Trip Report!!!

[Melanie230]

I am exhausted! Just wanted to let you guys know I am back. I will tell you about our first day and start the good stuff later.

We left on Sunday June 24 10 minutes early! Out the door by 7:20am. Drove to Lumberton, NC (which is about 1.5 hrs away from home) and ate at Cracker Barrel. Then drove straight through with one stop for the bathroom and gas. Got to the Country Inn Suites at 5:00pm. Went to the TGIFridays for dinner and a couple of drinks. Went back to Country Inn and let the kiddos swim for about 2 hours. Got showers and went to bed. Woke up about 7:30am on Monday got dressed had the free breakfast at the Country Inn, packed the car and headed to HARD ROCK HOTEL UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!!! I will add that the Country Inn Suites was a very nice off site hotel. I would say that we will stay there again when we stay offsite our first night.

I will give you a quick teaser...Here is a short clip of Donkey chatting it up with my kids the day before we left. He was HILARIOUS!!

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[t-and-a]

That was too cute! Welcome home! I hope you had a good time!

 

[tlinus]

awwwww....how cute!!

can't wait to hear the rest

 

[nymomof3]

welcome back..love the clip...where exactly is this talking donkey..how cute

 

[damo]

Awwww! So cute!

Donkey is located right across from the Shrek exit.

 

[Metro West]

Nice report so far. Too bad you couldn't meet up with us on Friday. Maybe next time.

 

[GemmaPixie]

Nice TR

 

[nymomof3]

thanks damo...we must of missed it on our last trip..we'll keep our eyes open this time....thanks again

 

[hayanyujah847]

That is too funny! I love it!! I can't wait to hear more
And see more pics/videos!!

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Great report! Thanks for sharing!

 

[keishashadow]

yep, we missed you @ the meet! donkey's a riot, how did we miss that? Where about is the Country Inn in relation to U?

On way down to myrtle beach, we ate @ that cracker barrel too (and stayed @ a horrible EconoLodge in Lumberton's northern exit).

 

[macraven]

loved your video.

now waiting for the report and more pics !!

we have a country inn suites in our town.
they are nice to stay at.

 

[loribell]

I'm still waitin' too! Very cute video.

 

[Melanie230]

I am so sorry...I am slack. Ok On Monday we arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel and I went to check in. Smooth sailing. I mentioned that I had called and requested room 6092 and she let me know that I would probably have to wait until later in the day to get my room since I requested this room. No problem! Here is the view...very nice room.

We went directly to Universal Studios. The path to US is very beautiful.

The boats to Hard Rock were VERY slow arriving when we used them. So most of the time we walked. Go to Universal and got our tickets. No problems at all! Got inside and immediately rented a double stroller. I know how tired my kids get and it was very crowded. Plus I need a place to put my stuff. My son really wanted to go to Spiderman so we turned around and headed straight for Islands. Had to take DD screaming on the ride. She was so afraid, but afterwards LOVED IT!!! We spent most of the day in Islands. Last year when we went Dudley Do Right was closed so DS and DH rode that, and we also went to Poseidon for the first time. That was very cool!! We had lunch at a little stand near Mythos. I dont remember the name of it. They only had hot dogs and chicken fingers. We thought it was good. We finally got back to the hotel around 4pm and our room was ready. We went upstairs and got everything unpacked, and got showered. We went to Margaritaville for dinner. We learned quickly that getting on the patio to eat is much faster. Being an on site hotel guest doesnt help a lot there. The wait was about 2 hours. So we sat on the patio in about 20 minutes. Got to bed about 10pm that night so that we could prepare for our next day!!!

Here is our room:

 

[hayanyujah847]

Love it & love all of the pictures! Looking forward to hearing/seeing more~!!

 

[Nicole786]

staying at HRH this fall, cant wait for more!!!

 

[loribell]

Wow, that is a great view! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Melanie230]

Tuesday June 26! We woke up and got dressed around 8:30am. We decided to try out The Kitchen in the hotel for the buffet. I must say that I was very pleased with how good the food was. The kids really enjoyed it as well. The only problem I had was the amount of parents that did NOT watch their children. There was this one particular family that allowed their children to go into the children's area EVERY morning and they were WILD. Throwing plastic food, yelling, fighting. We had to pull our kids that were laying on the big bean bag out of there more than once during the week because of these kids. It was BAD. Went back upstairs and packed up the cooler, backpack and the kiddos and headed to US. We spent the better part of the day there. We didnt buy lunch that day because the kids wanted to go to The Kitchen that night to make their own pizza and we made reservations for 5pm. On our way in we ran into Bullwinkle and Bart and Lisa!

The kids were JACKED! We finally got DD to ride MIB! She was scared at first but after her first time she was HOOKED! I never got her back on Jaws, but DS and I rode that many times.

We left the park about 4pm and went to the room to cool off a bit and then down to The Kitchen. The kids loved making pizzas, but I didnt care for dinner there. Very limited menu and very pricey. Oh well, live and learn. Since the evening was early we decided to let the kids play at the pool for the rest of the evening. They LOVE that slide. My DH made me participate in the Mom's in Hoola Hoop contest. That was hilarious. I was in the top 3 and when they told us to jump while hooping, I was the only one that actually did jumped and my hoop fell. heehee! So I didnt win. Still funny though. I havent done that in years. We headed to bed about 10:30 that night to rest up for the next day.

Oh yeah...we were watching the television before bed and I saw that the hotel had an Eddie Vedder display somewhere inside the hotel. Pearl Jam is DH favorite band. So I knew the next day we would start the journey to locate it. Thank goodness the next morning I got on the elevator with my camera it as soon as I got off on the 5th floor there it was. For you Pearl Jam fans...

 

[Nicole786]

This rocks! Do you have any pics of The Kitchen?

Also, kind of OT but you know how disney has that "resort tv" that showcases disney world? do they have anything like that at HRH??

thanks and please keep this going!!!

 

[Melanie230]

Yes they have a channel that showcases the hotel and the park at HRH. I dont have any pics of the Kitchen. I didnt take my camera down there in the mornings. I will be happy to answer any questions you have about it though.