Postponed Anniversary Trip (November 25 - Dec 5, 2021)

[SCSabresfan]

So, we just got back from our anniversary trip and we had such a good time! This is my first time ever doing an official trip report even though I have been reading through the message boards and poaching valuable information since 2014. Carole did threaten to bully me into posting this report when we ran into her and Tom in the club lounge.



To give a little background, my name is Todd. My wife, Candice, and I had originally planned to spend our 17th wedding anniversary at RPR in May of 2020. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic foiled those plans, so we pushed the trip to December of 2020. When the COVID numbers were still looking scary at that point, we decided to push the trip again, this time to May of 2021. We figured we would just celebrate our 17th and 18th anniversary on the same trip. With the COVID vaccines just starting to ramp up in May we decided to err on the side of caution and postpone until December of 2021. We anxiously watched the news reports in the months and weeks leading up to our trip. After much deliberation, we decided to continue with our trip.



We decided to break the stay up into three “sections” to make it more manageable as we would be driving in from the Charlotte, NC area. (about an 8 hour car ride) With Candice’s back issues, we like to give her a day or two to rest up after a long car ride before hitting the parks. As much as we love Royal Pacific and the express passes, we usually stay offsite for a day or two before and after our park days to save ourselves a little money. With Dockside opening up this year, we decided to give it a try. We have used Hotwire’s hot deals in the past with varying success. Sometimes we got really good prices for nice hotels and other times we ended up regretting not spending a little extra money for a slightly higher-class hotel. I will try to include some highlights from our trip with a few pictures dropped in as well. I will try to break it up into a couple of separate posts.

1 – Dockside (Before RPR)

Amazing Animals Inc., Coco Thai Restaurant, Mini golf, ICON Park

2 – RPR Club Level

Universal

3 – Dockside (After RPR)

Hollerbachs German restaurant (Sanford)


As we just got home from driving all day today and it took me way longer to type this than it should have, I will wait until tomorrow before attempting to continue.
Feel free to ask any questions along the way!

 

[schumigirl]

Yay……you started your trip report……..good to see

It was so lovely to meet you both again this trip, and I’m so looking forward to reading along with your travels…….and interested to read about the German restaurant, we saw it last trip and thought it looked good.

 

[macraven]

I ❤ trip reports
Bring them on !

 

[SCSabresfan]

Yay……you started your trip report……..good to see

It was so lovely to meet you both again this trip, and I’m so looking forward to reading along with your travels…….and interested to read about the German restaurant, we saw it last trip and thought it looked good.

It was nice talking to you and Tom as well. My mother-in-law told us about the German restaurant a couple of years ago. Her cousin lives near Sanford and she recommended it. Now it is a "must-do" for every trip to Orlando. They also have a German market right next door, where we stock up on our imported beer.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Following along. I can't wait to hear more!

 

[SCSabresfan]

This part of the trip report will focus on our stay at Dockside (before moving over to RPR)



Dockside Hotel



Check In: We checked in on Thursday, November 25, 2021 at about 6pm after driving all day. We were able to do mobile check in and the process was fairly quick. There is a separate line for mobile check-in. We simply had to show identification and then verify the phone number and credit card number. We were handed keys and a map in less than two minutes. Quick tip: There is a small parking lot just past the entrance for use while checking in. It was very convenient and prevented us from blocking the aisle for other guests dropping off luggage. There were plenty of spaces available and it was very convenient.

Parking: There are surface parking lots next to each tower and a parking deck behind each tower as well. We found that the surface lots tended to fill up fairly quickly but they were more convenient depending on where your room was located. Quick note: You will need to swipe your room key to enter/exit the parking lot. At times the arm came down fairly quickly on the exit side. We saw several cars barely make it out in time so don’t linger! Parking is $15 per night unless you get lucky like we did and a computer glitch doesn’t charge you for parking. We asked about it at the front desk on our last night there as we hate surprises and we were told that since the computer hadn’t charged us up to that point they wouldn’t change it. Nothing like free parking!!

Room Location: Our room was on the first floor of tower 1. Our room was right across from the entrance to the pool area which was great when we wanted to head to the pool, lobby or bar, but not so great due to the noise when others came out of that same area. The tiled floors in that hallway and the rooms made the voices echo a little in our room. We were positioned close to a corner and not far from the elevator so I was really expecting it to be a lot louder than it was. I was really concerned when we arrived as I am a light sleeper but I had no issues any of the three nights we were there.

Food: As mentioned, we arrived on Thanksgiving day so we assumed that our choices would be limited for dinner. We decided to try out the hotel restaurant (Pier Eight Café). They did offer a turkey dinner but it seemed pricier than we had expected and we weren’t that hungry. We opted for a hamburger and fries. I got the bourbon BBQ version, while Candice got the plain version. At $11 and $9, respectively, we were hoping for the best. We were very disappointed. It was probably the driest hamburger either of us has had in a long time. It tasted like they had cooked it hours before and let it sit around. The fries were good, but, we did have to go back and question why they charged us separately for the fries when they come with the burgers. The cashier quickly realized the mistake and refunded our money.

Drinks: We purchased the coke freestyle mug for three days thinking that we would use it enough to make it worth the money. We should have realized that we aren’t big soda drinkers so for us it wasn’t worth it. By the way, the cups are slightly smaller than the freestyle cups in the parks. Quick tip: There are freestyle machines in the Pier Eight Café that always had a line at them. At the pool side bar (at least for tower 1) there are two freestyle machines tucked back in to the right hand side almost behind the bar. There was never a line here and it was much closer to our room. You could also get water and ice from the machines even without the refillable cup.

Poolside Bar: The bar offers a variety of adult beverages. They are served in a collectible plastic hurricane glass for $14. You can get refills for $11. We tried several varieties and were not disappointed.


Amenities: We had the standard room with 2 queen beds but the beds seemed noticeably smaller than our queen bed at home. The beds were fairly comfortable, although Candice needs a firm mattress due to her back. If you prefer a “soft, squishy” mattress, you may be disappointed. We didn’t realize how much we would miss having a coffee maker in the room. I attempted to get coffee from the Starbuck in the lobby one morning but the line was incredibly long. The line for the coffee in the Pier Eight Café was shorter but very disorganized. We opted to take our chances off-property. We did take the hotel bus over to the park one day just to activate our annual pass in case they wanted to see it as we had APH rates, but they never asked for it. The bus ride was quick and convenient although the path at Universal could have been marked better. We did not have to wait for a bus in either direction.

Check-out: Checking out could be done via text, phone, TV or in person. We opted to check out via the TV (after viewing our charges on the screen). I did not receive any email of our bill for our records. I will probably contact them for a copy.

Overall opinion: We would definitely stay here again. Compared to some of the other hotels we stayed at on I-drive for the same price, this was far above the competition. We stayed here again after our stay at RPR. Stay tuned for a few more tips and suggestions!



As we are spoiled by the Express Passes when we stay at RPR, we rarely go to the parks when we stay elsewhere. We usually line up other “off-site” activities for these days. This trip was no different:



Amazing Animals Inc (www.amazinganimalsinc.org)

A non-profit animal conservation facility that offers private tours where you get to interact with a few of their animals. We had such a great time walking around with Kylie. She shared so many interesting facts about the animals and how they care for them. You could feel the love she had for what she does. We got to hold a snake, pet a variety of animals (Capybara, goat, donkey, pigs, emu and alpaca). The highlight of the tour had to be getting to take a selfie with the sloth. The tour cost us $50 per person but our tour group was just me and Candice. During COVID they are keeping it to just your group which is so nice since we were able to ask all kinds of questions and take all kinds of pictures. They also have a small gift shop with all the proceeds going to the care of the animals. I cannot recommend this tour enough. It was a highlight of our trip!



Lost Caverns Adventure Golf (Mini Golf)

We stumbled upon this while looking for a mini golf place that we could walk to from the hotel. It would be very easy to pass right by as it sits at the back of the parking lot. It is literally right next to Surfside. The mini golf was pretty comparable to the other courses in the area. They have two 18 hole courses that you can play. We found a deal on Groupon that let us both play both courses for half price and included a free bag of gator food. The only negative was that we played around 8:00 at night and the gators had clearly had enough to eat already. They did not move when you tried giving them the food. This led to other guests trying to poke and push the gators with the pole. We had to leave at that point as I cannot stand seeing people abuse animals like that. I don’t blame the company, it was just some ignorant customers and not enough employees to keep an eye on everyone.



Coco Thai Restaurant

We decided to eat here after noticing it in the plaza with Lost Caverns. We were not expecting much after looking at the outside but we were really impressed once we walked in. They do dine-in as well as take-out. We opted to dine-in and it was delicious! It was a bit pricier than we expected but the food was definitely worth it!



The Wheel @ Icon Park

We took a drive over to Icon Park to ride The Wheel. During COVID, they are offering free upgrades to private cabins for your party. This meant that Candice and I had the cabin to ourselves. The views were amazing from the top. Quick tip: On their website, they offer the “Park Topper ticket”. If you have a ticket for any of the parks dated before or after or an annual pass, the ticket for the Wheel is only $14.99. It is normally $27.49 if you purchase ahead of time with the Park Topper option. We purchased this option online. We were never asked to see our annual pass even though we had it with us just in case.

 

[SCSabresfan]

This part of the trip report will focus on our stay at Royal Pacific Club Level



Royal Pacific Hotel

• Check In: We checked in on Sunday, November 28, 2021 at about 9am. Again, we were able to do mobile check in and the process was fairly quick. There is a separate line for mobile check-in. We simply had to show identification and then verify the phone number and credit card number. We were handed keys and a map in less than two minutes. Quick tip: If you want a specific character on your room key, there is a special note section when doing mobile check-in. They were able to accommodate our requests.
  
  
• Parking: Parking is $28 plus 6.5% tax each night for self parking. We were able to find a close parking spot without too much trouble. On previous trips we have had much more difficulty finding a spot. We always feel like this parking lot is way too small for the number of rooms in the hotel. Quick note: Something new that was added in the last year or so is that the parking lots/garages now read your license plate on the way into the lot. We were surprised when we drove to Sapphire Falls and the parking garage gate displayed our name and opened the gate without requiring us to take a ticket. (We were staying at Dockside at the time) We verified with the concierge that this is indeed and new feature and we would not be charged for parking at the other resort.
  
  
• Room Location: Our room was on the club level. We were the very last room at the end of the hall. The disadvantage to this was that we had quite the walk from the elevator to our room. The advantage was that we did not have to listen to the “pitter-patter” of little feet running past our room all day/night. Our room did make a strange rattling noise whenever a door closed down the hallway but we could never tell which door triggered it and it wasn’t a big nuisance. It sounded like the HVAC ducting rattling inside the wall.
  
  
• Food: For breakfasts each morning, we headed to the club lounge. There was always a variety of pastries, donuts, cereal, outmeal, cheese, ham/salami slices, hard boiled eggs, and bread/bagels. We never walked away hungry. The coffee in the lounge was always extremely hot. We always used the protective sleeve on the cups to avoid burning our hands. We did not stick around the lounge for snacks as we spent most days in the parks. We made it back a few nights for the evening “Royal Relaxation”. The food was adequate and you could make a meal out of it if you wanted to. The sweets each night were a variety of small bite-sized cupcakes or pies and large cookies. Milk was available each night with the sweets. It appears that the evening menu rotates among the three listed below. I think the one night they had some other kind of empanada.
  
• Drinks: Beer and wine are available in the lounge from 5-7. They also have mimosas available for breakfast but I never did find out if there was an extra cost for that or if they were included.
  
  
• Check-out: Check out could be done a variety of ways. We opted to check out via the TV. You could review your bill before checking out.

Hotel Restaurants

• Jakes – We ate here one night for dinner. The food was good and it wasn’t too busy. The only issue is the water they gave us to drink tasted like it came out of the pond. Not sure this will make our list of restaurants we frequent while at RPR. Not bad, just not great. Could have been just a bad day.
  
  
• Orchid Lounge – Never ate here before and now we are wondering why! Some of the best sushi we have ever had and prices in line with what we pay locally for decent sushi. The added bonus was the sake and Japanese beer on the menu. Candice tried the sake while I had a rice beer. Both were extremely tasty. We will definitely be back on our next trip.
  
  
• Islands Dining Room – A few years back we read about the Wok Experience on twitter. It was delicious the first time we tried it. We weren’t sure how it would work post-COVID but we were delighted to see that it was just as delicious as we remembered. There were a few differences that we noticed. One is they no longer keep the soups in a buffet style setting. They bring a bowl of egg drop soup to your table for you. Another change is they no longer offer tofu as an option for protein. You choose beef, chicken or shrimp. They only have three choices for sauces as well (sweet & sour, teriyaki, and red curry). For $26 per person, you could go back as many times as you wanted and they cooked your order in front of you. We highly recommend this and it wasn’t crowded at all. We finished off our meal with the Jumbo Pineapple Donut for dessert.
  

Overall opinion: RPR has always and will always be one of our favorite hotels. A few years ago we were upgraded to the club lounge for free and I don’t think we can ever go back to a “standard” room again.

 

[SCSabresfan]

Here are some of the highlights/thoughts from spending 6 days in the parks. (We did not do Volcano Bay)

Rides/Shows

• Velocicoaster – It took some convincing to get Candice to ride this at first. She was extremely concerned about the lap bar or more importantly, the lack of shoulder restraints. I finally convinced her to ride one evening around sunset when the wait time was posted at 20 minutes. (We waited less than that) We both loved the ride and did not miss banging our heads into the shoulder restraints. The first ride went by so fast that we missed much of the theming. We rode it several more times during the week and each time noticed more theming. We loved the animatronic raptors in the line. By the end of the week, Candice rode the entire ride with her hands in the air and forgot completely about her fear of the lapbar.
  
• Bourne Stuntacular – The first time we went to see it, there was some technical difficulties so they made us exit the show before we even got started with the pre-show intro. They handed out express pass tickets we could use for one attraction that day, but we gave them to the couple in line behind us as we had the express passes from RPR. We tried again later that day and got to see the show in its entirety. What an amazing show! We saw it at least once more during the week and it always left us in amazement. We tried lining up in different spots in the pre-show room so that we could take in the show from different sides and rows.
  
  
• There seemed to be a lot of technical issues with rides all over the park over the course of the week. We saw breakdowns/delays at Cat in the hat, Seuss trolley, Bourne, Velocicoaster, Kong, Transformers, Popeyes, and Jurrassic Park River Adventure. Some of these were down several times throughout the week.

Restaurants

• Confisco Grille – Navigators Club – We ate upstairs in the Navigators club. Very easy to do, just had to ask at the front desk. I got the Butternut Squash ravioli and at the suggestion of the waiter, I added chicken to it for the additional protein. It was probably the best meal I had all week. It was a very large portion as well. The area was quiet with only a few people in the club area. There is also outdoor seating up there if you prefer that.
  
• Mythos – Tried it for the first time. The food was really good and the dessert (gooey banana cake?) was really rich. We both ordered the Potion of the Gods to start with. Our waiter warned us that it had a lot of alcohol but that it sneaks up on you. We didn’t believe him at first but he definitely wasn’t lying.
  
• Central Park Crepes – There was always a line for the crepes so we bit the bullet and waited in it. It was well worth it. We had the lemon blueberry crepe. So glad we opted to share it as it was more than enough for two people.
  
• Green Eggs and Ham – We tried the pizza tots on previous trips so we tried the green hags and ham tots this time. We liked it more than the pizza tots. The line moved pretty slow but we also went a little too close to lunch time. Had we waited it might have been a shorter line.
  
  
• Snacks – We were obligated to get a few milkshakes from Toothsome throughout the week and also picked up a few voodoo donuts on our last day there for the way home.

We always enjoy celebrating our anniversary at the parks. A few years ago we picked up this button at guest services. When we checked this year for new buttons we were given the “generic” We are Celebrating button. We were so glad we brought these with us. Quite a few of the team members commented on the buttons and wished us a happy anniversary. Some even mentioned they had never seen that button before. It always make our day when the characters doing the meet and greets strike up a conversation about it.

 

[SCSabresfan]

This part of the trip report will focus on our stay at Dockside



Check In: We were again able to do mobile check in without any issues.

Room Location: We were put up on the fourth floor this time which meant dealing with the elevators. At first glance this seemed like it would be a nightmare. There always seemed to be a crowd of people waiting to go up from the first floor. To my surprise, everyone was very courteous and actually waited their turn. This included a family with several little children who arrived after quite a few of us were already there. The first elevator to arrive was right next to where they were standing. As the doors open, one of the kids started heading towards the elevator when his dad sternly told him: “No! We wait our turn. Move over so there other people can get on first.” I was very impressed with his parenting at that point. The elevators also seem to move very fast so the waits never seemed so bad.

Noise: Unlike our previous room location, we did not have to deal with the pool entrance this time. The only issue we had was when the people checked into the adjoining room (not with us) started talking very loudly at 12:45 am. I was able to use a rolled up towel against the door to block some of the noise. I also turned the fan on the AC unit from “Auto” to “Low” and it provided enough white noise to drown them out. We did notice that the noise of anything dropping on the floor above you is amplified by the lack of rugs in the rooms. Not a huge deal but something to be aware of.

Food: After the hamburger fiasco from our previous stay, we were hesitant to try the Pier Ate Café again. Being lazy and not wanting to leave the hotel we decided to try again. We went with the pizza this time. There was a display with one of each sitting out to choose from. If the kind you want is there, they put it in a box and hand it to you. If the person in front of you orders the last one, you may have to wait a few minutes for them to cook another. Fresh, hot pizza is definitely worth waiting for. We would definitely eat here again – for pizza!!



Hollerbach’s German Restaurant

This is located in Sanford, which is about 35-45 minutes away depending on traffic. We first went here in 2014 at the recommendation of a relative who lives nearby. It is now a “must-do” every trip. The food is always fresh and delicious and the beer is always cold. They have quite a few options for imported beer on tap. We have never had a bad meal here and often feel like we need to be rolled to the car after eating way too much. The portions are very large. They have indoor and outdoor seating on the ground floor and a beer garden on the second floor that they recently added.



Parking is available on the streets around the restaurant or there are two gravel public parking lots at the next intersection up. The city of Sanford is a small little town and they have different festivals throughout the year that you may want to be aware of as this can affect parking availability.



They also own a German market two buildings away where you can purchase all of the desserts in convenient take-home packages, as well as imported beer, candy and various groceries. We always leave room in the budget for stopping here as we end up seeing something to try every time.


That should finish up our trip highlights. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. We have lots more pictures and details that just wouldn't fit here.

 

[Gatrcruzer]

Thank you so much for the excellent report! Did you find the parks to be busy/crowded during your trip? Are there any Covid precautions or reduced numbers for entry right now?

 

[mickeymom22]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us! We are going to Universal for the first time later this month. We have reservations at Mythos. I am glad you had a great experience there. We are going for two days to the parks, and I am worried we won't have enough time to try all the great food choices! We have been to Hollerbach's twice and will probably go again after our Universal days. Super yummy!

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[SCSabresfan]

Thank you so much for the excellent report! Did you find the parks to be busy/crowded during your trip? Are there any Covid precautions or reduced numbers for entry right now?

The parks seemed to be a little busier than normal but that just might be due to the borders finally being open or people not wanting to deal with Disney right now. It definitely was much busier on Friday because of the Orlando Informer Meet-up being held that night. We had the express passes and the lines for the rides were extremely short. My wife joked that the longest line we had to wait in was to get a crepe!

They are encouraging masks while indoors but not enforcing it. We saw some with masks on but definitely a small percentage. They also fill all the seats for the shows and all the seats in the ride vehicles. Restaurant tables seemed to be at the normal pre-COVID distance apart from what I remember. We wore our masks whenever we were indoors, in line for rides or near large groups. That was just a personal choice as we tend to be super-cautious.

 

[SCSabresfan]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us! We are going to Universal for the first time later this month. We have reservations at Mythos. I am glad you had a great experience there. We are going for two days to the parks, and I am worried we won't have enough time to try all the great food choices! We have been to Hollerbach's twice and will probably go again after our Universal days. Super yummy!

Thanks again for sharing!

We were there for 6 days and still felt like we didn't have enough time for all the restaurants we wanted to hit. We try to sprinkle in a few new ones each trip to go along with our favorites.

 

[SCSabresfan]

I also forgot to mention, for all three hotel reservations, we had APH rates. For all three, we were able to check-in online ahead of time and checked out via the television in the room. At no point were we ever asked to verify our annual pass by any of the hotels. For the record, we actually went to the parks a day or two earlier than planned for the sole purpose of activating our annual pass just in case.

 

[schumigirl]

Nice review Todd!!

Glad you had such a nice stay again at RP and I agree on your food choices.....Orchids has always been a must do for us, sushi is excellent. And yes, that German place we have seen when we visited Downtown Sanford, and will try to fit it in now after hearing your recommendation.....yes, so many choices not enough nights is our mantra.......

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Loved reading your report! And also this proves I need to get back to confisco! We didn’t get a chance to go on our last trip!

 

[SCSabresfan]

Loved reading your report! And also this proves I need to get back to confisco! We didn’t get a chance to go on our last trip!

We always bypassed Confisco until we read some of the trip reports in the past. Decided to give it a try a couple of years ago, and now we regret skipping it all those years.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Great trip report! It gives me some food for thought on where we want to go on our Universal / Orlando days!

 

[TommyJK]

Great trip report! Enjoyed every bit of it.