Six of the Best - Day 14 Universal, toothsome and Longhorns

[Runforthehills]

Previous day 13 HERE


Not many photos again today because, as you will read, the first half of the day would have been me as Mr Embarassed so I have padded out with some cartoons!

So this was our last full day and we decided to head back to IOS/US to see it off good and proper!. DGS2 particularly wanted to go on Escape from Gringots again which was definitely his favourite ride. I love all the roller coasters now but I am not sure I could have faced Gringots as a five years old!

Then disaster struck, where are the annual passes? I have been looking after all the tickets for the family this trip and had three separate card wallets with the Universal, Seaworld and KSC passes in which I had methodically swapped over depending which park we were visiting and left the others in the safe back at the apartment. Yesterday we had been heading to IOA in the evening, so I would have those passes, but we never made it due to the weather so I didn't get the passes out of my pocket before returning to the apartment and then must have forgotten to put them back in the safe.

As you might imagine we turned the apartment upside down looking for them with me getting more and more embarrassed and aware that we were missing the last day. With six of us searching It soon became obvious that they were nowhere obvious.

Last nights dinner had been in Millers Ale House on I drive so we headed off there to check. It was only just after 10am so Millers was shut but there were cleaners there and one kindly went off to check the office for any lost property from the previous evening. Unfortunately no sign of our passes. I had one other thought in mind that on the previous evening we had gone to Walmart later on and I may have flicked the pass wallet out of my pocket there but it was a long shot that a) that had happened, b) they had been found and c) that they had been handed in so I decided we would head off to Universal and try guest relations.

By this time it was busy getting into Universal (GRRR!), we had to park right up on the roof of the parking lot (GRRRRR!) and I had to Pay for parking because I had lost my preferred pass (GRRRRRR!)

When we had bought the annual passes I had used the guest services inside IOA to avoid the queues outside but, of course, as I had lost all of the cards we could not get in park to do that so it was join the (considerable) queue outside and wait, and wait, and wait, just under an hour to get to the front. My family were great about all this to say it was my fault they were stuck waiting as well because I had lost their cards as well but at least it was a nice sunny morning so they went and sat in the sun whilst I queued, with DW keeping me company most of the time.

When I finally got to the front I explained my dilemma to the GS rep. And she said “that's OK we can sort that out” and asked for details of the passes. Here comes the next problem. When I received our original tickets back in the UK I had straight away scanned them, printed out a paper copy, Copied the scan to my phone and uploaded the pdf to Google drive, I wasn't going to be caught out if I mislaid the tickets, or so I thought.

When I upgraded to the much more valuable Annual Passes I put them in my pocket, end of story!

So I had no details of the annual passes, what did I have? Well I had paid by credit card and was registered for online account management on my phone so I got the transaction details up on my phone but no, nothing there they could track the passes with. I then mentioned I had details of the passes we had upgraded from and the GSR said she thought she could track them from there. She took my details first and in a couple of minutes she had found my details. Great, we are getting there. Then she looked for DW. after much clattering of keypresses she confirmed she had tried various spellings but could not find her pass, OK, put it to one side and onto the next. DD was next, more rattling of the keyboard, nope, no luck, onto DSIL. YES, Success. DGS1 and DGS2 were next and they were found… but… more rattling of the keyboard, the dates of birth didn’t match which wouldn't have mattered but for DGS1 at 11 being an adult passholder and DGS2 at 5 still being a child.

This one turned out to be just a transposition of the dates between the two so that was soon sorted but we were still missing the passes for DW and DD.

It had been a good hour and a half since we got to the park by this time and I was desperately willing the CSR to sort it out but I was well aware that she was doing her best to sort out my mess so I kept smiling and repeatedly thanking her for trying to help and finally she had an inspiration, possibly suggested by the dates mix up, and searched for DW christian name with DD surname and, lo and behold, there it was, Halelulia! , and, guess what, thirty seconds later DD christian name with DW surname was a hit.

I am 100% certain that the annual passes that were lost did have the right names on, I definitely remember checking, so the transposition of names and dates must have been when the original CSR was entering the data into the computer system so there was a spark of irritation in the back of my mind but by this time I was just ecstatic to get the replacement passes sorted and thanked the CSR profusely for her help.

The CSR then apologised for how long the process had taken and printed out 18 fastpasses for the day, 3 for each of us, which I thought was a nice gesture. She asked if there was anything else she could help with so I decided to chance it and mention that I had had to pay for parking that day with not having my prefered pass.

It is worth remembering this as she said that if it happened again it was possible for the parking attendant to check my ID and match it to an annual pass at the booth and allow the free parking but she was then happy to refund me in cash.

So it was a long, painful, experience but I can't fault The CSR for how she dealt with it. If the CS desk had been empty and the right information had been on the system it would probably have only taken 10 minutes in total, rather than the hour and three quarters, but I guess I have to accept it as Bad Karma for losing the passes in the first place. The CSR also mentioned that if we lost them again it would be $10 each to replace them.

We got into US at about 11:30, on a Saturday, so the wait times were pretty horrendous compared to those we had enjoyed for the bulk of this trip. We were, however, only coming for a last look round and a couple of rides if the lines weren't too long so no one was too bothered.

Escape from Gringots was posted at 90 mins and we ended up queing for about 45 mins with the fastpasses, annoyingly delayed for 10 minutes right at the head of the queue when they decided to add an extra car to reduce the wat time! The kids were really good and patient in the queue and agreed it was worth the wait for the last time.

I sat with DW while the DGC and their parents went on a couple of other rides in US then we decided to walk back over to IOA and called in at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium on the way. This was mainly for the grandkids, obviously, but when in Rome as they say.

DD and DGS1 got a speciality milkshake each and we also got a Chocolate Brownie Bark plate of 5 types of chocolate to share.

The milkshakes were glorious, but way too big and filling for one person unless you want to force it down, which both DD and DGS1 managed to do. The chocolate plate was really nice as well and could have easily done all six of us for a snack and which, for under $10, was pretty decent value.

We had a wander through IOA but all of the main rides were 45mins plus which, even allowing for the fastpasses, no one was bothered about standing in. It was about 4pm by this time and there seemed to be lots of people leaving but there were still long queues so we just strolled through the park having a last look around. Flight of the Hippogryph was showing 25 min. So we headed on and rode in about 15min with the fastpasses but then decided to wrap it up for the day and head back to the apartment.

That evening we were heading to Longhorns on I Drive for a steak. We took a Lyft car tonight and had good clean cars both ways and very prompt service. I am a big fan of Lyft and Uber and really like the way you can track the car rather than just standing hoping a cab is on its way to you.

Longhorns was a bit of a disappointment overall. I had called before leaving for “call ahead waiting” but when we arrived they couldn't find our name so it was a wait in the bar area before seating. It was only 15mins or so waiting but it was an irritating start as no one was really interested in a drink before eating.

Once seated our order was taken promptly and drinks and meals started to came reasonably quickly but, unfortunately, with a delay between some of us getting our orders and the rest of the meals arriving and with several mix-up’s compared to the order. The delay in everyone being served and the niggles on side orders just tipped this into “unacceptable” service. I had ordered a New York Strip, medium rare with baked potato and got a well done steak with mash. The fact that, after I mentioned it, a baked potato arrived on a separate plate just before I finished didn't really help.

Earlier in the trip I had had the same meal down at Logans on 192 on a busy Saturday evening which was just as good a steak, properly prepared, served with the correct side and quite a bit cheaper! Basically, for now, Longhorns is off the “priority” list for the future.


It wasn't a bad meal by any stretch of the imagination but it could have been much better with a bit of care.

Overall a steady, pleasant day to round off the holiday.

Back to the apartment for a couple of beers and bed.

[Big Jim]

Have to say we love Logans too. The steaks compare really well to Longhorns for less $$$. Only have to wait 'til February to double check

[Floridaagogo]

Wow bit of a nightmare day 😪

[Runforthehills]

Originally Posted by Big Jim

Have to say we love Logans too. The steaks compare really well to Longhorns for less $$$. Only have to wait 'til February to double check

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This trip was last October and I posted days 1 to 11 back in January but then never got round to finishing the trip until now. We are heading back this Saturday and writing this blog has got me remembering the Peanuts and warm bread so I think we will definatelly be parking up in Logans again very soon

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

Wow bit of a nightmare day 😪

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It was at the time but I think we were all pretty "laid back" at the end of our holidays and it didnt really spoil the day (or at least the family didnt make me feel too bad about it) and by the time the milk shakes at Toothsome had gone the whole thing was forgotten😊