newestkg06
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2014
I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Schumigirl and Macraven for all of their work on these boards. You both helped to make our trip truly magical! I don't think we would have had nearly as great of a time without your sage advice!
We stayed at Royal Pacific Aug 22-24, went to US for a half day on 22, IoA on 23, and finished up US on 24. Crowds were relatively light and we had a great time. It was hot, but not unbearable. We're from Minnesota, so that should tell you that we're not used to FL heat! However, I think going at the end of August when we are pretty hot and humid was much better than going in Sept when we are coming from cooler temps. It wasn't such a shock and made dealing with the heat easier. Late August is a great time to go!!
First, Express pass was worth it's weight in gold. My husband was so thankful for it (and so were DS 7 and DS 10)! We would not come back without it. Even though it was a relatively slow time, the rain often pushed up wait times. We had some issues with down rides that express pass made so much easier later on. It also made touring and planning that much more relaxing. We just went on whatever was nearby that we wanted, no park crisscrossing because of wait times, and the kids got to re-ride whatever they wanted multiple times. We wouldn't go back without it.
Second, Diagon Alley and Hog's Mead were out of this world. I had two huge HP fans with me, and they were blown away. My 10yo has become a daredevil, so he had a blast on every thrill ride. Hulk, Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket, and Gringott's were his favorites. My 7yo rode everything he was tall enough for (48"). Mummy scared him a lot the first time, but after riding Gringott's (his favorite) three times, he decided to try again and loved it. Minions was super fun as well. Simpson's was only okay, Transformers was okay, but Spiderman was another HUGE hit. What a fun ride that is! Kong and Fast and Furious were both okay, not huge hits, but were more fun than I was expecting from the reviews. However, we didn't have much of a wait for either, so I can understand not thinking they were worth a long wait. I tried to convince them to do a few shows, but they thought that sounded "boring", so we didn't do the makeup show or Animal actors show like I had wanted. We were also way too tired to stay up for the Cinematic Spectacular like I wanted to. Oh well, we'll have to go back!
Third, Royal Pacific was beautiful. We had a great stay there. We requested a low floor in Tower 1, and we got it. The pool was really fun and we swam every night. The only thing it needs is a quick service for breakfast and dinner. I know Citywalk is close, but after touring all day, or on the way in, I really missed being able to grab and go something quick and relatively cheap at the resort. Having the option to walk to the parks instead of boat was also nice. The boats were convenient and quick, so not complaints there either. However, they do not run when lightning is in the area, which happened a few times for us. They run a bus instead, but we just walked.
Motion Sickness: three of us are prone to it, so we took Bonine and dramamine every day. That kept it away for nearly every ride, except for Forbidden Journey for me. FJ was down at rope drop, so we came back right after eating. That was the mistake I think. It's too bad because I think that was an incredibly innovative ride, but I really couldn't enjoy it as I was feeling so sick. Luckily, it went away quickly, and we enjoyed the rest of the day. I wish I had ridden it on an empty stomach and could have enjoyed it more.
Food: We ate at Three Broomsticks (wonderful!!!), Leaky Cauldron (delicious!), Simpson's (just okay food in a crazy chaotic madhouse, wouldn't recommend), and Burger place in Jurassic Park (my husband said the burger was worse than a HS cafeteria). Ice cream at Florean Fortescue was awesome (especially salted caramel blondie!). I don't know if we just timed it well, but we had no issues eating in WWoHP for dinner either day, and had the best meals there (fish and chips and chicken sandwich or roasted chicken). So I would say that the food outside of HP was not as good. We were going to try some restaurants at Citywalk, but didn't have time. Some of them looked really great!
We had a great trip and it only made us excited to come back in a few years when there are some new rides and the 7yo will be tall enough to ride everything. We also want to try some more of the restaurants next time.
I'm happy to answer any questions about going with two younger boys or our touring plan.
We stayed at Royal Pacific Aug 22-24, went to US for a half day on 22, IoA on 23, and finished up US on 24. Crowds were relatively light and we had a great time. It was hot, but not unbearable. We're from Minnesota, so that should tell you that we're not used to FL heat! However, I think going at the end of August when we are pretty hot and humid was much better than going in Sept when we are coming from cooler temps. It wasn't such a shock and made dealing with the heat easier. Late August is a great time to go!!
First, Express pass was worth it's weight in gold. My husband was so thankful for it (and so were DS 7 and DS 10)! We would not come back without it. Even though it was a relatively slow time, the rain often pushed up wait times. We had some issues with down rides that express pass made so much easier later on. It also made touring and planning that much more relaxing. We just went on whatever was nearby that we wanted, no park crisscrossing because of wait times, and the kids got to re-ride whatever they wanted multiple times. We wouldn't go back without it.
Second, Diagon Alley and Hog's Mead were out of this world. I had two huge HP fans with me, and they were blown away. My 10yo has become a daredevil, so he had a blast on every thrill ride. Hulk, Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket, and Gringott's were his favorites. My 7yo rode everything he was tall enough for (48"). Mummy scared him a lot the first time, but after riding Gringott's (his favorite) three times, he decided to try again and loved it. Minions was super fun as well. Simpson's was only okay, Transformers was okay, but Spiderman was another HUGE hit. What a fun ride that is! Kong and Fast and Furious were both okay, not huge hits, but were more fun than I was expecting from the reviews. However, we didn't have much of a wait for either, so I can understand not thinking they were worth a long wait. I tried to convince them to do a few shows, but they thought that sounded "boring", so we didn't do the makeup show or Animal actors show like I had wanted. We were also way too tired to stay up for the Cinematic Spectacular like I wanted to. Oh well, we'll have to go back!
Third, Royal Pacific was beautiful. We had a great stay there. We requested a low floor in Tower 1, and we got it. The pool was really fun and we swam every night. The only thing it needs is a quick service for breakfast and dinner. I know Citywalk is close, but after touring all day, or on the way in, I really missed being able to grab and go something quick and relatively cheap at the resort. Having the option to walk to the parks instead of boat was also nice. The boats were convenient and quick, so not complaints there either. However, they do not run when lightning is in the area, which happened a few times for us. They run a bus instead, but we just walked.
Motion Sickness: three of us are prone to it, so we took Bonine and dramamine every day. That kept it away for nearly every ride, except for Forbidden Journey for me. FJ was down at rope drop, so we came back right after eating. That was the mistake I think. It's too bad because I think that was an incredibly innovative ride, but I really couldn't enjoy it as I was feeling so sick. Luckily, it went away quickly, and we enjoyed the rest of the day. I wish I had ridden it on an empty stomach and could have enjoyed it more.
Food: We ate at Three Broomsticks (wonderful!!!), Leaky Cauldron (delicious!), Simpson's (just okay food in a crazy chaotic madhouse, wouldn't recommend), and Burger place in Jurassic Park (my husband said the burger was worse than a HS cafeteria). Ice cream at Florean Fortescue was awesome (especially salted caramel blondie!). I don't know if we just timed it well, but we had no issues eating in WWoHP for dinner either day, and had the best meals there (fish and chips and chicken sandwich or roasted chicken). So I would say that the food outside of HP was not as good. We were going to try some restaurants at Citywalk, but didn't have time. Some of them looked really great!
We had a great trip and it only made us excited to come back in a few years when there are some new rides and the 7yo will be tall enough to ride everything. We also want to try some more of the restaurants next time.
I'm happy to answer any questions about going with two younger boys or our touring plan.
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RPR too!
...prefer to make resort requests over the phone.
