DH was irked that we wasted so much time on the spider situation and thought we'd be getting to US too late and that there would be lines/waits (like at WDW). It was a Thursday and the waits were not bad at all....like 10-15 minutes. We knocked out a lot of stuff at US pretty quickly, so we then decided to head back to Hard Rock and check out our room (that was ready around 11...wow, not bad) and get our luggage brought up. DH stayed at US to ride a couple more rides and the kids and I went back.
We had some trouble trying to figure out how to get back into the hotel. We went in through the pool (have to use your key at the gate like at Vero Beach)...and it was a sweet looking pool area (too bad we wouldn't be there longer, so we could use it). We finally got up to the lobby and took our luggage ticket to the desk and asked for our stuff to be brought up. We went up to floor 5 and our stuff arrived right behind us. He brought everything in (we had a lot because we had packed for the 4 days at Vero and the 2 days at HR all in one bag each plus we had a 6th bag with toiletries...not packed very wisely...and I had a small cooler, 2 laptops and an airbed for the DS) and I tipped him $8 (wasn't sure how much...we tip the porters who take our bags on our cruises $1 per bag...DH tipped the guy who took our bags from our van $4 and he was not the same one who brought the stuff up to our room).
The room was nice and big (bigger than the standard rooms at WDW...though we are DVC and get a 1BR or 2BR villa, but have stayed at POR in a standard room for a week and 2 nights at CR in a standard room and it was TIGHT as are the studio parts of our 2BR villas). We had a view of the check in parking area. I was freshening up when DH arrived. We all drank some water and cleaned up a bit and then we decided we could not wait until the next morning to see the Harry Potter stuff, so we headed over to IoA.
We walked out of the hotel and saw a boat (ferry) had just pulled up, so we hopped on with just a handful of other folks. We were at Citwalk after a short nice boat ride. We walked over to IoA and went right to Harry Potter. It was crowded there, but not to where you couldn't get through. We did the little roller coaster and DH did the big Dragon one by himself. He said it was 90 seconds of terror
. The kids and I got butterbeers while he was on it. We got the frozen ones and DS and I liked them...DDs not so much and they tossed theirs. One thing we noticed was that the rides at these parks are shorter than over at WDW. They are done in the blink of an eye. Just when the little HP roller coaster was getting good, it was over.
Another negative is that you can't carry a bag on the rides. Over at WDW, they have a netted holder on the rides for you to stash your stuff in...at Universal they tell you that you must put your stuff in a locker. They have lockers by all the big rides, but there is always a mob of people around them and it looked like you had to pay to use them (though the ride workers said 'free lockers'...they had machines to pay...not sure how they were free unless you could store your things w/out locking the locker for free, but who wants to risk their stuff getting stolen). When we rode the mummy ride at US, earlier in the day, I had a camera that they told me I had to put in a locker. So I sat the ride out while DH and the kids went on it. Then, DH sat with the camera while the kids went on again but with me. The line was so quick that we could do this easily. After that, I left all my stuff in our room and didn't carry anything (except my waterproof safe thingy that hangs around my neck and can fit in my pocket for the rides). We had the Express pass and we used it, though we didn't really need to. It was nice that we could use it on almost every ride (just not a couple things at Harry Potter).
The DH and Kids really wanted to create their own soda, so we had lunch at Richter's Burger Co when we were over at US earlier in the day. We got burgers and sodas that we could create our own (like I got Coke zero and added cherry flavor...DH added raspberry). We had 2 coupons (from booking through
AAA) for free refillable cup things and we got them here, but you can only refill at the parks and not at the hotel. With not being able to take bags on the rides, we left the refillable cups in the room. That's not very convenient (WDW lets you refill them at the resort, which is where we use them most). We also could get AAA discounts at many of the places we ate at and even at the Hard Rock hotel's gift shop. All these discounts come in handy because the prices are high...even with discounts the counter lunches came to $50 and the sit down dinners were about $120 (at both Vero Beach and Universal). DH really wanted to do the meal deal they offer, but I saw the negatives to that. It's $20.99 for as much as you want from lunch to dinner. But it's only taken at 6 quick service places (3 at each park) and does not include drinks plus it's for 1 park. If you want to use it at 2 parks, it costs $24.99. After our AAA discount, we spent about $10 pp for quick service lunch and I like to do sit down dinners. We'd have to eat 3 QS meals to get a deal out of it since you pay for your drinks.
We did the wet rides and got absolutely soaked. But I love the wet rides, so I didn't mind and it was hot out. They have human driers that all 5 of us could stand in and try to get dry. It costs $5 for quite a long time (we left before it was done). We were still pretty wet though, so we headed back to the room to change. I have a couple prissy teenagers who just HAD to change. Thank goodness it's fairly quick and easy to get back to the hotel from the parks (not like WDW where we'd sit on a freezing bus for 45 minutes). We really knocked out almost everything in the 1st day...just need to get in the Harry Potter castle and wand shop (we plan to go for the extra morning hour the next day and go right to the castle). We change and clean up and talk about dinner. I think DS and DH went to the gym (which they did a few time at Vero too). Later, I found out that we paid $20 for them to use the gym (and they only went once...yikes). We also did not get free internet, so we didn't pay for it (much to the kids dismay). There is also an added fee per day to park at the hotel. And if we got a cot for our DS, that would cost us extra too. Cha ching...cha ching, it just adds up (this is not like WDW, where all that is included but maybe you pay more for the room...I dunno. We are DVC, so we use points to book our stays at WDW).
So for dinner I was wanting Italian...we had tons of seafood all week and I was wanting something different. We went to Pastamore at Citywalk. DH and I shared a pitcher of delicious sangria...yummm! I got chicken parm and the kids got flat bread pizzas, side salads and calamari. They also got desserts and said they were fantastic (especially the peanut butter pyramid thingy). This place does a kids buffet for $9.99 and if my kids were a bit younger, they would have done that. Again, they gave us a AAA discount. The chicken parm and dish my DH got (can't remember what) was small portions, but enough for me. We went back to US after dinner...DH was in love with the mummy ride. The parks close kind of early (8 and 8:30...not like WDW where they stay open later and have extra late magic hours). DS and DH head back to the hotel while the girls and I stay for the new fireworks show. After a few minutes of not being able to see/hear it all that well, we decide to leave. We go back to the Hard Rock and I set up DS's airbed and organize the room a bit. We call it a day.
Not many picture since I left my camera and stuff in the room midway through the day.
EDITED TO ADD: the second to the last paragraph
) had bad sunburns. We went to the Green Room for some food (light food) and drinks and then walked around. We did a late night swim after the daily storm passed. I sat in the hot tub (I could because I didn't have sunburn...
). 
...so sad it's almost over. 
. I popped in the Margaritaville store as I needed a gift for my mom. No luck, so we made our way back to the Hard Rock. The kids were already there and they wanted to go swimming in the pool. They went while I packed up and DH watched TV. They play movies on a screen at the pool each night, so the kids watched a bit of Spiderman while they swam. I ran down to the Hard Rock gift shop and got my mom a shirt (they are a bit for the younger type...I hope she likes it). All packed and ready for bed and we notice the DS's airbed has a hole. We call and ask for a cot to be brought up ($25 fee we were trying to avoid). It took about 30 minutes for them to bring it and I only had $2 to tip him. Oh well...fun time over...next up is the ride home 
.
....I wouldn't have sat next to that door EITHER!
