Trip Report **completed**Our not so perfect, but good enough July 2021 trip

Hi, all! It took me much longer to get this started than I wanted, but my computer decided it didn't have room for any more of my photos and I had to get an external hard drive and transfer some in order to start! We've also been a little busy getting everything ready for Logan to leave for Iowa in 2 weeks!

So, if you didn't follow along with my PTR, we were supposed to be on a cruise to celebrate Logan's HS graduation, but instead had to switch gears and decided to spend a few days at WDW.

Now, the specifics:
Who: Me (Amy), my husband Brian, Logan (18), Lily (16), and Owen (13)
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Where: Cabana Bay Beach Resort and Pop Century

When: July 11-20, 2021

Why: as I previously mentioned, this trip was to celebrate Logan's HS graduation. He asked for a cruise, so I do have another one scheduled for next June and we quickly threw together the Disney portion of this trip (so I guess we can call this his preliminary graduation trip!!)


We had some truly magical moments on this trip and some definitively un-magical moments as well! Unfortunately, our first day held one of the most un-magical moments.

We drove from Ohio and always try to leave very early to try to avoid as much traffic as possible. We set an alarm for midnight and our goal was to leave the house between 1 and 1:30 am. We were spot on!
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We made a quick stop at McDonald's for Cokes and were on our way. It was smooth sailing all the way to northern Florida. We even made it through Atlanta with no drama or slow downs!!
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Florida was stop and go the whole way, but we still made decent time and were pulling in to Cabana Bay Beach Resort about 4:00 which was about 1-1.5 hours later than we had anticipated, so not too bad! However, that is official check in time, and the parking area was a mess, as was the lobby!
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Luckily, they had sent me an email that allowed me to check in prior to arrival and that line was fairly short! The regular line was wrapped all the way around the lobby and was said to be 2 hours long! Brian dropped me off and found a parking spot that he probably shouldn't have been in to wait for me and sent Logan in to the lobby to guide me back to the car!

Now for the most un-magical moment of our trip! I had booked a 2 bedroom volcano view suite as a surprise for Logan since it was his celebration trip and I thought it would be cool to see the volcano lit up at night and watch all the activity in the park from our room. I paid way more than I normally would for a room, but felt it was a reasonable splurge. Well, we get to our room which happened to be on the second floor and this was our view:
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Yes, that is the back of a service building and the very tip of the volcano!! I don't understand how they can charge the same amount of money for this view as they can for the higher floor rooms (which I did request)! They need a lower partial or obstructed view charge for the rooms on this floor. I did say something and no one cared at all and basically told me to stuff it! Needless to say, we won't be back there any time soon!
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
I love your photos. We're PA season pass holders, but we have never experienced any of the Universal resorts except for going to Emeril's Tchop-Tchop when it was opened. Your perspective of all the Universal resorts is very interesting. I really appreciate it.
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I love your photos. We're PA season pass holders, but we have never experienced any of the Universal resorts except for going to Emeril's Tchop-Tchop when it was opened. Your perspective of all the Universal resorts is very interesting. I really appreciate it.
Thanks for following along!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday, July12 Volcano Bay

Normally, we are up very early and try to be one of the first ones at Volcano Bay because the cabanas are assigned after you get there and we have learned from prior experience that the "good" ones are gone first. However, I had received a call while we were on the road on Sunday from Universal. I almost didn't answer since I didn't recognize the number and it showed as potential spam, then I realized the area code was 407 and maybe I should answer it. It was someone confirming our info for the cabana (any food allergies or other special accommodations that we needed, etc) and asking which section of the park we would like to be in. I told her that we had been in the same one the past two years and loved the location. She had me describe it and assured me that we would be in that one again since I was the first call she had made that day! So, we got to sleep a little later and not rush around so much. I still got some grumbling when I made us leave the room at 8:30 for a 9:00 opening, but not as much as I would have expected! There was already quite a big crowd waiting to enter through the private Cabana Bay entrance.

It was a beautiful day!
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Pictures while we waited and on our way to the cabana:
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The views from our cabana:
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Details from the day are not clear, as they do not allow you to have cameras on any of the slides or tube rides, only the lazy and fearless rivers and the wave pool and I failed to take any notes, so this will mostly be a miscellaneous picture narrative of our day! I do know that we started out on the Krakatau water coaster which is my absolute favorite, then Owen, Lily, and I rode again while Brian and Logan went to do the big drop slide, Ko'okiri body plunge. Lily and Owen ended up doing that one later in the day after they got a little braver!

Here we are before leaving the cabana:
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You get a nice breakfast platter as part of the price of the cabana, as well as a refrigerator full of water bottles, towels to use, a safe, and the TapuTapu station to reserve your spots in the virtual queues instead of having to walk to each attraction to do it.
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Some pics from the wave pool:
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A few last pics of the Fearless River:
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Then we exited and Lily and Owen rode a few slides while I waited since I had the camera with me and they wouldn't let me take it on the slide.
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We met up with Brian and Logan and decided it was time for lunch. Logan got pizza, Lily got mac and cheese, and Brian, Owen, and I got hot dogs on pretzel buns with pineapple salsa. We took it back to the cabana to eat, and made it just in time before the sky opened up and the heavens started rumbling! We were very grateful to be in the cabana at that point! We had to close the curtains to keep the wind and rain out.
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Unfortunately, the rain lasted about 2 hours. It started to let up some after about an hour and we were able to open up our curtains.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The rain finally stopped, but we kept hearing thunder and seeing lightning, so they still wouldn't allow anyone in the water. We decided to check out the stores and get some ice cream while we waited.
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Sorry for the blurry ice cream pics, but Logan, Owen, Brian, and I got the Waturi Fusion which is a combination of banana, strawberry, blue raspberry, lime, etc and Lily got chocolate with sprinkles.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Then Brian and I heard some team members talking about a "code blue" which we deciphered to mean they were about to open the rides again, so we hurried back to the cabana to get the kids ready. We went our own ways for some of the slides, then we all went on the lazy river together and spent a little time in the wave pool. We did not stay until closing because the wind was picking up and the skies were looking ominous again.

A few pics on the way back to the room:
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The lobby of our tower:
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