so it became quieter at the end of the meal.

We wandered around Diagon Alley but at that point the place was crowded. But not horribly so. We decided to go ride MIB Big mistake. Ugh the spinning. I have never had problems with this ride but that day. Ick.

Both of us had driven to Orlando and we were tired so we decided for a quick nap.

Next Part-Day 1 finished. Royal Pacific and Hotel tour.

 

[kbelle8995]

Day 1-Complete.

Got back on the Bus. The Bus service was excellent. Over our days at Universal the longest we waited was five minutes.

Napped for a while. We had a heavy and late lunch so we decided to walk around Cabana Bay. We were on the Lazy River side. We would use this later. We walked around the beach area checked out the Hideaway. And then went to the other style. There are lots of places to just Hang out at CB. I will describe relaxation there later.
I cannot express how Beautiful this resort is. It does not feel cheap in any way. There are little areas with firepits to just sit. The bottom areas of the towers have little gardens of Heat hardy plants. Everything is bright and so pretty. It looked like it was straight out of Picture postcards. They have little rest stop picnic tables outside just like the rest stops you see all over Florida. Just so well done.

Bowling alley and workout on the second floor of the lobby as well as a small meeting room. I decided to purchase a cup for my length of stay. I like the cup. We were still not hungry so we went to the Outlet Mall for shopping.

We went to Jake's American Bar for a laid back late dinner. Sister had a burger. It was good. I had a Roast Beef (Hot) sandwich on a Pretzel bun. It was really really good. We went back to the Hotel to get some rest.

Thursday Morning- Early entry (7:00 Am)

 

[kbelle8995]

Day 2

Up early at 5:30 AM. I got dressed and ready so I would be out of my sister's way. Warning the food court opens late. Starbucks was preparing to open so I got some juice and food from them.

We got a bus and went straight to the Parks. The bus stop is underneath the walkways which was great when it was raining. We walked along with others and went to Universal Studios. Can I just say that they were extremely organized. We were funneled neatly toward Diagon Alley. The team members were all extremely friendly wishing us a good morning. We got to the Line for Gringotts. The line was short. I wanted to run to the bathroom quickly because I didn't know what the line would be like inside. Well the bathroom was themed too. It was just like a restroom in the movie. We got back in the Line.

Gringotts was really neat. We saw the show, got on the elevator which I love. It's so cool because the walls and floors move. We picked up our glasses and were on the stairs a few feet from the ride vehicles. We waited and waited and waited and waited. Yup. The ride and broken down and they couldn't get it restarted. They evacuated everyone and funneled us out. But we got two attraction passes which we could use anywhere.

Well Handled Universal.

Next part: The Search for Coke and the rest of the Alley.

 

[kbelle8995]

Day 2- The search For Coke.

After our non-ride trip to Gringotts, my sister demanded a Coke. She doesn't drink coffee but Soda yes. There is no soda to be had in Harry Potter Land. We knew this already and that we would have to leave Diagon Alley to find it. You also have to leave the London area in general. We asked a team member and she directed us to a place that might have it. Unfortunately it was Starbucks which does not have soda available. I stayed at Starbucks to get some tea and she continued her search alone. I waited on NY street for her and had a fun time people watching. Also you can see the Hogwarts express making it's way back to Hogsmeade. She came back some time later with a huge soda and then went into Starbucks to get food. Apparently she had to go the front of the park to get it. Luckily the team member was extremely friendly to her.

Next I wanted to go back and start shopping. We walked up one side and traversed through the Alley.

We started off in Weasley Weezes where I purchased some candy and a few pins which I had them send to the hotel. At Cabana Bay they do have package delivery but they would deliver to the front desk not my room. I was fine with this. Considering at Disney you have to go to the gift shop this was no big deal. We continued to browse through the stores. Knockturn alley was really neat dark and moody with lots of little areas and things to look out. We peeked in the ice cream shop, Madam Malkin and various other areas. Diagon Alley is huge in comparison to Hogsmeade and was much better at handling crowds.

Day 2- Gringotts, Celestina, Gilly Water and MIB strikes back

 

[rnorwo1]

Thanks for the updates, can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

 

[kbelle8995]

Thanks everyone who is reading along. I hope I am not boring you too much.

Day 2- After we walked around for awhile. Gringotts was up and working. The line got long quickly. We used the passes we got earlier and got in. Let the adventure to begin. I am a ride wimp but I loved loved this ride. We were asked to remove our hats but we held on to them and everything was fine. Well worth the wait. Just a touch of thrill and lots of details. We came off and decided to try some flavored Gilly water.

Gilly water is just water and then we put flavors in them. We sat on the benches in the eating area and other guests watched us. I got the Draught of peace (Mixed berries) and Sis got Elixer of Euphora (Pineapple, mint) I liked hers the best. While we sat there The Fountain of Fair Fortune came on. I enjoyed it but my sister had no interest. We saw Celestina Warbeck the day before and she was Absolutely fantastic. Go see Celestina, you will enjoy.

We did go back to LC, this time I got Fish and Chips they were okay. Sister got a chicken sandwich also okay.

Next we did MIB. Short short Single rider, really no crowds. It went much better. Then we did Transformers. Sister hated it. I like Spiderman better.
Then we went back to London and caught the train to Hogsmeade. Single rider on FJ was on quickly. I forgot how much this throws you around. Gringotts is much more easy and fun. Then we went on the Seuss train. Short 5 minute line and nice and cool.

I noticed a lot of adults on the Suess trolley in the sky. Universal's people mover. Yeah.

Returned to hotel

Day 2 Completion and Day 3 start

 

[kbelle8995]

Day 2 Completion

For Dinner we went to the Porch of Margaritaville. We've usually had good meals but this night was off. Our Waitress didn't show up for 25 minutes. Another waitress noticed this and made sure we were taken care off. It took forever to get our food and our other waitress didn't pay much attention to us We made sure the waitress who tried to help us earlier was also given a tip and we did talk to the Hostess as well as the manager. We were nice about it. But it took a lot longer than we imagined.

We returned to the hotel and decided to try the Swizzle bar that night.
I had the Swizzle drink which was a lot like a strawberry daqueri. Really good. The end of day 2

Day 3-Park and relaxing at resort.

 

[kbelle8995]

Day 3- Relaxing and Diagon Alley again.

My sister decided to spend her day at the resort relaxing. I decided to go Solo and hit Gringotts and try to do the Hippogriff ride. I went to the park and took the attraction tickets. I didn't go early. I walked back to the Alley and used my attraction ticket to get on Gringotts. This time they sat me in the front. Warning if you are a tall person, the front row is not ideal. It is low folks. My knees were high and I am short. The guy next to me had some trouble but they were able to secure him. I didn't have any problem with the bars and the leg secures anytime I rode. Again a fun time. You can see more of the screen in the front. I got off. Went to London station and rode the train. Hogsmeade was already packed but FJ only had a 20 minute wait. Not bad.

Hippogriff however, had a 45 minute. I rode it and got a nice breeze. Went in the Filch's store and decided to head back to Gringott's When I got there I did single rider and got in the back. You can see more of the general details of the ride atmosphere in the back. So they are all good. I decided to make my way back to the resort. I wanted to get some pool time in. I made a stop at the Ice cream shop. No I didn't get Butterbeer I wanted to try some other flavors so I tried Toffee pudding and Caramel Blonde. Both were good and made my way back to the resort.

Day 3- Lazy river and a quiet evening.

 

[kbelle8995]

Day 3- Lunch and resort time.

When I got back Sister had already had some pool time and was ready to have lunch. We had Lunch in the Bayliner Diner. We split a Panini and some salad that she had left from Margaritaville. The Panini was good and filling.

After that we took our floats and went to the Lazy River. We had brought our floats from home since we knew that the hotel charged but Not everyone did. Both she and I pay close attention to the disboards. We got asked by some other guests who thought that the hotel supplied them free. They were not happy. I don't know if Universal will keep this up. Our floats were not filled with air. It's just too hard for us. But the guys at the floats booth filled them. They were really super friendly and joked with us while they filled them. The Lazy river is fabulous. A nice temperature, my only complaint is that it should have been longer. We spent a long time floating in the lazy river. Actually most of our time. There were plenty of pool side lounges. I don't like laying in full sun for a long time. They also have a beach type area on the tower side with more umbrellas I would liked to go there but whatever. The storm clouds showed up. And because of weather they closed the pool. This would become a pattern during the next couple days. There was nothing that they could do about the weather. And quite honestly I don't expect them too. They were very nice about having to close it. The storm clouds looked bad

Some mutual friend were arriving for a conference so we went and visited them later and ate at Carrabas. I won't go in detail there.

My sister stayed with Mutual friend and I returned to CB. I wanted to see Avengers at the outdoor movie. Due to the weather they had moved it inside. Near the workout area and the bowling alley, they have a rec room for meetings and other things. They put beanbags on the floor and ran the movie. Oh and during the movie some jerk teenage decided to be funny and scream about a tornado. He wasn't wearing a nametag so nobody bought him or his joke. But he screamed behind me and gave me a jolt.

I continued to watch the movie. That was the end of that day. Avengers was a really good movie.

Day 4- Disney and lots of dinner

 

[kbelle8995]

Just so you know I am not going to talk a lot about Disney. This is a universal Trip area after all.

 

[rnorwo1]

Nice updates. I have had my eye on the toffee ice cream also, glad to hear its good! The pool area at CB sounds nice... I really wanted to stay there for the pool, but I can't give up express. I think we may be able to pool hop there, though?

 

[kbelle8995]

Day 4- Disney.

Yes I went to Disney. It was a mistake. Too crowded and frustrating. I won't write much.

I did go back to CB and had a nice late lunch. French Fries (good) and Cheesecake (very good) The food Court (when it's open) is very nice. I never saw it packed. I do wish they would have opened it earlier. I didn't leave until 8:00 am that morning and it still wasn't opened. The only complaint I have about the Bayliner Diner. It was good food not great but good. Reasonable prices. They do keep it open late which is good but Breakfast if you want to eat early is not good.

I picked up my Sister and we went back to Jake's over at RP. We really like this place can you tell? There was a salad a nice garden salad. They included a ginger dressing that was really good. The waitress stated that it was fresh made on property. It was Saturday night so it was really crowded at Citywalk.

Returned back to the hotel and got back in the Lazy river. Again really nice. Then we retired for the evening.

 

[Grumpy92]

I think the earliest I saw Bayliner open was 6am. When the early entrance is 7am they should be open at 5:30am.

Love Jakes Roast beef sandwich.