december
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2006
- Messages
- 5,277
I just wanted to thank the experts on this board for all the help. I just spent 2 wonderful days at Universal. This was our first trip, and the advice from this board was wonderful.
We drove in from MS Thu and stayed at Holiday Inn Express on Major Blvd. Definitely not walking distance when you have 3 kids! We were there 2 nights, and did Kennedy on Friday. Being there for the last shuttle launch was amazing!
Saturday morning, we slept in. We drove 12 hours on Thu, then had to leave the hotel at 3 am Friday. We were bone tired. We got up around 9, then my husband drove us over to Portafino Bay before heading to Kennedy for the day. The kids all got an etch a sketch, which dd2 loves, and a coloring book and crayons. We got our keys (also got a minbar key that I handed right back to her-more on that in a minute), and headed to the boats. While we waited we watched the ducks, which included about a dozen babies. We went straight to Universal, and LOVED it!
We met up with my husband at the hotel around 4, and he took the big kids swimming while the baby took a nap. Then we went to Bubba Gumps for supper. We headed into IOA around 8:30, mainly to check out Harry Potter. But the area was still packed. We did the walking tour and mainly just explored the park.
Sunday morning we waited with dh for the Mears shuttle. They picked him up at 6:25 and took him to the airport. Then we headed to IOA. I rode HP twice, with dd11 and ds14, while they took turns in babyswap with dd2. They could have gone again, together, but they were happy with one ride. We then rode the small ride, but neither would try the roller coaster. We headed out of the area about 7:50, and walked into a huge crowd of people coming in. Early admission is wonderful! We came back to the area and ate lunch at 3 Broomsticks at 10:30, and around 1 headed over to Universal for the rest of the day. We did everything we wanted at both parks then left around 6 and crashed at the townhouse we are staying in for the Disney portion of the trip.
Child swap was wonderful! It was so nice to have a nice cool place to sit with dd2. I would ride with one of the older kids, then let that child decide if they wanted to ride again or let me ride with their sibling. It worked out great, and we got mult rides on everything.
Dd2 got to meet Barney, Dora (her favorite) and Deigo, Shrek and Fiona, Donkey, and Spongebob. We saw the Barney show twice. She loved the Seuss area of IOA, and the Barney play area. She is also weirdly obsessed with Dinosaurs, so loved that area of the park as well.
It was a fantastic trip! I had a nasty shock when I opened the email attachment they sent me this morning and saw that I was billed almost $80 for the minibar! I called and explained that I never even took the key, and the lady put me on hold then came back and apologized and said she was crediting it back to my card. She was very nice about it.
We are resting today, heading to a waterpark this afternoon, then starting the Disney parks tomorrow. I don't see Universal as being an every year trip, but I will be going back when dd2 is old enough to do more.
We drove in from MS Thu and stayed at Holiday Inn Express on Major Blvd. Definitely not walking distance when you have 3 kids! We were there 2 nights, and did Kennedy on Friday. Being there for the last shuttle launch was amazing!
Saturday morning, we slept in. We drove 12 hours on Thu, then had to leave the hotel at 3 am Friday. We were bone tired. We got up around 9, then my husband drove us over to Portafino Bay before heading to Kennedy for the day. The kids all got an etch a sketch, which dd2 loves, and a coloring book and crayons. We got our keys (also got a minbar key that I handed right back to her-more on that in a minute), and headed to the boats. While we waited we watched the ducks, which included about a dozen babies. We went straight to Universal, and LOVED it!
We met up with my husband at the hotel around 4, and he took the big kids swimming while the baby took a nap. Then we went to Bubba Gumps for supper. We headed into IOA around 8:30, mainly to check out Harry Potter. But the area was still packed. We did the walking tour and mainly just explored the park.
Sunday morning we waited with dh for the Mears shuttle. They picked him up at 6:25 and took him to the airport. Then we headed to IOA. I rode HP twice, with dd11 and ds14, while they took turns in babyswap with dd2. They could have gone again, together, but they were happy with one ride. We then rode the small ride, but neither would try the roller coaster. We headed out of the area about 7:50, and walked into a huge crowd of people coming in. Early admission is wonderful! We came back to the area and ate lunch at 3 Broomsticks at 10:30, and around 1 headed over to Universal for the rest of the day. We did everything we wanted at both parks then left around 6 and crashed at the townhouse we are staying in for the Disney portion of the trip.
Child swap was wonderful! It was so nice to have a nice cool place to sit with dd2. I would ride with one of the older kids, then let that child decide if they wanted to ride again or let me ride with their sibling. It worked out great, and we got mult rides on everything.
Dd2 got to meet Barney, Dora (her favorite) and Deigo, Shrek and Fiona, Donkey, and Spongebob. We saw the Barney show twice. She loved the Seuss area of IOA, and the Barney play area. She is also weirdly obsessed with Dinosaurs, so loved that area of the park as well.
It was a fantastic trip! I had a nasty shock when I opened the email attachment they sent me this morning and saw that I was billed almost $80 for the minibar! I called and explained that I never even took the key, and the lady put me on hold then came back and apologized and said she was crediting it back to my card. She was very nice about it.
We are resting today, heading to a waterpark this afternoon, then starting the Disney parks tomorrow. I don't see Universal as being an every year trip, but I will be going back when dd2 is old enough to do more.
