Mrs. Bradbury
It will ALWAYS be the PeopleMover!
- Joined
- May 11, 2009
We're baaaaaaack! My daughter and I had an awesome trip. Way too short, but we were working within her schedule so it was what it was.
But first - thank you all for helping and encouraging me as I threw this trip together at the last minute. Your advice and experience were invaluable!
Who: My daughter (30) and me (58), our first visit to UO
When: March 26 – 27
Where: Endless Summer Dockside
I got an email to check-in online the day before our arrival and did so, worrying that I may have a hiccup in that I had purchased an annual pass (and had an annual pass hotel rate) but it never asked for any proof of an annual pass and I did online check-in without incident. My only requests were ground floor away from the elevators. What we got was 5th floor (out of 14) and the first room next to the elevator bay AND ice machine, but neither bothered us.
Our view from room 1568 ~
Thursday, our arrival day, was rainy or misty all the way to Orlando. We drove from the Atlanta area down I-75 to the Florida Turnpike. Getting there was not a problem at all – no traffic delays or construction. Except for Thursday, we couldn't have asked for better weather. Cool mornings and sunny days, but not hot.
Before I go too much further, I have to explain that my daughter arbitrarily chose these days to go somewhere. We would never choose to vacation during spring break or any major holidays. But she thrives on having plans, and our last trip last October was too far in her rear view, I guess! Initially, we didn’t know what we were doing, but we knew that driving north this time of year is dicey, we didn’t want to fly, and we had been to WDW the previous October and were so disappointed we knew we probably weren’t going back so soon - at least, not at those prices. So after a little research, UO it was, despite being the height of spring break.
Upon arrival, we debated how to go about checking into the hotel – the area for cars loading/unloading and the bus area were essentially all the same area, and I did not see any staff there at all our entire stay. We figured out to park in the short-term-check-in parking lot and went in. I had purchased a flex pay annual pass and needed to find out how to activate it. Turns out, you can’t activate it at the hotel; you have to go to Guest Relations at City Walk or a park. I was told the reason was that because it was the flex pay type, I had to sign something. So, we moved over to the hotel online check-in desk and got our room keys, but our room wasn’t ready yet.
We walked out and moved our car to one of the tower parking lots, and our vacation began!
I knew from reading here that everything goes through City Walk, and I had tried to study the online maps, but it still seemed chaotic to me. And yet, kind of genius. A person really didn’t have to make a decision until you either stayed in City Walk or went left for one park or right for the other. Easy-peasy.
Helpful hint: we arrived in the afternoon, so didn't experience this, but my daughter noticed on one of our mornings that more than one family discovered that unfortunately, although the parks may open an hour early, guest services did NOT and people thinking they could get their passes and go on to early entry were sorely disappointed. Plot twist: I signed nothing upon picking up my annual pass from Guest Services.
My daughter bought her ticket from UT and it was on her phone. She would have preferred a paper ticket but did not want to go to Guest Services and ask. I have to say, that I observed dealing with multilple tickets on a phone made for lots of family friction each morning; I would definitely want paper tickets in order to get through the line quickly if I had multiple people's tickets on my phone.
We had an early (3:45) dinner reservation for Toothsome, and it did not disappoint! In critical terms, we thought afterwards that it would be a great place for appetizers and then dessert. Our entrees – she got chicken bourguignonne and I got teriyaki glazed salmon – were fine, but that’s all. Not at all bad, just no wow factor compared to the starter and desserts. She got the triple chocolate bread pudding for dessert, which she described as “life changing”, and I got the chocolate crème brulee. NOM NOM NOM.
We wandered around for a bit but since we had been up since 3 AM, we were ready to turn in when I got the text that our room was ready, which I remember as being well after 4 PM but not close to 6 PM. On our way out I did a mobile order for Voodoo Donuts, and I guess we’ll be in the minority of those not impressed. They didn’t taste all that fresh, and they got our order wrong initially, so that I had to go into the main donut shop and get that fixed. I guess we are spoiled by having been lucky enough to have had experiences with mom & pop donut shops, which are much better than what we got at Voodoo. After that, we did not try the Lard Lad giant pink donut. LOVE the concept but we weren’t going to risk it.
Our room was perfect for us, and we loved the theming.
The biggest takeaway from our hotel stay is that they don’t provide lotion, which would be fine except that I didn’t check my always-ready toiletry bag and had forgotten I had used the last of my lotion on our last trip. If it had been a time of year that I could have worn pants and long sleeves, or if I were younger, I probably would have skipped it, but with my post-menopausal skin and the shorts and sleeveless shirts I had packed, it was going to be a “RUN AND FLEE!” situation for folks around me if I didn’t moisturize myscaly hide dry skin every day. I ended up paying $2 for a travel sized baby lotion – it was either that or $12 for Banana Boat after sun lotion that I knew costs less than $5 at Walmart. I could have walked to the Walgreen’s nearby, but I felt that $2 was a fair price for getting what I needed without having to go anywhere else. For future reference, Dockside provides tubes of shampoo, conditioner, and bars of soap. We also received a teeny tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. Also, while our room location turned out to not be impacted by proximity to the elevators or ice machine, we were impacted by the family of elephants who checked into the room above us, who apparently packed only bowling balls in their luggage. That was not pleasant at midnight. Throughout our stay, I could also hear hallway noise, but not noise from the rooms near us on our floor, and occasionally I heard water going down pipes in the wall. Neither was a problem for us.
We did not use the pool during our stay, but being that our room had a pool view I noticed that it was never overrun with guests, and I thought the lounge chairs sitting in actual sand was a very nice “beachy” touch.
We walked through the quick service food area several times during our stay, and the food looked good, but it was always busy. One morning it was up to NUTZ level of busy. So glad we had coffee and protein bars from home for breakfast, and could skip that.
Our first full morning, we did not make early entry so we chose the park that didn’t have early entry and got there before opening. I cannot remember which one it was; I apologize. I’m not going to do a blow-by-blow review of the parks, except to say that our enjoyment was extremely impacted by the spring break crowds, and that the Harry Potter areas are so fantastically well done. Really, truly amazing! I can’t wait to go back at a less crowded time, and really explore all the rides, shows, and shops. I know my husband and I will enjoy the Comics section, because we remember poring over the Sunday Funnies as children, so most of the characters featured are old friends to us.
Our 2nd evening meal was at Mythos, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We were really pleased with the theming and food. Nothing was outstanding, but nothing - from drinks to dessert - was poorly done.
We DID make early opening on Saturday morning, and enjoyed the lighter crowds until 10 or so. By Saturday afternoon, my daughter had run out of steam and when we went back to the room, we decided to stay in and order room service pizza. It was good, serviceable pizza, and was delivered quickly, and we enjoyed it.
Sunday morning we woke up, packed the car, and checked out on our way to our Sunday brunch reservation at Royal Pacific Islands dining room. I have to say, and maybe it’s because I can’t help but compare it to the Poly, that I was underwhelmed with the property, at least what I saw of it. The carved wood pieces in the lobby/waiting areas were beautiful, but there didn’t seem to be the “wow” factor I feel at the Poly. I was expecting something similar, and it’s my fault for having that assumption. Maybe the rooms are great? But back to breakfast – we both got the buffet and POG juice, as well as coffee, and waddled out happy and ready to hit the road home.
A few closing thoughts:
But first - thank you all for helping and encouraging me as I threw this trip together at the last minute. Your advice and experience were invaluable!
Who: My daughter (30) and me (58), our first visit to UO
When: March 26 – 27
Where: Endless Summer Dockside
I got an email to check-in online the day before our arrival and did so, worrying that I may have a hiccup in that I had purchased an annual pass (and had an annual pass hotel rate) but it never asked for any proof of an annual pass and I did online check-in without incident. My only requests were ground floor away from the elevators. What we got was 5th floor (out of 14) and the first room next to the elevator bay AND ice machine, but neither bothered us.
Our view from room 1568 ~
Thursday, our arrival day, was rainy or misty all the way to Orlando. We drove from the Atlanta area down I-75 to the Florida Turnpike. Getting there was not a problem at all – no traffic delays or construction. Except for Thursday, we couldn't have asked for better weather. Cool mornings and sunny days, but not hot.
Before I go too much further, I have to explain that my daughter arbitrarily chose these days to go somewhere. We would never choose to vacation during spring break or any major holidays. But she thrives on having plans, and our last trip last October was too far in her rear view, I guess! Initially, we didn’t know what we were doing, but we knew that driving north this time of year is dicey, we didn’t want to fly, and we had been to WDW the previous October and were so disappointed we knew we probably weren’t going back so soon - at least, not at those prices. So after a little research, UO it was, despite being the height of spring break.
Upon arrival, we debated how to go about checking into the hotel – the area for cars loading/unloading and the bus area were essentially all the same area, and I did not see any staff there at all our entire stay. We figured out to park in the short-term-check-in parking lot and went in. I had purchased a flex pay annual pass and needed to find out how to activate it. Turns out, you can’t activate it at the hotel; you have to go to Guest Relations at City Walk or a park. I was told the reason was that because it was the flex pay type, I had to sign something. So, we moved over to the hotel online check-in desk and got our room keys, but our room wasn’t ready yet.
We walked out and moved our car to one of the tower parking lots, and our vacation began!
I knew from reading here that everything goes through City Walk, and I had tried to study the online maps, but it still seemed chaotic to me. And yet, kind of genius. A person really didn’t have to make a decision until you either stayed in City Walk or went left for one park or right for the other. Easy-peasy.
Helpful hint: we arrived in the afternoon, so didn't experience this, but my daughter noticed on one of our mornings that more than one family discovered that unfortunately, although the parks may open an hour early, guest services did NOT and people thinking they could get their passes and go on to early entry were sorely disappointed. Plot twist: I signed nothing upon picking up my annual pass from Guest Services.
My daughter bought her ticket from UT and it was on her phone. She would have preferred a paper ticket but did not want to go to Guest Services and ask. I have to say, that I observed dealing with multilple tickets on a phone made for lots of family friction each morning; I would definitely want paper tickets in order to get through the line quickly if I had multiple people's tickets on my phone.
We had an early (3:45) dinner reservation for Toothsome, and it did not disappoint! In critical terms, we thought afterwards that it would be a great place for appetizers and then dessert. Our entrees – she got chicken bourguignonne and I got teriyaki glazed salmon – were fine, but that’s all. Not at all bad, just no wow factor compared to the starter and desserts. She got the triple chocolate bread pudding for dessert, which she described as “life changing”, and I got the chocolate crème brulee. NOM NOM NOM.
We wandered around for a bit but since we had been up since 3 AM, we were ready to turn in when I got the text that our room was ready, which I remember as being well after 4 PM but not close to 6 PM. On our way out I did a mobile order for Voodoo Donuts, and I guess we’ll be in the minority of those not impressed. They didn’t taste all that fresh, and they got our order wrong initially, so that I had to go into the main donut shop and get that fixed. I guess we are spoiled by having been lucky enough to have had experiences with mom & pop donut shops, which are much better than what we got at Voodoo. After that, we did not try the Lard Lad giant pink donut. LOVE the concept but we weren’t going to risk it.
Our room was perfect for us, and we loved the theming.
The biggest takeaway from our hotel stay is that they don’t provide lotion, which would be fine except that I didn’t check my always-ready toiletry bag and had forgotten I had used the last of my lotion on our last trip. If it had been a time of year that I could have worn pants and long sleeves, or if I were younger, I probably would have skipped it, but with my post-menopausal skin and the shorts and sleeveless shirts I had packed, it was going to be a “RUN AND FLEE!” situation for folks around me if I didn’t moisturize my
We did not use the pool during our stay, but being that our room had a pool view I noticed that it was never overrun with guests, and I thought the lounge chairs sitting in actual sand was a very nice “beachy” touch.
We walked through the quick service food area several times during our stay, and the food looked good, but it was always busy. One morning it was up to NUTZ level of busy. So glad we had coffee and protein bars from home for breakfast, and could skip that.
Our first full morning, we did not make early entry so we chose the park that didn’t have early entry and got there before opening. I cannot remember which one it was; I apologize. I’m not going to do a blow-by-blow review of the parks, except to say that our enjoyment was extremely impacted by the spring break crowds, and that the Harry Potter areas are so fantastically well done. Really, truly amazing! I can’t wait to go back at a less crowded time, and really explore all the rides, shows, and shops. I know my husband and I will enjoy the Comics section, because we remember poring over the Sunday Funnies as children, so most of the characters featured are old friends to us.
Our 2nd evening meal was at Mythos, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We were really pleased with the theming and food. Nothing was outstanding, but nothing - from drinks to dessert - was poorly done.
We DID make early opening on Saturday morning, and enjoyed the lighter crowds until 10 or so. By Saturday afternoon, my daughter had run out of steam and when we went back to the room, we decided to stay in and order room service pizza. It was good, serviceable pizza, and was delivered quickly, and we enjoyed it.
Sunday morning we woke up, packed the car, and checked out on our way to our Sunday brunch reservation at Royal Pacific Islands dining room. I have to say, and maybe it’s because I can’t help but compare it to the Poly, that I was underwhelmed with the property, at least what I saw of it. The carved wood pieces in the lobby/waiting areas were beautiful, but there didn’t seem to be the “wow” factor I feel at the Poly. I was expecting something similar, and it’s my fault for having that assumption. Maybe the rooms are great? But back to breakfast – we both got the buffet and POG juice, as well as coffee, and waddled out happy and ready to hit the road home.
A few closing thoughts:
- I made excellent use of my annual pass food and souvenir discount.
- I also bought the Mardi Gras $150 for $120 food card.
- I was disappointed that more shirts were not 100% cotton, because you’ll never convince me that polyester and cotton are cooling. Nope, not buying it.
- Unless I went with a crowd level of 2, I will never go back without Express Pass. We chose not to wait in lines over 60 minutes, which impacted how much we could ride.
- Also, a certain level of annual pass includes Express Pass after 4 PM, so there was a huge influx of people each day after 4. The anticipation of crowds thinning out at the end of the day turned out to be the opposite.
- We enjoyed being able to send purchases back to our hotel – something still not available at WDW.
- We thought all of UO was very well staffed, and the parks were clean.
- And lastly, I have visited WDW many, many times and know it like the back of my hand. In a weird contrast, I used to go to Six Flags in Atlanta many times every summer, and could NOT find my way out of the proverbial paper bag. I fear that UO is going to be like Six Flags for me; I never could orient myself even though I knew both parks were basically a circle. Don’t even ask me which areas are in which park; I have no idea. I think there was a Mardi Gras area, but we never found it except for an occasional food cart. But I did thoroughly enjoy myself and I will be back!
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