Quick trip to Universal April 2021...when 1 night becomes 3...and some Disney sprinkled in as well (5/28 Update)

[kittylady1972]

So since I can't seem to get my other PTR moved over to the TR board, I figured I'd go ahead and do a trip report here since the majority of our trip was focused on Universal this time around.

Dates: Saturday April 24th - Tuesday April 27th

This trips came about back in April I think, when SWA had an offer to book flights on points at a 20% discount. Since we have passes good at Universal until the end of the year, with no blackout dates, and we had some DVC points available, I mentioned we should go away for a day or a night. So we booked a flight out Monday morning and return flight Tuesday evening. We used DVC points to book 1 night at Bay Lake Tower and we got our rental car booked. All was well for this trip.

Then two weeks ago SWA was allowing you to change your flights...for free...with some restrictions. Why not leave on Sunday...was the first thought. Why not leave on Saturday came next. And soon 1 night became 3 nights. I had to get a room booked but BLT wasn't available...so I snagged a room at Boardwalk instead. I still needed to add a hotel for Saturday night...and as it turned out I'd book that one on the day that we left for our trip.

And so last weekend we took off for Florida for a few nights but it was not without it's craziness. Stay tuned to find out more about that. Some of the updates are in the PTR listed in my signature.

 

[kittylady1972]

So I had a few bucket list items for this trip. They were:

• Ride Hagrids again
• Eat at Toothsome or Cowfish...or both (we have lunch reservations for both...I've done Toothsome before but not Cowfish)
• Drinks along the monorail resorts
• DOLE WHIP at Polynesian
• CHARACTER meal at Topolino's

What would I manage to accomplish on this trip?

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY 1: Here we go...or not...or yes...or no

So our original flight for Saturday was scheduled for 2:45pm. We found out earlier in the day that due to thunderstorms the flight would be delayed...until after 8pm. I think we learned this around noon and we suddenly scramble to try to find other flights...but there wasn't much available and SWA was charging full fare to change...that wasn't happening. So we stuck to what we had and just waited it out. Since we live only about 20 minutes from the airport there was no need to be there early.

I should back up and say that I was on the fence about our first night's hotel option. I had something booked near Universal but I didn't really love the plan. So sometime Friday night I cancelled that hotel and figured I'd find something. When our flight Saturday was starting to look iffy I was then thankful that I hadn't booked a hotel just in case.

Anyway close to dinner time we decided to grab some food with the kids before leaving them behind for a few days. We were going to order from an Italian place near us and bring it home but I decided instead to just go eat there. Now thankfully this is a small place where you walk in, order at the counter, pay for the food, and sit at the table and they deliver food to you. We got a pizza for 3 of us to share and some pasta for my daughter. We started eating our food and then right around 5:40pm we got a text message...our flight would now be leaving at 6:05pm. Yeah...we had less than 30 minutes to get to the airport for our flight. Did I mention we live close? We grabbed some to go boxes, didn't even finish all of our food, threw it in the boxes and ran out the door and drove home which was about 10 minutes away or so.

We knew our chances were slim but we were going to try our best to make this flight. We got home, grabbed our suitcases and headed out the door again with DH driving like a bat out of hell. He also got on the phone with SWA during the drive. He got an agent on the phone and mentioned our predicament...that we were on the way to the airport but maing a 6:05pm flight when we would likely be arriving around 6pm was going to be very tough. The nice agent on the phone found an 8:30pm flight also scheduled closer to 9pm but he could change us to that one. As he was doing that, another text arrived on my phone...and our flight was now showing a 7pm departure. We could for SURE make that so we told him not to make the change. We were on the way.

Security was quick at the airport but it was the MOST packed that I have seen the airport in over a year. There were a lot of flight backed up and in fact at our gate they were still boarding another flight that was also running late. It was quite busy.

While at the very busy gate, we did get another notification that our flight was now departing closer to 7:30pm but again not surprised based on how busy it was there. So all that crazy rushing around to get there was for nothing...but at least we were ready to go on vacation.



So our flight actually took off closer to 8pm once we were boarded and we landed in Orlando close to 10pm. We quickly picked up our rentail which of course we got upgraded since there were no compact cars left. We headed off to our hotel which I had booked that day...Tru by Hilton near Universal. We arrived there close to 11pm I think, and I was tired...but also hungry. Despite wanting to drop we instead decide to head off to find some food. And that's where we discovered some very new areas of the Orlando that we've never experienced.

 

[asuburbanman]

That is crazy! I’ve never seen a flight postponed and then go back to a time two hours earlier. We would have been in the same boat on that and totally missed the flight.

 

[kittylady1972]

That is crazy! I’ve never seen a flight postponed and then go back to a time two hours earlier. We would have been in the same boat on that and totally missed the flight.

Yes it was absolutely crazy...and maybe they also realized that which is why it changed to a later time rather quickly. Had we been at home though, we likely had a decent chance of getting there on time, albeit very frazzled. We were frazzled enough with this one though.

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY 1: Here we go...or not...or yes...or no (continued)

So we arrived at our hotel and it was a lovely modern hotel not too far from Universal. And we decided we were hungry. We had seen a McDonald's on our way there, which would have been okay, but we found a nearby brew pub that was open until midnight so we headed out to find it. Wow...that was an adventure. The area around the Convention Center is quite the hustle and bustle in the evening, people out all over the place, lots of restaurants and bars, people hanging out near the big wheel, and traffic. We arrived at the restaurant and of course the wait was over 30 minutes...nope that wasn't happening. We thought we'd check out another place nearby but soon realized it would likely be the same situation. And honestly the driving around this busy area was too much for me to deal with late at night when tired and HANGRY. So we thought ok let's head back towards our hotel and find that McD's. When we got into that parking lot it was a madhouse long line too...and so that's when we decided the nearest convenience store would do just fine. We found one...and this is what we brought back to the room:


I may have been a bit hungry. I started with cereal and milk...that sounded good. Then I found an egg salad sandwich...ok more like real food. Then why not add some charcuterie to our evening...and DH picked up some alcohol and a hot dog (not shown). This actually did hit the spot and after this I was really really ready to just hit the sheets as it was now after 12:30am. We didn't have plans to get up super super early...and let me tell you the cool thing about this hotel was the blackout curtains they had that actually you pulled down below the frame of the window...can't describe it well but basically there was no chance of ANY light even peeking out the next morning.

 

[DLo]

Popping over from your PTR . Looking forward to reading more.

I only had a sore arm after my second shot , luckily. Glad your side effects didn’t last too long .

 

[kittylady1972]

Popping over from your PTR . Looking forward to reading more.

I only had a sore arm after my second shot , luckily. Glad your side effects didn’t last too long .

People have varying reactions though they do seem stronger with Moderna. Two of my kids got Pfizer. Just got the 16yo his first one this week:



By the end of this month my whole family will have had both doses, 2 Pfizers and 3 Modernas. I'm hearing rumors that Moderna will require a booster in 9-12 months and considering how that 2nd shot took 2 of us down already the day after that's not something to look forward to at all.

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY 2: Universal Yay

So we woke up and got packed to leave our hotel. We had free breakfast in the lobby which consisted of individually packed boxes to go but there were tables where we could sit. There was also bottles of water and hot tea and coffee, individually wrapped muffins and fruit. Inside the box we had 2 hard boiled eggs, some yogurt and a bagel and we did have access to a toaster. Here is my spread:



After getting our fill of food, we headed out to the park which was only a few minutes drive away. Soon we were walking through the parks and our first stop was this:



I think the wait showed around 45 minutes and we probably waited around 30 for it. I do enjoy this ride and am so glad it is no longer rough like it was originally.

After this, we hopped in line for this:


I think it was also maybe a 30 minute wait or less, wasn't that bad and moved well.

We walked into the area of Harry Potter to check out Hagrids but it wasn't running yet and they were showing no virtual queue for it. I think we decided to head back out at this point but as we walked through Dr. Suess and it looked like rain was coming I thought it was a good time for an indoor ride...so we tried to get in line for Dr. Suess...just as the rain happened.



Several of us were standing outside of the ride entrance but the line wasn't moving inside as it seemed like they were having technical difficulties. It was pretty comical to see us all lined up against the outer wall, in the shrubbery, trying to take advantage of the slight roof overhang. Eventually we did get inside. DH somehow doesn't remember ever doing this ride but I know I've done it a few times. However it's one of those that it is easy to pass right by and not even notice.

We waited quite a while for this, but we were inside most of the time. Although at some point as we all were entering the queue some guy came from behind and insisted that he had "been in line before" but many of us who had bonded during our cling against the wall in the bushes earlier knew he wasn't in front of us. He eventually moved back in line way behind us.

It was now around 11am and we had a reservation at 11:45am at Toothsome and it looked like another round of rain was coming...so we figured we'd try to get into our lunch early. We checked in but they said we wouldn't be getting in early. We killed some time by walking inside the sweet shop there...OMG the deliciousness in there! We would return...no worries!



My oldest son is a huge fan of macrarons...so we knew we'd be returning at least for some of this.



We were seated very close to our reservation time...in a table upstairs that was kinda on a walkway which was a bit weird. We had a FANTASTIC server who was great about giving us suggestions for food and drinks. We decided on an appetizer...fried brussel sprouts:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts(GF)- $7.95
Charred Brussels sprouts, jalapeño mayo, cotija cheese, ancho chili powder


These were REALLY REALLY good. We also decided to split some food, with DH ordering the wings:

Coffee and Chocolate Stout Chicken Wings - $14.95
Flash fried, chocolate stout glaze, sesame seeds

And I got this:
The Croque Monsieur - $15.95
Country ham, Gruyère cheese, French loaf toasted, grilled, topped with béchamel, grated Parmesan and fontina cheese mix

We split both of these...and also decided on some "dessert" drinks. So I went with this one (I think):
High Fashioned - $14.00
Old Forester 86, brandied cherry, chocolate bitters

And I think DH got something very similar. These drinks were STRONG...something I wasn't used to...so I had to drink mine VERY slowly. I drank it so slow I was given a "to go" cup to take it with is when we left:


All of this was very very good. We skipped "real" dessert since we had the drinks...which was fine with me. I know the milkshakes look awesome here, and this is my second time eating here without getting one, but I almost think you would have to come JUST for those for me to enjoy one.

We wandered out of here and headed back to the parks. I decided before going in to hop in the customer service line and pick up the passes for my daughter and her BFF and my BFF for our upcoming trip. It would just be easier to get these now and the line was short. Plus I was concerned they may give me a hard time about it since I had heard some stories about them giving problems to people trying to activate these.

Thankfully I had no problems getting these and soon we were on our way and through the gates. Still no luck with Hagrids with the weather being so crummy.

I did see that the Mummy had a virtual queue you could join so I added us to that and we could get in line right away.



We had a couple in front of us where the wife or girlfriend was riding for the first time, so we were talking a bit to them...more like I was talking because I have no problem taking up conversations with strangers. Even during a pandemic. They ended up on the ride with us...and I do enjoy this one even if it is a little rough.

Up next...more of our day then some Disney stuff to end it all!

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY 2: Universal Yay (continued)

Next ride was one of our favorites:


We did pretty well on this one, waited maybe 20 minutes despite the queue stretching outside and behind the building. We got the suit so much have had a ringer in our car with us because we didn't do that great.

We started walking out after this but had to take a quick detour here:


I needed to get my frozen butterbeer:

We actually walked outside and down the street to find to find a place to sit and enjoy these.

At this point we decided it was a good time to take a break. It was 3pm and our room at BOARDWALK was ready...so it was time to head to enjoy some Disney!

However before we went to the parking garage we stopped back into Toothsome...and we picked out a dozen delicious desserts to take back with us:


Soon after we left we would see this lovely sign:


We parked at the Boardwalk resort and headed to our first floor room, passing by this guy:


Once inside we briefly unpacked a few things...and since our room was basically facing the pool, we got on our bathing suits and headed out there.

We found a nice little spot to sit and DH went off to find us some drinks.

OUR VIEW


TASTY BEVERAGES



While sitting there I noticed that RIGHT behind us there was something taking place that had been on my Disney Resort bucket list for a long time, but I never seemed to have the time to participate. I was soooo excited...so DH and I walked over and soon we were walking away with this:


If you've done this before than you know...but if not it's a GREAT thing that many resorts do...Disney Tie Dye Shirts.

OMG I was so excited to do this so we designed our shirts, my very first tie dye, and then we spent a little more time hanging by the pool. Pretty sure we both caught a short nap, we enjoyed our time by the pool, and then we were starting to get hungry. We started looking for places to eat but we were coming up empty. We couldn't even find places that were taking walkups, though we decided maybe we would try that. So we got dressed and started driving towards Bay Lake Tower but as we approached I could see that The Wave wasn't taking walkups and neither was the GF Cafe. It was probably close to 7pm now...and I was more hangry than hungry. We were lucky enough to have one more option that sounded promising...and so we headed to Shades of Green.

Our original plan, as we told the front gate, was to eat at Evergreens which is a poolside bar/grill type place. For some reason when we got into the lobby, we headed downstairs and decided to check out the menu at Manginos. We've eaten here in the past during our stays but it had been a while, yet as we walked to our table and noticed some of the dishes, they looked great.

So how would it be?

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY 2: Universal Yay

We last left off at Mangino's, who was able to seat us right away.

Can I just say that this was probably one of my favorite, and also most inexpensive, meals of the trip?

I started off with a salad...which was wonderful...and we had these nice warm rolls too:


I know the salad was simple...but it just hit the spot perfectly. DH decided to go with the Chicken Parmesan for $19:


He definitely enjoyed this and it was a nice portion. I went with the surf and turf...or one of them. This was a 4oz tenderloin and shrimp scampi, served with mashed potatoes and vegetables:


This was simply wonderful...and at $25 a great meal. Though we were pretty full, they had some desserts that looked amazing so we got this one to go:


This was actually taken the next morning...from our car...where I had this for breakfast.

Anyway after our great meal, we checked out the gift shop at Shades and got some bottles of water. Then we headed back to our resort. We decided to also hit up the gift shop on the Boardwalk to look around which we did but found nothing we needed. It was a nice night to walk around though.



I had this great idea to check out Abracadabar since I'd heard great things about it. So we walked over and there was nobody at the door but the tables inside seemed full. We walked in and hit the restroom, then walked back out There seemed to be some tables outside and suddenly a hostess appeared at the door...as did a line...and we were told there would be a wait, despite the fact that there was nobody there at the door earlier. So we just decided it wasn't worth it, and headed back to our room.



We snapped a few photos around before we got back.


The Boardwalk is so lovely, but I miss the hustle and bustle and fun performers that used to be there.

Once back at the room I took a shower and then spent a little time outside enjoying our view:


We had a full day but it was all good. Tomorrow we would continue our nomad life and check out to head to our next resort and have our last full day at Universal too.

 

[DLo]

DAY 2: Universal Yay (continued)

View attachment 573961
TASTY BEVERAGES

View attachment 573962

Looks like a productive and fun day ! I am staying at BWV next week and need to know more about this drink .

 

[kittylady1972]

Looks like a productive and fun day ! I am staying at BWV next week and need to know more about this drink .

Ok if you are talking about the drink I had at the pool...all I know is DH went up to the bar and said he wanted something FROZEN for me but not too sweet. I think this ended up being a frozen blue or raspberry lemonade drink with a kick of some kind. It was perfect...I like my drinks to not be too sweet and this hit the spot. We have always found the Disney bartenders EXCELLENT at putting together off-menu drinks if you just provide them with some specs for it.

 

[DLo]

Thanks yes - your drink by the pool. I don't like sweet either . I like cranberry or orange juice or pineapple kind of tartness for my beverages.

 

[angryduck71]

You made me miss Shades of Green BUT, so looking forward to a few nights at Boardwalk! Loving hearing about this in more detail.

 

[kittylady1972]

Thanks yes - your drink by the pool. I don't like sweet either . I like cranberry or orange juice or pineapple kind of tartness for my beverages.

This drink was definitely lemonade with a kick.

You made me miss Shades of Green BUT, so looking forward to a few nights at Boardwalk! Loving hearing about this in more detail.

I really think we may have to return there on this next trip for dinner. It was pretty good food...and so reasonable.

 

[queenofthehill]

Tuning in

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY 3: Last Full Day and why planning is a good idea

We woke up and were trying to decide on dinner. We had to check out of our room at Boardwalk and without our room at Bay Lake Tower being ready yet we also had to empty our refrigerator...so I took my dessert on the road and would have it for breakfast...in the parking lot. We had a few other things to take with us, so I filled a plastic trash bag with ice and we put a few of our drinks on ice and put them on the floor of the car.

For breakfast our plan was to hit a Dunkin Donuts on the way to the park, so we found one to go to and headed out after packing up the car. The line outside the DD was pretty long....so I mobile ordered from the car and went in to get our food. I am a frequent (almost weekly) visitor of many DDs near me...so this was fine with me.

We headed to the park eating along the way and it wasn't long before we pulled into the parking lot. I scarfed down my cake...and then we headed towards the park entrance and encountered this:

I can't even begin to describe this situation. This was probably after waiting for 15 or 20 minutes already...maybe longer. There was really no real "form" officially for how this line was to work within the garage, but it seemed like we knew we had to be in line and we were looping around. I was texting a friend of mine who works at Universal to ask "hey what are my options if any?" and "can I park at a Universal Resort without a reservation" and if the Valet parking had been open I was ready to pay to use it...but it wasn't. This did eventually get a little bit better but can I tell you how happy I am that they have done away with the temperature checks because that was the reason for this line. Now I'm hoping it's not like this now given no temp checks, and what was amusing was that as we approached the actual "temperature check" corrals, there were Universal employees telling us to social distance...yeah right? Can you see this line?

Once we got clear of the temp checks the lines for security weren't too bad...then through there and heading towards Universal Studios...there was this line:



So we are still in City Walk lined up if you can't tell. This line moved pretty well overall at least. It was now 10:30am and we had parked in the parking lot at abour 9:40am. So nearly 50 minutes to get to this point...we weren't yet in the park.

At 10:46pm we were at our first ride:


I can't recall the wait time posted, somewhere maybe around 40 minutes but we only had a few rides we wanted to do on our last park day and this was one of them. It moved well enough. We probably waited about that long.

Next up was another ride I really wanted to do:


I didn't even know this queue area existed at Gringott's, but Gringott's is one of my favorite Universal rides and so we waited...honestly it looks like from other photos about 40 minutes to get on the ride. Once off that, what was next?


We actually left the park around 1pm and headed to our lunch reservation here:


I had been looking forward to checking out this place. It didn't disappoint. We had a great server and we sat down and I had to order this:
Chocolate "To Dive For" - $14.50
Amaretto liqueur, Godiva liqueur, vanilla ice cream, malt, shaved chocolate


yes it's some kind of alcoholic chocolate shake concoction and it was very good. DH got a mixed drink of some kind. We both enjoyed though I question how much alcohol was in it. When it came to food, I had to try their twist on sushi and I ended up with this:

"The Prime Time" Filet & Lobster Roll - $23.00
Lobster and cucumbers inside, topped with seared rare seasoned filet mignon, fried portabello mushroom slices tossed in truffle oil, green onions and spicy mayo. Served with a side of pounded ginger sauce

This was REALLY good...would love to try it again. Server complimented me on my drink and food order. DH went with a burger.


I don't know which one this was but he liked it.

Our meal was everything I had hoped and a nice break for the afternoon. So bellies full what would we do next?

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY 3: Last Full Day and why planning is a good idea (continued)

We had full bellies but we had one last goal...to ride Hagrids! The morning had been rainy and most of the day when I looked it showed No wait time...like it was offline. We wandered over anyway and saw that we could join the line...and so we did.



We were looking forward to this, and I think the wait was estimated at 70 minutes which may have been about right...not really sure. It was more time to digest our food.


I love this tribute to the Dueling Dragons...but couldn't get the whole picture while in line. I really enjoyed Dueling Dragons. Glad my kids got to ride it before it went away.

Soon after we got a text that our room was ready and so we were good with heading to Bay Lake Tower to check in and hang out by the pool for a while. Before leaving we picked up some treats to take back to our kids the next day, including a dozen of these macarons which are my oldest son's favorites:



This would be the trip for sure of expensive treats after spending a lot of money in here previously on truffles.

Our room at Bay Lake Tower was as expected, we arrived and unpacked a few things, the in our bathing suits to spend some time at the pool:


DH got himself a pool drink but I was content to just chill for a while. I'm not sure how long we stayed here but it was a good last day.

Eventually it would be time to leave the pool so we could head to dinner...and where else do you eat when staying at Bay Lake Tower? Well there aren't a ton of options and I certainly do miss Top of World Lounge...but we had reservations at The Wave.

First up was our drink order, all part of our evening plan to eat and drink around the Monorail Line. Here is my raspberry mojito. I had this on a previous trip and really enjoyed it. It didn't disappoint.



We also got some bread...no photos...but it was delicious. So we had never had the famous Bacon and Eggs here so we had to get it...mostly consumed by DH but I tried it and it was good:


For our meals I wasn't feeling the salmon which I've had before and enjoyed...so I went with the gnocchi:
Seared Gnocchi

Forest Mushrooms, Sweet Potatoes, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Brown Butter-Parmesan-Sage Cream



DH went with this:
Pork Tenderloin*

Smoked Cheddar Grits, Coffee-Barbecue Sauce, Roasted Broccolini, Chermoula



He enjoyed this also. Now the gnocchi was very very filling...as was the bread...so we were really done after this meal. We were enjoying our drinks and just preparing for our next planned stop...but the waiter brought us out some clean forks and mentioned something about dessert, but he didn't ask if we wanted it and we already knew we didn't...but then this showed up:

Now if I had gotten dessert it would have been this...I LOVE this cake and it's not on the regular menu but you can always ask for it. Well it turns out my good friend from high school, who happens to work at Universal as mentioned earlier, had called ahead to order this for us. SOOO sweet of her. We had hoped to meet up with her on this trip but we didn't get the chance and on this day she ended up stuck at home with a repair man all day. I am really hoping we get to meet up for our next trip...we always try but sadly it's tough. Even though we were both full we did some pretty good damage to this cake before leaving.

Next up we had big plans...to hop the monorail and ride our way around the various monorail resort bars. This sounded like a great idea in theory. Did I mention it was now 8:20pm when we boarded the monorail? Any idea why our plan would not work out?

 

[jnjusoioa]

What is the thing with the resort tyedye thing? I have never heard of that and it sounds so awesome??