Back to Universal we go with 2 boys in tow - Oct 2016 report

Hi All

We just returned from our adventure in Florida and had a great time. I traveled with my Husband, oldest son (7) and youngest son (31/2). We live in Castle Rock, Co where it is pretty dry most of the time so I was actually looking forward to some humidity. We arrived on October 5th and visited my mother for a small family reunion with by brother, sister and their children. Our plan was to stay with my family before heading over to RPR on the 12th. We arrived in Florida just in time for Mathew so we spent most of the time preparing and staying indoors waiting to see what would happen. Fortunately it was rather calm and fairly uneventful.

Last year we stayed at the HRH Club Level in April and this year we decided on RPR because we couldn’t beat the price difference. We checked in to RPR at around 11:00 with no wait at check in. As reported, the property is beautiful and clean. The staff was friendly but there were two minor frustrations. At the front desk I was told that I had to go to the park (which I was prepared to do) to print out my AP passes. My brother in law who checked in later that day however was able to pick up his passes at the ticket counter at the RPR. Had I known I could do that I would have saved a lot of time in line at the park customer service desk. The other thing is that I had to ask for the Lei’s versus my brother in law who was welcomed with the lei and back scratcher. On the bright side, I was able to add my brother who was visiting the parks with us and staying overnight to our reservation at no charge. The person at the front desk added him as a 3rd child versus an adult to avoid charges. Overall, I would prefer saving the money any day.

Our family headed up to the club lounge where we stocked up on snacks and water before proceeding to the park. Tip: Either bring zip lock bags with you or use their cups with lids to bring snacks like goldfish with you. To compare the club lounge snacks at the Hard Rock are similar but I like HRH better because the snacks are prepackaged versus being tossed in a bowl for people to pick through. Not a huge deal but I had to often stop my own little one from sticking his hand in the bowl of goldfish, I am certain there are other parents that may not quite get there in time. Anywho, we headed for the boat dock for our adventure.





The park itself wasn’t too crowded. We started at Universal Studios and decided to go on the Minion’s ride which was a 10 minute wait with Express Pass. Then things went downhill. My sister was on her way back from Florida to NY with her newborn and got stuck in North Carolina. Because of Hurricane Mathew, The roads got flooded, detoured and they had no gas, no hotel vacancy and no cell service (they burrowed other cell phones). The rest of the morning was dedicated to trying to get her help for them. The entire state of North Carolina was out of Gas and we were more than 7 hours away. We managed to get in touch with Geico insurance and they were on their way to get them some gas so we relaxed a bit. With all the worry and calling for help for my sister, I was grateful to have the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the lounge. My kids were able to eat that and the other snacks while we were on the phone which prevented hunger meltdowns.


I wanted to show my mom Diagon Alley so on our way we decided to stop by the Transformers which was about a 10 minute wait. Kudos and thanks to Universal as my mother came along with us and did not have fast pass while the rest of my party did. She originally wasn’t going to go on any rides so we didn’t incur the additional expense. She decided to ride with us and the staff let her go on the express line with us instead of having me wait on the regular line. Initially I was excited for my youngest son. At 41” he was tall enough to ride but in retrospect, I could have waited. The ride wasn’t scary but has sudden stops and jerky movements that banged his little head around (mental note, no Spiderman for him either). We were getting a bit hungry so we walked to Louis where I shared a pizza with the kids and my husband had the Meatball sandwich. The food was pretty good. Nothing amazing (we are native New Yorkers and my husband is Italian so we are picky with Pizza) but it filled our bellies. We made it to Diagon Alley for a bit and by this time my youngest was passed out in the stroller. My oldest and his uncle went on the Simpsons while my mom and hubby hung around in a shady spot while my youngest son napped.



My sister called again to tell us that Geico couldn’t find gas either. My mom and brother had to leave the parks prematurely go help and after a 14 hour drive they managed to make it home safely. Not wanting my brother to completely lose out on his expenses to the park ( he bought park to park passes and 2 express passes), I convinced him to get the AP and to upgrade before we left the parks. As a Florida resident, I know he would get his money’s worth.

We said our goodbye to my family and waited for my brother in law who was flying in from Denver and had a late dinner at Jake’s. I ordered the crawfish bisque which was creamy and very good, It could have used breadstick or something to go with it. The kids ordered mac and cheese to share and they felt it was o.k. (they like the old fashioned Kraft mac and cheese). The rest of my party ordered the burger and chili fries which were all very good. To end the night, we walked around to get some Pokeman characters with my son and went to bed. The rooms were very similar to Hard Rock albeit a bit smaller. They were clean and comfortable. I had an awful view but was prepared for that, I also had a tub which turned out to be helpful with little ones.

The beauty of doing the parks at the darkside is that the TM's are not robots and can make decisions to help the guests

Letting your mom stay with the family and use the ep line for the ride is something we should applaud

I'm glad you all were able to enjoy that ride as a family

The leis and backscratchers could have been an oops
Things happen and can be corrected

All you need to do was tell the front desk you wanted them which you did
You could have received as many as you wanted

Each time I was at the front desk I was asked if I wanted another one

Now I have leis iof all the colors
Lol

So sad that your sister was stuck in NC on the way home
But wonderful your other family members were able to take care of her
Sounds like you have a marvelous caring family!

Looking forward to hearing more about your darkside vacation!

macraven said:

The beauty of doing the parks at the darkside is that the TM's are not robots and can make decisions to help the guests

Letting your mom stay with the family and use the ep line for the ride is something we should applaud

I'm glad you all were able to enjoy that ride as a family

The leis and backscratchers could have been an oops
Things happen and can be corrected

All you need to do was tell the front desk you wanted them which you did
You could have received as many as you wanted

Each time I was at the front desk I was asked if I wanted another one

Now I have leis iof all the colors
Lol

So sad that your sister was stuck in NC on the way home
But wonderful your other family members were able to take care of her
Sounds like you have a marvelous caring family!

Looking forward to hearing more about your darkside vacation!

Click to expand...

Mac my pics don't seem to be coming through. Do you have any tips? I am new at uploading pics.

I can tell you who is good posting pics
Sending you an email

Day 2

We tried to get up early but didn’t make it. Headed over to the lounge for breakfast. At RPR the offerings are fruit (prewrapped apples, oranges, and banana), fruit salad, cold cuts (salami, turkey/ham, no cheese), hard boiled eggs and yogurt. On the other side they had bread, bagels, jelly filled doughnut holes, mini chocolate and regular croissants and pastries. Cereal was granola, honey cheerios, cocoa puffs, frosted flakes, rice krisipies and corn flakes. I like the size of the lounge better at RPR versus HRH as it has plenty of tables and TV areas. The kids were able to sit on the couch and watch Ninja Turtles and play while we relaxed. At the HRH we felt more crowded in but I think I might have liked the offerings slightly better.



We went to Universal first and headed to ET since my oldest son wanted us to all ride it as a family. It was cute and ET called us JuJXRAMS or at least that’s what I heard. We headed to Diagon Alley and decided on some lunch at the Leaky Cauldron where we each agreed to try something new. Last year we ordered the fish and chips and chicken sandwich while the kids shared the mac and cheese. All choices were fresh, hot and very good and we kind of wish we ordered it again. This time my husband ordered the stew in a bread bowl and I ordered the ploughman’s platter for everyone to share. The Stew was pretty good but not as tender as we expected, I didn’t like the platter too much. The scotch eggs seemed dry and felt like it needed a dip. The bread was dry as well, like when you put bread in the fridge. The cheeses were tasty though. I wasn’t too hungry so at least I tried it. More importantly I had plenty of room for the Butterbeer ice-cream which never disappoints.






We attempted to ride Escape from Gringotts only to find the wait to be about 45 minutes, once we saw how long the ride was we decided to get up for early entry the next day and ride Gingotts then. My youngest son fell asleep in the stroller again so instead of riding the Hogwarts Express who will make me take him out of the stroller, we decided to walk to islands of adventure where my oldest thought we should follow our butterbeer icecream binge with dipping dots. “it’s not the same mom” he explained and since we are on vacation why not? We proceeded to Dr. Suess Land where we were able to walk on to every ride. I enjoyed this area very much this time as both boys were old enough to ride and it was obviously very appropriate for all ages. I lost the battle with one fish two fish though and goat pretty soaked. Dad never follows rules was dry as a bone and laughed at us. Rather than head all the way back to the room, we decided to have an early dinner at Margaritaville.




Dinner at Margaritaville was very good. We ordered the boneless chicken wings and crab cake slider appetizer and shared a blue cheese burger. The kids shared a mac and cheese dinner which was “perfect” according to them (I swear I managed some fruit and veggies in this vacation diet). It was a very full and exhausting day so we went to the lounge where the dessert options were a mini key lime tart, cookies and rice pudding in a spoon. I think they had the same thing the day before. Its worth noting that at the RPR lounge they will give you milk upon request. I found it odd that milk and cookies night didn’t have milk out as they did at Hard Rock. If you ask they are more than happy to give it you. We grabbed some cookies at the lounge and turned in for the night preparing for an early morning the next day.

I'm hooked and here to read more jujXRAMS

Lol

I'm following too. We have a night booked in Feb, for the first time, to stay at RPR, too. So, very interested! Love your pictures, and your boys are so cute!

Thanks for the comments .... on to Day 3

We got up very early for 7:00 am early entry. Last year our early entry in April was at 8:00, what a difference that hour makes, waking up at the crack of dawn was so hard. The RPR lounge was open at 6:30 which is very convenient. My youngest son kept complaining that it was still night and was outraged that I was getting him breakfast. We grabbed some coffee and cereal for the kids and headed to the straight to the parks. My family was dragging though so I still think we made it in a little later than I had hoped. This time we headed directly to Escape from Gringotts ride where the line was just outside the bank and moving quickly. My youngest enjoyed the queue and hung out the child swap area with Dad while my oldest and I rode. I love that ride! Last year this ride was my oldest favorite, we rode 4 times in a row. This year he found it too scary and took off the 3-D glasses. To my disappointment he said one time was good. Something in me felt sad, like I lost my riding partner but I didn’t want to pressure him. I thought as he got older he would enjoy the ride more but found that he was more aware of things and therefore a bit more scared. He is still in that stage where things are believable. For example, he asked if they knew he was still a wizard even though he didn’t have his want. I rather not destroy the magic and let him work out his fears at his own time.



We cast some spells and visited knockturn alley where a door blew steam or smoke at us and scared the life out us. I laughed hysterically but oldest son said he isn’t a dark wizard and would like to go where the good wizards go. Before leaving Diagon Alley we made sure to get some Butterbeer ice cream and look at some shops. We don’t tend to buy too many souvenirs opting to get only things that seem Unique to universal versus things we can typically find online. We settled on this cauldron mugs which were perfect for making potions (AKA hot cocoa or kool-aid). My son also got a time turner key chain. The youngest opted for a Nagini snake from Knockturn, he is pretty partial to Slytherin too. I think I will have my hands full with that one.



We all agreed that we did not want to eat lunch/brunch here so we made our way to IOA to get on Kong. Great luck, we were able to walk on Kong with express pass and not a single person in front of us Woohoo! You do miss some of the queue but I much prefer to experience the ride without a wait. Funny story, while walking through our queue there was break and chance for me to take a pic, a lady in the non express line totally didn’t expect me and screamed her head off. I had to apologize and explain that I wasn’t part of the show.



All kids are different and I decided to check out the ride before I had my kids go on. While they met the height requirements, they weren’t ready for it. If you are unsure, try it yourself as you will be the best person to determine what may work for your children. I imagined if my kids rode at this age they would be covering their eyes. Glad I went on the ride and thought it was good, would not go on it again without express pass though. We grabbed some lunch at Thunder fall terrace where my husband got a burger and beer. Kids got…you guessed it mac and cheese and fries. Fries are a vegetable right? I got the chicken and rib platter with rice and beans. All was pretty good. We noticed the line was short for the Raptor experience so we decided to go and had a blast. Again I could see the wheels turning in my oldest son’s head trying to determine what was real and what wasn’t. He absolutely felt the raptor was real even though in his mind he knows Dinosaurs don’t exist. He asked if we can go on the Jurrassaic park ride and told me for now he preferred the non-3-D rides. Again we walked on with no wait. Express pass I really do love you. My kids got lured by the carnival game vendors and we stopped to see if the oldest and youngest could win a stuffed Dinosaur egg. So of course the oldest popped two balloons and got and egg and the youngest got an Orange dino because he only popped 1 balloon. At here it came, the tears, the lack of nap and the breakdown in the middle of Jurassic Park. I saw the zombie look in my family’s eyes. The kind that said I can go on more rides if I can just nap in line. Despite all my planning, I pushed them a little too far. So we headed back to the room and napped, every single one of us. It was so nice to get some rest and we really were grateful to be onsite so that we were able to just run back and chill. I stopped by the lounge to see their offerings and to have a glass of wine. I really do love that part. Got a small plate of cheese and crackers for the kids while they watched Ninja Turtles and I enjoyed my wine while waiting for the hubby to come out of the shower. They had some sort of Dirty Rice and fish dish which was very flavorful. This served as a great appetizer before heading for dinner at Vivo’s.


My husband loves Italian food and absolutely loves Gnocchi (Portifino, I got my eye on you I just need a great rate). Last year Vivo had it on the menu and he was able to get it with a Bolognese sauce. This year they still had it on the menu but substituted shells which was a disappointment. So he just ordered Penne Bolognese with a sad look in his eye. I had pasta with shrimp which was delicious, I wish I had room to eat more or a way to heat it up as I would have brought the rest of it back with me. We walked off that heavy meal at City Walk but were still weary from too many nights of not sleeping well and lots of walking so we headed back to the room, after some Pokeman hunting and went to sleep. My husband and I don’t normally sleep well and definitely not in hotels. We toss and turn and hear every foreign sound. This time we slept like we have never slept before. Literally hit the pillow and it was morning. Seriously who knew the secret to great sleep is pure exhaustion?

Next..Day 4 and HHN

Enjoying the report!