supersaver
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2006
We were there from June 11-June 18th - just got home last night. My husband, our 3 kids (11 and 6 yr old twins) and I had a wonderful time! We fell in love with RPR! 
We were all quite sad yesterday AM when we were preparing to depart. It helped - a little - that it was raining very, very hard but still.... What a week we had! Everyone that worked at RPR was very friendly and helpful, they were great to our kids and made them feel special. 
DD was invited Friday night to come and learn the hula at dinner, and she loved that. The parks were *AMAZING*, WOWSA! It was our first time to Islands of Adventure - oh my gosh, the rides there were incredible!!!!!!!!!! DH and I rode both DD - we far preferred Fire - and the Hulk, that's a FANTASTIC roller coaster!!!! Jurassic Park river adventure - another unbelievable ride. The twins wanted to live on Spiderman. 
As for Universal, no doubt about it, the Mummy absolutely blew us away!!!!!!!! DS (11) rode it 11 times that week! And while I'm talking about riding rides..... the Express Access you get while staying onsite is WORTH EVERY PENNY AND THEN SOME!!!!!!! I totally understand now while all you old timers on this board said Disney FIRST, THEN Universal/IOA - because you get totally spoiled! We would absolutely stay there again, if for no other reason then that benefit, except that... we really did love RPR. They upgraded us to a pool view room - we had room 1432, which was great. It was at the very end of the hallway, near a stairway. I would say it was quiet, except for the stuff going on by the pool Friday and Saturday nights. Nevertheless, to be able to look from our window down to that lovely, gorgeous pool - terrific view!!!!!!! We ate breakfast every day at the Orchid Court lounge, which was a tad pricey, but very convenient. (And those cinnamon buns - they ROCK!) We pool hopped one day to HRH's pool - kids loved the water slide there of course. 
We also ate dinner Tuesday night at the Kitchen at HRH - the kids can go make their own pizzas and then the pizzas are cooked. They truly loved that! We found nearly everywhere we ate, that the food is a bit over priced, but whatever.. we tried to just roll with it.
The only downers: (1) DS (6) came down with a mild stomach bug Thursday afternoon, and DH missed 1/2 of Thursday and all of Friday playing with DS (11) and DD (6) and I at the parks, as he stayed with DS back at the room. (2) I had to call 3 nights in a row to get our "welcome gift" (milk and cookies), it finally arrived Tuesday evening.
Biggest downer of all: Wednesday morning we found out from a neighbor of ours, that 8 doors down from us (we live in a very nice, somewhat affluent area), the couple were in the process of getting a divorce: The husband (7:30 am -kids still in bed) shot their 2 sons (the 10 yr old died that night; the 8 yr old is permanently blinded) while they were sleeping and then shot himself.
The memorial service for the 10 yr old was today. Our neighborhood is just in complete disbelief. It's all over the news here. My son played a little with those boys, but they weren't good friends, but nonetheless.... It was a horrific thing to hear. I just have been saying prayers all week for the wife and her youngest son, who have a long, hard road ahead of them. I have also been offering prayers of thanks that we were gone when it happened.
Sorry to end my post on a downbeat note. All in all, despite everything, we really did have a truly great time at RPR. Thank you to you ALL who gave me such great tips and advice! Best of all: We didn't get sunburned AT ALL! Banana Boat spf 60 is the way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now - any more tips on how to beat the depression from returning home, after being in such a wonderful place??!?!?
Suzanne
We were all quite sad yesterday AM when we were preparing to depart. It helped - a little - that it was raining very, very hard but still.... What a week we had! Everyone that worked at RPR was very friendly and helpful, they were great to our kids and made them feel special. DD was invited Friday night to come and learn the hula at dinner, and she loved that. The parks were *AMAZING*, WOWSA! It was our first time to Islands of Adventure - oh my gosh, the rides there were incredible!!!!!!!!!! DH and I rode both DD - we far preferred Fire - and the Hulk, that's a FANTASTIC roller coaster!!!! Jurassic Park river adventure - another unbelievable ride. The twins wanted to live on Spiderman. As for Universal, no doubt about it, the Mummy absolutely blew us away!!!!!!!! DS (11) rode it 11 times that week! And while I'm talking about riding rides..... the Express Access you get while staying onsite is WORTH EVERY PENNY AND THEN SOME!!!!!!! I totally understand now while all you old timers on this board said Disney FIRST, THEN Universal/IOA - because you get totally spoiled! We would absolutely stay there again, if for no other reason then that benefit, except that... we really did love RPR. They upgraded us to a pool view room - we had room 1432, which was great. It was at the very end of the hallway, near a stairway. I would say it was quiet, except for the stuff going on by the pool Friday and Saturday nights. Nevertheless, to be able to look from our window down to that lovely, gorgeous pool - terrific view!!!!!!! We ate breakfast every day at the Orchid Court lounge, which was a tad pricey, but very convenient. (And those cinnamon buns - they ROCK!) We pool hopped one day to HRH's pool - kids loved the water slide there of course. We also ate dinner Tuesday night at the Kitchen at HRH - the kids can go make their own pizzas and then the pizzas are cooked. They truly loved that! We found nearly everywhere we ate, that the food is a bit over priced, but whatever.. we tried to just roll with it.The only downers: (1) DS (6) came down with a mild stomach bug Thursday afternoon, and DH missed 1/2 of Thursday and all of Friday playing with DS (11) and DD (6) and I at the parks, as he stayed with DS back at the room. (2) I had to call 3 nights in a row to get our "welcome gift" (milk and cookies), it finally arrived Tuesday evening.
Biggest downer of all: Wednesday morning we found out from a neighbor of ours, that 8 doors down from us (we live in a very nice, somewhat affluent area), the couple were in the process of getting a divorce: The husband (7:30 am -kids still in bed) shot their 2 sons (the 10 yr old died that night; the 8 yr old is permanently blinded) while they were sleeping and then shot himself.
The memorial service for the 10 yr old was today. Our neighborhood is just in complete disbelief. It's all over the news here. My son played a little with those boys, but they weren't good friends, but nonetheless.... It was a horrific thing to hear. I just have been saying prayers all week for the wife and her youngest son, who have a long, hard road ahead of them. I have also been offering prayers of thanks that we were gone when it happened.Sorry to end my post on a downbeat note. All in all, despite everything, we really did have a truly great time at RPR. Thank you to you ALL who gave me such great tips and advice! Best of all: We didn't get sunburned AT ALL!
Banana Boat spf 60 is the way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Now - any more tips on how to beat the depression from returning home, after being in such a wonderful place??!?!?
Suzanne
I will have your neighborhood and that family in my prayers.....
Works for me!
Loved the weather towards afternoon and eves. FOTL -way to goooooo!
