Trip Report From Snowy Skies to a Big Suprise – 8 Days, 6 Parks, 3 Hotels and 1 Empty Wallet (COMPLETED)

Introduction – This will be a summary trip report, hitting the highlights of our combination Universal-Disney trip spanning April 28 – May 6, 2018 (the latter half of which the kids didn’t know about ahead of time!).

Pretrip Report here: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...-surprise-an-april-may-pretrip-report.939963/.

If you want to skip over Universal and go straight to the Disney World leg, scroll down to Day 4.

And now, without further ado... (Here's the last page of our countdown clipboard from the kitchen, so it must be time to go!)


[Every day beginning a month before we left, we took a number off of the countdown clipboard, counting down from 30 to 0, and read a slip of paper from the Mason Jar, which had photos and descriptions of various Universal attractions and restaurants, along with details about our hotel. We thought it would be a good way to educate the kids about Universal ahead of time.]

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 1 (Hard Rockin’ with Harry Potter):

After a 7:40am flight from Syracuse Hancock International Airport, the four of us (DH, me, 11-year-old DS and 9-year-old DD) were disembarking in Orlando around 10:30am. Given that we’d had snow in Upstate NY just a week earlier (more snow would fall while we were gone), the warm, humid breezes were a welcome change. We exchanged our jeans for shorts and switched our phones off of airplane mode, just in time to see a text from our pre-arranged towncar driver – Kamel of the aptly-named Orlando Airport Towncar Service – that he’d be waiting for us at Baggage Claim. While we had no baggage to claim (we travel carryon-only), we were happy to “claim” Kamel, who was standing at the foot of the escalators, ready to lead us to the private car pickup area, where a big, shiny SUV (a free upgrade from the towncar we’d booked) was waiting to whisk us away to Universal. We’d never been to this area of the airport before, and we felt, as my son put it, like “fancy people.”


[Can you believe my giant teeth fit on ride vehicles? I tuck 'em in and they do!]

We stayed onsite, at Universal’s Hard Rock Hotel (one of the three that offers the Unlimited Express Pass benefit). While our room was a simple “standard” 2-queen (4039), we found the layout to be the most convenient of any hotel we’ve ever stayed with. The split bathroom had an additional sink in the tub-and-toilet area, so that anyone using the toilet could wash their hands immediately, and my husband could shave in the morning at the same time I was doing hair/makeup in the vanity area. There was a large closet and a little minibar setup (mini-refrigerator inside a cabinet with a storage drawer, with a countertop for the Keurig coffeemaker and accoutrements, and shelves above for glasses) that offered much-needed food storage and coffee prep space.

The two queen beds were very comfortable and there was plenty of room to move around them on every side. All of our luggage could be stacked in front of the connecting door to keep it out of the way, there was an abundance of chairs in the room (two for lounging, two at a “desk” perfect for the kids to eat breakfast and do homework), and the dresser had four large drawers. There was also a lighted alarm clock, something I really miss from most hotels nowadays, as I hate having to stumble around in the dark and find my phone if I wake up in the night and want to know what time it is.

Housekeeping did a terrific job, everything was in working order, and they even put out a complimentary piece of birthday cake to welcome my daughter, whose upcoming birthday I had noted on our reservation. The pool was sprawling, with enough lounge chairs that we never had trouble finding a seat, a help-yourself iced-water stand, and servers constantly circulating to take food and drink orders (meaning I could keep two eyes on the kids in the pool at all times, and still not go hungry or thirsty). We received speedy service-with-a-smile from everyone we met. It was a lovely, flawless stay and we were utterly delighted with our accommodations.

But back to our arrival: our room wasn’t ready at check-in, so we decided to hang around for a little while, have lunch, and see if it might be available by the time we were finished eating. We picked up our Annual Passes from the Concierge desk (we bought Seasonal Annual Passes instead of 4-day 2-Park Park-to-Park Passes, because they were the same price and ended up saving us 20% on our hotel thanks to the passholder discount), got our lanyards situated, and schlepped out to the poolside bar (the BeachClub Bar & Grill) with our baggage to grab some lunch, and to laugh at how our pasty-white “winter legs,” exposed to the world for the first time since last September, were so bright in the Florida sunshine that we practically had to don sunglasses to look at them safely.

Lunch at the BeachClub was excellent – at the server’s recommendation, we all ordered onion rings with our sandwiches, and they were huge and super-crisp. Even after lingering over our meal, our room wasn’t ready yet, so we left our bags with Bell Services and strolled over to Universal Studios Florida – a walk which was, as advertised, no more than 5 minutes.

The evening was spent exploring the west side of Universal Studios Florida, helping the kids select interactive wands so they could do the spells in Diagon Alley, taking the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure to do the spells in Hogsmeade, and then working our way through the east side of Islands of Adventure, to the entrance. (While splitting the parks this way was an efficient way to tour, it really confused us later, and we had trouble remembering which attractions belonged to which park.)

Thanks to the large proportion of 3D shows and simulators, I discovered that I am now officially “old” and that my eyes are degenerating at different rates: I kept having to shift my 3D glasses forward from my left eye, and closer toward my right, in order to see anything clearly. While we came to understand why many guests think Universal places undue reliance on screen-based attractions, we were impressed nonetheless. Even if there’s a disproportionate number of simulators, we still thought, with the exception of the new “Fast & Furious” offering, that they were well done, and probably the most efficient use of Universal’s tiny acreage. In particular, I thought that Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey was spectacular, and compared favorably to Disney’s Flight of Passage, which we would experience later in the week. The theming of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was awe-inspiring throughout, and we could have spent hours (had we had a few to spare) browsing the store windows and shelves to find all the clever references to J.K. Rowling’s work.

Both parks closed early for a Grad Night, so at 6pm we headed to our dinner reservation on CityWalk at Antojitos Authentic Mexican. On the up-side, the food was delicious (the kids had tacos, and DH and I had a steak fajita platter for two that used surprisingly high-quality, tender steak) and the tableside-prepared guacamole appetizer was so good that I could have made a meal of it all by itself. The only hiccup was that one of the primary reasons we had wanted to eat here was the live mariachi band, and it never took the stage. While on an ordinary night DH and I would have ordered a round of margaritas and lingered in hopes of seeing it, the kids were tired and anxious to try out the Hard Rock Hotel pool (in all fairness, they had been up since before 5:00am that morning), so we headed out as soon as the bill was paid, to claim our baggage and get situated in our room.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 2 (Butterbeers and Broomsticks):

Our second day at Universal was devoted to finishing up all we’d missed the first day: this time, we started at Islands of Adventure and finished with Universal Studios Florida. Lunch was at The Three Broomsticks, and our meals (fish and chips, turkey legs and salads) were very good, and worth the 20-minute wait to get inside and order. We followed them up with some delicious frozen Butterbeers, and then retraced our steps to hit the attractions we most wished to repeat, like King Kong, Revenge of the Mummy, Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, Transformers, Men In Black: Alien Attack, and the Simpsons Ride.

Dinner was at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium on CityWalk, and included a visit to our table by the charming steampunk proprietress and her robot assistant, and some of the delicious specialty milkshakes we’d read so much about. (DH ordered the Key Lime shake, which came with an entire slice of key lime pie on top). The family loved the theming and I appreciated the breadth of the menu, although my duck flatbread was bit bland. Still, worth a return visit!

After dinner, we went back to Islands of Adventure to see what the park looked like at night. The kids asked for another ride on "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey," so we headed to Hogsmeade. Unfortunately, we did not realize that a showing of the Hogwarts Projection show (Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle) was about to start, and found ourselves trapped in the center of Hogsmeade in a giant glut of people. (This group had missed getting into the castle courtyard area to see the show that was just starting, and was being held back by park employees. Once that show ended, they would empty the courtyard from the other direction, over the bridge toward Jurassic Park, and then let this crowd in to see the next show.)

It was frustrating to be stuck there when all we wanted was to get to Forbidden Journey, but the show (which we couldn't see -- the rooftops of Hogsmeade obscured it completely) was over in a few short minutes. Once the crowd began to push forward, we grabbed each other's hands, shifted as far to the left as we possibly could and snaked around the wave of people, finally arriving at Forbidden Journey with no more than mild jostling. Given that 99% of the folks in the courtyard were there to stake out spaces for the projections (and in so doing, were all but blocking access to Forbidden Journey to anyone else), Forbidden Journey was an easy walk-on, and was just as much fun as the first time. (I'm particularly impressed by the way Forbidden Journey blends 3D screens with real physical sets and animatronic elements, like the whomping willow and the dementors). The kids also did 2 or 3 walk-on repeats of Flight of the Hippogriff.

By the time they came out, DH and I realized that we were "trapped" again, as the courtyard was now chock full with projection show spectators standing elbow-to-elbow. So we decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," and stayed for the Nighttime Lights, which ended up being really cool, and had us all cheering for our "houses" by the end.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 3 (Typhoons and Tyrannasauruses):

Never having visited any Orlando water park before but anxious to try, we had initially thought we might spend this day at Universal’s Volcano Bay. However, after the initial poor reviews of the park improved only slightly over the ensuing months, we decided to opt for the similarly-priced Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon instead. We Lyft-ed over, arriving much earlier than we’d expected (just before 9am, over an hour before the park was to open).

I used some of that extra time to sneak away from DH and the kids and take care of some top-secret business at the Guest Services window. We’d purchased 6-day MYW tickets from Undercover Tourist several months prior, but since that time, our vacation plans had changed to include a waterpark visit, a planned morning at Fantasia Gardens, and a desire for park hopping. While those items would cost us over $625 a la carte, we had figured out that we could accomplish all the same things by upgrading our existing tickets to Parkhopper Plus for just $425 – but only if we could “price bridge” and pay the difference between the current gate prices for 6-day MYW and 6-day Parkhopper Plus tickets. In so doing, we would also be able to preserve the $150 discount we’d gotten by purchasing through Undercover Tourist in the first place. Although I’d heard that not all CMs know how to do price bridging, and that in some cases tickets must be used for a park admission at least once before it can be done, the CM at Typhoon Lagoon knew exactly what I was asking for, and completed the multi-step process in no time.

There was a brief moment of panic when I handed the kids their ticket cards to enter Typhoon Lagoon, and my daughter actually bothered to scrutinize the itty-bitty words above the barcode on the back that said “6 day MYW” and asked if that meant we had 6-day tickets! I managed to straight-facedly convince her that the number 6 must be part of a ticket code, because of course, all I’d purchased were 1-day waterpark tickets. (Whew – she believed me, and our secret was safe for one more day!)

We had a fabulous morning at Typhoon Lagoon – we did everything, many slides twice. I’m afraid I still have water up my nose and spandex lodged in unmentionable places, thanks to the Humunga Cowabunga, which briefly turned my G-rated tankini into an NC-17 situation. Although it was a gorgeous, sunny day, everything was a walk-on until after noon. I did make one regrettable mistake – I was so caught up in my relaxed vacation mindset that I failed to take account of the tendonitis in my left foot that sidelined me for weeks last fall, and made the bad decision to walk around barefoot instead of in supportive sandals. I switched back to appropriate footwear by afternoon and for the remaining 6 days of our trip, but the damage was done: the rest of my daily 10-12 mile-per-day treks on this vacation would be undertaken with a painful limp, and I’ve been forced to don The Walking Boot of Shame ever since we got back home.

But my old-and-busted-ness was far from my mind when we showered up and left Typhoon Lagoon to hop the bus to Disney Springs for lunch at T-REX.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

… and now, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the Landry’s Select Club card I got a few weeks before we traveled (which costs nothing in the aggregate – you pay $25 to enroll, but you get a $25 “Welcome” reward credited to your bill the first time you present the card at a Landry’s restaurant). Membership supposedly included reservation-free priority seating, so with a laugh-in-the-face-of-death sense of exhilaration, DH and I chose not to make an ADR for our intended meal at Landry’s-owned T-REX. After watching the family ahead of us nope out of the 30-minute estimated wait quoted by the gentleman at the T-REX reception podium, we stepped up with some trepidation, presented our Landry’s card, requested a table in the Ice Room if one happened to be available, and assured him that we were happy to wait as long as necessary. Suddenly, and with all the urgency of a Secret Service member arranging an impromptu Presidential visit, the receptionist whipped out a walkie-talkie and radioed into the restaurant to demand that the “next available table in the Ice Room be immediately reserved for a party of Landry’s Select Club members.” We were seated within five minutes, at a table that looked to be the best one in the place. The manager personally stopped by to thank us for being Landry’s Select members and inquire about whether we were satisfied with our meals! (We were: T-REX may not exactly be fine dining, but my Turkey Cobb salad was very good, and DH and the kids enjoyed their burgers, which were juicy and prepared to order.) My husband and I kept looking at each other in disbelief, as if to ask, “They do realize we aren’t celebrities, don’t they?” The Landry’s Select card was a giant win-win, and not having to make or keep an ADR added much-appreciated flexibility to our day. I can’t recommend it enough!

[Now back to our show…]

After lunch, we strolled to the extreme end of Disney Springs and Lyfted back to the Hard Rock Hotel for naps and pool time. DH wanted to try out The Kitchen for dinner, probably because it was the only onsite option with air-conditioning. Although our server was great, ours was one of only three occupied tables in the entire place, even at 6pm. Our food didn’t arrive with any particular speed, and portion sizes (I had the shrimp tacos) were a bit meager for the price. There was nothing to complain about here, but I wouldn’t hurry back.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 4 (Lying and Leaving in Orlando):

This was (or so the kids thought) our last day in Florida. After a lazy morning of sleepwarm snuggles and trip recapping in bed, we stopped by CityWalk’s new Voodoo Doughnut for breakfast. We all loved the irreverent, colorful décor and creative doughnuts. I ordered the Memphis Mafia, a banana fritter covered with chocolate and peanut butter drizzle, roughly the size of my head. It was rich and delicious, but sadly I was not remotely able to finish it, even with help. After breakfast, we stopped by Universal Florida for a couple of “last rides” (The Mummy for my son, Despicable Me for my daughter), and then trekked back to the hotel before 11am to check out.

A few minutes later, the kids were standing glumly at the door of our hotel room, luggage in hand, ready to go “catch a rideshare to the airport” when I asked them to go back and check their dresser drawers one more time, to “make sure you didn’t leave anything.” My son opened his drawer first, and saw a tiny gift bag with his name on it. Both kids examined it, confused. I prompted my daughter to check her drawer as well, where she found an identical bag. They simultaneously pulled out the contents of their bags and unwrapped the tissue paper to find… MagicBands (with custom decals from MagicYourBand.com, which had been a customer appreciation gift from David’s Vacation Rentals)… and then went silent for a split second. While DS didn’t immediately catch on (he stared at the MagicBand and said slowly, “Did you get me a bracelet?”), DD flung herself on the nearest bed so she could bury her face in a pillow, and began screaming joyously, “DIIIIFFFFNEEEEY! WE’RE BOINB DOO DIIIIIFNEEEY!” Then she jumped up and began hugging and kissing DH and me with wild abandon. By now, DS had caught on and tried his best to play it cool, saying with a smile, “Heeeeeeey, you guys are GOOD LIARS!”

After a couple of minutes of celebration and some mild interrogation (“So you mean the itinerary card you made for today with a flight on it was FAKE! And you packed us extra clothes and breakfast stuff in another bag? And the pet-sitter and our grandparents knew the whole time! How did you do that!??!”), we were on our way, grabbing a LyftXL to the Beach Club.

The Beach Club was even more beautiful – and the layout even more strange and confusing – in person than in the videos I’d watched on Youtube ahead of time. We had received a room-ready text (studio 410) shortly before we arrived, but we wandered around the grounds for about 15 minutes – walking nearly the entire way around the villas building, with all of our bags in tow, but unable to find a way in – before we stumbled upon the correct entrance.

The room was clean and attractive (if a bit bland) and everything was in working order, but the Beach Club studio villa layout does leave a lot to be desired. The designers clearly put some thought into creatively adding as much sleeping space as possible into a small 356 SF room (a standard, non-DVC room in the Beach Club is about 30SF bigger), but apparently they never considered whether the room would be functional once those sleeping spaces were utilized. Once you unfold the sofa bed, there’s no place to put the giant cushions except for on the floor, wedged in front of the balcony doors or wedged between the queen bed and the wall (they don’t fit under the unfolded sofa), nor is there anywhere to slide the coffee table except between the sofa and balcony, making both the balcony and the coffee table drawers inaccessible. Once the Murphy bed is folded down, you lose the room’s one tiny table and have to shove the chairs into the corners, where they block access to the Murphy bed console drawers. Thus, by the simple act of using the sleeping spaces that are provided, the room becomes an unsightly mess of wall-to-wall furniture and displaced sofa cushions, with access to all of the bedroom-area storage drawers blocked and no room to move around – much like the average living room looks when the kids have rearranged it to play, “the floor is lava”! Also, my morning ritual of a quiet cup of coffee on the balcony was not to be: in addition to the fact that the balcony doors were blocked by furniture, beyond the trees that comprised our “view” was a noisy, roaring roadway that made relaxation on the balcony impossible.

While this room review sounds a bit doom-and-gloom, the spatial issues were ones we knew about ahead of time, and we still enjoyed our stay. Trying out the Beach Club at least once was worth it for the proximity to HS and Epcot, and since we were only there three nights and weren’t spending much time in the room, there wasn’t much time to get frustrated with the cramped room layout (especially knowing that after we checked out, we’d be moving to the Polynesian, in a studio that was 30% roomier).

Once the room was settled, we stopped by Hurricane Hanna’s for lunch. I had the Seafood Roll, which was really good, and really stuffed: definitely a fork-and-knife kind of sandwich!

After lunch, we ambled out to the dock and took a Friendship Boat to Hollywood Studios, where we had Fastpasses for Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and Star Tours, and a dinner reservation at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. We skipped the shows (except for Indy, DH’s favorite), Toy Story Midway Mania (which wasn’t offering FP+ and down to one track with 60+ minute waits), and the Tower of Terror (we appreciate the theming, but nobody in the family enjoys “drop”-style attractions), and had done all of the other attractions, along with the Star Wars film and some gift shop browsing, by dinnertime. We’d never been to Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater before, and we got a huge kick out of the theming. Our wait to be seated was only about 10 minutes, and the food was satisfactory (I won’t even bother discussing it in detail, as the menu completely changed a couple of days later!) Our service was speedy, although as fast as it was, we still saw the too-short movie preview “loop” more than once before we left.

The night was still young and I was able to find us a Soarin’ FP+, so we took the bus to Epcot, where I texted my sister (she was visiting Disney World this week with her husband and two kids, and this was their Epcot day). They met up with us near the Soarin’ exit, and the four cousins had an adorable reunion, as my sister’s children had no idea my family would be visiting Disney World until that moment. They were about to head back to their hotel, but we all rode Spaceship Earth together first. After swapping stories and spending some time on the games near the exit, we said goodbye for a couple of days, when we’d be seeing each other for dinner, and headed for our separate Epcot exits. Illuminations was just beginning as we headed through World Showcase, so we got to enjoy the lights and music as we made our way out, and the walk back to the Beach Club (now that we knew how to get into our building) was quick and easy.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 5 (Yawns and Yetis):

I happened to wake up 90 minutes early this particular morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I grabbed my “lowbrow laundry kit” (a sandwich bag with a couple of detergent pods and dryer sheets from home) and our laundry bag of dirty clothes, and padded a few doors down the hall to use the complimentary DVC laundry room. Located near the elevators on the 4th floor of the Villas, it was a nice big room with 2 washers, 2 dryers, 2 comfy chairs and a big folding table. By the time DH and the kids were up and eating breakfast, I was showered, dressed and caffeinated, and our prior 4 days-worth of clothes had been washed, dried, and folded back into packing cubes to be reworn.

We stopped downstairs for a game of pool in the Villas’ family lounge (which was deserted every time we passed it), and then walked down the boardwalk over to Fantasia Gardens, beyond the Swan & Dolphin. It’s the most attractive and whimsical mini-golf course we’ve ever seen: DH and I played there back in 2005 (pre-kids), so it was fun to go back with the children and see their reactions. It was nearing lunchtime by the time we returned to the Beach Club (and the walk back had seemed unexpectedly long and arduous in the growing heat), so we changed into swimsuits and spent some time at Stormalong Bay. I tried in vain to keep an eye on the kids as they bounced between the slide (which is in a fenced area separate from the pool, across a walkway), the lazy river, the sand “beach” and the pool proper, but the pool’s sprawling layout and large theming elements (including several bridges, mounds of rockwork, and a lighthouse) made it frustratingly impossible. While I understand others’ love for Stormalong Bay, it was just too chaotic for my taste, and the fencing reminded me of the local county correctional facility. (Boy, I sound like a ray of sunshine, don’t I?)

As it was only steps away, lunch was, once again, at Hurricane Hanna’s. I had the Buffalo chicken wrap this time, and it was terrific: nice and spicy, and served with bleu cheese. (I used to live in Buffalo, where bleu cheese dressing is the canon condiment for Buffalo chicken – I realize that much of the country likes it with Ranch, but most Buffalonians consider such a pairing to be heretical and strange, akin to topping a fine steak with chocolate pudding). In fact, DH ordered it too, for the second time, as he’d enjoyed it so much the previous day.

After lunch, we showered, changed, and hopped a bus to the Animal Kingdom where we had evening Fastpasses for Flight of Passage. (Incidentally, we had wonderful luck with transportation this trip – we never waited for a bus or boat for more than 5 minutes at any park or resort. Monorail waits averaged more like 8-10 minutes.) We saw Festival of the Lion King (which never ceases to impress), said “no thank you” to the 50-minute wait for Kilimanjaro Safari (a CM said there’d been some issues with animals blocking the road, which had caused a giant backup) and did It’s Tough To Be a Bug, the Gorilla Falls trail, Kali River Rapids, and Expedition Everest (with FP+).

Dinner was at Landry’s-owned Yak & Yeti, where once again, our Landry’s Select card worked its magic. While the waiting area was packed to overflowing, we waltzed in with no ADR and were seated within 5 minutes at a beautiful table in a side room upstairs all painted in green, near a window with a view of the walkway and foliage outside. Service was stellar and the manager came by to welcome us personally. We’d never eaten there before, but Yak & Yeti ended up being, hands-down, our favorite meal of the trip. We started with the [huge, delicious and inventive] Ahi Tuna Nachos – a mountain of fried won-tons covered in seared tuna, shredded greens, onions, soy glaze and wasabi aioli. For dinner, I had the Firecracker Shrimp (an appetizer of spicy shrimp served on a large bed of shredded lettuce – I just tossed it together and ate it like a salad, as my entrée) and DH had the melt-in-your-mouth Korean Beef. We washed them down with a shared Yak Attack frozen cocktail. The kids had chicken tenders, and specialty slushes in souvenir panda cups. The portions at Yak & Yeti were huge, the dishes were attractively presented, and our food was superb in every way.

[SIDE NOTE: My son, who is 11, asked our server if he could order from the kids’ menu and she said “of course.” We had warned him that he might not be allowed to do it and should have an adult meal picked out as a back-up plan, but he had no issues. In fact, he was permitted to order from the kids’ menu at all of the a la carte TS restaurants where he asked to do so. Whether this was reflective of a property-wide policy or just several permissive servers, I can’t say.]

After dinner, we headed to Avatarland to explore and ride Flight of Passage (with FP+), which everybody loved. The “night lights” were just coming on in Pandora as we left and headed over to Dinosaur, Triceratop Spin and Primeval Whirl. By this time we were only minutes away from the first Rivers of Light show, so we hurried over to see if there were seats left. (There were.) I enjoyed the show, which was serene and pretty and a nice way to end the evening, although not so entertaining that I’d rush to see it again -- in hindsight, I think we'd have enjoyed the time even more had we returned to Avatarland to re-experience it in the dark. Something for next time...

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 6 (A Journey To Fajitas):

Today was an Extra Magic Hour morning at Epcot, and we were excited for the convenience of entering the park through the International Gateway. We arrived at Bag Check around 7:35am, were through 10 minutes later (one of my secret talents is “always picking the slowest line”), and were then held at a rope by the bridge until 8:00am exactly, when we were quietly released and headed around World Showcase.

Although it looked like those arriving from the front entrance had had a slight head start on us, and despite having lost quite a bit of ground to dozens of faster-moving folks as we headed toward Norway, Frozen Ever After was still a walk-on when we got there, and I was relieved to get it done with a minimum of fuss.

Although we’d intended to do Test Track next, it was already “down” when we arrived, with no re-opening time estimated. We half-heartedly decided to head across the park to Soarin’, but just as we neared Innoventions a couple of uniformed Test Track CMs came walking toward us, helpfully calling, “You can head back if you want! We just got the call! We’re back open!” We did an about-face and sprinted back to Test Track, just in time to see the Standby Wait Time sign get turned back on and the CMs at the gate re-open the attraction. We were able to walk right on. After Test Track, we did Mission:Space (with FP+ -- unnecessary but we needed to “burn” one as early as possible), The Seas With Nemo, the aquarium (the kids and I burst into a spontaneous chorus of the VeggieTales Song “Barbara Manatee” in the manatee exhibit), Living With the Land (which, hilariously, was our longest wait of the day at Epcot – nearly 10 whole minutes!), Soarin’ (with FP+), and Journey Into Imagination (with FP+). While I’d initially planned for us to spend the whole day at Epcot, our “to do” list was already completed, so at the kids’ request, I hopped on MDE and made a 4th FP+ for Space Mountain for that evening.

After stops at Club Cool and the Mexico Pavilion (the Coco exhibit was really beautiful, and the Fiesta del Tempo boat ride is always a pleasant diversion), we headed to our lunch ADR at another new-to-us venue, Via Napoli. I’ve read enough reviews of the place to know that service speed and pizza quality can be very inconsistent here, but we were fortunate. Our server, Daniella, was very attentive, and our meal was delicious. The kids weren’t in a pizza mood and ordered spaghetti and meatballs from the kids’ menu. DH and I ordered a large “Daily Special” pizza to share, the San Gennaro, which was a white pizza topped with sausage, onions, hot cherry peppers, tomatoes, mozzarella and provolone. We also ordered a salad for three, which was much larger than we expected, and was served quasi-Cobb-style, with the toppings chopped fine and arranged in a colorful spoke pattern on top of the greens. DH and I shared a red wine flight, which had four different selections. We swished, sniffed, sampled and discussed the merits of each in our classiest tones (my stepmother was an international wine judge for years, so we know the nomenclature). Then we dropped all pretense and took unrefined swigs of the four wines at random throughout the rest of the meal, like the rednecks we are at heart! When our pizza arrived, it was a thing of beauty – the toppings were even, the crust crisp and light, and the cheese perfectly milky, silky and salty… we were in heaven. We left incredibly full, with leftovers in hand and no room for dessert. Overall, a terrific meal (sorry for the bad photo).

We made a “nap attempt” back at the Beach Club before taking the bus to the Magic Kingdom. We started with Space Mountain and the Peoplemover, and worked our way over to the Haunted Mansion, which the kids each asked to ride by themselves “so it will be scarier.”

We had dinner at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Café. (I had half-jokingly suggested boycotting it as a response to the Guacamolegate upcharge scandal, but I was overruled.) DH and I split a fajita platter with extra tortillas ($3.99 for three tortillas, yikes!), and the kids had tacos and churros. By the time DH and I had each added our desired items from the toppings bar, we couldn’t finish the whole fajita platter between the two of us. Our dinner for four, even with the kids splurging on churros, ended up costing a grand total of $44. Unlimited guacamole or no, I can’t deny that Pecos Bill’s is a fan favorite for a reason, and that there’s a lot of value to be had there if you order selectively.

The rest of the evening, we sort of meandered, with no particular plan (to the point where none of us has a clear memory of which attractions and shops we went to -- sorry, it's post-vacation fog!) Suffice it to say we eventually made it back to the Beach Club and tumbled into our beds, as that's where we found ourselves the next morning.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 7 (Check Out, Check On and Check In):

This was an Extra Magic Hour morning, but as we’d already “done” part of the Magic Kingdom the night before, we didn’t rush to arrive by rope drop. Instead, we took our time packing up our room at the Beach Club, left our bags with Bell Services for transfer to the Polynesian, and arrived at the Magic Kingdom about 8:50am. We did Seven Dwarves’ Mine Train (with FP+), Dumbo, the Barnstormer, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, it’s a small world, and the Haunted Mansion. After pausing to browse Memento Mori (DD picked out an HM-wallpaper-design baseball cap as a souvenir), we took in the Muppets “Great Moments in American History” show (one of the most charming and underrated little shows in all of Disney, in DH's and my opinions), Mickey’s Philharmagic, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (with FP+), and Splash Mountain (with FP+).

We opted for lunch at Columbia Harbor House. I had a lobster roll (which, incidentally, contained huge pieces of lobster that were bigger and more expertly cooked than what I’d get at the California Grill two days later), DH had the salmon, DS had the kids’ garden salad with chicken, and DD had an Uncrustables PB&J sandwich. (She’s a crust-hater from way back.) We had a great corner table upstairs, where we could enjoy some relative peace and quiet in air-conditioned comfort.

After lunch, we did the Country Bear Jamboree, the Country Bear roaming meet-and-greets (the kids ran into Liver Lips and Big Al and had to meet them, and DS bought a souvenir Coonskin Cap from Big Al’s namesake merchandise cart while we were in the neighborhood), the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, the Jungle Cruise (with a 4th FP+) and the Enchanted Tiki Room. By this point, the parade route was starting to be blocked off and crowds were lining the walkways. Nobody felt like staying for it, so in order to “get out while the gettin’s good,” we made our way through the Main Street, U.S.A. centipede-of-shops and to the monorail station to head to the Polynesian, where we’d be checking in for two nights and having dinner.

We arrived at the Polynesian around 3:00pm. Although I had checked in online, I hadn’t received any texts from the hotel (not even a “your room is not ready yet” text), so I inquired at the desk. The CM told me that she wasn’t sure why we hadn’t gotten any communiques, but that our studio was, in fact, ready. I had asked for a studio in Tokelau: instead, we were given one in Moorea (3009), but once we got to the room and saw what a beautiful view we had (a scenic, quiet walkway totally surrounded by tropical plants and flowers), we wouldn’t have wanted to stay anywhere else. We called Bell Services and they whisked our luggage up to us in minutes, so we had plenty of time to relax, refresh ourselves, and just enjoy the beauty of our surroundings before our 5:00pm dinner reservation. DH and I spent much of that time just sitting quietly on the balcony and livin’ the dream, while the kids explored the room (“Did you guys know there are TWO BATHROOMS!??”) and watched some T.V. (“Hey Mom and Dad, have you heard of this new show, Ducktales? It’s pretty good…”) Staying at the Polynesian has been a "bucket list" item of DH's and mine, and it was even more beautiful and relaxing and "special"-feeling than we had imagined!

[Moorea Entryway Seating Area]

[Standard Studio]

Dinner was at ‘Ohana, and it was our one “joint dinner reservation” with my sister and her family, who were meeting us there. They’d never been to ‘Ohana before, and we had recommended it based on our own terrific prior experiences, and were later a bit embarrassed that we had.

First and foremost, our table location was the worst: near the loud waiting area and lobby, situated next to the second floor bathrooms and walkway and an open kitchen, all of which were so noisy that we had to yell at each other to be heard. Our appetizer platter arrived quickly, but was cold and had been sitting for so long that the lo mein had congealed into a single, solid ball, and the pot stickers were dried-out and hard. To make matters worse, just as we began eating somebody threw up all over the ladies’ room, just a few feet away from us, on the other side of the tiki heads and urns of bamboo that passed for a makeshift wall between our table and the public toilets. Several ladies poured out of the bathroom, one retching audibly at the smell and calling to the ‘Ohana podium attendant to summon somebody for an urgent clean-up. One of these restroom refugees even barked out a helpful description of the location, color and amount of vomit they were talking about, as we silently tried to choke down our stir-fry an arms-length away.

We thought things would start to look up once the tasty (and hot!) skewer meats arrived and the live entertainment started (not that we ever saw it, since it was taking place in the center of the restaurant and not over by the bathrooms, but thanks to the microphone we could hear it at least). To his credit, one of our two servers seemed to devote himself to trying to turn our experience around – in the service equivalent of a Hail Mary pass, he not only brought us the bread pudding dessert, but followed it with unsolicited plates of Rice Krispie treats and mini-cupcakes (with a candle for my daughter to blow out – her birthday was the next day).

While our meal ended on a high note thanks to that server, the bulk of our ‘Ohana experience was as cold and off-putting as our gelatinous clump of lo mein.

[BONUS FEATURES: But WAIT – you’re reading the Director’s Cut of this trip report, and it contains an alternate ending! After we got back home, I composed an e-mail to Disney Guest Services with feedback about the ‘Ohana seating area. I suggested that the tables situated at the extreme end of the restaurant where we’d been seated not only didn’t provide an ideal experience for guests, but were sure to disappoint most of them, thanks to the combination of lobby noise, kitchen noise, distance from the entertainment, and inadequately-concealed proximity to the public restrooms (so close that we were “privy” – pun intended – to everything that was happening in there). While I’d have been satisfied with a cursory response saying, “sorry, that sucks, and maybe we’ll think about putting a real wall there instead of tiki heads and foliage,” Disney did me one better. Two days later, I received a very gracious message from a Guest Services rep, apologizing for our experience, thanking me for my feedback and offering me a $150 Disney eGift card – essentially returning over a third of the $400+ cost for our meal, even if I can only re-spend it with Disney – which I accepted with thanks. It’s okay, ‘Ohana. We’re good now. And next time, I’ll work up the courage to ask for a different table in the first place so we won’t have this problem.]

After we left ‘Ohana (with extra Rice Krispie treats in a take-out box, thanks again to the superlative efforts our server, who we made sure to tip accordingly), my sister and her family suggested a return to the Magic Kingdom, where they hoped to repeat their previous night’s feat of repeatedly re-riding Seven Dwarves Mine Train as a walk-on throughout Happily Ever After. We “only” were able to do it three times (they’d done it five the night before), thanks to the fact that crowds were heavier: with each day, the property was becoming more and more flooded with bouncing cheerleaders and their [inexplicably tarted-up] mothers attending an event at ESPN that week. After a magical nighttime ride on the Carrousel, we headed back to our comfy beds at the Polynesian.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 8 (Nothing Says “Happy Birthday” Like French Toast and Fireworks!)

Since we’d been up relatively late the night before, and because it was now, officially, DD’s birthday, we took things easy this morning. I made coffee while DH ran over to Captain Cook’s for two takeout orders of Tonga Toast (which were more than enough for the four of us to share), and we ate them in the room in our jammies. Mid-morning, we headed to the resort’s “Volcano Pool.” It was awesome, and along with the Mayan pyramid-themed pool at Coronado Springs, now tops the list of my favorite WDW pools. Although the pool is not huge and presumably gets overrun during high-crowd times, we got to enjoy it with only about 50 other people, so there was plenty of space in the pool, in the hot tub, on the shaded lounge chairs, etc. After having a good swim and a soak in the hot tub, and while the kids were enjoying the pool slide, DH and I ordered a couple of Bloody Meles (a Bloody Mary seasoned with Sriracha instead of cayenne pepper sauce) from the poolside bar to sip on as we dripped dry.

We had lunch at Captain Cook’s, which lived up to its good reputation with some tasty, fresh sandwiches and salads, and then went back to the room to change for our evening’s festivities at the Magic Kingdom. It was around this time that the sky started to cloud over and rain began, on and off. (By the next day, we’d have a near-constant deluge.)

We returned to the Magic Kingdom (thanks to the pouring rain, it was unofficially “Poncho Kingdom”) for the evening, doing Seven Dwarves Mine Train (with FP+), the Mad Tea Party, Winnie the Pooh (we lucked into it, having stumbled upon it as it reopened after a breakdown), Space Mountain (with FP+), Buzz Lightyear (with FP+), the AstroOrbiter (first time – view was nice, but not worth the wait and the short ride time), the PeopleMover, and the Carousel of Progress.

We had reservations for the Happily Ever After Dessert Party, something I’d never have considered booking were it not my DD’s tenth birthday (she had inadvertently chosen it for herself when I asked for her input in planning a Disney birthday visit “for a friend” months earlier), but it did allow me to engage in two things that give me tremendous joy: eating dessert for dinner, and avoiding crowds. The check-in process was torturous as we had to stand in a line in the pouring rain for about 10 minutes with 50 other people while a frustratingly lackadaisical couple ahead of us hemmed and hawed, and labored to recall their confirmation number, the name under which their reservation had been made, or any other information that might move the line along and get the rest of us out of the monsoon. I don’t know whether they ever actually got in or not, but we ultimately managed to get checked in and seated.

And what a seat it was! There appeared to be three sections of seating: a section near the buffet on the upper level for those with Plaza Garden seats, at undecorated and uncovered cafeteria-style tables; a second seating area on the lowest level nearest the Castle for those with Tomorrowland Terrace seating, with tablecloths and pretty color-changing faux candles on the tables and their own identical buffet; and a third seating section on the level in between, which utilized the upper-level buffet (and had to cross the walkway to get there), but had tablecloths and candles like those on the lowest level. I don’t know whether it’s because we’d reserved our table in advance, or because we showed up early in the check-in process, but we were given one of the lovely “fancy” tables (with tablecloth and candle) in the middle section, with a panoramic view of Cinderella Castle. After a few rounds of macarons, chocolate-covered strawberries, pineapple cups, cheese cubes, sparkling cider and coffee (we also grabbed some small water bottles, which we kept with us for later) we were escorted out to the viewing area.

Usually, the idea of squeezing into a wall of humanity and jockeying for space is my idea of torture. For this reason, you’ll never find me at a store on Black Friday, and we’ve typically watched Magic Kingdom fireworks shows from far-flung locations (like New Fantasyland), or not at all. What a privilege it was on this occasion to be able to stand there in the Plaza Garden – with so much breathing room on each side that a little cheerleader girl was actually doing cartwheels in the space beside us – and enjoy “Happily Ever After” with nothing impeding our view. There was so much room that the kids actually spread a poncho on the wet ground near the back of the reserved area (thankfully, the rain held off for a little bit) and watched most of "Happily Ever After" lying down, with nobody blocking them. Recognizing that we’d booked the party in her honor, my daughter came up to me and DH near the end of the show as we stood with our arms around one another, slipped her hand in mine, and gave me a big thank-you hug. It was quite a magical moment! We loved the show, and I found myself tearing up several times. While we’re not likely to shell out $220 for something like this again, it was so worth it just this once. Not even the couple standing directly in front of us, who kept lifting a phone into the sky and taking dozens of flash pictures of the woman’s left hand with the castle as a backdrop (I assume they were newly-engaged, and also terrible at photography, because it took them about 50 tries to get their photo), could annoy us that moment!

After it was over, we went back to re-ride the Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan (which we hadn't done yet, but were able to score a last-minute FP+ for), and even took a stroll through Cinderella Castle to admire the mosaics.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Day 9 (Whining and Dining):

By departure day, my foot was really bothering me and it was still raining cats and dogs, so I offered to pack up the room and have Bell Services pick up the luggage, while DH took the kids to the Animal Kingdom for one last ride on Flight of Passage (with FP+) and Expedition Everest, and to do Kilimanjaro Safari (he said the animals were more “out and about” in the rain than he’d ever seen before).

I met up with them just after noon at the Contemporary for our highly-anticipated 12:30pm reservation for “Brunch at the Top” at The California Grill. After a brief restroom visit to freshen up and get everybody out of their rain ponchos, dried off and changed into Signature-appropriate polos and dresses, we headed to the restaurant’s check-in desk.

As many of you know, I’d had high hopes for this meal, and sadly, it turned out to be a huge disappointment. I won’t go into all of the details as I’ve already discussed it on a couple of other threads, but suffice it to say that our service was haphazard, the buffet was unimpressive, and my entrée was overcooked, sloppy and incomplete. In fact, our brunch at the California Grill represented the poorest service and worst-executed entrees we had all week at Disney World. (Yes, you heard that right. As much as it pains me to say it, my $14 falafel burger with whole grain salad at the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater was objectively a better dish than my Butter-Poached Lobster Eggs Benedict at the California Grill, which featured overcooked lobster and jiggling mounds of gloppy Hollandaise on top of a soggy, raw, open-faced English muffin with ham on only one side, and the advertised side item missing entirely.) Although the California Grill is billed as an upscale, signature restaurant, our meal would have been a poor value at half the price, and I’m ashamed that I wasted our money on it.

[We now break for an important PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE, sponsored by the ANTI-DISNEY DINING PLAN LEAGUE OF THE FINGER LAKES: Note that even with my colossal waste of money at the California Grill, we still saved about $350, or $60/day, by paying out of pocket rather than using the Disney Dining Plan toward our 6 CS meals, 6 TS meals (1 signature), 1 Dessert Party and daily snacks. In the end, we spent a total of $1,475 on food at Disney World, including 2 "extra" meals and the Dessert Party, which the DDP would not have covered.]

My family copes with disappointment by resorting to humor, so on the bright side, we at least acquired a family in-joke from my California Grill folly. Now every time one of us pours the water at dinner, we do our finest imitation of our pretentious CG server, breathlessly informing the rest of the family (just as she did while she filled our water glasses from what looked like a plastic sports bottle) that, “if you haven’t been here before, then perhaps you don’t know that this water is triple-filtered! TRIPLE! FILTERED! You can’t just find this anywhere.” Yeesh.

We still had a little time to kill before we needed to be back at the Polynesian to meet our DME bus, so we threw our ponchos back on and went to the Magic Kingdom for Pirates of the Caribbean and a very wet ride on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. The DME bus ride to the airport was uneventful, and thanks to our newly-minted trusted traveler status (we got NEXUS cards this year), we had the joy of bypassing the regular security lines. Our flight took off on time, we arrived in Syracuse around 11:00pm, and were home and tucking ourselves into bed just after midnight.

Hiccups aside, we had a really lovely trip. DH and I have also proved – surprising even ourselves – that we can keep a juicy secret for months! We loved our time at Universal and found the service from its employees to be every bit as good as what we received at Disney World, although there were some obvious cracks in the veneer of CM morale at Disney that we hadn’t noticed on previous visits (the best example was a random comment by a server that – “I love working here, but it’s just us older folks now – we have trouble attracting the college kids these days, since the pay is so terrible they can make more working at Walmart or Target”). Otherwise, Disney was much as we remembered it from our last visit two years ago. Only time will tell how long it will be before we get back (thanks to our Universal Annual Passes, Universal would be our sole destination if we venture back within the next year), but we’ll have many lovely memories to savor in the meantime. Thanks for following along -- and a special thank-you to all of you who have held my hand through the planning process, answering my countless questions and offering advice!

 

[Nala06]

Excellent report! Love your writing style. Sounds like you have a really fun trip.

 

[Zipadeelady]

What a great read! I really enjoyed your report, thanks for posting!

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

(one of my secret talents is “always picking the slowest line

We have the same talent! Sometimes I switch lines because the other one looks faster and then I always longing look at the line I left because it ends up being faster

 

[Gurt]

Great TR it's a shame about your Ohana & CG experiences, glad you enjoyed Uni too.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Great TR it's a shame about your Ohana & CG experiences, glad you enjoyed Uni too.

Thanks! Well, you "can't win 'em all," even at Disney. I really think our 'Ohana experience was more of an anomaly and it wouldn't keep us from going back. California Grill will probably be on my grudge list forever, though! [silently shaking my fist in the air] At least we had really terrific experiences with Yak & Yeti and Via Napoli to balance it all out!

 

[LSV]

I love your writing style!

 

[eb3257]

Suddenly, and with all the urgency of a Secret Service member arranging an impromptu Presidential visit, the receptionist whipped out a walkie-talkie and radioed into the restaurant to demand that the “next available table in the Ice Room be immediately reserved for a party of Landry’s Select Club members.”

This made me laugh! So glad you had a great trip!

 

[wwmmd]

Great TR!! It sounds like a fantastic vacation. Surprising the kids with something special is always so much fun.

 

[LeighM]

Enjoyed your trip report. It has me slightly rethinking our plans for next year. We will be in FL during the same as you but we are planning a short WDW stay the weekend prior to our DCL cruise (and it coincides with Dapper Day which I'm excited about) and the weekend after we disembark. It's crossed my mind to spend that second weekend at Universal and get the annual passes as we were thinking of spending a week at Universal in 2020. Too many options LOL. I'm sorry you had a bad experience at Ohana. We've always received a really good table location and the food has always been fantastic (knock on wood!!). We had one of my husband's brothers and his wife join us in March and I was so worried that we would get a bad meal after I kept reading stories on these boards. Luckily, it was one of the best meals we had there so they were definitely on point. I had spoken so highly of it to my good friend (who just got back from their trip) that she got an ADR for her family. Then I was all nervous again and scared they might have a bad experience lol. Turns out they all loved it so I had a huge sigh of relief LOL.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Loved reading about your trip! Thanks for sharing it. I love the fact that you guys surprised your kids with the extra Disney part of the trip

Also I just went back and realized we were there at the same time (which I suspected when I read your comment about seeing cheerleaders). I remember those rainy days well