The Joys of Traveling with Three Kids RPR Club Level 8 nights! 7/2018

[AussieBritTraveller]

Oh my goodness, what did they do to get your suitcase in that condition??

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Hello. I just started reading trip reports and found yours. I also have 3 kids (6, 8, and 9) and remember the days of feeling like I was wholly unqualified to take care of them. My middle child also is just now tall enough for the big rides and was super disappointed that she couldn't go on 'big green' last year. I'm eager to read how your son liked the big stuff (my oldest is not a ride kid so this is new to us). We are going to Uni in Nov and staying at RPR also. We've stayed before but only eaten at Jake's so I'm glad to hear that islands is good too.

Looking forward to more.

 

[jenrose66]

So as we were exploring RPR I figured it would be fun to walk thru to Sapphire Falls. It’s a quick and air conditioned jaunt. There are some fun picture opportunities along the way:


Along the way DD was not at maximum happiness so while we snapped some pictures she chose to display her displeasure

If you ignore her she forgets she’s protesting and decides to enjoy herself. At least she not a crier...well at least not in this particular situation.

We got over into Sapphire Falls, and wow, that's an airy and bright hotel

My kids were amused and entertained by the sets of escalators that are in the common areas...I didn't take a picture of them. I hate escalators, another irrational fear. Going up is fine, but going down...I'd rather walk, thank you very much. So we relented and rode them down one level. Besides the large open common spaces I think this hotel has a nice large gift shop. Especially when comparing it to RPR's. We wanted to get some lanyards for our trip as the last two trips I just kept everyone's express pass in my back pocket, but we felt everyone was old enough to take care of their own. It was a nice shopping experience and we had no trouble getting started on our souvenir shopping here. We also looked longingly at the rum bar that wasn't meant to be for us this trip and toured the pool area which looked very nice. Here are a couple more pictures of a unique area of the hotel. I know we are the Universal area of these boards, but this area had a strong Pirates of the Caribbean vibe to it...which I liked


We slowly made our way back to the hotel. Boys were asking when we were hitting the parks and Emma wanted to go swimming. Room still wasn't ready so we retrieved our luggage and changed into our suits and made our way to the pool. This was a great idea! Unfortunately, this was one of the only truly sunny days we had on our trip. It's like a double edged sword because the sun is why you go to Florida...at least a big part for me, but when the temps are so high the clouds do make it more comfortable when out and about. Anyway, we picked some lounge chairs our of the way so our suitcases didn't bother anyone and we took a much needed dip. DH and I took turns swimming with the kids and staying with the suitcases with a cocktail. Both jobs were equally fun One of my favorite parts of the pool were the baby ducks learning to swim:


Coming up: The end of our first night, I promise!

 

[jenrose66]

Oh my goodness, what did they do to get your suitcase in that condition??

if I understood how they explained it...my suitcase was on the bottom of a pile...it got pushed off the cart as weight was put on top of it...it fell off the cart and got ran over and dragged...not that I cared but a couple employees explained what happened...kind of just conversationally all while kind of biting their lip and saying it usually doesn't get that badly damaged when that happens

 

[jenrose66]

Hello. I just started reading trip reports and found yours. I also have 3 kids (6, 8, and 9) and remember the days of feeling like I was wholly unqualified to take care of them. My middle child also is just now tall enough for the big rides and was super disappointed that she couldn't go on 'big green' last year. I'm eager to read how your son liked the big stuff (my oldest is not a ride kid so this is new to us). We are going to Uni in Nov and staying at RPR also. We've stayed before but only eaten at Jake's so I'm glad to hear that islands is good too.

Looking forward to more.

Wow, my oldest isn't a ride guy either. That's part of the reason we love express pass. We can hit his favorites every time we are in the park with negligible wait and he's super happy to explore and take in the atmosphere. In past years we would child swap. This year, since he's older, we would let him sit in child swap alone (he didn't mind and neither did the team members) or he'd ask to wait in the dump shop and we were comfortable with that. One of our times on Gringotts he really wanted to explore Diagon Ally so we gave him my cell and gave him a time to meet us in front of the ride. He enjoyed the freedom.

My middle son can do some big rides depending on his mood. I'd say the most daring one he rode was Dr. Doom, he also was considering Rip Ride Rocket, but as a mom that was making me nervous (though I'm sure it's perfectly safe), so I told him if he was on the fence we could wait to next year and get a snack while dad rode it. Now DD is fearless. She's tall for her age and she was actually tall enough for everything. She said her favorite was the Mummy and Dr. Doom and she rode both multiple times. The only rides she skipped were Hulk and RRR. I think if we would have asked her a second time to ride the Hulk she would have...but again, I think mom wasn't ready.

 

[schumigirl]

Love your pictures!!

We love the air conditioned walk through the ballroom and conventions areas.......and yes, so quick......see what you mean about PoTC........

I love your DD is the fearless one out of the 3........

Looking forward to read more.........

 

[angryduck71]

My boy and your oldest would be buddies (and we liked Fallon too!). Great start!

 

[macraven]

Was your room ready for check in once you were done with the pool?

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

My middle son can do some big rides depending on his mood. I'd say the most daring one he rode was Dr. Doom, he also was considering Rip Ride Rocket, but as a mom that was making me nervous (though I'm sure it's perfectly safe), so I told him if he was on the fence we could wait to next year and get a snack while dad rode it. Now DD is fearless. She's tall for her age and she was actually tall enough for everything. She said her favorite was the Mummy and Dr. Doom and she rode both multiple times. The only rides she skipped were Hulk and RRR. I think if we would have asked her a second time to ride the Hulk she would have...but again, I think mom wasn't ready.

I hear you on not being ready as the mom. DD8 and I rode RRR together last year and the vertical climb made me nervous. I know she can't fall out, but ... It's a pretty unique feature on a coaster and she's a skinny little thing so I was a little nervous.

 

[macraven]

Just dropping you a few lines againto let you know how much I have been enjoying this report!

I wanna be your cheerleader in you telling us more about this great trip you took

 

[schumigirl]

Just dropping you a few lines againto let you know how much I have been enjoying this report!

I wanna be your cheerleader in you telling us more about this great trip you took

plus one...…..

 

[jenrose66]

Thanks for the encouragement! I had a little side trip this weekend. DD and I took a trip to Toronto for her first concert:


It was a great time. I was a little nervous taking the drive up there myself as the only adult...but we made it in one piece and luckily the hotel wasn't that far off the highway. Since we all love to travel on this board let me give a shout out to The Adelaide Hotel. This place was awesome. From the moment you walk in there was someone taking care of you. They valet your car for near what it would cost to park for the evening near whatever entertainment you'd be going to see. It's in a great location...only a 20 minute walk to the Rogers Centre and CN Tower and even closer to other points of interest. And the room itself. Clean, and gorgeous! I will share a few pictures:

The show itself was so much fun. I felt like taking DD to this concert was like full circle. Not to get mushy...but motherhood was not a natural thing for me. I struggled, honestly, I still struggle. Music helped me a lot and while I tend to listen to a lot of "serious" folky and acoustic stuff, pop music proved to be really helpful to me when mothering a newborn. With my oldest son I got attached to the first Panic at the Disco CD. With my other two (since they are so close in age) it was Taylor Swift. So during those long days when I was just trying to make it thru to naptime or working on getting them to sleep I would play the Speak Now cd. It gave me something to focus on and enjoy. My daughter grew up loving those songs. I have video of her singing songs from the CD acapella during playtime and her music is something we have just always enjoyed together.

Anyway, the show, it was heavy on songs from the latest two cd's and of course we knew everyone. Lots of kids there. My daughter had a little girl her age next to her and they had fun dancing and singing along. There was confetti and blow up snakes and fire and synchronized bracelets that the crowd wore lit up the arena during parts of songs. I almost understand why the tickets were so expensive
Although DD fell asleep with 15 minutes to go! I don't even know how that's possible. But it was only for about a song:

 

[jenrose66]

Was your room ready for check in once you were done with the pool?

It was. We got the room about 3:45.

 

[jenrose66]

Day 1...continued

So our room was ready at 3:45 pm. It was perfect timing as we were just drying off from the pool when we got our text. Our room number was 3719. This was pretty much the perfect room for us. There are only neighbors on one side (as a side note this is a connecting room so if you are traveling with a group and looking for connecting rooms maybe request this room and 3715); on the other side of the room is an electrical closet or something like that...so quiet. Best part is we were about 15 steps from the club lounge. Very convenient to grab a quick snack. Many days, while we were taking an afternoon break, my husband and I would leave the kids in the room and go over to the club lounge to have a quiet cup of coffee. If the kids decided to join us they'd just come on over. Ben (DS 9) really liked grabbing a pop and watching the kid's tv in the lounge. Surprisingly enough, it was playing Disney channel

The room is nice and spacious. I really like the new décor. Last time we stayed we had an unrenovated room, which was also nice, but I was looking forward to seeing the new rooms. I think these are good sized rooms. I have no complaints about the size or the cleanliness and I would absolutely recommend this hotel to anyone thinking about trying it. With that said I did find the size of the room challenging for a growing family of 5. We all fit inside. We had a twin size air mattress that we put down each night at the foot of the bed towards the door and in the morning we just leaned it up against the wall. Even though we fit, you really can't compare the size of this room with the size of the rooms at Portofino Bay. At PBH we had a queen size air mattress on the ground and were still able to walk around it in the morning without having to put it away. Also the bathroom was much bigger. Now for our stay at RPR having the club level access made all the difference because it was somewhere to go when hanging out at the hotel. I felt like it was an extension of our room b/c it was so close. I think had we not stayed club level the size of our actual hotel room would have got to me as we are the type of family that will spend a few hours a day lazing around...the kids like to unwind in their own space.

Also, I have one small criticism. This is a great hotel and nobody is perfect...but I had issues the entire trip getting enough towels for my room. The day we arrived we noticed 4 towels left. No big deal, I just called housekeeping and asked for another towel. I mentioned that there were 5 people staying in our room and they sent a towel...took about 20 minutes. So the next morning after our room was cleaned, we were again left 4 towels and our shampoo and stuff wasn't replenished. I called housekeeping to ask for toiletries (as you can imagine, one little bottle of shampoo is gonna be gone after 5 showers) and a towel. I again mentioned that there are 5 people in the room. I politely said I don't mind calling for a towel but I hate to keep bothering them and can it be noted that 5 of us are in the room. I would think that it would be obvious there are 5...we were noted on the reservation as 5 and there was a bright red blow up air mattress against the wall, but I digress.

The "towel incident" as it has become known became a running joke on our entire trip. Our of 8 nights we had the correct number of towels left twice. Because we went swimming just about everyday, I took to asking for an extra towel at the pool and just brought it back up with me to the room...again, it isn't the worst thing in the world to call for a towel and I did, a few times...but really, with the cost of the rooms, I shouldn't have to...but we weren't going to let it bother us..just a minor inconvenience.

So once we unpacked we took a walk over to the club lounge and sampled the evening offerings. It's a nice set up. This night was Chinese night and we all had some food. It was very good, and such a nice perk to be able to get something to eat that is hot, without having to spend time sitting in a restaurant. We ate quickly and were off to the parks.

This night we got to the park probably 6:30ish. The kids wanted to start at IOA. Our first ride of the trip was Spider Man. Then DD really wanted to try Dr. Doom. Her and I took a ride on that and it was great. I was a little nervous taking her on and I swear when we were shot in the air I was scared to look over at her for fear that she was sucked out of the shoulder harness (which is an irrational fear, btw). Anyway, I did sneak a glance and she had a huge smile on her face. After that I was able to relax and enjoy the view as we floated down. This became one of her favorite rides and we went on it multiple times over the course of the trip. While we were riding Doom, DH took the boys and they did the Suess rides. We met up at Poseidon's Fury and gave that a try. We had not done this before b/c my kids don't really like dark spaces. However now that they are older, they did fine. My oldest DS really like mythology so he was into the story line. I get the show is a bit cheesy but it was fun. We all enjoyed it and were happy we gave it a try.

Next we made our way into Hogsmeade. First things first, we got our butterbeer! Then the entire family rode flight of the hippogriff and Forbidden Journey. I was super happy the kids gave it a try. Both boys were tall enough last trip, though DD had been a hair short. This time they decided to give it a go and it was given mixed results. DD loved it! Ben thought it was ok but closed his eyes for the parts that weren't screens. Jack (the oldest) said it was ok but a bit too intense. For now it was a one and done for him. DH likes it, but it makes him motion sick.

By now it was getting late. DD decided she had had enough. She was hungry and tired. We were passing Mythos and decided that sitting down in the a/c might be a nice way to grab dinner. We were seated right away and a server came up to us and said he'd be right back to take our drinks. As were sitting, DD started whining a bit about how she didn't really wanna be at the restaurant. We sat for about 10 minutes and the waiter who was gonna be right back had still not returned. The restaurant wasn't that busy so not sure what the hold up was, but I knew that between a tired kid and slow service this would be a very expensive meal that no one was going to enjoy. Since we hadn't ordered anything we got up and left. I kindly let the hostess know that we hadn't ordered anything yet and that DD was just too tired so we might try again another night...that way she could let our waiter know, when he returned from wherever he had disappeared to....

We went back to the room and while the kids showered and DH took a rest I went down to Jakes and ordered some flatbreads to take back to the room. We got a buffalo chicken one because Jack won't eat red sauce and we also ordered I think just regular pepperoni. However, two flatbreads were enough for a late night snack for the 5 of us with leftovers that we enjoyed at another time. The price was reasonable and they were done quick! The bar menu at Jake's is a great late night dining option.

 

[schumigirl]

Thanks for the encouragement! I had a little side trip this weekend. DD and I took a trip to Toronto for her first concert:
View attachment 341729

It was a great time. I was a little nervous taking the drive up there myself as the only adult...but we made it in one piece and luckily the hotel wasn't that far off the highway. Since we all love to travel on this board let me give a shout out to The Adelaide Hotel. This place was awesome. From the moment you walk in there was someone taking care of you. They valet your car for near what it would cost to park for the evening near whatever entertainment you'd be going to see. It's in a great location...only a 20 minute walk to the Rogers Centre and CN Tower and even closer to other points of interest. And the room itself. Clean, and gorgeous! I will share a few pictures:
View attachment 341730 View attachment 341731 View attachment 341732
The show itself was so much fun. I felt like taking DD to this concert was like full circle. Not to get mushy...but motherhood was not a natural thing for me. I struggled, honestly, I still struggle. Music helped me a lot and while I tend to listen to a lot of "serious" folky and acoustic stuff, pop music proved to be really helpful to me when mothering a newborn. With my oldest son I got attached to the first Panic at the Disco CD. With my other two (since they are so close in age) it was Taylor Swift. So during those long days when I was just trying to make it thru to naptime or working on getting them to sleep I would play the Speak Now cd. It gave me something to focus on and enjoy. My daughter grew up loving those songs. I have video of her singing songs from the CD acapella during playtime and her music is something we have just always enjoyed together.

Anyway, the show, it was heavy on songs from the latest two cd's and of course we knew everyone. Lots of kids there. My daughter had a little girl her age next to her and they had fun dancing and singing along. There was confetti and blow up snakes and fire and synchronized bracelets that the crowd wore lit up the arena during parts of songs. I almost understand why the tickets were so expensive View attachment 341733 View attachment 341734
Although DD fell asleep with 15 minutes to go! I don't even know how that's possible. But it was only for about a song:View attachment 341735

Looks a lovely hotel...…..I`m so glad you had such a good time...…

And your honest story of being a mother is very heartwarming...…..

Show looks amazing!!!!

 

[schumigirl]

I hear you on the towels!!!

We shower at least twice a day...….and we are glad turndown service replaces the used towels so we have fresh in the morning...….but we have been known to call and ask for more...….we do use a lot of towels!!!

A fabulous day again...….you enjoyed a good variety of rides and glad FJ was mainly a success...…..such a good ride. And we love Dr Doom too...….

You made the right choice leaving Mythos. That wasn't good being left for so long. Jake`s food is fabulous.....we have never been disappointed with anything in there...…

Hope your DD was alright once you got back to the hotel...…..

Loving reading about your trip...…..

 

[pattyw]

Lovely pictures!!
Cute baby ducks

Nice trip to Toronto! We live about 1 1/2 hours away and it's nice to have the big city so close! Been to many events at The Rogers Centre!

Family vacations can get tiring and frustrating at times for the littles! Been there when my boys were young! But even those days of meltdowns are fond memories now that they're grown!

 

[jenrose66]

I hear you on the towels!!!

We shower at least twice a day...….and we are glad turndown service replaces the used towels so we have fresh in the morning...….but we have been known to call and ask for more...….we do use a lot of towels!!!

A fabulous day again...….you enjoyed a good variety of rides and glad FJ was mainly a success...…..such a good ride. And we love Dr Doom too...….

You made the right choice leaving Mythos. That wasn't good being left for so long. Jake`s food is fabulous.....we have never been disappointed with anything in there...…

Hope your DD was alright once you got back to the hotel...…..

Loving reading about your trip...…..

She was fine! She just wanted to get her pj’s on and sprawl...first night and we were guilty of overdoing it....

 

[schumigirl]

She was fine! She just wanted to get her pj’s on and sprawl...first night and we were guilty of overdoing it....

I think we`ve all done that...….

It`s hard not to get too excited and do too much...….especially in a place like Universal...….so much to see and do.

 

[angryduck71]

I am assuming your oldest boy likes the Percy Jackson series because he likes mythology -- if he hasn't read any, get to a library or bookstore now!