Home again, another great trip

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Introductions etc
Travelling AerLingus from Shannon
Alamo & Savetime
Boardwalk Inn
Hard Rock Hotel
Beach Club
Disney Dining
Disney
FP+
Magic Bands
Universal
Universal Rides
Dining in Universal
Express Pass
Disney Memory Maker
Universal Photo Connect
Downtown Disney
And Finally....

 

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Ok, so we've just got back from our latest trip. 7 nights in the BWI, 5 nights in the HRH and then 9 nights in the BC.
This was our third visit to Disney, and second over the Christmas/New Year period. My nephew also came with us and it was his first visit. Although we have been to Disney before, we had never done Universal, so that was a first. It's also our first time with FP+ and MagicBands, and although I was optimistic, I was still slightly worried. So there was me, DW, DD(13), DS(10) and DN(10). As DD was sleeping in the murphy beds (roll-away in the HRH) it may be useful to know that she's 5' 7" and slim, about 100lbs or so.

 

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Shannon is an easy 2 hour drive for us, pretty much all on the motorway. Parked in the pre-booked long term car park, which unlike Dublin Airport is a short stroll to the terminal. Check-in was straight forward. Cleared US immigration and had some breakfast. The flight here is handled by Air Contractors on behalf of Aer Lingus, but to be honest if you didn't know this, there was nothing to make it obvious. The plane used is a standard Boeing 757, not a wide body jet, so seating is 3-3. IFE was back of the seat screen with plenty to choose from. Going out we went via New York, return was via Boston. US internal flights were both with JetBlue and found them to be good. They had seat back IFE with free TV and movies to purchase. They also had internet available. This is currently free as they are rolling it out, but I understand they will charge in future. Had no issues on any of the journey and would have no hesitation in using this route again, except for the 2hr drive back to Dublin on return. Wasn't terrible, but would prefer to be without it.

 

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Had pre-booked a standard SUV with Alamo and done Savetime. Savetime is fantastic! Walked to garage, got directed to a row of cars, picked one, loaded up, showed licence and documentation to attendant at exit and drove off. 10m tops from stepping foot in the garage, we were gone. Will never queue at a desk for a car again if I can help it. We walked past the desk on the way and, conservately, I'd say we'd have been there for 45m at least.

There were plenty of cars to choose from, a good few Jeep Grand Cherokees, some GMC Terrain, some Dodge Journey's. No Ford Explorer, which I was hoping for. After a quick look we picked a Nissan Pathfinder. Nice big seven seater, but as we only needed five seats, gave us a very big boot. Turns out it was also brand new, only 5 miles on the clock. Some pictures below to give an idea of space for any one considering it. Overall found it a very nice comfortable machine, well equipped and quiet to cruise. I had prepaid for a tank of fuel and managed to return it with 10 miles left showing on the trip computer, so good result there. Overall we did almost 500 miles in it and only put in $20 extra above the full tank it came with, so not bad there either.

 

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We love the whole Epcot Resort Area so decided to try the Boardwalk. We all really liked it. For me it narrowly beats our previous favourite, the Beach Club, but the rest of the family still narrowly prefer the Beach Club. We had a Water View room and I had requested a full balcony and near the lobby when I did the on-line check in. Got both requests filled. The room was lovely and had a nice view, pic below. I don't know the sq. footage of either here or the Beach Club rooms, but if they are any different, it's negligible I'd say. Just to be aware that most of the dining options are only accessible by going out from the actual resort. They're not far, but you do go out. As mentioned before, we were a party of 5 and my daughter used the murphy bed and was very happy with it.

 

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We got to the Hard Rock about 11:00 am and our room wasn't ready. No problem as they gave us room keys, so we could get our express passes and our luggage was held for us. Later in the day we got a text saying the room was ready. We had requested nothing here and got a pool view room on the 6th floor. It was quite a trek from the lifts 2 full corridors and then another little bit. We needed a roll-away bed here for DD and it was in the room. DD said that although comfortable, it wasn't as nice as the murphy bed in the Boardwalk (nor subsequently the Beach Club). We all really liked the theming, decor and ambiance in the hotel and would say, as a hotel, it rates slightly above the Disney Deluxe's that we have stayed in. All of the staff we met were very friendly and helpful, at least on a par with any Disney hotel staff. For me, the coffe machine was better

One thing to note for anyone who may use the room for afternoon naps is that there can be a lot of noise from the pool area with activities going on. So I would request a room away from the main pool if that's the case.





Fountain at entrance


Cool light made of Tubas


The Pool


Storage drums in the shop


Walkway to parks

 

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The Beach Club is a family favourite and didn't disappoint this time. We had a standard view room and again had requested near the lobby and full balcony. Although slightly further from the lobby than our room in the Boardwalk it was still near and had the full balcony. It also had the advantage of being beside one of the back stairways, which meant an even shorter stroll to the International Gateway in Epcot. There was nothing to fault in the room, it wasn't one of the refurbished rooms, but was clean, tidy and comfortable. It backed onto Epcot and you could see Illuminations fireworks over the sparse trees. DD thought the murphy bed here was even better than the one in the Boardwalk.

 

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As we had a split stay the first part was booked directly on the US Disney site and the second through Complete Orlando. This meant that we got free dining for both parts. With a party of 5 (all Disney adults) this was a saving of approx $60 per person per night, so $4800. Out of curiosity and for information for others, I kept a record of what we ate and the bills we would have received. I have only included what was covered by the dining plan, so no appetizers, alcoholic drinks or tips are included here. We ate normally, we did not try to max out our plan or choose anything we normally wouldn't. About the only thing different was that we always got the dessert, whereas sometimes we might not have, or more likely we would have shared. So how did it work out.

Boardwalk Inn stay. 7 nights, total dining 'spend' $2,044 or approx $58 per person per night
Beach Club Stay. 9 nights, total dining 'spend' $2,747 or approx $61 per person per night
So including the fact that we had the refillable mugs, we did better than break even. We also didn't use 4 QS and 6 Snack credits during the Boardwalk stay.
However some points to note for those that are interested.
Le Cellier at 2 credits each, is a 'bad' use of credits. Cost of the dinner here was $282
Cape Cafe May breakfast is also a 'bad' use of credits. Cost of breakfast was $144
Hoop Dee Doo, also a 'bad' use of credits. Cost of the show for us was $325

Some comments on where we ate:
Hoop Dee Doo, first visit for us, was brilliant fun and food was pretty good and plentiful. Our waiter was a bit surly but very attentive, we never waited long for any refills.
Biergarten. Felt the choices here seemed to be less than previous years. Waitress was terrible, could never find her, even when it came time to pay.
Cape Cafe May breakfast was very good, great character interaction.
Captains Grille, was a last minute choice but proved to be a good one. Had an excellent waitress and all the family agreed was their best Disney meal ever.
50's Prime Time. Has always been a family favourite, but we were unlucky and got a poor waitress. The one serving the table next to us was excellent, we had better interaction with her than with our own.
Sci Fi DineIn. Nice themeing but the food was very poor. Will not be returning here.
BOG lunch, absolutely excellent. A definite must do for us next time. Only issue was that if you don't pre-order it can take quite a while to get your order in. No joking, the family in front of us took a full 15 minutes to process theirs.
Rose & Crown. Another first for us this trip. Food was ok and reasonable by Disney standards, nothing special. However the view of Illuminations made it worthwhile
Tepan Edo. Food was good and excellent Chef at our table. Very entertaining.
Chef Mickeys. Well it's Chef Mickeys, more about the characters and ambiance than the food. Generally we do this as a first and last meal. Will probably cut it down to once a vist from now on.
Chef De France. Food was very good and had an excellent waiter. Value wise, from the dining plan, it's a great use of credits.
Boma. A family favourite and it remains so.

Tipping. I don't want to start one of those tipping discussions, but we felt that a suggested tip of 18%-20% is high, expecially for a buffet. We generally tip well, but only for service that we feel is above and beyond. Whilst we personally don't have an issue with leaving less that the recommended tip, I think some might feel that they are being mean by doing so, especially when the recommendation is so high. $45-$50 for something like Chef Mickeys is a bit strong I think.

 

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Obviously we, as most people here, love Disney. This is our 3rd trip in 4 years, 2 of them over Christmas time. For us it's not about the rides, after 49 nights there, we finally rode the last 3 rides that we hadn't done before on this trip. We like the atmosphere, the bubble, the shows, the fireworks, everything. We met some wonderful CMs, particularily the Photopass photographer in HS who sang Happy Birthday to DD, something
she'll never forget. Then there was the CM at Fort Wilderness at the Pin Board, who couldn't stop giving the kids pins. The crowds were huge, but that didn't stop us. There were times when we just chilled and people watched or wandered through the World Showcase. Late nights worked well for rides, on the 23rd we did BTMR 3 times in a row, once we didn't even have to get out, there was no one waiting so they just sent us on out merry way again. We also did SDMT that night with a 15m wait. A couple of times we did RNR a few times in a row. The Water Parks, as usual, were very quiet (by Disney standards anyway). The parks generally were clean, even the toilets, considering the amout of people going through them. The only real issues we had were the couple of waiters/waitresses and Mousekeeping. Mousekeeping was so bad we started putting up the 'Do not distrub' sign on the door and just waited till we saw them to collect fresh towels, dump the trash or whatever we needed. Not once was the coffee replaced, most times we were left short on clean towels and toiletries. Dirty glasses and mugs were left behind and not replaced. One time I came back to the room to pick up something and they had left the door open by using the security latch, there was nobody around, and I waited 10 mins. Anybody could have just walked into the room and helped themselves. And the issue was in both hotels, the BWI and BC. When we moved to the BC we tried again, but same result, so back to the 'Do not disturb'. Oh, and we were tipping the customary $5 per day and although there were 5 of us in the room we are fairly tidy.

 

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FP+ worked very well for us. We had booked all the rides that we wanted and it worked every time. At one stage we had got a 'refunded' FP+ as Toy Story broke down before we got on it, while we also had 3 VIP passes that we got from a DVC visit. I was worried that it might get confused over which FP+ we were using but it performed perfectly. To be honest we never even tried to get a 4th, the kiosks were always pretty busy, and at Christmas time it was unlikely to get we'd get anything useful anyway. The tiering in HS and Epcot is a bit annoying, especially Epcot where there is a shortage of quality rides. But the ability to lie in, got to a waterpark or shopping in the morning, and get to a park later in the day and be able to ride the headliners without queueing for ever worked for us. Despite the crowds, by using a mix of FP+, early and late hours we got a lot of rides done.

 

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We loved the Magic Bands. The convienence of just having it there the whole time was great. The only time I found it a bit awkward was when returning to the resort in the car. I found it impossible to 'swipe' in without removing it from my wrist. Not a huge deal, but it would be nice if they could do something here, if they can scan them on the rides surely they can make the entry to the gate with a longer range, why not just open as you approach? Other than that they all worked flawlessly every time.

 

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Short answer first, we liked Universal but we didn't love Universal. Their thrill rides are superior to anything in Disney (from the thrill perspective) and the simulator rides are awesome, but there is something missing (for us anyway). The HP areas are absolutely breathtaking, at least as good, if not better, than anything in Disney. Diagon Alley and the Gringotts building are just jaw droppingly brilliant. The Seuss land and Simpsons area are also well done, but there is just no consistency in the place. It doesn't flow and keep you immersed like Disney does.

Maybe it's because it does not have one all encompassing theme, Mickey, that ties everything together, or maybe it's trying to amalgamate too many different things, but it just doesn't quite gel together. Most people seemed to be on a mission to get onto the next ride, that being the sole reason for being there. In the 2 HP areas, where people who had just got off the rides and were not going to queue again for 2+ hrs, they wandered around and enjoyed the place, but almost everywhere else all you could see were people rushing around.

We also did a Blue Man Group show on New Years Eve. Absolutely fantastic. Very different than Cirque du Soleil. it was great fun and we all loved it.

 

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Despicable Me - Love this ride and with the regular 2+ hr lines, we're obviously not the only ones. A 4D show where the seats move along with the action, giving the illusion of being directly involved. What Shrek could be if they updated it.
Shrek - OK, it's 10 years older than Despicable me, and it shows. The concept is similar, the problem here is the seats. They make so much noise as they move, it's off-putting. Similar to It's a Bugs Life in the AK in Disney.
Rip Ride Rockit - Was disappointed with this. Firstly it was out of operation more than it was running during our stay. But it just doesn't live up to the promise. The lift up to the top and the first loop are brillaint, then it's just yawn after that. Was actually gutted when I got off as I was expecting so much more.
Transformers & Spiderman - I've put these together, as esentially they are the exact same, just played out in different scenarios. Imagine being in a ride vehicle, like Dinosaur in AK but smaller, and being immersed in scenes with fast movement and full 3D effects. Both are excellent.
Revenge of the Mummy - A really good dark, inside roller coaster. Some parts of it may be scary for younger kids.
Men in Black - Similar to Buzz lightyear but darker and the guns work better. Enjoyed it but nothing special.
Simpsons - Loved this. Ride vehicle simialr to Transformers/Spiderman but moves up/down and left/right. You're lifted to an Imax screen and off you go.
Dragon Challenge - Great coaster this. Two sides red and blue, they do have names but I can only remember by the colour. Red is faster and blue a bit rougher. You hang down in the seat and do multiple inversions etc. Really cool.
Forbidden Journey - The original HP ride and great fun. Not a coaster, but sometimes feels like one, though you never go upside down. Travel through a Quiditch match, meet some Dementors. Loved it but only got to ride it once.
Hogwarts Express - Train ride to and from Hogsmeade/King's Cross Statio. You actually sit in a real steam train carriage, but the scenes are projected onto the windows. Nicely done, but not overly exciting.
Escape from Gringotts - An indoor roller coaster with 3D effects, similar to Transformers and Spiderman. Some drops and speedy sections but no inversions. Really cool and the whole area is fab.
The Incredible Hulk - Best ride in Universal for us. Fast, multiple inversions, corkscrews etc. Seems that you spend more time upside down than right way up. We all just loved it.

 

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Have to say we found the Dining in Universal to be far superior to Disney. I had booked restauraunts about 30 days out through OpenTable, it
being such a busy time of year. I think with the exception of Mythos, we didn't have to. There were always plenty of tables free in the other places. So where did we eat and what did it cost (for comparison purposes, I have shown the costs excluding drinks and appetizers)
The Kitchen (HRH) $150. Excellent meal, loved by all. Voted the favourite meal of the whole trip
Mythos (IOA) $100 (no desserts). Really good, can see why they get voted top Theme Park restaraunt so often. Inside it's a bit like T-Rex with no dinasours or mammoths.
Lombards (US) $225. This was for the Cinematic Dining experience that we booked for New Years eve. Food was OK, nothing great, but not bad. The area to watch the show is very good but they were very disorganized. Was a mass shove and push queue to get out there when they opened it up. We found the 'special' new year's eve show to be very poor and dissapointing. Not a patch on anything Disney does in this regard. I've seen better fireworks in people's back yard.
Finnegans (US) $115. Very good food, loved the Onion Webb appetizer and the Apple butter. Great service.
Bob Marley (CW) $115. The poorest meal in Universal by far. Would not return here. Food was very bland.

We also noticed that Universal also add a suggest tip to their receipts, but their's were 15%, 18% and 20%

 

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Express Pass was an absolute must at this time of year, for us at least. We generally found the express queue's to be between 1/4 and 1/3 of the main queue, not sure what it would be like at a quieter time of year, but this seemed fairly consistent throughout our stay. We really missed not having them for the 3 main Harry Potter rides, so we did these in the early mornings. As a 'free' perk of staying in the deluxe hotels, we'd be unlikely to go without it.

 

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Between Phtotpass photographers, ride photos & videos, we had 220 photos. Never had a problem with the ride photos linking with our magic bands, and we feel that it's a reasonable price for the return. We could easily have got more photopass photographs as the photographers were plentiful.

 

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This really wasn't worth it for us. There were very few photographers around and mostly it was just at the entrance to the parks. We ended up with only about 20 photographs from them.

 

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As many others have mentioned, Downtown Disney is a bit of a mess at the moment with all the construction going on. On both days that we went, we went early and wasn't really affected by it. We got parking easily in the new multi-storey lot. But there are lost of construction walls up all over the place. On both days when we were leaving (which was never later that 5PM) the queues of people trying to get in were long. So for the moment if you're planning to go, I'd say go in the morning.

 

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So home now a few days, not feeling down, but missing Disney. Overall we had a great trip. Whilst we did enjoy our little sojurn into Universal, it's only ever going to be a small part of future Orlando Holidays, we'll be loyal to the Mouse for a while at least. We had great times and great interaction with a lot of CMs, only real let down was Mousekeeping.

The only real low of the holiday was when DS left his laynard and pin collection behind him in one of the bathrooms and by the time we noticed, it was gone. Checked Lost&Found a few times, but it never showed up. Ah well, he's started again already...

Now, when do we go next