It's all about Rides and Rocks (the trip that nearly wasn't) TR starts page 6

[Tashinwdw]

Aussie Wendy, I am so glad you are sharing your trip plans, it has been a help for me. We only have 6 nights at universal and have only just discovered Discovery cove, so now all my plans are up in the air. There are just not enough days in a holiday!

 

[PrincessInOz]

We headed into IoA for breakfast one morning and ate at the Three Broomsticks. I'm not rushing back there for breakfast in a hurry.

And we picked up some croissants at the Orchid Court Lounge on another morning.

I would recommend that if you have the option of stopping at a supermarket, pick up some breakfast items there. There is a Keurig in the RPH room, if you are a coffee drinker. But I think you might be a tea drinker.....so that won't be of any use to you at all.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Further updates-I was off sick from work with a tummy bug earlier in the week and distracting myself when I felt a bit better, discovered a thread on discounts recently posted on the WDW or it might have been Universal Disboards forum. Anyways, someone was raving about an Orbitz discount of 15% for this summer and someone else added they also had a code and got 20% for lots of hotels for fall through til Xmas. So I tried 'Discover' as the promo code and yep, got 20% off. So we are now booked into POFQ for the first 4 nights, 20% less than the Disney site before tax so averaging in total US$179/night then booked into RPR at Universal for 3 nights, again 20% less than the cheapest listed price I could find (pre tax)= average $234/night (still better than the 5 night price RPR were giving me which was discounted from $320/nt for 3 nts or less to $240/nt).

We have decided to shift hotels on the Wed night across the road to the Hyatt Place as we will collect a hire car earlyish the next day from Budget, nearby at the outlet at the Holiday Inn and visit KSC, then just head to the airport that night and stay at the Comfort Suites and return the car there as we have an early am (6.40am flight) out to Albuquerque on Friday.

We decided to sacrifice a couple of extra days in Orlando so we can have a full week for our road trip and wanted time to explore Albuquerque now I have been reading up on New Mexico. Will save Seaworld and Discovery Cove for another visit. So yes, very rushed visit with little 'down time' but that time of year unlikely we will be swimming in the pools and its our typical style.

I am excited I finally have some bookings locked in. The thread confirmed that people have linked the Orbitz booking with MDE and all Ok in that regard. I haven't had a chance to try yet. Better book a flight from west to east coast next I guess!!

Since work has been absorbing every minute of my time not allowing me time to spend on holiday planning, the upset tum was kind of useful!!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

There is a Keurig in the RPH room, if you are a coffee drinker. But I think you might be a tea drinker.....so that won't be of any use to you at all.

There is a Keurig tea capsule in those rooms. I tried it. It's awful.

The HRH had a small store downstairs that sold breakfast items (bagels, cereal, fruit, milk etc). We got stuff from there each day. Does RPH have something similar?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Further updates-I was off sick from work with a tummy bug earlier in the week and distracting myself when I felt a bit better, discovered a thread on discounts recently posted on the WDW or it might have been Universal Disboards forum. Anyways, someone was raving about an Orbitz discount of 15% for this summer and someone else added they also had a code and got 20% for lots of hotels for fall through til Xmas. So I tried 'Discover' as the promo code and yep, got 20% off. So we are now booked into POFQ for the first 4 nights, 20% less than the Disney site before tax so averaging in total US$179/night then booked into RPR at Universal for 3 nights, again 20% less than the cheapest listed price I could find (pre tax)= average $234/night (still better than the 5 night price RPR were giving me which was discounted from $320/nt for 3 nts or less to $240/nt).

We have decided to shift hotels on the Wed night across the road to the Hyatt Place as we will collect a hire car earlyish the next day from Budget, nearby at the outlet at the Holiday Inn and visit KSC, then just head to the airport that night and stay at the Comfort Suites and return the car there as we have an early am (6.40am flight) out to Albuquerque on Friday.

We decided to sacrifice a couple of extra days in Orlando so we can have a full week for our road trip and wanted time to explore Albuquerque now I have been reading up on New Mexico. Will save Seaworld and Discovery Cove for another visit. So yes, very rushed visit with little 'down time' but that time of year unlikely we will be swimming in the pools and its our typical style.

I am excited I finally have some bookings locked in. The thread confirmed that people have linked the Orbitz booking with MDE and all Ok in that regard. I haven't had a chance to try yet. Better book a flight from west to east coast next I guess!!

Since work has been absorbing every minute of my time not allowing me time to spend on holiday planning, the upset tum was kind of useful!!

YAY for getting that ORBITZ code to work for your dates.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

There is a Keurig tea capsule in those rooms. I tried it. It's awful.

The HRH had a small store downstairs that sold breakfast items (bagels, cereal, fruit, milk etc). We got stuff from there each day. Does RPH have something similar?

There was a small store downstairs at RPH; but I didn't go in and check it out.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Tea capsules noted! Avoid!! I do drink coffee too though so I will survive!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Tea capsules noted! Avoid!! I do drink coffee too though so I will survive!

The coffee capsules were acceptable. Mind you....I'd gone nearly 24 days without proper coffee by this stage.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Booking ADRs for our trip at our 180 day window Fri night and I can't book for the day we leave. I presume this is usual though have been unable to find any advice on any website or forum. I wanted a Prime Time at WDS which is annoying as they book out. Any-one tried any work around?
Thanks (I will update the first post with our finalised plans soon!)

 

[PrincessInOz]

Booking ADRs for our trip at our 180 day window Fri night and I can't book for the day we leave. I presume this is usual though have been unable to find any advice on any website or forum. I wanted a Prime Time at WDS which is annoying as they book out. Any-one tried any work around?
Thanks (I will update the first post with our finalised plans soon!)

Wendy - I would ring and see if you can book. Otherwise, try again tonight.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Have edited first post with confirmed details so far - still very rambly sorry but I left most stuff in for now!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Your plans sound fantastic!

I'm quite envious that you are staying at the View Hotel like PIO did. That place looks amazing.

I hope you get your Prime Time ADR. That was my favourite ADR last year. Not so much for the food, but the service and atmosphere. Make sure you try the chocolate peanut butter shake.

I have seen O, Mystere, KA, and Zumanity. I recommend them in that order. Although DH would disagree and swap O and KA around.
If you have never seen CDS before, Mystere might be a good place to start. It is classic CDS in that it relies on amazing acrobatics to make it special rather than impressive stage technology. Plus, because it is one of the cheapest, I would argue that it's the best value for money of the 4.
O is visually stunning, but quite expensive.
KA is good if you like martial arts and are interested in engineering like my husband (the stage technology is amazing).
Zumanity is the only one of the 4 I didn't enjoy. It tries to be risqué, but DH and I thought it was just boring. The acrobatics played second fiddle to the adult nature of the show, and IMO it failed in both.

Also, I have to congratulate you on turning a 7-10 day trip into a 2 1/2 week one. Good going.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks WanderlustNZ! I still have your Yellowstone etc plans earmarked for a future copy trip too! Your advice on CDS is also useful. I have read a lot of people complaining about the end of Ka now they have changed the fight scene since the accident. O is appealing (though I like the costumes in Mystere more looking at them on the web). Also depends ultimately on budgets and whether I can get any discounts through the promo site I signed up to for LV in 2011. Yes I did well on extending this trip Gotta' love DH's

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm catching up on your plans too. Looks great!

I would recommend going to see O as well. It is a special built stage and is unlikely to be part of the travelling cirque shows.

I really enjoyed eating at Mythos when I was at IoA. If you have a park to park, it may be worth taking the time to head here as one of your food options.

I'm totally envious that you get to take the left fork at Albuquerque. That will be one place I'm going to be avidly waiting for your pictures and impressions about.
Looks like you've got the road trip part all worked out.

Have fun deciding on which walks to go to at Zion. We've done the Emerald pools, weeping rock and riverside walk to the narrows. DH climbed up to Angel's Landing and as I was pregnant with DS then, the rangers advised against me walking up. I tried to go along Hidden Canyon whilst waiting for DH to come down and got a little way into the trail and decided it was probably just as stupid for me to go on that walk as well. One of these days, we're heading back here!

I think we also did another trail that had heaps of switchbacks and took us to an overlook of the canyon. I can't remember which trail that was now.

Hope you and DH are well and that your parents are doing fine.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I second Mythos. The food was delicious.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks for the insights. Reading up on Zion walks is next on the list PIO. I have already circled Mythos as a possible place to eat from others TR so now you both have confirmed it! Do you make reservations in advance (not crazy in advance like Disney)? I have my Prime Time res-must re-edit front page.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Thanks for the insights. Reading up on Zion walks is next on the list PIO. I have already circled Mythos as a possible place to eat from others TR so now you both have confirmed it! Do you make reservations in advance (not crazy in advance like Disney)? I have my Prime Time res-must re-edit front page.

I booked in advance, and PIO will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think she did.

When we dined there they were pretty busy so I was happy to have the ADR. But this was right on lunch time. I think that if you ate at a slightly off time you'd be okay walking in.

The good thing about the open table reservation system that Universal use is that it's very easy to cancel bookings you change your mind about.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for the insights. Reading up on Zion walks is next on the list PIO. I have already circled Mythos as a possible place to eat from others TR so now you both have confirmed it! Do you make reservations in advance (not crazy in advance like Disney)? I have my Prime Time res-must re-edit front page.

I didn't book in advance. We got there around 1 pm and had a 10 minute wait. If you're staying on site, then see if concierge can make a booking for you when you get there. However, with the new UO 'dining plan' and Diagon Alley opening up, anything is possible. I would keep an eye on the UO section of the Dis. There are a number of regulars that post there and keep an eye on the trends.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Just read through your PTR, sounds great. I will definitely be keen to read of your Universal experience.

We have only see the one Cirque show in LV last Oct ( LOVE). We thought it was amazing, but we do like the Beatles and I see that you don't really, so in that case it sounds like O might be the one for you

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Figured time for an update Have booked all hotels now except for our first night by LAX airport - will do a lastminute.com or Priceline or similar I think. Hoping to find somewhere under $100. Eagle eyes readers will note I am now planning to see Love in LV despite previously saying we weren't big Beatles fans. I am torn by the water effects in O but it is a lot dearer as few discounts and doing more research and u-tubing have decided we will probably enjoy this more as our first CDS production, as to be honest, what we have seen of CDS in advertorial snippets isn't inspiring us. Probably different actually being there but this might be a better introduction and I know everyone who sees Love raves about it and many of the songs are those we do really like rather than those we don't.

Still just have to make up our minds about what tours we want to book on the road trip or what we want to just wing along the way. Revisiting as hadn't looked at my planning for months other than reading all the Diagon Alley updates (looks so amazing!!!) and now need to remind myself of what it is we want to see. DH is pretty keen this trip to wing as much as possible except for having flights, hire car and accommodation booked.

With this cold snap in Qld have been thinking about what clothes we might need for the road trip part! Also have to re-apply for ESTA. Our passports are all still valid and we have quite a few $ left from 2011 for spending money plus DH put some on our travelcard when the exchange rate was so good months back. My full-time work ends in 3 weeks and I have a month off before my next part-time contract so will have time to dedicate to properly revisiting all this fun stuff. At least most of the trip is now paid for though when I run through what still has to be done there is more than I think left! I am as always, spending more than I initially planned (aka 'sold' to DH) because I kept adding on to the trip - but you only live once!

 

[FireflyFi]

Eagle eyes readers will note I am now planning to see Love in LV despite previously saying we weren't big Beatles fans. I am torn by the water effects in O but it is a lot dearer as few discounts and doing more research and u-tubing have decided we will probably enjoy this more as our first CDS production, as to be honest, what we have seen of CDS in advertorial snippets isn't inspiring us. Probably different actually being there but this might be a better introduction and I know everyone who sees Love raves about it and many of the songs are those we do really like rather than those we don't.

I loved Love! It was my first CDS, and I didn't really have any interest to see them before, but I'm quite a fan of The Beatles so thought it was a good first experience. It has a lot of emotion in the story, and is very imaginative. I hope you love it too!

Revisiting as hadn't looked at my planning for months other than reading all the Diagon Alley updates (looks so amazing!!!)

OMG, how good does it look?! I cannot wait to see this for myself - you will beat me to it by about a month!