Trip Report Our Journey to the Dark Side, plus a little bit of Disney...June 2018 **Completed**

We're back!!
2801128_98956790.jpg

Who: Me (Amy), the hubby (Brian), and our three kids, Logan (15), Lily (13), and Owen (10)
Where: Universal Orlando (Cabana Bay Beach Resort and Hard Rock Hotel) plus one day on Disney property
When: Sunday, June 10 - Saturday, June 16

I was bad and didn't take notes this trip, so my pics may need to speak for themselves at times!

Sunday, June 10
Brian and I got up at midnight to start getting ready. We had the kids up and ready and the car packed by a little after 1:00am. The drive was so much better this year than last! Some of it was that we chose to drive through the night, but we didn't hit any major construction either, which helped a lot. It was even smooth sailing through Atlanta!! We brought granola bars, Nutrigrain bars, OJ, and apple juice and ate breakfast while driving. We also packed lunch items and ate quickly at the Florida Welcome Center. We made it in plenty of time for OJ this year!
20180610_120855 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
20180610_121053 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

First sighting of Universal: Volcano Bay and Cabana Bay Beach Resort:
20180610_153119 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
20180610_153129 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

We pulled in about 3:30pm, so we made it in a little over 14 hours (took us closer to 17 last year!!).
20180610_153332 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
 
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TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MotherofaPrincessLover said:
Do you think 2 1/2 days would be enough to experience Universal (it looks like we'll be going in December so I doubt we'll be going to Volcano Bay)?
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I would think so. Will you have express pass? If not, I would say just know which rides you really want to do and be sure to do them first, then fill in with other things after you've done your must haves. I hope you have a great time!!
 
MotherofaPrincessLover

MotherofaPrincessLover

Well-Known Member
TheMouseFan said:
I would think so. Will you have express pass? If not, I would say just know which rides you really want to do and be sure to do them first, then fill in with other things after you've done your must haves. I hope you have a great time!!
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We will have Express Pass. It's just hard to know if 2 1/2 days will be enough or if we should just do 3 1/2 days.
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After waiting out the rain in our room, we returned to IoA for dinner at Three Broomsticks.
IMG_8837 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8838 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8839 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

We very possibly stopped and rode The Hulk on our way in, but I'm not positive about that!
IMG_8840 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8841 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

Finally made it to dinner! We tried The Great Feast. It is served on a platter along with a salad and is made to feed four. The five of us didn't even come close to finishing it!!
IMG_8842 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8843 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
20180615_174204 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

Our view while we ate:
IMG_8846 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After dinner, we stopped and watched someone interact with The Mystic Fountain. It was very entertaining!
IMG_8851 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

Then, against @amjt660 and @Zipitidoda 's advise to skip it, we stopped to see Poseidon's Fury. It was ok, but nothing we will stop and do again!!
IMG_8852 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8853 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8854 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8856 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8857 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8858 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8859 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8860 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8861 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8862 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We then stopped at the patio behind Mythos for a few last views of IoA before leaving the park.
IMG_8873 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8863 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8864 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8865 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8868 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8869 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8871 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

Then we made our way out of the park and back to Hard Rock to finish packing up.
IMG_8874 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8875 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
20180615_194015 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8876 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8877 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8878 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
 
amjt660

amjt660

Well-Known Member
TheMouseFan said:
After dinner, we stopped and watched someone interact with The Mystic Fountain. It was very entertaining!
IMG_8851 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

Then, against @amjt660 and @Zipitidoda 's advise to skip it, we stopped to see Poseidon's Fury. It was ok, but nothing we will stop and do again!!
IMG_8852 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8853 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8854 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8856 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8857 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8858 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8859 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8860 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8861 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8862 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
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The sets and show building are amazing
The story and performances in the story straight up sucked
(IMHO of course)
Glad you tried it it for yourself

Max
 
MySmallWorldof4

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
TheMouseFan said:
Two days previously, Owen was trying to work up the nerve to ride Rip Ride Rockit with us, so Brian told him that he would ride it if Owen would. Well, Owen finally was brave enough to ride it! You should have seen the look on Brian's face when he realized he now had to ride!!
IMG_8747 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

Proof that Brian actually did ride:
62002_061518_054743 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

I was a little worried when they put me and Owen in the front row, but he loved it!! In fact, he wanted to ride again, so I took the kids again while Brian sat and recovered!

Then we rode Transformers again. Nobody wanted to wait in line for the meet and greet, so I had to sneak a pic:
IMG_8750 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

The kids had been talking all week about how they wanted to eat at Mel's again this year. I put it off as long as I could, but I finally gave in and that is where we had lunch. It was not a good experience! Our whole order came up except for 1 order of chicken tenders and instead of waiting for it to all be ready, she gave us the partial order. It took a good 10 minutes for our chicken tenders to be ready, so the rest of the food would have been cold if I hadn't told them to start eating. Nobody was apologetic about it either and thought I was ridiculous being bothered by it!
IMG_8752 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8755 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8756 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

The whole reason they wanted to eat here:
IMG_8753 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8754 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
I was so flustered that I apparently didn't take pics of the rest of the food!!
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I would have been annoyed myself. It isn't like you were asking for a filet mignon, it was for an order of chicken tenders that just needed to be dropped in a fryer. :rolleyes:
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, June 16

Departure Day :(:(

Better late than never! I finally decided to take some pics of the view out our window! It is hard to see because of the glare, but the water taxi dock was right in front of us.
IMG_8879 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8880 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

We has originally planned to have breakfast at The Kitchen in Hard Rock, but we just wanted to be on our way home, so decided on this wholesome breakfast!:hilarious:
IMG_8882 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

A few last pics on the way out of the resort:
IMG_8884 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8886 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_8887 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

Our last view of Universal:
IMG_8889 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

We ran into a few traffic snafus on the way home, including a major one before we had even left the Florida Turnpike! We were hoping to be well past Atlanta before we stopped for lunch, but that just didn't happen! We ended up stopping at The Dwarf House, which I believe was the very first Chick-fil-A.
20180616_151540 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
20180616_151548 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
20180616_151611 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

Since I have no more pictures, I'm going to assume nothing else of any significance happened on the way home!! Thanks to all of you for following along!
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Final thoughts:

I really hated the drive down and back, but it is so convenient to have the car while down there! We'll see what happens with future trips!

Hard Rock Hotel: Love it! Not sure we would stay at another Universal resort. We did really enjoy Cabana Bay, but I'm not sure we would stay there again unless it was a really slow time of year since they don't include the Express passes. You just can't beat the 5 minute walk to the parks from Hard Rock, as well as having the option to use the water taxi. We really enjoyed being able to see the dragon on top of Gringotts last year from our room, but the larger room this year was worth it!

I wouldn't be disappointed if I never return to Universal! However, that is unlikely to happen, as the kids really enjoyed it. Brian even commented after we got home about how much more relaxing the trip was than our Disney trips and how much he enjoyed it. My heart broke a little! I know he will continue going to Disney with me, but now I'll know he could be enjoying himself more somewhere else.

Food: I didn't particularly care for most of the food at Universal. I did enjoy the fish and chips and our platter meal at Three Broomsticks, but nothing else really stood out. I'm sure there are lots of fantastic places to eat, we just didn't manage to eat at them this trip or last! Our meals at Disney, however, were fantastic! Except of course the bill at 'Ohana! It hurts that my kids are "adults" now!!

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy myself and Universal is a great place, it just isn't Disney, and I'm a Disney girl through and through!
 

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