3 Part Extravaganza Oct/Nov 2017:Day 7, RPR, Volcano Bay and move to AMI

[codym]

Friday 27th October

We were leaving RPR today I was sad to be leaving, we had such a lovely time there but we were picking up a car and heading to Anna Maria Island for 3 nights today so it’s wasnt too bad to be going I did feel like I’d had a proper holiday already though, it was a really relaxing week. While I didn’t want to go home, I could have gone and not felt too hard done by. It opened up the possibility of doing a week in Florida at some stage to me. Only if we couldn’t do longer for some reason

Anyway, we woke at 6.30am and stayed in bed reading for a while. I caught up on some trip report notes. We planned to spend the morning in Volcano Bay and it wasn’t due to warm up until 9/10 ish so there was no rush. Showered and dressed and packed up a bit more, then had our last club room brekkie @9am (precise notes!)

Went back to the room and gathered up all our stuff and headed to reception to check out & store our luggage. I forgot to mention at any stage so far about room charges. It’s so handy, just like with a magic band you can charge purchases to your room from anywhere in the Universal Resort. Settled up our bill & went out to get the bus. We only waited 5 mins for it.

Arrived at Volcano Bay and this time it was a lovely hot sunny morning not like Monday when it was very overcast.

We walked around to the children’s area this time & got seats there. Rob and Fionn went off to do all the big slides that Odhrán is too small for & I wouldn’t ride

Odhrán had a great time in this section of the park. He could have played here all day.

Look at that sky

Fionn and Rob arrived back after an hour or so having ridden all the big rides without needing tapu tapu again

Fionn was too tall for the slides here so we didn’t stay for much longer, he had a little play and we decided to get going as it was nearly 1pm.

We gathered all our stuff and couldn’t find Fionn’s flip flops anywhere. The new ones we had only bought the other day & had taken about 15 shops to find! I spotted them beside a sun bed that was a foot or so away. There was a man in his 60’s sitting there on his own surrounded by stuff. When Fionn went to get them he said they were his daughter in laws. (They were boys flip flops but anyway ) We weren’t going to get into an argument. We looked around for ages, asked him again and he wasn’t so sure second time but thinks they were This all took about 15 mins. We went off to the changing rooms and got ready. This took another 10 mins so we decided to go back and see if the DIL was back yet. No sign of anyone else there with him, we had another look around but no flip flops so we resigned to leaving without them We went to the big shop at the front of the park to buy another pair. I had seen blue and navy ones there on Monday but they weren’t there in his size today. I explained the situation to a team member and she checked in the back and surprise surprise there were no boys flip flops in size 4 Seriously, there was an abudance of every size in girls, women’s & men’s but boys were impossible to get. It’s not even like I wanted a particular design or colour The team member encouraged me to report it to security but we needed to leave and really rent the type to make a fuss so we declined and left the park with Fionn in his bare feet

Got the bus back to RPR and I knew they had no flip flops in his size in the shop there but thought I’d run over to Sapphire Falls and check their shop. Sapphire Falls is just across the road from the bus stop at RPR. Beautiful hotel, such a pity it doesn’t come with FOLP as I would definitely stay there if it did. Found the shop and it was really big and had a huge flip flop section so this looked promising but no. As with everywhere at Universal, boys went up to size 3, men’s started at size 6 (although I did find 2 or 3 pairs of size 5 men’s throughout the week) Girls on the other hand went to size 5 and women’s started at size 5 It annoyed me so much :angry:

Walked back over to RPR empty handed and ordered an Uber. We were picking up our car at the Disney Car Care Centre. Retrieved our luggage and pulled out Fionn’s old and battered flip flops

Our Uber arrived a few mins later. She wasn’t chatty. Dropped us off at Alamo. Myself and the kids waited outside with the luggage and Rob went in and got the car. A few minutes later he pulled up in front of us, we loaded up and were off

I felt really happy to be back on the road in Florida. I’ve mentioned already I just love being out in the car over there, I don’t know why Although I’d thoroughly enjoyed the week at RPR, it felt like we were really in Florida now driving down the roads and seeing all the familiar sights

We had some snacks in the car with us so had some of those as we didn’t want to stop for lunch. The whole flip flop thing had wasted just over an hour between looking for them, going to the shop & going to Sapphire Falls so we were behind our planned eta and wanted to get to AMI for the sunset

I love some random road pictures so took loads along the way, here’s a few

Quick pit stop in Dunkin Donuts

Back on the road

Odhrán fell asleep half way there

Arrived at 4.50pm

Went straight to the beach and had a quick swim. The water was stinging the boys legs so they were only in for 2 minutes. I didn’t go in but Rob had a good swim. Went back to our room and unpacked, showered and got ready for the evening. We were planning on eating at the Beach House tonight.
Took a few photos of our room. To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend it here. The swimming pool was dirty and rusty looking. The rooms were old and grubby. The place could really have done with a lick of paint. We stayed at Cedar Cove last year and I wished we had just returned there but we had thought we would try somewhere new just for a change

Some room pictures

This was a pull out sofa bed where the boys would sleep

It doesn’t look too bad in the pictures and while it wasn’t awful enough to move, if we had been staying any longer than 3 nights we would have left

Onwards to the Beach House. The car park was full but we got parking in a car park across the road. Arrived in the restaurant at 6.30 and there was an hour wait for outside tables. We wanted to see the sunset more than eat there so declined the waiting list and just walked into the beach to watch it

I took a million pictures It’s so beautiful

While I was taking all the photos the boys were playing away. I heard Fionn gasp and say to Odhrán “wow look at the sun”

yes boys, that’s what we are here for! Was glad they spotted it and appreciated it too

There was someone out in the water in a jet ski

We decided to try Mr Bones BBQ for food as I’d read good reports on here about it. When we went back to the car park this monster was parked beside us

I made Odhrán stand for a picture to show friends at home just how big the cars/trucks are here!

Mr Bones was delicious. I’m vegetarian and don’t eat spicy food so I can be limited in choice in lots of places over there. This place had 4 or 5 vegetarian dishes though, it was great. I got a vegetable masala & Rob got ribs, it was so delicious. Didn’t take photos though

We all really enjoyed our meal here and would definitely return.

Stopped in Publix on the way home to stock up. Took this picture for any pop tart fans out there

We spent $110 in here!

Had a look in a tat shop too, bought some beach towels.

We were back in the room at about 10pm. Watched a bit of tv and went to bed at 11 all exhausted

[scottishnellie]

So excited reading this

Our trip in June we will move from RPR to Clearwater for 2 nights then AMI for just the one night, so I’m so looking forward to reading about what you do in AMI.

Great sunset photos and lovely that the boys were so taken by it.

[mick]

Fantastic photos of a wonderful sunset

Joan

[Floridafour]

That sunset

Shame about the flip-flop drama, so annoying when something like that happens. Sounds like you had a great day though

[Eeyore-x]

Sounds and looks like a lovely day! Really enjoyed reading i love taking pictures along the roads too and really enjoy just being in the car in Florida, think the great weather helps!

[yellowrose78]

Gorgeous photos of the sunset! Shame about the flip flops! Looking forward to the next installment

[codym]

Originally Posted by scottishnellie

So excited reading this

Our trip in June we will move from RPR to Clearwater for 2 nights then AMI for just the one night, so I’m so looking forward to reading about what you do in AMI.

Great sunset photos and lovely that the boys were so taken by it.

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Oh you’ll love it, it’s so beautiful there and a completely different vibe than anywhere else we’ve been in Florida. I think Clearwater will be better for the kids though, Rob and I would spend weeks in AMI but the kids get bored Probably doesn’t help knowing the parks are so close though, if we were in Spain they’d be fine at the beach!

Originally Posted by mick

Fantastic photos of a wonderful sunset

Joan

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Thank you, that’s only a small selection of an awful lot of photos

[codym]

Originally Posted by Floridafour

That sunset

Shame about the flip-flop drama, so annoying when something like that happens. Sounds like you had a great day though

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I was so annoyed for ages but glad it happened when we were leaving as I just put it behind me and moved onto the next part of the holiday, I probably would have let it fester a bit longer if we were still there

The photos don’t even do the sunset full justice

Thanks for reading x

Originally Posted by Eeyore-x

Sounds and looks like a lovely day! Really enjoyed reading i love taking pictures along the roads too and really enjoy just being in the car in Florida, think the great weather helps!

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Yay, someone else! I just love looking back at them, brings back memories just as much as park pictures The weather definitely helps

Thanks for reading x

Originally Posted by yellowrose78

Gorgeous photos of the sunset! Shame about the flip flops! Looking forward to the next installment

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Thank you, the sunset was just stunning
Thanks for reading, will hopefully have the next day up later today x

[smithlane]

I have just binge read your report so far. It sounds like you had an amazing week at Universal and RPR looks a stunning resort.
Looking forward to reading about your time on AMI. We stayed for 3 nights last year and without a doubt fell in love with the place so going back for a week this year 😃
Your sunset photos are simply amazing!

[codym]

Originally Posted by smithlane

I have just binge read your report so far. It sounds like you had an amazing week at Universal and RPR looks a stunning resort.
Looking forward to reading about your time on AMI. We stayed for 3 nights last year and without a doubt fell in love with the place so going back for a week this year 😃
Your sunset photos are simply amazing!

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Thank you Glad your enjoying the report so far
We love RPR, fab resort, when choosing between there and the Beach or Yacht Club RPR won hands down and probably will next time too
AMI is definitely special

Thanks for reading and for your lovely comments xx