A May 2017 Trip Report - Our First Non-Disney Adventure (Complete)

DisPhanatic

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 28, 2014
I am embarking on my first non-Disney Orlando Adventure and my first trip report. I've taken many trips to Disney and consider myself close to an expert on that location. I've utilized the Disboards and found all the information I needed. This trip has been challenging to plan for a lot of reasons. We have multiple parties involved and are visiting multiple parks that we've never toured before. I thought my experience may be helpful to other travelers on the boards. Welcome to my trip!

Let's meet the cast. The stars of the show are me - Danielle. I am in my 40s and work for an insurance company. I work hard and live for my vacations with my boys. DH is not as enamored with the multiple trips to the mouse and has occasionally opted out. I was able to talk him into this trip since we are avoiding the Disney parks and embarking on some new adventures. DS1 just had his 11th birthday and is a total daredevil. He loves coasters and all the Harry Potter rides. DS2 is 8, loves characters, casting spells, and some thrill rides. He won't quite be 54 inches so he will miss out on Hulk and Dragon Challenge, but I am not sure he would ride even if he could. Our trip is between both of their birthdays (one April 19 and one May 20) so this trip is their gift.

The supporting cast are the following:
Aunt R, Aunt P, and Uncle C - are all retired and joining us at the beginning of our trip. They all love Harry Potter and Uncle C hasn't been to Universal in 15+ years.

The D Family - friends of ours moved to the Tampa area from PA last year. They will be joining us for one day - mom, dad, DD15 and DS12.

Aunt K - another friend of ours. She's a kid at heart and loves thrill rides. She will also be joining us for a day and lives in nearby Melbourne.

We plan to leave Philadelphia airport on Friday May 5, arriving in Orlando at 8:30 pm. Aunt R, Aunt P, and Uncle C. arrive earlier in the day. We are all staying at the Hard Rock and my family will be in a deluxe queen room so we have a separate bed for DS2. The kids don't share a bed well and we all want to make sure we get our rest. HRH is the only Universal hotel we've stayed at and it was for 2 nights 3 years ago. We are excited to spend more time at this lovely resort.

We will grab our rental car at the airport and depart for HRH. The plan is to greet the Aunties and settle in so we can get some rest for our long trip.

Saturday - We plan to hit Universal Studios with Aunt R, Aunt P, and Uncle C. We have a late reservation at the superstar breakfast and will spend all day in the parks. Dinner at Cowfish. We have the universal explorer ticket so we can come and go as much as we want over the length of our trip.

Sunday - Meeting the D family for a day at Aquatica. We have Discovery Cove tickets for later in the week and are using the 14 days Sea World / Aquatica option. I did add the parking pass for SW / AQ for $30. We have also rented two Roa Rapids cabanas for the day. We have not seen the D family since last July and are looking to have a space where the adults can visit. We have never been to Aquatica but the boys love water parks. Dinner at the Hot Dog Hall of Fame back at the City Walk.

Monday - Early breakfast at 'Ohana with Aunt R, Aunt P, and Uncle C. We are Disney park-free but my kids love 'Ohana and want to see some Disney characters. Stitch is their favorite plus I have some Disney rewards dollars that will make breakfast free. After we eat, the seven of us are heading back for a full day at Islands of Adventure. Dinner at Toothsome.

Tuesday - Aunt R, Aunt P, and Uncle C fly back to Philadelphia. We will hit Sea World with Aunt K. My husband and I have not been since we were kids. The boys are very excited to check out a new park. Dinner at City Walk.

Wednesday - Somewhat of a rest day. We will do some touring at USF / IOA and will plan some pool time. We have never done the wet rides in IOA so plan to check out Ripsaw Falls and Popeye's Barges. We have a dinner reservation at Chef Mickey's but it will depend on how we are feeling. NBC Sports is another option.

Thursday - This is an open day. We want to work in some miniature golf at the City Walk. The kids will get to decide what we do today - our tickets cover another trip to Sea World or Aquatica, we can head back to USF or IOA, or we may hang at the pool. The possibilities are endless! I would like to try Antojito's for dinner.

Friday - The culmination of our trip - Discovery Cove! My boys are over the moon about this. We'll be arriving early and are hoping for the first dolphin swim. DH is not a water park / swimming kind of guy so he will not be in the water with the dolphins but I am hoping he can get us some great pictures. We did not purchase the photo package. Dinner at City Walk.

Saturday - Heading home. We want to hit the parks at 8 am and do a few of our favorite rides. We need to be on the road at 11 for a 1:50 flight back home to Philadelphia.

We are two weeks out and I am just a wee-bit excited. I want to start organizing my toiletries and supplies to see what I need to run out to Target and purchase. I know the first few days of the trip are loaded but my kids are troopers. We've been visiting Disney annually since they were 4 and 2 - knock on wood, we've never had a park meltdown. We've seen Orlando in April, August/September, October, and November but never in May. Since we want to do a lot of water activities, I wanted to make sure the weather was warm but avoid the crowds of summer. We are taking the kids out of school for this trip.

I think that's all I have to share! I cannot promise I'll do pictures but I will provide a detailed report. It's a great way for me to build the anticipation - and then relive the trip after. Thanks for joining me!
 
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We will be at HRH the same time. :) It will be me and my adult daughter. Looking forward to visiting Diagon Alley (new since our last visit in 2013) and trying out a few new places for dinner. Decided to splurge on Seasonal AP's for us both, so no running around necessary. Crowds aren't predicted to be too bad either. The last time I spent more than one day at the parks was during August 2008 and it was pretty crowded.
 
DisPhanatic
Very interesting pre trip reporting

Wow!
You'll be so busy the entire time on the vacation

Great you will have so many family and friends with you on different parts of your trip

Hope you have the bestest time!
 
We will be at HRH the same time. :) It will be me and my adult daughter. Looking forward to visiting Diagon Alley (new since our last visit in 2013) and trying out a few new places for dinner. Decided to splurge on Seasonal AP's for us both, so no running around necessary. Crowds aren't predicted to be too bad either. The last time I spent more than one day at the parks was during August 2008 and it was pretty crowded.

Sounds like you will have an amazing trip too! I am keeping my fingers crossed that the crowds are reasonable. It looks like HRH is sold out. The only available rooms right now are in Portofino, Sapphire Falls, and Cabana Bay.
 


DisPhanatic
Very interesting pre trip reporting

Wow!
You'll be so busy the entire time on the vacation

Great you will have so many family and friends with you on different parts of your trip

Hope you have the bestest time!

Thanks, macraven. Your posts have been so helpful in my planning phase!
 
DisPhanatic sounds like you have a great vacation planned with lots of friends and family and parks. You will have a great time.

You all will be wowed by Diagon Alley.

Come back and tell us about your trip.
 
Your plans look great! You will be there one week before us - I hope you have great weather and low crowds. :) (We are making our first non-Disney trip to Orlando also - it will be weird not going to WDW LOL.) I can't wait to read about your adventures - have a fantastic trip! :)
 


Today - we leave today! I am fidgety with excitement. Thanks for all the well wishes - keep them coming that the rain in Philadelphia doesn't mess us our flights too much. I will report back on our trip when we return. A few more hours until we head for the airport :dogdance:
 
The day has come and your adventures begin


Happy for you!


If you have issues/questions while there, pm me and I'll help
 
Have a wonderful trip and look forward to hearing about it when you get back.........
 
Friday May 5 – Travel Day

It’s finally here! We were so excited to leave for Florida. Our flights were scheduled to leave Philadelphia at 6 pm and we live about an hour away so we got on the road early to avoid any weekend / rush hour traffic. We made it to the airport early, parked at Pre-Flight, caught the shuttle van, and were through security by 3:45. We found a sit down place in the terminal to grab some dinner and a few celebratory drinks and that’s when things went off track.

DH got a call on his cell from his mom. The in-laws live in NE PA but were in Tennessee when FIL had a massive heart attack. A nurse was fortunately in the area and immediately started CPR. He had to be shocked three times to get his heart beating when the ambulance arrived. He was being transported to a hospital an hour away for bypass surgery. The outlook was not good.

I cannot say enough good things about Southwest. They moved DH to the only flight they had that night to Tennessee – a 6:15 to Nashville. They even coordinated with the baggage handlers to pull his suitcase from the Orlando flight, re-ticket it, and direct it to Nashville. They bumped the boys and I to priority boarding to ensure we were able to sit together and DH was on his way. There was no charge for these changes. When he arrived in Knoxville at midnight, his father was still in surgery to correct five major blockages that the doctors found.

It wasn’t the start of our journey that we planned on but it was fortunate that DH was already at the airport and able to get there quickly. It was a blessing in disguise that they were close to such fantastic medical care in Tennessee (and that angel nurse!). It was also nice to have the distraction of a vacation to keep the kids’ minds off what was happening with FIL.

We had some weather delays and arrived in Orlando at 9:30 pm. We were able to get our bags, pick up our Alamo rental car, and arrived at the Hard Rock at 10:20 pm. I was concerned about this part of the journey on my own but it worked out well.

We loved our stay at the Hard Rock and all the staff there. We took advantage of concierge’s services, the pool, the Kitchen, and the quick service breakfast. Our deluxe queen was room 6101 and looked out over a quiet back lawn to the property. We could see some of the rides from our windows and the higher floor kept us away from the noise and hustle and bustle. The room itself was spacious and we were very pleased. I appreciated the square footage and the extra power outlets for all the devices. The desk actually had a power strip with three plugs and two USB direct ports. It was fantastic!

When my aunts checked in, they were assigned rooms on the 2nd floor. I had given the hotel a heads up that we were travelling together and I requested a higher floor. My aunts mentioned this to the desk and they were moved to two rooms on the 6th floor as well. They were not in the same corridor as we were since they had queen pool view rooms but it was close enough for us!

My aunt met us in the lobby where we got our tickets from the kiosk and our express passes from the other kiosk. We headed up to the room and I got the kids to bed a little after 11. I stayed up until 1 am getting settled in and talking with DH to see how things were going. My stress level was up there but I was happy to have arrived safe and sound.
 
Miscellaneous Notes:

Rather than keep you on your toes, I wanted to let everyone know that FIL is on the mend. He remained intubated until Tuesday – the first attempt to wean him was unsuccessful and he developed a fever over that first weekend. DH stayed in Tennessee until Wednesday once his dad was breathing on his own and was up out of bed. By the 13th, he was moved out of the cardiac ICU. As of today, they are still in Tennessee and hoping to be released for travel back to PA next week. They will have to drive back since bypass patients cannot fly until at least six months post-surgery.

The entire week, DH and I were debating about what to do. We had booked a package through Universal so he had a 14-day ticket. I didn’t want to cancel this in case he could arrive later in the trip. In addition, we had tickets for Discovery Cove on May 12 which included our SeaWorld and Aquatica passes. Again, I couldn’t cancel a piece of this without cancelling all of it. There was no additional room charge for the fourth person so there was no savings there and I was holding off on the 5/13 flight from Orlando to PA. I did give the Hard Rock a heads up and they told me what to do if I wanted to request ticket refunds.

It was incredibly hot the week we were there. It was in the 90s all week and hit 99 on Thursday. We were prepared for hot and some products were a godsend! I am a huge proponent of Body Glide for thigh chafing and Gold Bond foot powder for the feet. I had blister band-aids and moleskin but did not need either. We had some minor chafing a few times (well, maybe a little major one day) but after showers, BodyGlide, and a good night’s rest, we were fine. I also got a little sunburn a few days as I am fair (the kids were good). I bought a Sun Burnt product at Walmart that was an aloe gel plus a bunch of other things. It worked great – I applied each evening if I was a little red and, by morning, I was back in business.

https://www.bodyglide.com/shop/body/?gclid=CJfu7c2I-tMCFcS1wAodMCUJ_w

https://www.walmart.com/ip/SunBurnt...35&wl11=local&wl12=50703979&wl13=5466&veh=sem

That said, the heat was really tough on Aunt R. Her knees bothered her more than she expected and combined with the heat, we toured slowly the first few days. We ended up taking mid-day breaks and listening to our bodies. It really made for an enjoyable trip. The kids stayed happy and my aunt was able to go the duration with those extra hours to recharge.

Stick with me – up next is day 1 at Universal!
 
Oh my goodness! What a dramatic start to your trip.......how scary.

But, so glad to hear he is on the mend......must be a big relief for all of you.

Sounds like you still managed to enjoy a decent trip.......look forward to reading about it some more.....and glad the sunburn wasn't an issue.......
 
Scary about your FIL but so glad he is on the mend. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip!
 
A story before the trip story
I'm in for what happened next


Every thing happened so fast
 
My daughter and I were at the HRH during the same time, we had a wonderful vacation and we are thinking of utilizing our seasonal AP's to book another shorter trip around my b-day in September.
I'm so sorry about your FIL, but agree that he was so fortunate to receive CPR/defibrillation at the scene. I'm glad he is healing from his bypass surgery and hopefully will be heading home soon.
I'm looking forward to reading more of your TR and comparing your experiences to ours. I have never written one, but may consider it. I had such a lovely time and would like to share my tips and observations with others. All the regulars here really helped me with my planning.
 
Thanks so much for the prayers for FIL. They made it home from Tennessee Tuesday (5/23). He still has a lot of recuperating and lifestyle changes to make but things are looking good.
 
Saturday May 6 - Universal

We woke up this morning ready to go! Since we had breakfast booked at Café La Bamba, we chose to not take advantage of early admission to IoA. A few words about this breakfast – I’ll stick to the mantra that I did it for the characters but the overall experience was not great. First, you pay upfront. Since I was travelling with 7 people, I had to pay $217 in advance. Since I did this 45-days in advance, I assumed I wouldn’t have trouble grabbing a late breakfast time to take the most advantage of early morning touring on a Saturday. As soon as I booked, I called to reserve my time which you cannot see when you are paying. Well, the latest breakfast I could reserve was 9:45 just 45 minutes after the park opened. I was annoyed but the kids and my aunts wanted to do it. Since they were only there through Tuesday, I had to make it happen on Saturday.

If breakfast had been good, all the inconvenience would have been worth it. But it wasn’t – it was awful! The food was nearly inedible – the eggs tasted foul, the bacon was so greasy, and there wasn’t much variety. There were two stand outs – the grilled grapefruit was delicious and they had warm blueberry muffins that were enjoyable. The character interaction was excellent and we spent plenty of time with the two bunnies from Hop, Dora, Diego, Squidward, Sponge Bob, Gru, and a minion (Kevin?). While the kids liked this part, even they agreed after that we would never do it again.

Back to the rest of our morning, I woke up at 6:15 and jumped in the shower. I ran down to the Universal Travel desk at 6:50 since we couldn’t print off our breakfast vouchers and I didn’t want to waste more time at Guest Services in the park. I had to wait 10 minutes for the desk to open but I was first and out of there in by 7:05 to sneak down to Emock and Bolio’s to grab coffee, milk, and two donuts to hold the kids over. This was so convenient and tasty. I even felt comfortable enough later in the week to let DS1 head down on his own to grab breakfast. We met the rest of the crew downstairs at 8:20 and started over to the park.

We waited in the line to the far left and were just 2 families back before the park opened. We managed to ride Minions, Meet Optimus Prime, ride Transformers, Mummy, and Rip Rock It before racing over to breakfast at 9:45. It was our first time on Rip Rock It and DS1 loved it! I didn’t think it was too rough and I didn’t vomit so we’ll go with success. Everyone else in our party opted out.

While in breakfast, we booked a 10:30-11:30 window for Fallon. This was interesting because you can only reserve a time for 5 people. Since we were a party of 6 (would have been 7 if DH had been with us), we needed two reservations in the virtual line. Well, you cannot carry two reservations on one app. So, my aunt quickly installed the app on her phone and was able to book 10:20-11:15 for one person. Interesting enough, we learned later in the week that our express pass meant we didn’t need to get in the virtual line. We tested this twice without any issues and two different attendants.

So, after breakfast, we rode Fallon. Everyone loved this ride. Yes, it’s not earth shattering but we love Jimmy. It was funny, whimsical, and even the kids had fun. The pre-ride entertainment was fun but it’s a bit confusing. We wanted to spend some time downstairs looking at all the memorabilia but we were directed upstairs. We thought we might have time after but you don’t get back into this room when you leave.

We rode Mummy again, saw Sing It, Marilyn Monroe’s show, and some of Beat Builders as we walked over to MIB. Rode that, Simpsons, met Crusty the Clown and Bob before heading back to the rooms after buying some refillable popcorn buckets. It was hot and we were tired from the late travel the night before. It was around 1:30 at this point. Not bad for the first morning.

While everyone rested, I hopped in the rental car for a grocery run. There was a Publix less than five minutes away. I was able to fit a ½ gallon of milk, yogurt drinks, juice, Gatorade, water, and squeeze yogurts in the room refrigerator. It worked out so well!

We headed back out at 4 and had an early dinner at Cowfish. We were hungry since we didn’t have lunch and really like to avoid long waits for tables. We were seated right away at 4:15 and had such an amazing meal! My aunt and I had the Jalepeno Popper Show Stopper burger which was delicious and some strawberry fig adult beverage (yummy!). The kids loved their choices – one had PB&J sushi and one had grilled chicken with oranges, fries, and edamame as their sides. They swore if DH made the trip, we were coming back.

Our evening was a bit random. DS1 was committed to riding Kong since it was Day 1 and this was on his list. So we headed over to IoA around 5:45 and walked straight back. Even with the express pass, we waited 15 minutes (longest of the week) to board. Most of us enjoyed the ride (DS2 was scared) and don’t get the negative reviews. Our car did head through the outside section. We headed back to Hogsmeade then. Uncle C had never seen either of the Potter sections so this was a must. We rode Hippogriff and Forbidden Journey (15 minute posted wait but it wasn’t bad by the time we walked the whole queue) before discovering that DS2’s interactive wand got lost. It was in the outside pocket of our backpack which stayed with Aunt R while the rest of us rode Forbidden Journey. We looked around for it and even asked if someone had turned it in but no luck.

We wandered around Hogsmeade before catching the train over to Daigon Alley (10 minute wait). It was around 7:30 now. While we were hoping to see the Cinemagic Spectacular, everyone was winding down. So we bought new wands, cast some spells, checked out some shops, grabbed ice cream (one butter beer, one mint soft serve, one vanilla soft serve, and I tried the strawberry peanut butter and apple crumble) and then walked back to the hotel. Bedtime was a little after 9.

I wore a FitBit for most of the trip. We walked 8.1 miles this day!
 

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How was the apple crumble ice cream?
I'm tempted by it and have not read many reviews for it
 

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