We love the Mummy! Never got to try the Simpsons food court sadly, we planned to but it didn’t work out.
Glad you had a good time with @MooreDisneyPlease and @jkizjkiz! Your meal sounds lovely!
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The Mummy is my favourite too! And I’m with Tommy on this one - coasters all the way. Ben loves Hurl and twirl - I love that there is rarely a line and that he and I can ride it about 20 times whilst the others do The Simpsons ride and Men in Black, plus I enjoy the alien commentary 
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I’m sitting in a coffee shop with Charlie while Tommy does the math placement test for his new school, so I might as well write more.
Day 3…
Monday was our dedicated Islands of Adventure day. David wanted to get up early with us this morning. The boys and I ate breakfast in the lobby area again, while David did his Manly Yoga. 
we all headed out to the water taxi at about 7:40. I was thinking that this was too late, but it turned out just fine. We got to the IOA gate at around 8:05. All the early people had already gone through, so there was no wait. We headed back to Hogsmeade the same as the previous day.
Since David was there to be Charlie’s buddy, I finally had a chance to do Dragon Challenge. It was so smooth! I was very hesitant, because Space Mountain and Rock n’ Roller Coaster are both too jerky and rough for me. I liked Dragon Challenge enough to go straight into the re-ride line to do the other track.
David and Charlie did Ride of the Hippogriff once and then Forbidden Journey. While we were waiting for them to finish, Tommy had a pumpkin pasty and more pumpkin juice. So yummy!
Our plan was to head in the direction of Jurassic Psrk at 9. We ended up backtracking a bit because I somehow didn’t realize that the path is right there by Hogwarts Castle. Rookie mistake! We loved the Jurassic Park river adventure. Yes, we got wet, but it wasn’t too bad.
We wanted to get do Kong: Skull Island before it got too late, so we skipped the other Jurassic Park areas. I’m kind of sad we didn’t take the time to do those. Kong was very worth it though! The express pass line was super fast - maybe 10-15 minutes total. I really liked the combination of screens and animatronics.
After Kong, we had a long discussion about the Dudley Do-Right and Popeye water rides. I forgot to bring flip-flops for everyone and really didn’t want us to all have wet athletic shoes for the rest of the day. They eventually agreed to wait until later for the water things, but then we never went back for them, so I guess I should have let them to them. Poor deprived children!
We headed into the superhero area next. The boys and I did Spider-Man. It was fun! David sat out all the rest of the rides this day, because he just couldn’t stomach any more simulators. Then Tommy did Hulk while Charlie repeated Spider-Man using the single rider line. He LOVED the independence of the single rider line. Then the boys and I did Storm Force Acceleration. Finally, we all bought some cool stuff in the comic shop.
I think we will have to stop here for now. Tommy’s test is about over. I’ll be back!
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For a guy as fit and healthy as David that’s pretty impressive lol. How was the chicken and waffles? I’ve already been eyeballing that one.
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Great selfie It’s lovey when the kids get a bit of independence, they feel so grown up!
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I liked it, although it would be better with syrup instead of mayo. David eats all sorts of crap. He just exercises a lot. It’s very annoying.
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I love IOA! Which was your favourite Dragon?
We let Joe do single rider when he was 7 on our previous trip - he loved it and got really annoyed on the couple of occasions they asked for 2 single riders 
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Tommy preferred red. I preferred blue/green. I’m not as adventurous. 
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More great installments…its great to get a view of Universal…
Thanks for all the great photos…
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Really enjoying the trip report. I’m sure your son did well!
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Thanks for your trip report! I will probably make the trek to UOR the next time the husband and I hit Orlando.
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I usually think the blue side is fairly tame but enjoyed it more this time. Red is my favourite though.
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Day 3 Continued…
We finished up with the super-hero area by around 11, I think. We still wanted to do the Seuss area before lunch. The boys were more excited about this area than I thought they would be. They were feeling very nostalgic.
The boys and I loved the Cat in the Hat ride. It reminded me a lot of Pooh in MK. The boys convinced Dad to ride it with us a second time. Then we went up to do the Seuss Trolley. It was very cute. David looked funny in the tiny seat.
I didn’t mention this before, but David didn’t do any rides at all this day until the Seuss stuff. (He was Charlie’s buddy in the morning, but he waited at the exit while Charlie did the rides.) He gets queasy easily, and Sunday had convinced him that most Universal rides aren’t comfortable for him. I noticed this too, although it bothered me less, so I was able to do more things with the boys. We can both do a trip to Disney without feeling queasy or sitting out rides. He said it didn’t bother him, because both Disney and Universal are vacations he does to spend time with us instead of for his own fun. However, at WDW he can at least do all the rides. At Universal he spent a lot of time sitting by the exit in the heat instead of going through the air conditioned rides with us.
Anyway, it was just starting to sprinkle a bit of rain towards the end of our time in the Seuss area. We had planned to go out to City Walk for lunch at Margaritaville, but we knew we’d get soaked while walking.
Tommy still wanted to eat at one of the Harry Potter restaurants, so we hustled over to the Three Broomsticks instead. The line was long. I knew it would be. We were inside for the whole hour-long rain storm though, so it worked out perfectly.
I think my biggest suggestion for dealing with summer rains at Universal is to have some places in mind where you can get a snack or a meal when the short summer storms come through. Go there BEFORE the rain gets bad. You can see it building. We got into the Three Broomsticks before we got soaked, and the crowds trying to get in 10 minutes later were wet and cranky.
We were able to get back to Royal Pacific in between showers after lunch. The water taxi was running whenever it wasn’t too bad, so we didn’t have to walk. Our room was clean when we returned. It rained on and off most of the afternoon. We all tried to go swimming during a sunny stretch, but they had to close the pool again about 10 minutes after we got there. I’d really been looking forward to cocktails and nachos by the pool while the boys went swimming, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I did get my pool-side slushy cocktail, but I had to take it back to the room.
We didn’t mind too much. We started getting bored around 4:00, and it was mostly clear by then, so we headed back out. We had a great dinner at Antojitos. I highly recommend this restaurant! The food was SO good. We had been missing good Mexican food since moving from New Mexico to DC.
Oops! My writing time just ran out, so I have to stop here.
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Looking forward to reading more!
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I’ll just finish up day 3 now that I’m back home.
After our dinner at Antojitos, we decided to split up. Charlie’s feet were tired, so he didn’t want to go back into the parks. He and David did some shopping in CityWalk and then headed back to the room for an early night. Tommy and I wanted more Diagon Alley time, so we went there. We used a big golf umbrella and that was perfect for us - WAY more comfortable than ponchos.
We didn’t do Gringott’s. We were just in the mood to wander around, looking in shops and casting spells with Tommy’s interactive wand.
It was a nice evening for the two of us. We were very tired by the time we got back to the room. The Harry Potter areas are so far from the park entrance! It works well to do the early entry and latest hours combination for Harry Potter things, but it’s a lot of extra walking to split the day like that.
Day 4 - last day…
We planned to spend our last day back in Universal Studios because it did not have early entry. We needed the extra time the pack up our suitcases. We got everything packed up before we left the room, and I put a set of dry/clean clothes for each of us at the top of one suitcase. We went through two changes of clothes every day during this trip. Sometimes it was because of the heat/sweat and sometimes it was because we were soaked by rain.
I requested late checkout, and we did eventually get a message that 1 pm would be our official late checkout time. Supposedly late checkout is a complimentary option, but getting it felt complicated to me. I’d asked about it at the checkout desk on Sunday, and they said to come back the next evening. Maybe if I had done that, it would have been simple. Tuesday morning, I texted the number that I had been given in an email.
I did get a response immediately, but the response with the new checkout time didn’t come through until about 10 am. I think asking at the desk or texting the night before your check out day is the way to go. Asking a day earlier didn’t work, and texting the day of was a bit stressful.
Since we didn’t have to checkout until 1 pm, we made a plan repeat some favorites at Universal Studios from 9 until about 12.
The boys and I started with Dispicable Me, since we’d missed it the first time through. It was cute! The three of us also did the Mummy again, because it was our favorite. Tommy and I did Rip-Ride-It-Rocket together while Charlie re-rode Trasformers using the single-rider line. I thought it was kind of boring, to tell you the truth. Dragon Challenge is much more fun.
Then we went into Diagon Alley so Tommy could catch one of the Beadle the Bard puppet shows. You miss the shows if you only do the Harry Potter areas first thing in the morning and last thing at night. We also rode Gringott’s using the single rider line. Holy Moly, that option is super fast! You don’t get to see much of the bank, but you go right to the front of the line. We also had pumpkin pasties for breakfast, and finally saw the dragon breathe fire.
We had about an hour left at this point, so David and I went to hang out in Moe’s Tavern in the Simpson’s area while the boys did Men in Black and the Simpson’s ride together. It’s nice having kids who are old enough to go off on their own for a while. They didn’t have any trouble finding us when they were done.
Then it was time to say goodbye to the parks and head back to the room. David and I had quick showers and we changed into the not-sweaty clothes that we had set aside. We were down in the lobby by about 12:50. We checked out and left our bags with bell services.
We went back to Tchoup Chop for a leisurely lunch. Their lunch menu is very different from their dinner menu. We loved this lunch! It’s very affordable and so easy to eat at the hotel instead of traveling back to CityWalk.
We really did love the Royal Pacific resort. The room was comfortable. The lobby and the courtyard are gorgeous. Tchoup Chop is a great restaurant, and I would be happy to eat lunch there multiple days. The water taxis to CityWalk were easy and convenient. Maybe someday we will go back and get a chance to use the pool!
Our flight was at 5:30, so we left for the airport at 2:30. We probably could have waited later, but I don’t like to feel pressed for time. It’s so easy to get a car from Royal Pacific. The people at the front have cars lined up and they fell one over for you. The standard rate is $55. Uber might be cheaper, but this was easy and worth the extra in my opinion.
So that’s everything! We had a great time. Thanks for reading along with me.
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OMG, that is so sweet!
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He is pretty awesome. 
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Thanks Sally…
Loved the report…
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Thanks for your report! Sounds like you have an awesome family and had an awesome time!
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Loved reading this, and so happy you had a good time! Great pics!
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