trip report 11/16--11/21

[stwyatt]

we visit orlando parks once every 5 yrs with our son(1st visit age 5, now age 10). just got back and since i got so much good info on this board, i thought i would try to give back by posting a trip report with our observations. as everyone has said, staying on-site is wonderful. the fotl, ease to parks, restaurants, shops, movies,etc all within walking distance make it a vacation that disney just can't duplicate. the only downside i could give would be the restaurant prices. 2 off-site restaurants that we really enjoyed were the new dixie crossroads in festival bay mall(far north end of int'l dr), and right across the street from dixie crossroads, texas de brazil. about dixie crossroads, they serve great seafood. we got rock shrimp which tasted very much like lobster, and fried shrimp. the texas de brazil was expensive(40.00pp, 20.00child) but it was an all you can eat meal like no other. there really is no menu, you go to a giant salad bar and then when your ready for meat, servers start bringing different cuts of meat by the serving, filet, sirloin, pork, sausages, lamb,chicken--an absolute unbelievable amount of food until you tell them to quit serving. they then bring out garlic mashed potatoes and fried bananas to "cleanse your palate" and if you want you can still keep getting more meat. it is truly a meat eaters paradise and it was not a typical low quality all you can eat type fare--it was truly excellent. towards the end of our stay, we moved to the crowne plaza universal--got a great rate of 57/nt from hotwire. it was a very clean, compact nice hotel--very easy to get to usf and a great alternative if the cost of the universal resorts was not in your budget. but i would definitely recommend on site if you could swing it. disney folks talk about being surrounded in pixie dust when you stay on site. i would say you get the same sort of feeling with the universal experience. you can see i'm not a frequent poster--i forgot to tell you that we stayed at the rpr. found it to be very quiet, beautiful and an easy 7 min walk to ioa. hope this helps

 

[Motherfletcher]

$57 for CPU is great. We like that hotel and have used Hotwire for it as well. We joined their Priority Club which include Holiday Inns too and they have always gave us Club access to the top floor lounge. Their offerings might be considered meager but they are always good food. The Club has a nice view of the I-drive area with US/IOA in the background. They have upgraded us (when there is just 2 of us) to the Jr. Suite which has a handy fridge and is a bigger room.
We are staying at RPR tomoorrow night mainly for the FOTL and a place to crash after pigging out at HRH's Kitchen Thanksgiving Feast.
What room/view did you get at RPR?
Nice report. Thanks for posting.

 

[stwyatt]

we were in room 1724 which is a pool view--i had previously searched and read yours and many other posts about where to stay. we signed up for the loews first card and they upgraded us to this room without us asking. we paid 168/nt for our 4 nt. stay. thanks to all for all the info that can be found on this board

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[robvia]

Great report, I'll have to remember those restaurants.
Agree, the prices in the park are expensive, but that's how they make money. You can share a meal at Mythos to leave room for desert. That's what the wife and I did on a previous visit. Sharing an appetizer at the Hard Rock Cafe is another way to save money. We also order pizza in from Flippers, or drive to an offsite restaurant like Chilis.

Agree that staying onsite makes you "feel" like you are special. Plus the pools have more action. We stay on and offsite and have fun either way.

To us, staying onsite is a splurge trip, something special.

 

[stwyatt]

robvia, are you the one that has a website that shows all about universal studios--as well as telling about flippers pizza? if so, we used that info a lot. i agree with your cost saving strategies on food. the main shock i had was breakfast prices at the "island" restaurant at rpr. however, we go to orlando once every 5yrs, so we really didn't mind the prices--just wanted to let other folks who may read these posts and are on a limited budget that food prices are high.

 

[robvia]

Yes, I'm the one with the web sites. Thanks for the kind words.

Agree about breakfast prices at the hotel restaurants, it can get expensive. Takes a lot of planning and work to visit the grocery store before checking in, but pays off in time and money when you can wake up, eat doughnuts/milk in the room and head off to the parks early.

We stay on site once a year, and I don't mind splurging, but I do agree that eating breakfast in the hotel room, and then having a cooler full of drinks will make a visit more enjoyable.

 

[stwyatt]

with only one child, i just left and made a mcdonald's run while everyone else was getting ready. that worked out great. the last day at usf, we did the character breakfast at confiscos grille. while pricey, i thought it was a great experience. spiderman was really talkative and into his character. french toast was great. one of those monster hot fudge sundaes at hard rock cafe before bedtime was also great(except we needed to jog back to the hotel to rid some calories). your website is cool. i used all those pictures to help me decide where to stay--and where to eat. i hope your still doing that website in 5 yrs.

 

[Mama2Boys]

Yes, I'm the one with the web sites. Thanks for the kind words.

Agree about breakfast prices at the hotel restaurants, it can get expensive. Takes a lot of planning and work to visit the grocery store before checking in, but pays off in time and money when you can wake up, eat doughnuts/milk in the room and head off to the parks early.

We stay on site once a year, and I don't mind splurging, but I do agree that eating breakfast in the hotel room, and then having a cooler full of drinks will make a visit more enjoyable.

Hi, can you send me a private PM with your website link? Thanks.