The Magnificent Nine...My First Ever Trip Report

This is my first attempt at a sort of trip report – sort of, because I don’t have a ton of pictures to share (and, sadly, not a lot of food porn) which, to my standards, is what sets a great TR apart from a not so great TR. And the lack of good pics is because I don’t regularly carry a cell phone, and I did not always have my trusty Coolpix camera handy. I do have a cell that I usually don’t have on me because (a) I am retired (b) I never call anyone (c) no one ever calls me and (d) my DW is always pretty close by with her trusty cell phone at the ready. And we still regularly use a land line at home, more so than her cell phone. I now see that not having the cell on me really limited my picture taking; I wish now I had dragged it with me more.
But there will be pics, so bear with me. This is the story of our recent trip to Universal, staged November 25 - 30. We had a great time, and this is the "magnificent nine" (weak attempt to hijack the title of the recent movie Magnificent Seven).

Here is our group, nine in all:



From the left: my son-in-law, my daughter, my step-granddaughter, her friend, my step-grandson (the friend and step-grandson are dating), me, my DW, my grandson, and my son. This is our second group trip to Universal. This is our second trip together, so we feel like experienced pros - to a degree.

A bit of background: we are not annual visitors to Universal, but we’ve been somewhat regular in our visits. We made our first visit there way back in 1993, a split Disney/Universal trip, when only Universal Studios was open. I remember parking in the huge lot next to the park, and that lot is now part of City Walk, which was still a gleam in Universal’s eye back then. Somewhere, I have pictures of that trip, wish I could find them. We did not return until 1999, another split trip, and went again in October 2002, our first Universal-only trip (no Mouse) when we attended our first Halloween Horror Nights, HHN XII, the first time it was held in Islands, and it featured the Caretaker as the central character. For fun, check out these YouTube videos of HHN XII – you will see how truly terrifying HHN was in that wooded, narrow pathway park. The fog machines were especially effective there and you could easily imagine dinosaurs (and others – which they did) jumping out of the weeds at you. Good times!

(show held in Port of Entry featuring the Caretaker)

(Cartoon Lagoon area).

I still have my original event guide from HHN XII – here is a pic similar to that I got off the web:


Note: search on YouTube for “HHN Islands of Fear” for best hits.

We did not get back to Universal until 2009, returned in 2012 and now our 2016 trip, all Universal-only trips. I doubt we will ever return to Disney, as we find it difficult to do everything we want to do in five days at Universal (and that will get even harder to do as the parks continue to develop).

Thursday November 26: We fly out of Pittsburgh, and have done so many times. For the first time ever, we decided to park off site, since a check of the Pittsburgh airport website showed a 96% occupancy rate in the long term parking lot (the cheapest). That, of course, was impacted by the fact that the previous day was the day before Thanksgiving, so no surprise there. We chose Charlie Brown’s parking, a quick five - minute drive to the airport, and made an online reservation to guarantee a spot. Charlie Brown features valet service at about the same rates as at the extended lot at the airport. You drop off your car, climb into the shuttle, call for the shuttle when you return, and your car is sitting at the office, warming up – what’s not to love? We’d likely have parked in Timbuktu at the airport, waiting in the cold for a shuttle that then stops every two minutes for pickups, and then, of course, we’d have to find the darn car when we returned.


We arrived at the airport around 3:30 PM for our 5:30 flight to Orlando, and were greeted with a shocking site: as we pulled up to the curbside check in area, there was not one single car or person there. Completely deserted. Well, there was one person, the Southwest curbside check in guy. I wish I had a picture of this and what happened next, but I’m a bit leery of taking photos outside an airport these days.

What happened next was that, after checking our luggage, we proceeded down to the security check in area, a short walk from the outside baggage check, only to see more TSA agents there than people checking in. I was in shock – I did not have even enough time to remove my belt or untie my shoes. I stood leisurely at the conveyor, slowing stacking my PC, jacket and shoes, and other stuff into the bins – there was no one behind me! I have never felt so lonely in a TSA line.

After passing security we took the shuttle to the air terminal. In the entire train car there were four people – three of us and someone else. The main terminal was spooky – every shop and restaurant was open, but there were no people. We proceeded to the gate, where no one was there, and decided to get a bite to eat. Off to Quaker Steak and Lube, a favorite. Great wings here.



This is a picture of the restaurant from its website, but one difference: no one was there. Zero people, again, only two wait staff. We had a great meal, all sorts of wings, beer, fries, a few wraps. Eating at Quaker Steak on the eve of a flight/trip has become a tradition for us, and we were so happy that the airport had one. After eating we returned to the gate, and now it was full of fellow travelers to the sunshine state. I spotted more than one set of mouse ears among the passengers. I suppressed my urge to enlighten them about going to the dark side - they will find out in good time.

Our flight was non-stop, arriving at MCO around 8 PM. We quickly retrieved our luggage, and then called for the Hampton Inn shuttle. We had decided to stay off site that night – could not see paying $$$ at Universal for basically a place to sleep. The shuttle got us to the Hampton quickly, about five minutes away, and we pulled up to one of the largest Hampton Inn’s I’ve ever seen: eight floors of rooms with two main wings. Big place:



This is a pic of the inn from the website. This is a comfy, affordable place to stay; we paid like $89 plus tax for each two-queen bedroom room. And it had a neat feature: a natural gas fire pit near its pool. After checking in, we gathered around the pit and just sat there, savoring the nice weather. We had left in 35 - 40 degree temps and here we were, sitting in shirt sleeves in comfortable, 67 degree temps. Ah, Florida in November! I just wished I had a beer or something – would have been a perfect night. But we were pretty keyed up – we leave for the Royal Pacific early the next day, and our first group ride – on the Mummy – not too far from that. We are rarin’ to go!

Next: Day One (or, Meeting a Friend I did not Know I Had)

Yay........I'm in........

I love being able to put a face to a name!!!

Sounds a fabulous trip and I'm looking forward to reading it.......you're so right, there is so much to do at Universal now.....2-3 days jut won't cover it to do it justice....I would love to have seen HHN back then, it does look fabulous, I've never seen those clips before.

Airport does sound eerie like that, never seen an empty airport......

Looking for next update.........

schumigirl said:

Yay........I'm in........

I love being able to put a face to a name!!!

Sounds a fabulous trip and I'm looking forward to reading it.......you're so right, there is so much to do at Universal now.....2-3 days jut won't cover it to do it justice....I would love to have seen HHN back then, it does look fabulous, I've never seen those clips before.

Airport does sound eerie like that, never seen an empty airport......

Looking for next update.........

Click to expand...

Schumi - I'll tell you this - I was never so nervous and uptight at an event as I was that night. Keep in mind, the whole Halloween maze craze hadn't really started yet (every community here in the US now seems to have a haunted hay ride/maze attraction at Halloween). We had no idea what HHN was - none. We showed up at the front of Islands to see a thick layer of fog everywhere and we thought, gee, this is different. Then they did the little show where they take "an audience member" (right), throw him into an open wood casket, and the Caretaker proceeds to rip out his heart. Hmmm, we thought, really different. I remember we got there at dusk so it wasn't very menacing - yet. We had no idea what we were about to experience.

Think about that area in Jurassic park (and especially now with Kong), all those shrubs and trees, and the small curvy walkways. It's totally dark other than the path lights. Add a whole bunch of fog, making visibility maybe 10 feet at best. And then some bloody thing comes out of nowhere and runs one of those chain saws in your ear. You never saw him coming! And this occurs over and over again as you make your way around.

I remember being so relieved to see one of the food stands near JP open - we ran to it and would have hugged the servers if we could. What made it so scary was there weren't any designated scare zones, like now; the entire park was pretty much a scare zone.

Obviously Islands today could not handle the crowds they now get, plus the emphasis seems to have gone to the houses and somewhat away from the scare zones, although those seem to be making a comeback from what I've read. The year they ever bring it back to Islands - I am so there!

Day One, Friday November 25: We were up early, choked down the standard Hampton Inn free breakfast (actually, I’m not a picky eater and sort of like them; others, not so much), and, unbelievably, we all were ready to go about 8:30. We had arranged for limo service from Tony Hinds, picking us up at 9:30. Fortunately, Tony texted my wife and said he was only five minutes away (turned out he lived close by) – did we want him to pick us up before 9:30? Of course! He was there within ten minutes, and off we went.

I sat up front with Tony and he casually mentioned that he was from Barbados. DW and I had visited there in April of 2015, so we immediately started chatting about the island. It was like meeting an old friend and it brought back memories of that trip, which was really fun (just takes too long to get there). Bajans are incredibly friendly people, and Tony is no exception. He also is very knowledgeable about the goings on in Orlando, so an enjoyable ride to the RPR.

We opted not for a grocery stop, but when it came out that some of us (not me) were missing toothbrushes, Tony suggested a quick stop at a local Walgreens. So we stopped, brushed up, and resumed the journey to the Royal Pacific. As we drew near, he pointed out the new Volcano Bay park, now under quite impressive construction. We could see the interior of the volcano, with all the various slide tubes emerging from its sides – very impressive. I’ve never been a water park type, but this looks…intriguing. Side note here: I need reasons to come back, to convince DW we NEED another Universal trip. I am the parks freak; she, not so much. So I now have the Fallon attraction, and Volcano Bay (and who knows what else) lined up in my argument arsenal. It helps she saw the skeleton of the volcano, so I hope it made an impression.

We finally arrive at the Royal Pacific – our first visit, and the completion of the hotel stay triumvirate (Portofino Bay, Hard Rock, Royal Pacific). We’ve stayed at the first two, and now we check off the RPR. Good news: it (and, we later found out, the parks) are already decorated for the Christmas holidays:

Royal Pacific Entry:



Royal Pacific Lobby:


Royal Pacific Front Desk:



Not sure when the decorations went up, but I have to believe it was started before Thanksgiving. I mean, all the trees, park decorations, hotel decorations – everything was in place on Friday, so no way they put all this stuff up in one day. It was beautiful, and festive, but I still have a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit when it’s 70 degrees outside.

Speaking of which – we had beautiful weather while there. Not a drop of rain over the five days, and daytime temps ranged from 65 in the AM to up to 85 by late afternoon. It did drop into the high 50’s late in the evening, but where I come from that’s sweating weather. Loved this aspect of the trip!

So we check in, three double queen rooms on club level. Now it got sticky, and some advice for those looking to upgrade. A week earlier, I had called the hotel in an attempt to upgrade one of the three rooms to a king suite with club level privileges. I was told nothing was available, that such a combination did not exist. But the key, I discovered, was to ask the right question: is this available during my stay? When I called the hotel, I said I had a question about my reservation; they immediately patched me through to the Universal reservation system. I should have asked the hotel person if I could upgrade during my stay and avoided the forwarding call to reservations. Advice: always try to talk to hotel personnel directly when attempting an upgrade!

Turns out, a king suite with club was not available during my “entire” stay – but was available from Saturday through Tuesday. Keep in mind that Universal reservations told me such a combination did not exist AT ALL – that they had no such combination of room/services. I am here to tell you that it does, if you ask for it the right way, at the hotel.

We got to the front counter with a somewhat large line behind us. I asked about the upgrade; a full HOUR later we had it, and that line was long gone. The reason for the excessive time: the counter person at first tried to upgrade us to a parlor suite. It took her forever to first find out if it was available and second, if it could be connected to club. The answers finally came back as ‘yes’ and then we asked how much (for 4 nights): the answer was $2,500. Uh, no, not happening; that’s an additional $625 a night (plus tax). Sheesh!

Plan B: what about a regular King suite with club? After a fairly brief 25 minutes, yes, it could be had for an additional $125 a night. We jumped on it, although it meant we’d be on floor 2 (still in tower 3) and have to hoof it up to 7 for the club lounge. We finally got everything arranged, and went for our park tickets and express passes.

A comment here: why do they bother having one take a picture for the express pass? One of the three units was out of order, and the other two produced pictures so dark it was impossible to make out a face. A true waste of time. Also, I had Blue Man Group tickets as part of my package. I forgot to ask about them when getting my park tickets, so I had to re-queue, another 20 - minute wait. I had forgotten to bring the credit card I used to book our packages, so I could not use the automatic machine for producing tickets. After I finally got to the front of the line, the nice lady there told me I had to go the BMG box office to get my tickets. I wonder why they could not have told me that when I booked?

But at last, with luggage stored we headed off to the parks, to Universal specifically, to ride the Mummy first – another tradition. Here we are lining up for the traditional entry shot:



Nice decorations at US entrance (obviously taken later that day):



Then it was off to the Mummy – one of our favorites and, as mentioned, a tradition that we do it first. We then did Transformers (wild) and then we did Minion Mayhem. Crowds were, as expected, heavy, but very manageable with Express; we waited about five minutes for Transformers, about ten for the Minions. Also, this was about 1 o’clock, likely getting close to peak attendance, so not bad.

Then it was off to Springfield for lunch. We got a mixed bag of items. I got the chicken and waffles, DW got a Krusty burger, and a couple got other sandwiches – can’t remember exactly what. Chicken and waffles were pretty good, not too sweet which I prefer, and DW said about the Krusty “it’s a burger”. Oh, and we had our first big pink donut – consensus, very good!

The worst part was the seating. It was very busy in there, and we asked for a table for nine. They gave us a table for eight (the pool table in the bar area). I got stuck on the end, and I barely had enough room for half of me. But I was hungry, so I made do (a Duff beer helped the old attitude).

A shot of Springfield at night. Note the “flying saucers” of MIB appear to float in the background:



After lunch we headed for Diagon Alley, just to walk around. Gringott’s was a 1.5-hour wait, so we passed on that. DA is everything everyone has already said about it. What surprised me is how big it is, and how much there is to see. A few pics:











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And my favorite, since I love this stuff:
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And one from the creepy Knockturn Alley:
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One comment on Knockturn: a Universal cast member was wandering around in there, sort of shuffling, and shouting odd comments from time to time, blurting things out. You could not really make out his costume, so people really were avoiding this semi-delirious guy, perhaps not realizing he was part of the show.

Be sure to visit Diagon Alley at night – very cool!
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By now it was late afternoon and we had to get ready for Harbor Nights, which started at 6:30 at the Portofino Bay resort plaza. So back to the RPR to shower and change. But I did have time for a pre-event cocktail, so my son and I went down to Jake’s where I had myself a Bula Bowl drink – later to be regretted:
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For the uninitiated, a Bula bowl is a number of shots poured over ice into the above bowl. I had a strawberry something. The center then is filled with alcohol and lit. Soon, I too was lit. These babies are strong!

I had one and believe me, two would have meant the end of the night for me. With harbor nights looming, we got out of there and I had just enough time to take a five - minute nap before we left for PBH.

Harbor Nights: If not familiar, this is a special event held several times a year in the plaza at the Portofino Bay hotel, and is for those 21 and over. It features food stations from all the PBH restaurants, a large selection of wines, entertainment, the famous opera singers (and yes, they did do Phantom of the Opera, and the female lead did hit the high note at the end – that was pretty spectacular). Here was the menu (it changes for each event) for the night:
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I didn’t include the wine list but it all was imported Italian wine, and (I drink reds only) it was excellent. Basically, you simply wander around, stopping at the food stations for small plates of their offerings, and also at the wine stations. We had VIP tickets, which provided us a private area where we could sit down and we had a private bar with all the wines. Regular tickets mean you stand at tall tables to eat – I have a problem standing for any length of time.

Before I show the pics I took there, a comment: this was a kind of disorganized event. Not ever having been, we showed up expecting an entry point and maybe some signage telling how to proceed. Nothing. In fact, we just walked into the plaza from the shuttle boat; no one stopped us, no one asked for our tickets. We could have started eating and drinking just like that.

After some confusion, we found the VIP area and noticed the tables there had last name cards, so we found ours and sat down. We sat there, unsure what to do, when, finally, a waiter came over followed by a manager – type. Both were somewhat agitated and the manager asked to see our tickets. He then gave us wrist bands for the night. Then to add to the confusion, the waiter brought over a few plates of antipasto and seemed to say he would be bringing us our food – but then he didn’t. The band was playing and hearing was difficult. We finally figured out that the waiter was there to suggest wines, bring water, and clear plates; we had to go the food stations ourselves (which were all over the plaza).

In all fairness, we did get there a bit late. It started at 6:30 but due to unfortunate boat timing we didn’t get there until 7:00. Also, I got the impression that this event is geared more towards locals than guests, mainly because many people there were really dressed up. Who brings semi-formal wear to Universal? I believe they had entrances set up from the lobby and steps and must have checked tickets that way as most people would enter from those directions; I don’t believe they thought many (if any) would arrive on the shuttle boat. Keep all this in mind if you decide you want to crash this event sometime.
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They held a Christmas tree lighting which added to the festivities. What a nice night! Beautiful weather, great wines (beer also was available), and the food was pretty good, Sal’s manicotti the consensus winner (little touch of bacon on top was the reason). I also like the Splendido short rib dish, and Mama Della’s fish was tasty. Bice’s ravioli was the most controversial: it had a sweet taste from the brown sugar sage sauce that was unexpected and sort of weird; ravioli = tomato sauce in my mind, so it was hard to get past that. The dessert, white chocolate pumpkin mouse with salted caramel, was excellent; I had I think three of those (c’mon, they were small). I never did find the gelato stand.

I don’t know how much wine we had; at least three bottles were on the table during the evening and I made a few trips to the bar to try others. Needless to say, I soon had an overwhelming desire for sleep. It had been a long day, topped off by that Bula bowl and belly full of wine. We left just before the event ended, at nine PM, and headed back to RPR to crash. Day one was a big success!

Day Two ahead: a cleverly planned pool day, and our introduction to the Witch Doctor and Shipwreck Nachos.

Day Two, Saturday November 26: When we planned the trip we knew that Friday and Saturday would be the heavy crowd days (which turned out to be accurate), so we watched the weather forecasts. If it made sense, we decided that Saturday would be our water rides and pool day. Sunday would make more sense as the middle day of the trip, but we had Blue Man reservations for Sunday night and wanted to go to dinner before the show, so Saturday it was.

Fortunately, the weather Gods smiled on us; Saturday was a high of 79 and mostly sunny. I speculated that the pool might be as crowded as the parks so I rented a cabana. They normally are $175 a full day (half-day rentals are available) but as a club level guest I got it for $150:

We rented cabana 1, right next to the Bula bar. The big hot tub was right behind us, and you can see cabana 2 in the right of the picture.




I had called the hotel about three days before we left to make the cabana reservation, once we believed the weather would hold for Saturday, and this time I received clear instruction: take my reservation sheet to the towel hut and they would do the rest. We had a really nice guy, Darien, take us over to the cabana, set up six chaise lounges with chair covers and towels, and asked us when we wanted our drinks and fruit platter. Oh, forgot to mention that: as part of the deal, we received water and soda and a big fruit platter. We arranged to have the water and soda brought over right away, and held off on the platter since we were heading to the parks.

The cabana is equipped with a mini fridge, a safe, a large screen TV, several storage areas, a hotel telephone, and a sitting area. However, it was fairly small, especially for nine people, thus the extra chaise lounges outside. Seeing how the pool started to fill up with people even at 10 AM, I was glad we had it.

View from the cabana:
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The kid’s play area was right around the corner:
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An odd sight for me: A Christmas tree next to a swimming pool. Don’t see this in Pennsylvania too often:
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You know how in the RPR rooms there are two big bottles of Figi water sitting on the dresser when you check in, yours for the taking for a mere $7.00 each? Well, they brought over a case of 12 of those bottles, as well as a number of Cokes and Sprites. Doing the math, using RPR pricing, that was 2/3 of the cost of the Cabana right there. Of course, being resourceful and equipped with large beach bags we managed to smuggle most of that back to the rooms once we had our fill of them. And the fruit platter we received later on was a large tray of watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes, and melon along with three different fruit dips. I’d say that would run about $25 if paying for it. All in all, the cabana was not a bad deal.

Our game plan was simple: get the cabana organized, have everyone meet there about 10:30 AM, and then proceed to Islands. Everyone had board shorts or a swimming suit and cover on, so off we went, first to Jurassic Park. However, we realized we would pass right by Kong, and we checked the Express line: 20 - minute wait. So, we rode Kong first instead. Everyone really liked that one. The Express line was busy enough that we were routed through the area where the old animated woman talks about Kong (or whatever she was saying – sounded like Kong stuff), so we did get to see that. Later, when the crowds died down, the Express line goes right past all that, so you do miss it if using Express.

Short video in Kong area:
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I just love the background mountains behind the Kong entrance, quite an optical illusion and so real looking. All about perspective, as they say.

One funny incident: in the queue area with the big holes in the wall, a live native jumped out at our group and the friend of our step-granddaughter fell right over, she was so startled. Right smack onto the concrete. Fortunately, she was not at all injured, just really, really embarrassed!

We then rode Jurassic Park, Ripsaw Falls, and finished up with the Bilge Rat Barges. Nothing disappointed – we were totally soaked after the Barges. Well, not all of us – when the first small wave crashed over the side of our log on Dudley, DW let out a scream and then shouted “that’s it – I’m not going on the Barges!”. I have to admit, that water was cold. I guess that’s why, and because we were soaked after Dudley what difference would the barges make? But we went on without her.

I never get tired of watching this:
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Here I also did something I’ve never done before: go on the Me Ship the Olive. In all my past trips – never been on it. Great view from up there. We went to the top and experienced the joy of “initiating” some of the rafts to what lay ahead via the free water cannons:

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I love the looks on the faces of some of the passengers; to me it’s obvious this is their first trip on the barges – if only they knew what lay ahead!

Now that we were thoroughly drenched, we walked around in the sun to partially dry off, and headed back to City Walk for the ride back to the RPH. It was almost 1:00 PM by now, and we wanted to get in as much pool time as we could, given that sunset is around 5:00 PM. We had the Cabana until 10 PM, but I had my doubts that we’d go back down once we cleaned up for the day. And I didn’t know it but I was about to be visited by the Witch Doctor.

We settled into the Cabana and called Darien – he soon appeared with our fruit platter. More importantly, he brought with him a waiter from the Bula bar. The Bula bar is a great place to relax and, although just around the corner, we never spent any time there:
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We ordered salads, a couple of burgers, a wrap, and, finally, my Shipwreck nachos. They have a nice selection of mixed drinks but one caught my eye: The Witch Doctor. This was a mix of vodka, rum, gin, triple sec, Midori melon liquor, and sour mix. It sounded suspiciously like - I asked the server to confirm – yes, he told me it’s their version of a Manhattan Iced Tea. With a witchy flair, I guess.

Well, call me bewitched. That was one tasty drink…make that four tasty drinks – I think. In the midst of my first one the Shipwreck nachos showed up. Wish I had a picture – they arrive on a long, narrow platter, about 20” x 12”, you select chicken, beef, or half of each, and then they dump on everything: tortillas, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, black beans, a river of cheese – all the good stuff. Funny, I don’t remember jalapenos but I was into the second Witch Doctor by now and they might have been in there.

It is a huge serving. We had those and all that other food and the fruit platter, and my son in law then ordered a second plate of nachos. Even with nine people, this was too much. We were so full!
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We hung at the pool for a while longer, jumping in occasionally and constantly sinking to the bottom thanks to full bellies, we finished off what we could of the food, and by then it was past 4:30, so we staggered back to our rooms for a shower. Dinner – hah! – would be from the club lounge tonight; no one had any appetite left.

This was the club level menu for the week. I know it says “summer 2016” at the top, I guess they never got around to changing that:
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The main courses every night were quite tasty – sort of a casserole or pan mix, but very good. Each night was a salad, a hot dish, veggies and cheese, and small desserts. I’m not sure why there are only six days’ worth of menu on this. Our trip started with Day 3, on a Friday, so maybe it keeps rotating among these six choices. They had some good red and white wine there, as well as a choice of four beers. Not a bad way to end a day.

We favor the club level because of its convenience. You can pop in there any time for a soda or water or coffee, there are snacks available between 12 – 3, and the breakfast, continental in style, was enough to get one started. I would make an egg sandwich every morning: toast a bagel, spread it with cream cheese and a little butter, top it with ham slices, salami, and a sliced hard - boiled egg along with salt and pepper – viola, good eating. A coffee and juice, maybe a sweet roll or yogurt – it was enough for me.
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After dinner, DW and I decided to go over to the parks for a night visit. We headed for Diagon Alley but then got sidetracked; I thought it would be a good time to ride the Hogwart’s Express to Hogsmeade, so that’s what we did after we stuck our heads into Diagon. I wish now I had spent more time there; it is (can I say it?) “magical” after dark.

Some pictures from our stroll:
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Here is when we decided to go into King’s Cross Station and head to Hogsmeade. Still a pretty good crowd for a Saturday evening:
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Here are some night shots from Hogsmeade:
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I especially like how the snow on the rooftops looks so real at night.

One final pic of Seuss land after dark – with Christmas decorations:
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And one of the Hulk from across the pond:
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We slowly made our way back to the RPR. I have one bad knee and the other was replaced, but even it was complaining now. We got to City Walk and, not seeing a boat for RPR there, checked out the path. There it was – a rickshaw bike. We decided to take that back rather than wait for the boat.
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Now here is a critical piece of advice if you use a rickshaw bike to the RPR: ask to be dropped at the pool entrance to RPR. From the pool it is a short walk to the tower elevators (and you can check out the dive-in movie, depending on the time). If you tell the “biker” to drop you at the front of the hotel, some will pedal up the hill to the sidewalk leading to the front entrance walkway, and others stop at the bottom. It is much easier to use the pool entrance rather than either of the other two options. In this case, he dropped us at the bottom, and I was too tired to argue (or beg). So we had to hike up that path, up the sidewalk, across the entrance bridge, and finally to the elevator – to go up one floor. I was dead tired at that point, so we turned in early.

By the way, I love the king suite especially since three of us were in there. I and DW had the king bed, our son had the living room. Really spacious for three, which is why we upgraded. The regular two-queen rooms are a bit tight, so if you need your space consider the king suite.

Day three ahead: we invade the Chocolate Emporium, and battle the Blue Man Group from the front row.

Here's a pic of the nachos from the Bula Bar...

Mom3girls said:

View attachment 209335 Here's a pic of the nachos from the Bula Bar...

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Thank you! Yes, definitely Shipwreck nachos, saw so many of those that day - will never forget them.

Day Three, Sunday November 27: Those who travel regularly to the parks know what it means to hit the “wall” – that dead feeling you get after a few hard days of parks, eating, and City Walk. Here’s the cure: Express Pass! You sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, stroll over to the parks (wondering why there are SO many people at the ticket counters), check in through the gates, and then set off for adventure. Well, today was a bit different.

DW has an aunt who lives in Sanford, so she decided to visit her today. How to get there? How about Lyft, as we have a Lyft account, so at 10:00 AM we went out to the front of the hotel and hit the icon on her phone. Within minutes a Lyft driver appeared. We said our good-byes, she climbed in, I watched the driver punch in the address, there was some discussion, and DW opened the car door and stepped out. Huh? Well, even though the Lyft app shows it covers Sanford, this particular driver didn’t want to go there, saying something about “tolls”. After he left, I started talking to one of the hotel attendants, and he told me that there are no tolls between RPR and Sanford, that it was a straight shot up I-4. We don’t know for sure why he bailed on her.

So she hits the Lyft icon again, another driver shows up, and he will take her to Sanford. Crazy. Said good-byes again, and this time she disappears down the hill. Off to the parks!

We decided to go to Islands today to hit the highlights:

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We did Spiderman twice, Hulk once (nice new ride – it is much smoother), then headed towards Hogsmeade. I felt like a beer – it was almost noon – so the male adults went into the Hogs Head pub for one of their house beer drafts ($9.00). I thought it was pretty good, and we just sat out there watching the large crowd pass by. I still am amazed at the number of people who don’t try to go into the Hogs Head for their Butter beer. We walked in - no line, as usual. Outside, they’re ten deep at the Butter beer cart. I guess I should keep the secret; else I’ll end up waiting for my regular beer. We then did the Forbidden Journey with maybe a ten - minute wait, and that was mainly getting from the entrance to the front of the line. We never queued up, basically walked onto it, but it took what seemed like ten minutes to get there.

We then decided to take the train over to King’s Cross Station and wander around Diagon Alley again. We also rode Escape from Gringott’s – ten - minute wait, and the line moved right along. Fantastic attraction, pretty much what I expected except for the few short roller coaster sections and, especially, that big drop near the beginning when the “cart” tilts forward at a steep angle. Here are some more pics from Diagon:
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As you can see I liked all the signage up at Diagon – and there are many more. Just amazing the imagination and creativity needed to do all this.

Now it was time for lunch, and we decided to give the Leaky Cauldron a try. I’ve read some not so good reviews and comments about the food here, but we found it tasty and filling. And I love their system for getting people seated; very slick and organized. I had the mini pie (one shepherd, one fisherman) combo and a scotch egg. Some had the chicken sandwich and quite a few got fish and chips. Everything disappeared so it must have been decent (we have a few picky eaters).

We then decided to ride the Mummy and Spiderman again, and then we headed back to the resort to relax and get ready for dinner at the Chocolate Emporium and for Blue Man Group. The crowds today were still fairly healthy but the places we went were not packed by any means. Not empty but not full either, just about what we expected.

The Chocolate Emporium at night:
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We had a good time here. We waited maybe 20 minutes to be seated, but what was odd was the number of empty booths we saw as we were seated, booths that remained empty all during our meal even though quite a few people were waiting to be seated. I am guessing they are short-handed and simply can’t handle all the customers that show up.

Now, because the BMG show was at 7:00 PM, we got to the TCE at 5 and were seated by 5:20. We still were working off our rather large lunch from the Leaky Cauldron so none of us were especially hungry. Thirsty, yes; I ordered the vanilla chocolate cocktail, a mix of vanilla vodka, dark chocolate rum, chocolate liqueur, and chocolate bitters. It was topped, I think, with coconut but I read somewhere it was white chocolate shavings. Whatever, it was really good:

(this from Touring Plans website)
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I had two of those and then it was time to order from that ridiculously big (in size, weight, and pages) menu. I had already decided what I wanted (and please remember, I did not have any dessert at the Leaky Cauldron): a key lime milkshake and a loaf of chocolate almond bread.

The key lime shake was what I expected. It says it is made with sour cream ice cream, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, topped with whipped cream and a slice of key lime pie. I think sour cream ice cream is more like cheesecake ice cream (and it reminds me of the clotted cream ice cream they sell at Fortescue’s in Diagon Alley). The shake was not too sweet, which I liked. I thought it was really good, and, yes, I did finish all of it (this was my supper, remember)? The key lime pie piece also was very authentic – I make key lime pie from scratch quite often and I use real key lime juice. There’s a big difference in the taste of key limes versus the everyday Persian (green) lime.

I found a picture of the shake on the web:
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And I did like the chocolate almond bread with the salted caramel butter. I ate about half the loaf as those shakes do take up a lot of room in the tummy. I wouldn’t recommend this sort of supper on a regular basis, but for once it was fun!

Overall the group liked the place but didn’t love it. Some got shakes, one got Philly cheese steak rolls, someone got the crab and artichoke dip, the teens all got burgers (we all ate fairly small meals). Generally, it was good but not memorable. But we agreed we’d all go back someday and try different things. Oh, and Penelope Tibeaux-Tinker Toothsome did stop by our table to thank us for coming in. Whoever she was she was good – never got out of character.

After eating we walked around a bit and then headed over to the Blue Man Group theater. As no photography is allowed, I have no pictures from the show. And if you’ve never been to the show, it’s hard to describe. Lots of percussion, comedy, rock music (good rock music), skits where no one speaks, a show narrator, musical instruments made out of PVC pipe, lots of video boards – check out YouTube for some idea. But a very entertaining show; all of us really liked it.

And we had one highlight. I wanted front row seats so I got our tickets months ago when I booked our total package. And front row center - the poncho section – we were. They give you ponchos because they can “splatter” stuff as they say, and I did get doused with banana cream pudding during one skit (most hit my poncho but I got some on my shoes). But that wasn’t the highlight. They do a skit where they create “art”. It’s too lengthy to explain it all, but at one point one of the BMG holds a blank canvass next to a drum onto which he had poured some sort of red paint (water based I’m sure). He then starts drumming, splashing the canvass with the paint, and creates a “picture”. The skit goes on a bit, and he then walked to the front of the stage and held out the painting to my grandson who was seated next to me. A picture of it:



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After the show, my grandson waited in the lobby for the BMG, who “autographed” his picture: the BMG guy touched his thumb to his shiny head, and pressed it onto a corner of the painting. If you look at the picture above or below, taken after the autograph, you’ll see the thumbprint in the lower right - hand corner:



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Love how the BMG just stares at him – they are famous for doing those stares throughout the show. We hauled that picture, still pretty wet, back to the hotel and stored it in our king suite as we had extra space and it would not be disturbed there. Later the next day, he took it – now completely dry – to the concierge desk, and they got him some bubble wrap and tape, and he wrapped it up. He did manage to get it home in one piece, and is now a prized possession. We’re going to get it framed later on.

After the show me, DW, and our son decided to stop in the Hard Rock café for a nightcap. I had a couple of beers and we shared a tomato/cheese flatbread. I like the Hard Rock and they do have a great bar. Just not enough time to hit all of the great places in and around Universal!

That pretty much did it for us Sunday. We went back to the RPR and crashed for the rest of the night.

Next: hoping for light Monday crowds, and a visit to an old favorite.

You really need to do more trip reports!!!!

This one is fabulous.......love your description of HHN......I would have enjoyed that I think....sounds very spooky, and your pictures are wonderful!!

I love seeing all the detail of the signs too, very imaginative indeed. I honestly never tire of seeing images of anywhere in Universal, especially Potter areas.

Love seeing the hotels at Christmas time too, they look amazing.

Yes, Me Ship the Olive is quite quiet up there......not many people seem to know about the water jets up there......and they`re still free for now which nice. And what a nice memory of BMG for grandson........

Really enjoying reading along......

schumigirl said:

You really need to do more trip reports!!!!

This one is fabulous.......love your description of HHN......I would have enjoyed that I think....sounds very spooky, and your pictures are wonderful!!

I love seeing all the detail of the signs too, very imaginative indeed. I honestly never tire of seeing images of anywhere in Universal, especially Potter areas.

Love seeing the hotels at Christmas time too, they look amazing.

Yes, Me Ship the Olive is quite quiet up there......not many people seem to know about the water jets up there......and they`re still free for now which nice. And what a nice memory of BMG for grandson........

Really enjoying reading along......

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Schumi - you are too kind, I appreciate your comments. But you have to understand - I got my inspiration to write this from your annual trip reports, ones I look forward to reading. You do such a great job incorporating details with pictures, and when I read yours I am there with you, it seems so real.

My one wish is to visit there for 19 days like you guys do - now that's a vacation!

Days 4 & 5 November 28, 29: Our plan all along was to survive crowded Friday and Saturday, get through the shortened day Sunday due to the Blue Man show that evening, and then really hit the parks hard on the hoped-for less crowded Monday and Tuesday. And that’s pretty much how it went, although we were surprised at the crowds there Monday and Tuesday, greater than expected. We’ve been here the second week of December when the parks were truly deserted – this was not the case now. But definitely not summer crowded, and with express we breezed onto attractions with little wait.

I decided to sort of combine these two days in this report as they were both similar in our plan, but we did enjoy some variety. The downside to these two days was that both parks closed at 7:00 PM. They had been open until 9 on Friday and Saturday, so a bit less time in the evening to do them.

We started Monday by sleeping in and then catching breakfast in the lounge. I had my egg sandwich creation, DW had just an egg and fruit. I want to comment here on how friendly and helpful the club level staff is. They provided the best club level service we’ve ever experienced, and they would help you in any way they could. Before we left for home I went there the last evening and left a nice tip for the staff to show my appreciation. They really do appreciate the recognition that they are doing a good job.

Then off to the Studios today. Since DW was away most of Sunday we wanted to go back to Diagon and give her a chance to do the Escape from Gringott’s adventure. A few random pictures as we wandered around Universal:

The back of the front entrance –


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Bathroom break, I believe. Or was it for batteries?

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The Mystery Wagon:

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‘Ol Bart Simpson

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Strolling through central park

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We wandered all over Diagon marveling at the detail everywhere. Gringott’s was basically no wait (this about 11:00 AM or so) and DW really enjoyed it. She read all the Potter books and knows more about it than I do, so I’m sure she picked on some things I did not. We stopped into Fortescue’s for ice cream, very few people in line there. I had the clotted cream and the sticky toffee pudding. I wanted to try the Earl Grey and lavender but just couldn’t put those two together in my mind, so I made the safer choices. Unfortunately, no one would try butter beer flavor so I didn’t get a chance to taste it.

This again points out why one needs to visit Universal as often as possible. Now, it might be years until I know what Earl Grey and lavender tastes like, or the chocolate-chili, or the strawberry and peanut butter. And this is just one shop in a tiny part of the parks/CityWalk complex!

During the next hour we visited the Horror Makeup show, and did T2, and then we decided to go to lunch at an old favorite from a past trip: Sal’s at the Portofino Bay hotel, located off the piazza. Sal’s deli has just about the best quick (not fast) food anywhere, in my opinion. You order at the counter and they bring it to you. And today was no different. DW and son ordered panini sandwiches, and I opted for the spicy sausage with peppers sandwich. I also bought a small carafe of red wine. Wow, that was good! The sausage was perfect, but it was the bread bun, perfectly toasted, crunchy outside and soft and fluffy in, that made the sandwich.

A few pics of Sal’s I found on Yelp:

Inside – it looks like an Italian deli

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They have a number of tables inside where you can eat, or you can go outside onto the piazza

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A Sal’s panini sandwich:

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And my hot sausage sandwich. I had a side of pasta instead of the chips – yum!

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It was a lovely day and we took our time, savoring the meal and enjoying the sunshine. A perfect lunch on a perfect day. We lingered here for a while, then returned to Islands where we rode King Kong, Forbidden Journey, Spiderman, and the Rip Ride Rockit (for the first time).

I don’t know if this is well-known or not but I thought I would pass this on: Here is a tip I read about the “secret” (can’t be a secret if it’s all over the internet) music you can select on the RRR: after your lap bar comes down, look for the “Rockit” logo on the top of the keypad. Press and hold the logo for 5 to 10 seconds and let go (it won’t change until you let go – don’t hold down for more than a ten count). Then enter a three - digit number and press enter to get your special song. Here are some of the selections available:

101 2112 Rush

102 Blues Before and After The Smithereens

103 Break On Through The Doors

104 Crocodile Rock Elton John

105 Do It Again Steely Dan

106 Don’t You Candlebox

107 Drivin’ Rain Gov’t Mule

108 8 Miles High The Byrds

109 Fantasy Aldo Nova

110 I’m A Fool American Hi-Fi

111 For the Love of God Steve Vai

112 Free Bird Skynyrd

113 Immigrant Song Led Zeppelin

114 Just Because Jane’s Addiction

115 Live Lenny Kravitz

116 Mexicola Queens of the Stone Age

117 Unknown Synth Solo

118 Unknown Track Sax Solo

121 Runnin’ Down a Dream Tom Petty

122 Start Me Up The Rolling Stones

123 Stockholm Syndrome Muse

124 Diary of Jane Breaking Benjamin

125 The Great Gig in the Sky Pink Floyd

127 Urgent Foreigner

128 Vertigo U2

129 Wheel in the Sky Journey

130 Won’t Get Fooled Again The Who

You can find a complete list of songs on the web – there’s a bunch. They point out it might not work every time, and if you want to purchase the video after the ride you can’t – it won’t record. But by golly it worked for me! I wanted #711, Paranoid, by Black Sabbath – and managed to screw it up. I did not press the “7” hard enough so my first number became a “1”. Of course I then panicked because we are ready to roll but I didn’t see the correction button in time. I ended up with some dreadful rap song.

Here is a link to a YouTube video with the procedure:

It’s fun to try and is actually easier to select a preferred song than going through the normal menu.
By now it was getting towards 5:00 or so, so we decided to go back to RPR and take advantage of the evening offerings. Our Sal’s lunch was still hanging around so we weren’t restaurant hungry. The club lounge had fresh catch of the day with dirty rice and lentils, a tropical fruit salad, and the usual goodies. That and a couple glasses of wine made for a good meal. As the parks closed at 7 that evening, we retired back to the room to get ready for our last day.

However, we did go back for the sweets hour, 8 - 9. That night they had huge, fresh cookies, cheesecake bites, and chocolate cannoli. Those and some fresh coffee made for a great end of day.

Our last day, this trip was on Tuesday, we have one ritual: supper at Jimmy Buffett’s, and on the Porch of Indecision (however, Volcano Nachos was off our menu – see “Shipwreck Nachos”, above). So our entire day was built around that reservation (sounding Disney-like here). We as usual slept in, but instead of a club lounge breakfast we decided to go to the Islands restaurant for its breakfast buffet. Really nice place:


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The buffet is good – everything you’d expect on a breakfast buffet, including a hot egg station (omelets, fried eggs). Of course, the teens ordered off the menu, being picky eaters; they got fried eggs and bacon. The waiter practically begged them to try the Tahitian French toast, a specialty (French toast with bananas and a cinnamon syrup or something like that), but no one would jump at it. I was temporarily tempted by the “all you can drink” mimosa offer ($10 – I could get my money’s worth pretty quickly), but the thought of then napping for the next hour made that a no-go.

They also had a quirky pancake “machine”; hit the button, place your plate on a turntable, and two minutes later two pancakes appeared. Unfortunately, they were like rubber, so I poured some syrup on them and walked over to the egg station, where I ordered up one over easy egg. If you’ve never tried an egg on top of pancakes, try it. Salt and pepper the egg, and dive it. Sweet/salty, gooey, buttery – yum!
Breakfast finished, we headed for the Islands for final rides on our favorites: Spiderman, King Kong, Forbidden Journey, and a few others. The teens had spent Monday evening at the parks and did one of my favorites that I missed this time - Poseidon’s Fury:


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Yes, somewhat dated and it likely has a short life-span as Potter continues his relentless expansion, but if you’ve never seen it the mystery and excitement are first rate. Go before it’s gone!

We debated taking the Hogwart’s express over to Studios to ride the Mummy one last time, but by now the temperature was over 80, so we decided to head back for some final leisure time at the pool (no cabana, no nachos this time). But before we did, we guys had one last beer in Hogsmeade, and we watched the crowd flow past one last time – I could sit there forever.

We had a pleasant afternoon at the pool, temps did get up there, nice for the end of November. We left the pool about 4:30 and decided to meet over at Jimmy’s around 6:30. We showered and changed and headed up to the lounge for a glass of wine and some cheese before dinner. A sparse crowd was there. Here we witnessed an odd incident.

An older gentleman was after a glass of water from one of the clear dispensers they use in the lounge. One was next to a dispenser of apple juice, and the former was empty of water except for ice. DW and I were sitting there, just passing time, and we watched this old gent try to get a glass of water from the empty dispenser (his back was towards us). Unsuccessful, he looked at the apple juice, paused, and then turned around and went towards the water dispenser located on the table opposite the first one. That water dispenser too was almost empty so he tilted it forward and managed to drain out a small glass of water.

After he sat down at his table, a minute later we heard a dripping sound that escalated into splashing. We located the source (about the same time as the staff did so) and it was the apple juice dispenser – the lever pushed straight down, full open, pouring apple juice onto the counter and down onto the floor.

Somehow, that fellow had opened the tap on the apple juice and walked away. There now was a big puddle of apple juice on the floor in the lounge. We looked over at him – he was oblivious to all of this. He had no idea the apple juice lake was his invention.

We had a good laugh later discussing this – an innocent mistake that we, someday approaching his age, might well ourselves make. You never know.

I love CityWalk at night – so bright, so many lights and colors, so alive on this perfect evening. I started out at Jimmy’s with a Lime Daiquiri, a simple drink of vodka, lime juice, and powdered sugar – three of those and a burger later, and I was sailin’ to a warmer port, as Jimmy might sing.

Speaking of whom, DW and I went to his concert at First Niagara pavilion near Pittsburgh this past summer. That was the fourth Buffet concert we’ve attended – and, by mutual decision, the last. His concerts are a lot of fun, but for us to travel there is a major excursion – over two hours away, and the parking at the venue is horrible. Getting past the security gate took 45 minutes. We’ll watch his videos from now on.

Our meal finished, we walked around CityWalk a final time. One thing I wanted to do on this trip was drop into Pat O’Brien’s bar for a drink. We headed up there – private party, closed for the evening. Disappointed, we headed back down and ended up in the NBC sports bar and grill. Nice place; more TVs than I have ever seen along one wall of a building. We did a quick night cap, and then headed back to RPR. ‘Salud’, Universal: our trip was about over.

Final Thoughts: We had a perfect vacation at Universal, based on weather and crowds. I was a bit apprehensive going over a holiday, but we found the crowds to be manageable. We experienced a lot of what it has to offer, yet we barely scratched the surface of what we could have done. For instance, restaurants missed: Cowfish, Antojitos, All American Hot Dog, both of the Emeril’s, Lombard’s Seafood Grille, Confisco’s, Finnegan’s (a favorite of mine), Mama Della’s, The Palm, The Kitchen, The Three Broomsticks, Hard Rock Café, NBC Sports Grille, Mythos, Mel’s, Bumblebee Man’s Taco Truck, the many pizza restaurants – this is a partial list. I wanted to visit all of them.

I also missed visiting a few attractions: as mentioned, Poseidon’s Fury, everything in Seuss land, Dr. Doom, the Animal Actors show (never have seen it), the full parade, Jurassic Park at night (actually, most of the attractions at night), the Christmas parade (missed that by three days) – it sometimes seems like I missed more than I experienced. And this over five days. Those who seem to believe two days is too long for Universal are mistaken; two days is far too short a time to experience much at all there.

I failed to mention several attractions above: first and foremost ET, still a personal favorite, we did visit; the Simpsons' ride, we missed (love that queue); and we never stuck our heads into Hello Kitty, although I still am not sure exactly what that is.

We had an uneventful trip back to MCO and then home. We said our good-byes to Tony at the airport and proceeded through security to our flight without incident. It was nice to have our car waiting for us at the parking lot at Pittsburgh (Charlie Brown’s), and the two hour ride home was uneventful.

Fantasy land to reality in seven hours – but it’s different now for us. Past trips meant returning home and almost immediately going back to work, to all that stress. Now both retired, it is blissfully better. The stress is gone and the memories remain fresh, and I now start thinking about the next trip. We’ve been going every three or four years – HHN 2019? See you there!

cbsnyber1 said:

Schumi - you are too kind, I appreciate your comments. But you have to understand - I got my inspiration to write this from your annual trip reports, ones I look forward to reading. You do such a great job incorporating details with pictures, and when I read yours I am there with you, it seems so real.

My one wish is to visit there for 19 days like you guys do - now that's a vacation!

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I will say you are too kind.......... what a lovely thing to say........

But, I so enjoyed your trip report, you have a lovely family and your pictures are fantastic.........and your daughter is very like your wife!! You're writing style is very enjoyable and your personality shines through...........it seemed a lovely trip for your family........

We have so many similarities in our views, it was a pleasure to read and experience you and your family trip......it's so good to hear how much you enjoyed everything including the RPR and their staff.........they are so wonderful and invest so much in the guest experience. And I need to have a lime Daiquiri at M'Ville..........sounds lush!

Thanks for taking the time to write it.........and you HAVE to do another one for your next trip.........would love if we were there at the same time and we could say hi..........

Great Trip Report!!
My wife and I have only been one time for 3 days 2 summers ago, but we have spent the last year planning a full family trip with my parents (2 of us, 4 kids and 2 parents) for Christmas. We leave in ONE WEEK!!! 5 days at RPR.

I am avid reader and researcher when it comes to planning vacations - always looking for ways to maximize fun and experience new things!! We have learned a lot from this board and the expertise from other posters and of course THANK YOU schumigirl!

But this trip report has me so fired up and has given me several ideas that I am now working on figuring into our plans. It will now officially be a VERY tough week to get thru at work!

Thank you for taking the time to share you experience!

DisneyFlash said:

Great Trip Report!!
My wife and I have only been one time for 3 days 2 summers ago, but we have spent the last year planning a full family trip with my parents (2 of us, 4 kids and 2 parents) for Christmas. We leave in ONE WEEK!!! 5 days at RPR.

I am avid reader and researcher when it comes to planning vacations - always looking for ways to maximize fun and experience new things!! We have learned a lot from this board and the expertise from other posters and of course THANK YOU schumigirl!

But this trip report has me so fired up and has given me several ideas that I am now working on figuring into our plans. It will now officially be a VERY tough week to get thru at work!

Thank you for taking the time to share you experience!

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I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I enjoyed creating it (just wish I had a better selection of pictures - live and learn). There is so much to do and chose from there - good luck with your planning!

I would offer this advice: with a larger group like you will be in, and especially if this is a first visit for some, there is a tendency to want to stick together all the time. That's fine if you all have similar habits and preferences (getting up early, or wanting to sleep in, or enjoying the same type of attractions), but I'd encourage you to consider splitting up the group from time to time, if possible. That way everyone can go where they want to go, when they want to go, or do what they prefer to do. It removes the pressure of all the time trying to please everyone in a large group.

For instance, I like doing the same attraction 2-3 times in a row; some in our group kept wanting to move on to the next one. So we did split up now and then when in the parks, and we made our own evening plans some nights. And we did travel at as a group a lot of the time. We did insist on some shared events, like our traditional first ride, the Mummy, and our parting dinner at Margaritaville, but in between we gathered together and split up quite often. It all worked out in the end.

This has been a great fun read for me


I expect another super trip report when you are back to the darkside for a repeat

cbsnyber1 said:

I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I enjoyed creating it (just wish I had a better selection of pictures - live and learn). There is so much to do and chose from there - good luck with your planning!

I would offer this advice: with a larger group like you will be in, and especially if this is a first visit for some, there is a tendency to want to stick together all the time. That's fine if you all have similar habits and preferences (getting up early, or wanting to sleep in, or enjoying the same type of attractions), but I'd encourage you to consider splitting up the group from time to time, if possible. That way everyone can go where they want to go, when they want to go, or do what they prefer to do. It removes the pressure of all the time trying to please everyone in a large group.

For instance, I like doing the same attraction 2-3 times in a row; some in our group kept wanting to move on to the next one. So we did split up now and then when in the parks, and we made our own evening plans some nights. And we did travel at as a group a lot of the time. We did insist on some shared events, like our traditional first ride, the Mummy, and our parting dinner at Margaritaville, but in between we gathered together and split up quite often. It all worked out in the end.

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Good advice. We have talked about how much we want to do that, so thanks for the confirmation. We figure with 4 "teens" (17, 19, 19, 21) they will head off on their some, sleep in once or twice, stay out later, etc. We plan to at least do some certain rides together and try to eat dinner together each day.

We will be at RPR next week too We hope to be lounging by the pool midday enjoying some nachos and mixed drinks. My poor husband...3 teenage girls, me and my Mother It truely will be a long work week

Mom3girls said:

We will be at RPR next week too We hope to be lounging by the pool midday enjoying some nachos and mixed drinks. My poor husband...3 teenage girls, me and my Mother It truely will be a long work week

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Have a great time - crowds should be light and the weather looks fantastic (it's like Florida is actually heating up the farther into December we go). And remember - an order of Shipwreck nachos is huuuuuuuge!

macraven said:

This has been a great fun read for me


I expect another super trip report when you are back to the darkside for a repeat

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Mac - I always lurk a lot on the boards during HHN, and see how fellow Dark Side citizens plan get - togethers...that's my hope, to return again during HHN and meet up with a few fellow peeps.

Well then put me on your list for October Hhn !

Meet up then will happen
I usually get quite a few on different dates for meet ups


I will save a seat for all of youse group!