Here We Goooooo! A Trip Report to Kick off Summer Vacation!

Love me some TCE! Enjoy.

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Can’t wait to follow! Plan sounds great!

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Looking forward to following along with your trip report!

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Finally settling down for bed.

Check in was sort of annoying. I think we lined up with maybe three parties ahead of us and two additional parties with the attendants checking in and it took us a good 30 minutes to make it through. They had to print our express passes and their printers need upgrading or something because those took forever.

I had originally purchased tickets online, received them via email and then called Universal to modify them after the original purchase. They said that I would have to print them out at the hotel kiosk when we arrived. No big deal.

Well, the check in desk lady informed me that their kiosks are currently not being used because of covid but I could come down at 7:15 in the morning when they open and they’d help me then. Or I could try to make it to GS at the parks before they closed for the night.

I decided I didn’t want to try and jack with getting them in the morning when we’d be eager to get to the parks so we went and checked out the room and as soon as they brought our bags we went out again and walked to IOA.

Hilariously, guess what I used to print my tickets at the park?! Yup, the kiosks. Apparently the outside ones don’t need to close for covid. Silly.

Got my tickets printed however DD10’s last name on her printed ticket is my maiden name (I.e., my dad’s last name). On our ticket confirmation email from them her last name is correct and matches her printed express pass but neither of them match her ticket. Argh. I was going to go down to the front desk tonight to mess with it but I’m too tired. I’ll take my chances at the gate tomorrow.

We had a great dinner at Toothsome. The area was crawling with people as the parks had closed right around the time of our reservation but we were seated immediately. My dad’s phone had died so he’d left it in the room to change so we only had my phone and it took forever to order since we all had to take a turn or two with the phone to decide what we wanted to order.

I had the mushroom and chicken risotto which was delicious but huge. Kids devoured their pasta and burgers. My dad nearly polished off his May Contain Bacon burger (impressive!) before we ordered dessert.

After dinner we walked back to the resort and got things in order for tomorrow. My dad’s leg was really bothering him on the walk back over but he did say walking helps it so here’s hoping that stays true.

We decided since we have EP and WWOHP is really our main priority we don’t need to RD tomorrow. USF has early entry at 8 but we may not make it. Setting the alarms for 7 and enjoying the continental breakfast in the club level lounge before we roll out!

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That’s crazy!! I was so shocked when they said that.

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Our door keys had last names wrong for most of my family-gave them all my last names even though I’d entered everyone’s name when we did online checkin-but it wasn’t a problem that they didn’t match names on tickets.

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I was hoping someone would have that experience. Thanks!

Trying to adjust to slower walking paces. Even though I know I don’t need to hurry walking slow is hard!! Making our way back to DA!!

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We go until June 30th if it makes you feel better :slight_smile:

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Well, the first half of our Universal day is done and I just don’t love this resort. I really like WWOHP but otherwise the park is meh to me.
There’s so little that appeals to my younger kids, especially DD4.

Despite that, we did have a pretty enjoyable first part of the morning. Took our time getting to DA, got the little girls wands and went around exploring. DD4 didn’t like Knockturn Alley (too creepy!) but we liked trying out the different spells.

DS and I rode Gringotts while my dad took the girls to explore Weasley’s. Then we headed to HE and had to wait in a decent line despite EP. Probably around 30 min.

After our ride we MO an early lunch at The Three Broomsticks. DD6 and DD4 hung with me and did a few spells while my dad took the bigs on FJ twice. The little girls were starting to melt down at this point. My dad took DD4 to Suess Landing and I took the other three. DS and I rode FotHG, then we all went on FJ (super proud of DD6 for riding as she was really nervous about it). Hagrid’s was down all morning. We’re going to try and sneak in line later this evening and pray we get to ride. :crossed_fingers:t3:

Then we did both rides again and went to meet my dad and DD4 who was having a meltdown. She just wanted me and was hot and tired. We decided my dad would take the girls back to the hotel and I’d hang back with DS as he was dying to ride The Hulk (he never has and is so eager to).

The clouds were rolling in and as soon as we made it into the line they announced the ride may close due to incoming inclement weather. The people a little in front of us chatted with the CM, walked out of line and told us the ride was closing. So, we left too only to watch the ride continue to run our whole walk back to Loews. :weary: DS was so disappointed. We grabbed some Starbucks and walked back to the hotel and I’ve promised to take him back this evening for more rides. I think DD10 will come back with us but the little girls and my dad are done and ready for Disney. They’ll hang here this evening while we go back.

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I’m sorry the park was just meh

You know what you should do? You should go to WDW. You’d like that. I just know it :wink:

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Fantastic pics! We love Universal but there’s definitely not a lot there for a 4yo.

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I think that’s a fabulous idea. Got my “we can’t wait for you to arrive!” text from Disney earlier and it made me happy. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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If my kids were into thrill rides I’m sure we’d love it. DD6 wasn’t going to ride anything in WWOHP at first and it made her feel so sad and disappointed in herself. :confused: But it’s ok. I knew it wouldn’t be the perfect spot for our entire group quite yet. One day, maybe. :upside_down_face:

Trying to decide when/if to return to the park. Thrill rides are closed for weather but it’s just cloudy. Dark sky says light rain at 5 and otherwise just cloudy…:woman_shrugging:t2:

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Booo

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Thanks for all the great photos :star_struck: And the perfect shot of the dragon!

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I believe that starts in August, only at WDW.

Stay tuned for ticket sales :wink:

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I think you were smart to make it a sidebar for WDW for this very reason.

I’m curious how good a fit it will be for our family this year (DD20, DS16, DS11 twins). We didn’t even try it in Jan 2020, so last time we were there it was DD9, DS6, and DS9m twins. So yep, had mainly just tagged it on to our WDW trip then for the HP ambience.

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You can’t handle this anyway :man_shrugging:

You are 100% correct.

I have no desire to be scared to death.

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My 19yo has been a do or die ride girl since she was 3yo and rode Supergrover’s roller coaster at Sesame Place, conversely my 15yo has some pretty major vestibular issues so he far prefers his feet on the ground and coasters are completely not on the table.

We delayed a trip to Universal until the kids were 9 and 14 and while we had fun, we didn’t spend all that much time together. Dd was off with dad riding all the coasters/thrill rides and I got to do Minions, Simpsons, MIB, and Spiderman over and over and over and over. There were some things we could do together (Seuss Island and getting drenched on Ripsaw Falls, etc) but not much.

I think my biggest issue is that it isn’t easy to do adjacent things. At MK a pair of us can ride Space Mountain and the other two can do Buzz, People Mover, Laugh Floor, CoP, or the Speedway and everyone can meet back up and ride something together (and the other adult can use Rider Swap to also ride SM!). There just isn’t that kind of flexibility of attractions at Universal and their Rider Swap requires non-riders to wait in line with no payoff other than waiting some more while everyone else has fun.

Unless you have an entire family that enjoys and can ride all the thrill rides, Universal isn’t really all that family friendly (or it is if the non-riding family members are okay w/ splitting up or sitting around and waiting). I am glad that we made our visit, but we will keep returning to WDW (and DL) so we can spend more of our vacation together!

I hope your little ones get all their rest and love the WDW part of their trip! :sunglasses:

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