Trip Report We are venturing outside our comfort zones and hoping the reward is worth it!! April 11 -23, 2021

Hello! I am, again, going to attempt to do a semi livish trip report and then fill in the details when I return. Like Rapunzel, when we made these plans, I definitely was taking a leap a faith! I, like all of us, have had a long year. We are DVC members and it was time to use the points. It is that simple. I can't tell you how thrilled I am now!

The cast remains the same! Den (my husband), Deighton(me), Hunter (16), Camden (9), and Brinley (5 and starts kindergarten in the fall). Some of us are a lot taller and some of us wider...

We fly Southwest out of Pittsburgh early Sunday morning and land in Orlando around 10:15am.( I feel like I struck gold with 2 nonstop flights!) Then we head to the home where animals belong, a one bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom Lodge until April 19th. Then we move to Cabana Bay Beach Resort until the 23rd. Universal is a whole new world for us. Any advice for the entire length of stay is welcome!

I will be posting our plans soon! Thanks for reading! Another big thank you to those of you who posted, happy, positive thoughts and reports during these crazy times. It definitely kept time moving forward and hope alive. It keeps me smiling and tearing up to see your children growing up on this platform! Happy Thursday everyone!!

 

[littleroo]

Voodoo donuts. Mobile order on your way to the parks and then pick up on you way in.

My kids will love that advice! That is an adorable picture and one huge donut!! Den just got lunch reservations for the Chocolate Emporium for lunch Thursday!

 

[TheMouseFan]

I am so glad that you are enjoying your time at Universal! Also glad that they have kept up with enforcing the mask rules, I felt very safe there last June. I agree with you on the lack of diversity, the lackluster food, and thoroughly enjoying all of the details, especially in the Harry Potter areas! We really enjoyed the meals we've had at Thunder Falls Terrace in IOA. NBC Grill in CityWalk was good too!

 

[littleroo]

I am so glad that you are enjoying your time at Universal! Also glad that they have kept up with enforcing the mask rules, I felt very safe there last June. I agree with you on the lack of diversity, the lackluster food, and thoroughly enjoying all of the details, especially in the Harry Potter areas! We really enjoyed the meals we've had at Thunder Falls Terrace in IOA. NBC Grill in CityWalk was good too!

Thank you so much!! I know you guys have all been here often! I will look into Thunder Falls and NBC Grill!! I was really worried from what I read but am happily surprised!

 

[littleroo]

Day and night

pictures of our view of Volcano Bay!

Sorry that was a terrible shot! I sent it before I viewed it! I will try again later! Starting to have too much fun

 

[ShookieJones]

i really need to get myself to Universal!

Loving your reporting!

You honestly do Chris. It's a blast. I will say this though, we've experienced it as day guests and we've experienced it staying at Royal Pacific (and the Hard Rock once) What a great resort and that Express Pass is something to behold my friend. It's a whole new world.

Do any of you suffer motion sickness? It was terrible for me on our Trip back in November to Universal. There are soooo many screen based rides I couldn’t handle it. The lockers and the metal detectors were a PITA. However I love the Harry Potter areas (Hagrid’s is my favorite) for me they are hard to top. We loved the Chocolate Emporium if you looking for more dining ideas.

I suffer from it and I tend to close my eyes on quite a few rides, the screen fatigue is real.
With that being said, the overall experience of some of the lands and of course as you mentioned WWOHP is so amazing and well worth it.

We are trying to get reservations at the Chocolate Emporium. We may just walk up tomorrow night or Thursday afternoon. I heard the milkshakes are incredible. We are really trying to find great food like at Disney and it is not happening so far.

I 100 percent agree with you about the motion sickness, especially after eating lunch, I was starting to feel queasy! I wish the rides in each park had a little variety if that makes sense. I didn't even tell Den I was feeling off because I didn't want it to effect the kids thoughts!

Thanks for the input and keep it coming!

Go to Big Fire for a good meal.

Please, please, please save Toothsome's Chocolate Emporium for the Milkshake afterwards.
I can say it was by far the worst meal we've ever had at ANY theme park EVER. ever. EVER.

The milkshakes are a different story entirely. We all pounded one, the pastries are super fresh and the milkshakes themselves are on point. Good stuff.

 

[ShookieJones]

Day and night View attachment 550846 pictures of our view of Volcano Bay!View attachment 550844 Sorry that was a terrible shot! I sent it before I viewed it! I will try again later! Starting to have too much fun

You guys are having such a blast! I am happy for you! Are you heading to Volcano Bay tomorrow? Sorry if I missed that. We did Volcano bay this past July and we had the time of our lives. That Fearless River!!?? We must have tooled around that 5 times! Hope you're headed that way!

 

[TheMouseFan]

I forgot, we also enjoyed The Circus McGurkus Cafe. The fried chicken was pretty darn good for a quick service!

 

[littleroo]

You honestly do Chris. It's a blast. I will say this though, we've experienced it as day guests and we've experienced it staying at Royal Pacific (and the Hard Rock once) What a great resort and that Express Pass is something to behold my friend. It's a whole new world.

I suffer from it and I tend to close my eyes on quite a few rides, the screen fatigue is real.
With that being said, the overall experience of some of the lands and of course as you mentioned WWOHP is so amazing and well worth it.


Go to Big Fire for a good meal.

Please, please, please save Toothsome's Chocolate Emporium for the Milkshake afterwards.
I can say it was by far the worst meal we've ever had at ANY theme park EVER. ever. EVER.

The milkshakes are a different story entirely. We all pounded one, the pastries are super fresh and the milkshakes themselves are on point. Good stuff.

Thank you for the sage advice! I will talk to Den! I know we have similar views in a lot of things! Especially popsicle sticks

 

[TheMouseFan]

You honestly do Chris. It's a blast. I will say this though, we've experienced it as day guests and we've experienced it staying at Royal Pacific (and the Hard Rock once) What a great resort and that Express Pass is something to behold my friend. It's a whole new world.

I suffer from it and I tend to close my eyes on quite a few rides, the screen fatigue is real.
With that being said, the overall experience of some of the lands and of course as you mentioned WWOHP is so amazing and well worth it.


Go to Big Fire for a good meal.

Please, please, please save Toothsome's Chocolate Emporium for the Milkshake afterwards.
I can say it was by far the worst meal we've ever had at ANY theme park EVER. ever. EVER.

The milkshakes are a different story entirely. We all pounded one, the pastries are super fresh and the milkshakes themselves are on point. Good stuff.

Glad to hear you enjoyed Big Fire! We have a reservation there in July and I am so excited to try it!

You guys are having such a blast! I am happy for you! Are you heading to Volcano Bay tomorrow? Sorry if I missed that. We did Volcano bay this past July and we had the time of our lives. That Fearless River!!?? We must have tooled around that 5 times! Hope you're headed that way!

I totally agree about Volcano Bay! I am not a water park person and absolutely fell in love with VB! We also loved the Fearless River.

 

[littleroo]

I forgot, we also enjoyed The Circus McGurkus Cafe. The fried chicken was pretty darn good for a quick service!

Which park is that in?

 

[TheMouseFan]

Which park is that in?

IOA in Seuss Land

 

[littleroo]

You guys are having such a blast! I am happy for you! Are you heading to Volcano Bay tomorrow? Sorry if I missed that. We did Volcano bay this past July and we had the time of our lives. That Fearless River!!?? We must have tooled around that 5 times! Hope you're headed that way!

We are passing on Volcano Bay this time. Islands of Adventure tomorrow. Hoping to get on Hagrids. There will definitely be a next time here! Maybe even just for Den and I.

 

[littleroo]

IOA in Seuss Land

Well that makes sense! Sorry! I am enjoying too may beverages tonight!

 

[Songbird76]

Yep! You got it! It made me so nervous not to have a hand on Brinley. Phew! I am glad that one is over!

I actually like that the kid areas are actually just for kids! I hate to hear people swearing in Disney period but it bothers me more on Dumbo than it does on BTMR. I am no saint but in my humble opinion, everything has a place and time.

I can understand that. I wish they had more family friendly, non-thrill rides in Harry Potter world. I'm a huge fan, but I just can't do the thrill rides. I'm afraid of heights and get motion sickness, so the only thing I can do is go into the shops and do Olivander's. I'd love for them to have some sort of dark ride that is more low key, like voyage of the little mermaid type...something that's not a coaster. Something that even the little kids could go on, like a boatride across the lake where we see the giant squid, and see the "horseless carriages", etc, or maybe an interactive show like philharmagic. I'm glad they added the hogwarts express....that's great, but you can't do that if you don't have the park hopper type tickets.

I'm with you on the swearing...I think it bothers me more at Disney just because it's meant to be a family friendly atmosphere. I don't have a problem with people swearing, in general, but when you are in a park geared towards families and surrounded by small children, at least make an effort to restrain yourself. I have to say, it's a lot more relaxed over here...and parents don't generally get on their kids for swearing in English at all. So over here, my little neighbor girl was throwing F bombs at 3 years old...I guess people think if it's in a foreign language, it doesn't count? But for my kids who are raised bi-lingual, they were shocked when kids said the S word or F this and F that, etc. Now that my kids are teenagers, my daughter will swear when she's quoting something like a line in a movie, and I don't get on her about that as it's perfectly accepted here. But I have told both the kids that it's not accepted in the US, and it's also not acceptable around children. I expect when they are hanging out with their friends that they are going to try harder to "look cool" and might swear, but we don't need to swear every other word and when we're out in public, neither of them swear.

 

[Songbird76]

Glad you did Pteranodon Flyers when you could. Yes the ride is too short but I made my son do it with me when he was small enough because I knew (and was right) that by the next trip he would be TOO big.

I won't do coasters but am a Harry Potter fan so I did Forbidden Journey. I have now done it a number of time so it doesn't scare me as much and it is SO cool. I think I read Universal has a patent on the ride. Nothing lese like it. My favorite ride is FOP but I have read about rides with the same system in other places. It doesn't make me love FOP any less but I have to admit it makes me want to try other rides with the same system.

If you like coasters did you get on Hagrid? I did a post on how my Hubby and son got on Hagrid last week.
Hagrid, Rise and Smugglers were all new rides this trip. Hubby and son said Hagrid was their favorite by FAR. They LOVED it.
We did Universal then Disney (opposite of you) so Hubby said Hagrid is faster. Our first day at Disney was studios and when they did Rock nRoll he said it didn't feel as fast as Hagrid.

In terms of quick service we love 3broomsticks. It is British food but I like the cornish pasty which is my favorite over there. And of course you can sip on a butter beer while enjoying the atmosphere.

I LOVE Men in Black. So much better then Buzz. (but Toy Story will always be our favorite)
You want to hit the red lights on the stick above the people after the screens when they say aliens are in the other car and it makes them spin.

I have glasses and I'm pretty fluffy, so forbidden journey ended up being horrible for me. It said in the safety thing to put glasses and loose items in the seat pocket in front of you....then there was no seat in front of you to put glasses in! So I asked the guy what to do with them and he said I'd just have to hold them. But then when the ride car moved around and tipped back, I was afraid my weight would break it, and I was just hanging on for dear life and trying not to lose my glasses, while my autistic son was SCREAMING and I couldn't reach over to comfort him. Horrifying. I'd expected it to be like the graphics from FOP with the ride vehicle from soarin', so I wasn't expecting the ride vehicle to move like it did, and I hadn't realized every seat was so separate. If I'd have known what it was like, I might have been ok, but I was completely taken off guard, and also worried about my son.

 

[Songbird76]

And take pictures for all of us! We should have fractal junior start a fund, fund!

In all seriousness, I thought this morning walking into Harry Potter land, Fractal needs to be here! You could spend hours taking amazing photos with all the nooks and crannies!

Yes!! I second this!

 

[Songbird76]

I feel a bit like Darth Vader. I am ever so slowly turning to the dark side. Not fully by any means! There is no replacing Epcot or Animal Kingdom!! The views and atmosphere there are incredible. This is very much sensory overload! There is something new to see with every step. This can be good and bad. I find it to be thrilling but not relaxing!

I can see why people come for 2 days and move on. Once you have been here you know what you like and want to experience. I find Islands of Adventure to be very water based. You get a little wet just about everywhere. In Universal Studios everything is 3D and even 4D oriented for the most part. Most rides in both parks are longer than in Disney.

A lot of rides require that all your belongings go in lockers. There are 2 different sizes. The larger ones are 2 dollars and look...View attachment 550794

My thoughts are my own based on only 2 days here with low crowds and rainy weather. They are just observations.

Oh..a major bonus to the Deathstar is the wifi is wonderful!!

I'm curious about how the lockers are working right now. When we were there, it was CHAOS. Everyone rushing to their lockers to get their stuff after the ride, everyone rushing to get a locker BEFORE the ride...for Forbidden Journey, I had to wait a while to get a locker because they were all in use. And there were SO many people it was super crowded. I'm wondering how they avoid the busy with no disntancing issue right now?

 

[EngineerMom]

I have glasses and I'm pretty fluffy, so forbidden journey ended up being horrible for me. It said in the safety thing to put glasses and loose items in the seat pocket in front of you....then there was no seat in front of you to put glasses in! So I asked the guy what to do with them and he said I'd just have to hold them. But then when the ride car moved around and tipped back, I was afraid my weight would break it, and I was just hanging on for dear life and trying not to lose my glasses, while my autistic son was SCREAMING and I couldn't reach over to comfort him. Horrifying. I'd expected it to be like the graphics from FOP with the ride vehicle from soarin', so I wasn't expecting the ride vehicle to move like it did, and I hadn't realized every seat was so separate. If I'd have known what it was like, I might have been ok, but I was completely taken off guard, and also worried about my son.

I am really surprised you were told to put them in the seat pocket in front of you as there is no pocket. Hubby wears cargo pants so he can put things in there and I wear a pack. When the ride first opened they made me put the pack in the locker but they don't now. Hulk even has a metal detector to make sure EVERYTHING is out of your pockets. (son rides that)

I am a big baby so when it came to something like Forbidden Journey I did a bit of research before. I knew it was a robotic arm and would be wild. I got off the 1st time and Hubby and daughter got right back in line. My son who didn't like dark rides at the time didn't want to do it again. Next trip I couldn't believe I was getting on it again. But as I said I have done it a bunch at this time and when I get tipped upside down I tend to scream but I can handle it. This last trip the ride stopped but we were not in a bad spot. I did say well I would not be happy if I was upside down.

 

[EngineerMom]

Location can really help at Universal.
I agree with the comment about the express pass.
Our 1st two visits were day trips from Disney.
Then we tried staying at Royal Pacific with the express pass!!!! YIPEE.
We only feel we need 2 days with the express pass but we have not done Volcano Bay yet.
We like Royal Pacific since we find it easy to walk to the parks so we are not dependent on waiting for transportation. I have thought of trying Hard Rock one of these days.

Food
We actually like some of the food at Universal, and recently have been more and more disappointed with Disney. We had good meals at Disney this time but 2 were at the Swan and Dolphin. Too many of the places at Disney have become the same things. Places like the Skipper had interesting menus when they opened, we had a reservation there this time and cancelled since it just didn't impress us!
In these days we also found that everything was open at Universal and lots of places at Disney were still closed.

Simpsons Ride.
That is the 1 ride we have never gotten onto a 2nd time. I get motion sick but can stand most of the simulator rides. It is the only one where I did not think I could last and they were obviously watching as they asked "are you OK" and I said NO. They stopped our car and let us off! My family doesn't get motion sick and all of them said they felt it and won't go back on. Sometimes I think maybe it wasn't working right and/or there was a smell, etc.

FastnFurious
I am REALLY surprised. We did not like it. Our least favorite ride at the entire park. Last trip our son (19) wanted to do it and we split up for 1 ride. He met back up with us and agreed - worst ride.

 

[EngineerMom]

I'm curious about how the lockers are working right now. When we were there, it was CHAOS. Everyone rushing to their lockers to get their stuff after the ride, everyone rushing to get a locker BEFORE the ride...for Forbidden Journey, I had to wait a while to get a locker because they were all in use. And there were SO many people it was super crowded. I'm wondering how they avoid the busy with no disntancing issue right now?

I will say we try really hard to not need lockers at Universal. For Forbidden Journey my guys were cargo shorts, hubby carries ponchos, phone, glasses, sunscreen, etc all in his cargo shorts. I carry a pack they don't make me check for forbidden journey and I don't do the coasters.

The ONLY issue we had last week was my son wanted me to hold all his stuff when he rode the Hulk coaster, then we could not find him because he didn't have his phone. Next time I told him you need to put your phone in the locker so you can find us after you ride.

Last trip the only locker I needed was Men in Black. I disagree with them as I think my pack would be fine on that ride but I don't complain it is there rule.

I will say this was tough when we had little kids and wanted to bring the backpack.