The Trip of Firsts, August 7-11 2021

[Charade67]

There’s just something about chocolate and peanut butter!!

My favorite food combination.

Yum, I guess one of these days, we will drive out to Hershey. I have in law family that lives 10 miles from Hershey Park, so maybe an excuse to visit, then get some chocolate.

If it’s still there I recommend doing the falconry experience. B and I did it several years ago. It was really cool.

 

[wdwrule]

My favorite food combination.

If it’s still there I recommend doing the falconry experience. B and I did it several years ago. It was really cool.

Oh wow! I’ve been there sooo many times and had no idea about this!! I will definitely have to check it out! Here’s the link https://www.thehotelhershey.com/recreation/falconry.php

 

[erinch]

My daughter and I took my hubby to the Circular at Hotel Hershey on Sunday for his bday. Impeccable service and food. Amazing time! He got the chocolate soufflé for dessert. I got the key lime cheesecake and it was awesome.

 

[wdwrule]

My daughter and I took my hubby to the Circular at Hotel Hershey on Sunday for his bday. Impeccable service and food. Amazing time! He got the chocolate soufflé for dessert. I got the key lime cheesecake and it was awesome.

Delicious!! We’ve had several Sunday brunches there and it was always consistently wonderful. Such a nice atmosphere too!! Perfect bday choice from you both! I’m sure he loved it!!

 

[wdwrule]

Other Thoughts:
So now it’s time to reflect. Prior to this trip, I never dreamed of visiting Universal because my love for Disney was so strong. Lol omg this sounds like an affair or something But seriously I didn’t want to ‘waste time’ at UO when we were so content with WDW. Disney is just so magical and we’ve had so many amazing memories there (even had our honeymoon there 25 years ago).

With that said, I still yearn to go back to Disney and we totally will sometime. HOWEVER, we’ve discovered that UO has its own kind of magic. There’s just something about the whole vibe there that was welcoming and enticing. We’ve now also already made some amazing memories there as well. Granted the four of us love thrill roller coasters, so it was so much fun experiencing the awesome rides that UO had to offer. The rides themselves weren’t just the typical rides at a theme park. Most of the rides all had a story line, from the queue all the way to the ride exit. I think that’s one of the many reasons that sets it in a higher league of a theme/amusement park. The animatronics, props, visuals and scents: all made for an immersive experience. Even though we were there for four full park days, there’s still so much I want to experience. Some of the shops I never stepped foot in and would love to visit those next time. There were probably a few smaller rides that we missed as well but those will be on our list for next time.

Looking back, I am glad we were lucky enough to splurge for a hotel with included EPs for our very first visit. Because we’re such enthusiastic ride people, this allowed us to experience the main rides and decide on the spot if it was worth repeating or not. For example, I now know that I wouldn’t want to wait in a 40 minute line for Fast & Furious. To some that ride might be their favorite which is cool, but for me it’s nothing I’d wait more than 10/15 minutes for. So the EPs let us learn each ride and with minimal wait, which in turn allowed us to experience as many rides possible in a short amount of time. Without EPs, I would highly recommend experiencing your must-do rides early in the morning when waits are more manageable.

Fast-forward to now, we already happily booked a few mini trips between now and the holidays!! We got great AP rates on hotels and are excited to experience the ‘new to us’ hotels: Sapphire Falls, Aventura, Cabana Bay and possibly Hard Rock (just saw a great rate today). They will be quick weekend trips and most of the flights will be with Spirit which we don’t have a lot of experience with. We’ve mostly flown Southwest or JetBlue. We’ve heard horror stories about Spirit but they are so cheap. Like $30 per person cheap! We fly out of BWI (Baltimore/Washington) so I’m hoping with it being a major hub there won’t be too many delays/cancellations. My son has used them back and forth to Los Angeles and has had ok experiences. We also won’t have any extra bags. Each of us will take one small regulated bag and that’s it. The last few times we’ve flown, we haven’t had checked bags and that’s such a wonderful convenient experience. Most of these trips will just be the two or three of us.

We’re really looking forward to experiencing the parks more and having more fun! I can’t wait to try out those other hotels too! Even though we have the after 4:00 EPs with our APs, we will be navigating with mostly standby lines but we’ll just be happy to be there again. I feel like we can slow down a bit now that we have experienced UO. Time to visit some of those smaller rides and shops. We’ll hit up the big rides earlier in the morning and just watch the wait times. I’m hoping the QS lines won’t be as bad by then as I would love to try some places. We like eating at off times (on the earlier side) so I’m thinking we’ll be fine. I do have a couple of dining reservations too. There’s many things on my list to try including the ice cream shop in the Harry Potter area. If worse comes to worst I’ll have Butterbeer for breakfast, lunch and dinner!! Haha love that stuff!! My local little mom and pop grocery shop has a knock off Butterbeer that I just discovered. It’s good but not Wizarding World good!

I’ll conclude with thanking everyone on these boards who have helped me directly and indirectly along the way. I could not have done it well without you all!! In fact I’m sure I saved so much money and time thanks to you!! Planning is always half the fun for me so I totally appreciate all of the great advice. I try to help others on here as well but I still have a lot to learn. But again, that’s half the fun! Take care all and thanks for reading my first trip report!

 

[Deb1993]

You expressed it so well! There is a magic to UO and I'm so glad that you captured it like we have!!! There really is so much to do. Really enjoyed your report.

 

[wdwrule]

You expressed it so well! There is a magic to UO and I'm so glad that you captured it like we have!!! There really is so much to do. Really enjoyed your report.

Thank you!! And yes… love that UO magic!

 

[macraven]

Glad you had a nice time !

 

[Lynne G]

I’m glad to see you found some mummy dust happy experiences at Universal. And while I’ve stayed at SF before, and very much enjoyed my stays there and will be staying there again at the end of this month, I think you will find all of the Universal hotels are nice.

I also find week day mornings are generally fine using the regular line, and not having a long wait. And many times it’s just me, so single rider lines can be fast too.

And yay, to go back for short weekend trips. I think the holiday decor in Universal is very nice.

We are about a 2 hour flight. And I tend to check a bag, and use SW. But yeah, depending on how cheap I can find on another air carrier, it is enticing when you see a good AP hotel discount, and why not go since I have an AP burning a hole in my pocket?

Great report, and thanks for posting it here.

 

[wdwrule]

I’m glad to see you found some mummy dust happy experiences at Universal. And while I’ve stayed at SF before, and very much enjoyed my stays there and will be staying there again at the end of this month, I think you will find all of the Universal hotels are nice.

I also find week day mornings are generally fine using the regular line, and not having a long wait. And many times it’s just me, so single rider lines can be fast too.

And yay, to go back for short weekend trips. I think the holiday decor in Universal is very nice.

We are about a 2 hour flight. And I tend to check a bag, and use SW. But yeah, depending on how cheap I can find on another air carrier, it is enticing when you see a good AP hotel discount, and why not go since I have an AP burning a hole in my pocket?

Great report, and thanks for posting it here.

Yes I’m hoping too to experience different hotels. It’ll be like new totally different vacations!

We may have to try single rider lines, that’s a good idea. Oh and I can’t wait to see the Christmas decorations up as that is my favorite holiday!!

We’re a two hour flight as well so figured we wouldn’t even be in the plane long. So glad we decided to get APs! It’s already making such a difference! Thank you!

 

[OOMHS]

Great TR, thank you!