A Universal Adventure February 2020 - Day 3: Volcano Bay & Hard Rock Cafe

[moosha]

Day 3 - Monday 17th February 2020

We had set our alarms for 7 am. We got up and got our swimming stuff on ready for Volcano Bay. We left at 8.05 am and the plan was to walk to Cabana Bay for breakfast.





The Garden Walk to Cabana Bay is really familiar to us as we’d done it loads in our previous two stays at Sapphire Falls.



For anyone who doesn’t know, the two hotels are basically opposite each other on Adventure Way (the photo below shows Cabana Bay over the road)







but Universal doesn’t want guests crossing the busy road so the alternative is the pretty Garden Walk which is basically a bridge over the road. The walk takes just under ten minutes but it feels less. I thought it was about five but I can see from the times on my photos that it’s nearer ten.







Once we got into Cabana Bay we headed towards Bayliner Diner. As we passed Starbucks we regretted not getting coffee from Sapphire Falls before we left because it was crazy busy here.

Once in Bayliner Diner we realised there was not a lot of choice for vegans for breakfast and I started to regret suggesting we come here to eat. We’re all pretty attached to Cabana Bay because it was our first Universal on-site experience and we have lots of happy memories of being there, so we like to pop in every trip. And then there’s how much Freya loves the chocolate pancakes. Seren was going to have a pot of dry cereal as initially we couldn’t find any plant milk but we found small cartons of vanilla almond milk in the fridge at the last minute. To be honest she could have had cereal in the hotel room a lot cheaper and using stuff we had already bought. Mat got a bagel and a banana and was going to slice the banana onto the bagel. Just before we went to pay he found they had peanut butter so he made a peanut butter and banana slices bagel. Freya was straight in with the kids pancakes with chocolate sauce. I got a pot of fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and pineapple) from the self service bar. Freya got a Roxanne water and Seren got a carton of apple juice.



Only one side of the seating area was open which was a bit annoying as it was so busy and the few available tables were pretty dirty. This has been our experience a few times at Bayliner Diner, it’s such a large seating area and it’s annoying when only one half is open despite it being really busy. We grabbed the only clean available table. The fruit was really good and everyone enjoyed their breakfast so it all turned out good in the end.









(All she wanna do is party all night)



Once we were all done we got up to walk to Volcano Bay but for some reason we were a bit confused about which way we should walk. We couldn’t remember whether we should go out the back or front of the hotel. We knew it was possible to go the front way and walk through the car park, and we were going to do that but while we restroomed, Mat checked with a Team Member who directed us out the back instead. It was about a three minute walk and there were a few other people taking the same path.







When we arrived we went through security and then walked up to the entrance.





Early entry at Volcano Bay has changed since we were last here in August 2018. Back then the park officially opened at 9 am so early entry was from 8. We had arrived twice at about 7.45 and were let straight in. That meant there was just a steady stream of people entering and there was no queue which made it all very chill. Today however, the park was officially open from 10 am and open to onsite guests from 9. We arrived at about two minutes to 9 and there were two fairly substantial lines of people waiting to get in. They didn’t start scanning people until 9 and with only a few tapstiles open the line barely moved. There was a guy coming down the line checking people had hotel keys for early entry. A few people didn’t so they had to move out of the line to go and wait at the tapstiles on the right for an hour. I felt pretty sorry for them.

The two lines eventually became three or four lines and so things sped up. We chose to join the back of a shorter line as I was started to get fed up with how long it was taking. The British family next to us got all the way to the front and were then told their tickets on phones needed to be changed to paper ones at Guest Services. The guy with the phone tickets told the Team Member that he was told they could use them on their phones. The Team Member was having none of it and sent them off to exchange the tickets. I felt sorry for that family too. We were in about 9.10 am and I was a little bit annoyed that we had spent nearly a quarter of the early entry hour waiting to get in. I know we hadn’t arrived early enough really but our previous experience here had been different so the wait in line was quite unexpected.



Once inside we walked round to where we usually sit but the whole seating area there plus the slides and TeAwa the fearless river were closed off. Team Members were advising that this area was all closed until 10 am. Again this was different to our previous experience in 2018. So we had to walk back and find another place to sit. I was a bit annoyed about that too as I liked where we had sat before, plus this was more of the extra hour wasted wandering around rather than getting on rides. We found some nice beds near the lazy river and got all set up.



My view:



Mat and the girls went off to do the Krakatau water coaster twice and then the green Ika Moana slide. They love all the rides here but especially Krakatau. Then the three of them did the fearless river three times round.



Then Mat had a rest and the girls took me round the fearless river three times. The fearless river is the only thing I will ride at Volcano Bay. It’s really fun and I loved it today like I had last time, apart from the fact that Seren kept trying to drag me under waterfalls.





The girls went to do both Tonga slides and then they went back to the fearless river and went round that a few times. Mat and I were enjoying chilling and I was catching up on my notes.

We expected to be leaving by about this time but it was nearly lunch so we decided to get food so the girls could do a bit more. We wanted the chick’n avocado sandwich from Bambu so Mat and Freya went off to get it. They stopped at Guest Services to ask whereabouts Bambu was and the TM said it was closed for the season. So Mat texted me and asked if we wanted Beyond burgers instead from Kohola Reef Restaurant and Social Club. Which of course we did.



Mat had his burger with cheese, Seren and I had no cheese. Freya just had fries. Freya brought it all back while they cooked one more burger for Mat. It was all a bit cold but tasted good.



The park had been pretty crowded from about mid-morning and by the time we had lunch, all of the beds in our area were taken. People were even grabbing odd beds dotted around because they couldn’t find any together. It was Presidents’ Day so we had expected more people around than usual, but we reasoned Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure would be much busier. We’d been in those parks for Presidents’ Day 2019 and it had been crazy busy. That was one of the reasons we had decided to stay away from the parks over the weekend and wait until later in the week when they should be quieter.

After lunch the girls went in the lazy river, then the Tonga slides again and a few last goes round TeAwa fearless river. Just after 1 pm we decided it was time to leave.

Continued below...

[moosha]

...continued

























We took the Garden Walk back to Sapphire Falls after asking a Team Member at the exit which way we should walk. We’ve only ever gone via Cabana Bay which we knew was a bit of a detour. After following the Team Member’s instructions we came out at the Volcano Bay shuttle bus stop. We asked the guy there which way we should go for the Garden Walk back to Sapphire Falls. He said ‘It’s not really a garden walk’. We felt like this was all a bit over-complicated just to get back to the hotel next door. In the end the walk took about five minutes and was basically just a walk along the street back to the hotel’s entrance.















Once we got back we all had showers. When we were dressed for dinner we decided to go for a drink at the bar. We got down there at 3 pm but the bar didn’t open until 4. There were other people hoping to get a drink who were also disappointed. We decided to go to the pool bar, the Dhrum Club Kantine instead which is open from lunchtime I guess.



I had Dhrum Club Punch and Mat had the Island Breeze. Both were really nice.



I then had the Island Breeze but Mat was still drinking his first.



The girls were hungry so they went upstairs to get a snack from New Dutch Trading Company. Seren got a couple of scoops of mango sorbet and Freya got a four finger KitKat.

Next I got the Tropiguana frozen cocktail and Mat got a second Island Breeze.



It hadn’t really been the plan to have three drinks but it was such a lovely setting, the server was really sweet and the drinks were so good and went down very nicely. We then walked down to CityWalk.





















































I know I’ve already said this a lot but I love these walks around the Universal parks and resorts. They’re so pretty and peaceful and have a real ‘holiday’ feel for me. It took just over twenty minutes to walk from Sapphire Falls to CityWalk. You pass Royal Pacific on the way and come out in CityWalk next to Margaritaville.

Continued below...

[moosha]

...continued below







When we arrived it was about 5.30 pm so we decided to pop into Universal Studios for a bit. It had always been in the plan that we might pop into one of the parks before our official park days as we had 14 day tickets, but with expecting the parks to be busy and not having Express Passes, it would just be a quick visit.











It felt so good to walk into the park for the first time this trip. We all love Universal Studios, it’s definitely one of our favourite parks. I’ve also said this before but when I was a teenager in the ‘90s it was my favourite Florida park and I love that my family ‘get it’ and love the theming and feel of the park as much as me. We took some photos and wandered around a bit just feeling so grateful and excited to be here.

































There were quite a lot of people standing and sitting along the streets waiting for the Mardi Gras parade but overall the park didn’t seem very busy which was quite a surprise. It was certainly a lot quieter than it had been the year before when waits were pretty horrific. For some reason, the parks’ closing times had changed from the 9 and 10 pm that had been listed on the website when I had checked a couple of weeks before our trip to something like 7 pm. I don’t know if it changed because they somehow knew crowds were going to be lower than previously expected or whether they changed to hosting a private event or something instead because some of the rides were definitely operating later than the closing time. If they changed to an earlier close perhaps people had already left at this point in the day and had made other plans for the evening. The weather was also not as good as it had been in 2019 so maybe people didn’t want to stay out late into the evening with it not being too warm.

There was no doubt what our ‘one ride’ was going to be so we got in line for The Mummy which I think was posted at 20 minutes but only took five or ten. We all love this ride so much and once we were done we rode a second time.



Because it hadn’t taken long to ride The Mummy a couple of times, we also had time to ride Jimmy Fallon. We only had to wait five minutes or so. Seren and I love Jimmy Fallon and we love this ride but Mat thinks it’s meh. We were all done in the park in 70 minutes and left feeling really pleased with our little visit. We took the side exit by Blue Man Group which brought us out round the side of Hard Rock Cafe.



We went inside and checked in at 6.50 pm for our 7.15 pm reservation. As we were standing in line to check in, we noticed one of John Frusciante’s outfits in the foyer. He’s one of my all time favourite musicians so I was really excited to see it and we wondered if it was new or if we just hadn’t noticed it before.



After checking in we were sent straight to the photo opp and then were seated straight away. Last time we were here we had been seated in the CBGB room which we’d really liked so this time we were a bit disappointed that we were seated pretty much in the walkway (again, definitely a theme for the holiday) in the main area close to the car.



Our last visit to Hard Rock Cafe in 2018 was not exactly a success as Seren ended up with anaphylaxis after our server misinformed us about the ingredients in a dessert. We really like the restaurant and the food however so wanted to give it another chance this year, although Seren was adamant she wouldn’t be eating dessert here again.

Doris was our server and she was awesome. My favourite server of the week, she was so warm and sweet but also your classic rock chick. I got a glass of Prosecco and Mat got a Southern Rock (Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort and some other stuff).









Freya just ordered a cookies and cream mini milkshake and fries. She loved her shake, it was one of her favourite things she ate all week.





For the three vegans we got two Famous Fajitas made vegan between us. Doris brought us three packs of four tortillas so we had plenty of food between the four of us. The whole dish was so good. The guacamole and salsa were delicious and so was the skillet of beans and vegetables. We ate all of it. We also got a side of green beans and a side of broccoli and we all scoffed those too as they were really good.







I got a glass of Merlot and Mat got a Jack Daniels and Coke.







It was a such a good meal with a great atmosphere, excellent service and very good food.





When we were all done we went in the shop. We bought a t-shirt for each of the girls, a cute short hoodie for Seren and green sunglasses for Freya because she thought they were very Billie Eilish who she’s obsessed with.

Seren's hoodie and Freya's top:



Seren spent some of her money on some guitar picks and earrings. Then we went over to the CityWalk Universal Studios Store and Seren got Grinch chocolate for her best friend’s birthday and a Hagrid keyring for her boyfriend.











The plan had been to get a doughnut from Voodoo for dessert but there was an extended line outside so we went to Starbucks instead. Freya got a vanilla Frappuccino as they don’t do cookies and cream in the US but she didn’t really like it.



Continued below...

[moosha]

...continued

Seren and I went to Coldstone and she got lemon sorbet with raspberries after I googled what was vegan there. We checked for vegan options with the guy behind the counter and he was really accommodating and friendly. Seren really liked her dessert.







There was supposed to be a dance party at the stage which we’ve enjoyed watching before but for some reason it wasn’t on so we sat and chilled on the steps there for a bit. Freya was tired and wanted to go to bed. Seren wanted to FaceTime her boyfriend so Mat and Freya walked back and Seren and I followed a bit later once she’d done that.







We got back about 10.35 pm and Freya was already asleep. The rest of us weren’t far behind.

[ILoveDaveLamb]

Nice to read about happy family times. Your girls are really growing up.

Good cocktail count, which I appreciate.

Thanks for posting. :-)

[YorkshireT]

I think you realised coming back but quickest way to VB is the path by side of Aventura.

[mick]

A great day

Joan

[NewtoOrlando]

The walks around Universal are lovely aren't they? How was was Volcano Bay for swimming? We're booked for Feb (fingers crossed it happens!) and keep wondering if we should do a water park! Glad you got into Universal and it wasn't too busy for you!

[yellowrose78]

Another great day, shame about the wait to get in to Volcano Bay but looks like you had a lovely day and managed to do loads

[Fuellady]

Really nice, chilled out day despite the small annoyance at having to wait to get into Volcano Bay. Great impromptu visit to Universal - it sounds like you had fun in the short time you were in the park. And a lovely end to the day too at Citywalk.