Trip Report Magical 10th Birthday Celebration

Who: Hubs, Jet and Me!

What: We booked this trip last January before the world went mad. We considered canceling about 50,000,000 times. We needed this trip and the special one on one time with Jet. Ninja, Bear and Handsome were excited for a weekend at Nana and Pawpaw’s.
Where: 3 nights at Universal’s Loews Royal Pacific Resort. Yes, you read that right we cheated on Disney and visited Universal.
When: November 19-22
Why: 1 day at Hollywood Studios (we couldn’t go to Orlando and not visit Disney), 2 days Universal Resort. My girls loves Harry Potter and finished reading the story 3 days before our trip.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

Rock in Rollercoaster had a 30 minute wait posted so we hopped in line. It moved quick probably more like 20.

By the time we finished up it was 6:35. We had a choice eat dinner or take the advice of @Tuvalu and experience SDD at night.

Working on my Smeyes.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

When we got off SDD the park had closed. We debated taking the skyliner to one of the resorts for dinner but the 4:30am wake up combined with 11.9miles of walking had worn us out. We collected our bags from the lockers and met our Uber. It didn’t take long to get to our hotel maybe 20 minutes. It would be great if Universal did online checkin but alas they are no Disney.

When we arrived a security guard greeted up with a thermometer. Everyday you get your temp checked and a new color wristband for that day. I needed to pick up our park tickets but the vacation planner desk had already closed for the day.
Our room was located in tower 2, 2nd floor 2248 with a standard view.

 

[EngineerMom]

So nice.
You are so kind. I would not have been happy if my UBER driver turned the ride into 55 min vs 25 min because he didn't want to take highways.

We love Royal Pacific at Universal. We stay there at the beginning or end of our Disney trips these days to enjoy 2 days at Universal. It is so nice to get the express pass and walk to the parks.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

So nice.
You are so kind. I would not have been happy if my UBER driver turned the ride into 55 min vs 25 min because he didn't want to take highways.

We love Royal Pacific at Universal. We stay there at the beginning or end of our Disney trips these days to enjoy 2 days at Universal. It is so nice to get the express pass and walk to the parks.

I work in real estate Development. We have bar/restaurants, parking management and property management within our company. I have had to personally lay off over 50 people since COVID started (quite a few broke down to tears in my office). It has been terrible so I feel for anyone in the hospitality industry.

We really liked that express pass and walk to the park. It was definitely a bonus on this trip. Have you stayed at the Hard Rock or Portofino? I wondered how the walk compared.
Thanks for following.

 

[EngineerMom]

The first time we stayed at Universal it was Royal Pacific. We were really happy with it and the Hard Rock and Portofino were more expensive every time so we have just stayed at the Royal Pacific.

I believe Portofino is further away but I don't know. It looks really nice. We debated going there for dinner but most of the places around us are Italian so when we go to Orlando I am not looking for Italian.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

We were starving! We did a mobile pick up from Jake’s American Bar. We all three ordered burgers and truffle fries. I didn’t take pictures but they were good. It was too late to swim but Jet was dying to dip her toes in the water. We got a few drinks from Jake’s (local IPA that I cannot remember the name for the life of me). We had our aching feet in the water and FaceTimed Bear, Ninja and Handsome. We stayed until closing 10pm. I quickly fell asleep. It had been a long day.

 

[bee]

I’m late but here is my video tutorial!

@Darstarr @Sillysidewalker

1. Upload your video to YouTube

2. Click the three dots next to the picture icon:

3. More icons will appear. Click the media one:

4. Copy your YouTube video url and paste it in the box:

And post!

 

[Sillysidewalker]

 

[Sillysidewalker]

@bee

 

[Sillysidewalker]

Friday November 20th:

The parks opened at 9am today so we got to sleep in a little. I got up about 6:40 showered and got ready. I was ready by 7:00 and woke my sleeping beauties. While they did the same I went upstairs to the vacation planning desk to pick up our tickets and grab a couple coffees. I stopped at the store in the lobby and bought a mask for the day.

We mobile ordered Voodoo donuts and were on our way. When we got downstairs we got a little lost. We couldn’t find the walkway to the parks. I felt so silly. We walked aimlessly for a bit. Luckily some fellow guests came by and showed us the way. It’s a pleasant coffee walk.

It took us about 10 minutes to get to Citywalk. Security was fast but Hubby left his gum in his pocket so the detector went off. After getting wanded ( obviously not a word) we were on our way. Finally we arrived.

Chuckles

Texas and a Chocolate Ring. For scale.

 

[RememberWhen]

I love the idea of a one-kid trip, but I’m not sure I could handle the guilt! Looks like you had a really awesome birthday adventure. Can’t wait to hear more about it!

 

[Tuvalu]

I love the idea of a one-kid trip, but I’m not sure I could handle the guilt!

During family time you tell the kids that each of them will get a special solo trip when they turn X (you pick the age/stage of life - for us it was 5th grade.) The oldest of course will be the most excited, but the youngers will also look forward to their milestone (kinda like how kids look forward to Christmas). No guilt because each child will get their turn. And the oldest (or whichever child is next) is forbidden to gloat or brag, or trip is forfeited.

Ironically any jealousy (minor) arose from the child who had already taken their trip. They wished they still had their “turn” to look forward to!

 

[Sillysidewalker]

I love the idea of a one-kid trip, but I’m not sure I could handle the guilt! Looks like you had a really awesome birthday adventure. Can’t wait to hear more about it!

During family time you tell the kids that each of them will get a special solo trip when they turn X (you pick the age/stage of life - for us it was 5th grade.) The oldest of course will be the most excited, but the youngers will also look forward to their milestone (kinda like how kids look forward to Christmas). No guilt because each child will get their turn. And the oldest (or whichever child is next) is forbidden to gloat or brag, or trip is forfeited.

Ironically any jealousy (minor) arose from the child who had already taken their trip. They wished they still had their “turn” to look forward to!

I had the worst mom guilt leading up to and the first day of the trip. That night when I called my other three they were having the time of their lives. Staying up late, eating extra treats, horse back riding with Pawpaw. The guilt melted away. @Tuvalu is right (like usual) the other three have been so busy planning their trips (that are 3 and 5 years away) I don’t think they minded at all. My next dilemma is my twins...do they each get their own trip or do they go together? I think I’ll let them decide.

 

[Darstarr]

I’m late but here is my video tutorial!

@Darstarr @Sillysidewalker

1. Upload your video to YouTube

2. Click the three dots next to the picture icon:

View attachment 517112

3. More icons will appear. Click the media one:

View attachment 517109

4. Copy your YouTube video url and paste it in the box:

View attachment 517110

And post!

Back to #1....upload video to you tube.
@bee if I knew how to do that I don’t think I would bee asking the other stuff.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

There were morning hours at Islands of Adventure but being the HUGE HP fans we wanted to enter the Wizarding World the correct way. We needed to get all our school supplies from Diagon Alley first! So Universal Studios it was.

We made our way to London.

The Night Bus and #12 Grimauld Place. We watched Kreecher for about 5 minutes before entering Diagon Alley.

I was honestly blown away when I saw Diagon Alley. I was in the book! Jet was on a mission to ride The Escape from Gringotts. We had the Express Pass since we were staying at Royal Pacific so we went to jump in line. Hold up! What? You have to store all your belongings in teeny tiny lockers. For EVERY ride. This was such a pain!!! They only let one person from each party into the locker area. Hubs took the bag and we waited and waited. He finally emerged and we were off.

One bad thing about Express Pass is not experiencing the whole queue however they say was young. The line only took us 5 minutes. It took longer to use the stupid lockers! Anyways I was feeling pretty queasy from the motion simulation parts of the ride. I chalked it up to the giant donut I had for breakfast. We loved the whole experience of Gringotts.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

Jet wanted to experience Olivanders. One thing we “thought” we had going for us was due to COVID everyone had a mini wand selection ceremony who signed up. When we signed up we found out that had changed the day before. Now two parties went together and 1 person would be selected. Gulp. We were given an 11am return time. It was 10 so we decided to explore the shops. First up robes! Fortunately family members gave Jet money to spend. The robes were $125! Yikes! Robes and prefect badge procured we explored more.

We stopped into Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes and bought some chocolate frogs, bernies every flavor bean and some Felix felicious. Since we had to put items in lockers for every ride we opted to send them back to our room.

Jet wanted to use Wizarding money to buy her wand so back to Gringotts for a money exchange. It’s a straight dollar to dollar trade and can be used anywhere in Universal.

 

[bee]

Back to #1....upload video to you tube.
@bee if I knew how to do that I don’t think I would bee asking the other stuff.

Okay, step 0:

Make a YouTube account. Download the YouTube app to your phone. Open the app and sign in. Click the plus sign button and click upload. Select video from your phone and follow YouTube directions

 

[Sillysidewalker]

It was time for the wand selecting ceremony. We lined up at the back of the shop. We were the first group to arrive. We waited and then the second group arrived and I knew Jet was going to be disappointed. There were three kids one was a child slightly older than Jet with a disability. We were called into the room and the ceremony started. The girl from the other group was selected and Jet was crestfallen. The choice was completely appropriate by the team member I just knew Jet was going to be so sad. When the ceremony was over we entered the shop. Jet walked around not saying much. She is typically a mature 10 year old so I stayed silent waiting on her response. Finally she said “Can we sign up again?” I told her I thought it would be a waste of time. We had only been to Diagon Alley and it was noon. I could tell this didn’t satisfy her. She moped around for 10 minutes looking at wands in the shop. My patience was starting to wear..again she says let’s just sign up again. I told her the wands in the store are the same as the ceremony. She should just chose one and move on. She walked around more aimlessly... finally I came to my senses. This was HER trip. If she wanted to do it again what did I care. So we struck an accord. I would buy a Hermione wand ( I wanted one anyways ) she could use mine today. Tomorrow on her actual birthday we would sign up again but one time only. She agreed. Hubby decided to get a wand too ( he chose the Elder wand). We finally left that shop not 100 fulfilled but satisfied. Wingardium Leviosa

 

[Sillysidewalker]

We walked around Diagon Alley for 30 minutes casting spells. It was harder than I expected. I was getting hangry. I convinced Jet it was time to head to Hogsmeade so we could get some lunch. We went to the Hogwarts Express station. A team member asked her where she was off to in her nightgown? At first Jet didn’t understand and then finally it clicked and she played along.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

Hogsmeade was glorious. I wanted to drink it in!

We decided to ride Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey before lunch

Oh my this ride was incredible. We loved it but again I was feeling . All the motion simulators. I did not come prepared. By this point I needed something in my stomach or I was really going to throw up. I placed a mobile order for Three Broomsticks and off we went. When we got there the line was soooo long. I don’t really like the way Universal does mobile order. You order in advance, wait in line to be seated, then once seated you scan you table number and have them process your order. It results in a lot of waiting. It gave Jet time to work on her spells while we waited.

We were seated. It took 5 minutes for our drinks to come out and another 20 for our food. I was starving at this point so I only got pictures of our drinks.

Jet had kids chicken fingers and a regular butter beer, I had the fish and chip with a frozen butter beer and Hubs had the salad with rotisserie chicken with a water. We all agreed mine was the best.