Agreed! MNSSHP is much more my speed!
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Great to read along. I’m always tempted by Universal, but with little kids I think I would have similar results!
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If you have more time at UOR, try taking your kids to the Jurassic Park play area! It just reopened a couple of weeks ago. I hear it is epic, like Tom Sawyer Island on steroids.
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Oh man, go back when they are older. We just returned from WDW and USO with 11, 15 and 24 year olds and they love USO, especially the two youngest. We decided that we prefer DL for our Disney fix and USO as our Florida park. The three kids unanimously voted velocicoaster best ride in Orlando.
Are you at Hard Rock? I saw you refer to it as Loew’s but that’s all three hotels, I think?
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Nice! That’s our range! I’m hoping mine enjoy it that much!
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Pretty good reason in my book.
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Uh, me either. That sounds awful.
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That’s a really great point. I hadn’t thought about that until you said it.
Man! My kids would’ve really enjoyed that I bet. TSI is one of our faves. Better just go ahead and start my list for next trip. 
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DS and I were real tempted to jump in line for the velocicoaster today but the line was bananas. It looks so fun!
And we’re at Loew’s Royal Pacific.
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We took a pretty short break in the room - at least it felt short. Maybe an hour or a little over before DS and DD10 decided they were ready to go back to the parks. Daddy’s leg was stiff from standing in line for Hogwart’s Express and DD6 and DD4 were still resting and the three of them decided they wanted to stay home for the rest of the evening.
The big kids and I left the room shortly after 4 unsure of what we would be able to ride. It never did storm today really….just got cloudly/overcast and sprinkled for a few minutes. But I guess there was lightning in the area or something because all the thrill rides were shut down for a few hours. We decided we wanted to kill our feet….
We walked from the hotel to USF. Once we got there we rode Minions and headed to Diagon Alley. DD10 hadn’t wanted to ride Gringotts earlier but I think she had made up her mind to face some nerves since it was just DS, her and I. So, we rode Gringotts (she loved it and we talked about how she is maybe starting to turn a corner and like faster rides) and popped into Sugarplum’s Sweetshop - the kids wanted to buy a treat for their little sisters.
From there, we decided to take the walk to the front of the park over to IOA instead of getting on Hogwart’s Express….the line was posted even longer than it was earlier in the day and we didn’t want to risk it taking forever. It took us about 20 minutes to walk from the entrance of Diagon Alley over to our intended destination - The Incredible Hulk Coaster.
I couldn’t believe DS was going to make me ride this! I used to love coasters….I’d ride all the things at Six Flags as often as I could but….uhh…what with the past decade having an under 5 in my house I’m a bit….out of practice. But he was so determined to ride it and I told him I’d be brave too and go with him.
We got over there and realized it was closed. Again. Blah. We chatted with one of the….what are their employees called…still CMs? Anyway, we chatted with him a bit to get his opinion on when/if it would reopen soon. He said he thought so….it had only been closed for about 5 minutes and they were already sending empty trains through the ride. We decided to get it line and give it 10 minutes. If it didn’t start up by then we’d bail.
Right before we were going to give up we heard loud clapping and the announcement came over the speakers that it was up and running! Yay and crap! DD10 came through the line with us but sat out in the family waiting area once we boarded. DS and I were both pretty nervous but wow. We both loved it! What a fun coaster. And it’s something amazing seeing your kid be brave and conquer their fears.
After that, we trekked back to Hogsmead. DD10 decided SHE wanted to be brave now. She’s always been more tentative about riding fast rides and she’s ridden The Flight of the Hippogriff before but was too nervous to ride it with DS and I earlier. She decided she wanted to try it and she LOVED it. We then rode it six more times. It’s a blast getting to tell them yes over and over. Once we were done my heart felt so full. 
After this, we went for a final ride on Forbidden Journey and grabbed more sweets….this time from Honeydukes. Our final thing we had planned on doing was hopping in line for Hagrid’s. We’ve done the on-ride videos so many times and DS had been so looking forward to riding it. But once we got to the point of actually doing it he decided he wasn’t ready. Try as I might to convince him the vertical drop wasn’t far and wouldn’t be a big deal he wasn’t ready and I decided not to push it. Despite his love of coasters, he loathes free falling.
We were beat and walked back to the hotel. I think I ended up with 25,000 steps today so my kids had even more. They were such troopers.
Magically they found even more energy. Once we got back, we snacked on my dad and the girls’ leftover pizza and DD10, DS and DD6 wanted to swim. Crazy youthful energy! My dad was kind enough to take them down for me and I was so thankful. My legs were toast.
I hung out with DD4, got her ready for bed and cleaned up the room and started to get ready to move over to WDW tomorrow. Once they got done with the pool, we all finished settling in. We watched Onward to end of the night.
Tomorrow DS and I are heading to IOA for an hour or so for a few more rides, then its over to BCV, maybe to HS for a spin on Rise if I can get a BG and an early dinner at R&C!
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What’s a brilliant day!
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I’d be shocked if they didn’t love it. Even at 7 DS preferred UOR to Disney (except HS which he enjoyed for JTA, Star Tours, TOT and RnRC).
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Good morning!! I’m the only one awake in our little hotel room. Gonna get DS up in an hour or so and head to IOA before we move to BCV.
We have APRs for HS today mainly to pop in for a ride on Rise. I followed all the BG tips more to the tee this morning than I ever have and ended up with my worst BG ever. Oh well. Hopefully it’s running smoothly this morning.
Disney Day, Best Day!!! 🪄 
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I can’t agree with this sentiment more. A big part of vacation for me is getting to take a break from being the enforcer at home. You want a Mickey bar for dinner? Sure!
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Same was my favorite part! Honestly a conscious decision we made before the trip. Let’s try to say yes a lot!
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Congrats!!! 75 is a lowish BG these days. They routinely call 160. It will be called by 2pm.
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Man. I totally planned on posting throughout the day but my phone died early and left me techless. 
Today’s post is looooong so I’ll post in chunks.
Never mind. I’m just gonna spew it all right here. Sorry in advance for my novel.
What was planned as a rest day ended up being a 24k step day. Oops.
We had APRs at HS for today and I had them for the sole purpose of riding Rise and showing my dad SWGE. I woke up shortly before 7 and managed to grab BG 75.
DS had decided last night that he wanted to go back into IOA this morning to ride a few rides. I really should not have changed our 1 day tickets to 2 day tickets because if I hadn’t this would not have been an option and we could have gotten a bit more sleep. But he wanted to go and ride a few more things before we transferred resorts. The girls all decided to stay with my dad and DD10 and DD4 were still asleep when we left the room at 8:30.
We crossed the hall and grabbed a quick bite from the club level area and then walked to IOA. We got there probably 10 minutes before official park open and the gates were mobbed! Moved quickly though and were walking into Hogsmeade by 9. He was in charge of the agenda and he wanted to do Flight of the Hippogriff first, following by Kong and then as many rides on Hulk as time allowed. No problem.
On the way over to Kong we noticed people getting in line for the Velocicoaster. Check the app and it said 5 minute wait so we rushed in line. Unfortunately, after standing there for about 15 minutes the ride was only running empty cars through and they kept saying the start was delayed. It would’ve been such an unexpected treat to ride it. Next time!
Then, we went to ride Kong and once we were done with that we went and did The Hulk twice. Really such a fun coaster. I love it.
By now, it was about ten minutes after ten. We walked back to the resort, met up with my dad and the girls who had already checked out of the room and sent my dad to grab the car from self parking. We left Loew’s around 10:45 and drove to BCV. Once we got there, my dad dropped us and the bags off at the main drive. He went to park and the kids and I waited for the guy from Kingdom Strollers to deliver DD4’s chariot for the remaining days of the trip. She was super happy to have it!
Once my dad parked, we walked through the lobby, stopped outside to apply some sunscreen and introduced my dad to the greatness that is the Disney Skyliner. Y’all it was so hot today but it felt positively pleasant in there. My dad was a huge fan. And then when we got to HS and it wasn’t a mass of people to get into the park like it normally is at RD he was all “soooo why don’t we show up at this time of the day all of the time? Seems so much better.” Lol! Um, cuz its a bazillion degrees and I’d rather be heading to the room for a break right now!
At this point, it was a little after noon and we stopped by Trolley Car Cafe for lunch. Heads up, hardly anyone in line there at 12:15. Zero line. It was lovely. We grabbed our food and drinks at snagged a little table just around the corner to sit and eat. At this point I was feeling great, easy lunch, and our BG hadn’t even been called yet but as soon as we finished our lunch they called us! Perfect!!
We headed into SWGE, parked the stroller, approached the queue to triumphantly scan our bands only to discover that the ride had just gone down. Cue sad trombone. We decided we’d go grab something cold from the milk stand, explore a tiny bit and then see if it was up and running. If it wasn’t, we’d just bail and head back to the BC. I had gotten my room ready text at 12:30 and was eager to go check it out.
We enjoyed poking around but there were lines to get into all the shops that I saw. Which was annoying when DS was wanting to go look for souvenirs. But, it was cool watching my dad’s reaction to everything and our blue milks (except for my dad who LOVED his green. Gross) were so refreshing.
We headed back to Rise. Still down. Lame. My dad did say he’d come back with anyone who wanted to later in the evening but I figured it was a lost cause for today. We’re back tomorrow anyway so I’m not sweating it. We decided to head home and as we started walking out the skies opened up and it poured buckets for a good 10 minutes or so. The crew all wanted to walk in the downpour but I was like noooooo thanks! We posted up under an umbrella and waited until it slowed down a bit. When we got out of the parks the Skyliner was either down still or just coming back online and the line was long so we walked to BC.
We were able to rest for a super short time……maybe 40 minutes before we had to head to EP for our early dinner at R&C. We explored our room and it is so spacious and perfect! I wish we could get a two bedroom all the time. The room with the 2 queens is huge and perfect for the kids. My dad actually preferred to sleep on the sleeper sofa so it’ll work out great for getting them ready in the morning without bothering him. I love the decor and vibe of this resort. All the beachy decor is just perfect.
While we familiarized ourselves with our room I called down for our bags. They said 5 to 10 minutes so I told them to go ahead and bring them up. 5-10 minutes was a lie. I mean not a big lie. It probably took them 20-25 but when I was on a tight timeframe for making it to R&C on time that’s a big difference! I ended up calling them again to tell them to wait to bring them but she assured me they were alllllmost there.
Once we finally got our bags, it was 3:40 probably. Our dinner was at 3:50 and the skies had just opened up. Torrential downpour, standing water everywhere, giant mess. I didn’t really know what to do. My dad said he was game to try and make it. The kids were too. On our wait out we had the fastest liner meet ever with @eeeevah!! She was so sweet and I wish I had had a few more minutes to stop and chat with her!
Trying to get to R&C….we were equipped with two umbrellas and a stroller……we managed to get there with everyone only half wet expect for my dad who had let my girls carry the umbrella and left him completely out in the rain. Completely soaked. He’s stubborn and gruff sometimes but he is a pretty servant hearted guy and I’m pretty proud to call him my dad.
We really enjoyed R&C. My dad and my sister like to visit this Irish Pub at home to listen to live music and drink a pint or two so I figured he’d really like the menu and vibe here. He did. He ordered a pint and a whiskey flight and had me try two of them - I really don’t understand how people like whiskey. It taste awful! But he was happy and that’s what counts!
After our dinner, we walked home in the sun (crazy Florida), checked to see if SAB was open (it was!) and ended our night with some time at SAB and carryout B&C shakes from Martha’s Vineyard! Kids loved loved SAB. All 4 loved the slide, loved the sand on the bottom of the pool, loved it!
Came back to the room, had our grocery order brought up, had everyone showered, unpacked and finally sat down to write this thing! While not entirely the relaxing day I had planned, it was fun!
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So sweet! Glad y’all had a good day!
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“Yeah, we did 2 parks at Disney and 1 at Universal and changed hotels…”
I think we need to go back to Rest Day 101. 
ETA: But it looks like it was an awesome, if chaotic, adventure!
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