I went with my family to Universal for the first time. We stayed at the HRH from July 20-27. We drove down from PA (16 hours). On the way down we took 2 days to drive. When we got to the HRH the guys came right up and opened our doors for us and said welcome to the Hard Rock Hotel. Someone unloaded all of our stuff and we went to check in. We got A++ on our room keys so we got free sodas at the hotel restaurants. We got our room #6075 - very close to the elevators on the 6th floor. Our view was of the front door and driveway. The room was really nice and the bathroom was big. We fit 5 people in the room- my mom,me, my 19 year old sister, and 2 brothers-16 and 12. We brought an aero bed so we didn't have to pay for a rollaway $25 a night. We emptied the minibar and put in our own drinks. Since we didn't check in until 4pm, we just went to the pool the first day. The pool is awesome. We loved the slide. Also the water was warm.
The next day we got to IOA at 9:30am. It only takes 2 minutes to walk to the parks. We went to spiderman which was cool and we got to walk right on with our hotel key express. Then we went to Ripsaw falls and the Bilge Rat Barges, which was one of my favorite rides, went on it twice. Then we went to the flying unicorn which is really fun even though i think it's meant for younger kids. I went on it 5 times, no wait at all. We also went on the cat in the hat, one fish two fish..., and a few other rides. Then we went back to the hotel and swam for a while. After that we went to Universal and went to Shrek. The regular line was 90 minutes and we waited about 10. Shrek is a cool show. Then we went to MIB but they were having mechanical problems so we couldn't go on it for a while. When it was fixed we went back and rode it. It was fun i think my score was only 118,000 though. Then we went to ET which we rode again later in the week because we liked it. We also rode earthquake which was really cool. The next few days we finished the rest of the rides including Terminator 2, Jimmy Neutron which wasn't that great, Twister, Jaws which was kind of boring and the fire was really too hot. Back to the future was good, but it does move you around a lot, it gave me a headache. Back at IOA i also went on dueling dragons and rode on fire. It was really fun, only waited about 5 minutes in line. My sister went on Hulk and loved it.
During the week we ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe 3 times. When the YMCA song comes on they make you get up and dance it was really fun. The song plays between 7 and 8pm and is right after Gettin jiggy with it by Will Smith, so we always knew when it was coming. For 5 people it only cost $55. We also ate at NBA City 3 times. The Works burger is really good i got it twice. The other time i got the ribs. We went to Nascar Cafe once and it was ok but not good enough to go back. For lunch we went to the HRH beach club twice, it was good but expensive for lunch-$45. That's the only place we ate at the hotel. One day we went to the really big McDonalds on Sand Lake Rd. Another day we went to IHOP. We only got food in the park once and that was at the cafe to the left of spiderman. They took forever to get us our food. We brought our own drinks into the park in a backpack. We had no trouble bringing the backpack on rides. And for breakfast we ate poptarts that we brought from home. It saved a lot of money. Also we used our AAA card EVERYWHERE and saved 20%.
We loved the trip so much we didn't want to leave. The only thing we didn't like was how everything was so expensive- a bottle of water in the room was $6. Good thing we had our own drinks. Also we didn't like having to pay for parking. And the internet was $10 a day. At the holiday inn on the way down we got to use the whole business center for free. But i guess you have to pay for everything that's why the HRH is such a nice hotel. On the way home we drove straight from 7am to midnight. We had to stop for an hour to get our car air conditioning fixed, there was a leak. We never would have made it home without A/C. Anyway, we had a great trip to Universal. We liked the parks but our favorite thing to do was just sit by the pool, it was so nice. All day they had water balloon tosses, rock and roll trivia, flag football, raft relays (which my team won), volleyball, tye dying t-shirts, and more. That's it for now, if anyone has any questions i'll be glad to answer them.
The next day we got to IOA at 9:30am. It only takes 2 minutes to walk to the parks. We went to spiderman which was cool and we got to walk right on with our hotel key express. Then we went to Ripsaw falls and the Bilge Rat Barges, which was one of my favorite rides, went on it twice. Then we went to the flying unicorn which is really fun even though i think it's meant for younger kids. I went on it 5 times, no wait at all. We also went on the cat in the hat, one fish two fish..., and a few other rides. Then we went back to the hotel and swam for a while. After that we went to Universal and went to Shrek. The regular line was 90 minutes and we waited about 10. Shrek is a cool show. Then we went to MIB but they were having mechanical problems so we couldn't go on it for a while. When it was fixed we went back and rode it. It was fun i think my score was only 118,000 though. Then we went to ET which we rode again later in the week because we liked it. We also rode earthquake which was really cool. The next few days we finished the rest of the rides including Terminator 2, Jimmy Neutron which wasn't that great, Twister, Jaws which was kind of boring and the fire was really too hot. Back to the future was good, but it does move you around a lot, it gave me a headache. Back at IOA i also went on dueling dragons and rode on fire. It was really fun, only waited about 5 minutes in line. My sister went on Hulk and loved it.
During the week we ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe 3 times. When the YMCA song comes on they make you get up and dance it was really fun. The song plays between 7 and 8pm and is right after Gettin jiggy with it by Will Smith, so we always knew when it was coming. For 5 people it only cost $55. We also ate at NBA City 3 times. The Works burger is really good i got it twice. The other time i got the ribs. We went to Nascar Cafe once and it was ok but not good enough to go back. For lunch we went to the HRH beach club twice, it was good but expensive for lunch-$45. That's the only place we ate at the hotel. One day we went to the really big McDonalds on Sand Lake Rd. Another day we went to IHOP. We only got food in the park once and that was at the cafe to the left of spiderman. They took forever to get us our food. We brought our own drinks into the park in a backpack. We had no trouble bringing the backpack on rides. And for breakfast we ate poptarts that we brought from home. It saved a lot of money. Also we used our AAA card EVERYWHERE and saved 20%.
We loved the trip so much we didn't want to leave. The only thing we didn't like was how everything was so expensive- a bottle of water in the room was $6. Good thing we had our own drinks. Also we didn't like having to pay for parking. And the internet was $10 a day. At the holiday inn on the way down we got to use the whole business center for free. But i guess you have to pay for everything that's why the HRH is such a nice hotel. On the way home we drove straight from 7am to midnight. We had to stop for an hour to get our car air conditioning fixed, there was a leak. We never would have made it home without A/C. Anyway, we had a great trip to Universal. We liked the parks but our favorite thing to do was just sit by the pool, it was so nice. All day they had water balloon tosses, rock and roll trivia, flag football, raft relays (which my team won), volleyball, tye dying t-shirts, and more. That's it for now, if anyone has any questions i'll be glad to answer them.
I guess it was a 10yo boy's ride, huh?
About Jimmy Neutron, it wasn't too bad, I guess it's just better for younger kids. My brother liked it, he really likes spongebob. I liked Shrek better, I'm just glad we didn't have to wait in the 120 minute line. FOTL was great.
