trip report: arrival and day one

[kirbsam]

my family and i, wife and two girls 14 and 10 got to the pbh hotel about 930 pm. on wednesday night. check in was a breeze. we had a room on villa wing in a deluxe club room. went to our room. beds were great, and bathroom was large. the kids thought the shutters that could open to look into the bathroom were cool, we figured out how to lock it. our view was of a grassy courtyard on the side of the villa pool. we unpacked and walked around the hotel. my wife fell in love with the place. italian music, lovely plazas, outdoor cafes and bars around the harbor. very nice. we took the boat to citywalk and just walked around and soaked in the atmosphere. there was a lot of excitement in the air. the boats moved at a pretty good clip, too. i liked the fact that they only serviced one hotel. we got back to our room and had a great night sleep. i woke up about 6 am the next morning and went to work out while the rest of the family slept. the fitness center is located in the spa and it is pretty fancy. all the machines you want, free of charge for club room guests, and tvs on every machine. nice. the place had plenty of machines, too and was never real crowded. the facilities were nice for cleaning up after, too. i then walked around the resort again, watching the sunrise in my shorts and tshirt, a nice break from wisconsin. got back to my room and we all went to the lounge for breakfast. breakfast was nothing fancy, bagels, cereal, muffins, fresh fruit, and yogurt. plenty of juice and bottled water. my only gripe was the water was warm, probably to stop people from hoarding it on the way to the parks. we got on the boat and headed to ioa for the day. got there about 840, was in the park by 850 and was on hulk, first row by 855. an awesome rollercoaster, and long, too. went on spiderman, dr. doom, jurassic river adventure, dueling dragonsx2(both front), saw posideons fury. went into suess landing and walked around until about 1130 when mythos opened. had a great lunch at mythos. did a couple of rides at suess landing, then headed over to the wet rides. did both dudley and popeye and left the park soaked. i walked home the three girls took a rickshaw. very fun. went to the beach pool. about an hour or two later, i got the itch, so i took my two daughters to universal studios. got there about 5, by 7 we had done jimmy neutron, shrek, twister, mummyx3, jaws, and mibx2. fotl is a godsend. we were not even trying to cram stuff in, and we were doing it in a relaxed fashion. very different than disney. oops, not trying to compare. my wife met us for dinner at hard rock. had a great dinner. walked around city walk. took the boat back. stopped at the lounge for some dessert. my wife loved the teramisu. we went to bed tired, happy and ready for another day. thoughts on the first day. the hotel was incredibily beautiful, and relaxing. the layout was confusing at first, but we took the time to get the lay of the land. they say the boats only run every 15 minutes, but it is more like 10. we never waited more than 5 minutes for a boat. the walk is about 10 minutes and it is really a beautiful walk. and again, fotl will spoil you forever. cant wait to tell you about tomorrow.

 

[phamton]

And I can't wait to hear the rest of your report. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

 

[Cinderella822]

Thanks for sharing your first day with us. We had all the same impressions on our first stay at PBH and USO last summer. Found it very relaxing and enjoyable - just everything about our vacation was nice and relaxed. I can't wait to get back there this summer!

 

[tlinus]

YAY!!! A trip report - thanks for sharing your vacation with us!!
waiting for more

 

[JMCDAD]

Thanks looking forward to reading more
would love to see pictures too

 

[kirbsam]

we have tons of pictures on our digital camera, but i have never tried to post them on this site before. all i really know how to do is download them and send them via email. sorry.

 

[Minniespal]

Looking forward to reading more