For the last few years, our big family vacations have mostly involved going to Walt Disney World. Last year, we made a special trip to check out Disney's latest additions in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. At the airport on the way home, we got into an elevator with a guy carrying a clipboard with the Universal logo on it. He asked if we enjoyed our trip. We said we had. Then he asked if we got to visit "the fun place" and tapped his clipboard. We said we hadn't because the girls were still a bit young. He chuckled and said, "Those are good Disney ages."
This year, I wanted to do something different. For one thing, Disney wasn't offering anything new. But we were also getting a bit tired of the typical Disney World vacation which is simply exhausting. I didn't think the girls were old enough for Universal, so I looked into a Disney cruise instead. Over the course of planning the trip, we allowed a little time in Florida both before and after the cruise. When I realized that the day before we boarded the ship was Father's Day, I decided to spend a day at Universal to get a taste of what we had been missing.Before I get into the details of the trip, let me introduce the cast.
There's me obviously. Presumably you know a bit about me. It's my blog you're reading. I'm a middle-aged dad with a young wife and two daughters. I'm a theme park junkie and the primary vacation planner thus the repeated trips to Walt Disney World.
Mindy is my wife. She's been slowly losing patience with my "Disney obsession." She reluctantly agreed to my Disney cruise plan because it involved going to the Bahamas, something she had wanted to do for quite some time. She's also a Harry Potter fan. Not enough to own a robe or wand, but enough to have read all the books.
Josie is our oldest daughter. She's now a ten-year-old. Josie's a bit shy and tends to be cautious when trying new things. But when she gets to giggling, her silly side comes out. She's read some of the Harry Potter books and has recently become an avid viewer of The Simpsons.
Kara is our youngest. She's a real spitfire. At six years old, she's barely tall enough to ride most of the rides at Disney and Universal. But she's a bit timid about the scarier attractions. If it's possible for a ride to scare a kid, it will probably scare Kara. What sold her on our Universal day was the minions from Despicable Me and the promise that she wouldn't have to ride anything she didn't want to.
This trip report is going to be large, so I'm going to break it down into chapters. If you want to read specific sections, here is a table of contents:
Escape From Gringotts
Breakfast in Springfield and Men in Black
Mel's Diner and Minion Mayhem
Universal Monsters Cafe, Transformers and The ET Adventure
Lunch at Fast Food Blvd
Exploring Diagon Alley
Hogwarts Express and Jurassic Park
Hogsmeade and Seuss Landing
Marvel Super Heroes and Cabana Bay
Arriving at Port Canaveral in Style
Boarding the ship
Kids clubs
Setting Sail
Dinner at Enchanted Garden
The Golden Mickeys
Castaway Cay
The Midship Detective Agency
Dinner at Royal Palace
Princesses!
Anna and Elsa
Dolphin Encounter at Atlantis
Pirate Night
Another Day on Castaway Cay
Anyone Can Cook
Animator’s Palate
One Final Thing
Before our adventures at Universal Orlando could begin, we had to get there. We flew into the Orlando International Airport on Saturday afternoon. I had arranged car service from the airport to the Cabana Bay Beach Resort where we would be staying for the weekend. Based on a recommendation from Mousesavers.com, I used Happy Limo. We had a driver from the airport to the hotel and another driver scheduled to take us from the hotel to Port Canaveral on the morning of the cruise.
On the whole, I was pleased with the service. The night before our flight I received a text message from our first driver, Jesus. He confirmed what time he was picking us up and indicated that I should text him when we had arrived at the airport. Unfortunately, it was storming when we landed. Due to thunder and lightning, we weren't able to exit the plane immediately. We sat on the plane for about ten minutes while the storm passed. Mindy is extremely claustrophobic but she managed to hold it together.
I texted Jesus to let him know about the delay. All the planes unloaded at roughly the same time so the airport was flooded with people all at once. By the time we got to baggage claim, it was about 30 minutes after the time we were scheduled to meet our driver. Jesus remained very patient and helped us get our luggage. The car service cost a little more than a rental car or some of our other options. But let me tell you, it was well worth it. The car was parked right next to baggage claim. From there, it was a stress-free ride to our hotel.
"This is soooo much better than Magical Express," Mindy commented in reference to Disney's shuttle service. I nodded in agreement. As we approached the hotel, we could see several of the attractions at Islands of Adventure including the Hulk roller coaster, Dr. Doom's Fear Fall and Hogwarts castle. I also scoped out the deluxe resorts for future visits.
No sooner had our bags hit the curb then an attendant in a Hawaiian-print shirt was picking them up and carrying them into the lobby. I barely had time to tip the driver before the attendant ushered us into the lobby to check in. Check-in was smooth and the hostess was friendly. A few minutes later, we were wheeling our luggage cart down the long hallways to our room.
I had asked for a room close to the lobby. The bus stop and the food court are located in the central building of the resort and I wanted to be close to both of them. The girl at check-in told me she couldn't get us close to the lobby because the hotel was completely booked. But she had a room that was close to the bus station. Since the bus station was next to the lobby, I wasn't entirely certain how we could be close to one without being close to the other.
Our room was 6243. That meant we were in building six on the second floor in the forty-third room. Building six is part of the Americana section which is the closest to the bus station. But to get to building six, you must first walk past or through building five. Room 43 was at the far end of building six. So we ended up having quite a long walk from the lobby to our room. The girls began grumbling.
We eventually figured out that the zigzag pattern of the hallways made for an indirect route to and from the room. It was faster to exit the hallway and cut through the pool area.
We quickly settled into the room. We wouldn't be staying here very long, so we only unpacked what we needed for the weekend. It was past our regular dinner time and everyone was hungry, but the girls didn't want to walk back down that long hallway to the food court. The hotel offers pizza delivery which we considered. But one way or another, I had to go to the lobby to use the Will Call Desk in order to print our theme park tickets. So even if the girls ordered pizza, I was going back to the lobby.
Reluctantly, the girls agreed to accompany me because they couldn't make up their minds regarding dinner. I had been told by the girl at the check-in counter that I needed to get to the Will Call Desk before it closed. It turns out, that probably wasn't true. The guy at the Will Call Desk gave me a coupon book and then directed me to a kiosk where I printed up my tickets. It was a great convenience that would save us time when entering the parks the next morning.
Next: Bayliner Diner and City Walk
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. We have booked a lovely condo 5 minutes from Disney.
