**I've been trying to add some photos from Flickr for the past 30 minutes! If someone can let me know a better way, I'd surely add some to make this report more interesting!**
I somehow stumbled upon these boards over winter break and spent my whole week reading trip reports for Universal. Gina’s reports in particular made me feel like this had to be our vacation this year. So, after a lot of extra side jobs and not spending too much frivolous money, I was so excited to make this a reality.
Here’s our
Me. I’m Kellie. 27. 5th grade teacher (a job I absolutely love!). I last was at Universal in 2006 and it is my favorite vacation that my family went on. We also did SeaWorld and Wet n Wild which was really fun and memorable. I also love to read, walk, go to Dave and Busters, watch funny tv shows, plan out new things for my classroom, and I do a lot of babysitting still.
Then there’s Rachel. 15. She loves watching tv, being with her friends, working with the special education inclusion program at her school, singing, and swimming. Probably the funniest and kindest person I know. Despite our age difference she is truly the person I get along best with in her family. We think alike and are very good at pranking her family. We are always laughing and really enjoy spending time together.
Rebecca is the youngest. 13. Loves theater, dance, show choir, and Harry Potter. I love Rebecca because she is always happy and helpful. She is very talented and we spend many days every year going to all her performances. She's always so busy I hardly get to spend time with her so I'm looking forward to that this trip.
I've known Rachel and Rebecca since they were 3 and 1 and have always been very close with their family. For the past three years our road trip travels followed their oldest sister who is an actress and performs at all sorts of theaters. Last year we went to Kansas City (the three of us drove separately from the rest of the family and spent three fun days in St. Louis too). This year though, we wanted to go somewhere that felt like more of a true vacation.
Our trip dates are June 20th through the 27th. We arrive early on the 20th and leave late on the 27th. Originally, I wanted to do the trip as soon as school got out which would have been this week (June 11th-16th), but Rebecca has a dance camp (I thought it was the week after). In the end, it worked out because now we have 8 days instead of the original 6 I planned.
We are flying out of O’Hare and have Tony Hinds scheduled to pick us up thanks to all the recommendations for him on this board. It was nice to not have to worry about figuring that out.
We are staying at Cabana Bay for a few reasons. One is that it was the most affordable, but aside from that, we are lazy river lovers. The thought of having a lazy river at our hotel was too good to pass up. We also love smores! Additionally, one of the pulls of Universal this year was Volcano Bay, so the separate entrance is definitely a plus.
I purchased us the 3-Park Seasonal Pass after finding out the blackout dates changed. At first, we just weren’t going to go to the parks on our arrival or departure days and get the five day pass, but the small cost to upgrade seems to be worth it. We should be at our hotel by noon on the 20th and don’t have to leave for the airport until 5:30 on the 27th. Hopefully those extra hours in the park will allow us to do everything before we leave.
We don’t have express pass, but we also don’t mind waiting in lines. We have Six Flags season passes and wait in 2 hour lines for mediocre rides that we’ve done a million times, so waiting a while for good rides doesn’t seem like it will be a major down point for us. We also are good at doing park open to park close and eating one main meal a day. While I’m not sure we will do this everyday at Universal, it is an option that we are fine with.
We have scheduled one day at SeaWorld as well. I really wanted to do Discovery Cove, but the cost and the realization that we wouldn’t be able to fully use the 14 day SeaWorld/Aquatica passes, made me ditch that plan. We are, however, doing the Up Close Dolphin Tour at SeaWorld, and have the tickets that came with the Eat All Day meal plan. Still working on transportation for this day. Thinking we will do the first shuttle over in the morning, but then either take a public bus or Uber back at night.
This was probably not the most exciting first post, but I hope to be back later with some daily park plans and our thoughts on food! Thanks to everyone on these boards for making this trip so easy to plan and figure out!
I somehow stumbled upon these boards over winter break and spent my whole week reading trip reports for Universal. Gina’s reports in particular made me feel like this had to be our vacation this year. So, after a lot of extra side jobs and not spending too much frivolous money, I was so excited to make this a reality.
Here’s our
Me. I’m Kellie. 27. 5th grade teacher (a job I absolutely love!). I last was at Universal in 2006 and it is my favorite vacation that my family went on. We also did SeaWorld and Wet n Wild which was really fun and memorable. I also love to read, walk, go to Dave and Busters, watch funny tv shows, plan out new things for my classroom, and I do a lot of babysitting still.
Then there’s Rachel. 15. She loves watching tv, being with her friends, working with the special education inclusion program at her school, singing, and swimming. Probably the funniest and kindest person I know. Despite our age difference she is truly the person I get along best with in her family. We think alike and are very good at pranking her family. We are always laughing and really enjoy spending time together.
Rebecca is the youngest. 13. Loves theater, dance, show choir, and Harry Potter. I love Rebecca because she is always happy and helpful. She is very talented and we spend many days every year going to all her performances. She's always so busy I hardly get to spend time with her so I'm looking forward to that this trip.
I've known Rachel and Rebecca since they were 3 and 1 and have always been very close with their family. For the past three years our road trip travels followed their oldest sister who is an actress and performs at all sorts of theaters. Last year we went to Kansas City (the three of us drove separately from the rest of the family and spent three fun days in St. Louis too). This year though, we wanted to go somewhere that felt like more of a true vacation.
Our trip dates are June 20th through the 27th. We arrive early on the 20th and leave late on the 27th. Originally, I wanted to do the trip as soon as school got out which would have been this week (June 11th-16th), but Rebecca has a dance camp (I thought it was the week after). In the end, it worked out because now we have 8 days instead of the original 6 I planned.
We are flying out of O’Hare and have Tony Hinds scheduled to pick us up thanks to all the recommendations for him on this board. It was nice to not have to worry about figuring that out.
We are staying at Cabana Bay for a few reasons. One is that it was the most affordable, but aside from that, we are lazy river lovers. The thought of having a lazy river at our hotel was too good to pass up. We also love smores! Additionally, one of the pulls of Universal this year was Volcano Bay, so the separate entrance is definitely a plus.
I purchased us the 3-Park Seasonal Pass after finding out the blackout dates changed. At first, we just weren’t going to go to the parks on our arrival or departure days and get the five day pass, but the small cost to upgrade seems to be worth it. We should be at our hotel by noon on the 20th and don’t have to leave for the airport until 5:30 on the 27th. Hopefully those extra hours in the park will allow us to do everything before we leave.
We don’t have express pass, but we also don’t mind waiting in lines. We have Six Flags season passes and wait in 2 hour lines for mediocre rides that we’ve done a million times, so waiting a while for good rides doesn’t seem like it will be a major down point for us. We also are good at doing park open to park close and eating one main meal a day. While I’m not sure we will do this everyday at Universal, it is an option that we are fine with.
We have scheduled one day at SeaWorld as well. I really wanted to do Discovery Cove, but the cost and the realization that we wouldn’t be able to fully use the 14 day SeaWorld/Aquatica passes, made me ditch that plan. We are, however, doing the Up Close Dolphin Tour at SeaWorld, and have the tickets that came with the Eat All Day meal plan. Still working on transportation for this day. Thinking we will do the first shuttle over in the morning, but then either take a public bus or Uber back at night.
This was probably not the most exciting first post, but I hope to be back later with some daily park plans and our thoughts on food! Thanks to everyone on these boards for making this trip so easy to plan and figure out!
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