Just got back from our trip on Saturday after spending 5 days at the parks... and we loved it. We ended up converting our 4 day passes to annual passes and are already planning return trips. So glad we decided to come down early and hit the parks on Monday, as it felt like the slowest day of the week. The crowds seemed to steadily increase throughout the week (lots of tour groups). I'd say the biggest difference between this vacation and our typical Disney vacations, is that I actually feel relaxed after this one. Aside from deciding where we wanted to eat, we didn't plan a single thing until the night before or day of. I think we ended up at the pool sipping Mai Tai's every evening, except for the one that we caught Universal's closing show. And that day even, we lounged around having lunch poolside and hitting the parks late. We were so relaxed, we didn't even take advantage of the early hours. We were doing good to be in the parks by 10. The Royal Pacific is good about making you feel pamperedThe express passes just flat out spoiled us, not much else to say. Express is the only way to fly! The convenience of being able to walk or take the boat to the parks was very nice as well, a welcome change from being crammed onto a Disney bus.
The parks themselves were a joy as well. I really like how they control seating during busier hours at the more popular quick serve restaurants to combat the typical table squatting you see at Disney parks. We did both potter restaurants and attempted to finish off the family feast at Three Broomsticks, but just couldn't do it. So good, just a lot of food! Did Mythos as well, excellent food. Not being stroller rammed and ran over by scooters was a welcome change as well. As for the rides, we thoroughly enjoyed them all. The 3D on T2 wasn't working that great for me, and ET looks like it could be freshened up (still rode it 3 times). I didn't get to do rip ride rock-it, dragon challenge, or fear fall. Have some neck issues so me and the 8yr old did other rides while mom and her sister rode those. I'm a big boy as well (280 5'10") and was a little worried I'd miss out some rides. Wasn't the case though. Had my manhood crushed on Gringott's and Mummy (twice each). Talk a little funny now, but was worth it. They did the double team bounce on my Forbidden Journey restraint and squeezed me in. What an amazing ride, probably my favorite.
So yeah, we thoroughly enjoyed it and plan on getting back soon as we can! Probably this fall and spring to squeeze some value from our passes. Looking forward to Hulk and Kong we come back!
Ditto what Mad dog said, a Uni vacation is much more relaxing IMO too. Awesome that you got APs and thanks for dropping by and letting us know your thoughts.
If you do make it to Uni in the fall you should look into HHN , it's a fantastic event and I'm gutted I can't make it over this year, damn that thing called work.
