We're never going home! Feb 2022

[princessebird]

Okay, so I wasn’t going to write a trip report because I thought it would be a bit boring. But the situation has changed, and I thought some of y’all might get a kick out of it. We are here now, so I’ll try to catch every one up!

This trip was originally supposed to be a 10th birthday celebration for DD last fall. But she wasn’t yet eligible for vaccination and, at the time, UOR had relaxed their masking requirement. We decided that it was silly of us to go then with Delta flaring up and the kiddo vaccine right around the corner. So I rebooked for January 30 (Sunday) to February 2 (Wednesday). Remember that.

The original trip was during a school holiday, but this one involved us taking DD out of school, which is something I almost never do…not even for doctor or dentist appointments! But I decided it’s only (several months past) your 10th birthday once, and weekdays were a lot cheaper than weekends.

So…here we go!

 

[princessebird]

Sunday January 30

DD was super excited, and finally the day of departure had arrived. We had our usual Sunday chores first, and then we left for Love Field (Dallas…also important) at about 5pm. We stopped at In and Out burger on way to the airport, which is something of a tradition. We rarely eat In and Out except when we are flying out of Love.

Our flight was supposed to land at MCO around 11:20, and I had hoped that we’d be to our hotel by midnight. But our flight was delayed, and we didn’t get in until 12:30am! We had contracted with Tony Hinds to pick us up, and one of his colleagues texted when we landed indicating that he’d pick us up. We brought only carry-on luggage, so we were to the curb in a hurry. Only had to wait for a few minutes, and then we were on our way. Lemme tell you, you get to Universal a lot faster at 1am as compared to rush hour!

We confirmed with Neil (Tony’s colleague) our Wednesday pick-up, and then we headed in to check in. I had done the virtual check in the day before and requested Tower 3 at Royal Pacific. We got it and we were in our room by 1:15. Even though we were tired, it took a little while for us all to calm down as we were excited that we finally made it.

 

[princessebird]

Monday January 31

I knew that getting up early was going to be an impossibility for DD with our late check-in, so DH decided that he would work from the hotel room remotely on Monday. He got up at 7:45 to begin working at 8am (7am back home). I woke up a bit after that and placed a mobile order for Voodoo Donuts. I then took a leisurely walk over to the City Walk. I enjoyed the cool air and the feeling of “coming home.” We took our first trip to UOR in 2014, and we’ve come back every couple of years ever since. Our last visit was in April 2021 to celebrate DH and I getting vaccinated. DD came too since masking was still enforced and we had a great time during Mardi Gras.

The line for the donuts was super long, but mobile order was fantastic. I simply went to the outpost on the canal side of City Walk, and I was on my way. DH grabbed coffees at Tuk Tuk, and we ate while DD slept. And slept. And slept. DH and I did some work, and I finally woke DD up at 11:30! DD and I then walked back to City Walk to do a little shopping and reupped the coke Freestyle cup that is at least 5 years old. We got a few critical souvenirs and then met DH at Red Oven pizza where I had done a mobile order. We all split a pizza and salad, and then sent DH and the souvenirs back to RPR to work while DD and I went to play.

It was a little after 2 when we entered the park. We then proceeded to do the Simpsons, MiB, Gringotts, lots of magic, Minions, and Jimmy Fallon before getting on the Hogwarts Express at 4:30. The Express Pass was fantastic everywhere except the Hogwarts Express where it was decidedly less valuable. The park had seemed rather crowded when we arrived at 2, but after about 4 it seemed much less crowded.

We then met DH at the Velicicoaster at 5:30. Oh my goodness. We had never been on it before, and it was so much fun. It took us about 25 minutes to go through the line, so we jumped in line again for about a 20 minute wait. We then hustled over to Hagrids where we waited about 45 minutes, finishing up at about 7:15. We had been on Hagrids before, but that was our first time at night and we agreed it was better at night.

The park had closed at 7, so we began our walk out of the park. We had a 7:45 reservation at Toothsome, and I think we arrived with the rest of humanity. We were seated around 8. DH really likes the milkshakes, and the brownie milkshake didn’t disappoint. The chocolate stout and the old fashioned were good as well. But the food itself was meh as usual. The truffle fries we ordered as an appetizer were flat-out cold. We ate them because we were hungry but what's worse than cold fries?

We then walked back to our hotel where we all fell asleep soundly!

 

[princessebird]

Tuesday February 1--Morning

We had planned to get up early to hit VC during early admission, but that didn’t happen. We had a bit of a lazy morning, and then wondered over to UO around 10. DD and DH went to MiB while I reupped the freestyle cup again. We then went to the 10:30 showing of the Bourne Stuntaculer, which we hadn’t seen before. It was very well done! Even DD and DH liked it!

We then worked our way back to Diagon Alley where DD and DH went on Gringotts while I answered some work emails. I also chatted with my sister, who told me that the weather looked awful for our return. She said “If it were me, I’d just stay in Florida.” I knew the weather in Dallas hadn’t been looking good for our return the next day, but I hadn’t realized how much worse the projections had gotten in the 36 hours we’d been in Orlando. When we left on Sunday, it was predicted to ice sometime Thursday morning. But by Tuesday morning, the projections were for the icing to happen sometime on Wednesday evening. And we were due to land on Wednesday at 8pm.

My worst-case scenario was that Love Field would close while we were in the air, so we’d be diverted to somewhere else. DD’s worst-case scenario was that we would land at Love, but the roads would be too dangerous to actually get home on, so we’d be stuck at the airport for two days. Texas isn’t equipped to handle snow, and ice is a whole ‘nother ball of wax. While we talked, DD did more magic (she’s really got the hang of it now), and DH and I started to see what we might be able to do. We had a quick bite at Hot Dog Hall of Fame, and then went back to the hotel for a rest.

Well, I call it a “rest,” but really I started to investigate the situation. Staying on our current flight didn’t seem to be an option. So we could leave earlier on Wednesday, but that would cost us some money and we’d already missed SW check-in for that flight. Or, we could do what my sister suggested…stay in Florida. We found that we could change our flights to Friday or Saturday for not a penny more. I then went downstairs and talked to Christy at the front desk who let me know how much it would be to extend our stay. DH and I talked it over and decided that staying in Florida would be a fun thing to do, something that DD would remember forever. That time we went to Universal and we just didn’t come home.

We have 15 month AP, and we had been planning to return again in June or July, but the increased hotel rates have been tough to swallow. So we decided that we’d just do that stay now! The three extra nights combined were cheaper than the one night in July that I was looking at. So we did it! We decided on the fly just to stay in Florida for three extra days!!

 

[princessebird]

Tuesday February 1—Afternoon

We were on a such a high after we extended our stay at RPR and I changed our flights. Like, we don’t do anything like that. Ever. We are the least spontaneous people on the planet. It seemed highly surreal. It took some time to get everything rebooked and replanned. DD had been zoning out watching stuff on her iPad with her headphones while we had been talking. So I broke the news to her.

“DD, I’ve got some bad news. The weather back home is going to get real bad, and we aren’t sure our flight is going to get back home tomorrow. So, I’m going to have to ask you to pack your stuff up right now. I’m so sorry…” At this point DD looked to be on the verge of tears. And then I finished, “but we are going to have to stay in Florida for 3 more days and we have to change rooms.”

She broke into the most awesome smile you’ve ever seen. Christy at the front desk was great, but she couldn’t keep us in the same room, so we packed everything up and moved from the 5th floor exterior view to the 4th floor pool view. (FYI, cell service was way better on the exterior view. It was practically non-existent on the pool view room).

Once we changed rooms, we floated back to IOA. We did Spiderman, and then got in line for VC, only to have it go down 15 minutes in. We then did FJ, Hagrids, VC, and then Hagrids once more to finish out the night.

We had a reservation at Big Fire that evening. We weren’t particularly impressed. DD and I had steaks that were serviceable but nothing particularly memorable. DH had a bison burger that was thin and dry. They charge for bread service, which just seems wrong, especially for average bread. Despite the mediocre food, we were in an awesome mood because instead of celebrating our last night at UOR, we were celebrating our second night!

When we got back to the room, we found out that DD’s school and my work had been canceled for Thursday and Friday, and that made our decision all more justified.

 

[princessebird]

Wednesday February 2

When we left on Sunday, we thought Wednesday would be our last day. But because now we’re staying until Saturday, we had some more planning to do. DH was going to take Wednesday off to play in the parks and then travel home. But he decided to work on Wednesday and play on Friday.

When we left, we took as little as possible, but at the last moment I told everyone to throw in a swimsuit, thinking we wouldn’t have time to swim but you never know. And, turns out, you never know!

DD and I decided to go to Volcano Bay with our 3 park AP. VB isn’t open on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the winter, so Wednesday was the best bet for us. We left our room at 9:30, got on the bus to VB at 9:35, and then we were walking into the park at 9:45. We dropped our bag on a chair and then high-tailed it to the aqua coaster, which we rode twice. If you wonder if the water is cold in February, the answer is surprisingly no. Most of the water seemed to be heated. But getting out of the water and into the cold, especially the wind, is quite cold!

We did several raft rides, the wave pool, the standard pool, the lazy river, and the not-so-lazy river. While it was cold, the crowd was almost non-existent. The lazy and not-so-lazy rivers were a lot more fun when you aren’t running into people ever 3 feet.

We left VB around 12:30 having done everything we wanted to. We returned to the room and quickly faced a couple of realities. First, we were out of clean clothes; we only packed for 2.5 days! Second, we were running out of things like toothpaste and deodorant. So DH talked to the concierge about the best way to get the necessities, and she recommended a grocery delivery service. We’d never used one, and it worked really well. And I located the self-service laundry and spent the afternoon doing the laundry. DD worked on some projects, and when DH was done with work, we headed to City Walk for dinner. We then caught a boat to Portofino Bay to get some gelato. While the gelato was good, I don’t think it was necessarily anything special to make a trip for.

We had an early return to the room and watched that our flight landed on time, but it looks like all the major arteries that would allow us to get home were closed. So maybe we made the right call just chilling for a few more days!

So we are here for 2 more full days and we’ve done pretty much everything we had planned to do and then some. Anyone have any fun ideas for other things that we can do?

 

[JK World]

I'm in Dallas, and would much rather be in Orlando. Good call!

 

[princessebird]

I'm in Dallas, and would much rather be in Orlando. Good call!

We are hearing from family this morning that we made the right decision. We live west of Tarrant, so I just don't think we could have made it home without encountering some treacherous weather from Love. Hope the lights stay on for ya!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Tuesday February 1—Afternoon

We were on a such a high after we extended our stay at RPR and I changed our flights. Like, we don’t do anything like that. Ever. We are the least spontaneous people on the planet. It seemed highly surreal. It took some time to get everything rebooked and replanned. DD had been zoning out watching stuff on her iPad with her headphones while we had been talking. So I broke the news to her.

“DD, I’ve got some bad news. The weather back home is going to get real bad, and we aren’t sure our flight is going to get back home tomorrow. So, I’m going to have to ask you to pack your stuff up right now. I’m so sorry…” At this point DD looked to be on the verge of tears. And then I finished, “but we are going to have to stay in Florida for 3 more days and we have to change rooms.”

She broke into the most awesome smile you’ve ever seen. Christy at the front desk was great, but she couldn’t keep us in the same room, so we packed everything up and moved from the 5th floor exterior view to the 4th floor pool view. (FYI, cell service was way better on the exterior view. It was practically non-existent on the pool view room).

Once we changed rooms, we floated back to IOA. We did Spiderman, and then got in line for VC, only to have it go down 15 minutes in. We then did FJ, Hagrids, VC, and then Hagrids once more to finish out the night.

We had a reservation at Big Fire that evening. We weren’t particularly impressed. DD and I had steaks that were serviceable but nothing particularly memorable. DH had a bison burger that was thin and dry. They charge for bread service, which just seems wrong, especially for average bread. Despite the mediocre food, we were in an awesome mood because instead of celebrating our last night at UOR, we were celebrating our second night!

When we got back to the room, we found out that DD’s school and my work had been canceled for Thursday and Friday, and that made our decision all more justified.

I love hearing the reaction your daughter had!
I’m also sorry to hear BigFire was not the best experience-we loved it when we were there!
I do hope you make it home ok! Please stay safe!

 

[princessebird]

I don't usually post pictures because I seem to always fail, but I'm gonna try.

Here's a picture from our security camera of our driveway this morning:



And here's a pic of DD:



#winning

 

[macraven]

Had a good chuckle of your at home pic compared to your daughter’s pic

Big difference!

You had a great driver having Neil
He is excellent as his dad is

 

[princessebird]

Thursday February 3

We woke up to see the pictures and temps back home, and we were thrilled that we made the right decision. It was about 20 at home, but about 85 in Orlando. The only kicker was that we only brought clothes that were good for up to about 72 degrees (which the what the weather was earlier in the week), so we got a little roasty, toasty.

DH had to work again, so DD and I thought about Early Entry, and yet again we decided to sleep through it. DD and I went down to the pool and I did some work while she played on her ipad.

At 12:30, the three of us walked to Red Oven pizza for lunch. The Mushroom Pizza was great, and the mobile ordering once again worked wonderfully. DH returned to RPR to finish up his work day, and DD and I headed over to Simpsons. We were a little sad to see all the Mardi Gras decorations up, as we went during Mardi Gras last year and loved it. We are *just* missing it this year. Our favorite thing was to snack at all the places; we tried a ton of things that we wouldn’t have otherwise.

The park was definitely more crowded than it had been on Tuesday. We went on Simpsons, and realized that our express passes were reading as expired, even though the dates on the card were correct. The TM let us through but told us to go to guest services to get it taken care of. So we went on Simpsons, and then we went to the guest services located next to MiB. They couldn’t totally solve the problem, but they gave us one day express passes to use and told us to go to the front desk at RPR when we returned to get our keys reissued. No biggie.

We then went on MiB twice. I love that ride, though we are pretty terrible. The highest I’ve ever gotten is 240,000. The woman next to me got 999,999 before we got to the big bug. So we’ve got some room for improvement.

At this point, DD realized she didn’t have her phone. We don’t usually let DD have a phone, but occasionally we let her use her phone to play games while we stand in line. She freaked out a little, but then we worked to solve the problem. She thought she had it on MiB, but she said that the best thing to do would maybe use the find my phone app on her ipad that was back in the room. So we called DH in the room, and she managed to talk him through how to locate it. (We are going to have to figure out how to turn that function on on OUR phones!). Anyhow, we went over to the Simpsons, where the app said it was. We talked to 3 TM, and she had it back in a jiffy.

She was a little upset. She’s a perfectionist and can be hard on herself. We talked a little about responsibility, but also about how mistakes happen and that I was proud of her for thinking of the app because DH and I wouldn’t have. A little grape powerade soothed the situation.

We then went on Gringotts, did a wee bit of magic, and then took the Hogwarts Express from King’s Cross. The EP seemed to be a more efficient on this trip of the HE. DD and I then did FJ and then walked through HoneyDukes. Nothing really caught our eye, so we went to VC to meet up with DH.

Since some people have been asking about timing, here’s the timing for our evening. The park close was at 7pm.

5:26: VC posted wait time 60 minutes. DH and DD ride while I hold everything. DD and DH find me at 6:15.

6:15: VC posted wait time 45 minutes. DD and I ride while DH holds everything. We exit the ride at 6:36.

DD and I make a quick pit stop at the Lost Continent bathrooms and then meet DH at the front of Hagrids. He had just put our things in locker.

6:45: Hagrid’s posted waited time 65 minutes. We exit the ride at 7:35.

Not too shabby! We then wandered over to the City Walk. We’ve found reservations to be critical this trip, but I can almost always make a reservation the day before or the morning of. This time, we went to NBC Brew. I know that it’s probably a blasphemous thing to say, but it was our favorite meal of the trip so far. We got a whole bunch of appetizers and they brought them out as they were ready.

We then went back to the hotel and got the Express Pass key card situated, and then got ready for bed with grand plans of Early Entry on Friday. (#SpoilerAlert: Not likely.)

 

[macraven]

Nbc Brew does have some good choices for food

 

[musika]

Oh, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report! My almost 10 yo DD (Bday this month!) is a huge HP fan and watches Universal videos alllll the time on YouTube - she's never been. Interested to see your kiddo's faves!

 

[princessebird]

Y'all. My flight for tomorrow was cancelled. We are seriously never going home. Updates to follow.

 

[princessebird]

Friday February 4

No surprise here: We did not get up and at ‘em for the early entry. We took our time getting ready, and then DD and DH (who took the day off) went ahead to the VC. When they arrived a little before 10, it was reporting a 35 minute wait. It took them 22 minutes to get on the ride.

I left with them, but I’m kinda old. I only brought one pair of shoes (it was only supposed to be 2.5 days!!) and my feet, back, and shins are all killing me. I walked to the park like they did, but at a much more leisurely pace. On this trek, I must have look particularly helpful because at various times I was asked to take a group’s photo, how to get to Harry Potter but not the one with the rides (???), if VC would be too intense for the 8yo (probably), and why IOA was closing at 6pm (no idea).

I met DH and DD at the VC exit, and then DD and I jumped in line. The wait still said 35, but I figured it would be a lot longer since I saw a huge number of people jump in line quickly with the queue backing up to the bridge before the TMs could open the extended queue. We were doing okay until we got the dreaded “brief delay” announcement. It was down for about 15 minutes before the all clear, and we were thankful we didn’t get the extended delay announcement (like we got a few days earlier). With the delay, it was about 50 minutes.

We then decided to do Hagrid’s one last time, but, since it had a 55 minute wait, we opted to give the single rider line a whirl. It was okay. I’m not the biggest fan of Hagrid’s queue, so I didn’t mind skipping the majority of it. I guess there weren’t too many odd-numbered groups (i.e., the ones who need a single rider) because it took us 45 minutes to get through, and a good chunk of that line was in the sunshine. The early days of the trip had temps topping out at 72. But today it got up to 88! Yikes.

DD decided to do a little bit more magic in Hogsmeade. Not surprisingly, there were more people on Friday doing magic than earlier in the week. We then decided to pack it in.

Back at the resort, we changed into our swim things, brought down some leftovers for DD, and then ordered nachos from the Bula Bar for DH and me. As I was sitting there reveling the warmth, it dawned on me that I didn’t check in for our flight! I had set a timer and was in the VC line without my phone. Hubby just silenced the alarm. Oops. No sooner than I had checked in and seen that we were in group C that I got a text from SW. Our flight for Saturday morning: cancelled!

We had purposely moved our flight to Saturday figuring all the weather would be out of the way by then. Seems like that’s true, but the plane that was supposed to take us home wasn’t actually going to be at MCO.

So I jumped up and ran back to the room where I had better wifi, and I did what lucky people do when they need help: I called my mom. Between the two of us, we found another flight that would get us in at 8am on Sunday. I booked that. Then we saw one that got us in at midnight on Saturday, so I booked that. Then we saw one that got us in at 8pm on Saturday, so I booked that. Then I saw one that was nonstop and got in at 6. So I changed to that! Those seats didn’t come available until after check-in time, so we were in group C…again! But at least I got us on a flight. I definitely lost a few years in the process, and I made a mental note that I deserved a cocktail at dinner. Maybe two.

While I was playing travel agent, DH and DD played in the pool. They said it was cold but refreshing. In other words, water that Dear Momma would not have gotten in.

After getting cleaned up, DD and DH went over to the Studios to go on Gringotts one last time. I took a few moments to collect myself, and then I took a boat over to join them. We then went on MiB 4 times. We tried to do better, but could only muster about 250K. Our express passes also did their expired trick again, but Tori at MiB just let us through every time (and tried to give us tips for increasing our score!). We then went over to Central Park to watched the Cinematic Spectacular. We had never seen it before, and thought it was enjoyable enough, though probably not necessary to watch again. DH and I got a kick out of the fact that the projections on the water are clearer than the TV screens we watched as kids.

We then went to dinner and I got my cocktail. Now that we aren’t leaving early in the morning, I’ve punted packing until the morning. DH and DD are planning to go back into IOA for a few final rides (for realsies this time).

 

[princessebird]

Saturday February 5

At one point during the week, we were supposed to wake up early on Saturday and go straight to the airport, but due to the canceling and rebooking saga we had a little extra time on Saturday morning.

Once again, we opted not to do early entry (making us 0/6 on the trip). DD and DH went into the park around 9 to do a few more things while I packed up and did a little work. The weather was back to the cool weather we had at the beginning of the trip, wildly cooler than the nearly 90 degrees the day before.

They went to VC with a posted 50 minute wait and it took them 22 minutes to get on the ride. They then went to Hagrids (posted wait 90 minutes) to do the single rider. Unfortunately, Hagrids had the extended queue in the Lost Continent open. That meant that they were restricting access to the lockers to those who were standing in the extended queue. DD and DH had nothing that needed to be checked into a locker, but they were told they had to stand in the combined line until after the lockers. They decided that wasn’t worth it, so they went back to VC. Posted wait 50 minutes, actual wait 31 minutes.

When they told me that they were going back to VC from Hagrids, I took a leisurely walk back over to VC. I figured that with those wait times, I might be able to get a ride in. Unfortunately, DD and DH were the last riders before a 15 minutes delay, and they were stuck in the ride vehicles for the length of the delay.

We then decided to say goodbye to all the fun at IoA and get us some farewell donuts from Voodoo. We ate our donuts and then walked back to RPR one final time. We enjoyed a family walk back to RPR, telling each other our favorite things of the trip. DD loved doing Velicicoaster 12 times. I enjoyed the Bourne Stuntacular. DH enjoyed not being iced in and worrying about various stresses the bad weather entails (us Texans still have PTSD from last February, in which we didn’t have heat or power for the better part of 5 days while the temps dipped in the single digits and below).

We packed everything up, enjoying the late checkout that I had secured the day before, and sat in the lobby waiting for Neil to pick us up at 12:30. We had been seated for about 3 minutes when he texted that he was there and ready for us whenever we were ready. I have to say, Neil was great about rolling with the punches when I kept changing our flights.

About 20 minutes later, we pulled up to MCO and Neil said “Oh my goodness. I’ve never seen the line that long before.” The line to check luggage must have been at least an hour long. Maybe more. We had considered checking our luggage just so we wouldn’t have to deal with it, but we said eh, we don’t want to stand in that line! We then went over to security where there was a massive line, but literally no one in TSA precheck. So about 20 minutes after Neil dropped us off, we were sitting at our gate.

Which is where I am right now. Currently, the flight is on time (fingers crossed). And family at home says that the roads have started to become passable. We’ve had a wonderfully extended time having fun, but I think we are all ready to be home! I’ll post again soon with some concluding thoughts.

 

[princessebird]

Oh, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report! My almost 10 yo DD (Bday this month!) is a huge HP fan and watches Universal videos alllll the time on YouTube - she's never been. Interested to see your kiddo's faves!

DD's HP favs, in order, are Hagrids, Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, HE to Diagon Alley, HE to Hogsmeade, and then Flight of the Hippogriff. She prefers the sidecar on Hagrids because she says that the lap bar hurts her when she leans over to grab the handlebars. And she's a tall 10yo (5'2").

Overall, her favorite things are, in order, VC, Hagrids, Gringotts, The Mummy (which was closed), Simpsons, Jimmy Fallon, MiB, and Spider-Man. She doesn't like rides where we get wet at all, so that's why those (including One Fish) aren't on there!

She loves watching Universal videos too, and she showed us all kinds of Easter Eggs throughout the park. Your DD will have a fantastic time!

 

[princessebird]

We Made It Home!

Well, we did it, folks. We finally made it home. Only 3 days later than we anticipated. We had such a fantastic time. Like I said, we never do anything like this, and it will be something that we will always remember.

Here are a few final thoughts.

Crowds
In my completely unprofessional assessment, I found Friday and Saturday to be quite crowded, Monday to be slightly less crowded, and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to not be crowded. Express Passes were not needed on TWR, but they made life much more relaxed during the busier times.

Masks
Generally, people were good about obeying UOR’s rules regarding masking indoors and in lines. I did see people removed or at least detained on attractions for failure to wear their masks properly (three times on VC and twice on Hagrids). The poor TMs seemed to have to constantly remind some stubborn people to put on their masks. Be kind to the TMs. Don’t make them be the bad guy. They don’t want to nag, and at this point we all know how to wear a mask properly. Let’s all be kind humans and just do it.

Royal Pacific Resort
The Royal Pacific Resort has been our home away from home for seven years. We’ve never stayed anywhere else, and we love it. We are very comfortable with RPR, and we’d hesitate staying anywhere else. I got an annual pass rate for $204/nt, which was great. For that price, RPR is a fantastic deal. A great pool, good wifi, express passes, a location that can’t be beat, good restaurants, kind staff.

We have to go back to Orlando for an unrelated reason in June/July and we were considering adding a stay at RPR again. The price at RPR (and all on-site properties) has gone up tremendously. The most I ever remember paying in the past was about $400/nt. The rate right now (granted there are no APH rates listed) is almost $700/nt.

To be clear, RPR is not a $700/nt hotel. What I can overlook at $200/nt is hard to overlook at $700/nt. The carpets could stand to be replaced in the hallways. The walls in both rooms we stayed in had several nicks. One room had some issues with grout in the bathroom. One room had several of the decorative spikes around the mirror broken off. Half the outlets in the room (including the USB outlets) in both rooms didn’t work. The backing on the blackout curtains had peeled away in some places, so it didn’t do a great job blocking out the light.

It pains me to say these things because I really, truly love RPR. But they need to up their game if they want to be at the same price point as the Ritz (actually, the Ritz in June is cheaper).

Miscellany

• We’ve used our freestyle cup for at least 5 years now, and it still works!
• We purchased a freestyle cup at RPR for the first time. DH was working remotely in the room for several days, and he’d take a walk down the stairs to fill the cup every hour. It’s probably only a good deal if you plan on spending a lot of time at the resort (which we did). The machines at the resort didn’t seem to be as well calibrated as the ones in the park.
• We usually skip shopping in the City Walk, but we spent a little time in the Studio store and we saw some interesting Harry Potter merchandise that we didn’t see anywhere in the parks (we probably weren’t looking in the right places).
• I decided I needed a cover-up to go to Volcano Bay, and the folks at Quiet Fight didn’t laugh at the 40-something mom who wandered in, and they did a great job of finding me something that worked perfectly. A little pricey, but not out of line for City Walk.
• If you want to eat after park close on City Walk, make a reservation. I usually made reservations the night before or the morning of, so it’s not a six month in advance kind of deal like WDW. But nightly we saw people ask what the wait was when we had 7:30 reservations, and it was often 90-120 minutes. On a Tuesday. In early February.
• We ate at Bula Bar once. They were pushing the app-based ordering, and we were disappointed to find that it was going to be an hour before our food would be delivered. So DH went to the bar itself and ordered, and they brought the food to us in 15 min.

And I guess that’s about it! Thanks for taking the ride with me, and let me know if you have any questions!

 

[Skywalker3]

We Made It Home!

Well, we did it, folks. We finally made it home. Only 3 days later than we anticipated. We had such a fantastic time. Like I said, we never do anything like this, and it will be something that we will always remember.

Here are a few final thoughts.

Crowds
In my completely unprofessional assessment, I found Friday and Saturday to be quite crowded, Monday to be slightly less crowded, and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to not be crowded. Express Passes were not needed on TWR, but they made life much more relaxed during the busier times.

Masks
Generally, people were good about obeying UOR’s rules regarding masking indoors and in lines. I did see people removed or at least detained on attractions for failure to wear their masks properly (three times on VC and twice on Hagrids). The poor TMs seemed to have to constantly remind some stubborn people to put on their masks. Be kind to the TMs. Don’t make them be the bad guy. They don’t want to nag, and at this point we all know how to wear a mask properly. Let’s all be kind humans and just do it.

Royal Pacific Resort
The Royal Pacific Resort has been our home away from home for seven years. We’ve never stayed anywhere else, and we love it. We are very comfortable with RPR, and we’d hesitate staying anywhere else. I got an annual pass rate for $204/nt, which was great. For that price, RPR is a fantastic deal. A great pool, good wifi, express passes, a location that can’t be beat, good restaurants, kind staff.

We have to go back to Orlando for an unrelated reason in June/July and we were considering adding a stay at RPR again. The price at RPR (and all on-site properties) has gone up tremendously. The most I ever remember paying in the past was about $400/nt. The rate right now (granted there are no APH rates listed) is almost $700/nt.

To be clear, RPR is not a $700/nt hotel. What I can overlook at $200/nt is hard to overlook at $700/nt. The carpets could stand to be replaced in the hallways. The walls in both rooms we stayed in had several nicks. One room had some issues with grout in the bathroom. One room had several of the decorative spikes around the mirror broken off. Half the outlets in the room (including the USB outlets) in both rooms didn’t work. The backing on the blackout curtains had peeled away in some places, so it didn’t do a great job blocking out the light.

It pains me to say these things because I really, truly love RPR. But they need to up their game if they want to be at the same price point as the Ritz (actually, the Ritz in June is cheaper).

Miscellany

• We’ve used our freestyle cup for at least 5 years now, and it still works!
• We purchased a freestyle cup at RPR for the first time. DH was working remotely in the room for several days, and he’d take a walk down the stairs to fill the cup every hour. It’s probably only a good deal if you plan on spending a lot of time at the resort (which we did). The machines at the resort didn’t seem to be as well calibrated as the ones in the park.
• We usually skip shopping in the City Walk, but we spent a little time in the Studio store and we saw some interesting Harry Potter merchandise that we didn’t see anywhere in the parks (we probably weren’t looking in the right places).
• I decided I needed a cover-up to go to Volcano Bay, and the folks at Quiet Fight didn’t laugh at the 40-something mom who wandered in, and they did a great job of finding me something that worked perfectly. A little pricey, but not out of line for City Walk.
• If you want to eat after park close on City Walk, make a reservation. I usually made reservations the night before or the morning of, so it’s not a six month in advance kind of deal like WDW. But nightly we saw people ask what the wait was when we had 7:30 reservations, and it was often 90-120 minutes. On a Tuesday. In early February.
• We ate at Bula Bar once. They were pushing the app-based ordering, and we were disappointed to find that it was going to be an hour before our food would be delivered. So DH went to the bar itself and ordered, and they brought the food to us in 15 min.

And I guess that’s about it! Thanks for taking the ride with me, and let me know if you have any questions!

Just caught up on this wonderful TR!! What a fabulous adventure! I wonder if Universal inspires spontaneity. One of the only times we ever planned a spur of the moment trip with only a few days notice was a Thanksgiving Universal trip in 2018. we just don't do that either.
I get it about the weather issues in the South, we live in middle TN now (after growing up in deep south Louisiana,) and still can't handle the ice that happens around here. Kids school also cancelled Friday.
I loved reading through the TR. Sounds like all had such a fun time. glad you got to mix in a lot of pool time and do VB, and lots of HP fun. We hope to do VB one of these days. I love MiB too,has been one of my favorites for years, and love riding over and over.
Thanks for sharing all the fun!