Trip Report Will it ever stop raining? Our June 2017 trip

Hi, all!! I've finally had a chance to start going through my photos and thought I would get started on my trip report! For those of you not familiar, here is my pre-trip report:
Adventure is out there...June 2017
If you don't want to read the PTR, here is a brief synopsis before I get started:
Who: Me (Amy), DH (Brian), DS Logan (14), DD Lily (12), and DS Owen (9)
When: June 2-17, 2017
Where: Universal Studios (Hard Rock Hotel), Disney (Art of Animation), and SeaWorld

For those of you who followed along with the live portion of my PTR, I apologize that some of the photos will be the same. I'm too lazy to go back and remember which ones I used!

I experienced one of the longest days of my life on Friday, June 2!! We left Dayton, Ohio before 5am.

Neither one of us drinks coffee, but we definitely needed some caffeine to start our morning! We stopped for the best Coke in the world!!

McDonald's!!
We had a little delay in Cincinnati because I-75 was closed both directions and we had to take a little detour.
We waved @LisaBelle and @21stamps and any other Cinci friends as we finally drove over the bridge and entered Kentucky!

We made sure to get past Lexington before morning rush hour, and stopped in Richmond for breakfast.

The kids had never had Chick fil A for breakfast, so we had to correct that!

 

[TheMouseFan]

It started sprinkling, so we decided there was nothing else we wanted to do again, and we would head back to the car.






Bye, Hard Rock!!


Final thoughts on Universal:
Hard Rock: Overall, we really enjoyed our stay. The room looks and feels really big until we had to open up the cot so we all had a sleeping surface! It did get a little cramped in there! I wish there had been more counter surface around the bathroom sink, however, I did like that there was a second sink in the room with the toilet and shower. I loved being able to walk to the parks!!

Parks: We really enjoyed trying something new! The Harry Potter areas blew us away! Also loved the Jurassic Park area, but nothing else really stood out as fantastic. I wish there had been more variety in the type of rides offered. I love rollercoasters, but the screen rides got old after awhile! Brian doesn't really like rollercoasters, so he was even less enchanted with the ride selection. Not to say we didn't enjoy them, just won't be rushing back by ourselves anytime soon! I can definitely seeing us making them a regular part of any family trips though!!

Dining: We really enjoyed Thunder Falls Terrace and Three Broomsticks. The rest was just ok. I would definitely not recommend Mel's to anyone! Our character brunch was a nice break from the parks, but the food was nothing spectacular.

I am glad that we did not try to fit Volcano Bay in after reading all of the reviews from the first few weeks of operation! I could see us trying it out at a later date though!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Speaking of Volcano Bay, we spotted it on our way out:

We'll see you soon SeaWorld!

Yay!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Thank you for the pics of the flyers
We have never been on because no one in my family ever made the height required
So your pics are the first I have ever seen of the ride or queue

Max

The flyers were my favorite ride at Uni! So glad Em was still short enough to ride it with me.

 

[amjt660]

Great first leg of the vacation
The uni pics and commentary are spot on the thoughts of my family
Too many screen rides
Lower repeatability
Go every few years for primarily the potter areas

Looking forward to the seeing your Disney side

Max

 

[12in12]

Disney time

 

[fractal]

Love the quality and quantity of photos!

I need to make it to Universal one of these years. Looking forward to your days at Disney!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Love the quality and quantity of photos!

I need to make it to Universal one of these years. Looking forward to your days at Disney!

Thanks! You definitely do need to check out Universal!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I love all the pictures from Universal. Not somewhere we will get to soon, since I still have one too short to ride on Primeval Whirl. I love HP, but like @LeighM, more the books than the movies. The only draw for me for Universal is HP anyway. Too much Disney in my blood.

 

[TheMouseFan]

I love all the pictures from Universal. Not somewhere we will get to soon, since I still have one too short to ride on Primeval Whirl. I love HP, but like @LeighM, more the books than the movies. The only draw for me for Universal is HP anyway. Too much Disney in my blood.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Universal! Definitely not Disney, but still very enjoyable!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Yay! We're at Disney!!
We hadn't received a text saying our room was ready, but I decided to go in and ask.


I didn't have time to take many pics because a CM met us and asked what he could do to help us. He checked, and our room was ready!! Not sure why I didn't get a text, but whatever! All of our requests had been met. We were on the top floor facing the water. We went back out to move the car over between the Little Mermaid section and the Lion King section.

It, of course, started to rain as we were unloading the car! Luckily, we finished before the downpour started!
Room pics:










View out the windows:

Cute carpet:




When Brian and I got back from the last trip to the car, Logan said something about the carpet being wet. I just blew him off thinking they had tracked some water in from the rain outside. Well, I finally took my shoes off, and my feet were squishing on the carpet in places! It wasn't everywhere, but there were a couple of spots that were really wet! The rest just felt damp. I guessed that they had probably cleaned the carpet and it just wasn't dry, but I called just to make sure there wasn't a problem. Nobody could tell me for sure, but they assumed it was just from shampooing the carpet as well. They offered to switch rooms, but they didn't have anything close by and I wasn't about to haul all our stuff around again! They assured me they would let housekeeping know so they could try to dry it out. I don't know if they ever did come in and check it out, but it was dry by the time we returned from dinner! They did, however, add 3 FP+ for each of us for MK the next day.

 

[TheMouseFan]

We unpacked and got settled while it continued to rain outside, but it finally stopped about the time we were leaving for dinner. Brian had decided that he didn't want to drive any more than was necessary, so we were off to catch a bus to MK.
Love all the foliage around the Lion King section.







I don't know why, but they were so looking forward to riding the bus!

 

[TheMouseFan]

We had to go through security for MK just to be able to walk to the Contemporary.







Then we caught a boat to Wilderness Lodge.

 

[TheMouseFan]

We had some time before our ADR, so we just wandered around, taking it all in!

 

[TheMouseFan]

More WL:







Finally time for dinner!

This was a first for us! We all loved the food and the whole experience! Everyone decided we would have to return here on our next trip!
We were seatd right in the middle of everything! Our waitress was Billie, and she was fantastic! She was playful, while being efficient at the same time! The kids loved that she threw the napkins and straws at us! Lots of funny banter the whole night.


We all got the skillet. The kids ordered milkshakes. Owen got the caramel, and the other two got chocolate. We all got the gooey chocolate cake for dessert. It was all delicious! However, Brian made sure I knew that the ribs at Thunder Falls Terrace were better!






At one point during the meal, someone dropped a plate or a glass (I think it was actually a customer) and everyone stopped and yelled, "job opening". The boys, Brian included, really got a kick out of this and said it the rest of the trip when something got dropped!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then back out to the boat dock because the kids wanted to see where River Country used to be.













From the Contemporary, we decided to ride the monorail to MK, then catch a bus. It. took. FOREVER! We were all kicking ourselves by the time we finally made it back to AoA! We had the privilege of riding in this from MK to AoA:

We had this type of bus multiple times this trip.

For those counting, this is day 4 of rain!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

You may have me adding whispering canyon to our reservations!! We have eaten there before but never had the skillet, it looks amazing!

 

[TheMouseFan]

You may have me adding whispering canyon to our reservations!! We have eaten there before but never had the skillet, it looks amazing!

It was pretty amazing! I definitely recommend it!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I hope Brian has a quick recovery from the surgery. Wow, all that walking with bad knees, unreal.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

They offer a couple at dinner and a couple at breakfast, but they are only offered on certain days of the week.
Probably no PTR anytime soon. I would love for it to happen, but we have so much going on right now! We went into this trip knowing it would probably be the last for awhile!

I cannot like this.

 

[TheMouseFan]

I hope Brian has a quick recovery from the surgery. Wow, all that walking with bad knees, unreal.

Thanks! He's doing really well. He's been walking on it the last two days and isn't too painful at night! I can't believe he walked the entire two weeks and didn't really complain. I could tell he was hurting and he was a bit slower than he normally is, but not a complaint from him!