heywagners
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2014
I hope someone can find this info helpful for their own trip. We spent 2 days at Universal/IOA (Royal Pacific Hotel), 1 day at Disney (Contemporary, Garden Wing) for MNSSHP, and 1 day at Legoland (Legoland Hotel).
Universal Studios – Day 1
We arrived EARLY for the 7 am early entry available to on site hotel guests. Walked straight to WWofHP and were absolutely impressed as soon as we walked through the brick wall. After our standard Diagon Alley pics, we went directly to HP and the Escape from Gringotts. It. Was. Amazing. We did child swap, as our youngest (6) was afraid to ride. Our 7 and 11 year olds loved it. The first time through we walked right on, no line. Again, this was the early entry hour. We toured DA after the ride and hit all the big shops, got my 11 year old an interactive wand (side note: the next day, it got chipped on the handle and he was crushed, because he had been so careful with it. He took it back to see if they could fix it and with zero hesitation, the worker said they have “wand makers” who can fix anything. She took it “to the wand maker” and when she came back, it was fixed. Likely a brand new wantd, but so nice to know they will “fix” a broken wand.) So, we did magic spells, went on Gringotts one more time and then hopped the train to Hogsmeade. The train was every bit as awesome as we expected to be. A family behind us happened to record us as we “vanished” into platform 9 ¾. They waited for us on the Hogsmeade side and asked it we wanted the video texted to us. Of course we did! Such a nice bit of magic.
In Hogsmeade, it was just after 9 am and we went to the Forbidden Journey and waited about 10 minutes. Child swap again and then off to Flight of the Hippogriph. Everyone loved this ride, even my “scared of most things” 6 year old. We looked in shops, got some Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog, did more spells, and then had an early lunch (11 am) at The Three Broomsticks. Eating early meant to line and the fish and chips were great. Kids mac and cheese was not so great. Finished up by eating some of our Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog. More spells and looking around and then we hopped the train back to Kings Crossing. The train is different going each direction, so we loved it again going back.
Once we left Kings Crossing, we rode Men in Black (all of us), Simpson ride (all of us), the smaller Simpson ride that is basically the “Dumbo” style, and then headed over and did Woody Woodpecker’s kid coaster and ET (twice – kids really liked this one. Similar to Peter Pan at Disney.) From there, the boys rode Transformers (twice) and then we all went to Minon Mayhem and Shrek.
By this point, it was dinner time so we headed to Hard Rock Café for a dinner that was better (and a bit less expensive) that the disappointing food at Rainforst Café the night before.
Notes:
· WWofHP is immersive and amazing. When you leave to go to the other parts of the park, it almost feels like a let down.
· Express Pass are SO nice to have. Makes staying on site worth it, for sure. Between the Express Pass and early entry, we would stay on site every time.
· Universal has really stepped it up in the past few years. When I was there 4 years ago, it wasn’t nearly as put together and themed and organized. It feels more “magical” than it did then. Seemed cleaner, too. And, the employees were more helpful and polite than I remember. It was much closer to meeting the “Disney” standards that our family is used to.
Universal Studios – Day 2
Arrived at just after 8 am. Went to DA, hopped on Gringotts. Jumped the train to Hogsmeade and the oldest (11) and husband went on Forbidden Journey while the younger 2 (7 and 6) rode Flight of the Hippogriph around 15 times in a row. We did spells, the boys mailed themselves a letter from Owl Post (bring your own stamp, unless you want to buy the pack of 10 HP stamps for $15) and then we ventured out into the rest of Islands of Adventure.
We walked through Jurrassic Park and watched the Raptor take pictures and harass guests. Kids did Pteranadon Flyers and really liked it. We moved past the water rides (not water ride lovers in our family) and everyone (except me) went on Spiderman. Daddy took the 6 year old to Storm Acceleration (teacups) and then we had lunch at Captain America’s diner. Kids loved the mac and cheese bites and we enjoyed the onion rings. Moved on to Seuss Landing and everyone liked every ride there. Didn’t need to do anything twice, but they were fun and happy and made the youngest happy. After Seuss, it was back to Hogsmeade where we caught the train to DA and, you guessed it – rode Gringotts one more time.
Leaving DA, we hit Men in Black, ET, Transformers, and Minion Mayhem before the park closed early at 5 pm for HHN.
We switched hotels this evening and had an 8:20 dinner at Whispering Canyon Café. Our 11 year old was in one of his pre-teen “moods” when we go there and we told the server that we were a “half green” and “half red” family. (They give you cards to put on your table to let them know if you want to goof around/have fun or not. Green means you want to play, red means you don’t. My oldest was a “red” at the beginning.) Server was great and slowly warmed us up to the idea of playing and being silly. She threw a wad of napkins and straws on the table and we blew our straw wrappers at her and she did the same to us. Kids got grilled cheese and hubby and I split the all you can eat meal. The all you can eat was great. Everything we had was wonderful. By the time we started blowing straw wrappers, my oldest had come out of his mood and decided he wanted to eat, but didn’t like anything on the adult menu, so the server went and got him a “big kid size” grilled cheese (basically 2 sandwiches) and fries. He was very happy and decided to ask for ketchup, which was fun. If you don’t know about the ketchup at Whispering Canyon Café, Google it. J We waited until someone else needed ketchup before leaving and everyone left happy and smiling, and we even got to take some green/red cards with us so we would “know how Mr. Moody was feeling.”
Magic Kingdom – Day 3
We woke up for a mid morning breakfast at O’hana. Really nice character interaction with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. Pluto is always a fun interaction and this was no exception. He tried to “lick” my daughter’s head and she tickled him and giggled and loved every second.
Spent some early afternoon time at the Contemporary Pool. We were are the regular pool, not Bay Lake pool, and it seemed in need of some upgrades. The Poly pool is so much cooler and the slide at the Contemporary seemed weak (and, slow) comparatively.
We stayed in a room in the Garden Wing, and unlike many other negative reviews, we didn’t have any issues at all. Room was larger than a standard/value resort (we usually stay at value for our longer Disney trips – we are a family of 5 and not all resorts have rooms to accommodate us). The walk from Garden Wing to main building/monorail was a few minutes. Nothing worse than the walk from our room at All Star Movies to the bus transportation. And, it was all covered in case of rain. Walk from Garden Wing to MK entrance was about 10 minutes. Even at midnight at the walk home, it didn’t feel “too long” to our tired kids.
Got in our costumes and headed over to MNSSHP around 3:15 pm. Walked the path to MK and after a few stops to watch the monorail to overhead, we arrived at the MK gates around 3:30. Lines started to open/move around 3:45 for entrance. We were bummed when we got to the front and were told that those of us with a paper ticket had to go to the far 2 lines. So, we had to get out of line, move lines and start over. When we finally got through the ticket line, we waited in another short line to get our Halloween Party wrist band. Then, we were off and into the park.
We got to our FP+ at Haunted Mansion at 4:06 (FP+ time was 3-4, so we made the 15 minute “window” after). Rode HM, went to BTMRR and rode in stand by at 4:30 and then again with our FP+ at 4:50. Jumped the train (my middle son’s favorite ride) to Fantasyland and rode Barnstormer (10 minute wait), Dumbo (no wait), and Ariel (no wait). Headed over to Belle’s Tales with our final FP+ (6-7 pm). After Belle, we grabbed some dinner at Pinnochio’s and watched the boats on It’s a Small World.
After dinner, we got in line for Peter Pan, and since the party had started, there were no FP+, we got to see the new, interactive line. Kids thought the shadow wall was the coolest part, but enjoyed having things to look at while we waited. Line was about 30 minutes and when we came out, it was raining. Stage show was cancelled for rain, so we headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear and People Mover. We did the Mosnter’s Inc Laugh Floor, because our family was dressed as the Monsters for the party. My 7 year old was interviewed on screen and that was a highlight. After Monster’s Inc, the rain had stopped and we went to get in line for the 7DMT, because Space Mountain was closed/broken. Mine Train line was posted as 45 minutes and it was about 40. Didn’t seem terrible and we liked the interactive things to do in line (had only riden with FP+ previously). We got on the ride as the fireworks show was starting and it was really cool to ride and watch the fireworks. Got off and watched the finale of the fireworks and the entire sky lit up. It was as bright as day time at the very end. Impressive.
Headed back to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain had opened back up, but line jumped quickly to 75 minutes, so we just went to Main Street and got sugary snacks at the confectionary and claimed our spot for the 11:15 parade. We got our spot around 10:45 and curb spots were all “taken” by 11:00. We ate our snacks, kids layed their heads on our laps and rested and by the time the parade came by at 11:30, they were happy and ready to watch. It was a great parade with some good character costumes and interactions. Cruella De’Ville came right up to my daughter and said “BOO” and Alice smiled and blew a kiss to her. Several other characters came over and directly waved/high fived. Parade was over at 11:45 and we followed the parade out and walked back to Contemporary and were all showered and in bed by 12:30.
Legoland – Day 4
We woke up early and packed up and drove the 1 hour to Legoland Florida. We stayed at the hotel, so they took our luggage and we went into the park. We walked to the back of the park and started to work our way forward. This method worked fine, and if it wasn’t super hot with 1000% humidity, it would have been a nice day. We did most rides (all of the ones the kids “wanted” to do). The worst part was the food options. Being so hot, we wanted an indoor dining place for lunch and there were only three places that had indoor seating and they were on total opposite sides of the park and were small, so they were VERY busy all day long. It was quite miserable. We ended up eating ice cream for lunch.
Besides the food issues, Legoland was okay. Our oldest is probably on the “old” side, since even the bigger coasters were pretty tame for him. Our younger 2 (ages 7 and 6) were good ages for the rides. Overall, it was a park we enjoyed, but not something we need to go back to again. If we lived closer, maybe we would do a day trip, but we will likely stick to Disney and Universal from here on out.
The hotel is neat. VERY family oriented. The lobby has 2 large areas full of Lego bricks for playing/building. There is a castle for kids to climb and play on. They have activities and events in the castle area all night long. Dance parties, Master Builder classes, etc. It was nuts in the lobby (in a fun, family friendly way) every time we went there. The pool area was clean (hotel is only 4 months old) and had big, floating Lego bricks to play with in the water. A server came around and took drink orders, too, which was a nice addition. Pool water was warm and kids were happy while Mom and Dad watched with a beverage.
We stayed in a Pirate themed room and I wish every hotel was set up in the way this hotel was set up. A space for the kids near the door with a bunk bed, with trundle, TV, and play space. Next was a large bathroom and ample shelving/storage and then the king size bed, desk, chair, and TV in the parent part of the room. Kids could go to bed and parents could stay up and not keep them up. It was great. Theming/decoration of the entire hotel was cool. The elevator had a color changing floor when you stepped on it and a “dance party” (with lights and disco music) broke out as soon as the elevator doors closed.
Universal Studios – Day 1
We arrived EARLY for the 7 am early entry available to on site hotel guests. Walked straight to WWofHP and were absolutely impressed as soon as we walked through the brick wall. After our standard Diagon Alley pics, we went directly to HP and the Escape from Gringotts. It. Was. Amazing. We did child swap, as our youngest (6) was afraid to ride. Our 7 and 11 year olds loved it. The first time through we walked right on, no line. Again, this was the early entry hour. We toured DA after the ride and hit all the big shops, got my 11 year old an interactive wand (side note: the next day, it got chipped on the handle and he was crushed, because he had been so careful with it. He took it back to see if they could fix it and with zero hesitation, the worker said they have “wand makers” who can fix anything. She took it “to the wand maker” and when she came back, it was fixed. Likely a brand new wantd, but so nice to know they will “fix” a broken wand.) So, we did magic spells, went on Gringotts one more time and then hopped the train to Hogsmeade. The train was every bit as awesome as we expected to be. A family behind us happened to record us as we “vanished” into platform 9 ¾. They waited for us on the Hogsmeade side and asked it we wanted the video texted to us. Of course we did! Such a nice bit of magic.
In Hogsmeade, it was just after 9 am and we went to the Forbidden Journey and waited about 10 minutes. Child swap again and then off to Flight of the Hippogriph. Everyone loved this ride, even my “scared of most things” 6 year old. We looked in shops, got some Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog, did more spells, and then had an early lunch (11 am) at The Three Broomsticks. Eating early meant to line and the fish and chips were great. Kids mac and cheese was not so great. Finished up by eating some of our Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog. More spells and looking around and then we hopped the train back to Kings Crossing. The train is different going each direction, so we loved it again going back.
Once we left Kings Crossing, we rode Men in Black (all of us), Simpson ride (all of us), the smaller Simpson ride that is basically the “Dumbo” style, and then headed over and did Woody Woodpecker’s kid coaster and ET (twice – kids really liked this one. Similar to Peter Pan at Disney.) From there, the boys rode Transformers (twice) and then we all went to Minon Mayhem and Shrek.
By this point, it was dinner time so we headed to Hard Rock Café for a dinner that was better (and a bit less expensive) that the disappointing food at Rainforst Café the night before.
Notes:
· WWofHP is immersive and amazing. When you leave to go to the other parts of the park, it almost feels like a let down.
· Express Pass are SO nice to have. Makes staying on site worth it, for sure. Between the Express Pass and early entry, we would stay on site every time.
· Universal has really stepped it up in the past few years. When I was there 4 years ago, it wasn’t nearly as put together and themed and organized. It feels more “magical” than it did then. Seemed cleaner, too. And, the employees were more helpful and polite than I remember. It was much closer to meeting the “Disney” standards that our family is used to.
Universal Studios – Day 2
Arrived at just after 8 am. Went to DA, hopped on Gringotts. Jumped the train to Hogsmeade and the oldest (11) and husband went on Forbidden Journey while the younger 2 (7 and 6) rode Flight of the Hippogriph around 15 times in a row. We did spells, the boys mailed themselves a letter from Owl Post (bring your own stamp, unless you want to buy the pack of 10 HP stamps for $15) and then we ventured out into the rest of Islands of Adventure.
We walked through Jurrassic Park and watched the Raptor take pictures and harass guests. Kids did Pteranadon Flyers and really liked it. We moved past the water rides (not water ride lovers in our family) and everyone (except me) went on Spiderman. Daddy took the 6 year old to Storm Acceleration (teacups) and then we had lunch at Captain America’s diner. Kids loved the mac and cheese bites and we enjoyed the onion rings. Moved on to Seuss Landing and everyone liked every ride there. Didn’t need to do anything twice, but they were fun and happy and made the youngest happy. After Seuss, it was back to Hogsmeade where we caught the train to DA and, you guessed it – rode Gringotts one more time.
Leaving DA, we hit Men in Black, ET, Transformers, and Minion Mayhem before the park closed early at 5 pm for HHN.
We switched hotels this evening and had an 8:20 dinner at Whispering Canyon Café. Our 11 year old was in one of his pre-teen “moods” when we go there and we told the server that we were a “half green” and “half red” family. (They give you cards to put on your table to let them know if you want to goof around/have fun or not. Green means you want to play, red means you don’t. My oldest was a “red” at the beginning.) Server was great and slowly warmed us up to the idea of playing and being silly. She threw a wad of napkins and straws on the table and we blew our straw wrappers at her and she did the same to us. Kids got grilled cheese and hubby and I split the all you can eat meal. The all you can eat was great. Everything we had was wonderful. By the time we started blowing straw wrappers, my oldest had come out of his mood and decided he wanted to eat, but didn’t like anything on the adult menu, so the server went and got him a “big kid size” grilled cheese (basically 2 sandwiches) and fries. He was very happy and decided to ask for ketchup, which was fun. If you don’t know about the ketchup at Whispering Canyon Café, Google it. J We waited until someone else needed ketchup before leaving and everyone left happy and smiling, and we even got to take some green/red cards with us so we would “know how Mr. Moody was feeling.”
Magic Kingdom – Day 3
We woke up for a mid morning breakfast at O’hana. Really nice character interaction with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. Pluto is always a fun interaction and this was no exception. He tried to “lick” my daughter’s head and she tickled him and giggled and loved every second.
Spent some early afternoon time at the Contemporary Pool. We were are the regular pool, not Bay Lake pool, and it seemed in need of some upgrades. The Poly pool is so much cooler and the slide at the Contemporary seemed weak (and, slow) comparatively.
We stayed in a room in the Garden Wing, and unlike many other negative reviews, we didn’t have any issues at all. Room was larger than a standard/value resort (we usually stay at value for our longer Disney trips – we are a family of 5 and not all resorts have rooms to accommodate us). The walk from Garden Wing to main building/monorail was a few minutes. Nothing worse than the walk from our room at All Star Movies to the bus transportation. And, it was all covered in case of rain. Walk from Garden Wing to MK entrance was about 10 minutes. Even at midnight at the walk home, it didn’t feel “too long” to our tired kids.
Got in our costumes and headed over to MNSSHP around 3:15 pm. Walked the path to MK and after a few stops to watch the monorail to overhead, we arrived at the MK gates around 3:30. Lines started to open/move around 3:45 for entrance. We were bummed when we got to the front and were told that those of us with a paper ticket had to go to the far 2 lines. So, we had to get out of line, move lines and start over. When we finally got through the ticket line, we waited in another short line to get our Halloween Party wrist band. Then, we were off and into the park.
We got to our FP+ at Haunted Mansion at 4:06 (FP+ time was 3-4, so we made the 15 minute “window” after). Rode HM, went to BTMRR and rode in stand by at 4:30 and then again with our FP+ at 4:50. Jumped the train (my middle son’s favorite ride) to Fantasyland and rode Barnstormer (10 minute wait), Dumbo (no wait), and Ariel (no wait). Headed over to Belle’s Tales with our final FP+ (6-7 pm). After Belle, we grabbed some dinner at Pinnochio’s and watched the boats on It’s a Small World.
After dinner, we got in line for Peter Pan, and since the party had started, there were no FP+, we got to see the new, interactive line. Kids thought the shadow wall was the coolest part, but enjoyed having things to look at while we waited. Line was about 30 minutes and when we came out, it was raining. Stage show was cancelled for rain, so we headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear and People Mover. We did the Mosnter’s Inc Laugh Floor, because our family was dressed as the Monsters for the party. My 7 year old was interviewed on screen and that was a highlight. After Monster’s Inc, the rain had stopped and we went to get in line for the 7DMT, because Space Mountain was closed/broken. Mine Train line was posted as 45 minutes and it was about 40. Didn’t seem terrible and we liked the interactive things to do in line (had only riden with FP+ previously). We got on the ride as the fireworks show was starting and it was really cool to ride and watch the fireworks. Got off and watched the finale of the fireworks and the entire sky lit up. It was as bright as day time at the very end. Impressive.
Headed back to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain had opened back up, but line jumped quickly to 75 minutes, so we just went to Main Street and got sugary snacks at the confectionary and claimed our spot for the 11:15 parade. We got our spot around 10:45 and curb spots were all “taken” by 11:00. We ate our snacks, kids layed their heads on our laps and rested and by the time the parade came by at 11:30, they were happy and ready to watch. It was a great parade with some good character costumes and interactions. Cruella De’Ville came right up to my daughter and said “BOO” and Alice smiled and blew a kiss to her. Several other characters came over and directly waved/high fived. Parade was over at 11:45 and we followed the parade out and walked back to Contemporary and were all showered and in bed by 12:30.
Legoland – Day 4
We woke up early and packed up and drove the 1 hour to Legoland Florida. We stayed at the hotel, so they took our luggage and we went into the park. We walked to the back of the park and started to work our way forward. This method worked fine, and if it wasn’t super hot with 1000% humidity, it would have been a nice day. We did most rides (all of the ones the kids “wanted” to do). The worst part was the food options. Being so hot, we wanted an indoor dining place for lunch and there were only three places that had indoor seating and they were on total opposite sides of the park and were small, so they were VERY busy all day long. It was quite miserable. We ended up eating ice cream for lunch.
Besides the food issues, Legoland was okay. Our oldest is probably on the “old” side, since even the bigger coasters were pretty tame for him. Our younger 2 (ages 7 and 6) were good ages for the rides. Overall, it was a park we enjoyed, but not something we need to go back to again. If we lived closer, maybe we would do a day trip, but we will likely stick to Disney and Universal from here on out.
The hotel is neat. VERY family oriented. The lobby has 2 large areas full of Lego bricks for playing/building. There is a castle for kids to climb and play on. They have activities and events in the castle area all night long. Dance parties, Master Builder classes, etc. It was nuts in the lobby (in a fun, family friendly way) every time we went there. The pool area was clean (hotel is only 4 months old) and had big, floating Lego bricks to play with in the water. A server came around and took drink orders, too, which was a nice addition. Pool water was warm and kids were happy while Mom and Dad watched with a beverage.
We stayed in a Pirate themed room and I wish every hotel was set up in the way this hotel was set up. A space for the kids near the door with a bunk bed, with trundle, TV, and play space. Next was a large bathroom and ample shelving/storage and then the king size bed, desk, chair, and TV in the parent part of the room. Kids could go to bed and parents could stay up and not keep them up. It was great. Theming/decoration of the entire hotel was cool. The elevator had a color changing floor when you stepped on it and a “dance party” (with lights and disco music) broke out as soon as the elevator doors closed.
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