First Time Trip Report 9/19 to 9/23

WendiDarling

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 16, 2007
So - we are 2 days away from leaving! I'm hoping to post a few things that might be helpful to other first timers :-)

Cast is me: 40-something mom and my dd's: 19, 16, 14, and 12.
Staying first night offsite (Saturday) at Home2Suites by Hilton near Universal, then transferring to HRH to 3 nights.
Tickets are B2G2 purchased from UCT - we'll be upgrading to seasonal passes (maybe one preferred pass for discounts, still not sure yet!)
Driving from the ATL region.

Today, I saw that they are having the Haunted House weekend with Halloween Seasonal Experience Testing including trick or treat for my 12 year old...and 2 haunted houses for my older girls. Our first park day is Sunday so we'll get to take advantage of this!
 
So - we are 2 days away from leaving! I'm hoping to post a few things that might be helpful to other first timers :-)

Cast is me: 40-something mom and my dd's: 19, 16, 14, and 12.
Staying first night offsite (Saturday) at Home2Suites by Hilton near Universal, then transferring to HRH to 3 nights.
Tickets are B2G2 purchased from UCT - we'll be upgrading to seasonal passes (maybe one preferred pass for discounts, still not sure yet!)
Driving from the ATL region.

Today, I saw that they are having the Haunted House weekend with Halloween Seasonal Experience Testing including trick or treat for my 12 year old...and 2 haunted houses for my older girls. Our first park day is Sunday so we'll get to take advantage of this!

Hope you have fun!!!

We fly in this weekend also!!

It’s exciting they are doing some Halloween stuff!
 
Yay, and arriving to HRH this weekend too. Hope you have a great time.
We went back and forth on Cabana Bay...Royal Pacific...HRH...and finally settled on Hard Rock! The rooms are almost the same sq footage as the OKW studios which we find plenty big enough for 5. RPR rooms are more the size of Bay Lake studios, which I would really not want to put 5 in. So, that was the deciding factor for me! Purchased a hopefully comfy air mattress for the 12 year old, and off we go!

The kids were a little sad we weren't staying at RPR b/c it seemed like more our vibe? But I'm thinking we'll love HRH and might not want to stay anywhere else once it's all over. 8-)
 


It’s exciting they are doing some Halloween stuff!

I agree!! Although those haunted houses sound like only for the truly brave, lol! I'll be using the 12 year old as an excuse the skip them and go trick or treating instead. Do they do different themes every year? That Revenge of the Tooth Fairy one...yikes!

See you there!!
 
Oh, if I had my choice, I’d be at the Portofino, but with it closed, thought a few days at HRH would be nice. Then spending a week at Royal, which is my second favorite. Though probably tied with HRH. I do really like SF as well, but with them closed, moved to HRH. I think your kids will totally enjoy the vibe at the Hard Rock. Plus, ask them to cut your room key, when you leave. You can probably guess what shape they cut your room key into. I think, it’s a cool remembrance.
 
following....we will be staying at RPR for 3 nights on our upcoming trip. We thought about Hard Rock but decided on Royal Pacific. We have 2 rooms and 6 of us. We still have time to change our minds though. looking forward to your posts!
 


WendiDarling I’m north of Atlanta and have driven to Orlando 3three times

Now I just fly out of Atlanta all
The time

How many hours does
It take you to hit Orlando?
 
WendiDarling I’m north of Atlanta and have driven to Orlando 3three times

Now I list fly out of Atlanta all
The time

How many hours does
It take you to hit Orlando?
We are north of Atlanta too! It should take us about 8 hours. We could probably do it in 7, but we like to stop a couple of times.

So excited we leave tomorrow! This is probably the most excited I've been for a trip in quite a while. We're pretty regular Disney travelers (and DVC members) but the excitement of going somewhere new is fun!

My dh hates all things theme park so he is staying home to take care of the dogs and hold down the fort, lol! On my list of things to do today is make sure he has food in the house to get him through until we get back Wednesday. :love2:
 
Checking in real quick - got into our room at Hard Rock during the break this afternoon.

The good and the bad:

The Rewards member line at Hard Rock rocks! Definitely a great tip! The regular line was super-long at 8am and we were 1st in the rewards line.

Get your temp taken at the resort! We were stuck at the river ferry from HRH to IOA and the TM's thermometer stopped working. they were sending people back to the lobby. But we had our wristbands but we were allowed to go on.

Definitely check ride requirements. Our day was seriously messed up because I didn't realize my 16 year old who is overweight would not be able to fit into some rides. She could not go on Dr. Doom, Hagrid's, or Forbidden Journey. She was absolutely devastated, embarrassed, and as you can imagine it wrecked our morning. We've never had this issue at Disney and it was my fault for not checking beforehand. It honestly never crossed my mind. Heck of a way to learn that lesson.... Off to check the threads for rides we can definitely do with her.

We were able to get a VR on Hagrid's at 9:40 (started looking at 8:15am, but it didn't show up until around 8:50) but the haunted houses were at capacity by 9:03am. So we did not get one of those. Crazy!
 
Thanks for taking us along. I will be hanging on every word because I am considering doing the same type of trip in early November. I don’t know anything about Universal Studios compared to Disney.

It will just be my husband and I. I am considering HRH too. The slide at the pool looks really fun!

Editing to see I posted before I saw your post.
I am so sorry that your trip started out this way.
 
Thanks for taking us along. I will be hanging on every word because I am considering doing the same type of trip in early November. I don’t know anything about Universal Studios compared to Disney.

It will just be my husband and I. I am considering HRH too. The slide at the pool looks really fun!

Editing to see I posted before I saw your post.
I am so sorry that your trip started out this way.
I stopped on the slide at HRH almost three quarters of the way down. Had to wait till the water built up and then pushed me down. Family likes PBH pool and slide better but PBH was closed in July and is closed again when we come back in Oct, twice this year we had to move our stay from PBH to HRH. Wanted to see PBH club offerings in lounge post covid compared to pre covid.
 
A couple of things from yesterday...

I was told we couldn't get the extra 3 months on upgrades to Seasonal passes. Luckily I walked away and tried another CM. Got the extra 3 months elsewhere.

From my dd12, on anyone wondering about the intensity of Hagrids - she said it's like Mine Train and Everest had a baby. haha I thought it was a pretty accurate description! If you've got a kid that thinks Everest is a bit intense but Mine Train is just fine, then Hagrid's is a good bet. She loved it and we will hopefully ride again today (a couple of times).

Make reservations. We waited over an hour to eat on Saturday at Margaritaville and an hour and a half Sunday at Toothsome. I was under the impression that walk ups were fine, but that has not been our experience. When we first tried for Toothsome, it was a 2 hour wait. We are a party of 5.

For us, the Freestyle cup is totally worth it. Used AP discount and it was about $16. I loved the feeling of abundance that came with having the cup. lol. I was feeling drink stingy and then after I was like "Who wants another refill!?!?"

Didn't think I would like the underwater music at the HRH, but it's really cool! Try it :-) However...the hotel is not really our vibe. Looking forward to trying Portofino or RPR next time.

Yesterday was a bit better for my dd16. At US we rode Minions, MIB, Shrek, Mummy, Race though NY, and saw Bourne, Animal Actors, and Horror Makeup show. LOVED Bourne. LOVED Mummy. DD had to ride in the outside seat of Mummy. I wasn't sure it was going to happen, but they had us switch seats. Maybe the outside one has a bit more room? She was not able to ride RRR even in the modified seats.

After reading the blogs, I got some suggestions - the TMs are not allowed to push on your restraints but your family members are. So I had to help on Hulk, but she was able to ride.

Hagrid's was down all day yesterday and did not open until about 5pm.

Any questions, just ask. Today is our last day.
 
Oh a couple more things about food:

Dining plan is not very user friendly. First day we purchased it at Thunder Falls Terrace - meal was around $22 so we just bought the dining plan. Like getting 2 snacks for just a couple of bucks. CMs are mentioning you can use on 2 snacks. However...it was time consuming to purchase and then redeem for 5 people.

COVID precautions are slowing quick service down. we ate at thunder falls and fast food alley. The precautions they need to go through are making things seems slow and cumbersome. Not sure if in non-pandemic times things run more smoothly? Since this is our first time we have no comparions. but right now, it feels like a bit of chaos.

Also, we think 3 days is perfect amount of time. Maybe another day to just relax would be nice.
 
Thank you so much for sharing all of this. I am hanging on every word! We are trying to decide between HRH and RPR. You said hard rock is not your vibe? Tell me a little bit more please.

The freestyle cup sounds great! Is it difficult to get a refill? Do you hand them the same cup?

That’s a bummer that the quick service isn’t so quick. Very frustrating!

How are you filling your time in the evenings with the parks closing earlier? My guess is that we will be hanging out by the pool.

Thanks again!
 

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