Better Late Than Never?? Let's Hope. A September 2021 Trip Report ( COMPLETED 8/9/22)

[queenofthehill]

Hello there and welcome to my first ever trip report!

I've read hundreds of TR over the years and I find that they are easily the most amazing thing on forums. I just love seeing how others plan and execute their trips. Same destination, different visions. I've learned so much from reading all these TR except one thing, how to actually go about writing one. Jeez how do the greats do it? The photos, the tracking, the memory recall, it’s daunting. So a huge thank you to all the people who take the time to write these to share with the rest of us. Here I am after years of desiring to do my own, my first attempt and its only a year late!​

That’s right folks. This trip actually happened September 11-18 2021. It was so long ago I wasn't going to bother writing about it. But I was going through my pics and I decided post it anyway. I think the trip really was amazing and I hope some people will benefit from reading about what happened. Some of the details are obviously not as fresh and I don’t have many notes but I will do my best.

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So usually, these things start off with an intro, right? I had a super detailed intro prepared before the trip even started but I can’t possibly keep up that style of writing throughout or the TR will never get done. So the condensed version will have to do.

I live in Florida about 4 hours away from Orlando. I have been AP holder with Disney for about 10 years before I allowed it to expire in 2020. I’ve been a UOAP for about 6 years. For the greater part of the decade every year for my birthday, I vacation alone in Orlando. It has typically involved a split week between Disney and Universal and it gradually became Universal only about 4 years ago however I would still have frequent visits to the mouse whenever my kiddo or mom wanted to go which was often since we are relatively close by.

Thanks to the pandemic, there were many missed vacations. DH and I had not had our anniversary trips to wherever and I had not had a solo vacation since 2019. Things were seemingly improving with the virus and I decided I wanted to roll the dice and visit Universal. Instead of going solo however, it made sense to bring DH along this time. We both needed the break.

DH and I are both late 30 somethings and 1 person is all about the park life and the other is absolutely not! While I find thrill in the rides, the bustle of the morning enthusiasm, the deep satisfaction of being a single rider and getting as many rides done before 11 am, DH would probably prefer a needle in the eye. It’s not that he hates theme parks per se, but he doesn’t enjoy the heat, the lines and quite frankly I can get a bit fanatic about the whole thing which isn’t fun for him. So, this trip I really had to dig deep and try to plan a trip that would be satisfying for us both. It was a challenge but I was up for it and I think it worked out very well. ​

Contents:
Intro
Travel Day / Day One (Saturday) - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3
Day Two (Sunday) - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7
Day Three (Monday) - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5
Day Four (Tuesday ) - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4
Day Five (Wednesday) - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5
Day Six (Thursday) - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5
Day Seven (Friday) - Part 1 / Part 2

THE END​

 

[queenofthehill]

Travel Day / Day One (Saturday) - Part 1

I spent months preparing the perfect itinerary for my Universal trips. I have perfected my planning excel file and I must have changed it a hundred times.

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Even when I travel alone, I like to have things planned to the hour. The truth is, I adhere to this schedule about 60% each day. Most of the time I do whatever I’m in the mood to do at that moment, the joys of traveling solo just never end But having options documented, researched and prepared is invaluable to me. DH is a great travel partner that will go with the flow 100% of the time. He doesn’t plan and will happily just show up. Partly because he knows I’ve already covered the planning phase. But there is always that slight feeling of pressure to plan a great schedule for him. And truth be told, I love it.

We were scheduled to depart our home @ 8AM and at exactly that time, we were pulling out of our driveway. We planned to visit with DH’s grandmother and take her to breakfast since she lives en route. We had an amazing breakfast at our favorite diner and by noon, we were on our way to Orlando. We were actually about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Traffic conditions were fantastic and before we knew it, we were half way to our destination. We were soon in need of caffeine and decided to take a slight detour and visit the Turnpike rest stop.

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Usually when I drive long distances, I prefer not to make stops unless they are pre-planned or absolutely necessary but for this trip, why not? The rest stop has several food venues to choose from plus huge bathrooms with plenty of stalls. It was not very busy this day but it can get very zoo like during peak times and seasons.

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I did notice some recently installed self-serve ordering kiosks that are available. I'm sure these are amazing for busy periods and alleviate some lines at the food counters.

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When I was younger, when we stopped at the rest stops, we would grab all the theme park brochures from the info centers. Back then, we needed these to see what the new rides were and what special events were happening in the parks. This allowed my family to discuss what rides were priority and maximize our day. My my my times have changed. Purely for nostalgia, I took a few brochures to look at along with some other travel catalogs they had available.

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If you do visit the rest stops, take a look at the books or local guides. There are a ton of coupons in those! I didn’t find any coupons for anything I already had planned for the trip but on a future trip that will change. I did find a coupon for $10 off for an activity park that’s available in my town. My nieces go there at least once a month, Jackpot! So I took a few of those to give to them when I get back.
After getting my reading material, we each took a bathroom break, grabbed some iced coffee from Dunkin and back on the road we went. We were there for about 15 minutes and the traffic was noticeable busier on the highway but who cares? We were on our way to Universal.

 

[queenofthehill]

Travel Day / Day One (Saturday) - Part 1

Eventually we saw the sign I’ve only seen online. Endless Summer Dockside. I was overwhelmed with emotion. After having to cancel several trips and even considering cancelling the one I was on, we were finally here.

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The property is beautiful. Spacious with great décor. You can’t help but be in vacay mode as soon as you drive up. When we entered the lobby it was bustling. Lots of people everywhere. We saw several groups with luggage in the lobby waiting so I assumed that rooms were not ready. This assumption would turn out to be correct. There were some reports online leading up to the trip mentioning long waits to check-in and long waits for rooms to be ready, so we were prepared for the worst but hoped of the best. We joined the check in line and much to my delight, there was only one party ahead of us.

The team member that assisted us was lovely and got us all settled. We received our check-in text and was advised we would eventually get a room ready text with the room assignment. She asked if we wanted a high or low floor. I requested tower 1 because I wanted to be in close proximity to the fitness center. She stated she had us situated in tower 2 and that the distance would be negligibly. After check-in was complete, we took a few steps over to the ticket counter to get our annual passes. I allowed by previous pass to expire due to the pandemic and DH has never had a pass before. The previous day I decided to buy the passes online and pay in full. I didn’t want to risk being unable to pick up the passes at the hotel since reports were mixed on the current procedures. When we walked up, the team member asked if we paid in full. It seems that passes on payment plans would need to be picked up at the parks. Before long we had our passes in hand and I felt like Tony Stack after he placed in the new arc reactor in his chest.

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The check-in and ticket pick up took about 40 minutes. Knowing we had a wait ahead of us we planned to explore the resort a bit. We took a quick look at the main food venue Pier 8 Market and the fitness center.
However, the first order of business is to visit the pool bar and with my 1st drink in hand, we were officially on vacation.

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DH ordered a beer and I had the Endless Summer Lemonade. The cocktail was quite refreshing. Typically with fresh herbs in cocktails, I expect to see the use of said herb. That was not the case for this drink so I was slightly confused when I didn’t actually see any thyme. But after my 1st sip it was clear they did not forget it. The thyme was infused in the lemonade and it was a great addition.

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The pool wasn’t overwhelmingly busy but it was pretty active. The pool area is beautiful and I couldn’t help but take in the ambiance.

After 20 minutes we received the text we were waiting for, your room is ready! I was so happy to be able to get into the room so quickly because I had big plans this evening and needed to get ready. Our room was on the 10th floor and had an exceptional view of what appears to be an abandoned hotel

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The room was as expected. Very clean and plenty of space for 2 people for the next 2 nights. I immediately executed my cleaning routine. A protocol I have followed for most of my life thanks to traveling with my mom. We were about an hour ahead of schedule at this point and I decided to modify the itinerary a bit to allow more time to unpack, shower, get dressed etc.

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[queenofthehill]

Travel Day / Day One (Saturday) - Part 2

Tonight we would be spending some time in Downtown Orlando. I had planned on visiting downtown only once this trip and decided to get it done on the first night. We arrived and were seated at Osphere Neighborhood Grill and Bar in about 30 minutes from leaving Dockside. They have happy hour on weekends and have several selections available for both food and drinks that looked promising.

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We started by ordering drinks. We ordered the Prickly Pear and Blueberry Mule. When the Prickly Pear arrived, I was surprised. I did not taste tequila and I commented to DH that the drink tasted similar to a drink at my fave local tiki bar at home. It was good but not what I expected in terms of flavor. Shortly after the server comes over to tell me they ran out of an ingredient for the Prickly Pear drink and what I was actually drinking is the Planters Punch. Now this makes sense. Next I ordered a Lemon Drop Martini in its place and she let me keep the punch on the house. The blueberry mule was good as expected as well. Eventually the food arrived. We chose the wings, steak sandwich and lettuce wraps.

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Everything was satisfactory. We did note a few things. We felt the sandwich and the lettuce wraps needed some type of sauce to round out the each dish. A nice jus for the sandwich and a dipping sauce of some kind for the lettuce wraps would have been a welcomed addition. But we still really enjoyed each plate. The steak in the sandwich was well seasoned and cooked perfectly. I loved the bread it was served on. It was buttered and grilled perfection. I would have preferred to wrap filling to be served at a hotter temperature but I still enjoyed it. The wings were great as well. Loved the sauce. We enjoy very spicy food and this one was not what we would consider spicy at all, but it was much better than most we’ve tried and we eat our fair share of wings frequently. To round out the meal, I ordered a Lychee Martini which was also very good. At $52 before tip, this was an excellent value. DH is not a drinker but he is more than happy to be my designated driver always.

The next spot on my list was to visit Mathers Social Gathering. When we got there, I just knew this was a place I wanted to be for a drink. We were unable to enter the lounge however because DH was not wearing closed toe shoes. OOOPS. I guess my planning is not perfect. I either forgot about that policy or it wasn’t mentioned. The hostess mentioned that while we could not enter this venue, their sister venue had a similar vibe I may enjoy and DH wouldn’t be shunned for being comfortable. It was only a few block away in the direction we were already heading and in a few minutes were entering the superbly themed cocktail lounge, Ann Teague's Lamp Supply. It was fairly empty which was again a surprise considering it was a Saturday evening. I sat at the bar and ordered a Lighthouse Larry and for some insane reason I do not have any pics at this lounge. We didn’t spend as much time here as I would have liked. We had to make our way to our next spot.

My big plan for us tonight was to check out the SAK Comedy Lab. We really enjoy going to amateur comedy shows and the improv theaters so when I found out that SAK existed I was very excited. Wayne Brady was an instructor and performer here when they opened in 1991. In addition to the shows, SAK has lessons and you can take a free improv class.

We arrived at SAK and bought some popcorn and water from their available concession stand. We saw the 7:30pm Duel of Fools show and it was absolutely fantastic. It was well done and hilarious! Can’t wait to go again.

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[queenofthehill]

Travel Day / Day One (Saturday) - Part 3

The show ended at around 8:50pm. After the show we walked back to our car and was graced with I-4 traffic. I feel I-4 has been under construction for as long as I have been alive. It took 45 minutes to make what should have been a 25 minute drive to City Walk.




We would be dining at Antojitos Authentic Mexican Food tonight. This will be my 1st time eating here. Dining is one of the downsides of solo travel for me. I tend not to be a big eater in one sitting and I also like variety. Having someone to share food with is very nice. This trip will be filled with dining venue firsts for me since I have the company and the correct pace to do them. When I’m alone I can easily push time boundaries and that usually means I end up eating the same quick things trip after trip.



We were seated very quickly and that was the end of the brisk pace here. Now keep in mind at the time there were massive staff shortages even though we’re still plagued with that issue today almost a year later, hopefully Antojitos has worked this out because our wait times there was abysmal. The restaurant was vibrant and energized. It was a fun atmosphere but boy oh boy was it loud. Like over the top loud. We were seated for 15 minutes before anyone acknowledged us. We were finally able to order the Beef Birria to share since neither of us could manage individual entrees at this point. It was 10:15pm and we left home over 12 hours prior. I also ordered a Mango Margarita. They were out of mango so I ordered the Paloma instead. After another 15 minute or so we received complimentary chips and salsa for the table and my drink. None of these were noteworthy. About 30 minutes later our entrée arrived. It was just ok. Antojitos will not make it to my list of repeats. I’m fortunate to have many Mexican restaurants locally that are excellent but for those who aren’t particular about strong flavors, Antojitos will fit the bill. If you don’t mind going a bit out of your way for Mexican food, I recommend El Tenampa Mexican Restaurant.



We didn’t stay much longer after receiving our meal. We asked for the bill as soon as the food arrived because at the pace things were going we would have to wait to get it later. When we arrived at Dockside it was well past midnight. We both showered and got ready for bed. The shower water pressure was really good. We crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep grateful for the day we had.

 

[schumigirl]

Loving your report QOTH........especially your detailed report on Downtown Orlando at night and the hotel.....we need more details like that!

Like the sound of Osphere, food looks good and I agree about things never being spicy enough!! Never considered eating in Antojitos, and by the sound of your review I never will.

And never considered a comedy show.......sounds like so much fun!!

And that deserted hotel really needs a makeover!!

 

[queenofthehill]

Loving your report QOTH........especially your detailed report on Downtown Orlando at night and the hotel.....we need more details like that!

Like the sound of Osphere, food looks good and I agree about things never being spicy enough!! Never considered eating in Antojitos, and by the sound of your review I never will.

And never considered a comedy show.......sounds like so much fun!!

And that deserted hotel really needs a makeover!!

Your reports 100% inspired my itinerary and encouraged me to explore some new things. Since DH is not into the parks as much as I am I had to get creative to make sure he has good time too.

We really loved being downtown. We talked about planning a quick trip to stay downtown for a few nights and explore.

Antojitos certainly won't make you give up your other City Walk faves.

Whoever owns that property might be waiting on Universal to offer big bucks to demolish that eye sore.

 

[queenofthehill]

Day Two (Sunday) - Part 1

Today would be my 1st time in the parks in over a year. To say I was excited would be an understatement. I woke up early to make it to the gym at 7AM. I found the facilities to be adequate for my training program at that time. I’ll be doing a separate post about the various fitness centers on property that I’ve used over time.

Today, early admission was at 9AM and I would not be late. I love early admission and it’s the key to doing most if not all my rides by mid-day. DH would not be joining me in the park today. The goal of this trip was balance for us so that meant him not getting up at the crack of dawn everyday.
After my gym sesh, I was showered and ready to go by 8:15. Like most Universal hotels, there is a Starbucks in the lobby and it was jam packed. Luckily I had no plans to go there and made my way to the bus stop. I waited all of 6 minutes before I was in my seat and on our way.

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The drive lasted 7 minutes from boarding to the City Walk bus loop. At 8:45 I was in line to enter Islands which was backed up all the way over the bridge. I banked right and was waived to a line by a team member and at 8:52AM, my adventure began.

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The priority today was to ride with the Raptors! I was a bit nervous to ride this not because it was scary but this would be my 1st trip without taking motion sickness tablets. I wouldn’t describe myself as someone who suffers with motion sickness at all. I only took them when going to the parks. A few years ago, the first and only time I rode The Simpsons Ride, I was destroyed for the day and the next. I had to get tablets to help make it through the rest of my trip and I have added motion sickness tablets a part of my park trips ever since. They work great with one major caveat, I can’t consume alcohol during the day. The tablets themselves are non-drowsy, however add a drink at any point during the day and I will sleep through a tornado for hours! Obviously, I can’t have that so decisions needed to be made and the sane choice was clearly to risk sickness in the name of cocktails.

At 8:58 after a brisk walk, I was entering Hogsmeade and Hagrid’s was up and running. So that’s what I rode 1st. By 9:07 I was secured on my bike and looking forward to staring at the business end of a Blast-Ended Skrewt. I made it out of the forbidden forest and took it all in.

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[queenofthehill]

Day Two (Sunday) - Part 2


After Hagrid's, I beelined it straight to Jurassic Park. Velocicoaster was showing a 15 minute wait at this point which was amazing. I joined the single rider line at 9:15 and pretty much walked on. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!! It immediately became my favorite coaster in the park. I avoided all spoilers about this coasters so I had no idea what to expect. I can go on and on about this great coaster. All I could think about is how they will take the coasters to the next level at Epic Universe when it opens.

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I felt it was my duty to ride it again, and again and again and to really make sure I loved it, ONE MORE TIME! That’s right 5 times back to back. I would have gone for a 6th but I started to feel a but queasy. I’m pretty sure that was not a 100% the coaster’s fault. At this point I had been up since 6:30, worked out and haven’t eaten anything. Skipping breakfast even after morning workouts is normal for me, but riding a coaster 5 times in 30 minutes might have been a bit much. So, I graciously bowed out at 9:45 and went to the bridge to watch the coaster go by a few times, enjoy the views and again be grateful I was there.

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Made my way over to Kong next. It had a wait time of 5 minutes which meant to wait at all. I was off the ride around 10AM. Kong isn’t a fave of mine and if the wait is long I have no problems skipping it. I get a bit of anxiety when I go through this queue. I was seriously traumatized a few years back. It was late night and I decided it would be a great idea to ride Kong on my way out of the park. I was the only person in line going through the queue. I was not aware scare actors were a part of the queue and of course I was lucky enough to find out that fact that night. Ever since then, I either literally run through or wait till another party goes in before me.

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Anyway, after Kong I wanted to shoot for Spiderman. I’ve been really moving briskly all morning because I needed to be out of the park at a certain time. I wanted to get my park fix and still have enough time to make it back to dockside to get myself ready for our brunch reservation. It was just after 10AM and the park was now open to everyone. At that time of the morning, most people head on over to the right side of the park. Toon Lagoon and Super Hero Island were practically ghost towns.

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Captain America, Storm and Rouge were out to take socially distanced photos. Do you think Captain can do this all day?

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[queenofthehill]

Day Two (Sunday) - Part 3

Due to the lack of crowds, I was pretty sure Spiderman would be walk on so I took a detour into some of the shops. I’m trying to really slow down in the parks. There’s so much to see and because I always prioritize rides, I tend to miss the little details. I rarely buy merch but I do like browsing. The Marvel store was pretty awesome and if I were a merch shopper, I could easily blow several hundred in here.

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Eventually I made it to what might have been the most dangerous “night” of our lives. Thankfully, I survived and Spidey sent me on my way. It was time to head back to the resort. In the spirit of doing new things, I hung around a bit in the Port of Entry. There were some performers out and they were hilarious. I checkout the menu board for Backwater Bar and went into Croissant Moon Bakery to look around. I had no intention of buying anything because I had a big meal ahead of me.

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I gave DH a call at this point to let him know I was making my way back and he can start waking up and getting dressed. I still had some time to burn so I went to the City Walk Universal Store. People were pouring into the parks now as I was leaving.

 

[queenofthehill]

Day Two (Sunday) - Part 4

Before long I was back at the room getting dressed for brunch. We had12:30 reservations at Mia's Italian Kitchen. DH and I love dining out. Most of our vacations are planned around food and this trip would be no exception. When I go to Universal solo, I like to park my car and never look at it again until it’s time to leave. There is enough variety of food between the parks, City Walk and the hotels to make this possible as well as the transportation options which are very efficient. It’s one of the main reasons why I reduced then eventually stopped doing Disney for my Bday solo trips. It’s impossible to maximize my time at Disney using just their transportation and I found myself driving so much. But I digress.

We’ve never been to Mia's before and I was of course very stoked to try it. They have a bottomless plates AND a bottomless drink options. Right up my alley. We arrived right on time and was seated quickly. The interior was adorable and smelled amazing. Our waitress came over right away to introduce herself.

We had every intention of trying as many plates as possible so I asked the waitress if it would be possible to only be served ½ portions of everything. She said the kitchen wasn’t able to accommodate that so I knew I was going to be stuffed by the end of this meal. Bring it on!

I ordered my 1st round of drinks and food orders. We started with a salad, soup, zucchini fries and a meatball. The real star of the group was the soup! It was the best minestrone soup I’ve very had. To be fair I have not a whole lot of minestrone before this but since this meal I have ordered lots of minestrone and none have even come close to Mia’s.

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I requested a flight of all the sparkler flavors to try them. I don’t recall which one was my favorite so I guess I need to go back for brunch again to make sure. You know, for research purposes.

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Next up we have french toast, rigatoni and fettucine. The pasta sauces were a bit salty but otherwise tasted pretty good. The french toast was solid.

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Next were pizza, donuts, tiramisu and cannolis. I can’t remember the variety of pizza we had because I don’t have a pic but I know we ordered at least 1 kind. DH loved the pizza and if we had any more room to spare we would have ordered more pizza. I really enjoyed it as well and I’m not a pizza gal. I would happily eat that pizza several times a week. The desserts were just ok.

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We finished up our plates and my drinks and waddled out of Mia’s. We then sat in the car for a bit before we eventually drove off. I ate way too much but there were ZERO regrets. It wasn’t in the plans yet but Mia’s would be seeing us again later this trip.

 

[queenofthehill]

Day Two (Sunday) - Part 5

After a long well deserved nap, I woke up and decided it was a good time to get some pics of the resort for the report. For reference, it was between 7 and 7:30 PM.

Game Room


Pool- Note there are 2 pool areas at this resort



Resort Store



Sunset Lounge- Lobby Bar


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[queenofthehill]

Day Two (Sunday) - Part 6

Resort Tour Cont.

Lobby



Pier 8 Market

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[queenofthehill]

Day Two (Sunday) - Part 7

After the resort tour, I went back to the room to get dressed for dinner. I don’t know which genius scheduled 2 big meals after noon today but that’s what we did. In my defense our dinner reservation was for 9PM and that worked out ok. We were ready to eat some more. One of the reasons I like being in Orlando around this time is to participate in Magical Dining. It really is a great value. Universal had 4 restaurants participating this year and we would be going to 3 of them. Tonight we will be dining at the Islands Dining Room at the Royal Pacific Resort. We took the bus from Dockside and then transferred to the water taxi at City Walk. We were happy to work up an appetite getting there.

We arrived about 20 minutes early so naturally it made sense to grab a drink. I’ve never been to Jake's American Bar and figured this was a good time to try it out. The bar was mostly empty and finding a place was no problem. I ordered a side car and boy was this strong and unbalanced. I did not enjoy this one too much but down the hatch it went. Next, I ordered a Hollywood Martini and this one was better but not by much. I hate when I get ice chips in my martinis and as you can see, this drink might as well have been served on the rocks. I didn’t bother ordering another. It was time to check in to dinner anyway.

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We we’re the only ones dining at Islands. I’m sure if we checked in when we got there it would not have mattered that we were very early. I ordered the coconut soup, ribeye and crème brule from the magical dining menu and DH ordered Mongolian beef ala carte. Everything stunning! The soup had to be my favorite but I wish it was served hotter. My ribeye was cooked perfectly. I could have done without the rice and ordered double broccoli they were that good. It was a fantastic meal and we were so happy that we decided to keep the reservation. We settled our bill then took the water taxi then bus back to dockside. It was a perfect day.

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[schumigirl]

That Italian Brunch place looks so good! Love the cocktail flight too, everything was lovely.

Jake’s has changed a lot over the two years since we were there and not for the better, but glad you enjoyed Islands, coconut soup sounds beautiful.

And so glad you loved the Velocicoaster! It’s truly amazing, and Dockside looks lovely.

 

[queenofthehill]

That Italian Brunch place looks so good! Love the cocktail flight too, everything was lovely.

Jake’s has changed a lot over the two years since we were there and not for the better, but glad you enjoyed Islands, coconut soup sounds beautiful.

And so glad you loved the Velocicoaster! It’s truly amazing, and Dockside looks lovely.

Mia's really was fantastic. I'm taking a girlfriend that moved to Orlando recently when I go for my solo trip in September.

I was so disappointed in my drinks at Jakes. I like how dark and moody it was however. Like a real bar. I just wish the cocktails matched the great ambiance.

I'll do a comparison of my thoughts on the resorts from this trip but I loved dockside and its an excellent value for the money.

 

[queenofthehill]

Day Three (Monday ) - Part 1

Today like the previous days started with my workout. I snapped this pic of Starbucks on my way to the fitness center. It’s 6:45 at this point and already had a growing line.

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Today we were changing resorts. This morning would also be another solo day for me at the parks. Recall DH got an AP this trip. I wanted to do an AP for him because of the flexibility. While we could have gotten DH a 2 or 3 day ticket, I didn’t want to be locked in to a set number of days in case we wanted to deviate from the plans. We also planned on him possibly joining me and DD on a future trip within the next year.

By 8AM I was merrily skipping down City Walk.

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I’m behind today. Studios opened at 8AM today but I had a bit of difficulty waking up on time this morning. Could be due to the prior gluttonous day I had but it took serious willpower to get going. Voodoo Donuts was empty and it would have been a great time to grab a snack. But it’s still too early for me to eat.

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Even though I was a few minutes late, I was pleased to see that it was not crowded at all.

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I made it to Diagon Alley in 20 minutes and Gringotts was showing a 10 minute wait. I rode Gringotts 3 times and eventually called it quits at 8:40. I stood at the Diagon Alley entrance for a few minutes to catch some first timers. I love to see the reactions of people who have never been to Diagon Alley. Their excitement and surprise at seeing it for the first time makes me so happy. It brings me back to when I was walking through that brick wall my 1st time. You can look at pics online and watch as many vlogs as you can and will still never be prepared for that inaugural feeling.

I rode Fast and the Furious next. Now I know is popular to hate this ride but I don’t. It’s not my favorite by any means but if there is minimal to no wait, I don’t see a reason to skip it. I also like the actors in the pre-show. They all have their own little flavor and I enjoy them very much.

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Logically, Mummy would be next. I love this rides. It’s one of my favorites in park. DD's record is 6 rides back to back and she has plans to break that record. I’m a big fan of Brendan Fraser and The Mummy franchise. I’m bummed that there are reports that the recent ride updates may include the removal of the infamous “coffee” clip. I really hope they find a way to keep that in when it reopens this summer.

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Next, I the enlisted as a Freedom Fighter with a 5 minute wait and was deployed twice on Transformers.

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[queenofthehill]

Day Three (Monday ) - Part 2

After that, I slowed it down a bit to explore some corners and shops. I wondered into the Today Show Café to see if anything tempting was there to nosh on. There wasn’t today, but I have had some tasty things from here in other trips. Fun fact, DD and I were unexpectable in the park on the opening day of the café. Not sure if we made it to TV on the The Today Show, but we did shake Al Rocker's hand.

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It truly was a stunning day. The temperature was really nice with clear skies. It was time to leave the park because I had a few things that needed to happen. We needed to check out of Dockside and make it to our lunch reservations. I ran into Voodoo Donuts finally to order one of the limited time offerings. I called DH to let him know I was on my way and take his donut order which he declined.

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[queenofthehill]

Day Three (Monday ) - Part 3

As expected, the crowds were picking up while I was leaving. It took about 15 minutes to make it back to my room from the bus loop at City Walk. While DH loaded the car, I took a shower and got ready for our lunch. But 1st I wanted to check-in to our new resort. We knew the room was unlikely to be ready at 11AM but that was ok. We had a few things planned for the afternoon anyway.
One of the 1st reservations I made for this trip was for Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. DH and I love this restaurant very much and it was worth the drive. 30 minutes later I was driving through a familiar sight.

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I had some feels about being on Disney property. I won’t get into it on this post but The Mouse and I have been slowly drifting apart over the years and in 2020 we officially broke up. The welcome sign received a new paint job for the 50th festivities and I must admit that it looks great!

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AKL is such a beautiful resort and it has been a dream to stay there. I rarely book anything higher than a value resort at Disney because I spend so little time in the room it’s just never worth it to me. I was able to find an amazing deal for a stay at AKL in 2020 that I booked. Obviously that trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. I’m holding out hope that eventually the company makes some changes and we can mend our relationship.

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We checked in a few minutes ahead of our reservation and was seated 20 minutes later. I ordered a rum swizzle and that was good. We were sharing plates because today would be another heavy dining day. We ordered the delicious bread service with all the accompaniments and the Potjie Inspired with Braised Beef, Coconut Curry Vegetables and Basmati Rice. It seems as of this TR the curry veggies are no longer on the menu. As usual, everything was outstanding.

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After lunch we headed to the outlet mall for a bit of retail therapy. We shopped for a few hours and worked up an appetite. Eventually it was time for Happy Hour at American Social. Again, I’ve never been here before.

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[queenofthehill]

Day Three (Monday ) - Part 4

For my drinks I ordered a Grey Line and a Feisty Island Mule, DH had a Beer. For food we got wings, fries and the quesadilla. Everything was satisfactory. I like that this place is closer to Universal than the other Happy Hour spots downtown.

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We had received a room ready text at some point during our meal and headed back to our new hotel, Aventura. I’m a big fan of this hotel. It has a modern aesthetic, close to Strong Water Tavern and tends to have less children. I also appreciate that the footprint of this hotel is small. Unfortunately, it has my least favorite fitness center. We went right up to our room to unpack and unwind.

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The view was wonderful. We upgraded at the last minute to the theme park view and I will happily pay for this upgrade in the future. At night I could easily see the fantastic ride lighting in the park. we slept with the curtains opened every single night we were here. DH even commented that at home, I tend to not tolerate any light in our bedroom at bedtime. But here, Dr. Doom fear fall is a welcomed beacon. We were pretty tired and took a late evening nap. We had dinner plans at a place I’ve been dreaming about for far too long.