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No, this isn’t a Star Wars reference. My family spent Spring Break at Universal Orlando! Can you believe it? Can you also believe I’d never been there? Yep, it’s true.   Z turned 9 the day before we

Welcome!!!! I can't wait for the 2019 edition of that trip! 

Why does the foot hassock look like a hidden Mickey 

On 4/27/2018 at 11:34 AM, slices said:


 


Well they try


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For theme park quick service meals, we enjoyed our food there. 

On 4/27/2018 at 11:35 AM, Robin said:

Did you have the butter beer frozen? We liked it this way. How great for your son to be picked!

You know what.... I can't remember if it was frozen or not. I don't think so. 

On 4/27/2018 at 4:54 PM, DramaMama .......... Janet said:

We haven't eaten at the Leaky Cauldron but we have had lunch twice at Three Broomsticks.  We really liked it.  Both times we got a pumpkin juice and a butter beer to share between the 4 of us.  That's about all I can take because it is so sweet, but both are tasty.  Congrats to Z for being picked - how cool!

I'm with you on those drinks. Z is still over the moon about being picked. 

On 4/27/2018 at 8:36 PM, dvccamper said:

Joining in! I haven’t been to Universal in probably 25 years. But every time we’ve offered to do a Universal trip the kids have opted to do Disney (again!). Maybe your trip report will help me convince them.

Maybe! We had a really good time. 

On 4/29/2018 at 10:04 AM, Beckers said:

So I’m all about theme-ing things to the max, but they’ve crossed the line by not serving Diet Coke 😂

You should have seen my face..... LOL! I love my morning DC. 

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Sorry this report is moving so slowly. I don’t know how many pics I have of the rest of this day, so moving on....

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I’m afraid of the Rip Ride Rockit, so sorry, that didn’t happen. If it weren’t for the beginning....

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I’m not sure if I mentioned that Jason had to have surgery a few weeks before this trip. He couldn’t really ride anything the first few days, but he said it was still weirdly fun. Haley and I decided to ride The Mummy. Z said no because of the scary theme. As a coaster, it’s pretty tame, but it is pretty scary. Haley was not a fan. I think some of the effects are really cool.

Check out the top right. Funny stuff. I almost bought that.

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Jason enjoyed street performers with Z, and then we headed to the Jimmy Fallon ride.

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More live performers while waiting a few minutes for the ride. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of those in the parks. The ride was a good simulator, nothing earth shattering but we all enjoyed it.

Next up was Despicable Me... another simulator. Now is a good time to mention one of my US complaints. There are A LOT of simulators. I think they need to mix in some other kinds of rides.

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The queue is themed nicely.

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It was a decent simulator, but after 2 we needed a break from that. We did get to meet a minion in the gift shop with no wait.

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Banana!

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Jason needed some chill time, so we headed to the America Tail play area. I was a big fan of the movie as a kid. I’m not sure kids now know what it is, but the play area is AWESOME! Z had a blast. We had an adult beverage.

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There was a raft ride in the playground that adults could ride too. There was no line for it, so Z rode it several times, and we basically had to drag him out.

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I just lost the rest of this. Ugh. I was going to finish the day, but will do that later. I guess my post was too long.


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The rest of the day....

We rode ET. The ride is dated, but we had never written it and they’re a good childhood memories there, so we were glad we rode it.

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Next up we headed to the Simpsons area, which is themed pretty funny. Hailey decided to sit this ride out because she was finished with simulators for the day, so just Z and I rode.

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Men in Black was our next ride, and Jason decided he’d try it. This ride is best comparable to Buzz at the Magic Kingdom I guess. We all really enjoyed it, and Jason killed us with the score. There are no pictures because this is one of the rides they make you use the lockers for. That is a bit of a pain.

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We attempted to ride the Hogwarts Express, but it broke down as we were about to get on, so that was a big fail. I guess the one bonus was that we hadn’t waited an hour like the people without Express Pass.

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The pool was calling our name so we decided to head toward the exit. We caught the parade on the way. It’s no Disney parade, but it is cute and worth seeing if you have kids.

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We hit the pool for a bit and then got cleaned up for dinner. I had booked reservations at The Kitchen at the Hard Rock Hotel. One cool feature of Universal resorts is that they offer a shuttle between the resorts for dining purposes in the evening.

The hard rock definitely has a more adult feel to it.

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We had a little bit before reservation, so I took time to check out the kids club because we plan to use it later in the week.

It was fairly similar to what you see at the Disney kids clubs.

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Dinner at the kitchen was delicious. I chose it because we were doing some splurge meals later in the week, and this one was pretty reasonable. There are several entrées under $20.

My chicken dish... great flavor!

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Huge fish tacos

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Giant burger

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Kids chicken tenders

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Well not your typical Easter dinner cuisine, we really enjoyed our meal and I highly recommend this restaurant.

After dinner, we put Z to bed, and Haley and I went over to the hot tub for some girl time. It’s pretty cool to have an adult child.

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That is all for day two. Day three coming soon.


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Great update!

You are echoing what I hear a lot of, too many simulators or screens. 

I still want to go though and I really like how you don't seem rushed, was that really the case, most people i know that go to Universal don't stay long, I like the idea of staying longer to enjoy the resorts.

WBI

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Liking the photos of the America Tail area, the two times I've been we've never made it over that way. What happens when you try to do two parks in one day I guess. This is making think we'd take more time next time and consider passes. Food at the resort restaurants looks good as well, I haven't manged to eat anywhere other than quick service in the parks when we did Universal, again there definitely something to be said for having more time.  Although I did like the quick service restaurants in the parks there, I'm just overly fussy with restaurants that claim to have 'English' food.

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Great update!
You are echoing what I hear a lot of, too many simulators or screens. 
I still want to go though and I really like how you don't seem rushed, was that really the case, most people i know that go to Universal don't stay long, I like the idea of staying longer to enjoy the resorts.
WBI


We weren’t rushed at all. We’ve learned we enjoy it more if we take our time. Plus, Jason was recovering from surgery, so we couldn’t push things too much. The days of relaxation were awesome, and the resorts/pools are super nice. Universal also allows pool hopping, but we didn’t do that.


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Liking the photos of the America Tail area, the two times I've been we've never made it over that way. What happens when you try to do two parks in one day I guess. This is making think we'd take more time next time and consider passes. Food at the resort restaurants looks good as well, I haven't manged to eat anywhere other than quick service in the parks when we did Universal, again there definitely something to be said for having more time.  Although I did like the quick service restaurants in the parks there, I'm just overly fussy with restaurants that claim to have 'English' food.


I would definitely have passes if I were local. If we weren’t getting Disney passes in June, we might have gotten them while we were there. I’ve heard you get discounts on pretty much everything food/hotel/merchandise.


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Adam has informed me he’s read/watched that when Nintendo Mario land comes to US The American Tail playground is getting removed. No idea if any of the above is true but he’s following the rumors pretty hard as he’s hoping for the Mario land to happen.

silly question but did Z get wet on the raft ride?

does ET still say your name at the end? That’s the one thing I remember and the distinctive smell it had, like woodsy/pine.

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17 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

 


I would definitely have passes if I were local. If we weren’t getting Disney passes in June, we might have gotten them while we were there. I’ve heard you get discounts on pretty much everything food/hotel/merchandise.


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I ordered one annual pass ahead of time and used it to make the discounted hotel reservation. Then when we got there I used it to buy 4 other discounted 2-day tickets. Also used it to get food discount for the whole family. 

It was 7 years ago, but I didn't think the quick service food was too bad. We also went fairly leisurely. The Jimmy Fallon ride wasn't there then. The space was Twister (I just looked that up) and I didn't go on that although the rest of my family did.  Minions had just opened and I thought it was way too frantic and fast. I liked the Simpsons but overall thought there were too many simulators. Men In Black, Forbidden Journey and Spiderman were my favorites that I remember. 

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12 hours ago, Beckers said:

Adam has informed me he’s read/watched that when Nintendo Mario land comes to US The American Tail playground is getting removed. No idea if any of the above is true but he’s following the rumors pretty hard as he’s hoping for the Mario land to happen.

silly question but did Z get wet on the raft ride?

does ET still say your name at the end? That’s the one thing I remember and the distinctive smell it had, like woodsy/pine.

Interesting. It's a cool area, but I doubt many kids know the movie. 

He got a little wet. Adults got more wet.... it just kind of depended. 

I didn't see our names at the end of ET, but they did ask our names when we entered. Maybe that part was broken or we missed it? 

12 hours ago, Beckers said:

Oh and what on earth is the Jimmy Fallon ride about?

You race through New York. It's pretty funny. 

8 minutes ago, Seals said:

I ordered one annual pass ahead of time and used it to make the discounted hotel reservation. Then when we got there I used it to buy 4 other discounted 2-day tickets. Also used it to get food discount for the whole family. 

It was 7 years ago, but I didn't think the quick service food was too bad. We also went fairly leisurely. The Jimmy Fallon ride wasn't there then. The space was Twister (I just looked that up) and I didn't go on that although the rest of my family did.  Minions had just opened and I thought it was way too frantic and fast. I liked the Simpsons but overall thought there were too many simulators. Men In Black, Forbidden Journey and Spiderman were my favorites that I remember. 

Very smart. I've heard the discounts for passholders are very good. 

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Day 3 was a relax and enjoy the pool day. Here’s the morning view from the balcony. We debated doing a big breakfast, but decided to go to the pool. One bummer about Universal is that their character dining is very limited. I would’ve loved to do a meal with the minions but it’s only offered Saturday morning, so we could not do it this trip.

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We had seen that Sal’s had breakfast sandwiches, so I decided to walk over and see what the details on that were.

Here are some pictures of inside Sal’s.

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There is some indoor seating if you want to eat there.

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I ordered us breakfast sandwiches to go. They were croissants with bacon egg and cheese on them. Delicious and made to order!

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Back at the pool we swam and lounged around.

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I like the padded loungers with towels that fit them.

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Cheers!

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We spent the bulk of our day there and really enjoy the downtime. When we got back to the room there was a surprise waiting on us.

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The details are getting a little fuzzy now, but based on the pictures were the kind of awesome parents who take our kid to get gelato right before dinner.

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We had dinner reservations at Mama Della’s, one of the highest rated restaurants on Universal property. It was at our hotel, so trying it out was a no brainer. Z had his gelato, and we enjoyed the harbor area.

To the left here is where you would take the boat to City Walk and the parks.

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At Mama Della’s singers come around to your table. The atmosphere is pretty cool. 3e76df97e966b02f555c5621dc1b211b.jpg

Our food was delicious. I got chicken Parmesan. Jason got lasagna, and I tried a bite. It’s the best lasagna I’ve ever tasted actually.

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The portions were huge and so good that we did not want to throw them away. This was when I use the texting feature and asked the resort if we could have a microwave in our room. One was delivered before we got there. Very cool!

They brought the kids a birthday dessert. Like Z needed anymore sugar! Oh well, it’s vacation.

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Mama Della comes around and meets guests.

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We left completely staffed. The opera singers were serenading the crowd outside.

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They do that every night, and it adds a great ambience to the place.

We headed to bed because the next morning was another early entry day. Islands of Adventure is up next!


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On 5/6/2018 at 4:19 PM, DaveInTN said:

You better watch that Mama Della.  She's got her hand pretty far around Jason.   What exactly is she reaching for?  

Now that you mention it..... hmmmmm..... 

3 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

The pool day seems like it was a total success. It also seems like Universal has more food options and at better prices. The pizza menu certainly puts Trails End pizza to shame. But that's not saying much. 

TCD 

The prices on food are definitely lower. I was VERY impressed with the food at the resorts. The pizza is along the lines of Via Napoli quality but I think half the price. Food in the parks was kind of mixed, not really bad but some was just OK. 

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You know what is hard? Writing a trip report during the busiest time of year year! Sorry this is taking so long, but here we go again. Today we are heading to Islands of Adventure.

 

We had early entry to both parks all week, so that means an early start to the day, of course. Boat was waiting for us though!

 

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I think it’s really only a 5 minute ride.

 

Once again, people lined up at the traditional turnstiles on either side, and leave the middle open even though there are kiosks there.

 

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The priority this morning was Forbidden Journey.... just like everyone else. These UO people don’t have the TSMM or 7DMT experience though, so it’s pretty easy in comparison.

 

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Just like the other side, this area is completely immersive. You almost believe there is snow, even though it’s already hot.

 

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We have arrived!

 

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I hate the lockers.... there has to be a better way. a7240acc81a60c202f29dc9dddf8b45d.jpg

 

Once again the queue was very much part of the attraction.

 

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Forbidden Journey is an awesome ride. It’s a bit on the scary side, and Z was a little worried knowing that, but we’d also talked about closing his eyes if needed. Spoiler alert.... he rode it more than once, so obviously he liked it.

 

Cute kids!

 

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We rode the little coaster, and then it was time for more wand tricks.

 

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This is probably good time to mention that trying to convince your nine-year-old not to wear a robe when it’s super hot outside is kind of difficult.

 

Notice how empty this area is. Early entry rocks.

 

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Since our previous attempt to ride the Hogwarts express had been thwarted, we decided to go ahead and ride it both ways in the morning to knock it out.

 

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It’s a different experience each way, so real fans should definitely do both.

 

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Proof you’re still a kid at 22.... so fun!

 

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The train is really cool. It blends a real ride with technology. Here are what the cars look like inside.

 

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After our round trip, we headed out to the Jurassic Park area...

 

 

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10 hours ago, Beckers said:

How do the lockers work? Are you not allowed to take anything on?

You end up inverted when flying around Hogwarts there is also turbulence on that and Gringotts ride so they don't want anything loose in pockets including change. I was wearing cargo pants with velcro pockets and kept my phone and wallet in those. Everything else like keys, hats and change went into a locker. They way they work is you go to the display where you are lead through the process and assigned a locker. The used a finger print for the key.

 

10 hours ago, Beckers said:

So the train is a real train but has screens instead of windows?

Yes. The inside windows that face the hallway are frosted as well. Animations appear on them during the ride and are different based on which direction you are traveling. It's done well IMO not to mention it has about 4 minutes of good air conditioning. 

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How do the lockers work? Are you not allowed to take anything on?


So the train is a real train but has screens instead of windows?


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For some of the rides, you can’t have bags or anything in your pockets. The lockers are free for a period of time. It’s just a bit inconvenient.

Like Keith mentioned, the train really moves, but the stuff you see in the window is a screen, and then there is frosted glass with more effects on the other side. It’s very well done!


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