Escape From Home to Dinosaurs, Wizards, and Alarm Clocks - A March 2021 Trip Report (**Completed 3/27/23**)

[cstorm65]

Nice to have the pool to yourselves-ish even if it was a bit cool. Sounds like the boys made the best of it!

It was a bit cool, but by about 10:00 the sun was up and it wasn't too bad. It was also kind of nice that there wasn't a big crowd at all!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 2 Part 2 - Don’t Steal All of My Dip!

After a nice relaxing morning at the pool we headed inside to have some lunch at Pier 8. We had eat a couple of meals here already and didn’t really want to fight the lunch crowd with all of us, so I just headed in with a plan to get some items for us all to share.

I ended up grabbing one of the Chicken Caesar Salads, a full size Pepperoni pizza, and a couple of orders of onion rings. I also got a few of the different dips they had to dip our onion rings in, one of them being an avocado ranch...more on that in a minute!

Anyways, they had a nice selection of salads, but I decided the caesar would go best with the pizza.

It took about 10 minutes for the pizza to cook, but eventually I was back at the table and everyone was starving after a full morning of swimming! The pizza was actually not too bad for food court pizza. I mean, this was a nice meal that was cheaper than if we had all ordered our own thing, and we would do this again!

The onion rings were very tasty, but man that Avocado Ranch was awesome to dip them in.

I only got two containers of the avocado ranch and me and DS8 were sharing one, but DW did not want to share. We finished our container off and DS8 reached over to get some of DW’s and she told him, “Don’t steal all of my dip!” She was enjoying it!

We finished eating and headed back to the room at about 1:30 to clean up and bit and let DS5 get a nap in.

While DS5 napped and DW and DS8 rested I went ahead and took a bus over to Citywalk as I wanted to pick up our park tickets so we wouldn’t have to do that before the 7 AM park opening in the morning. I was using Travel Agent tickets which had to be picked up at the parks, not at the resort.

I waited about 5 minutes for a bus and once I was on the ride was only about 5 minutes long. This time of day the busses weren’t that crowded, but the drivers were seating people in specific seats due to COVID.

By about 2:15 I was walking in Citywalk and was super excited to be back. It’s been a long time since we’d been in an Orlando theme park! Love this sign!!

I started at the entrance to Universal Studios, but the ticket window line was super long. I decided I’d walk over to Islands of Adventure and see if the line was any shorter and I was planning on walking a full loop anyway just because I could!

I made it over here by about 2:35 and it wasn’t any less crowded, unfortunately, so I got in line.

The line was long and it took me about 25 minutes to get to the front, but it moved fairly consistently. Before too long I had our tickets and was heading back through Citywalk to get back to the resort.

On the way out of Citywalk I took a picture of one of DW’s and I’s favorite restaurants that we would be eating at later tonight.

I was back in the bus line by 3:20 and less than 15 minutes later I was back at Dockside to rest a little bit myself.

Up Next: Day 2 Part 3 - The Best Burger Ever!​

 

[Jess_S]

I am enjoying your trip report -- except that all the food photos are making me hungry. I will definitely have to try the onion rings with avocado ranch when we take our trip in August.

 

[cstorm65]

I am enjoying your trip report -- except that all the food photos are making me hungry. I will definitely have to try the onion rings with avocado ranch when we take our trip in August.

Thanks for reading!! As you can tell...we like our food when we are on vacation! I'm not sure if that dressing was supposed to go with the onion rings at all, it was just kind of a game time decision, but it was so good!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 2 Part 3 - The Best Burger Ever!

After a little rest time for all of us at Dockside we got things together and headed out for our dinner reservation at a place DW discovered when we were at Universal in 2019, Bigfire! We loved it so much on that trip that we ate there a second time! So, we were excited about this one! We got down to the bus stop at 4:30 and were through security at Citywalk by 4:45.

The bus ride from Endless Summer is super quick and convenient! We got to Bigfire at 5:00 and were seated immediately. We wasted no time ordering something DW and I love, the bread appetizer. It is the Hearth Oven Baked Bread- $5.00 Bigfire's signature hearth oven baked bread served with herbed butter, orange peach preserves.

This is a delicious appetizer for sure. The bread is great and both the herbed butter and peach preserves are excellent. We all loved it and I’m not so sure we didn’t get two orders of this because we knew it’d go fast! While enjoying the bread we settled in and finished ordering our meal.

For our meal tonight DW decided she wanted to try the steak, so she got the Filet Mignon (Creekstone Farms) 6oz - $34.00.

This steak was awesome! It didn’t look super impressive because a Filet doesn’t always look that impressive on a big plate, but the taste was awesome. The flavor was actually different than most steakhouses because this place obviously cooks it on the big grill instead of a flattop. We don’t know if it was better or worse than a traditional steakhouse, but certainly a different flavor, which was nice! The steak came with potatoes, which April didn’t love all that much. They weren’t seasoned quite enough, but the steak was definitely the star!

I ended up ordering the Bigfire Cheeseburger - $17.00 1/2 lb. black angus beef, cheddar, beefsteak tomato.

Let me tell you, we got this in 2019 when we were here and I’ve been dreaming of it ever since. I don’t know if it is the grill or just the beef they use, but it is awesome! Probably the best burger I’ve ever had and I love me some burgers! The bun is very good and pairs perfectly with the beef patty. I mean it’s a simple burger, but so good! Now, with all that said we haven’t been back to Disney to go to Geyser Point yet, so I’ll definitely try the Bison Burger there this summer and we will see which is the best!

DS8 ended up getting the kids Cheeseburger Sliders $7.49. He is also a fan of burgers and he really liked these!

I missed a picture of DS5’s meal, but he got the kids Mac ‘n Cheese $7.49. He enjoyed it and we were kind of surprised he liked it and ate it all because it was real mac ‘n cheese. He usually just likes the cheap store bought stuff!

After our meal was finished we had decided to go ahead and do the Tableside S'mores - $16 Marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, peanut butter cups. This is a little expensive and honestly, it’s nothing special food wise, but it is a super fun thing for the kids, and our boys loved it!

I mean, who doesn’t love a good S’more? Anyways, it was a great meal that DW and I have been waiting for a while to do again!

After dinner we stopped for a few minutes in the Universal Studios Store. Of course the boys had to try on some hats!

The boys weren’t much into shopping though as we had told them they could swim one more time before we moved from Dockside to a new hotel in the morning! We got to the bus stop at 6:30 and once again the bus was super quick and we were back at Dockside by 6:40.

We got dressed and the boys were enjoying a little more pool time by 7:00.

I ended up taking the boys to the pool while DW took a little time in the room to get our things together and ready to move over to the new resort. We had purchased the boys their own roller suitcases before this trip, so that helped us keep everyone organized since we were changing resorts so much on this trip.

We got back to the room and the boys were in bed by 8:30 because we were going to have a super early morning tomorrow...more to come on that in the next update!

While they were going to sleep I grabbed several of our bags and went ahead and took them to the car so we didn’t have to wrestle with them early in the morning and this proved to be a nice thing to do!

When I got back I went to the food court and needed a little snack and this jumped out at me:

I mean, it’s vacation right? It was pretty good. I ate half and took the rest to DW to try, but she had fallen asleep while I ran to the car, so...I just finished it off before bed!

We’ll be back later with the next day, the alarm was set for 5:30 AM...yes, you read that correct. We had to get up so we could ride Hagrid’s!

Up Next: Day 3 Part 1​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We wasted no time ordering something DW and I love, the bread appetizer. It is the Hearth Oven Baked Bread- $5.00 Bigfire's signature hearth oven baked bread served with herbed butter, orange peach preserves.

I mean you can't go wrong with bread...

After our meal was finished we had decided to go ahead and do the Tableside S'mores - $16 Marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, peanut butter cups. This is a little expensive and honestly, it’s nothing special food wise, but it is a super fun thing for the kids, and our boys loved it!

I am honestly suprised Disney doesn't do this somewhere.... Totally sounds like a fun thing for kids

We’ll be back later with the next day, the alarm was set for 5:30 AM...yes, you read that correct. We had to get up so we could ride Hagrid’s!

OH, Can't wait to hear how you like Hagrids!

 

[Belle83]

Endless Summer looks like a great resort! And tableside s'mores....awesome.

 

[cstorm65]

I mean you can't go wrong with bread...

That's the truth!

I am honestly suprised Disney doesn't do this somewhere.... Totally sounds like a fun thing for kids

Yes, it is very fun, especially to do it right at your table where you have napkins and water, so even if the s'mores get messy...and they should if doing them right...you have an easy way to clean up!

OH, Can't wait to hear how you like Hagrids!

Soon!!!

Endless Summer looks like a great resort! And tableside s'mores....awesome.

We really enjoyed ES (and the s'mores). Universal really thought of a lot of great stuff, even though its a value resort, which makes it seem really functional.

 

[cstorm65]

Day 3 Part 1 - “Dad, Can I Be Tall Enough Now?”

It was an early wake up call today, but that’s the price you pay when you are a family of teachers and can only travel on school break! The parks usually have long hours and this week was no exception. 8 AM park openings, but for us it was 7 AM due to the early entry hours for resort guests. So, up early was the plan. I can’t say DW was excited about it, but if we want to ride Hagrid’s getting up early is a must!

We woke up at 5:30 and by 6:00 we were pulling out of Dockside and heading to check in at Royal Pacific. Of course we had to grab our room keys so we could use the express pass while we were in the parks. This was a peak spring break week and so having express pass was going to come in very handy!

We got to Royal Pacific at 6:10 and I jumped into the check in line. I was 3rd in line and it didn’t appear to be moving very fast, but about that time two more front desk people came out and opened up and so we were checked in by 6:25. We headed outside, parked the car because our room wasn’t ready yet, and walked to Islands of Adventure.

The walk took us about 10 minutes to the front gates and that included going through security when we got to Citywalk. We love walking this way because this little security stop is so much easier and less hectic than the main security at Citywalk when you arrive by bus.

By 6:40 we were in line at Islands of Adventure. We were actually over at an alternate entrance to the left of the main entrance that they use when its really crowded.

They started letting people into the park at about 6:45, but they were staggering letting people in. Probably due to COVID and trying to keep the rush spread out a bit of people heading to Hagrid’s. It took us until about 7:00 before we were through the turnstiles. We headed straight to Hagrids!

We made it to the start of the line in the Lost Continent area at 7:10 and wound around through the Sinbad theatre area for about 10 minutes before finally making it to the entrance to Hogsmeade.

We were into the actual queue area for the ride at about 7:25.

It took us about 15 minutes to get to the ride at that point, so we waited about 30 minutes total, but we were moving most of that. I rode with DS8 first and DW got the child swap pass. DS8 was in shock as to how good this ride was. He loved it! He said it was the best roller coaster ever and I don’t know that I can disagree with him. All of the launches are awesome and the “surprise” that happens when you get entangled in the devil’s snare is the greatest moment ever!

I took DS5 while DW and DS8 went back on Hagrid’s. We went and looked around in Hogsmeade a bit.

At one point we headed back over to see if we could see DW and DS8 on the ride. We were standing in here:

While we were watching DS5 looked at me and said, “Dad, can I just be tall enough now?” He wanted to ride Hagrid’s so bad! He’s a little roller coaster lover, at least the coaster’s he’s tall enough for. I tried to explain that it would be another year or two before he was tall enough for this one, but that we’d come to do it when he was tall enough!

DW and DS8 got off and we headed over to do Flight of Hippogriff, the little coaster, for DS5.

DS5 enjoyed this, although it took us 25 minutes even with express pass. It is a super slow loading coaster and there is only one train, unlike Barnstormer at Magic Kingdom.

It was about 8:30 by this point and we headed out of Hogsmeade, but not before seeing this sight:

Then we headed into the next area of the park...one of my favorites!

We stopped and paid for our refillable mugs for the day, which is a great deal, at least to us it is. This sign and track was near where we were filling our drinks.

I guess it’s almost open for good now and I can’t wait to ride that one!

After getting our mugs filled we headed on into Jurassic Park so DS8 and I could do the River Adventure. Now, DS5 was tall enough for this ride, but DW and I thought we’d try it with DS8 first and see if it scared him and then we can decide if DS5 could handle it. DS5 loves log rides and I think he’d be fine on the drop, but the lift hill and stuff is a little scary. So, we’ll see later in the trip!

DS8 loved Jurassic Park River Adventure. One thing that is tough at Universal is you can’t take on ride photos or have your camera out. We heard them come onto the ride loudspeaker multiple times one multiple rides all three days and tell people to put phones away, and I’m a rule follower, so not many ride pictures for us.

DS8 loved the ride though and we headed on around into Toon Lagoon.

That’ll do it for this update. We’ll be back for more!!

Up Next: Day 3 Part 2​

 

[snowpack]

Super loving your trip report. The father/son pictures were priceless. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[cstorm65]

Super loving your trip report. The father/son pictures were priceless. Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks for reading along! So many great memories on this trip!

 

[choppee]

What a wonderful experience! Your boys are absolutely beautiful.

 

[cstorm65]

Day 3 Part 2 - First Trip on the Hogwarts Express

We made it through Toon Lagoon despite the boys wanting to ride the rapids, but we knew better than to do that ride without swimsuits on...don’t worry boys, we will do it tomorrow!

We headed into Marvel Super Hero Island to introduce the boys to a great Universal attraction, Spiderman!

We knew DS8 would enjoy this ride, but weren’t sure how DS5 would handle it. What the car does is not super thrilling, but we were a little worried the loud noises might scare him a bit. We told him all of this and told him it would probably be scary, but he wanted to do it anyway. I always remember that this ride was one of the first times Disney or Universal really themed up the queue with a lot of props and sets and stuff. Almost every new ride nowadays gets this type of treatment.

We waited about 10 minutes with the Express and as we expected DS8 loved the ride! DS5, well, not so much. He buried his head in my side for a lot of it and when we got off we were able to confirm it was the loud noises that scared him. DS8 tried to ask him if he wanted to go again and it was a firm no, but we shall see if that lasts later in the trip!

We did some shopping in the stores there in Marvel Island after the ride and DS8 found a car he likes and may want to use some souvenir money on later on in the trip.

After finishing up some shopping we headed on around the park and got over to some stuff more well suited for DS5 in Seuss Landing.

It was about 9:30 at this point. It seems early, but the park opened at 7 AM. We were stopping a few rides here in Seuss Landing before heading over the US on the Hogwarts Express and the first one the boys chose was Cat in the Hat.

They both liked this ride. I’m a dark ride fan for sure and so this is always a fun ride to me as well! After Cat in the Hat the boys wanted to do the Caro-Seuss-el. DS5 definitely enjoyed it!

After the ride we were waiting on DW, who was filling the drinks up, and DS8 got super excited when he saw the Lorax’s house. He had just read this book and watched the movie in school and so he was very happy! He made me take this picture and send it to his teacher!

After DW got back and we showed her the Lorax’s house we headed off to catch the Hogwarts Express over to Universal Studios as we wanted to show the boys Diagon Alley!

This is where we found out that having a stroller on the Hogwarts Express can be a way to shorten your wait time, now we also found out later in the trip it can be confusing to find your way around all of those elevators and such as well! Haha

This time we had a great cast member who walked us right where we needed to be and sent us up on the elevator and the boys loved seeing the train pull into the station. DS8 was in awe!

We loaded onto the train and headed off to US.

When we got off we took a couple of minutes to remind the boys about Diagon Alley from the book we had read with them and the first HP movie we had watched. DS8 spotted the bus:

We then kind of let DS8 follow some people into the entrance to Diagon Alley and he just said “wow” when we rounded the corner! It was awesome to see their expressions that first time around the corner!

We headed in and we were going to take DS8 on Escape from Gringotts. DS8 and I went first with our express pass. It was about 10:45 at this point and we were off by 11:00. DS8 loved the ride, although he said he liked Hagrid’s a little more. I always like Gringotts, but wish it was just a little longer. It just seems a little short to me. Of course I’m sure all rides could be a little longer! haha

After DS8 and I got off he went again with DW. While they were doing that DS5 and I got in line at Leaky Cauldron for lunch. It was going to take about 20-30 minutes to get into the restaurant, even though I had done our mobile order, it was just pretty crowded with spring break crowds. We’ll tell you next time if that wait was worth it or not!

Up Next: Day 3 Part 3​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

It was an early wake up call today, but that’s the price you pay when you are a family of teachers and can only travel on school break!

True, but you guys get nice long summar trips!

“Dad, can I just be tall enough now?”

How cute... Poor guy..

DS5 enjoyed this, although it took us 25 minutes even with express pass. It is a super slow loading coaster and there is only one train, unlike Barnstormer at Magic Kingdom.

The slow load rides are brutal. There is nothing they can do to make them faster. Well, I guess other than make 2 of them, like they did for Dumbo...

I guess it’s almost open for good now and I can’t wait to ride that one!

It might be your new favorite coaster. Sounds like it is pretty amazing!

DS8 loved Jurassic Park River Adventure. One thing that is tough at Universal is you can’t take on ride photos or have your camera out. We heard them come onto the ride loudspeaker multiple times one multiple rides all three days and tell people to put phones away, and I’m a rule follower, so not many ride pictures for us.

I feel like this is why Disney has more trip reports! You can tell more of a story with Disney and being able to bring your phone with you pretty much everywhere. It's harder to do with Universal.

He is going to be trouble one day!

It was going to take about 20-30 minutes to get into the restaurant, even though I had done our mobile order, it was just pretty crowded with spring break crowds.

I have heard only bad reviews of Universal's Mobile Order system.... Probably the only bad thing about how they are running the park right now. But hopefully that will change sooner than later.

 

[cstorm65]

True, but you guys get nice long summar trips!

We do, we do! And our kids like to get up early, so rope drops are really not that bad for us. Rope Drops at 7 AM are a little too early, but for this Universal day it was really just the moving to Royal Pacific before going to the parks that made it extra early. The next day we got to the park at the same time with only a 6:15 wake up call, which is about the time DS5 wakes up anyways!

The slow load rides are brutal. There is nothing they can do to make them faster. Well, I guess other than make 2 of them, like they did for Dumbo...

Yes, waiting in lines that don't hardly move is awful!

It might be your new favorite coaster. Sounds like it is pretty amazing!

Oh...I can't wait!

I feel like this is why Disney has more trip reports! You can tell more of a story with Disney and being able to bring your phone with you pretty much everywhere. It's harder to do with Universal.

For sure. You can't document a lot of the good stuff in terms of the attractions.

He is going to be trouble one day!

If "trouble one day" means NOW, then you are right! haha

I have heard only bad reviews of Universal's Mobile Order system.... Probably the only bad thing about how they are running the park right now. But hopefully that will change sooner than later.

Yeah, it isn't super user friendly, although it worked just fine for us. The only thing that can be bad is if you need to customize your meal at all, it doesn't let you do that. So, if you have someone who's super picky I'm not sure what you do!

 

[princess aleya]

I‘m really enjoying you’re report, your boys are adorable. Thanks for sharing!

 

[cstorm65]

I‘m really enjoying you’re report, your boys are adorable. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for reading along! Glad you're here!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 3 Part 3 - This Better Be a Good Meal

Moving on here in our first full day in the Universal Parks DS8 and DW had gone off to ride Escape From Gringotts while DS5 and I got in line for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. I had figured out what DW and DS8 wanted so I could mobile order while in line, but the line was out the door and around the corner down into Knockturn Alley. We got in line because this is a spot DW and I had never eaten and we both really like Fish and Chips, so it was something we for sure wanted to try. DS5 and I waited...and waited...and waited and it was about 25 minutes before we finally turned the corner out of Knockturn Alley and went into the actual entry area of the restaurant. At about this time DW and DS8 had finished and joined back up with us. DS8 played in the window while we remained in the second part of the line.

Finally, after about 45 minutes we were inside of the restaurant and seated at a table. It was definitely not the best experience waiting for a table here and I told DW at one point, “This better be a good meal if we are waiting this long!”

Once we got to the front of the line we were seated pretty quickly and got to take in a little bit of the decor.

One key part of this was to get some Butterbeer with lunch, I think we got two of them, one for DW and one for the rest of us to share. I really love Butterbeer, but DW loves it on a whole other level!

The boys also enjoyed it, although I don’t think they liked it as much as DW and I. I’m sure it will grow on them as they get older! After about a 15 minute wait at the table our food arrived, a whole bunch of Fish & Chips. DW, DS8, and I all got fish and chips, DS8’s was just the kids meal version. DS5, surprisingly (sarcasm!) got the mac ‘n cheese kids meal!

We all really enjoyed the fish and chips. I’m not sure we enjoyed it quite as much as Yorkshire County in Epcot, but it was very good. I actually think the fish was just as good as Yorkshire, but I’m not a big fan of these potato wedges that Universal uses in some of their restaurants. I enjoy the regular french fries like they have at Yorkshire in Epcot. Anyways, the meal was good though and we agreed it was probably worth the wait, especially with the cool decor inside of the restaurant.

We headed back out into Diagon Alley at 12:30 or so.

The next plan was to head over to see if we could get into the Shrek show. The streets were getting a little more crowded on our way to the front of the park.

We were able to get on Shrek with a pretty small wait, thanks to the Express Pass. When we were finished at about 1:00 we headed over to one of my favorite Universal Rides, ET...I know, I know, this ride probably needs to get replaced, but I’m a sucker for dark rides as I’ve said before! I still ride Peter Pan at Disney World any chance I get. I was excited for the boys to get their first ride on ET.

The boys loved the ride, especially DS5. I mean they’ve never even seen the movie, but that is the great part about a dark ride with a story, you don’t have to be an expert in the movie to enjoy the attraction.

After the ride some of the Spongebob characters were out and the boys wanted to say hi.

Next we headed on towards the back of the park for a ride on Men in Black. I knew DS8 was going to love this one and I was right.

DS8 loved it and DS5 actually enjoyed it too, even though he didn’t hit many targets! Of course I'm not sure how I remember that, they erased our memories!

They also enjoyed the stuffed animals in the gift shop!

This park has some cool picture options, that’s for sure with the lagoon in the middle and we snapped a few pictures as we headed back around to jump on the Hogwarts Express again.

We made it to the train at 2:15 and you guys may be thinking this is not like you guys to spend this many hours in a park without a break. Well, you are right, but we didn’t want to risk going back to the hotel and our room not being ready yet. We weren’t planning on coming back to the parks tonight, so we just figured we’d plow through and get some stuff done that we wanted! We had another great ride on the train as we headed back to Hogwarts!

I especially love all of the details they did to make it special as you go to platform 9¾.

We were onboard by 2:25 with our express pass and the boys looked so tired as we rode the train. Remember, we got up at 5:30 am!

We made it to Hogsmeade by 2:40 and had just a couple of more things to do before heading to the resort.

We knew that by now it would be 3:30 or so once we made it back to the resort and so the room should be ready for us! Also, I think it was about now that I got our room ready text from Royal Pacific, so we were sure we had a place to go! We’ll be back to finish the day out next time!

Up Next: Day 3 Part 3​

 

[schumigirl]

Yes, fish and wedges is not fish and chips. That was a disappointment for us in the Potter restaurants.

No, ET needs to stay exactly as it is, it`s a classic......you did have a wonderful day and the pictures of the boys are adorable. The last one on the train is so cute!

Really enjoying your report!

 

[cstorm65]

Yes, fish and wedges is not fish and chips. That was a disappointment for us in the Potter restaurants.

Totally agree! I don't know if that is how it really should be or not, but I know I like the regular fries better! haha

No, ET needs to stay exactly as it is, it`s a classic......you did have a wonderful day and the pictures of the boys are adorable. The last one on the train is so cute!

Oh, I hope you are correct. I just really like that the Universal parks still have ET and Cat in the Hat so we have a couple of dark ride options. I mean don't get me wrong, I love a good thrill ride to, but those dark rides have a purpose too!

Really enjoying your report!

Thanks for reading along!