Our 1st trip to Orlando IOA/USF--Day 2

[goofyfordisney]

Today we decided to sleep in alittle longer...we made it to the Universal around 9:30 or so...we took a much slower pace today. We went back and did all of our favorites (MIB too many times to count! We really had fun on that ride! Each time we went on it, we got better and better scores! We headed over to IOA and did some more favorites there as well. We ate at Burger Digs--it was actually pretty good! I was kind of surprised--I wasn't expecting much! The parks closed at 7:00pm. I think that we had plenty of time in the two days to do everything that we wanted to do--without rushing. We did use our FOTL pass quite often--the crowds

We ate at Hard Rock Cafe for dinner--our FOTL key helped with our wait time. We had a great dinner. We headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep. The next morning (Monday) we are going to AKL for our first 2 nights at WDW.

Our overall thoughts about USF/IOA: We loved it--definitely would go back again!

We liked USF a lot more than Universal Studios-Hollywood--It doesn't even compare!

Hard Rock Hotel was a great choice for us--we liked being able to walk over to the parks in just 5 minutes! I was glad that we were able to change our original ressies from $220/night to $99/night! We saved alot of $$!

FOTL is the BEST thing! Disney needs to think of something better than Fastpass!

Thanks to everyone on the boards--you guys helped me so much when I was planning our trip!

Sue

 

[pathubia]

Thanks for your trip reports.

We are going back to the HRH in January. I cant wait. HRH ROCKS!!!

My DD's height was borderline during our vacation in Sept of 2000. They let her on the Hulk once and wouldnt let her on once. This year she had room to spare. Our ressies are for $99 per night, too. This past August we paid about $200 per night.

51 Days left, but who's counting.

Patty

 

[goofyfordisney]

Have a great trip!

 

[JessicaR]

Have a question for you...Could you compare as best you can the AKL to Hard Rock? Were your room categories similar? When comparing I mean room size, bed comfort, maid service? Thanks! I am curious cause I have a desire to stay at AKL also. What about the kids did they have a preference?

 

[goofyfordisney]

It's alittle hard to really compare the two...AKL is so different than anywhere I have ever stayed before. The resort is breathtaking and large. We really didn't spend much time there because we were at the parks all day! We didn't even use the pool there! I would stay there again if we were going to go at a slower pace than we did this time. This was our first trip to Orlando, so we just went crazy doing the parks.

I asked my kids which hotel they liked best and they rated HRH first, with Beach Club second, and AKL last. My 8-year-old appreciated AKL more than my 13-year-old. He really liked looking for the animals on our balcony.

I don't think that staying at AKL for only 2 nights was a good idea--the kids didn't really get a chance to appreciate everything that the resort has to offer--that might have affected the way they voted too. We made the mistake of switching hotels too much on this trip--we never got to settle in anywhere for very long.

As far as comfort of the room--Hard Rock Hotel wins hands down! The beds were SO comfortable! I had some of my best sleep of our vacation there!
The rooms at each resort all seemed to be about the same size. The HRH had a great chair with ottoman too. I didn't notice too many differences in the housekeeping, etc. I thought our dining options were best at HRH and Beach Club. It was real nice being close enough to walk to the parks and restaurants from the Beach Club and HRH.

I would definitely stay at HRH again--and as for a WDW resort--that's a tough one! I liked AKL and Beach Club--but, I might be apt to try a MK resort next time or stay at AKL for the whole time while at WDW.

Sue

 

[JessicaR]

Thank you so much, Sue Very helpful reply.