We did it ALL!! 19 days Apr/May 2012 (updated! check in ROYAL PACIFIC RESORT)

[oopsiDAISY]

How freaking awesome was that?? That looks like it was such a cool wedding...and the photography was gorgeous!!!!

 

[awfullybigadventure]

How freaking awesome was that?? That looks like it was such a cool wedding...and the photography was gorgeous!!!!

Beautiful wedding! Gorgeous pictures! Our beach wedding had the same exact color scheme. Thank you for taking the time to post!

 

[amazingact21]

Your pictures of the wedding are gorgeous! Man, makes me wish we could've hired you guys for my own wedding.

Yikes, I bet driving back to your condo, checking out the following morning, and going to the surf lesson was kind of hectic, but I can't wait to hear how your DD enjoyed it!

 

[wakica]

How freaking awesome was that?? That looks like it was such a cool wedding...and the photography was gorgeous!!!!

Beautiful wedding! Gorgeous pictures! Our beach wedding had the same exact color scheme. Thank you for taking the time to post!

Your pictures of the wedding are gorgeous! Man, makes me wish we could've hired you guys for my own wedding.

Yikes, I bet driving back to your condo, checking out the following morning, and going to the surf lesson was kind of hectic, but I can't wait to hear how your DD enjoyed it!

It really WAS a beautiful wedding! I'm SO all for dd having a beach wedding so I can live vicariously through her. Bahaha - we just didn't do that kind of thing 20 years ago something like that would NEVER have been on my radar.
so glad you guys liked seeing it and thank you for the compliments on the photography. We try hard to make every session we do as beautiful and memorable as possible.

YES it is going to be a jam packed day for sure and sadly I had WANTED to get in more but it was of course NOT at ALL realistic!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Are you coming back with any updates?

 

[wakica]

Oh my gosh! Has it really been almost 2 months since I was last on here?!?!?! I really really do intend to finish it. LOL I will try my best to make some time to get back on soon.

So sorry to leave you hanging

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I have wondered if you were coming back! I'm still hanging around...

 

[wakica]

And at long long last here it is....

I'm back with Day 15 - May 11 - PT 1 Early morning SURF LESSON at Typhoon Lagoon for DD.

Being that we were out all day yesterday shooting a wedding out by Tampa the last thing we wanted to schedule on this morning was a super early surf lesson at Typhoon Lagoon BUT I didn't do so hot on booking it early enough and this was ALL we could get that would even REMOTELY work with our schedule and I was NOT going to skip this one. It has been DD's dream for a long time now to go surfing so we would just make it work.

We woke up SSOOO early and tired and maybe a bit cranky and dragging our butts. We knew that we were in for a long day. Surf lesson at 6am, check out of our condo, check in to Royal Pacific Resort and I was dreaming of fitting in a quick trip over to get the wet rides out of the way at Islands of Adventure and then possibly a bbque with the family of the wedding that we did the day before.

Once we got moving though it wasn't so bad. It was beautiful, fresh outside and warmer than we EVER have at 5am in the morning back home!

We got to Typhoon Lagoon in great time since we were so close (Our condo rocks!!). I think there may have been 3 other families there already before us.

Then we waited...

and waited...

and waited...

and waited...

Ya, I was ticked off at this point. I can't remember the time but I'm sure it was probably about 30 minutes PAST the time we were TOLD to be there by before someone came sauntering through the gate. No appologies or anything!

Then we waited MORE while everyone took turns going into the little shack to take care of finalizing payments etc...
Grrr, I really didn't wake up that early to wait, wait and wait some more

but FINALLY we were heading in. It's so cool being in the water park before it's open!! Just peaceful and beautiful

We met in an area to the right, near the back of the park by stairs that lead down to the wave pooland met the instructors. They all had really good credentials and had been surfing for a long time and even judged surf competitions all over the world so that was kind of cool.

DH grabbed some early morning shots of the park - I liked this one..

They had each of the students come up for some one on one ground training with the instructors where they were taught how to lay on and hold the board and how to jump up onto it. Cali did really well and was done very quickly. Good start! Hoping for that to continue in the water.

then they lined up by the stairs leading down to the water and got some final instructions...

Cali's on the far left behind the kid in the hat. As you can see the ages really varried. Keep in mind though when you are thinking of booking that the youngest kids did not last the whole lesson One took a pretty good wipe out and gave up and I'm not sure why another one stopped. One girl had a cast but was going to give it a try anyway but she stopped too bc it was too hard on her hand/arm after all. DD was 14 a few months before this lesson and was good to go. I think the min age was 12 though and seeing the younger ones and how they made out i wouldn't put them in at that age - not worth the price in case they can't handle it.

I was worried about the time but she did end up getting a good amount of turns in. I think like 10 or 12 but can't remember for sure. It also helped though that there were a few that stopped so I wouldn't always count on that many turns.

Here are some pics we got. they had the option to take a larger first wave or be held by the instructor and sent on the second smaller wave. DD chose the smaller wave every time but had the time of her life

At the end they all met back at the chairs they had set up for the talking part. They just thanked them all for coming, told them where else they held classes and had them all come up to get a certificate and high fives.
They all fell in love with Dd's name bc it's Cali "like California?" they asked at the start of class and then never forgot it and made a point of saying it lots and lots. LOL

Then they had a photo opp. I forced dd to get up there right fast bc things were dragging behind and they wanted to get them out of the park quickly as it was opening already.
I'm glad I pushed her up fast bc only a few ppl got to get individual pics witht hem and dd LOVES this pic!!!

Our rating of the surfing was a 10+++ DD would have done it again and again if we had more time and more money. LOL
My thoughts on the TL staff being late is another story but you can't always have everything I guess. A brief apology would have been nice though.

A few things to point out for those thinking of surf lessons...

1. as mentioned earlier - if they are younger people make sure they are really up for it. 14 was good for us but my dd was already taking life guarding lessons so she's an advanced swimmer. The younger kids that did try didn't make it all that far and gave up and it's pretty expensive to have that happen.

2. One girl that was older than Cali by a few years had taken surf lessons in two other places (ocean not waterpark) and she had a hard tiime getting up so if your worried it's not going to be a challenge then think twice. She said it seemed harder to surf in TL's waves than it did on the ocean. Perhaps it's the fact that in the ocean you anticipate your wave and see it coming for awhile and have time to prep for it and the wave pool it's just BOOm and it's there. I'm not sure but she didn't get up as much as she would have liked so it definitely offers a challenge.

3. It's expensive but SO worth it for us!!! Just the peace of mind that my daughter is learning to surf in such a safe envirronment was wonderful for me!!! Rather than in an ocean with dangerous waves that can take you by surprise if your not paying attention.

4. BOOK WELL IN ADVANCE!!!! I thought i was calling soon enough - maybe 5 weeks out but I was so wrong You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance I think so just go ahead and get it booked early.


next up will be our arrival at Royal Pacific Resort. We were SOOO excited for this fancy resort and staying on site at the Universal parks!!!!!!!!

 

[wakica]

Oh I forgot to mention that before they started surfing they all had to take a turn getting in the water on a surf board and paddle out, turn around and come back in just to make sure they all had a feel for it. They would need to paddle out of the deep end to the shallow area to get out of the pool after each turn and preferably before the next set of waves came in so they wanted them to have a feel for paddling and turning to start off.

 

[lablady]

Wow! I just found your TR today, and thanks to an incredibly slow day at work, I've read all your updates. Your pictures are amazing!!! I really can't believe the amount of stuff you guys have managed to do in one trip. Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[wakica]

Wow! I just found your TR today, and thanks to an incredibly slow day at work, I've read all your updates. Your pictures are amazing!!! I really can't believe the amount of stuff you guys have managed to do in one trip. Can't wait to read the rest!

SO glad you found me I have been awol for awhile and lost many of my followers so it's nice to have someone new
We did fit in a lot!! It was the last trip for a very long time so we did as much as we possibly could and boy were we tired but lovin it all. lol

 

[amazingact21]

I'm happy to hear that the surf lesson was a success! I know it was one of the things your DD was most looking forward to on this trip.
I would've been a little peeved, too, if the staff showed up late and didn't even apologize. Guess they followed that beach mentality. ("We'll get there when we get there.") Having lived in two different beach areas, I can tell you, that's a popular sentiment.


I can only imagine how tired you all must have been! And it was still early morning!

 

[wakica]

ya, it was very annoying. I would have gladly had a half hour extra sleep. Yep, must have been the whole "laid back beach/surfer" lifestyle thing. LOL.

It was a really early start after a really late night. Definitely a busy busy day but in Florida we are just willing to do stuff like that for maximum entertainment LOL

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Ah, I had missed this update! I was not on the Dis much at all during the holidays. What a wonderful experience for Cali! She looked like a natural! Will there be anywhere for her to practice her newly acquired skills, or was this sort of a "once in a lifetime" dream for her? Yeah, everyone being so late... An acknowlegement was the least they could have done. So unlike Disney!

 

[wakica]

It was incredible for her. It was one of a "few times in a lifetiime" sort of thing for her. She first boogie boarded in Hawaii a few years ago and fell in love with the waves then. This was the first real surfing experience and then I think next summer (2014) we've decided to go to California so she'll definitely do it then again. I'm pretty sure when she's old enough her own trips will be based around where she can go surfing. LOL. Or she may relocate to BC (which we'd happily retire to) where she can at least surf in the summer with wet suits on.

Ya, I thought that was awefully unDisney too. I do know they are usually exceptional at customer service though so we didn't have too much trouble letting it go.

I plan to get my next update out tonight or tomorrow at the latest. I'd try now but have to rush dd off to youth in 8 min so I don't think I have enough time.

 

[wakica]

ok, i found some time to sneak on here. Next installment is being worked on right now

 

[wakica]

DAY 15 - MAY 11 - PART 2
CHECK OUT - ROYAL PACIFIC RESORT CHECK IN - BBQUE

So surfing came to an end. It was a SUPER GREAT EXPERIENCE!

Next thing on the agenda was to head back to the condo, quickly do some laundry, pack up, eat some lunch and check out. Thankfully our WONDERFUL condo owners told us to take our time leaving as there was nobody checking in that day or the next. We were so greatful for this bc with the wedding the day before we had no time to pack and being at Typhoon Lagoon in the morning left us with no time to pack and we really wanted to finish up our food in the kitchen instead of eating out bc we knew we'd be eating out ALL the time at the Universal Hotel.

We headed off to our next location to check in which was ROYAL PACIFIC RESORT on property at the UNIVERSAL STUDIOS around check in time which was around 3 or 4pm as is the norm and the hotel was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!

***Let me stop right now and warn you about the last 4 days of our trip *** I honestly do NOT remember what exactly we did and when we did it!! I will try to point out if I remember which day it was but being on property at Universal made it SSOOO easy to just come and go as much as we wanted and we were there and back and over to another place and back and to the pool and back and to the park and back so many times I couldn't possibly remember them all this late in the game. I should have taken better notes I guess.

On with the hotel. It was beautiful! I still have a few complaints too but I will give them credit for having an extremely beautiful property.

We checked in and headed up to our room. When we walked in DH and I were a bit shocked at the size of it!! We had just come from a condo with 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a walk in closet, kitchen, dining area, living area and lanai and now here we were paying a huge chunk MORE than the condo to be in a squishy little room. Still, it was beautiful and I don't think these photos really do it justice but have a look anyway...

pretty, but very small. Over in the bathroom area I noticed that the full length mirror on the door was splattered with spray. Hmmm, I'm paying how much for a teeny tiny room that isn't cleaned properly?? Oh well, whatever, maybe they overlooked the spray on the mirror and will catch it tomorrow. That was my thinking which would prove to be wrong.

Our original plan was to head over to the park in the afternoon to supper time and enjoy the water rides so they were out of the way for the rest of the trip. then we could enjoy being wet bc it was hot and we could just head back and change and go on with our evening by having supper and head to bed early...

Nope, we got invited to a bbque from the wedding people. These people are GREAT and we've known them forever so we looked forward to it but a part of me was already tired, wanted to just saunter around and take in the water rides and call it a night early.

We ended up going to the bbque though after dd and I insisted we needed a little internet time first and headed down to the lobby with our electronics.

Next pic is one section of the lobby area. Must be the bar or maybe you can get snacks too? Not sure but it was very cozy looking..

and this is DD and I when we discovered the little outdoor lobby area which was BEAUTIFUL! but be warned people will smoke in this area.

and here's a pick that DH took one evening of the outdoor lobby space...

the check in counters are inside to the right of that photo and the restaraunt or bar I showed earlier is inside and to the left of the photo.

After a little down time we got ready and headed to the bbqu, they had a rental house waaaay back over by our other condo (so adding more running around) with a pool. It was nice but I was definitely ready when we left. We got back and collapsed into bed bc the next day would be EARLY MORNING ENTRY to WIZZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER! YAY!!!!!

At this time I'm just going to throw in the rest of our resort pics and explain a little about why else we were not happy about our stay.

The lake area at night...

The pool (which we got to a few times)

First off the PROS...
- BEAUTIFUL RESORT!!!
- Really enjoyed the free wifi and sitting in the lobby area to use it
- One day they were serving a very yummy punch in the lobby so we got to enjoy that while we surfed the net and relaxed
- Very nice pool and sitting area around the pool with shallow entry and sand underfoot by chairs
- very often saw pool games going on where they really got the kids involved
- PERFECT location to get in and out of parks conveniently and frequently
- boat rides to and from the parks was very nice too
- Keurig in the toom

CONS...
- rooms are just SSOOO small for what you pay
- they never noticed and cleaned the messy mirror the whole 4 times they cleaned our room - even though it was a full length mirror and should have been SOOO noticable to them (EVEN when we left housekeeping tips every day)
- We had an AWEFUL experience with the service at the front counter which really really put us off and was unfortunatley what we remember most. I will explain in it's own post in case some are not interested in hearing.....

 

[wakica]

THE MUG THAT ALMOST WASNT
AND WHY RPR LET US DOWN BIG TIME...

I bought a cool mug at one of the parks and so so foolishly let it slip out of my hand and break.

I was devestated but NOT willing to purchase another one bc it was already expensive and I didn't want to end up taking home a mug that was double the already inflated prices. I couldn't justify spending that money on a mug.

The next day DD got DH to sneakily purchase another mug and use the park to room delivery service to have it delivered to our room as a surprise for Mothers Day. (what a sweetheart hey???)

I walked into the room to a surprise package sitting there.

At first I was bewildered but then I asked and sure enough they had it sent and Happy Mothers Day.

I proceeded to reach out and get the bag and almost as SOON as I got my hands on it I knew something wasn't right.

The mug had BROKEN!!!!! UNBELEIVEABLE!!!!!

The mug I wanted was broken again but at least it was their fault this time and so they would replace it. right? Well, you'd think....

DH went down to discuss it and it was a GONG show!!!!!

They tried telling him that there was nothing they could do about it. WHAT?!?!?!?!?! Your kidding right? nope.

He put up a stink and asked to speak to a manager but there were none handy so Wayne asked when to come back and they told him.

2nd trip to the front lobby to speak to them they got the manager right away who said sorry, you can just go pick a mug from the lobby gift shop instead.

UM NO!!! We specifically RE-BOUGHT THAT MUG bc I had my heart set on it! They would get us THAT mug because THEY BROKE it.

I think Wayne sort of blew up on them. He was appaled and so should he be. This is a 5 star resort and they offer the service of transporting your items from the park to your room and they can't guarantee it?????? I think not.

He told them no, they would get that mug for us as it was their responsibility to replace what we bought and THEY broke.

They proceeded to say to him that sir we have no way of getting it here. Which he responded "Well, how did you get the FIRST one here????????????

He literally had to walk them through the whole thing and tell them to call over to the store and have them send another one the SAME WAY they send ANYTHING ELSE!!!! He even went so far as to STAY there while they made the phone call.

It was really really pathetic and unfortunately put a very sour taste in our mouths about the resort.

I did not complain because I'm not a complainer. The mug did show up in our room JUST in time on the last day before we had to go and was wrapped in multiple plastic bags. LOL

The fact that everyone thing else was soo good was their saving grace that we let it go after that. However once I got home they sent out a questionairre through email and I answered their questions honestly, including our experience with their customer service and said that we would not book in their hotel again because of it.

To my happiness and surprise we got an email back from them apologizing for that and that we were right, they were indeed at fault and should guarantee such a service and they had reduced our bill by $100.00.

So in the end we did come out ahead - my very expensive mug costed us nothing and the hotel did redeam themselves.

They did also express that if we did ever choose to return to use one of their hotels again they would like to know personally ahead of time so that they could ensure our stay was a much better one.

Hmmm, wonder what they would do??? lol

And here it is!!! THE MUG THAT ALMOST WASN'T!.......

 

[oopsiDAISY]

That hotel's marketing firm needs to hire Wayne to take the pictures for their advertizing...those pictures are phenomenal!!!! I could totally see them on a website or on pamphlets. Gorgeous!

What a fiasco with the coffee cup! I am glad they redeemed themselves AFTER the fact, but seriously??? WE don't want that kind of frustration on vacation...we just want magic and pixie dust...

 

[wakica]

That hotel's marketing firm needs to hire Wayne to take the pictures for their advertizing...those pictures are phenomenal!!!! I could totally see them on a website or on pamphlets. Gorgeous!

What a fiasco with the coffee cup! I am glad they redeemed themselves AFTER the fact, but seriously??? WE don't want that kind of frustration on vacation...we just want magic and pixie dust...

EXACTLY!!! IF it were Disney it wouldn't have even been a question. It would have been apologies and we'll get a new one right away.

OH! and Wayne says thank you for the compliment If you know anyone wanting to hire us to take their hotel pics and give us a stay let us know LOL