Better Late Than Never -April 2016 report(including food!)

Vicki926

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 3, 2015
Hi all-I read the Universal boards pretty frequently now that we've started to add Universal into our WDW trips. August 2014, we decided since the kids were getting older (12 and 14), were big Harry Potter fans, and loved roller coasters, we needed to start going to Universal. We did 2 days 2 nights at Royal Pacific, and then headed to WDW for 6 days. We loved it, and for our next trip, we decided to use the same plan, except for one thing. The hotel. RPR was ok, but we didn't love it, so this time we booked the Hard Rock-much more to our liking!

We got buy 2 days, get 1 free passes from UT.

Day 1- Friday-my husband had off, the kids and I went to school/work for half a day and then we were on vacation! We had a 3:30 flight from Newark. Flight was fine, picked up our bags and rental car and we were on our way...to the La Quinta across from Uni. LOL We did the same thing our last trip. My husband has a friend that's a manager, so he gets us a free room. We just stay there our arrival night, then check into our Universal hotel bright and early the next day.

We wanted to go to Teak for dinner, but couldn't even find a parking spot. We ended up at a sports bar that was in the midst of changing names and menus..but the food was good, and everyone was in a great mood, so it was fine. Back to the hotel to sleep, couldn't wait to get up and check in to the Hard Rock!

I hate trip reports without pictures, but I barely took any today...so here's a pic of my daughter looking at me and my son looking out the plane window . :rolleyes1 IMG_0213.JPGIMG_0216.JPG

It looks like my pics arent showing up according to the preview..I'll see what I can do about that before I continue on..

ETA-now they're showing fur me, hope they are for you, too!
 
Saturday April 9

I forgot to introduce ourselves..
Me, Vicki, I work as a paraprofessional at an elementary school
My husband, Jim, an accountant by day and volunteer firefighter all other times
Julia, 16
Matt, 14


We woke up at 6:45, ready to check out of the La Quinta and into the Hard Rock.
IMG_0220.jpg

We left by 7:40, were checked in and walking into Universal Studios at 8:20.

IMG_0478.jpg

We walked right to Gringotts. The line wasn't very long, but we stopped moving for a good 20 minutes, so I think the ride must have been down. It ended up being a 40 min wait.

Kids wanted ice cream, even though it was only like 10am, I said we're on vacation, do what you want. I was hoping they'd get one of the exciting flavors available. (Clotted cream, for instance), but they went with vanilla (Matthew) and twist( Julia)

We walked around a bit, I'm still in awe of how well done the whole Harry Potter sections are-blows away anything Disney has done at WDW. I feel guilty saying it, but it's true.

Here's a picture of Jim, Julia, and Matt that I took in Knockturn Alley
IMG_0250.jpg


By now the rest of the park was open, but there's not that mad rush feeling to get things done before it gets too crowed, because we have express pass, yay!
Stopped for breakfast. Jim got a cheese Danish and a coffee, I got a chocolate chip cookie and tea. Matt shared the cookie with me.
IMG_0248.jpg

Julia was busy running away from birds. Seriously freaking out, we were laughing and laughing at her.
There she is standing far away and telling us we're mean for laughing.
IMG_0249.jpg


Mummy was actually only like a 10 minute wait, but we used express pass anyway. no bags, so they have free lockers across from the ride. Not crowded, no issue. Gringott's was the same. I was always the locker point person.
Mummy was great, as always.

Next up was Rip Ride Rock-it. Zipped right through the Locker, metal detector, express pass line..and then we waited and waited. The ride had broken down, so after waiting 20 minutes we left.


We hadn't done Shrek last time, so we did it. A 3D show with moving theater type seats. The moving seats got old after a while, the mechanism moving them was loud- but it was cute enough to do once.

Walked to city walk and decided on Margaritaville for lunch.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0261.JPG
    IMG_0261.JPG
    52.2 KB · Views: 40
  • IMG_0271.JPG
    IMG_0271.JPG
    124.4 KB · Views: 33
  • IMG_0270.JPG
    IMG_0270.JPG
    123.7 KB · Views: 35
  • IMG_0269.JPG
    IMG_0269.JPG
    107.5 KB · Views: 34
  • IMG_0268.JPG
    IMG_0268.JPG
    136.2 KB · Views: 33
Last edited:
Great start!

Could see the pics below

I know you will put them in the narrative when you can

But it looks fine for now starting out

I love reading trip reports
Pictures in them are a bonus but I hope no one holds back doing a thread about their vacation if they do not have pics

I like all trip reports anyway they are posted on the Dis!
 


Nice start Vicki......I can see some pics but not all.........

Will look out for updates.......
 
Saturday, 4/9 part 2

Lunch at Margaritaville



Watermelon margarita for me and a loaded Landshark for Jim.

We had warm pretzel sticks as an app
IMG_0261.JPG

I had shrimp trio

IMG_0268.JPG

Matt the beach club sandwich,

IMG_0269.JPG


Julia fried chicken
IMG_0270.JPG

and Jim, the French dip
IMG_0271.JPG


Room ready text came while we were eating-12:20
Walked back to hard rock, Jimmy went to the lot and drove the car to the front so we could unload the car. Then it was up to our room:
IMG_0287.JPG

We all actually fell asleep after we settled in. Woke up at 4 and walked to IoA.

Julia had seen bracelets she liked at a stand outside Margaritaville
and she asked if she could get one, so we stopped and I told her to splurge and get 2. (they were $4 each LOL)
We went straight to Hogsmeade. I was super thirsty, so we stopped to get drinks at The Three Broomsticks. Iced tea and water, and a butterbeer for J.
View attachment 266377

We got on line for the longish(50 minutes) wait for Forbidden Journey.

I like it better than Gringotts.
There was a family in front of us who did not keep an eye on their toddler, I had to tell them a few times-I think your baby's walking away. Everyone around us was looking at each other like WTH?
IMG_0311.JPG IMG_0307.JPG IMG_0314.JPG
We went back to 3Broomsticks for dinner, decided to get the Grand Feast. Tons of food and at $50, $68 with drinks, a fruit cup and tax, it is an excellent deal. Salad, chicken, ribs, potatoes, vegetables, corn. It was delicious!! Matt usually only likes raw carrots, but even he was eating the cooked carrots-soo good.




We went to Honey dukes(candy store).

The kids got chocolate frogs,

Matt got Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans(some are gross-grass, dirt, vomit..), and Jimmy got taffy.


Stopped by Jurassic Park and got Matt a JP sweatshirt. Not because of the movie, but because JP is his favorite book. Yup, he's my son.
cid:X.MA20.1461721927@aol.com
To be continued...
 
Last edited:
Your pictures are fabulous !!

And you have a beautiful family, you all look great in them

Lots of smiles!
 


Well, almost a year later from when I last wrote, but here we are, and I'm planning another trip for next summer-still had the report typed up, so I figured I'd finish.


Moseyed through, stopped to do Spider-Man-liked it much better than last time. Too many screen rides in a row last time, and I had to close my eyes on Spider-Man, it made me sick.
View attachment 266360

Matt wanted a Cinnabon, so they stopped there. I went to the ladies room, and then popped into the bakery. I got cheesecake. They were done by the time I got back to the table, so I decided to take the cheesecake back to room.

IMG_0339.JPG
Got on a boat. Wrong boat. Whoops. Had a nice ride to Portofino and back. LOL
We got off and walked to HRH.
It was a nice night, no big deal.
IMG_0340.JPG

IMG_0341.JPG

Was going to run to Target(need a new straightener) but it was 9. and IOA just closed. We figured that traffic would be bad, so we went back to the room, the kids were eating the Bertie Botts jelly beans, cracking me up.
View attachment 266370

Rest of the night was TV, Internet, relaxing.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0342.JPG
    IMG_0342.JPG
    79.2 KB · Views: 5
Last edited:
Day 2 Sunday
Jim and I got up around 8, the kids around 8:45. Jimmy went down and picked up coffee and tea and a croissant for me. Sandwich for himself.

No Apple Jacks or Froot Loops, which were Matt's requests.
I braided Julia's hair and then we left the kids to get ready and we went to Target to get a new straightener and flip flops for Julia. Picked up the new Star Wars movie because why not.

Stopped at Walgreens because I forgot ponchos-Matt wants to do the Jurassic Park ride and I refuse to walk around wet. LOL We also picked up cups of Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes and milk.
Matt had Froot Loops when we got back.
Then we had to wait for him to brush his teeth, do his hair, do push ups..because he couldn't do any of that while we were gone @@

We walked over to IoA. Straight back to Dragon Challenge. The line/crowd for the mandatory lockers( nothing at all allowed in your pockets) was insane. Ridiculous. Actually, there was no line, just hordes of people trying to get into the little locker area.
And this was for a 10 minute stand by line. Imagine when it's crowded!
So, I told the kids and Jim to go and I'd hold all the phones etc. they were refusing to go, but I Finally convinced them I was totally fine missing it, when the other option was dealing with the locker mess.

I found the exit and a shady rock to sit on.

Jim texted me a bit later. He forgot to take his phone out, lol, realized when he was about to go through the metal detector..so he would be joining me at the exit.

After the kids got off, we went to Jurassic Park River Adventure.
Matt refused to wear a poncho and was pretty wet from the waist up.
We decided to go right over to Rip Saw Falls. Matt again said no to the poncho. And then as we were boarding the ride operator moved him to the front seat because he was the tallest. he got soaked.
i had my poncho drawn tight around my face. My hair needs to he protected. Lol
It was so much fun!
View attachment 266382


Walked to see if they had the Jurassic World shirt Matt wanted, but they didn't so he just dealt with is wet clothes. He was wearing a cotton tshirt and thin basketball shorts, so he dried quickly.
Thunder Falls Terrace looked good, so we stopped there for lunch.
I had a chicken wrap. Kind of dry.
Julia had kids Mac and cheese, Jim a bacon cheeseburger and Matt, a turkey leg. Julia and I also got a brookie to share.
From there we went to see what the Jurassic Discovery Center was. (More for little kids). We headed back to Hogsmeade to take the train to Kings Cross (Universal Studios).
View attachment 266381
Only a 10 minute wait.
We poked around Diagon Alley a bit-kids had fun looking at all the wands.
View attachment 266384 IMG_0410.JPGView attachment 266391
IMG_0393.JPG
Walked back to the hotel-stopping for icees on the way.

We changed and headed down to the pool. Jimmy's the only one who actually went in, but it was so nice just laying on the chairs.


Back to the room to get ready for dinner. We decided on Hard Rock Cafe and walked over. There was no wait, and we were seated right away.
View attachment 266387 View attachment 266388
We got nachos to start. You can choose to add fajita beef, ground beef, or chicken, we chose ground beef.
They literally cut up a hamburger and throw it on top. Tasted like a hamburger, looked like a hamburger. Weird. And not too tasty. Throw some Mexican seasonings in there, at least.
Jimmy and I both got chicken clubs, me with onion rings, he with fries. Matt got a cheeseburger and fries and Julia got steak fajitas. They looked weird to me, big fat chunks of steak, not thinly sliced, but she liked them.
I was freezing and we were full, so no sticking around for dessert.
 
Last edited:
FYI sorry for the random pictures but 80%of the pictures Im trying to upload, it's saying that it's too big. I have no idea. They're all taken with the same iPhone, all coming from my iPad so..???

It was a beautiful evening,so deciding between movies or mini golf was easy. Mini golf it was. The kids chose the haunted side over the Sci Fi side.
View attachment 266393
I sucked tonight, usually I win, or come in a close second. Matt loved every minute of it.
Julia got 3 holes in one, and still didn't win. LOL
Jimmy won with a 43, kids tied at 48 and I lost with 50. It was a lot of fun! I'd definitely go back.
IMG_0465.JPG
IMG_0467.JPG
Also Citywalk was way less crowded tonight, it was nice.
View attachment 266397

We walked back to the HRH and packed up before going to sleep. The beds and pillows there are so comfortable, but we had a room with the worst view ever(the roof and a wall), which included spotlights shining on the name of the hotel which must have been right above our room,which meant spotlights shining in our room. We closed the drapes, of course, but never quite got them all the way closed, so the room was not pitch black the way I like it. Other than that bad luck if the draw, we loved HRH, and the room itself was very comfortable.
Btw, love this pillow in the room IMG_0475.JPG

Day 3 Monday

Woke around 8, everyone got ready, even the sloooooowpoke, Matthew. I finished packing with help from the others after mentioning that I don't need to do it all by myself. @@
Jimmy and Julia had cereal, maybe Matt, too-I wasn't paying attention.

Jimmy brought the car up, and the kids and I hauled our stuff down to pack the car so we could be done with that and head to US.

We had 3 goals today: Transformers, Rip Ride Rock It, The Mummy.
Minimal waits on he regular lines for all 3, walk on with Express Pass.
RRR, I don't know why I do it-Julia was dying laughing at me. I wanted to cry, I was so scared. I am NOT scared of the coaster, I am always afraid the restraints won't hold and I'll be flung out.
Transformers afterwards, blech, makes me sick-not the movement, the 3D screens.
And finally The Mummy, which I love!

We moseyed around for a while, got a couple of pretzels and a lemonade to share, then walked back to the hotel to grab the car.
And we were off!
To Target.
To get a belt for Matt, whose shorts were too big.
The shorts I bought him 2 weeks ago and told him to try on to make sure they fit. The ones he told me he did try on and they fit perfectly. The shorts that fall halfway down his butt when he wears them.

Picked up a case of water and some Diet Pepsi for me while we were out.

Pulled up to the BWV at 11:30 and our Universal portion of our trip was over.
Til next time..
 
Last edited:

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top