Cass, Rob & Kira - Universal & 10-night Southern Caribbean Cruise on Disney Fantasy 2017

[cntkg1]

Wow, what a beautiful view from your room. Just gorgeous. I particularly like the pic of the storms rolling in. That was probably prettier to me than anything else, except for pictures of you all.

Food looked delish and I'm thinking it might be worth my while to go to Bayliner just to try the Cheese "Cak". Lol!!

 

[Lesley Wake]

I'm currently loving your trip report! I love all the photos of Kira-she just has such a bright, earnest smile!

 

[kid-at-heart]

I almost forgot how big the rain is in Orlando.

I love Florida rain. My mother is from Florida so we would visit almost every year. One of my favorite things to do was/is sit on a porch/balcony and watch the rain.

Sounds weird but this was one of the best moments of the trip for me. I LOVE rain and storms and being alone and this was the perfect combination of all of that

Rob (spouse) and I took our first trip in nineteen years with just the two of us last September. We went to Disney and spent many of the afternoons, sitting on the balcony enjoying a cup of tea or a glass of wine, just watching the storms.

I lingered for a bit and then made my way up to the 9th floor and saw this, which I thought made for an awesome photo...

Definitely is an awesome photo!

 

[cntkg1]

And your friend, Nancy, would've loved loved loved to share that storm with you!!

 

[cntkg1]

Coming from someone who can barely spell Harry Potter, I have to admit I'm getting a bit more interested in busting out all those dvd's "someone special" sent to me years ago. Maybe by the time this part of your trippie ends, I'll have watched the first one again and moved onto the next. But remember, I said, MAYBE. LOL. No fair testing me.

 

[Timon]

Day 2, Part 3

Got back to the room and found a note from housekeeping, how sweet!

That's never happened before!

I looked out to see how busy VB was since we would have been in it today...

Ummm, yeah, no thanks!!! The lines were crazy!!!

We all changed into our swimsuits, grabbed the three floats I bought at the dollar store and headed down to the pool.

Good Lord, what have I gotten myself into???

The pool was super crowded and the heat was unbearable!

I told Kira I couldn't do the regular pool but there was hope for me in the lazy river since it was surrounded by palm trees which provided a modicum of shade.

Rob was kind enough to wait in the super long line to get our floats filled with air. They also sell floats there for a decent price, like $7 or $8 I think but they will also fill any float for free so instead of worrying about wanting to bring any floats back home with us, I just grabbed some cheapies from home.

Kira and I went around the lazy river twice, sans floats before Rob was done. We met him at the entrance and then we all floated down the river together.

It wasn't the most pleasant trip, let me tell you. There were tons of people, mostly kids who didn't seem to care if they kicked you or bumped into to you or anything else for that matter.

Rob grabbed my foot so we could float together and Kira just kind of did her own thing and for a very short while, it was actually quite nice! It was nice to not be on my feet actually. My ankles tend to swell up when I go to theme parks. I could walk for hours at home and they are fine but the second I get into a theme park, they just swell up like crazy! Plus it was nice to just chill with my hubby, no worries, no stress.

But it was hot. And I mean HOT!

The water was not cold but it was cooler than the air, which helped but the crowds and sun were getting to me and I only made it around twice with them on the floats before I had to get out of there!

I went to our little table, which only had a tiny bit of shade next to it and I sat down for a few moments.

I was going to leave but I really didn't want to. I hate that the heat makes me feel so sick. Not only do I get grumpy but I feel like I can't breathe or think straight. It feels like something is on top of me but there's no pressure on me, I get an instant headache and it feels like at any moment, I will lose consciousness.

We had brought our mugs so I went and filled them all up with some drinks by the Hideaway bar.

I sat in the shade, drinking water hoping I would start to feel a little better so I could go and rejoin my family but then Rob and Kira showed up to drop off floats and I had to tell them good-bye, it was just too much for me.

I am very sad about that because that was the only pool time I got with my kid at Cabana Bay.

Later on, the storms rolled in and the pool was closed all night.

Oh well, not much I can do about that.

I went over to Bayliner Diner to look for my pasta salad.

Last time I was here I found out that BD had AMAZING pasta salad and I wanted it!

I found it, filled up my mug and headed back to the room using the inside hallway passages

I was very disappointed though when I opened it up to find this...

It was more expensive than last year and it only had about half as much! Plus it tasted terrible! I hate it when that happens, you find something so good only to return and have it again and it's terrible

This was my pasta salad from last year...

Bit of a difference!

They got back from the pool shortly after that and we just chilled in the room.

We had hoped to go back to the pool once the sun went down but the storms rolled in and the pool closed for the rest of the night

I'm glad I got to spend a little time in the pool with Kira even though it messed me up for a few hours.

I told Rob and Kira to go back to the parks to do some spells and stuff but they didn't want to chance getting stuck in the pouring rain so they just stayed in the room.

Poor Kira was bored, which then turned into grumpiness...this is her watching a show on her iPad, tuning us out

Eventually we went down to BD for supper. Well, they went and I told them that I had spotted some chicken nachos at the Hideaway Bar that I wanted to try.

I got them and then went to meet them at BD.

They were disgusting!! The chicken was like a minced chicken, which was super BBQ-y, tasted more like spicy pulled pork than chicken. I took two bites and went and got myself a burger.

MUCH better

Kira got the chicken strips again and I don't know what Rob got, I was getting my burger and he didn't take a pic.

We ended up going to bed quite early that night, which worked out anyway because tomorrow was a super early morning for us.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi joining in.
I've read other trip reports of adventures with you and Jen. Looking forward to hearing all about the cruise. I can't imagine ten days on the ship = Heaven!

 

[JenLovesMM]

Joining in too! I`m Canadian too and totally get what you mean about different spelling haha! We love Disney, never been to Universal yet but eventually we will... going on our first Disney cruise next winter, can`t wait! Love reading your trip reports, you do such a great job and I`ve learned so much from you. Can`t wait to read the rest!

 

[kid-at-heart]

I totally didn't expect it and I didn't even tell her about the whole being chosen thing because I didn't want her to be disappointed when she wasn't chosen. There's probably a good 50 people in there and they usually choose a kid that is all dressed up so when she was chosen, I was so happy for her and shocked as heck too

How wonderful! I bet that is going to be a forever memory for her and for you guys.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Love the robes. Do you remember the price? I made Sarah a Harry Potter robe for Halloween one year (before Harry Potter came to Universal so some time ago), it was also heavy but I made it out of velvet and lined it with red silky material, twas expensive but so worth it - to me, I also put pocket inside for carrying her wand. Rob carved and stained her wand. What one does when they have an only child later in life. Not because the child asks for the specialities but because the parents want the memories.

The robes were also awesome because they had an inside pocket for your wand and map, genius!

 

[jenseib]

I could walk for hours at home and they are fine but the second I get into a theme park, they just swell up like crazy!

I have that same problem only with blisters. I hate it!

The nachos look good, but I guess looks can be deceiving. Too bad they were not like the ones from the Grand Californian. Those were the bomb!

 

[Timon]

Day 3, Part 1

Today would be a long, busy day as we were checking out of Cabana Bay and checking in to Hard Rock Hotel.

Jen and I spent one night at HRH last year and I fell in love with it completely

I just knew I that I had to come back and bring my family because they would love it too! We are all huge music lovers and this place is perfect for us. Seriously, there is nothing about this place that I don't love and I could stay here forever

I had wanted to arrive at the HRH at about 7am so I got up at 5:30am, showered and then woke Rob up so he could shower. I went down to Starbucks in the main building to grab Rob and Kira some breakfast as this was the only place open before 7am and I knew they wouldn't make it without eating.

It was a beautiful peaceful morning, already hot but very doable for me as the sun was not beating down on me.

Starbucks was busy but it went quite quickly. Rob doesn't like Starbucks coffee but since Bayliner Diner was not open and our refillable mugs had expired last night at midnight, he had no choice.

Love the old cars they have parked near the main building.

Here's the other tower, our pool and the Volcano in the background, along with my delivery.

And here's our tower...

Rob and Kira's breakfast...

Kira's been a lark her entire life so it's weird that it's starting to become a little difficult waking her up in the morning.

She did not want to get out of bed that morning but once she remembered where we were going, she got up and got ready!

I was smart enough to grab a luggage cart when I came back with Starbucks so we loaded that up and hauled our stuff over to the car.

Can I just say how much I love the Do Not Disturb signs at Cabana Bay?


Every other place, including the cruise, they always come off and get stuck in the doors and are just a general pain in the buttocks but here they are magnetic and stay where you put them!

Just a few short minutes later we arrived at the Hard Rock.

I was saddened to see that they no longer have the Eagles's Hotel California quote at the front door....apparently you can now check-out and leave any time you want

Check-in took awhile as they were training new people but they were very friendly and before long, Rob had parked the car, returned to us to find out that our room was actually ready! Sweet! I didn't expect that but it also happened last year too! Room ready by 7:30, nice!

Here's some pics of our room...

I love these rooms, they are just beautiful and comfortable!

We dropped our bags and ran downstairs because we still had to get our express passes and it was almost 7:45am and EE starts at 8am!

There was a line up but it went pretty quickly. The pics turned out funny, there were tons of other people in our pics and Kira was almost whited out and Rob was almost all dark

We didn't have time for anything better and there were lots of people behind us too so we just grabbed the cards and walked down to where the path is to the parks. The pool wasn't open yet so we couldn't cut through there but the walk was pretty quick!

Edited to add:
When our room was ready, one of the bell men took us up to our room, along with our lugagge. He mentioned that the pool was open until 11pm tonight. Kira was next to me and heard him say 11 and then we both asked him again, just to be sure we didn't misunderstand. It was super important for us to get into that pool tonight!

 

[Timon]

Following along as well. We were also on the this cruise (our first ever) so it will be fun to relive it and probably find out about all kinds of things we missed. From your last TR, it looks like your daughter is almost exactly the same age (within a week or two) as my son, so it will be interesting to contrast their experiences.

How awesome! I love reading about other peoples' cruise experience from cruises I was on, it can be totally different, which is the great thing about cruises

Our daughter had a bit of a rough start to the cruise but it got better for her as it went on, I hope your son enjoyed his cruise

Wow, what a beautiful view from your room. Just gorgeous. I particularly like the pic of the storms rolling in. That was probably prettier to me than anything else, except for pictures of you all.

Food looked delish and I'm thinking it might be worth my while to go to Bayliner just to try the Cheese "Cak". Lol!!

LOL, you're going to stay at CB for the cheese cak?

Storms were awesome but they ruined our pool time

I'm currently loving your trip report! I love all the photos of Kira-she just has such a bright, earnest smile!

Awww thanks Lesley

I love Florida rain. My mother is from Florida so we would visit almost every year. One of my favorite things to do was/is sit on a porch/balcony and watch the rain.



Rob (spouse) and I took our first trip in nineteen years with just the two of us last September. We went to Disney and spent many of the afternoons, sitting on the balcony enjoying a cup of tea or a glass of wine, just watching the storms.



Definitely is an awesome photo!

Sounds like my kind of thing! I would love to do that! I do that here in Calgary but there aren't many storms sadly, not enough for me anyway

And your friend, Nancy, would've loved loved loved to share that storm with you!!

You did, in my heart

Coming from someone who can barely spell Harry Potter, I have to admit I'm getting a bit more interested in busting out all those dvd's "someone special" sent to me years ago. Maybe by the time this part of your trippie ends, I'll have watched the first one again and moved onto the next. But remember, I said, MAYBE. LOL. No fair testing me.

HAHA! Yeah, I will believe it when I see it

Hi joining in.
I've read other trip reports of adventures with you and Jen. Looking forward to hearing all about the cruise. I can't imagine ten days on the ship = Heaven!

Welcome back Thanks for joining us

Joining in too! I`m Canadian too and totally get what you mean about different spelling haha! We love Disney, never been to Universal yet but eventually we will... going on our first Disney cruise next winter, can`t wait! Love reading your trip reports, you do such a great job and I`ve learned so much from you. Can`t wait to read the rest!

Welcome, fellow Canuck

First cruise? Be careful, you will get hooked

How wonderful! I bet that is going to be a forever memory for her and for you guys.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Love the robes. Do you remember the price? I made Sarah a Harry Potter robe for Halloween one year (before Harry Potter came to Universal so some time ago), it was also heavy but I made it out of velvet and lined it with red silky material, twas expensive but so worth it - to me, I also put pocket inside for carrying her wand. Rob carved and stained her wand. What one does when they have an only child later in life. Not because the child asks for the specialities but because the parents want the memories.

WOW, lucky kid!

I hear ya! Ours is spoiled too! She has no idea how good she has it

I think the robes were like $100 plus tax each. Pricey but worth it! She has worn it every day since our trip LOL!

I have that same problem only with blisters. I hate it!

The nachos look good, but I guess looks can be deceiving. Too bad they were not like the ones from the Grand Californian. Those were the bomb!

Yes, your poor feeties!

I had some blisters last year on our trip together and then I got one bad one the day before this cruise which made the first few days on the cruise kinda sucky, so I know how you feel

UGH! You couldn't even begin to compare those nachos to the ones from White Water Snacks, oh my dog, those were good!!!

 

[Timon]

Day 3, Part 2

I just love the walkway from HRH to the parks, it is beautiful and quiet and short

They had tons of little bicycle carts along this path, taking people back and forth, which they didn't have the last time. Rob asked about the price and they are free but they request a tip, so whatever you feel comfortable with I guess.

They also have this new little covered entrance area where they check your bags.

A quick pic of my family before we enter for early entry.

We walked directly over to Diagon Alley and got this shot...woops cut off my kid's head lol!

Then we heard the dragon getting ready to blow so I grabbed this photo..

Kira doesn't like loud noises, never has and the dragon breathing fire made her jump every time

Rob took this pic of her hiding behind me, taking the above pic

Kira was told to leave her wand and robe back in the room as this was our big ride day. Since we have express passes now and this would be my last park day with them, I wanted to get as many rides as possible done today.

I hardly did any rides last year and I really felt like I missed out because I was ill last year so I didn't want that to happen two years in a row.

Kira refused to do single rider on Gringott's so we ended up waiting about 30 minutes in the stand by line.

I didn't even know there were huge lines down here!!!

Could be worse I guess...a lot worse

Pictures cannot do this ride justice! If you've seen the movie, you will recognize the amazing details from Gringott's Bank!

This is where you understand the story behind this ride...

I love this room, the theming here is incredible!!!

Actually, I love everything about this ride!!!

Rob and Kira enjoyed it too but sadly Kira refused to do single rider and I was not about to wait in that line again so we moved on to other things.

A quick visit to the Knight Bus first!

We watched the MIB movies with Kira before we left so this was pretty fun to do as a family!

We used express but as you can see on the left, there were no lines of any kind here.

Then we did Transformers.

With Express, it was a walk on and Kira loved it!

I like it but it's the exact same ride as Spidey and I prefer Spidey.



Next up was Rip Ride Rocket!

The biggest disappointment from the last trip was that I did not get to experience this ride. I wasn't feeling good my one alone day and Jen didn't want to ride it the next day and I never made it back to the park.

I was NOT going to let that happen this time!! Nuh-uh!!



Rob waited with Kira while I rode it because there was no way in you-know-where that Kira was going to do this! She wouldn't even look at it

I asked if Express was faster than single rider and the TM said yes, for sure!

It wasn't

I waited about 10 minutes with Express but single rider was walk-on but I couldn't get over there after I realized there was no one waiting.

I got paired with a girl who was doing single rider and I asked her if she had to wait and she said nope!

It was both of our first time riding this and it was AMAZEBALLS!!!!



Rob and I did a similar ride in Knott's Berry Farm but this one was WAY better!

I was dancing/skipping/singing coming off of this ride, it was just so awesome!

I took Rob's stuff while he rode it. This is one of the rides where you can't bring anything! You have to walk through a metal detector so absolutely nothing can be in your pockets!

Kira waiting for her Daddy.

I knew Rob was going to love it so I made sure to take a photo of his reaction coming off of it

Can you see his grin?

I could have ridden this many times over but we had tons of more stuff to do and my family decided they needed to eat again

Kira had a corn dog

And Rob had this...

Once we were all ready to go again, we headed for Jimmy Fallon.

Express gets you right in, no need to get the pass for the virtual queue.

I thought it was pretty good, Kira LOVED it and Rob thought it was lame LOL Three different perspectives for ya

We had one more ride before hopping over to IOA and that was Mummy!

Rob and Kira chilled On this bench while I rode and then Rob went on his own. While it's a little rough, I still love this coaster!

Time for Hogwart's Express again!

And forward into Islands of Adventure!

 

[Darkrobe]

I'm currently loving your trip report! I love all the photos of Kira-she just has such a bright, earnest smile!

LOL If you ONLY knew what it took to get that smile

 

[CJK]

Love, love, love Hard Rock and love, love, love RRR and the Mummy!!!! How awesome to have gotten into your room so early in the morning, and still made it to EMA! Glad to hear Rob loved RRR too. That smile says it all! I always have to ride that one alone - love it. But, at least my family can hold my belongings so no locker required! I think the Mummy remains my fav in that park. Do you think Race Through New York will be a must-do for your family moving forward? Well, maybe not for Rob! I missed it by a few weeks in February, so I have yet to experience it.

When I receive email updates for your report, I wanna break out the popcorn and drop everything and enjoy.

 

[bcwife76]

Wow, you guys were up and at 'em that morning!!!! Look at you all, steam rollin' through those rides!!

 

[jenseib]

I don't know if I ever saw Rob without his hat? LOL. That picture of him coming back threw me for a loop. I assumed it was glued to his head. hahahaha.

 

[buteraa]

Super trip report and I love all the pictures!

 

[wdwfan]

Enjoying your trip report!!

 

[lizzyb]

Great start! Joining in!