Boys R Icky, I need a new BF, our RPR trip report...A Wonderful Trip!

[lindalinda]

RPR trip June 8-18 2006

The players
me- single mom 40somethingish, but after this trip I deserve to shave a few more years off....I think I'll go with 39 instead WTH.

BF- 44 not remotely interested in this trip. helped in no way, barely showed up

my baby boy- (kev) 14...the evidence is clear...best kid in the world

my neighbor boy-(brandon) 13...we always take him on vacation, great kid

my BFs son- (brent) 13...ok not terrible, but some issues...we'll talk

Day 1 The drive part 1

Its thursday, june 8. I am off work today and packing the car. We are driving from kentucky. BF has to work until 4pm, so me, kev and brandon pack the honda crv, set up the dvd players and the x-box for optimum car-trip survival. We leave the house at 3:45 for BFs house. We arrive at 4:35 or so and are on the road at 4:50. Perfect so far!

Did I mention that I have a honda Crv and it is a manual transmission? Did I mention BF cant drive a stick? Did I mention its a 14 hour drive? Oh well, I am an excellent driver. And its good to have some adult company on the road..you know...someone to talk to....to keep you awake....etc....(someone cue the music here)

Just kidding. Fairly uneventful trip on day one. Arrived Adairsville Ga., exit 306 on I-75 at 10:30 pm. We had 2 rooms booked there. Bf and his son in one and me, kev and brandon in the other. I was adamant that the boys shower at night so we could just get up and go and be on the road early. I set the alarm for 5:30 and conked out. When it went off it was painful, but we got up and got ready. I sent kev to wake up the other room. We packed up the car and waited. I sent kev up again to get BF. He says "you know its only 5 am right? I say no its 6....no, its 5. Oops. The clock in my room was an hour fast. It didnt even occur to me to check it, I just set the alarm.

So now we're on day 2

Anyway......we're up lets leave. So a very sleepy bunch pile in the car and we're off again. It was probably a good thing, since traffic thru Atlanta was already building at 6:15 when we drove thru. I can tell you this because I was awake. As a matter of fact, I can tell you about Macon, Tifton, Gainsville, any number of towns that I was awake in. Of course, no one else was. Just me and a bunch of snoring guys. Somewhere around ocala they woke up. I think they were hungry. So we got some lunch and got on the turnpike. We arrived at the Royal Pacific Resort at 1:00pm. I went ahead and parked , I didnt think the room would be ready that early. But it turns out it was! And we were on the 7th floor! ( I had been stressing about this, since I heard they had been putting some club on the 6th)

So we checked in, lugged our bags up and checked out the room.

I am going to interject a few observations in here now about RPR and club level issues. First * I am sure its a good thing with 5 people, esp if you are going to be having beer at happy hour. Second * I dont think I will do it again. We LIKED it. It was nice. The service was wonderful, dont get me wrong. But heres the thing. The wonderful, perfect, park plan, you know the one, where you get up in the morning, head to the parks, come back and swim, then go to the parks late afternoon....are not conducive to the club level hours. I felt like we had a timer on us and we needed to be back for appetizers and beer, when that was really the perfect time to head back into the parks. So basically, we did the club level for breakfast, and for beer when BF was there, but after he left, we pretty much forgot it. We hardly even ever were there in time to get our cookies and milk! Also, another point for those with kids, esp little ones. If they dont like oriental type cuisine, they arent going to be eating much at all. Eggrolls, won-tons...won- tons...noodles... I saw a LOT of little turned up noses. There are only so many times you are gonna want to say...here dear...have a pb&j uncrustable. Now this is strictly my opinion, The staff did great stuff for us that I will note later...this was just some observations.

Where was I? Oh yeah, checked out the room. Very nice. Worst possible view. I-4 , and the roof. Oh well...at least its on the 7th floor and honestly..I didnt care. Room number was 3731. What I did care about was that there was no blow dryer. HUh? none. Luckily I was using the advise of Motherfletcher and using the gym for showers anyway so that didnt matter either.

We decided to just chill the first day...no parks..just pool and beer.

I know, I know...whats the icky boys part? I'll get to it.....but I'm really really tired now cuz I just drove from florida and all...

Next...will BF like the parks? Can 4 stinky boys stay in one room with moi?
Stay tuned....

 

[momrek06]

AWESOME, LINDA Waiting for more.....

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Great report so far.

 

[Dislifer]

lindalinda...
subscribing!!! Great report! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Motherfletcher]

Sounds like BF ain't going to like it! What guy in his 40s from Kentucky can't drive a stick?

 

[shelby72]

Sounds like BF ain't going to like it! What guy in his 40s from Kentucky can't drive a stick?

*laugh* Just what I was thinking

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

So, the switch from HRH was OK? The reasons you noted are pretty much the reason I have never done club.

Can't wait to hear more. Sounds like you boyfriend did not warm up to theme parks.

 

[lindalinda]

When last we spoke, I was telling you guys about chillin by the pool. I forgot to mention the dive -in movie. It was the Incredibles. The boys thought it was very cool and had a blast. We were pretty exhausted by the time we turned in for the night. We were all in 1 room, the 5 of us. I (being the only girl) slept on the aerobed. It just barely fits in the room next to the window. But it was quite comfy.

Boys are icky. I think I may possibly have inadvertently witnessed some male ritual that I hope to never experience again. I speak of the gas wars. I really cant describe it. But it was icky. (I am quite sure some disneymaniacs will claim this would NEVER happen if we had just stayed at the poly ) The conversation was equally incomprehensible. Once again, generally involving bodily functions. Very icky. Was I invisible? Hey guys..theres a woman here....isnt there some kind of code involved?


But back to the trip report....we were exhausted....and slept until 9:30! That wasnt too good. 5 people getting ready in 1 room , we grabbed some breakfast from the lounge...and hit the park at the crack of NOON! We decided on Universal first, I figured there was more of a chance for BF to like something there. We had the 3 month costco passes, plus I had a preferred AP, so first thing we go to get our passes made. They got them mixed up, wrong names on the AP, so it took about 30 minutes to accomplish this. So it was around 12:30 by the time we started.

First up..Twister-Ride it out I decide to ease BF into the experience with an easy one. It was fun, we all enjoyed it. BFs comment: "It wasnt as bad as I thought" OK great start. Next.....da..dee.da......The Mummy! We cant pass that one up! BF gives the big "no way" and from this point on, he becomes the illustrious "holder of all the crap"

he did take a few pics tho

Next, it was on to Jaws. Even BF rode this one. Actually, I didnt give him a choice. He didnt complain, so maybe he loved it.

Fear Factor Live was just starting as we walked by so we decided to check it out. Actually, it was way fun. (BF didnt like it, the drinking yucky stuff made him kinda queasy) But I thought since the yucky part is separate, it is much easier to decide to participate. I mean, that yucky parts keeps people out, so since its separate, I would do it.

this part I couldnt do tho

After that, it was off to MIB. I am not a video game person at all, but I like this. Its so silly. (BF wouldnt do it) Anyway, I won. Kicked those boys butts! I got the bonus, and that put me over the top. My son was so irritated! I got 183,000. Not great I know, but better than them (that time only) So I was pretty obnoxious about it.

We had lunch at the International Food Festival. I was not impressed. I dont mean it was bad or anything, but sooo crowded it wasnt too enjoyable because of that.

Next we tried to ride ET but after waiting about 10 mins, it was broken. Too bad, BF was gonna try that one.

At this time it was getting late (we needed to be back at the hotel for those free happy hour beers) so we split up. The boys went back to ride the Mummy again and me and BF were trying to decide between Horror Make-up show and Terminator. We chose Terminator. I think BF kind of liked it, but he only said " that was strange with the actors coming out of the stage" Ok....I think I'll just start translating things like that as "wow, cool, that was awesome"

We went back to the club lounge and had egg rolls ( or maybe wontons) and cheese and crackers and coronas and wine. We sent the boys to the pool and let them order food from the Bula Grill. We really enjoyed the Bula grill, and ate and drank there often. It was just so nice by the pool, hanging out and such.

I told the guys we had to do better tomorrow, no sleeping in late or we wont get to the parks in time again. So we made a deal that me and the boys would go to the gym early and shower there and be ready to get in the parks by 9am.

Can we do it?

 

[momrek06]

Ahhh...Linda, another edition of your trippie...awesome AND BF and I have something in common...YUP, I am as well the "holder of crap"... when we are at the Parks!!!

 

[DonnaLeah]

Enjoyin' your trip report!! Ready for more!!

 

[AlexandNessa]

RPR trip June 8-18 2006


Where was I? Oh yeah, checked out the room. Very nice. Worst possible view. I-4 , and the roof. Oh well...at least its on the 7th floor and honestly..I didnt care. Room number was 3731. What I did care about was that there was no blow dryer. HUh? none. Luckily I was using the advise of Motherfletcher and using the gym for showers anyway so that didnt matter either.

Ahh, I am familiar with the views from that side of the hallway.... my SIL and BIL were stuck in 3737. It was a bit depressing being in their room coming from ours (we were in 3724 that trip, which overlooked the pool and IOA -- awesome!). At least you were on the 7th floor. Trust me, what a PINTA to be stuck on the 6th floor. Sounds like you didn't take much advantage of the club offerings as it was. Imagine if you had to take a detour to do it!

We like club because it's a nice "break" in the day for us, and we enjoy socializing in there at beer o'clock, but we do plan it into our day. Since we go to UO for long periods of time, we only ever spend about 4 hours/day max at the parks, so it works nicely for us. I can certainly see where it wouldn't fit into everyone's schedules though.

Sorry you were stuck in a room without a blow dryer. I'll bet a quick call to Star Services would've gotten you one pronto. And if that didn't work, asking for some help from the club staff would've worked for sure.

Can't wait to hear more. I'm betting your BF would've had more fun at the convention of the week at the RPR than in the parks?

 

[katybugsmom]

Tell me more!!!!!!

 

[lindalinda]

Sounds like BF ain't going to like it! What guy in his 40s from Kentucky can't drive a stick?

Hey thats what I said!

 

[lindalinda]

Sunday morning, day 4

I wake up at 6:45am and decide to go ahead and get up and head to the gym. It is a very nice facility. They have headphones if you want to use them. Several treadmills and ellipticals and a stationary bike, as well as weight machines. I just did the elliptical. Hey I'm on vacation! I really liked it, it has arm things, the one at my gym doesnt have that. Anyway, I used the shower in the gym. They are very nice showers and they do have everything you need. shampoo, conditioner and bathgel in the shower and then blow dryer, lotion, hairspray, razors as well. I was the only person there so I had the run of the place. It was nice not to be cramped in the room.

I was back upstairs by 8 and the boys were pretty much ready (except for brent) and we had time to get some breakfast while we were waiting for him. The club breakfast is pretty good. Fruit, lots of pastries, bagels, toast, these ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls that are to die for (diabetics beware!) and cereal. A complete carb-fest

We managed to get into IOA by 9:30. Pretty good!

We do the hulk first of course I love-love-love it. Me, kev, brandon and brent start off to ride it. BF is a big no-way on this one.. When we get about halfway there brent chickens out on us. We try to convince him but it didnt work. So we sent him back on the walk of shame to stay with his dad. So it was me, kev and brandon. We had done this before. When brandon was 9 we brought him here for his first inverted coaster ride. We really had to talk him into it. He kept changing his mind on the way and finally at the last minute he said ok...he'd do it. So we are on the ride and it starts moving....and he starts to cry!..now I'm freaked out...he asks to get off and I say..sorry its too late...it will be over in a sec...just scream as loud as you can like we taught you. Well that kid screamed like the devil was on his doorstep and I never took my eyes off him. I couldnt tell if he was terrified or just screaming cuz we told him to. But he walked off it and said "lets do it again" So it was the 3 of us again and it was just as much fun this time. It is so exhilarating! My absolute favorite. We decided that brent would be convinced before the end of the day and ride it. That was the plan.

Next we went to Spiderman. I fibbed a little and led BF to believe it was just a 3D type movie so he went. The spinning was a bit much for him. that was his comment ....it was okay until the spinning....

The boys did Dr Doom and I waited it out. It gives me a headache and I waited with BF this time. I try to be a good GF but I kinda stink at it. Brent did Dr doom which I find weird, I mean it seems scarier to me than hulk but to each his own I guess.

Next up is the mystic fountain. We goof off there for awhile, and then go to see poseidons fury. I really like this. We always seem to time it poorly tho so we had to wait about 20 mins. There is express pass but I'm not sure it does much, at least it never helped us on this one. I like walking thru the water thing. I know...I'm easily entertained (or as my boy would say...mom your dork is showing)

Dueling Dragons was up next and me, kev, brandon and brent started out. brent tried to bail halfway up again. It took us about 10 minutes to get him moving again. But he did it! He loved it of course. I figured we were golden now, if he'd do dragons, surely he'd do hulk next time.
The boys rode again and I waited with BF again (see how I'm trying?)

Why are there no pictures here? OOPs...forgot to put the battery back in my camera this morning. We'll get some later.

We had lunch at burger digs. I think it was pretty good, and BF got to have a beer so he was happy.

The boys then went on Jurassic park river adventure (I bailed cuz I didnt want to get wet), then ripsaw falls, then popeyes. kev and brandon were wearing flip-flops but brent had on tennis shoes so I told him to put them in the middle on popeyes. He didnt. His shoes were wet the rest of the trip. I think he seriously thought we should buy him some new shoes. I told him he should have done what I said and it would be fine. So deal with it. (BF thought I was a little mean)

It was about 130pm by now and time to go swim. One more turn on the hulk and we were leaving. Brents chance. nope...not yet.

When we left I sent the boys back to the hotel and went to cash in some movie/meal coupons at guest services. We wanted to make a reservation at NBA city for the game. But they werent taking reservations past 645. the game was at 9 so I didnt think that would work. We decided on Hard Rock Cafe instead.

AAAAHHHHH. We loved the pool at RPR! I ordered a witch doctor. I dont remember what that is exactly, but it is bright green and yummy. After we swam for a couple of hours we sent the boys back into the park. It started getting cloudy and raining a little. I didnt think anything of it, its florida after all, thunderstorms are daily right? Well it was really pouring for awhile. The boys had a walkie-talkie with them and they were stuck under one of the bridges on the walkway waiting it out. It finally stopped enough for them to get back to the hotel before dinner. Please note...I dont really watch TV while on vacation so I didnt know what was happening. Just figured it was a little rain shower.

We had a very nice dinner at the hard rock cafe. Used our 2 coupons so the bill was less than 50$ (that included appetizer and beer) The waitress seemed a little clueless about the meal coupon tho and didnt give me a separate menu, she just kind of pointed to stuff and said you can have that. It was a little odd, but not a problem. We wandered a bit on citywalk on the way back to the hotel. I love citywalk, just walking around is cool.

some sunset/evening pics

and heres the boys

brent, kev, brandon

 

[lindalinda]

Monday day 5

Alberto.... Monday morning I get up early and wake up kev to go to the gym with me. He grabs brandon as well and the 3 of us go work out. The plan for the day was SeaWorld. I hadnt realized the storm would be as bad as it was. We decided we would stick to the plan and go to seaworld, and if it got too bad we would just leave. We stopped and grabbed ponchos before we left. I had gotten our tickets online using the pepsi code. When we arrived it was just light rain so we figured we would be ok.

Things are a little fuzzy about this day. First we went back to the coaster, Kraken. Kev and brandon rode. I waited in the rain. Kev and brandon rode twice without telling us and I told him that was very rude, seeing as we were waiting in the RAIN. Atlantis was not working at first so we skipped that one. I know we saw the stingrays, and the exhibit with the penguins. We went to the pirate sea lion show. It was very cute.
After the sea lions we went to see thw dolphin show, blue horizons. I thought it was very cool. Very different than I expected.

After that the rain started to just pour down. It was like ahose on your head. I was sloshing thru the water ankle deep. I was wearing my nile crocs, so the shoes were okay but my feet sure werent. The boys had sneakers on so they were drenched. The rain soaked inside the ponchos. It was only 11:30 but we decided to eat lunch and dry out a little. Kev decided on the sharks underwater grill. Cool to see sharks while youre eating so what the heck. Well this place is waaay to gourmet for my bunch let me tell you. I dont really remember the names of what everyone got but I know the boys got some kind of flatbread. They ate some of it, not much tho. BF got some chicken thing that was, as he described...really expensive chicken strips stuck in a pineapple..... Mine was good, red snapper with rice and black beans. I felt pretty stupid tho when the waiter had to tell me the rice and beans were in this little dough bag thingy. (I thought it was decorative) It was tasty tho. This meal was probably the most expensive we had all week, and definitely not worth it to us. C'mon, the kids want to see the sharks...cant they have some french fries?

After our lunch we fed the stingrays. Then we wandered over to the shamu stadium to see Believe. However, they were postponing it because of lightening. I never saw any lightening but I'm sure they were tracking it on radar or something. So we did the polar expedition. I didnt tell BF it was a simulator so he rode it with us. He lived. Let me tell you tho, when you are soaked to the skin, going into the polar habitat is a challenge. I thought we were gonna freeze to death.

BY the time we left this, it had slowed down a little so we decided to go back to Kraken. Kev told me I HAD to ride it cuz it was so cool. So I did, me kev and brandon. It really is an awesome coaster. But riding it in the rain is like being shot by a thousand pygmy poison darts! Ouch!

After this the boys rode Atlantis a couple of times and they loved it.. I skipped it. I was so wet and miserable I couldnt stand the thought of getting WETTER!

We left after this. It was around 3pm so we were there for 5 hours or so.

This is pretty normal for me and kev. We once did the "Ghost tour" at williamsburg in a driving rainstorm at about 40 degrees. After that he said...mom, we can do ANYTHING.

We just decided to hang at the pool and eat dinner at the Bula Bar. Its hard to describe what a nice little grill this is. Such a great atmoshere. I really think I could have eaten there every night and been just as happy as a clam.

Since it was BF and brents last night (they were flying out early the next morning), when the rain let up a little, we sent the boys back into the park. It was kev and brandons goal to get brent on the hulk before he left. Meanwhile, me an BF had a hottub evening, and I tried a tsunami and blue hawaii. I liked the tsunami the best, YUM.

For the record....the boys quest failed...no hulk for brent but he did ride dueling dragons a few more times. And when they got back they swam in the pool til around 11pm.

The next morning BF and brent leave at around 5:30am, so I let kev and brandon sleep in late. Overall, I think it went OK for them, but BF is still in serious need of some "training" lol.

Next up....just the 3 of us on a rainy morning.....how many people can they cram into a 4 story arcade?

 

[lindalinda]

I'm sorry, I have no idea why that picture is humongous. I dont know how you make them smaller. They were all the same tho, why did that one pic get huge?

 

[lindalinda]

ok, I just put a different pic in. Its not as good but what the hey.

 

[supersaver]

Linda, I am enjoying your trip report. Very entertaining! I wonder if we might have seen you Monday night at the pool, my kids wanted to go swimming and we were also down at the hot tub/whirlpool some that night (a bad mistake, as after being in the WARM water, the pool felt like ice cubes!). I thoroughly agree with you about the Bula bar, some of our best meals last week were from there! EXCELLENT! We were at Universal the day you were at Sea World, and everyone's shoes/socks were so wet, DH had to dry them out with a hair dryer!! That was some storm Monday and Tuesday.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

Suzanne

 

[momrek06]

Great Trippie, Linda...I have enjoyed reading it

Waiting for more........

 

[lindalinda]

Tuesday-day 6

BF and brent left early and we slept in. The plan for the day was DisneyQuest. It doesnt open until 11am so I didnt figure there was any hurry. So we took our time and ate our breakfast in the club lounge. I already had tickets (I got them from ticketmania) so I knew we wouldnt have to wait in that line. It was still raining and very dreary. Now, I didnt plan on going because of the weather....this was just my plan for the day. I was just trying to stick with the plan.

We arrived at around 10:45am. We saw the line stretched halfway around to the back of the building. We got in line. It started to rain on us of course. At 11 they started letting people in.

Now we have been to Disneyquest many times. I do have a little beef with the way they handled the crowd. When you go in, they put you in a fake elevator with the genie from alladin. Its cute, but really unnecessary. Esp. if there is a huge line outside being poured down rain on. Just open the doors and let people go up the stairs!

Anyway, when we got in we went straight to Pirates of the Carribean. (we know what were doing) This is a great "ride" And the lines get HUGE LONG very fast. Seriously, go here first. Another slight beef...you go in a room and shoot pirates with cannons...the room holds I think 6. They never combined groups. There were 3 of us, and a family of 3 in front of us (2 small kids) that had never done it before. We could have easily gone together, and they would have the learned how to do it and probably had a lot more fun. We, are the heroes of the sea. We kick butt on this thing. I drove, kev and brandon shot. We took out every ship and got the treasure from the houses on the shore as well. I think we ended up KIngs of the high seas. Anyway it is really fun. (in a kind of men-in-blackish kind of way if you know what I mean). After this we went to the alladins magic carpet virtual reality thing. I wish they would update this stuff. Its very cool but the thing you have to wear on your head is freakin huge. I am sure that technology would let it be much smaller now. Anyway, I actually made it to the end of this one (usually I get lost just flying around on my carpet) After this we kind of wandered around looking for someting to do. I mean it was SO CROWDED. I have never seen anything like it. Apparently this is not the place to be on your bad weather day. We decided to try and get something to eat. I sent the kids to get something and they were in line for over 30 mins. After we ate we went and made a cd in the create zone. We skipped cyber-space mountain because it was too long. (we have done it a million times so no biggie) We decided to try some arcade games. Did a few...waited around some more. It was elbow to elbow in there. There was a line to play air hockey. We decided we had had enough by 2. When we left...we were told...no re-entry, we would have to wait in line again , maximum capacity. When we walked outside...low and behold...SUNSHINE

Woo-hoo, we decided....pool time. The boys decided it was their day to pool hop to HRH, but I told them I would just stay at the RPR pool until they came back cuz I love-love-love it. So they took off, and I gave them a job to do as well....redeem movie/meal coupons. Meanwhile...I indulged in some sunshine and a beach novel. perfect!

A perfect little detail at RPR as well....those adorable water coolers around the pool. Ice cold water, you dont have to just have a margarita.

Guess how long the boys stayed at HRH pool? One hour. I really thought they would stay a long time and do the slide over and over. Nope. Kev said RPR pool was better. I have to agree. I am not sure its the pool itself tho, I think its the atmoshere.

Heres one of the cabanas. I hung out at this hottub. I didnt ever get a cabana, but I thought about it.

the boys liked the basketball goal at the pool

Later that afternoon we went back into US. Kev wanted a rematch on MIB. I have to say. I was horrendous this time ...55000. Kev got 406,000. I think there was something wrong with my laser. Anyway, we were defenders of the galaxy. We had dinner at the bula grill again. It rained a little on us, off and on, but no big deal...we are troupers.


tomorrow....Epcot...this is the one I have been stressing over....WE WILL HAVE TO WAIT IN LINES!