toonaspie
Just a poser
- Joined
- May 30, 2010
Well...we did it!
We made it to Orlando and back! Just not for Disney though. But hey, I'm all for new experiences and Universal was a great alternative.
I've only been to Universal once back in 1998 for a day (before it was a full fledge resort) as we were on the way to WDW. The only thing I remember from that trip was the Earthquake ride, only cause I remember my dad joking it up with a Japanese tourist that was in line with us how this must be a normal thing for him.
Anyway, there's so much to talk about with Universal, I wouldn't know where to begin.
To give you the basics: It was me (33) and my friend D. (31), from May 7-10th. We stayed at Cabana Bay Beach Resort.
As far as pre-planning goes: This was supposed to be a graduation gift from D's mom. She booked the vacation through her AAA agent. Truth be told, booking Universal through AAA is not something I would recommend.
Before I explain why, let's talk about the Universal Vacation Packages: *sigh* Well...you guys were right about them. They are bad. I mean, I would have taken heed of all the warnings had I been the one actually paying for this vacation. But because this was being paid by D's mom, I didn't think it was that big a deal. But as we got closer to vacation time, I was regretting all the choices we booked (hotel, etc) knowing I couldn't change them since this was a last minute booking as it was (withing the 45 day limit). As far as the discounts go, when I kept doing the math in my head, I'm almost certain we saved NOTHING booking through AAA. I'm pretty sure the lady just went straight to the Universal website and booked everything off of that. The AAA in our city was closed down for some reason so we had to travel 30-40 mins away just to pay the same price had we done it ourselves at home. I knew that booking tickets and hotel separately was cheaper, but I was not aware of fluctuating rates or how the AP rates could have worked in our favor (thus why I failed math, I guess). There are also similar restrictions and fees when booking with AAA plus all the additional coupons and stuff we were given were “mostly” worthless. I'll explain more on that later.
As the week closed in before our vacation, there was a bit or personal drama going on at home (which I won't explain) but it almost resulted in our vacation being canceled. D. insisted it moved forward though. We were to leave on Saturday night to book a hotel near the airport as our flight was at 6am. I won't get into detail about it, but D went somewhere all day Saturday, didn't come home until 9 pm much to my frustration. We left quickly after and booked a hotel near the airport as it was still an easier option for us. Though as a result of what he was doing and wasting time on that day, we only got 4-5 hours before we had to catch the shuttle to the airport.
The flight was only a couple hours long and I managed to get a little bit of sleep.
For all the bad about Universal Vacation Packages, one good thing I liked though was that you can go up to the Universal desk at the airport and get all your stuff there, including your park tickets. So that's one less thing to deal with at the hotel. I think there was some construction on International Drive, because our Universal Superstar Shuttle was taking tons of backroads as opposed to the highway to get there. Our driver nearly got into a collision on the way, too. That's the Superstar Shuttle for ya!
Lotta detail here, I'll try to trim it down for the rest of the report. I got SOME pictures but we're private people, I would prefer not posting our faces so whatever pics I do have, will be people free. Stay tuned.
We made it to Orlando and back! Just not for Disney though. But hey, I'm all for new experiences and Universal was a great alternative.
I've only been to Universal once back in 1998 for a day (before it was a full fledge resort) as we were on the way to WDW. The only thing I remember from that trip was the Earthquake ride, only cause I remember my dad joking it up with a Japanese tourist that was in line with us how this must be a normal thing for him.
Anyway, there's so much to talk about with Universal, I wouldn't know where to begin.
To give you the basics: It was me (33) and my friend D. (31), from May 7-10th. We stayed at Cabana Bay Beach Resort.
As far as pre-planning goes: This was supposed to be a graduation gift from D's mom. She booked the vacation through her AAA agent. Truth be told, booking Universal through AAA is not something I would recommend.
Before I explain why, let's talk about the Universal Vacation Packages: *sigh* Well...you guys were right about them. They are bad. I mean, I would have taken heed of all the warnings had I been the one actually paying for this vacation. But because this was being paid by D's mom, I didn't think it was that big a deal. But as we got closer to vacation time, I was regretting all the choices we booked (hotel, etc) knowing I couldn't change them since this was a last minute booking as it was (withing the 45 day limit). As far as the discounts go, when I kept doing the math in my head, I'm almost certain we saved NOTHING booking through AAA. I'm pretty sure the lady just went straight to the Universal website and booked everything off of that. The AAA in our city was closed down for some reason so we had to travel 30-40 mins away just to pay the same price had we done it ourselves at home. I knew that booking tickets and hotel separately was cheaper, but I was not aware of fluctuating rates or how the AP rates could have worked in our favor (thus why I failed math, I guess). There are also similar restrictions and fees when booking with AAA plus all the additional coupons and stuff we were given were “mostly” worthless. I'll explain more on that later.
As the week closed in before our vacation, there was a bit or personal drama going on at home (which I won't explain) but it almost resulted in our vacation being canceled. D. insisted it moved forward though. We were to leave on Saturday night to book a hotel near the airport as our flight was at 6am. I won't get into detail about it, but D went somewhere all day Saturday, didn't come home until 9 pm much to my frustration. We left quickly after and booked a hotel near the airport as it was still an easier option for us. Though as a result of what he was doing and wasting time on that day, we only got 4-5 hours before we had to catch the shuttle to the airport.
The flight was only a couple hours long and I managed to get a little bit of sleep.
For all the bad about Universal Vacation Packages, one good thing I liked though was that you can go up to the Universal desk at the airport and get all your stuff there, including your park tickets. So that's one less thing to deal with at the hotel. I think there was some construction on International Drive, because our Universal Superstar Shuttle was taking tons of backroads as opposed to the highway to get there. Our driver nearly got into a collision on the way, too. That's the Superstar Shuttle for ya!
Lotta detail here, I'll try to trim it down for the rest of the report. I got SOME pictures but we're private people, I would prefer not posting our faces so whatever pics I do have, will be people free. Stay tuned.