DAY 1 SAT 09/03/05
Travelers myself & my sister (Sabrina) who left her husband in charge of getting the kids off to school for the first day as she and I went on vacation.
I decided to take a later flight this time (Airtran $116 RT/pp YEAH)! I just went to Universal in July so I wanted this trip to be much more relaxing. We arrived at MCO at 3:30 and boarded a crazy looking shuttle to PBH (Mears $50 RT). Crazy because it turned out to be a handicap van we really shouldnt be sitting in and I bounced all over the place on the ride over. We arrived at PBH around 5 pm and check in took awhile. I got an AP rate of $189 for Saturday, $159 for both Sunday and Monday, and Tuesday night was free. BTW, they never asked to see the AP and I didnt get any of the Loews gifts, as I expected not to anyway. I booked a garden view with 2 queens and they placed us in the west wing with a view of the beach pool and a balcony (RM 3358). Compared to the other 2 resorts, the room was huge and the bathroom was large. We loved the bathrobes in the room and I did receive turndown service on 3 of the 4 nights that we were there. Our room was so close to the water taxi and beach pool. The room showed some wear and tear but we dealt with it. We headed to Universal. This was my sisters first time ever to Universal so I wanted to show her everything. I had taken her children on my last 2 trips and she felt it was definitely her turn so I treated her to a vacation away from them. I bought her a 5-day bonus pass online ($99) and picked it up at the kiosk outside of the park. It was already after 6 pm so we didnt get to ride much as the park closed at 8 pm. We rode shrek, twister and the mummy (twice). It started to rain so we headed to city walk to eat. Oh I forgot to mention my sisters many food issues. She is definitely the kind of person who needs special ordering as everything makes her sick. We wandered back and forth until finally deciding on nascar café. I did not like the ambiance of this restaurant at all but the food was okay. I had the buffalo chicken sandwich and Sabrina had the pulled pork sandwich which came out cold so she only at half (cost with sodas $30). Oh .I also forgot to mention that not only does food upset her, there is usually something wrong with it when it comes out (at least according to her standards). At home I try avoiding eating out with her but what you gonna do? She has to eat right! After that we headed back to the room to unpack and called it a night. We couldnt wait to try those huge comfy beds!
DAY 2 09/04/05
Sabrina and I brought stuff from home for breakfast so we ate in the room on our balcony and made coffee. We headed out to the parks after taking a quick daytime tour of PBH. BTW, I found the hillside pool and really wished I hadnt wasted time looking for it. This proved to be the hottest day and not thinking of using it to our advantage for a dip in the pool, we ran to the parks. This was also the only day that we had crowds in the park. FOTL was a little slow on some rides but still much faster than the regular lines. We went to IOA first because Sabrinas kids made me promise that I would get her to ride each and every coaster. So we hit the hulk, Spiderman, and Jurassic park. I usually do not get wet on this one but this time we got soaked and decided to take a break for lunch before heading back to do dueling dragons. We ate at burger digs (2 chicken finger platters and waters - $16) and then headed back to the beach pool at PBH. Of course the sun decided to hide the minute we got in the water. We had dinner reservations at Tchoup Chop but got lazy and so into vacation mode that the thought of getting dressed up was not appealing. I mean by this point, we didnt even want to put on shoes or plan anything. We decided to head back to the room and relax a bit. Later we went to Universal to speed ride what we could before the parks closed at 8pm. We rode a lot in that 1 ½ hours. We hit BTTF, MIB, Jaws and of course the mummy (twice again). I dont know why it is but I can never ride the mummy just once. It was almost 8 pm when we got to the front and the ride broke down. They finally fixed what was wrong and we got on at 8:15 so this was our last ride of the night. We had dinner at Hard Rock Café. I had grilled chicken and mashed potatoes and Sabrina had chicken fajitas (1/2 of the veggies werent cooked). With a couple of drinks it was about $50. We werent tired and really dressed for any clubs so we decided to just walk around City Walk. We got a drink at Margaritaville and sat outside of the Reggae club and laughed at all of the drunks trying to master walking. I couldnt believe the number of people with drinks in one hand and their children in the other. And it was so late. In any case, we had a good laugh and headed back to PBH when things started to die down.
DAY 3 09/05/05 LABOR DAY
Have you ever had a dream where you woke up and you were all alone; as if something had happened when you werent looking and thats where everyone went? We had this feeling when we woke up this morning. It was as if everyone had checked out of the resort and we were the only ones left. The piazza which had been full the day before was now deserted and remained this way until we left on Wednesday. We headed to IOA with our swimsuits on to hit the water rides which Sabrina kept referring to as the water park. She wasnt far from the truth as we got SOAKED!! Before getting wet though, we hit the hulk and dueling dragons a couple of times. We then rode Jurassic park, Dudley Doo Right and Bilge Rat Barges (twice). We decided to squish all the way back to the resort to try and catch the sun. Again, as we got back to PBH, the sun went away so we packed up and headed to HRH where there is always sun in my opinion. This proved to be a good move as it was so hot and the sun was beaming. We had a great waitress who kept my room key and made certain to check on us for more drinks or food and found us in the pool sometimes to ask. We had a couple of drinks and the loaded nachos ($46 OUCH!!). We felt guilty leaving our pool so we headed back to the villa pool at PBH. The sun actually came back out over there and we stayed here the rest of the day. I love this pool with the cushioned lounge chairs and relaxing Italian music. We had dinner at NBA City. We split the rib platter and chicken quesadillas and a dessert dish ($40). We were tired so we called it a night.
DAY 4 09/06/05
Did I say that it was deserted? It really was a ghost town this day. We hardly used our room keys for FOTL. There was no one in the parks. We hadnt seen any of the shows so we used this day to try and catch them all. We saw Beetlejuice, Blues Brothers, Street Breakin, Fear Factor, and the Horror Makeup Show. It has been 10 years since I have seen this show but it is still hilarious. Sabrina and I were laughing so hard. We also threw in quick rides on Terminator 2, MIB, the hulk and of course the mummy .and yes you guessed it - twice again. We had lunch at Richters (2 burger platters, water, and milk shake - $13). It would have cost more but I did the yogurt taste-testing thing in the park and they gave me $5 Universal dollars. YEAH! We wanted to get a swim in so we headed to the villa pool. It was chilly but I got in anyway and after some coaxing, Sabrina got in as well. We saw the same couple we had seen before and it became a running joke about how we must be the only people there. The parks closed at 7 pm today so speed riding was out this night so we headed to city walk to eat. It started pouring so we ducked into Pastamore. We sat on the patio which was nice as we sat dry and enjoying our dinner and watched everyone run in the rain. We had white pizza, chicken parmesan pizza and dessert ($32). We waited out the rain and told our waiter to just check on us from time to time. I cant believe the number of fools who think that they are Gene Kelly and can sing in the rain!!! Or should I say dance! We headed back to PBH when the rain lessened. Oh no!!! Last night in those wonderful beds.
DAY 5 09/07/05 LAST DAY
We got up early to head to the parks for our last day. We had a 1 pm checkout time so we wanted to get a lot in. Sabrina is definitely different from her children. On my previous 2 trips with them, I couldnt drag them into the parks on our last day and Sabrina was dragging me. We again ran into the same couple (Hello to the couple from Altoona PA if you are reading this). We headed to universal and straight to you guessed it, MUMMY! Rode that twice and then MIB. We wanted to get the coasters in so we headed over to IOA but not before running into that same couple again. We hit the hulk twice, dueling dragons twice and one last ride on Spiderman. We picked up a couple more souvenirs and then headed back to check out. I checked out via voice mail as the television check out wasnt working. When we took our bags down to cross the piazza to the lobby, do you believe it .we saw that same couple again. We had a good laugh and had they not been heading to Disney, they probably would have been on our shuttle to the airport. Our shuttle came on time and we only had 1 pick up at HRH so we had time to kill in he airport.
RECAP
All in all we had a great time. I loved the peacefulness of PBH but Im not sure that I would ever go during this time of year again. I thought that I would really like the peace and quiet and most of the time it was great but I did long for some busy non-stop exciting days that just didnt come with the crowds so low. They were also setting up for HHN so there was a lot of props around in Jurassic park and Poseidon fury was closed. Also, the closing time was way too early for me. It was so dead at 8:00. And now that I have been to all 3 .my choice for my solo trip next year will be HRH. RPR and PBH have better rooms, better pools, and better grounds but despite this, HRH has the energy I like and I can always pool hop. It is so convenient to the parks and city walk and I like the people and food over there better so as a solo traveler, I think that this is my best choice.
ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS.
Travelers myself & my sister (Sabrina) who left her husband in charge of getting the kids off to school for the first day as she and I went on vacation.
I decided to take a later flight this time (Airtran $116 RT/pp YEAH)! I just went to Universal in July so I wanted this trip to be much more relaxing. We arrived at MCO at 3:30 and boarded a crazy looking shuttle to PBH (Mears $50 RT). Crazy because it turned out to be a handicap van we really shouldnt be sitting in and I bounced all over the place on the ride over. We arrived at PBH around 5 pm and check in took awhile. I got an AP rate of $189 for Saturday, $159 for both Sunday and Monday, and Tuesday night was free. BTW, they never asked to see the AP and I didnt get any of the Loews gifts, as I expected not to anyway. I booked a garden view with 2 queens and they placed us in the west wing with a view of the beach pool and a balcony (RM 3358). Compared to the other 2 resorts, the room was huge and the bathroom was large. We loved the bathrobes in the room and I did receive turndown service on 3 of the 4 nights that we were there. Our room was so close to the water taxi and beach pool. The room showed some wear and tear but we dealt with it. We headed to Universal. This was my sisters first time ever to Universal so I wanted to show her everything. I had taken her children on my last 2 trips and she felt it was definitely her turn so I treated her to a vacation away from them. I bought her a 5-day bonus pass online ($99) and picked it up at the kiosk outside of the park. It was already after 6 pm so we didnt get to ride much as the park closed at 8 pm. We rode shrek, twister and the mummy (twice). It started to rain so we headed to city walk to eat. Oh I forgot to mention my sisters many food issues. She is definitely the kind of person who needs special ordering as everything makes her sick. We wandered back and forth until finally deciding on nascar café. I did not like the ambiance of this restaurant at all but the food was okay. I had the buffalo chicken sandwich and Sabrina had the pulled pork sandwich which came out cold so she only at half (cost with sodas $30). Oh .I also forgot to mention that not only does food upset her, there is usually something wrong with it when it comes out (at least according to her standards). At home I try avoiding eating out with her but what you gonna do? She has to eat right! After that we headed back to the room to unpack and called it a night. We couldnt wait to try those huge comfy beds!
DAY 2 09/04/05
Sabrina and I brought stuff from home for breakfast so we ate in the room on our balcony and made coffee. We headed out to the parks after taking a quick daytime tour of PBH. BTW, I found the hillside pool and really wished I hadnt wasted time looking for it. This proved to be the hottest day and not thinking of using it to our advantage for a dip in the pool, we ran to the parks. This was also the only day that we had crowds in the park. FOTL was a little slow on some rides but still much faster than the regular lines. We went to IOA first because Sabrinas kids made me promise that I would get her to ride each and every coaster. So we hit the hulk, Spiderman, and Jurassic park. I usually do not get wet on this one but this time we got soaked and decided to take a break for lunch before heading back to do dueling dragons. We ate at burger digs (2 chicken finger platters and waters - $16) and then headed back to the beach pool at PBH. Of course the sun decided to hide the minute we got in the water. We had dinner reservations at Tchoup Chop but got lazy and so into vacation mode that the thought of getting dressed up was not appealing. I mean by this point, we didnt even want to put on shoes or plan anything. We decided to head back to the room and relax a bit. Later we went to Universal to speed ride what we could before the parks closed at 8pm. We rode a lot in that 1 ½ hours. We hit BTTF, MIB, Jaws and of course the mummy (twice again). I dont know why it is but I can never ride the mummy just once. It was almost 8 pm when we got to the front and the ride broke down. They finally fixed what was wrong and we got on at 8:15 so this was our last ride of the night. We had dinner at Hard Rock Café. I had grilled chicken and mashed potatoes and Sabrina had chicken fajitas (1/2 of the veggies werent cooked). With a couple of drinks it was about $50. We werent tired and really dressed for any clubs so we decided to just walk around City Walk. We got a drink at Margaritaville and sat outside of the Reggae club and laughed at all of the drunks trying to master walking. I couldnt believe the number of people with drinks in one hand and their children in the other. And it was so late. In any case, we had a good laugh and headed back to PBH when things started to die down.
DAY 3 09/05/05 LABOR DAY
Have you ever had a dream where you woke up and you were all alone; as if something had happened when you werent looking and thats where everyone went? We had this feeling when we woke up this morning. It was as if everyone had checked out of the resort and we were the only ones left. The piazza which had been full the day before was now deserted and remained this way until we left on Wednesday. We headed to IOA with our swimsuits on to hit the water rides which Sabrina kept referring to as the water park. She wasnt far from the truth as we got SOAKED!! Before getting wet though, we hit the hulk and dueling dragons a couple of times. We then rode Jurassic park, Dudley Doo Right and Bilge Rat Barges (twice). We decided to squish all the way back to the resort to try and catch the sun. Again, as we got back to PBH, the sun went away so we packed up and headed to HRH where there is always sun in my opinion. This proved to be a good move as it was so hot and the sun was beaming. We had a great waitress who kept my room key and made certain to check on us for more drinks or food and found us in the pool sometimes to ask. We had a couple of drinks and the loaded nachos ($46 OUCH!!). We felt guilty leaving our pool so we headed back to the villa pool at PBH. The sun actually came back out over there and we stayed here the rest of the day. I love this pool with the cushioned lounge chairs and relaxing Italian music. We had dinner at NBA City. We split the rib platter and chicken quesadillas and a dessert dish ($40). We were tired so we called it a night.
DAY 4 09/06/05
Did I say that it was deserted? It really was a ghost town this day. We hardly used our room keys for FOTL. There was no one in the parks. We hadnt seen any of the shows so we used this day to try and catch them all. We saw Beetlejuice, Blues Brothers, Street Breakin, Fear Factor, and the Horror Makeup Show. It has been 10 years since I have seen this show but it is still hilarious. Sabrina and I were laughing so hard. We also threw in quick rides on Terminator 2, MIB, the hulk and of course the mummy .and yes you guessed it - twice again. We had lunch at Richters (2 burger platters, water, and milk shake - $13). It would have cost more but I did the yogurt taste-testing thing in the park and they gave me $5 Universal dollars. YEAH! We wanted to get a swim in so we headed to the villa pool. It was chilly but I got in anyway and after some coaxing, Sabrina got in as well. We saw the same couple we had seen before and it became a running joke about how we must be the only people there. The parks closed at 7 pm today so speed riding was out this night so we headed to city walk to eat. It started pouring so we ducked into Pastamore. We sat on the patio which was nice as we sat dry and enjoying our dinner and watched everyone run in the rain. We had white pizza, chicken parmesan pizza and dessert ($32). We waited out the rain and told our waiter to just check on us from time to time. I cant believe the number of fools who think that they are Gene Kelly and can sing in the rain!!! Or should I say dance! We headed back to PBH when the rain lessened. Oh no!!! Last night in those wonderful beds.
DAY 5 09/07/05 LAST DAY
We got up early to head to the parks for our last day. We had a 1 pm checkout time so we wanted to get a lot in. Sabrina is definitely different from her children. On my previous 2 trips with them, I couldnt drag them into the parks on our last day and Sabrina was dragging me. We again ran into the same couple (Hello to the couple from Altoona PA if you are reading this). We headed to universal and straight to you guessed it, MUMMY! Rode that twice and then MIB. We wanted to get the coasters in so we headed over to IOA but not before running into that same couple again. We hit the hulk twice, dueling dragons twice and one last ride on Spiderman. We picked up a couple more souvenirs and then headed back to check out. I checked out via voice mail as the television check out wasnt working. When we took our bags down to cross the piazza to the lobby, do you believe it .we saw that same couple again. We had a good laugh and had they not been heading to Disney, they probably would have been on our shuttle to the airport. Our shuttle came on time and we only had 1 pick up at HRH so we had time to kill in he airport.
RECAP
All in all we had a great time. I loved the peacefulness of PBH but Im not sure that I would ever go during this time of year again. I thought that I would really like the peace and quiet and most of the time it was great but I did long for some busy non-stop exciting days that just didnt come with the crowds so low. They were also setting up for HHN so there was a lot of props around in Jurassic park and Poseidon fury was closed. Also, the closing time was way too early for me. It was so dead at 8:00. And now that I have been to all 3 .my choice for my solo trip next year will be HRH. RPR and PBH have better rooms, better pools, and better grounds but despite this, HRH has the energy I like and I can always pool hop. It is so convenient to the parks and city walk and I like the people and food over there better so as a solo traveler, I think that this is my best choice.
ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS.
The RPR cleared out pretty quickly on Monday as well. We spoke with the club staff, and they said that the RPR was done to 22% occupancy at that time, and PBH was down to a whopping 17%. We loved it though -- there were WAY too many unsupervised children in the club lounge all weekend, and we were glad to finally see them go and get "our" lounge back to ourselves! 
