NHKristy76
Senior Mousketeer
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 746
Hi there! Here is a report about my first ever trip to the Universal Resort. Please feel free to ask questions!
Here are the details...
Dates/Location: Saturday June 9 - Tuesday June 12, 2012 @ The Royal
Pacific Resort
Cast: My sister/best friend Candice, 32, HUGE fan of Harry Potter, has been
to WDW 3 times with the last time being about 6 years ago
Me, 35 (for a few more days!), a card carrying WDW addict who
really had very little interest in US/IOA but had enjoyed the HP
books/movies
How We Got So Lucky:
My parents sent my sister and I on this trip to celebrate our
recent graduations from college. In May, my sister earned her Masters
in Marriage and Family Therapy and I (finally!) earned my Bachelor's in
Education.
And off we go...
Day 1
We flew to Orlando on a 7am flight via SW. We were at MCO a few minutes after 10am. I was so sad to see all the Disney Magical Express signs knowing I was about to get on a plain old Mears van and head to the darkside. I was so conflicted - I was looking forward to experiencing something new but would have gladly jumped on the Magical Express and been full of joy!
We arrived at the Royal Pacific Resort quickly and, even though it was early, our water view room was ready! We dropped off our bags and walked down to the concierge/ticket desk to get our park tickets. It was a bit confusing for a few minutes as the people tried to figure out how to issue our tickets. After a bit, someone told us that we would need to go to the park to get our tickets because the package was issued by Southwest. I was a bit irritated about this at the time because it took them about 20 minutes to decide that this was the only way for us to get our tickets. We took the water taxi over to Citywalk and hoofed it over to IOA. As we approached it was about noon and the lines at the ticket windows were ENORMOUS. We weren't sure where to find the line we were supposed to be in, the signs were not clear, and we couldn't find an employee to ask. We got in a line for "will call" tickets (because we had already paid for our tickets so it made sense to us!) and waited about 20 minutes. We got up to the computer and realized that this was not the place we needed to be! As I sputtered under my breath and headed to the area of the ticket windows again, my sister went and searched for a TM. Finally she found someone who said, "Southwest packages don't include tickets." AAAAAHHHH! She said, "This package did and we have the paperwork to show it." So the man told her we needed to get in lines at the main ticket windows. So Candice came back to me and told me about the conversation and we waited in line for our tickets. We were in line for nearly 90 minutes. So after it took us 2 hours to get tickets in our hand, I decided to recommend that people NOT buy Universal packages with tickets from Southwest. What a mess!
We entered the park and took our time walking over to WWoHP. We stopped at Poseidon's and made our way in without having any idea what it was. Have to say I thought the entire thing, from beginning to end, was pretty lame but I was glad to be out of the heat for awhile!
We made it to WWoHP and were instantly in awe. It was the most beautiful thing I've seen and it really felt like you were in Hogsmeade. I was so taken aback and when I looked at my sister, she had tears in her eyes! Now it was midday on a Saturday so we were in the midst of insane crowds. We walked around a bit, made a quick visit to Moaning Myrtle, and then went over to the Dragon Challenge. Because I'm 'pooh sized", I was very aware that many of the rides might exclude me so I went over to the trial seats. There was a very large woman sleeping in the bigger of the two seats. I tried out the "normal" seat and couldn't get the belt latched. So I stood up and looked at my sister and then back to Sleeping Beauty. After a minute or two, I approached the TM standing by the entrance to the ride and asked for help. The TM seemed very nice until I said, "Could you help me with this?" and she said, "What would you like me to do ma'am?" I was a bit taken aback and sort of stared at her for a minute... looked back at SB, and then said, "Wake her up so I can find out if I can ride?" The TM looked very annoyed, AT ME!, and said, "You can wake her up or just get in line. I think you'll be fine." I was stunned. I walked back to SB and said, rather loudly, "Hello!? Excuse me." SB opened her eyes and said, "Did you need this chair?"
I gave the seat a quick try, found that I fit okay, and we were off onto the red dragon. I told the attendant that we'd like Row 3 or 6 (I'm sure she could tell why!) and we were on pretty quickly. What I didn't know, however, is that not every seat in the row is modified. So I ended up in a standard seat and unable to buckle myself in. Another attendant came over and said, "You need the modified seat." So I looked at him and said, "I know this. The sign said Row 3 or 6 but I don't fit." So he pulled us out of line, hid us in a dark tunnel and said that he'd get us on the next train. So we waited and after a few trains went through, he came to get us and showed us to the modified seat. Although the process was annoying, we LOVED this coaster. It was great fun.
We had a quick lunch in The Three Broomsticks and found the food to be just so-so. We weren't expecting gourmet but I was hoping that my corn on the cob would be cooked! All in all it was a good experience, we really felt like Harry or Hagrid might stop in at any moment.
We walked through the park and got on Jurassic Park. I really liked this ride and thought it was well done. By the time we got out of the ride, the sky looked quite ominous. We decided to start walking towards the exit and got about 100 feet out of the JP exit area before the skies opened up on us. Although many people were scurrying for shelter, we just kept walking and enjoyed getting wet. (Ponchos in the summer, to me, are the worst idea EVER!) We went back to the hotel, put on dry clothes, and took a snooze in the AC.
The rain kept up for the remainder of the night so we stayed in. We had a lackluster dinner at Jack's. I had the pizza and my sister had a salad with chicken that she was not entirely pleased with. We went to bed pretty early in preparation for day 2!
Part II coming up soon.... We get to WWoHP nice and early and make it over to US!
Here are the details...
Dates/Location: Saturday June 9 - Tuesday June 12, 2012 @ The Royal
Pacific Resort
Cast: My sister/best friend Candice, 32, HUGE fan of Harry Potter, has been
to WDW 3 times with the last time being about 6 years ago
Me, 35 (for a few more days!), a card carrying WDW addict who
really had very little interest in US/IOA but had enjoyed the HP
books/movies
How We Got So Lucky:
My parents sent my sister and I on this trip to celebrate our
recent graduations from college. In May, my sister earned her Masters
in Marriage and Family Therapy and I (finally!) earned my Bachelor's in
Education.
And off we go...
Day 1
We flew to Orlando on a 7am flight via SW. We were at MCO a few minutes after 10am. I was so sad to see all the Disney Magical Express signs knowing I was about to get on a plain old Mears van and head to the darkside. I was so conflicted - I was looking forward to experiencing something new but would have gladly jumped on the Magical Express and been full of joy!
We arrived at the Royal Pacific Resort quickly and, even though it was early, our water view room was ready! We dropped off our bags and walked down to the concierge/ticket desk to get our park tickets. It was a bit confusing for a few minutes as the people tried to figure out how to issue our tickets. After a bit, someone told us that we would need to go to the park to get our tickets because the package was issued by Southwest. I was a bit irritated about this at the time because it took them about 20 minutes to decide that this was the only way for us to get our tickets. We took the water taxi over to Citywalk and hoofed it over to IOA. As we approached it was about noon and the lines at the ticket windows were ENORMOUS. We weren't sure where to find the line we were supposed to be in, the signs were not clear, and we couldn't find an employee to ask. We got in a line for "will call" tickets (because we had already paid for our tickets so it made sense to us!) and waited about 20 minutes. We got up to the computer and realized that this was not the place we needed to be! As I sputtered under my breath and headed to the area of the ticket windows again, my sister went and searched for a TM. Finally she found someone who said, "Southwest packages don't include tickets." AAAAAHHHH! She said, "This package did and we have the paperwork to show it." So the man told her we needed to get in lines at the main ticket windows. So Candice came back to me and told me about the conversation and we waited in line for our tickets. We were in line for nearly 90 minutes. So after it took us 2 hours to get tickets in our hand, I decided to recommend that people NOT buy Universal packages with tickets from Southwest. What a mess!
We entered the park and took our time walking over to WWoHP. We stopped at Poseidon's and made our way in without having any idea what it was. Have to say I thought the entire thing, from beginning to end, was pretty lame but I was glad to be out of the heat for awhile!
We made it to WWoHP and were instantly in awe. It was the most beautiful thing I've seen and it really felt like you were in Hogsmeade. I was so taken aback and when I looked at my sister, she had tears in her eyes! Now it was midday on a Saturday so we were in the midst of insane crowds. We walked around a bit, made a quick visit to Moaning Myrtle, and then went over to the Dragon Challenge. Because I'm 'pooh sized", I was very aware that many of the rides might exclude me so I went over to the trial seats. There was a very large woman sleeping in the bigger of the two seats. I tried out the "normal" seat and couldn't get the belt latched. So I stood up and looked at my sister and then back to Sleeping Beauty. After a minute or two, I approached the TM standing by the entrance to the ride and asked for help. The TM seemed very nice until I said, "Could you help me with this?" and she said, "What would you like me to do ma'am?" I was a bit taken aback and sort of stared at her for a minute... looked back at SB, and then said, "Wake her up so I can find out if I can ride?" The TM looked very annoyed, AT ME!, and said, "You can wake her up or just get in line. I think you'll be fine." I was stunned. I walked back to SB and said, rather loudly, "Hello!? Excuse me." SB opened her eyes and said, "Did you need this chair?"
I gave the seat a quick try, found that I fit okay, and we were off onto the red dragon. I told the attendant that we'd like Row 3 or 6 (I'm sure she could tell why!) and we were on pretty quickly. What I didn't know, however, is that not every seat in the row is modified. So I ended up in a standard seat and unable to buckle myself in. Another attendant came over and said, "You need the modified seat." So I looked at him and said, "I know this. The sign said Row 3 or 6 but I don't fit." So he pulled us out of line, hid us in a dark tunnel and said that he'd get us on the next train. So we waited and after a few trains went through, he came to get us and showed us to the modified seat. Although the process was annoying, we LOVED this coaster. It was great fun.
We had a quick lunch in The Three Broomsticks and found the food to be just so-so. We weren't expecting gourmet but I was hoping that my corn on the cob would be cooked! All in all it was a good experience, we really felt like Harry or Hagrid might stop in at any moment.
We walked through the park and got on Jurassic Park. I really liked this ride and thought it was well done. By the time we got out of the ride, the sky looked quite ominous. We decided to start walking towards the exit and got about 100 feet out of the JP exit area before the skies opened up on us. Although many people were scurrying for shelter, we just kept walking and enjoyed getting wet. (Ponchos in the summer, to me, are the worst idea EVER!) We went back to the hotel, put on dry clothes, and took a snooze in the AC.
The rain kept up for the remainder of the night so we stayed in. We had a lackluster dinner at Jack's. I had the pizza and my sister had a salad with chicken that she was not entirely pleased with. We went to bed pretty early in preparation for day 2!
Part II coming up soon.... We get to WWoHP nice and early and make it over to US!
