The Cliffs Notes Trip Report - Random Musings From A Disney Nut - Universal & Disney - 6/23 - 7/5
Instead of writing a big trip report I thought I would just share some of my observations, highlights, lowlights and general reviews in a stream of consciousness report. These are just general thoughts that came to me that I chose to share. If you have any specific questions just let me know.
The Crew:
- DH and I (late 30’s), son (12), daughter (9)
- New DVC owners - on average a trip every 2 years - last trip to WDW was June 2011
- First trip to Universal
- Drove from Mid-Missouri
Hotels:
- 13 nights
- 3 nights at Royal Pacific Resort (standard view booked - complimentary upgrade at check-in to water view)
- 8 nights Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani - studio savannah view
- 2 nights Boardwalk Villas - studio pool view
Tickets:
- 3 day park to park tickets for Universal
- 5 day park hoppers for WDW (left over days from a 10 day no expire ticket)
Dining:
Universal:
- Vivo Italian Kitchen (dinner)
- Margaritaville (dinner)
- Hard Rock Cafe (lunch)
- Three Broomsticks (dinner)
WDW:
No dining plan - purchased Tables in Wonderland (DVC)
- Sanaa (dinner)
- Yachtsman Steakhouse (dinner)
- Beaches & Cream (dinner)
- Narcoossee's (dinner)
- Crystal Palace (breakfast)
- 'Ohana (breakfast)
- Brown Derby (dinner)
- Teppan Edo (dinner)
- Be Our Guest (lunch fastpass)
- Fork & Screen movie at AMC Downtown Disney (dinner)
Theme Parks:
- Magic Kingdom
- EPCOT
- Hollywood Studios
- Animal Kingdom
- Islands of Adventure
- Universal Studios
Extras:
- Cirque du Soleil
- DisneyQuest
- Wishes Dessert Party
Random Thoughts on Universal:
- Universal was a lot of fun especially the Harry Potter area - it is so incredibly well themed and for a HP loving family it was very cool.
- I may have the only family of HP lovers that did not enjoy the Forbidden Journey ride although loved walking through Hogwarts.
- My 9 year old daughter’s favorite attractions were Despicable Me, Flight of the Hippogriff and most surprisingly - Spider Man. My 12 year old son really loved the Hulk and Transformers.
- Express Pass is awesome and worth every penny of the deluxe resort prices
- Nice to walk to the parks but the walk from Royal Pacific is kind of long. I guess I expected it to be closer. Liked that both parks are within walking distance of the other - made park hopping very easy.
- Royal Pacific rooms were quite nice. Had a fantastic pool view. Pool there is a lot of fun - fun spray area and they had pool toys (noodles and beach balls) available to use.
- Universal does a great job with 3D and simulator rides - motion sickness can be an issue. The Simpsons ride was fun but it did make me sick. The other rides made me a bit lightheaded but not as bad as that one. Overall the rides at Universal are really well done. We enjoyed almost all of them.
- TMs at Universal were just as friendly as the CM’s over at WDW.
- The smell of vomit was ever present. You would just be walking around and then there it was.
- Kids (and adults) appreciated the more grown-up rides and entertainment
- Enjoyed not having to make restaurant reservations months in advance and just walking in someplace to be seated. Allowed for more spontaneity.
- Butterbeer was not as good as we expected but we loved the pumpkin juice
- Harry Potter souvenirs should be a separate line item on your budget. So many cool things to buy.
- Universal was far less crowded than we expected
- Didn't like having to deal with the lockers especially did not like paying to keep our stuff from getting ruined on the water rides (those lockers should be free like they are for the coasters)
- Very disappointed that the new Harry Potter area was not open and we did not luck into any soft openings
- Universal just didn't feel like "home". After a few days at Universal it was so nice to head to Disney where we immediately felt more at ease. That may just be because Universal was new and we are so comfortably familiar with WDW but for now Disney still wins our hearts.
- However, there is room for both parks in our future vacation plans. We really did have a great time at Universal and can't wait to go back to see Diagon Alley and ride our favorites again.
Random Thoughts on WDW:
- We really loved Kidani. Had a room close to the lobby which was super convenient to the bus stops, laundry, community hall and public areas. Really made our stay nicer.
- Enjoyed the savannah room but over 8 nights I bet we spent maybe an hour viewing the animals from our room
- No real food options at Kidani and the remote location was an issue on occasion
- Bus transportation was good although long - especially to Downtown Disney
- Downtown Disney is a mess with construction. Only having one bus stop for the Marketplace (no PI or West Side stop) was really inconvenient
- Loved the magic bands for the convenience - they were not the most comfortable things but we got used to them fairly quickly.
- Crowds were much lower than we expected - we never waited more than 30 minutes for anything and that was for Jungle Cruise after it broke down. Our average wait was probably closer to 10 minutes
- FP+ worked pretty well for us. Very short waits when using them. Only got a 4th FP once with no line at the kiosk in HS (for Star Tours) but found we did not need the extra fast passes. Rode favorites multiple times without issues. Happily surprised that it worked as well as it did. However, changing FP+ times was not really possible the day of - very limited availability. Had to make sure we didn't miss our scheduled rides.
- The dining plan has ruined the restaurants. . We used Tables in Wonderland to save money but that just took the prices from horrifying down to insane. Mostly bland, uninspired food for crazy prices. Likely will be exploring off-site food options on future trips. Not even close to worth the money even taking into account the premium you pay for it being Disney.
- ‘Ohana is our traditional last day breakfast. We eat there then get in the car to drive home. I don’t know why but their scrambled eggs are always the best. Our whole family loves them.
- Teppan Edo was good and it was one of the highlights on the trip for my daughter. We have a better Japanese steakhouse at home for cheaper but TE was a fun option. The entire Japan pavilion (especially the shopping) was a huge hit for the kids.
- Availability for same day ADRs was really bad. Everything was booked up most of the time.
- What is that stench from the canal at the Boardwalk? The walk to the hotel from the parking lot with that smell was gag inducing.
- Wi-Fi worked great at Kidani but did not work at all at the Boardwalk. Multiple devices over two days and never could connect.
- Boardwalk rooms are not even remotely as nice as Kidani. Looking rundown, key safe instead of electronic, no DVD player. Boardwalk location is nice but much preferred Kidani as a resort.
- Room overlooking the pool at the Boardwalk was LOUD! All of those pool games and blaring music was super annoying. Sound seemed amplified up into the rooms.
- Just as with Harry Potter we missed the opening of the new Frozen stuff at HS. For my Frozen loving daughter that would have been perfect. Thankfully she didn't know about it so she didn't miss it.
- Saw fewer ECV's this time and only had to wait for them on a bus once. Maybe people in ECV's hate Kidani. Whatever the reason it was nice not to have the extra 5 minutes tagged onto every bus ride.
- Wishes Dessert party was just OK. Wouldn't pay the money for it again
- Watched the 4th of July fireworks for MK on 7/3 from the deck at Narcoossee's right after dinner. Decent spot but was not overwhelmed by the fireworks display. Thinking it must be better from in the park.
- Watched the Epcot and HS 4th of July fireworks from the bridge between the Boardwalk and the Swalphin. GREAT location. Could watch both shows from the same location and the shows overlapped so you could see both at once for a few minutes. EPCOT's fireworks were super impressive.
- The Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream is fun to do once but it is just far too much ice cream. Our family couldn't even really make much of a dent in it even with an ever hungry 12 year old.
- Mine Train was fun but didn't really notice the swinging motion. Felt like a kiddie version of Big Thunder Mountain.
- DD loved meeting Anna and Elsa. They have them in the same room but meeting on different sides of the room so there is no interaction between the sisters. That would have been more fun.
- We did see a few BTG’s the last few days of June but they were not any problem at all. No chanting, blocking walkways, etc.. However, right on cue on July 1st at EPCOT we started running into the large chanting groups. We tried to zig when they zagged and overall were quite successful in avoiding them however the loud chanting ringing out across the park is a bit annoying.
- We successfully avoided the rain most of the time. We did get stuck in it when walking back from Cirque to the Marketplace bus stop. What was even stranger was the queue line for the bus back to AKL was out in the open and not covered like the other stops so we waited 10 minutes as the rain got harder waiting for a bus. Not sure why they are not all covered?
- Disney cupcakes look better than they taste.
- New Magic Kingdom daytime parade is really good. Unfortunately it occurs at the same time the heat indexes peak at 220. Just kidding - the heat index was only 103 the day we watched the parade. It was a super hot afternoon but we all really enjoyed it. The dragon is quite impressive in person.
General:
- It was HOT! I know it is June/July in Florida and we have been in the summer before but by 1 PM the heat was unbearable with heat indexes in the low 100s. Most days we hit the parks early in the morning and went back to the hotel for a break then returned in the evening - that worked pretty well. Evenings were my favorite time - it was very comfortable.
- Frog Toggs chilly towels worked minimally well. It is just too humid in Florida I think for them to work as well.
- I wore my FitBit most days in the parks and we averaged right around 10 miles per day. My highest day was over 12 miles (first day at Universal) and my lowest (resort day) was around 5 miles.
