17 Nights at Universal Vacation

[Mad Dog]

This will be a fairly brief report, even though it was a long vacation trip. We absolutely love Universal vacations, primarily
because they are always a nice leisurely, little planning required, vacation, due to the closeness of the hotels, parks,
and CityWalk. And we love IOA and USF since there is so much to do and the attractions have an excellent repeatability factor.
So, our vacation was primarily based on the North Campus and Epic was just a side dish. I'll talk about the Epic attractions , but,
in their respective threads. I have little to add here since @Clive did such an excellent and thorough job, in his trip report, on
Epic attractions. And I, for the most part, have the same viewpoint/observations he expressed, with just a few differences.

 

[Mad Dog]

Day One:
We arrived at Portofino about 10:00 AM on Nov. 15th. We absolutely love Portofino and have spent well over 100 nights
there since 2011. Loews really knows how to run a deluxe resort. Guests come first.
I booked 6 nights back in Feb. and got a really good AP rate. With the in demand pricing, it's important to constantly check
rates. If I would have booked in Oct./Nov. the daily rate almost doubled. Anyway, I booked a garden view for the great discount.
I told the receptionist that we were going to be at Universal for 17 nights and had been to Portofino a lot. He checked my past
booking history and....surprise of surprises....gave us a complimentary updated deluxe Villa room with a patio adjacent to the beautiful
formal Italian pool. We would spend every morning breakfast/coffee on the patio and every evening with my own Chateau Pastor' wine
drinking it on the patio...with breaks on the main Piazza for the Italian singers and the Thirsty Fish bar.
We went to the room, had our usual celebratory glass of wine, unpacked....and went to the parks with our Hotel Express Pass, which is
the best value/comp in all of themeparkdom.
We rode Hagrids twice. A walk on with Express. Experienced the new debut of Botannicus at ET, and did a good number of rides at both
IOA and USF.
We came back to Portofino at dusk to catch the Italian singers show from the balcony, while we dined on the always excellent Sal's pizza.
And then drinks and live entertainment outdoors at the Thirsty Fish. The weather was a dream on our trip. 14 of the 17 days were low 80's
temps and sunny skies. Best weather, by far, we ever experienced at Orlando. The Italian singers were 'Excellent'. During our six nights at
Portofino, the service was always 'fabulous'. The resort looks great after the long refurb (that's the third since 2011) and Portofino has
returned to the glory days.

 

[Mad Dog]

Day Two:
Epic today. I scheduled a non Holiday week Sunday to encounter lower crowds. We arrived around 10:15 AM, earlier than I
originally expected. I didn't want to go too early so we could last until closing at 10:00 PM. Perfect weather again, 82 degrees
and sunny. And, yes, the park thinned out considerably after 5:30 PM, which happens most non Holiday Sundays. I wanted to
be able to judge Epic on how it performs without super long lines or uncomfortable heat. Those are the two factors that are
generally quoted by guests that didn't like their Epic day.
Days Three and Four:
IOA and USF parks, Portofino pools, and Tuesday night on the Piazza watching the Italian singers. On Monday the large (probably 40
feet or more) tree arrived on the Piazza and it was decorated. Monday night we dined at Marleys on CityWalk. We love the ambiance
and food there. Great music also. Looks like they've done some renovation since our last Marley dinner three years ago. Also, I noted
the bill has Universal Orlando Resort on it. That indicates Universal is managing this restaurant, like Pat O'Briens. Sounds like its
probably safe from the non Universal stores/restaurants/bars recent erasures from the resort. Also, on Monday we made our first stop
at the USF AP discount store. This is a great gift to passholders with it's 80% off lowest price on the merchandise. We got lucky since
they cleaned out a lot of the first Wicked movie shirts since Wicked Two was arriving that week. Our nieces and grandkids love Wicked
so we bought three bags of Wicked shirts for them plus a ton of Harry Potter stuff. Most of the Wicked stuff disappeared after that day.
Everyone was buying it.
Day Five:
IOA, USF and the Portofino pool during the day. On Weds. evening our friends Liza and Dave @Disneyhead joined us for wine
on our patio and wine and two Sal's pizzas on the Piazza with a nice show by the balcony Italian singers. Liza and Dave and me and Alene
danced on the Piazza to a few of their songs. The tree was test lit for the last time before the official lighting later in November. A 'Great'
evening with good friends, and some deep theme park, behind the scenes, discussion.

 

[Mad Dog]

Thursday was our last evening at Portofino. Fourth time watching the very talented Italian singers. They had different
mixes of the singers the nights we watched. Three duos were excellent. Tuesday night was the only duo we've ever
watched over the years that were weak. Their voices lacked projection.
During the six nights (7 days of Hotel Express) we rode major rides a lot. Hagrids 4 or 5 times alone. I speculated that
Thanksgiving week would be busy, and we wouldn't ride much. Friday morning we checked out of Portofino and took the
boat to the parks. We caught the very first Grinchmas show of the Holiday season. We love Grinchmas, and along with
Universal's Macy's Parade are the main reasons we sometimes do holidays at Universal. Grinchmas is just fabulous. I can't
say enough good things about this show. And it's very comfortable since they moved it to the 1100 seat former Blue Group
theater. We saw this six times during our vacation and four of the shows had completely filled theaters, therefore turning
away people in line that had to wait for the next show.
We rode rides until 3:30 and then took the boat back to Portofino, got in our car, and drove over to Cabana Bay for the
remaining 11 nights of Universal vacation. We really love CBBR and book there often, usually combining it with some days
at Portofino, Royal Pacific or Sapphire. We walk into the lobby of CBBR and the admission line snaked through the long queue
all the way to the entrance doors. We got in line and talked to some people. They said reservation process was taking one to
two hours. I spotted a desk, removed from the others, in the corner. It said 'online reservations' only. Two people were in
that line. Well, I always do online registration, so I walked over there and checked in. It took a couple of minutes. I commented
on that long long line. The lady said it had been that long since 7:00 AM. Then I remembered that it was a Orlando Informer
weekend. Those people always clog up the hotels and sometimes make it tough to get a room at a good price for non OI
participants. Universal usually cuts hours the days they're there also. It wasn't bad when OI had one or two meetups a year,
but now they have them constantly. I guess its a real moneymaker for them. Anyway, this is a lesson in why one should
always register on line with your credit card before leaving for vacation.
Since we had such a long stay CBBR gave us a complimentary update to a pool view room, and a discount on parking to only
$15 a night. Love Loews.
After settling in we went to our fav restaurant/bar at Universal. A short walk across the street to Sapphires Strong Water Tavern.
The most interesting menu at Universal. Its composed of a zillion small plates . As usual we ordered three small plates to split
among the two of us. And best drinks at the resorts. I had two Grogs and Alene had two of a really delicious drink, can't
remember the name. We absolutely love Strong Water. Great view and ambiance, with live music, too.

 

[Skold]

... A short walk across the street to Sapphires Strong Water Tavern...

 

[Mad Dog]

View attachment 28463

Via the dreaded 'do not walk' shortcut.

 

[Mad Dog]

Saturday and our first viewing of Macy's parade this year. We ended up with four days of viewing. We just love this parade
and it was one of the reasons for this long visit. We multi view it every holiday season that we make it down to Universal, and
consider it better than the MK Holiday parade. The ambiance is just terrific and its a magical moment when Santa lights
the ginormous NYC Christmas tree and the snow falls from the top of the NYC buildings.
The weather has been great. Every day thus far at low 80's F and sunny. We've done a couple hours of pool time at Cabana and
Portofino nearly every day of this vacation. That's a big plus. Generally when we visit in November, we're lucky if the weather is
good enough for one or two days stopping at the pool to relax. We don't generally overdo our park stays, usually just 4 to 6 hours
a day. We like to relax and enjoy the hotel resorts and/or hang out at the CityWalk venues.
This easy going way to vacation is the main reason we enjoy Universal more than WDW. The WDW parks are as good, or a tad
better, than the Universal Parks. But that close North Campus Universal feeling makes it a more relaxing and leisurely vacation than
Disney.

 

[Mad Dog]

Monday, Nov. 24th we took a drive to Disney Hollywood Studios for Jollywood Nights. Disney had added more things
to do since their first Jollywood three years ago. And since we absolutely love the DHS park, this was a prime objective during
our 17 night Universal stay. We got there early. Though the actual event is from 7:30 to 12:30, they let you in at 5:30.
Huge crowd before they let you through the turnstiles. The massed crowd looked just like early mornings when Rise of
the Resistance did when it first opened. We got our wrist bands and proceeded to again experience the new shows we saw
this past summer, and loved. Namely the Mermaid show and Villains show. Disney just always does an excellent job with their
live theater shows. As 7:30 approached we walked to the Twilight Soiree at the Tip Top Club.
Disney had a Swing Era Live Jazz Band performing Christmas songs. It was packed at the venue, but we found a spot on the wall to
sit and relax while watching the performance. They also had two dancers in Top Hats and white period outfits dancing. This was pure
fun. And, like the Old Time Days, a large part of the crowd was outfitted in Gay 90's and early 20th century outfits, and many others in
Christmas outfits. It was a real spectacle and lots of fun.
Next we went to the Hollywood Theater to catch the Disney Holidays with the Muppets & Mickey & Minnie show. This was also very
enjoyable, so much so that we watched the last show of the night at midnight also.
Glisten was next. A nice outdoor rink skating show with excellent music. We liked it so much that we caught another show
later in the evening.
Interspersed through the evening, we would take walks down Sunset Blvd. to see the Sunset Season Greetings on the street and
the Tower of Terror. We enjoyed this show during past November visits to DHS before the debut of Jollywood Nights.
Jingle Bell Jingle Jam was also something we had viewed in the past. The projection and fireworks show on the Chinese Theater is
always a must see.
Originally, I wasn't going to attend the Nightmare Before Christmas show in the Frozen Theater, since I'm not much of that movie's
fan. But since all the Jollywood stuff was so good, we thought it might be worth a try. The show was really 'bizarre'. Nothing like
anyone would expect. But the two pantomime actors, that were really the show, were so terrific that we absolutely loved this show.
It was certainly different.
There was sooo much to do that we actually only rode one ride, Mickey and Minnie, even though ride lines were very short.
There were also some street shows, but we ran out of time to see them
Overall, it was a great night and we even liked it better than the MK Christmas show night which we've experienced three times and
also enjoy.
And here's the surprise. Alene said she enjoyed 'Jollywood' way more than our first day at Epic the previous week.

 

[Clive]

Monday, Nov. 24th we took a drive to Disney Hollywood Studios for Jollywood Nights. Disney had added more things
to do since their first Jollywood three years ago. And since we absolutely love the DHS park, this was a prime objective during
our 17 night Universal stay. We got there early. Though the actual event is from 7:30 to 12:30, they let you in at 5:30.
Huge crowd before they let you through the turnstiles. The massed crowd looked just like early mornings when Rise of
the Resistance did when it first opened. We got our wrist bands and proceeded to again experience the new shows we saw
this past summer, and loved. Namely the Mermaid show and Villains show. Disney just always does an excellent job with their
live theater shows. As 7:30 approached we walked to the Twilight Soiree at the Tip Top Club.
Disney had a Swing Era Live Jazz Band performing Christmas songs. It was packed at the venue, but we found a spot on the wall to
sit and relax while watching the performance. They also had two dancers in Top Hats and white period outfits dancing. This was pure
fun. And, like the Old Time Days, a large part of the crowd was outfitted in Gay 90's and early 20th century outfits, and many others in
Christmas outfits. It was a real spectacle and lots of fun.
Next we went to the Hollywood Theater to catch the Disney Holidays with the Muppets & Mickey & Minnie show. This was also very
enjoyable, so much so that we watched the last show of the night at midnight also.
Glisten was next. A nice outdoor rink skating show with excellent music. We liked it so much that we caught another show
later in the evening.
Interspersed through the evening, we would take walks down Sunset Blvd. to see the Sunset Season Greetings on the street and
the Tower of Terror. We enjoyed this show during past November visits to DHS before the debut of Jollywood Nights.
Jingle Bell Jingle Jam was also something we had viewed in the past. The projection and fireworks show on the Chinese Theater is
always a must see.
Originally, I wasn't going to attend the Nightmare Before Christmas show in the Frozen Theater, since I'm not much of that movie's
fan. But since all the Jollywood stuff was so good, we thought it might be worth a try. The show was really 'bizarre'. Nothing like
anyone would expect. But the two pantomime actors, that were really the show, were so terrific that we absolutely loved this show.
It was certainly different.
There was sooo much to do that we actually only rode one ride, Mickey and Minnie, even though ride lines were very short.
There were also some street shows, but we ran out of time to see them
Overall, it was a great night and we even liked it better than the MK Christmas show night which we've experienced three times and
also enjoy.
And here's the surprise. Alene said she enjoyed 'Jollywood' way more than our first day at Epic the previous week.

Glad you had a good time at Jollywood - we gave it a go last year so my fiancee could catch MuppetVision before it closed. Like you, we really liked the entertainment, though I'm not sure the hard ticket event is worth it unless it's only a pit stop as part of a larger, non-Disney trip.

Enjoying the trip report!

 

[Mad Dog]

Glad you had a good time at Jollywood - we gave it a go last year so my fiancee could catch MuppetVision before it closed. Like you, we really liked the entertainment, though I'm not sure the hard ticket event is worth it unless it's only a pit stop as part of a larger, non-Disney trip.

Enjoying the trip report!

I agree. And that was what it for us, a pit stop on our long Universal trip. I gave Alene a choice of Jollywood or Mickeys MK Christmas.

 

[Mad Dog]

Weds. Nov 26th, we had dinner at Mythos. I wanted to make sure we got a dinner in before it closes in the future. Mythos
is a fantastically beautiful themed restaurant with a special ambiance. We've always had excellent food there and the wait staff
is probably Universal's best. Alene had the beef medallions, and I had the Thai dish for the first time. We engaged in a good
conversation with some of the employees. Once again, as happened often this trip, we were treated with a complimentary surprise.
They brought us a Creme Brulle. Universal & Loews continually took special care of us on this trip.
After dinner we hopped over to USF to catch the Cinesational show. This would be the second of three viewings. Damn, Universal hit it.
I didn't think they could one up the previous show, but they did. This show is as good as any Disney night show, and that's the
ultimate praise. Viewing area was packed all three times we attended. The drones are amazing too. Favs were Kong & ET drone sections.
On a couple of other evenings, we viewed the Hogsmeade/Hogwarts Castle projection show. Same as the past, but its near perfect,
so no need to change it.

 

[Mad Dog]

Thanksgiving Day was for the Bucket list. In the morning we watched the first part of the Macy's Parade on our room TV.
Then we took the boat over to USF around 11:00 AM to watch the Blues Brothers Christmas show. At 1:30 we boated to
Sapphire for our Thanksgiving feast at Amatista. Great dinner. And then back to USF for the Macy's Parade, capped off by
another Cinesational Show. A memorable day.
Friday afternoon we had dinner at Daves' @Disneyhead and Lisas' apartment that's less than a mile from the back of USF. Only the
second time we would drive from our parking garage. Once we park, we basically stay in the relaxing/leisurely Universal
cocoon. Dave, like his dad was, is an excellent cook. He prepared a tasty short rib roast cooked in half a bottle of one of
my wines I brought down for him (a Cabernet Sauvignon). Lisa had decorated the apartment beautifully and tastefully. Two
Christmas trees and the Fireplace mantle. This was one of three cooler days during our vacation, so Dave had a roaring wood
fire in the fireplace. Christmas music in the background, good conversation, and some friends' toasts made for a truly magical
evening. Dave is from our part of the country (he, the hills of West Virginia some three hours from our western Pa. home), so
we have a lot of cultural values in common. His father was the most prominent black lung doctor in the US, and we met him
years ago at his retired Orlando home that wasn't far from where Dave lives now. He was a great guy and we had excellent conversations.

 

[Mad Dog]

Sunday, Nov. 30th, was our second day at Epic. We went a little later than the first so we could last until closing without being worn out.
Another great day of 82 degree and mostly sunshine weather. We never had a vacation in Orlando before that had such nearly perfect
weather. It was like the Tourist Center propaganda, but for real this visit.
We didn't have time to see the entrance area store the first time, so we went there first. Both stores are truly next generational. High ceilings,
ambiance as good as the lands, and a fabulous layout. We were impressed, even though it's just 'merchandise' bottom line.

Once again, the park is stunningly beautiful. So much potential, but like Disney's Hong Kong park at opening, an attraction under build. Epic
would be so much better if it had attraction and capacity levels like Beijing and Shanghai had when they opened.
First five hours were the Mr. Hyde portion of this Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde character type park. Everything we walked to, rides and shows, ended up delayed before we could get on. We finally got to see the Potter Circus show again, after unsuccessfully trying two or three times. We saw this show the first day at Epic and
we like it. It's Disney level, and entertaining. Unfortunately we had zero success with the Dragons show. It broke down its first show, and though they kept rescheduling more showings, they never succeeded in running one. We both really liked the show when we saw it the first Epic day
, but the dragon broke down during the final five minutes of the show. So we never got to see that part. Since this is a clone show (Beijing) I don't understand why they're having so much trouble with it, just like the Mario clone ride that has so many breakdowns.

This was a very frustrating afternoon, since every ride we walked to ended up delayed when we got there. The worst part was the delays weren't
usually listed on the terrible Universal app, so a lot of needless walking as the result. And, as I've said before, the too hard push to mobile
ordering is crazy. They need a better balance at Epic, like the IOA, USF and WDW parks have. Mobile is fine for people that love it, but it's not
really any quicker, and usually slower, than standing in an order line and getting your food in a minute or two after the cashier. Bottom line,
that afternoon showed me why so many give the park bad reviews. If you visit on a bad ride running day, and you haven't forked over a small fortune for Express, you can have a truly miserable experience. And this, was even without a rainy or too hot, weather day. It was fab weather.

Fortunately, once the sun went down, and the park thinned out, Epic became its Dr. Jekyll version. Epic is 'stunning' at night, and I'm happy
they generally stay open late. That's a big positive. We were able to get a lot of rides in. The visit on a non Holiday week Sunday, especially
after 5:00 PM, formula works great. All evening lines were short and we were even able to get a short line for the almost always super long Donkey
Kong mine ride. This ride, at night, was the surprise of the trip. We absolutely loved it and it was our second favorite attraction in the park.

Monster, of course, was number one by a wide margin. UC really hit it on this ride and it's something you don't expect to see in parks
anymore, namely a nearly pure, tons of sophisticated AA's, ride. And the screens work perfectly with this Animatronic Army. And, if you
go, make sure you stay for the fabulous Fountain show. Disney night show level, it's a 'must see'.

Epic has sooo much potential. Its good to see they're accelerating the ride expansion timetable. I'm sure Universal/Comcast is aware
of their serious capacity issues. The park sorely needs apx. 3 more 'indoor' D/E ticket level attractions. The park is in Florida, a state
with lots of uncomfortable humid, hot and rainy weather. And, unlike IOA's issue with too few indoor attractions, there's no Studios
park next door to flee to when the 4:00 PM torrential downpour arrives.
Hopefully, operations/maintenance gets a handle on their reoccurring tech issues. I doubt they anticipated this would be this bad after
9 months of operation (counting softs). But it is what it is. I don't think we'll see AP's for Epic for a good while. There's just not enough
'dependable' attraction capacity, at this point in time.

Well, I guess this trip report isn't as 'brief' as I originally thought ....but it is 17 nights after all .

 

[Mad Dog]

Last day at the parks;

Our main objective was to catch the Grinchmas show one last time. In my opinion, its clearly the best stage show at
WDW or Universal. Not only is it a beautiful set, well written, excellent music production, but the cast is also very talented.
We saw it a good number of times, so we were able to witness the various combinations of actors/actresses/singers.
Universal nails it. This show, along with Macys Parade are the two main reasons that we schedule a Holiday vacation once
every three or four years.

We spent around 6 or 7 hours at both IOA and USF. Just a few rides, mostly just walking around, sitting & people watching...
just enjoying the ambiance.

Once again, we had beautiful weather, clearly the best weather we've ever experienced on an Orlando vacation for any season.
In the past, our Holiday season vacations had mostly chilly weather, so this was a nice change.

I'll sum up the total vacation experience in another closing post. But Universal has clearly improved their operations at
USF and IOA from the depths it experienced a couple years ago.