Trip Report April 2013

[hpriamson]

We spent the first 4 days of our 11 day Florida vacation at Universal. Traveling were me, my wife, and 3 daughters 12, 10, and 8.

Day 1 - Thursday 4/11
Got up at 3 AM, flew from Boston to Orlando, and took a taxi to the Hard Rock Hotel. We had a 2 Queen Deluxe room with sofabed for the 5 of us, which worked out well. Third floor pool view, so we didn't have to deal with the elevators, and could take the walking path to the parks. After checking in, cleaning up, and getting our express passes, made it to US around 11 AM. Our first stop, by popular demand, was Minion Mayhem. Everyone absolutely loved it.

Ride spoiler: The part in the preshow where Gru picks out a group who hasn't showered in a week? That was us. Completely hilarious for our very first ride of the trip.

Here's a great picture of the kids with a Minion.

After that, we tried to go on Rip Ride Rockit, but it was down. So we went to lunch at Finnegans, then wound our way through the park - hitting Revenge of the Mummy (multiple times), Disaster, Men In Black (multiple times), and Simpsons. By then, our youngest was getting a little worn out (we had gotten up at 3 AM that morning), so my wife took her back to the hotel to relax and hit the pool. I took the older kids to a few more rides - RRR was up by then, so we had a great time on that, also hit Shrek 4-D and MIB again. We had the photoconnect pass, so we got lots of great ride pictures:

We headed back to the hotel around 5, to find the "tired" 8 year old was in the pool, and was constantly going on the water slide. We all joined her, and later went to dinner at Pastamore, then watched the Cinematic Spectacular. Dinner was good, except that they changed their menu or supplier in the year and a half since we had been there last, and now practically NOTHING was peanut-safe - one of my kids has a severe nut allergy. This was pretty disappointing to her, since the kids buffet was her favorite meal of our last Orlando vacation. The Cinematic Spectacular was a letdown as well, but that may have been because we were all exhausted by that time. Headed back to the hotel to sleep.

 

[hpriamson]

Day 2 - Friday 4/12

I tried to get the kids up at 6, since Early Entry to WWOHP was at 7 that day. Failed miserably, but we got to IOA gates around 7:30, so we were still 30 minutes ahead of the game. Went on Forbidden Journey, then Hippogriff, then the older two and I did Dragon Challenge a few times - the youngest is a little frightened of big coasters. Some pics:

As the crowd started to build, walked over to the Superhero section and went on Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and Dr. Doom. Then the kids dragged me kicking & screaming to meet Spider-Man. Now I'm a middle aged adult, with a job, responsibilities, and all that, but I also have lots of Spider-Man comic books from my youth cluttering up the attic, so I was grinning ear to ear the whole time. Some pics:

Then the girls and I went on the wet rides, even though it was cloudy at the time. We figured we'd do those, dry off quickly, and continue the day. We had a great time - Ripsaw Falls, Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges twice, then JPRA, but the "dry off quickly" part didn't work as well as we'd hoped. We should have gone back to the hotel to change, but our reservations at Mythos were coming up, and we were planning an early day anyway since we had Blue Man Group tickets for 6 PM. Big mistake - the girls froze in the Mythos air conditioning, and wound up ordering hot chocolate! The meal was good, but they were understandably miserable throughout. Here's a picture of us after JPRA - it's not easy to tell, but I'm drenched:

After lunch, we did some shopping and hit the Dr. Suess rides. Headed back to the hotel around 3 for some pool time, then went to Blue Man Group for the 6:00 show. The kids loved it. We were in the front row, center, so they all got some paint & banana puree on them. Girls before the show:

Went to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe afterwards, and ran into the same peanut issue as the night before - nothing on the menu was guaranteed peanut free! The CityWalk restaurants are really dropping the ball on this - needless to say we swore off any further meals in CityWalk.

 

[hpriamson]

Day 3 - Saturday 4/13

We got to IOA around 8:15 for early entry. Here's a nice family photo at the entrance:

Once again, we started with all the Potter & Superhero rides. Had a bit of luck - my youngest daughter and I had split off from the rest to ride Hippogriff, and were meeting them at Hulk. While walking through Jurassic Park right around 9:00, we took a look at Pteranodon Flyers. No wait. We actually rode it twice - no one was in line when our ride finished, so they sent us around again! For all the bad press this ride gets, it was actually a ton of fun - too bad it's always got such a huge line.

Spent most of that day in IOA, then headed back to the hotel again for a break. Went back to Studios around 4:30, since they were having the Mardi Gras parade that night. Pitbull was the concert that night, so the park was packed to the gills - even with Express Passes, we had to wait 30 minutes for Minion Mayhem. Had dinner at Finnegans. Kids all loved the parade, and got lots of beads. Then while everyone else in the park went to the Pitbull l concert, we went on Mummy, MIB, and Simpsons multiple times, and left around 9. Great night.

 

[hpriamson]

Day 4 - Checked out of Hard Rock. Overall, we really enjoyed the hotel. My kids all loved the pool, especially the water slide. Room was clean and spacious for 5, and the second sink was a godsend. We didn't really use any amenities beyond the pool, but would definitely stay there in a deluxe room again.

We got to IOA around 8:15, and went straight to the Ollivanders show since the line was pretty short. In one of those crazy coincidences, wound up in line right behind a friend of my wife's who she hasn't seen in 8 months. Did FJ, then the two youngest went over to Pteranodon flyers to get in line right at 9, and rode it with no wait. Here's a nice pic of me & the younger two in front of Hogwarts on the way back from Pteranodon:

Then somehow, my youngest daughter,who is pretty nervous about coasters, volunteered to try Dragon Challenge - we wound up going on that multiple times with her. Went on the Superhero rides, then switched to Studios to finish the day. Hit MIB, Simpsons, Mummy again, and also saw the Horror Makeup Show and rode ET. Some pics:

It Started to rain heavily around 5 PM, so we left to head to our vacation rental for Disney.

Overall, a fantastic 4 days at the Studios. The only disappointment was the peanut issue at the two CityWalk restaurants. I was honestly surprised - when we there in 2011, they had no problem accomodating her allergy. But we will definitely be back again.

 

[schumigirl]

What lovely pictures......you all look as if you really enjoyed everything on offer.

Like the Jaws pic.......

Glad you all had such a good time at Universal

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks for your TR. Loved all the pics! The giggly one on the hippogriff ride is really sweet. The one with Hogwarts in the background, was that one of their photogs? THat is a really great shot, I want to make sure we can recreate it!

 

[hpriamson]

Yes, the Hogwarts picture was one of the Universal photographers. We saw photographers on the bridge several times.

 

[coastgirl]

Yes, the Hogwarts picture was one of the Universal photographers. We saw photographers on the bridge several times.

Great!

We loved Pterodon Flyers, though we waited more than an hour last time. (We had no idea how long the line was--you can't tell!). Sadly, there is no one young enough in our party to do it now.

 

[macraven]

thanks for sharing your trip with us.



love the Jaws pic.
the expression on your middle child's face is beyond cute!

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

Thank you so much for sharing all this information and the photos!

I just showed them to DS11 and he is so jealous - we don't leave for five months! DH was very impressed, too, he loved the MIB photo.

 

[AustralianJetsetter]

Thanks for sharing your Universal stay. I really enjoyed reading it. Definitely sounds like you all had a great time

That is disappointing for your daughter with the allergy! Geez you'd think in this day and age with allergies being far more common that this would easily be catered for in any restaurant!!!

Can't wait to stay at HRH ourselves next year.

 

[pookadoo77]

great pics, thanks for sharing! Is the dummy jaws still there as a photo op?! I hope so!!!

 

[SharkyGoddess]

Thanks for sharing your family's photos!

 

[Metro West]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

 

[natebenma]

Enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for sharing!

You got some great pictures from photoconnect. Love the character backgrounds for Spiderman and SpongeBob.

I'm sorry to hear about the issues you had with restaurants in City Walk not being accommodating to dealing with nut allergies. That is not ok- it is such an important concern for families!

About how much was the taxi from MCO to Hard Rock?

 

[hpriamson]

Just to clarify - both Pastamore and Hard Rock Cafe did their best to accommodate our daughter and her allergies - the chef came out to talk with us and everything. It was just that practically nothing they had on the menu (including the kids menu) was nut safe. The best they could do was offer some plain grilled chicken breast - not a very exciting choice for a kid on vacation. 2 years ago, Pastamore at least was almost completely nut safe - the chef came out then as well, and guaranteed that the entire kids buffet was safe for her (and it was). This time, IIRC, they said their supplier basically told them anything with wheat in it could also have traces of nuts. Which is insane for a place that caters to children.

The cab from the airport to HRH was $49, plus tip.