“Our Trip Behind the Bricks---- A Darkside Redux… “

[ArwenMarie]

She's the absolute real deal, no doubt.

The Suite was great. I hope we can accumulate enough miles for one next time. It was larger, nicer, and cheaper than the 1 bedroom at BWV we rented points for a couple of years ago. It didn't have the stove (or the balcony), but it had 2 bathrooms. Whatever it takes to get 2 of those. With the boys getting older, I think she'd sign on for 2 weeks in Outer Mongolia as long as there were 2 bathrooms....

Did it have a washer/dryer?

Two bathrooms is key! We like having connecting rooms at PBH but you don't get any living space with that setup.

 

[clsteve]

Did it have a washer/dryer?

Two bathrooms is key! We like having connecting rooms at PBH but you don't get any living space with that setup.

No washer and dryer that I remember. But the living space was huge. BTW, the cost worked out to be $72.00/night more than 2 connecting rooms at PBH when I checked it all. Even if we hadn't used our rewards miles, we would have considered it since we did breakfast every morning and had plenty of drinks, fruit and snacks in the full-sized fridge. We even brought leftovers back, had Red Oven Pizza in the room one night, etc. So, that big dining room table came in handy....

 

[ArwenMarie]

No washer and dryer that I remember. But the living space was huge. BTW, the cost worked out to be $72.00/night more than 2 connecting rooms at PBH when I checked it all. Even if we hadn't used our rewards miles, we would have considered it since we did breakfast every morning and had plenty of drinks, fruit and snacks in the full-sized fridge. We even brought leftovers back, had Red Oven Pizza in the room one night, etc. So, that big dining room table came in handy....

Nice!

The connecting rooms are great, lots of beds for sure, but having space to eat and relax is nice.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Joining the fun. Love the room...wish mine had been that one!!

 

[schumigirl]

No washer and dryer that I remember. But the living space was huge. BTW, the cost worked out to be $72.00/night more than 2 connecting rooms at PBH when I checked it all. Even if we hadn't used our rewards miles, we would have considered it since we did breakfast every morning and had plenty of drinks, fruit and snacks in the full-sized fridge. We even brought leftovers back, had Red Oven Pizza in the room one night, etc. So, that big dining room table came in handy....

Yep definitely no washer dryer..........

But yes the space is great in the Hospitality Suites...........we did actually eat breakfast in the suite for a couple of days one year......just to say we used the dining table for something.......love the Hospitality Suite

 

[clsteve]

Joining the fun. Love the room...wish mine had been that one!!

Welcome aboard! Save up those miles it's worth it. Although, I get concerned sometimes upgrading like that. I definitely don't want the boys expect that's "the way we roll" all the time if you know what I mean.

Yep definitely no washer dryer..........

But yes the space is great in the Hospitality Suites...........we did actually eat breakfast in the suite for a couple of days one year......just to say we used the dining table for something.......love the Hospitality Suite

Grabbing the other connecting room would be really tempting for a couple of families traveling together. Toss the kids in the middle Hospitality Suite, each set of parents in the 2 adjoining rooms.... Hmmm.....

A family also traveling with grandparents doing the Suite and both adjoining rooms would be ideal, as well.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Beautiful family! Can't wait to read more.
I wish there was more TRs on the UOR boards!

 

[jonlu69]

Joining for this 1, not to be missed (No pressure matey !!). Thoroughly enjoyed your last TR as a guest. Thought this time I had better join the boards and subscribe. Going back to UOR in May for the 3rd time and its reports like this that get the excitement levels to maximum

 

[clsteve]

Beautiful family! Can't wait to read more.
I wish there was more TRs on the UOR boards!

You know, I do to....

Joining for this 1, not to be missed (No pressure matey !!). Thoroughly enjoyed your last TR as a guest. Thought this time I had better join the boards and subscribe. Going back to UOR in May for the 3rd time and its reports like this that get the excitement levels to maximum

Thanks!

And, congrats on taking the big Dis plunge! There's a great group of regulars around here, and it's a fun place to hang around. Oh, and the Sorting Hat should be around any moment assign you to the appropriate House.....

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I'm working my way through your other UOR report.

Your wife and I are similar with the motion sickness issues. I learned about mine when The Simpsons ride opened.

Thanks for reporting how she makes out on the WWOHP rides!

 

[clsteve]

I'm working my way through your other UOR report.

Your wife and I are similar with the motion sickness issues. I learned about mine when The Simpsons ride opened.

Thanks for reporting how she makes out on the WWOHP rides!

No problem. She made out really well this trip - now that we know what works and doesn't work for her. No real issues at all and Gringott's was a breeze.....

Next installment should be up tomorrow (hopefully...)

 

[WDWAtLast]

Just finished your first TR and can't wait to hear about this year's trip!

 

[clsteve]

Night One: A Look Behind the Bricks and Dinner at Vivo Italian Kitchen

The pool was a perfect way to get all of us relaxed and into vacation mode. So, after getting back to the room and all cleaned up, it was time to decide on the game plan for the rest of the evening. Not that it was really that tough. We’re brand new AP holders- what else were we going to do but see the Dragon…?!?!?

Besides, I really don’t think the boys could have made it through the night without seeing Daigon Alley (me neither, if I’m being totally honest… )

I have to say, AP’s really changed our outlook on the trip. If we’d gone ahead with the 4 day tickets, no way we could hit the Parks that evening. Now, whenever we wanted Park-time during the 6 days, it was no problem at all. I knew they were going to save us a bunch of money but I’d underestimated how much of a benefit it was to not have to plan Park days and times. That really came in handy our last day when only 2 of us hit the Parks while the other 2 had an unplanned “relax” day.

So, we head downstairs to the will call kiosks for our AP’s and our Express Passes. Easy as can be – insert the credit card used to pre-purchase them, and out they came. It was our first time with Universal AP’s and a couple of things surprised me: they don’t take a picture for the card like the EP’s (even though they’re linked to your fingerprint); and they’re the same, rather flimsy, card stock as the regular tickets. It might just be me, but with the kids and water rides and just regular wallet wear and tear, I wouldn’t mind something a little sturdier. And who wouldn't want one of those wonderful EP Pictures on something you get to carry around for a year!

I guess you can also tell they didn't ask for proof of the AP when we checked in, even though we used the APH discount for the room.

It was a pleasant 72 degrees with a few clouds around – perfect for a nice 10 minute walk along the path to Islands of Adventure. Love the paths and walkways to and from the Parks and hotels

For me, this is when vacation mode finally kicked into full gear. On a beautiful afternoon, rounding the corner at the top of the hill, and seeing the Lighthouse - while Hulk’s roaring out of its tunnel…. I’m telling you – it turned me right back into a 12 year old kid. Well, a 12 year-old with a wife, 2 kids, a mortgage....

It’s about 3:45pm, so we decided to do a quick loop of a few favorite rides before heading to Hogsmeade. IOA was closing at 6pm that night, with US open until 7pm. So, there was plenty of time to break in the EP's.

Favorite rides meant Spiderman first thing (twice), The Hulk once, followed by the one thing Christian (DS9) wanted to do more than anything: Dr. Doom:

We had planned to ride it last year, but it was closed due to winds on that day. And, if he brought up missing it once in the 369 days between trips, he brought it up 150 times. Without a doubt, the boy’s a thrill seeker, as you can see, below……

Mom and Russell said no to the opportunity (actually, she put another word in front of “no” but I’ll leave it out for now….)

It was also my first time to ride, and I am not exaggerating – it might have been the most thrilling experience I’ve had in a Theme Park, and I’ve been to a few of those. Wow, going from an enclosed space, to outside, at that rate of acceleration, that quickly, to that height, throw in a moment of weightlessness, then the view…… Spectacular. It literally took my breath away – and it’s been a long time since a ride’s done that. When we got to the bottom, Christian had this stunned “I hope it’s okay to breathe, now” look on his face. When I asked him if he liked it - all I got back was 2 thumbs up, followed by an old man stagger off the ride and out of the building. After my experience, I can only imagine the feeling a 9 year old gets.

We immediately rode again and 6 more times during the week, at least. It’s a great ride, but you never quite get back to that same rush of feelings as that first time….

We were able to ride Spidey twice, The Hulk once, Dr Doom twice, and still get to the Hogwart’s Express by 4:45pm. I bring that up because the Park was surprisingly crowded for the Tuesday after MLK Weekend. Really glad for the EP’s, since the tour groups were out in full force that afternoon.

As much as we absolutely love WWoHP, we bee-lined straight for the HE. I don’t know if you read last year’s TR, but we've been looking forward to riding for about a year – ever since we got that bit of Mummy Dust – a glimpse of the train moving along the track while DA was still under construction:

We show our tickets at the booth and head down the path to the station. That whole process isn't as easy as it sounds btw - lots of wrong ticket type issues to deal with because of the Park to Park thing. I’ll bet it’s one of the tougher gig’s for the TM’s. No fun trying to explain to that Japanese family in front of us why their EP's won’t get them in.

It’s a pretty walk, which will be really nice in a few years once the trees mature a bit more. The line, however, wasn’t pretty. Seems the HE was down. We ran into a lot of guests leaving the line. It was about 5pm with a 6pm close, so that was understandable. We decided to give it a shot for a few minutes – really no reason not to. The “voice from above” was saying it should be up soon with a 45 minute wait. They were spot on. The train started running and I timed it: we were on the 5:48pm train. We were just under the downstairs station overhang when it started. So, it’s 45 minutes from there if you’re ever in that spot.

The Hogwart's Express

Full disclaimer: I love trains. Not in a “collect ‘em, know where they’re built, how much horsepower” kinda way. I just like riding them. It was one of my favorite things about living in Europe. They did a bang up job with this attraction. Love the queues, love the realism of the train itself, and the passenger cabins are spot on (down to the imagineered “aging”). The announcements over the intercom took me back, to say the least. The boys loved it. Although, it took them a few rides to know when to look at the “window” and when to look at the cabin doors…

I lost track of the times we rode that week. DW and I preferred Hogsmeade to London (the entering London part is excellent). The boys preferred the London to Hogsmeade (Dementors, what can you say…). I do think it might not be a bad idea to add a couple of additional scenes (a la Star Tours) if it’s feasible. About your 8th time, it’s not as impressive. But, the not walking between Parks will never, ever get old…

Behind the Bricks

The boys are really excited, now as we pull in the King’s Cross Station. Excellent job with that, btw. I almost felt like I’d forgotten and left my case and PC in the cabin. Since, every other time I was in the real King’s Cross I was carrying one….

Great Job with the London waterfront. But, that’s for another time. We were focused on stepping behind the bricks into DA. What can I say – it truly sent chills down my spine. In one step, you go from our world into Harry’s. The only thing close to it I've experienced is that first time you walk out of the tunnel onto Main Street and see the Castle.

I was too stunned to take a decent picture (as you can see). I just held it up and snapped while I was still walking forward. Funny thing is, it’s having the same effect on everybody else in the picture. It must be funny, and something I might just do next trip- to stand near the entrance and watch guests expressions as they turn the corner…! I’m very glad we planned our first entrance right around dusk. The lights were just coming on, and were nicely blending with all of the different shades and colors of the shops and venues. I highly recommend it.

Because of the issue with HE, we only had enough time take in the sights, leaving Gringott's for the next morning. That left time for one major bucket list item. Hot Butterbeer.

Christian, especially, has been waiting all year for it. You see, he honestly feels he’s that catalyst for Uni providing it. Last year, the weather was much colder – although, not near cold enough to stop them from drinking that "Elixir of the Gods" frozen. On his own, he walked up to the manager at The Hog’s Head and asked "Why don't you serve it Hot..? It'd be better hot when it's cold outside..." She looked at him (taken back a bit by an assertive 8 year old at 9:30am in the morning) and said “great idea!” He’s very proud of bringing hot butterbeer to the world….

In case you’re wondering if it contains a lot of sugar: here they are before drinking it:

Here’s Christian after drinking it:

Park’s going to close. So, we head out for dinner. One of the things we were all looking very forward to were the new venues at CityWalk. Antojitos, Cowfish and Vivo. No particular pecking order, we’re fans of all they were offering. I mean, is it really possible to put (hopefully) quality Italian, Mexican, gourmet burgers, and sushi in some sort of ranking? That’s a crazy exercise, IMHO.

We’d tried to make ressies via OpenTable. Nothing open from 5:45pm to 9pm. This will be a recurring theme, btw, that I’ll get into later. Instead, we walked up and put our name on the list; letting them know we were staying on property. We were seated in 25 minutes at a raised table by the bar. Nice view of the outside section and a great people watching spot.

It’s a great menu. A glass of wine for the 2 of us and an order of Calamari for the family to start with (Sorry for no picture. I hadn’t gotten into the whole “culinary capture” thing, yet - until the kids reminded me. These are IPhone pics, btw...) 4 stars from everyone. You could easily tell it was fresh, made to order, and pan fried – not pulled out of the Sysco freezer bag and dropped in the fryer.

We each tried to order something different – Mom with 2 apps as an entree:

The Meatballs

And The Warm Caprese - fried green tomatoes, warm fresh mozzarella, balsamic-tomato jam, basil oil

All nicely done. The meatballs were as good as Mama Della's (which is saying something), as was the sauce. 4 stars. The Caprese was one of the meal highlights. The tomatoes were perfectly fried (we live in the South, I grew up eating them, they were top shelf), very nice mozzarella, and the balsamic-tomato jam was perfect for this dish. 4.5 stars.

Russell had the Chicken Parmesan:

You need to understand that, since he was about 18 months old, Chicken Parm has been one of his two, go-to dishes (Enchiladas Verdes being the other). We could rotate both for a whole year and he wouldn't bat an eye. He said this was the best he’s had. Note the bite gone before I could even get to the picture taking. He’s also a sauce guy. I would have expected that this would not have been enough sauce for him. But, it’s a rich, well reduced marinara. Plus, the capellini is also finished with the sauce (as it always should be!). I tried it and was impressed with the moistness of the chicken- they’d taken the time to brine it which is always a good sign. 4.5 stars from Russell.

Chicken Parm with Photobomb:

Christian had The Squid Ink Pasta - shrimp, clams, squid, white wine, basil, black spaghetti:

Really nice and what I will be ordering on our next visit. The clams, shrimp and squid were cooked perfectly. It’s a shame how often that isn't the case with these types of dishes – one or the other is usually overcooked. An excellent sauce, and the only al dente pasta served to us (my only complaint of the night). And, yes. Both boys eat anything that comes out of the sea – raw or cooked. It’s a family requirement – well noted in their handbook and spelled out in the contract…..4.5 stars, btw

Squid Ink Pasta with Photobomb:

I had The Veal Marsala - sautéed mushrooms, marsala wine sauce, capellini (No Photobomb):

Very good, and it’s a great dish for judging a restaurant. Because, when it’s done right – it’s hard to beat. Done wrong, another story. There’s nothing worse than a nice piece of veal that’s been over-dredged, then tossed in a pan that’s not hot enough and with too much (or too little) butter. "Gummy" is an adjective that should never be associated with food. This was perfect as was the sauce and the quality of some really nice mushrooms - 3.5 stars.

I can’t give it 4 stars since the pasta was over-cooked. So was Russell’s. I should have remembered to ask for al dente since several of the real reviews I checked said they’d “Americanized” their pasta cooking since opening. Too many complaints about it being too “chewy”. Big pet peeve - "soft" pasta. Olive Garden, you’ve done a great disservice to the American Palette….

All in all, an excellent meal. I give it a solid 4 stars. I don’t know if the pictures show it, but it was a lot of food – no room for dessert level of food. It was right at Mama Della’s level of quality and freshness– except for the pasta. We found Mama Della’s pasta a notch above. Mama’s also had larger portions, for those of you interested. We were 2 notches lower on the food coma chart after leaving Vivo’s.

However, Vivo was measurably less expensive when all was said and done.

One thing for certain, it was a great ending to a perfect first day. Couldn’t have drawn it up any better. All that was left was that slow, after dinner, ate too much food, family waddle back down the path to RPH....

On Deck: Day Two and “What’s up with Early Entry…?”

 

[livingthedream]

Well, after a full day of cooking a big dinner for visiting family, I just now had a chance to sit down at the computer and relax , and guess what I just found!! What a wonderful way to unwind - reading about the end of your family's first full day at Universal! I like to read your trip reports, and live vicariously at Universal through your experiences....

I completely understand what you mean when you described that moment when you finally feel like you are "on vacation" and are "allowed" to finally be a big kid again - when we can forget about the mortgage, work responsibilities, and just let our hair down and have FUN!!

Taking advantage of EP to ride and re-ride your favourites for half a day! Ah! Sounds like bliss!

And I can hardly wait for our first view of Diagon Alley! I think my face will definitely reflect the awe I will feel when I see the details I keep hearing about on this board. For me it has always been about the details.

Keep up the food reviews!! You offer some of the best ones about Universal on this board. We all really appreciate the effort you put into them!

I am glad you had a terrific first day....looking forward to reading more!

 

[Welcome Home]

Joining in. Thanks for the comparison of Vivo and Mama Della's. We are having a hard time deciding which one to try on our upcoming trip in April.

 

[clsteve]

Well, after a full day of cooking a big dinner for visiting family, I just now had a chance to sit down at the computer and relax , and guess what I just found!! What a wonderful way to unwind - reading about the end of your family's first full day at Universal! I like to read your trip reports, and live vicariously at Universal through your experiences....

I completely understand what you mean when you described that moment when you finally feel like you are "on vacation" and are "allowed" to finally be a big kid again - when we can forget about the mortgage, work responsibilities, and just let our hair down and have FUN!!

Taking advantage of EP to ride and re-ride your favourites for half a day! Ah! Sounds like bliss!

And I can hardly wait for our first view of Diagon Alley! I think my face will definitely reflect the awe I will feel when I see the details I keep hearing about on this board. For me it has always been about the details.

Keep up the food reviews!! You offer some of the best ones about Universal on this board. We all really appreciate the effort you put into them!

I am glad you had a terrific first day....looking forward to reading more!

It was a great first day and you'll be amazed by DA. There's so much there to experience. Uni really is the best place to get back into full kid mode - esp. on-site. Everything's so close and there's really no reason to plan anything at all....

Joining in. Thanks for the comparison of Vivo and Mama Della's. We are having a hard time deciding which one to try on our upcoming trip in April.

You really can't go wrong with either. Vivo has more of that new Italian Bistro feel to it, while Mamma Della's is all old world Italian, if you have a preference. Vivo was a little warmer, less modern in person than it seemed from the pictures, which was good. I did like where they seated us since it wasn't as hectic as inside and had a great view of outside without being outside.....

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

If you enjoyed Dr. Doom you should check out Falcon's Fury at Busch Gardens Tampa.

And I MUST have that Caprese with the fried green tomatoes.

 

[sharona]

Enjoying your report so far. Looking forward to more!

 

[Welcome Home]

The suite looks very spacious. We considered that setup to get the two bathrooms. However, our two older boys don't share beds well. We went with the kid suite at HRH. It almost has 2 bathrooms.

 

[clsteve]

If you enjoyed Dr. Doom you should check out Falcon's Fury at Busch Gardens Tampa.

And I MUST have that Caprese with the fried green tomatoes.

BG may well be on our next Fla visit - close to MiL and I haven't been there since I was a kid! BG Williamsburg is one of my favorite Parks and would love to see what they've done in Fla. That Caprese is excellent. The sauces are perfect.

Enjoying your report so far. Looking forward to more!

Much thanks!

The suite looks very spacious. We considered that setup to get the two bathrooms. However, our two older boys don't share beds well. We went with the kid suite at HRH. It almost has 2 bathrooms.

Ours don't either. We actually finagled a rollaway that I forgot to mention. I won't go too much into it, but I'll give a hint that works for a lot of things: tip your bellhop very well....