ChipDale
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2000
May 12 – 15, 2017
Jane – (that’s me, ChipDale)
Ron – husband
Samantha – sister
I’ve read some very informative trip reports here and they’ve been so helpful that I am going to attempt to do one. As a matter of fact, it was one of Schumigirl’s reports that inspired us to stay at the Royal Pacific two years ago. I hope that I can help someone else as much as her wonderful reports helped me.
A little background – we are longtime Disneyland Annual Passholders and visit 3 to 4 times per year. We used to be frequent Walt Disney World visitors, but since we discovered Disneyland, we make the trip to WDW only every two years. We’ve been to Universal Hollywood quite a few times, most recently Christmas 2016 to check out the new Harry Potter stuff. Our first visit to Universal Orlando was two years ago and we really enjoyed it – the customer service in comparison to Walt Disney World really blew our socks off! I’m the Harry Potter fan, my husband and sister put up with it but also enjoy the Harry Potter areas and appreciate the quality and detailed world that Universal has created. The three of us travel really well together. At Disneyland, my sister and I are up with the birds, get to the parks for Early Entry, do a bunch of rides, then meet my husband for a leisurely breakfast. It works out well for all of us. We like to take it easy in the afternoons and generally try to avoid the peak crowded times in the parks. That’s another reason we loved the Universal Orlando Resort so much – we could easily take breaks and relax at the hotel or enjoy an extra-long lunch hour without feeling rushed.
Our plans:
We fly out of Chicago at 6:00am on Friday, May 12th, land at MCO around 9:30am and pick up the rental car. (We like the freedom of a rental car even if we only use it to get from/to the airport.) We’ll head straight to the Royal Pacific and get checked in and store our bags if our rooms aren’t ready, pick up our Express Passes and probably head over to Universal Studios. Depending on crowd levels, we’ll probably go to Diagon Alley and explore, maybe take the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure and see what’s happening over there. We would like to try the new Kong ride – we got a taste of that on the Universal Hollywood Studio Tour (there’s a 3-D section with Kong and Fast & Furious) and would like to do the new Jimmy Kimmel ride and finally ride Gringott’s (which was down our entire trip last time). Other than that, our park touring plans are “go with the flow” and see what we feel like doing each day.
Restaurant Plans:
We like to dine at full service places with a bar. I don’t have any concrete plans, but we enjoyed Margaritaville last trip, as well as the restaurants at the Royal Pacific: Jake’s American Bar, Islands Dining Room (breakfast and dinner). I would like to try Toothsome’s and have been reading any reviews I can get my hands on, but I’m not convinced to try it yet. I’ve read excellent reviews of Cowfish and the NBC Sports Grill so we may try them. We are not fish eaters (sister is allergic) but we’ll try about anything else. One thing that I must try is at the Bula Bar at the Royal Pacific – the blood orange margarita! I’ve read good things about their food too.
We are a little over two weeks away and I’ve started pulling our warm weather clothing out. The tip envelopes are made, tickets purchased, and lists made. I’ll try to take some decent notes so I can share my experiences with anyone planning a trip. I am very excited to return and hope that this trip will live up our last visit!
Jane – (that’s me, ChipDale)
Ron – husband
Samantha – sister
I’ve read some very informative trip reports here and they’ve been so helpful that I am going to attempt to do one. As a matter of fact, it was one of Schumigirl’s reports that inspired us to stay at the Royal Pacific two years ago. I hope that I can help someone else as much as her wonderful reports helped me.
A little background – we are longtime Disneyland Annual Passholders and visit 3 to 4 times per year. We used to be frequent Walt Disney World visitors, but since we discovered Disneyland, we make the trip to WDW only every two years. We’ve been to Universal Hollywood quite a few times, most recently Christmas 2016 to check out the new Harry Potter stuff. Our first visit to Universal Orlando was two years ago and we really enjoyed it – the customer service in comparison to Walt Disney World really blew our socks off! I’m the Harry Potter fan, my husband and sister put up with it but also enjoy the Harry Potter areas and appreciate the quality and detailed world that Universal has created. The three of us travel really well together. At Disneyland, my sister and I are up with the birds, get to the parks for Early Entry, do a bunch of rides, then meet my husband for a leisurely breakfast. It works out well for all of us. We like to take it easy in the afternoons and generally try to avoid the peak crowded times in the parks. That’s another reason we loved the Universal Orlando Resort so much – we could easily take breaks and relax at the hotel or enjoy an extra-long lunch hour without feeling rushed.
Our plans:
We fly out of Chicago at 6:00am on Friday, May 12th, land at MCO around 9:30am and pick up the rental car. (We like the freedom of a rental car even if we only use it to get from/to the airport.) We’ll head straight to the Royal Pacific and get checked in and store our bags if our rooms aren’t ready, pick up our Express Passes and probably head over to Universal Studios. Depending on crowd levels, we’ll probably go to Diagon Alley and explore, maybe take the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure and see what’s happening over there. We would like to try the new Kong ride – we got a taste of that on the Universal Hollywood Studio Tour (there’s a 3-D section with Kong and Fast & Furious) and would like to do the new Jimmy Kimmel ride and finally ride Gringott’s (which was down our entire trip last time). Other than that, our park touring plans are “go with the flow” and see what we feel like doing each day.
Restaurant Plans:
We like to dine at full service places with a bar. I don’t have any concrete plans, but we enjoyed Margaritaville last trip, as well as the restaurants at the Royal Pacific: Jake’s American Bar, Islands Dining Room (breakfast and dinner). I would like to try Toothsome’s and have been reading any reviews I can get my hands on, but I’m not convinced to try it yet. I’ve read excellent reviews of Cowfish and the NBC Sports Grill so we may try them. We are not fish eaters (sister is allergic) but we’ll try about anything else. One thing that I must try is at the Bula Bar at the Royal Pacific – the blood orange margarita! I’ve read good things about their food too.
We are a little over two weeks away and I’ve started pulling our warm weather clothing out. The tip envelopes are made, tickets purchased, and lists made. I’ll try to take some decent notes so I can share my experiences with anyone planning a trip. I am very excited to return and hope that this trip will live up our last visit!