I keep changing my mind...A IOA, Universal Pre-Trip Report

CatNipRules

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Okay, so this is my first Universal Pre-Trip Report. I keep making all kinds of changes. What changes you ask? Well, mostly it's to where we are staying.

Originally I had us staying offsite. It was a little cheaper than staying offsite. It was a little over $100 a night. So, I'd still be paying for parking and I wanted to get the Express Passes. So, that would have been another $270 or more per night. To me, It just makes sense to go ahead and stay onsite.

So, I cancelled my reservation for the offsite hotel and book a room at Royal Pacific. This would not be my first hotel change however. Oh no. I was watching the Disboards podcast and it got me thinking. So, I went online to check out prices of the different hotels.

So, I found a room at the Hard Rock Hotel. I always thought that it was more expensive than any of the other hotels. That's what I thought, but when I was checking out the prices on the website, it's actually $23 cheaper per night that Royal Pacific. Yes please. So, I cancelled the reservation at Royal Pacific and we are now staying at Hard Rock.

I'm definitely keeping this reservation. 2 changes is more than enough.

So, our plans are as follows:

When: September 11th thru September 15th
Where: IOA and Universal Studios
Who: Me-Michelle My son Chris and Chris' best friend Jordan
Why: Well, we will be staying at Disney for the last part of our stay, but it's to celebrate my birthday. I'm keeping it a secret where we are staying. My son thinks we are still staying offsite.

We used to be Florida residents until we moved to Alabama in July of 2007. So, we had annual passes to both Disney and Universal. We've been back a few times. The last time we visited Universal was in 2015. So, there are a few new things that I'm looking forward to seeing.

We will be driving down. It's a little over a 10 hours drive. So, with stops and such I figure we will get there around 4 or 5 at night.

This will be our second time staying onsite at Universal. Since we lived in Florida and were there every chance we got, we stayed offsite. Except for one trip when my son was 7. We stayed at Royal Pacific.

Funny story about that hotel. My husband always used the spray deodorant. Well, he was standing close to the fire alarm in the room. Well, he sprayed it and it set off the alarm. In the entire resort. I had to rush and get dressed because not only did the front desk call, but someone came up to the room to check it out. LOL!! I always told him that the deodorant made it hard for me to breathe....LOL!!

Jordan hasn't been to Universal in years. So much has changed since the last time he was there.

Chris is still upset because he's too tall for the Pteranodon Flyers. That was always one of his favorite rides when he was little. As he says now, in order for me to ride it, I would have to kidnap someones kid. LOL!!

I'm looking forward to the Kong ride.

We got tickets through my sons job. They were a really good price.

So, stay tuned for any new developments.....
 
Nice start Michelle..........I like your plans.

Funnily enough I set off the alarm in the hospitality suite one year spraying deodorant underneath it.......lol....we called down and someone came up.........embarrassing!

I'm sure it'll be a fabulous trip and your son's friend will see massive changes!

Look forward to reading more of your plans........
 
We also switched from the RP to the HRH!! And like you, we're keeping it a secret from our 14 y/o son. He thinks we're still at the RP, because we told him the Hard Rock was out of our budget.
 
September will come soon.....

It will seem like it drags now but before you know it, the time will fly by

Have a great summer and then great vacation!
 


You'll love the HRH! It's our home! The staff is wonderful! They truly love their jobs! We just came back from our spring break trip and are planning a June trip as well. We were going to stay onsite at Disney but we keep thinking about the HRH!
 
So, we found out that Halloween Horror nights start the day we leave Universal for Disney. I told Chris that and he was like, Good.... He's not one for getting scared. He hates jump scares. It's funny because I can always tell when he's playing a video game. I hear him in the game room gasping. LOL!! It's so funny. He likes the Mickey's Halloween party precisely because it's not scary. LOL!!

I'm trying to find Universal T-Shirts. I have been trying to find a Jurassic World T-shirt...I've got a Jurassic Park shirt, but I want one for Jurassic World.

I have no idea where we are going to eat when we get to Universal. I have to do more research on that. Because Chris is a picky eater...LOL!!
 


Hey I just found this ptr too! We switched from rpr to hrh in May, but we're staying at Rpr still in Sep!

You have one place picked out to eat :rotfl: if you still want to join us for Toothsome.
 
Hey I just found this ptr too! We switched from rpr to hrh in May, but we're staying at Rpr still in Sep!

You have one place picked out to eat :rotfl: if you still want to join us for Toothsome.
Yes!! I still want to join you for Toothsome!! I'm really looking forward to it!!
 
Okay, so a few things to report.

I had to laugh when Chris and I were watching the podcast of the Disboards how to stay cool this summer. They were talking about the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride as a way too stay cool. So, Chris wants to trick Jordan into riding it. So, we have to go to it from the Harry Potter side.

Well, everytime we go on the ride something funny happens. When we lived in Florida and went all the time, we went on it after a hurricane and a tree fell across the track. They gave us a express pass because of the delay. Well, last trip, we got stuck in the room where the alarms are going off. For literally 10 minutes. They gave us Express passes. Well, Chris said that he hopes that something happens again so we can get Express passes again.

*Evil Mom Grin* Luckily we were watching this with the lights off so that it's not glaring in the tv. Because I was smiling at this point. He has no idea that we are staying onsite. Because I definitely don't have a good poker face. I'm managing to keep this a secret. Hardest thing to do ever!! LOL!!

However, he did say that he wants to go swimming while we are there. Great. Now I got to find some swim trunks for him. He is so skinny. I might have to go to the boys section to find some for him. I wouldn't mind going to volcano bay since our tickets include it. Jordan doesn't like water rides. He doesn't want to do the water park. I'll either plop him in the lazy river or he can stay at the hotel. LOL!! I just want to go and see what it's like.
 
Cat ioa will stay open later as all hhn activities will be at the studios only
Studios closes at 5 on hhn dates


I like you screen name
Love cats and down to only two of them now

Bluer and Luna are my sweeties
 
Okay, so I'm trying to figure out how much money to take for spending money for Universal. This is a little weird because Jordan will be paying for his own food and spending money during this part of the trip.

We are going to be there for 4 days. We are travelling down on the 11th. We are driving. We will be at the Universal Parks from the 11th and checking out on the 15th.

I know that we will need money for food and souvenirs. I have absolutely no idea how much will be enough for 2 people. LOL!
 
I think the food budget depends on where you want to eat. We usually budget for the food part as a whole, but I'd say it depends if they're all TS meals and how many a day etc. Do you know where you want to eat?

As for souvenirs I say:

treatyoself3.gif
 
Cat check out the menus on Damo sticky
Pcstang updated some of them last week when he was there

Most have current prices listed

Since you are driving being along water, beverages and snacks

You can get a good idea the places you want to eat at and costs if entree or food items

Make a list of snacks and their costs
Do morning forget the butterbeer and Potter snacks and Lards Lad big pink donut ($5)

Round up so you have a decent figure needed each day

For city walk food costs, go to
WWw.citywalk.com
All eateries, menus and prices can be found by checking each place

Hotels also have eateries and most of the types and prices I have in the hotel stickies

Think this will give you a decent idea for planning the low and high amount for food costs

Hope this info helps you to get started to plan ahead

You might want to buy UO gift cards now and use them for food expenses

Gift cards are accepted everywhere except park carts
 
I think the food budget depends on where you want to eat. We usually budget for the food part as a whole, but I'd say it depends if they're all TS meals and how many a day etc. Do you know where you want to eat?

As for souvenirs I say:

treatyoself3.gif

You always have the best gifs. It made me laugh so hard. LOL!

We don't usually eat a lot of TS at Universal. Which is totally different from Disney. At Disney we kinda like to do TS. I'm going to check out the menus and see what I can come up with. Usually we just wing it. LOL! Yeah, so totally different from my Disney planning right? LOL!!

I know I want to do Toothsome. We also love Jimmy Buffet's restaurant. They have really good food and the atmosphere is wonderful. It was the last restaurant I went to when we lived down there. My friends and I went to Universal for a weekend and they treated me to dinner there. They have live bands and it was really fun.
 
Cat check out the menus on Damo sticky
Pcstang updated some of them last week when he was there

Most have current prices listed

Since you are driving being along water, beverages and snacks

You can get a good idea the places you want to eat at and costs if entree or food items

Make a list of snacks and their costs
Do morning forget the butterbeer and Potter snacks and Lards Lad big pink donut ($5)

Round up so you have a decent figure needed each day

For city walk food costs, go to
WWw.citywalk.com
All eateries, menus and prices can be found by checking each place

Hotels also have eateries and most of the types and prices I have in the hotel stickies

Think this will give you a decent idea for planning the low and high amount for food costs

Hope this info helps you to get started to plan ahead

You might want to buy UO gift cards now and use them for food expenses

Gift cards are accepted everywhere except park carts
Thank you!! This is so helpful. I just need to figure out where to buy gift cards. This is very helpful!!
 
I buy my gift cards on line and found some at Kroger


A few times I bought them in the parks as i had too much cash to carry along in my pocket
Bought gc for $300 and some of $50 denominations

Easy to have gc as they are accepted everywhere at UO
 
You always have the best gifs. It made me laugh so hard. LOL!

We don't usually eat a lot of TS at Universal. Which is totally different from Disney. At Disney we kinda like to do TS. I'm going to check out the menus and see what I can come up with. Usually we just wing it. LOL! Yeah, so totally different from my Disney planning right? LOL!!

I know I want to do Toothsome. We also love Jimmy Buffet's restaurant. They have really good food and the atmosphere is wonderful. It was the last restaurant I went to when we lived down there. My friends and I went to Universal for a weekend and they treated me to dinner there. They have live bands and it was really fun.

Haha thank you!

I messaged you some recommendations for TS if you want to try some more on this trip.

I like Margaritaville too the burgers are really good!
 
I've said it before but the TS in the parks or citywalk are about the same price as QS. We never do QS at universal. It's 11.49 for a hotdog and chips at a cart. No drink included...no thanks.
 
Last edited:
I've said it before but the TS in the parks our citywalk are about the same price as QS. We never do QS at universal. It's 11.49 for a hotdog and chips at a cart. No drink included...no thanks.
Hmmm...Well, I definitely will be checking out the different TS locations. There are a few places that I would like to eat at Citywalk. Thank you for the info. I appreciate it!!
 

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