The Foodies eat drink and be merry, happy holiday trip report! 12/19/07 thru 12/24/07

[coffeeguy]

What a wonderful and relaxing trip. Crowds were not as bad as I expected with the exception of Sat 12/22. I was a balloon handler (the elf) for the parade. Thought Grinchmas was great! Rode all the rides multiple times with FOTL and they did come in handy as some had 60 min wait times but with FOTL it was always walk on We found RPR relaxing which is exactly what DW and I needed and DD loved the pool. Enjoyed Blue Man group DD loved the streaming paper and was covered (hilarious pics) Had many good meals and sadly a few too many bad ones. For the restaurant run down we ate at Bubba Gump, Islands Dinning Room Breakfast Buffett, Pastamore, Confisco's breakfast with the Grinch, Emerils Tchop Chop, Mythos, Latin Quarter Express, Emerils City Walk, Lombards Landing and San Fran Pastry Co. for some yummy deserts. I've got tons of pictures and in depth dining reviews (we are foodies). We had an absolutly great time and it was a great start to our Christmas Holiday. A full trip report is on the way so stay tuned

 

[coffeeguy]

The Foodies eat drink and be merry, happy holiday trip report!

Preface: I used the DIS boards heavily to research and plan our holiday vacation. The wealth of information contained on the site and all the wonderful pictures, feedback provided by all the DIS members, tip’s, food descriptions and trip reports was truly a tremendous help. So I decided I would sit down and write my own trip report as detailed as possible and maybe in the future someone will find it useful when planning their trip to US/IOA.

The cast of Characters:
Me, Foodie and trip planner
DW, Foodie and chief money spender
DD (6), Foodie in training and princess (spoiled but not rotten)

Background: Foodie, that term can mean different things to different people. To me it means an amateur cook/food/drink lover who at times maybe a bit too much lol, enjoys good food and drink, not only for the overall experience, but also the finer details of preparation, presentation and of course taste. I am the type who wants to learn everything I can about food (think Alton Brown), I love to cook, have even had 3 years of formal cooking classes even though I work in a completely unrelated field, go figure lol. My wife I consider a foodie as well as she enjoys going out for good food/drink and discussing the meals, levels of service and ambience of various restaurants. She loves to eat my cooking but hates to cook herself and best of all indulges my hobby allowing frequent trips to Williams Sonoma. She figures as long as she doesn’t have to cook then all the better for her heheheh. Our DD is a budding foodie, she enjoys helping me cook and sitting with me and watching Emeril and Bobby Flay on Food Network. We are trying to expose her to new food items and ideas but at her own pace without forcing it on her. We won’t hesitate to take her with us to the various bistros and funky little dining spots as well as fine dinning establishments around town if she wants to go. We are lucky to live in a city with many many great choices. She really enjoys the various atmospheres and food choices and isn’t afraid to try new things, but still loves her chicken nuggets and Mac N Cheese hahaha. Before ideas of over exited children running amok in a fine dinning establishment fill readers heads, I should note that although our DD is only 6 she is very well behaved and will sit happily thru a 3 hour meal commenting on the food along the way. She isn’t afraid to say “this is horrible” “Nasty” or “this sucks” sometimes at inappropriate times such as when the wait staff are at the table hahahah. As for the “this sucks” comment, isn’t it funny how easily kids pick up the saying and phrases their parents use. lol I should really be more careful or wash my mouth out with soap before she start’s saying anything worse. I guess I shouldn’t worry too much though’ as she will not hesitate to call me out and say “daddy said a bad word” and then I get the look from both DW and DD, come on you all know the look I’m talking about. On the plus side she gets a kick out of having good manners, “napkins in the lap and elbows off the table daddy” she says. So with all that said sit back pour a glass of your beverage of choice and prepare for a trip report filled with lots of food pictures and tasting notes from DW and myself and yes I’ll even be including the sometimes hilarious and from time to time blunt tasting descriptions from DD. Without further adieu we head off to US/IOA for a fun filled and much needed happy holiday’s vacation.

 

[coffeeguy]

Tue Night Dec 18th Wed Morning Dec 19th Pre trip:
With all the bags packed and sitting by the front door for our way too early 4:30 A.M. departure to the Airport. I cross my fingers and say a prayer for a safe, fun filled vacation and then cross my toes as well hoping that my sister in law arrives on time at 4:30 A.M. to take us to the airport. I am always on time and often even a few minutes early, I hate being late for anything. I say this jokingly but it’s true and they all will admit to it, my wife and all my in-law’s are 9.9 out of 10 times late for everything and I’m not talking just a few minutes late, I’m talking 30 minutes or more, sometimes much more. It drives me nuts but I love them all. So anyway back from that tangent, my wife heads off to bed as she doesn’t do mornings in any way shape or form so maybe a few extra hours sleep for her will help, who am I kidding, my wife and 4:30 in the morning no matter how much sleep she gets, that goes together well and should be real treat (insert sarcasm here). As for DD she’s so excited she can’t sleep and is bouncing off the walls so I get to entertain her while mommy sleeps. I keep saying to myself remember when you were a child and the excitement, yet I secretly hope she will wear herself out and fall asleep sooner rather than later. No dice, I get 1 hour of sleep and DD will catch up on her sleep on the plane as for me I can never sleep on planes but on the bright side I don’t get grumpy from lack of sleep only lack of food. DW and DD know that when I start to get grumpy it’s time to feed me. Take note of that reader’s because it will factor into this trip report later.
Beep Beep Beep the alarm goes off at 4:00 A.M. I’m up get dressed and head downstairs to make the coffee for myself and DW. I hear the shower turn on and grumblings from upstairs about how stinking early it is so I know DW is up and I take her a cup of coffee to hopefully start her morning off on the right foot. DD is next to wake up still excited and hyper as can be. She’s dressed in record time and then it’s all “Let’s go” “Let’s go” “come on” “come on” she keeps saying over and over. DW is out of the shower and dressed and wait a minute am I in the right house? Am I still asleep and dreaming? DW is actually pleasant and even excited about leaving; but wait there’s more its 4:35 and sister in-law shows up. Only 5 minutes late I can live with that since we only live 10 minutes from the airport and I asked her to show up at 4:30 as a 15 minute buffer for ourselves to make sure we made it to the airport by 5:00, just in case she’s late lol. There must be mummy dust in the air or something the day is starting out great.

We arrive at the airport on time and head thru the doors to check our bags with Southwest. I already printed out boarding passes and have that coveted A that will get us on the plane just a little bit quicker and closer to the front WoooHoo. Then reality hits. The airport is packed actually packed is an understatement. The ticket counters don’t open until 5:00 A.M. and I expected it to be crowded but not like this. Every single airline counter line is packed. Forget standing in line. If I don’t have to stand in a line I won’t. So I take all the bags and send DW and DD off to join the Security line which isn’t that bad just yet but as soon as all these people start to make it thru airline check and into the security line it will also be out the door. Its freezing cold outside however I noticed on the way in that the curbside baggage check is already open if you have your boarding passes pre-printed which we do and the line for that is only 3 deep. Probably because it’s so darn cold outside, it’s a short line. As for me I despise stand in line and I don’t mind cold weather so I’m good to go  tip the nice bag check gentleman, pass through the line and checked in our baggage in about 5 minutes time so I proceed back thru the doors and the line for the poor souls inside doesn’t appear to have moved at all. Pass thru the TSA check point only 15 minutes in that line and head down to the departure gate. I get DD set up to watch ‘how the grinch stole Christmas’ for the 100th time this holiday season. Silly me I thought I’d watch it with her once or twice to get her in the mood for the US/IOA vacation and then maybe she would watch it again once or twice on her own, but wow how wrong I was. Even after 6 years of watching DD grow up I’m still amazed at how kids can watch the same shows over and over and over and never tire of them. I swear that if DW and I didn’t limit her TV time and make her do her studies she’d watch Hannah Montanna 24x7 if she could. Ok and now back from that tangent. I head off to get DW and I a coffee as we have some time before we board the plane and only 3 people in front of us to board the plane  it’s been a good morning to say the least.

Up next we board the plane and the vacation officially begins.

 

[Sharon G]

Your off to a great start!
Don't make us wait to long to hear the rest of your adventures!

 

[Judy from Boise]

be quick I leave on the 30 th !

 

[NurseW2Kiddies]

A new Trip Report!!!! So glad. It's been a while...... Great start!!!

 

[coffeeguy]

Wed Dec 19th: Flight and Arrival at RPR

Months before we left we purchased a poster board and let DD decorate it and then when she would do extra work at school or around the house above and beyond her normal duties or was simply a little angel all day we would give her stars and for each star earned it would equal $1.00 spending money that she could use any way she wished on the trip but once it was gone then that’s it no more. Over the course of 3 months she earned $65.00 (she’s not afraid to work for something she wants) and that should last a 6 year old at least a few days in a theme park right? Who am I kidding, when she spends all her money which hopefully won’t be within the first 30 minutes of arriving and she’s so much like her mother that’s entirely possible, she’ll give me the puppy dog face and she just must have a thing 1 and 2 plush and pull over sweatshirt and key chain and mug and on and on lol. Anyway we board the flight to Orlando which of course is crowded but the flight attendants make the flight enjoyable as always singing silly Christmas songs and interacting with the kids. I really do believe southwest employees truly enjoy their jobs. Land in Orlando after an uneventful (the best kind) flight and our driver from FL Tours is waiting for us at baggage claim. I can’t say enough great things about our driver. FL Tours was the recommended town car service by the DIS and they were simply the best I’ve experienced in my frequent travels. They were prompt, gladly helped with the baggage. Were completely professional and had an extremely clean town car. I’ll use this company again without hesitation. After a short trip from the airport to RPR we were dropped off at the entrance and a member of RPR bell staff asked if we needed assistance with our bags. Being on vacation we are not one’s to lug or bags all over if we don’t have to so of course we said yes and they grabbed all our bags placed them on the cart gave us a claim ticket and said they would bring them up to the room for us and that we could proceed inside to check in. Walking across the bridge to the main lobby we felt immediately transported away from reality and felt relaxed, Upon entering the lobby they had a wonderful Gingerbread town set up with a train running around the outside. (sorry I’m having some trouble getting the pictures uploaded to my web server but I’ll sort it out and include pictures soon). We head over to the check in stand. No line, we arrived around 10:30 and knew that check in wasn’t until 3:00 so didn’t expect a room to be ready but surprise it was. We were given a spectacular room in Tower 1 on the 5th floor room 1525. Amazing view of the hulk, Dr’ Doom’s freefall etc.

Before I forget I should mention that we were told at check in that our welcome gift would arrive that night (it did)

and DD was given a welcome gift as well and she was pleased and is still playing with it today. After being in our room maybe 10 minutes the bellman arrives with our bags and unloaded them for us. We give the bellman a tip, unpack and head over to US to explore.

Up Next Universal Studio’s Day 1

 

[coffeeguy]

12/19/2007: Universal Studio’s Day 1

I’ll be the first to admit my luck is horrible but during this trip the stars must have been aligned just right because all week long we never had to wait for the boat to city walk for more than 5 minutes our timing for almost everything was perfect and to me that was a total shock. So we head down to the Pool to check it out before walking down the path to the boat doc and DD can’t wait to go swimming and immediately starts playing in the sand. We remind her that we’ve got plenty of time to swim and even have a day set aside to do nothing but relax by the pool and swim. She’s pleased with that response and runs down the path to the boat dock and there it is in dock waiting to take us to city walk. After a short maybe 5 minute ride to Citywalk we head over to US have our picture snapped by the picture takers and locate the electronic ticket kiosks. We had pre-purchased our tickets thru the universal site because we got a deal by buying BlueMan group tickets and the 7 day 2 park US/IOA pass. We saved $15.00 per ticket by doing this. Retrieving our tickets was quick and painless and we proceed to the front gate. No line, walk directly into the park and have more picture taken. Those picture takers are everywhere I tell ya. DD see’s Shrek 3d straight away so we head over and I pull out or room keys for express pass but we didn’t need them. We walked straight in with no wait. The crowds seemed very light and made for a very pleasant day or touring. We all enjoyed Shrek, cute and funny and laughed at the ending with the fairy crashing into the wall. DD wanted to ride again but we told her we could come back. We looked for Shrek and Donkey but they were not out yet so we headed down to Woody Woodpecker Zone. We timed it right again because the Animal Actors on Location show was about to start. DD loved the Orangutan and the MIB dog. Good show and certainly worth catching if your time permits. Instead of headed into Woody Woodpecker Zone we went over to MIB. We passed by what will be the Simpsons ride in 2008. We cant wait to come back and ride this. MIB had a 15 min wait but we used our Express Passes and walked on. What can I say about MIB, I think this was DD and my favorite ride at US. She enjoyed blasting the aliens. We enjoyed it so much we went 3 times in a row, walk on every time fast pass is great.

I should mention this about Fast Pass I knew it would be great thing but DW just couldn’t believe we were walking right on in front of all the other people in line without passes and said she is ready to head back to Universal again and will never think about staying anywhere else but onsite because of this perk. The fast pass came in very handy later in the week when the crowds picked up.

After MIB, DD wanted to ride Jaws. Now I’ll be honest here and say that both myself and DW had reservations about taking DD on the Jaws ride. She’s seen the movie and didn’t get scared and loves watching the Shark shows on Discovery Channel but we were still afraid the ride might be too intense for her and she’d be scared. So we asked again multiple times are you sure you want to go and reminded her that it’s just a ride and not real. She was certain she wanted to ride so we head over. 10 min wait time but with express pass you guessed it walk on. When the shark fin first rose out of the water DD grabbed onto DW tightly and said mommy shark we thought Ohh no.. but she just held tight to DW when the fuel tanks exploded she grabbed a little tighter and we all said wow that’s hot as we could feel the heat. Then comes the ending where the shark explodes and the sparks fly and the ride ended. As we got off the ride DW and I looked at DD to see what sort of reaction she’d have and she had the biggest smile and said “that was awesome that shark got fried how cool” so we knew all was well. She wanted to go again but I said we could come back later and that she may even enjoy it more at night and she was all excited about that “yeah yeah at night I bet that would be great seeing that mean ol’ sharky get fried in the dark” hahaha DW and I laughed. Next we walked over to the Beetle Juice Revue which was just about the start. DD has seen the movie and thought it was ok but she didn’t like this show at all and said it was boring. DW and I didn’t think it was all that great either. After the Revue was over we rode Twister no wait and they didn’t have the express line open so it was walk on for everyone. We didn’t really care much for that either. It was ok to see once but we didn’t return the rest of the week to ride again. After twister we rounded the corner and saw some of the candy cane girls, clowns, and Christmas Parade cast members taking pictures and DD just had to do that so she runs over and we start snapping pics.

One of the gentleman walking with the Stilt walkers comes up to me and asks if I’d like to be in the parade as a balloon handler. Now I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t jump at the chance, but DW and DD were all excited for me to do it and I could see the look in DD’s eyes that it would make her day so I agreed. We went back and signed some paperwork waivers and what not. It was time to start the training and suiting up so I didn’t have to come back our wait around (again perfect timing) DW and DD said they’d be along the Parade route looking for me and they were going to ride some rides and then I was off to the backstage soundstage area. Let me just say the backstage area is really cool I saw floats for the mardi gras parade the changing and staging area for the stilt walkers and the candy cane girls were getting ready I enjoyed that hehehe. The split us up into teams I was a balloon handler for the elf balloon. Here’s a bit of useless trivia I learned. Did you know that the elf balloon was originally the first Ice Cream Balloon in the Macy’s Parade? They showed us were they sowed on one leg and the arms. Why not both legs you ask, well one of the legs was the cone for the ice cream, and the nose of the elf used to the cherry on top of the ice cream. Cool but useless trivia lol. After showing us how to handle the balloons, raise and lower them keep them vertical and all that good stuff the cast members chatted to us about the parks and I learned some interesting rumors. I’ll call them rumors at this point. First up the 19th was to be the cast member preview for Disaster the Ride and that it had been postponed many times but was finally supposed to happen and that soft openings would begin on the 24th and the official opening is to be Jan 4th. I ran into a few of the crew member the next day and they did attend the Disaster Preview and said it was great and that I should try and make it back to the soft opening on the 24th sadly I didn’t have time. But I look forward to returning soon and riding it then. They also asked if I’d been on T3D yet. I said no and they said I better ride it now because when the Simpson ride opens in the spring they will be closing T3D and putting in a new attraction. They had no idea what the new attraction was going to be but I did hear that multiple times backstage that T3D was indeed closing so take that for what it is a rumor but it seems like a pretty strong rumor at this point. The Parade was underway

I had a great time walking on the Parade route and I saw DW and DD jumping around and waiving at me as I walked by. After the Parade was over I met up with DW and DD and they told me they finally got to see Shrek and Donkey

Donkey was making DD crack up with the jokes he was telling. We were all pretty tired and hungry and that point as all we’d eaten all day was Snacks on the plane and those big giant pretzels with cheese at the parks so we decided to call it a day and head over to city walk for dinner.

Up next City Walk and the Worst Meal ever at Bubba Gumps.

 

[coffeeguy]

12/19/07 CityWalk:

After a long day at the parks we were hungry and walked around city walk for a bit to try and decide what we wanted to eat. I mentioned Pastamore and Latin Quarter as I’d heard they were both good choices. But DW wanted fish and thought it would be a good idea to try Bubba Gump. She later regretted that choice. Now we have avoided Bubba Gump’s in other cities but for whatever reason DW wanted to try it this time and we’d never been so what the heck lets check it out. There was no wait to be seated which was great and our server was pleasant enough and informed us on how everything worked and what the specials were for the night. At a table next to ours DD saw one of the kids drinking from this multi colored blinking cup and she just had to have one of those so she ordered a mango drink in a blinky cup DW also ordered a mango drink minus the blinking cup & I ordered a coke. For our appetizer we ordered the Onion Rings. These were brought out promptly and were cooked perfectly. Nice and crispy on the outside with very tasty breading. The onion inside was crisp and not soggy like many onion rings and it came with a side of Chipotle dipping sauce. We all agreed these were a hit and had the server bring more dipping sauce for us.

For our entrees DD ordered the Kids Pizza. DW had the stuffed shrimp and I ordered the Loads of Shrimp meal. After refills on drinks and a tolerable wait our entrees arrived. They looked pleasant enough. I’ll post pics and soon as I sort out my server problems. DD took one bite of her pizza and said “ewww this tastes like rubber, it’s been under a heat lamp tooo long.” Told ya she’s a foodie in training lol. She learning to identify tastes. DW and I both took bites or her pizza and we agreed pretty much rubber. Not a winner. DW ordered the Stuffed Shrimp. Now we have had great stuff shrimp before and regardless if it was successfully or not at other restaurants we have received huge shrimp split open and stuffed with Crab Meat. Not so at Bubba Gump at least not for us on this night. They were medium sized shrimp at best, I dare say small and instead of being stuffed as stated on the menu a dollop of Crab Meat was placed on top of each shrimp. While edible it was certainly a disappointment as it was obviously canned crab meat that lacked flavor and had an off taste we couldn’t describe it other than saying it tasted like it came from a can. Also the shrimp was frozen not fresh. It easy to tell the difference between fresh and frozen and this was obviously not fresh. We asked the server if the shrimp was fresh or frozen and he didn’t know or didn’t want to answer but I can say this much if they say it’s fresh which I certainly wouldn’t believe then they need to get a new supplier. I had the Loads of Shrimp which consisted of Fried, Tempura, Coconut and Unpeeled chilled Shrimp. It’s pretty hard to screw up fried food but boy did they. These were overcooked, the breading overpowered the underlying shrimp flavors and the unpeeled chilled shrimp again were frozen and not fresh. The entrees were a total disappointment. I will say one good thing about the entrees the French bread that came with DW’s meal was actually really tasty and crisp with garlic butter spread that complemented the bread well. We decided to split a desert and I’m a huge fan of bread pudding so we ordered Mamma’s Bread Pudding for desert and that was a hit. Lightly sweet with moist gooey bread, the desert was the best part of the meal. The waiter brought over the check and I handed him our room key as we enabled room charging and he took it and we thought all was well. But he came back a few minutes later with the card and said “we’ll have to call this in to the hotel we don’t normally take room cards. I thought to myself well you could have told me that before you took the card and I’ve have given him a different one and saved the hassle. So at least now and anyone else interested Bubba Gump prefers you not to use your room key to charge your meal too. Ok no biggie with that out of the way we head over to Bubba Gump gift shop to get a new clean blink glass for DD. You simply show them your receipt and they will give you a new clean glass to take with you which was a nice plus. We walked around City Walk for awhile taking in the site and listening to the live band playing and then catch the boat back to RPR but by this time DW and I weren’t feeling all that great. We both though ohhh no bad food. Sure enough not long after we got back to the room both DW and I were sick as could be most of the night. Now I can’t say it was my meal or DW’s as we both sampled each others meal, it could have even been both. But we both vowed never ever to set foot in a Bubba Gump’s again. Even if we had not gotten sick the food simply wasn’t that good to warrant a second trip. It was truly a disappointing first meal.

Up next Day 2 at IOA / Breakfast Buffet at the Islands Dinning Room and Diner at Pastamore.

Pictures Soon

 

[coffeeguy]

12/20/07: Breakfast Buffet at the Islands Dinning Room, IOA and Diner at Pastamore

After a none to restful nights sleep due to the previous night’s meal we woke up still sleepy but ready for another day of adventure. Before heading out to the parks we decided to head down to the RPR’s Islands Dinning Room for the breakfast buffet. We were seated promptly and ordered drinks. DD had fresh Mango Juice and Milk, DW had Fresh Mango Juice and I ordered the Press Pot of Kona Coffee. DD and DW thought the Mango juice was delicious and my Press Pot of Kona Coffee was some of the best coffee I’ve had in a long time. Prefect temp, bold and flavorful the way pressed pot coffee should taste. Winners all around on the drinks. We all ordered the buffet and really don’t see a reason to order ala cart because everything on the menu was on the buffet and it was very reasonably priced at around $17.00 per person from my wife and I, DD I believe was around $10.00 Coffee and Drinks were extra but still very reasonable for what was on offer. They offered made to order omelets and had Chorizo sausage yum! regualr smoked sausage, Apple Wood Smoked bacon, biscuits and gravy, Waffles, Yukon Potatoes, cereal’s, fresh made yogurt, fresh fruits, thinly shaved salmon with capers, finely diced onion and crushed egg white and yolks separated, again YUM! They had Fresh Mango Juice out and many other things I know I’ve forgotten but breakfast was a hit with all of us. Finally a good meal! After breakfast we went down to catch the boat and again it was there waiting so we hopped right on and headed over to city walk. We arrived at IOA around 11:00 but didn’t have to wait long in the entry lines and while the park seemed busier than US was yesterday the crowds still were thin and great weather so we were pleased. We started off in Marvel Comic Book Land and hit Spiderman first up. 20 min posted wait time but with out FOTL it was a walk on. DD loved this ride as much as MIB and wanted to immediately go again so we did. Then it was off the Toon Lagoon but we had previously decided that Friday would be our water day so we passed the wet rides and headed to Jurassic Park. We checked out Pteranodon Flyers but the wait was 60 minutes and with no fast pass line we passed on that. We checked out the Discovery center which DD enjoyed and since we didn’t want to get wet we saved the river adventure for Friday. We then entered Lost Continent and DD wanted to ride Flying Unicorns 5 min posted wait but with FOTL again a walk on. DW told DD to scream when we went down the first hill and scream she did all the way till the end of the ride. It was screams of joy tho’ DD loved this ride and DW and DD had a running joke that every time the rode DD screamed and screamed and laughed they had a blast. DD is too small to ride dueling dragons so I stayed behind with DD and DW took a whirl she enjoy it, I passed and we headed over to Poseidon’s Journey We entered the Fast Pass line but still had to wait about 15 minutes to the next show to start. Once the show started I knew I was in trouble as the lights went out and the spooky sounds and voices started and DD jumped up in my arms and wouldn’t let me put her down for the rest of the ride. The show was really good DW and I enjoyed it and walking thru the water tunnel was very cool and the ending with the fire and water effects was really well done but still DD wouldn’t let me put her down. After it was over and we walked out DD said she didn’t like that ride and didn’t want to go again. So we circled back to see when the Sinbad show was going on and DD found the Mystic fountain. She enjoyed interacting with that. Another little boy came up but stood off to the side of DD and the fountain asked DD do you think I’m going to squirt you with water. DD said yes, she loves playing in water, but the fountain said nope I’m going to squirt the little boy and that little boy got soaked it was sooo funny and DD just cracked up. Then the fountain asked if DD wanted to see all his water and of course she said yes so the fountain was shooting water everywhere and all the kids joined in. DD had a blast and ever time we passed later in the week she wanted to stop and talk to the fountain. It was time to head Suess Landing as we didn’t want to wait for the Sinbad show and decided to check that out another day. The theming at Suess Landing is some of the best I’ve seen and it was done up so wonderfully for Christmas. DD was in heaven. We hit High in the Sky Trolley first. 15 min posted wait but walk on with our FOTL. It was cute and DD enjoyed it. Then we hit cat in the hat with a 15 min posted wait, we walked on with FOTL. DW and DD enjoyed this ride.

Up next we jumped in the line to see the Grinch and have a picture made. The grinch was great. As he was walking toward the line all the who’s would run or fall on the ground and as the grinch got closer to the line he shouted what are you all looking at hahaha. When it was DD’s turn for a picture the Grinch asked DD what she asked for Christmas and she proceed to explain everything she wanted and Mr Grinch said ohhh no no no you have to ask for the most expensive thing you can think of hahaha. He said were is your Dad so she pointed at me and the Grinch turned to DD and said ok repeat after me. I want for Christmas a real live pony and if daddy doesn’t get me a pony he’s the worst daddy in the world. Everyone cracked up including DD. We of course purchased the picture as it turned out great and a how the grinch stole Christmas book and had them shipped back to the room at RPR so we didn’t have to carry them around all day. This is a great service to take advantage of if staying onsite. We used it often. They gave you a claim ticket and tell you your package will be available at the hotel after 9:00 A.M. the next day. Each Day our packages were delivered to our room and never had to go to the front desk to pick them up it was great! The Grinchmas show was really well done

DD and DW sat up front and DD got to get up and dance with the Who’s at the ending of the show. She had a great time. After the show was over she wanted to ride red fish / blue fish. DW didn’t want to get wet, I didn’t either but I went anyway thinking that if I had the control I could out maneuver the water thinking that if you follow the opposite of the song that you might not get as wet as if you actually followed along. Well no dice DD took the control and wouldn’t give it up and we both proceeded to get soaked. DD actually took great pleasure in soaking me and DW just stood on the side lines laughing at me. After Red Fish / Blue Fish we rode Cat in the hat again and then headed back thru Lost Continent for another spin on flying unicorn and then before we left the park we rode spiderman 2 more times. By this time it was almost 6:30 and we were hungry so we decided to call it a day at IOA and head over to city walk for dinner.

Up Next Citywalk and Pastamore.

 

[coffeeguy]

Sorry folks I'm having tooo many problems with my PC tonight and with the boards going down for an update I give up. I have only gotten a few pictures posted but I've tons more and hopefully by the time the upgrade is finished I'll have my web server issues fixed and I can post more pictures for you all. I'm giving up for the night but I'll be back. Thanks for reading my trip report I've lots more in store just hang in there.

 

[JawsCPA]

Great Report and pics.

I love to read Universal trip reports. Brings back my memories of our trip.

Looking forward to your next installment.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Looking forward to the rest as well.

 

[Lois Denominator]

Add me to the "anxiously-awaiting coffeeguy's next installment" list!

 

[bubba's mom]

Enjoying your TR coffeeguy... I remember you asking a bunch of questions while planning your trip....

Glad to read off to a great start (with exception of Bubba Gumps ) ....


Looking forward to those pix

 

[Metro West]

Great report and pix so far....keep it coming!

 

[cheetara]

This is great so far, keep it coming! It's giving me so many great ideas & tips for our up coming april trip.

 

[flafan]

Loving your report. Thanks for sharing Can't wait for more.

 

[coffeeguy]

Sorry all I got sent out of town on business but I'm back so lets get back to the trip report!

 

[coffeeguy]

After a quick walk around citywalk trying to decide what we wanted to eat and reading all the positive reviews of Pastamore’ we decided to give that a try. Long story short sadly we were disappointed. I know a few readers will probably think we are food snobs and were expecting too much but really that’s not the case at all. We went expecting very little from any of the restaurants, at most something along the lines of a chilis or O’charlies nothing high quality or out of this world just a decent meal. For an appetizer we ordered the fried cheese ravioli they absolutely tasted like they came out a bag that had been in the freezer a bit too long and they were drizzled with a balsamic glaze that really ruined the flavor in our opinion. DD had the child’s spaghetti and while the pasta was cooked well and DD enjoyed it they put the smallest amount of sauce on it I’ve ever seen anywhere we actually had to stop the waitress and ask her for more sauce. DW had the Pesto Pasta which constisted of Oak-grilled chicken and Stringoli pasta tossed with a creamy alfredo pesto sauce, diced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese,DW enjoyed this and said it was tasty and that the pesto sauce was really well done, so DW’s meal was a hit. I ordered the sirloin steak with gorgonzola, smoked bacon and Italian seasonings. Served with garlic roasted red potatoes and bell peppers. I know steak at a pasta place I shouldn’t expect much lol but I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Anyway the steak was really large and presented well so that was a plus but they drizzled the same balsamic that was on the appetizer and that completely ruined the steak. Also sadly the steak was very fatty so my meal was a miss. DD had ice cream for desert she was happy with that and you can’t really screw up ice cream I guess, DW and I ordered the tiramisu. Now in my mind tiramisu should be light and moist with that yummy hint of espresso but this was heavy not at all moist obviously frozen and thawed and was a real disappointment for us. After a so so dinner we headed out to watch the live band playing at city walk Orange Avenue or something like that. They were very entertaining and DD was dancing along to the music and we had a really good time people watching. Around 10:00 we were worn out and hopped the boat back to RPR for some much needed sleep because Friday morning we had booked the character breakfast at IOA with the Grinch.

Up next Character breakfast with the Grinch / Water ride day at IOA / relaxation at the RPR pool with drinks and snacks from Bula Bar and an amazing dinner at Tchop chop.