My UO, DC, AQ, & KSC Pre-trip report

Sounds like a great day! How did you enjoy dinner? We haven't tried Hard Rock Cafe there yet.
 
pattyw, HRC at city walk is the largest one they have in the States.

I find it amazing!
I hit it each visit I make to UO.

I've been to other HRC and this one wins the cake for me.
 
Tuesday update - Got to Studios about 9:30 this morning. Rode Dispicable Me, Rip Ride Rockit, Fallon, and Simpson’s. We did not care for Simpson’s at all. It made all of us nauseous. I had even taking motion sickness medication. Afterward we had lunch at the Simpson’s food court. Cletus Chicken Shack for all. Then off to Men in Black. Youngest nephew won after getting a 100,000 point bonus. Needless to say his big brother wasn’t happy. Lol! Went to the Horror Make Up Show. It was excellent!! I’d seen it before. Youngest nephew was the one who the actor accused of throwing a rock and setting off the alarm. Really funny experience!!
Tried to catch the boat back to the Resort but it had stormed during the show. Boats were not running so we walked. Much longer walk from Studios!
Went swimming for awhile & now sitting at Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Then heading to IOA for some rides.

Sounds good!! Apart from the Simpsons of course.........

Glad to hear you’re having such a lovely time........
 


Coach !!!!


Hope to read more about your fun when you have a break on Wednesday.....

 
Good pick for dinner and thanks for all the live updates. Glad you are having fun.
 
Here’s my Wednesday afternoon update. Had a weird experience at the water taxi Tuesday evening. One of the employees told us that the line for the taxi was long and we may have to wait 20 minutes or more. He didn’t even want to let us in line. Which I found odd! So we started to walk. Came across a rickshaw driver & let him pedal use to the security checkpoint.
Dinner last night at Hard Rock Cafe was excellent!! Server was really attentive & never let our glasses become empty. Portions are huge & we couldn’t finish our meals. Did a little shopping at the Rock Shop after dinner. Then off to IOA. Only rode Hulk & JP River because the park closed at 8pm. I believe there was a private event going on. So we headed back to RP and called it a night.
Got up early this morning to be a Volcano Bay for early park hours. That was the best plan ever!! We got to the entrance rope at 7:50am. We were the first ones in line at our stand to get our Tapu Tapu. I can’t stress enough how much time you’ll save if you link your tickets/AP and credit card to the Universal app ahead of time. Went in and were directed to the lockers in the Waturi section. Rented a medium size locker for $12 and it was plenty big enough for 2 beach towels, our sunscreen, lanyards, an iPhone, a hat, and a pair of sunglasses. Then off we went to ride Krakatau. It was so much fun!!! When we arrived back at the station and no one was in line so I asked to go again and was told sure. Bonus Krakatau ride!!! I’m sure the fact that the sky look threatening helped keep the crowd small. However it only sprinkled on us. Thank you weather Gods!!
Our next ride was Punga Racers because it’s right next to Krakatau. The boys liked it but I don’t enjoy small diameter tube slides.
Then we rode Maku Puihi. We all liked these. The green one was much faster. We were thirsty by now, so the boys went to Ohno and I grabbed us a water. I was able to make it to see their splash down after grabbing a bottle of water from a nearby cart. The boys enjoyed Ohno, its the one with the 10 foot drop into the pool at the end.
Then one nephew was brave enough to tackle one of the drop slides in the volcano. He rode Tai Nui which has the trap door drop. He was a little scared standing on the trap door, but it was one and done. He said it was hard to breath.
By now it was a little after 9am so Honu ika Moana was open so we rode the blue one first. Honu was excellent with big drops and then climbing up large walls. Ika Moana wasn’t as intense.
Next up was the Fearless River. It’s a lot of fun!! If you get hit with a large wave be prepared to swallow some water! I went around 3 times and the boys 5 times. It was a nice break from walking and climbing stairs.
Next up we rode Taniwha Tubes. We rode the dark blue one and the darker green one because we were told those two were faster. These were a lot of fun!!
Our stomachs were rumbling so by 10:45 we headed to Kohalo Reef to eat. We shared a Reka Burger and a Longboard Pepperoni pizza. I did take pictures of the menus and will post them later.
After lunch we went to get a Volcano Bay t-shirt for each of us. We also stopped at the photo counter to get our pictures added to my Photo Pass. By then we were ready to head back to the room, so we grabbed our belongings from the locker and headed to the bus.
We were on the bus at noon, we do plan to go back tomorrow evening for a few hours. Almost forgot that we did find 3 different Tapu Tapu photos spots. I’ll try uploading some later.
 
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Sounds good, Coach! My son and his friends are at VB today. They said that the crowds were low- just like you experienced! I love that water coaster!!

Have a good night! Thanks for the live updates! I really enjoyed doing the same two weeks ago on my TR! It does feel like I'm there with you!
 
Glad you’re having a fantastic time Coach.....sounds like a whole lot of fun for you and the boys!
 
Here’s my Wednesday afternoon update. Had a weird experience at the water taxi Tuesday evening. One of the employees told us that the line for the taxi was long and we may have to wait 20 minutes or more.

I've had that happen before when I planned to use the water taxi.
If it is fully packed at the dock, and the dock is so full you are not in the rope lines section, you know it would be faster to walk back to the hotel.

I had long waits in October last year sitting on the water taxi on some days.
The stoplights were always red when I was returning back to rpr.

So we sat and sat....


Getting excited for another live report from you tonight
 
We just got back to the room from our marathon day. Too tired to do an update tonight so I’ll do one in the morning.
 
Take your time

I know how busy a person can be doing the darkside all day and just want to relax and sleep once back in the room.


Enjoy your time at UO!
 
We just got back to the room from our marathon day. Too tired to do an update tonight so I’ll do one in the morning.

A full park day is like a marathon !!

Hope you are sleeping in right now!!
 
that day at VB sounds awesome! Thanks for letting us know what you did.

Sleep in, it's vacation! Not every day needs early entry. But I agree with you that extra hour is lower crowds.
 
Wednesday afternoon & evening update. After VB yesterday we hung out in our room and relaxed. It was raining and we needed some down time. About 3pm we headed out to the boat and back to the parks.
Started at IOA and rode Hulk, Dr Doom, and Spider-Man. I’d have to say Hulk is our favorite! Then headed to Hogwarts castle.
Holy crowds Batman!! Probably waited 25 mins in the express line to ride Forbidden Journey. The boys have been spoiled with short express lines and weren’t happy. I just told them to humor me while we ride the Potter rides. Since we don’t know much about Potter they weren’t into the rides. Once we rode FJ they liked it, just not enough to wait in the line again. Lol!
Next up was Hippogriff, the line was much shorter, maybe 10 minutes. Reminded us of our old Mine Train at Six Flags St Louis.
Then it was time to experience our first Butterbeer. All I can say is that I should have gotten 3 of them!! We liked it so much it was gone by the time we got to the train!
Didn’t have much of a wait to ride the train and then we headed to Diagon Alley. The crowds were even worse than Hogesmeade!! We ever so carefully dodged strollers and a sea if humanity to get to Gringotts!! Once we made it we headed for the express line. I didn’t even check the regular line’s wait. It must have been over 60 minutes, because we were in line 30+ minutes. Thankfully a lady behind us was a huge Potter fan and answered any questions we had.
As we weaved our way through the vault, the elevator, and back up the steps we finally got on the ride. It was very enjoyable for us non-Potter fans! I do believe the Potter rides will be one and done for us. Unless we want more butter beer! The funniest part was when one of my nephews said “I’m not old enough to drink beer.” LOL!! I got a good laugh from that and then explained it’s not really beer .
We also missed the Dragon breathing fire, so may have to go back.
Then it was time to head to City Walk for dinner. Since both boys are athletes and I was at one time, we headed to NBC Grill. Service was good and the food was delicious. We all finished our meals, although the boys helped me with mine. I’ll post pictures later.
After dinner it was water ride time! Went back to IOA, but made a quick stop at a cart in City Walk. My youngest nephew is a HUGE Pittsburgh Steelers fan!! His entire bedroom is decorated in Steelers merchandise. I saw Steelers socks and when I pointed them out he immediately grabbed Antonio Brown, his absolute favorite and Ben Roethlisberger. He knew he had to have them!!
After our purchase we headed to IOA. First up was Popeye and Blutos. I donned a poncho for these because I knew with all 3 water rides we’d be soaked. I know I wimped out!! Since I am the designated bag holder, I didn’t want everything soaked, including me.
After Popeye’s we rode Dudley Do Rights and then Jurassic River. They are all a cool experience at night!!
Then we headed out of the park to City Walk. The boys had been wanting Toothsome shakes. We waited in line about 10 minutes to order and about another 20 minutes for the shakes to be made. Oh well they were happy and that’s all that matters!!
Then we headed for the water taxi and back to RP. By this time it was 10pm and we were exhausted!! We had worn flip flops to the parks for the water rides and our feet were not liking them!!
It was bedtime since we had gotten up early for Volcano Bay.
 
Sounds like a nice evening! I liked NBC Grill a lot! They have a nice menu!

Love your nephews socks! As a Buffalo, NY native and fan of our sports teams, let me say that I envy Pittsburgh fans!! The Steelers and Penguins have many championships! I hope we can get one in some sport someday!!

Love the water rides! I donned a poncho for them - didn't help much! But that's the beauty of staying on-site. We usually will do water rides first thing in the morning then go back and shower and change.
 
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Sounds like a great day! How did you enjoy dinner? We haven't tried Hard Rock Cafe there yet.

Sorry Patty I’m still trying to respond to questions. We all enjoyed our meals!! We all had either a burger or bbq sandwich. Portions are huge and service was excellent!! I highly recommend Hard Rock!!
 

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