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Old 1 May 21, 05:41 PM  
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Wot no Disney - Well just a smidgeon - 2018 mainly offsite trip report - Highs, lows and plans

Highs, Lows and Past/Future trips.

Index is here

Offsite

Although Dh and I had a few offsite trips in the late 90s, If you had asked me in 2013 when we started going to Florida again with Ds if I would do a non Disney stay, I’d have laughed and said not a chance.

Roll on 2016 where we discovered the vast difference in price meant you could add on offsite time pretty cheaply to extend your trip to 26 nights it became a sensible thing to incorporate into our trips. With no Disney at all it became a much cheaper option which meant maybe we didn’t have to miss a year in between Florida holidays.
The Rosen Plaza was great. The rooms were very nice and it was a great location for eating out. We would happily stay here again.

Offsite food, so much choice, massive portions and better prices than Disney. I’ve a list of so many places I still want to try, Top 3 – Offsite Eating Out places overall this trip were:
1. Joe's crab shack
2. Bahama Breeze
3. Maggianos

We didn't really have any food lows, yes some places that were better than others but nowhere we thought was mediocre or that we wouldn't go back. Ds didn't like the Yard House as a place, it did have rather a grown up feel but the food was good.

onsite at Universal

I remember visiting Universal in 1999 and we liked it but we didn’t love it, Disney was the best and Universal was just an add on. Universal has upped it’s game so much over the last few years, it’s not that I like it better than Disney but I love the chilled out experience that you can have staying on site.

RPR was really good, we had stayed here in 2013 for 1 night and I wasn't overly keen but I don’t think a 1 night stay is enough to fully appreciate it. However, we loved our stay here this time.

Club Level, it took us a couple of days to find the best way for us and what we were doing.

Breakfast was great every morning, we were not for being up early by the time we reached RPR so it did eat into our park time but we had 7 days so not a big deal.

Afternoon offerings - we nipped in once and got sodas, a couple of bowls of goldfish crackers and trail mix.

Royal Relaxation - The food on offer was nice and could be used as a meal if that suited you, I found with later park opening if we ate there I was hungry again after park close and ds was mainly too tired to want to eat again. It worked for us as a snack top up, ds tended to have a small plate while dh and I had cheese and crackers with a couple of glasses of wine or beers. Now Ds is older this will work a lot better.

Sweet Treats - We nipped in a couple of times on the way to the parks to grab a cookie.

Staff - all very friendly and nothing was too much trouble if you asked them for anything.

Top 3 Eats - Universal

1. Cowfish
2. Vivo
3. Lombards

Again no lows in terms of food, loads of places I wanted to try or go back to but they didn't all make it, I'll add them to next time... Club level curbed our eating out a little.

Refillable Mugs
Special mention to these as they saved us a fortune at Seaworld and Universal. We only bought 1 and shared, it worked for us and less to carry around. Loved the icee option at both parks.

Past/Future Plans

Those that have already been and gone:

Christmas 2018 – Report is here.

The 3 of us and my MIL, purely Disney - 11 nights – Christmas at the Contemporary and New Year at the Beach Club. Total bucket list surprise trip suggested by MIL after we got back from this one. How could we say no?

April 2019 – Report is here.

Me, a friend and Ds at the Rosen Plaza, RPR, Aventura and a one night Disney park visit to MK. No Dh as April is not a good time for holidays for him.

Summer 2019 – Report is here.

The 3 of us at the Rosen, HRH and Port Orleans French Quarter with free dining.

February 2020 – Report is here.

Sneaked it in just before lockdown. Universal only – Mardi Gras at Aventura.

Fingers Crossed for future plans

February 2022 is booked – Universal again – annual passes are on hold. Resort hopping between Cabana, HRH and Sapphire Falls and hopefully lots of Mardi Gras beads and treats again.

Summer 2022 - Hoping for another offsite/Universal trip a bit like this one. Ds has conquered his roller coaster fear and is keen to give the Seaworld and Busch Garden rides a go. I'd like to combine this with a week club level with express and maybe a few days at the start at Aventura or Sapphire Falls to eat drink swim and chill. Not sure ofd the offsite option - Rosen Plaza is my top choice but the prices seem to vary a bit and we couldn't get it for 2020 so also thinking of Dockside or Surfside, if anyone has stayed there I'd love to hear how you found them and if there is a range of food places within easy walking distance.

So you can see we are eager to return and October is next on my bucket list – HHN has my name on it this year or next…. Although we are stuck with Saturday to Saturday so no decent deals spotted yet for this year and unsure if that soon it would be possible to be back in school the next day. I'm still checking...

Thank you

Thanks again for reading along and commenting and indulging me with my very old trip report. Hopefully we will be back with another report sooner than later. Can't wait to be reading new ones of everyone who gets to return before us.
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Old 1 May 21, 07:48 PM  
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Thank you for your report, especially on club level, it's really helpful x
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Old 1 May 21, 07:56 PM  
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Thanks again for another great report. I have everything crossed that your upcoming trips go to plan.
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Old 2 May 21, 11:55 AM  
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As always love reading your reports. Thank you xx
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Old 2 May 21, 03:22 PM  
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Looking forward to next years reports !
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Old 2 May 21, 04:45 PM  
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Thank you for this report! I really enjoyed following your adventures and it got me very excited about a Universal visit in the future. I think I underestimated just how much was there to do, despite there only being 2 parks. The resorts look fantastic too. I can see how it can make for a very chilled break, dipping in and out of the parks. The food seems fantastic as well.

I've been busy pricing up a trip for December 2021 but I'm still in two minds about the Universal/Disney ratio. Once I add Disney ultimate tickets into the mix (since the 1-2 day ones seem really poor value, and ideally we'd like to visit all 4 parks), I end up with a very short stay at Universal
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Old 3 May 21, 07:31 PM  
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Originally Posted by lfc_sarah View Post
Thank you for your report, especially on club level, it's really helpful x
Thanks so much. I’d recommend it if you can get a good price. Never ending cheese and crackers ( and some wine) plus breakfast everyday, you can’t go wrong especially if you have Ds anything like mine who has hollow legs. 😂

Originally Posted by Sparksy72 View Post
Thanks again for another great report. I have everything crossed that your upcoming trips go to plan.
Thanks. You too. 🤞

Originally Posted by 4fromsuffolk View Post
As always love reading your reports. Thank you xx
That’s so nice, thanks. I always read other people’s one and think they give way more detail than I do.

Originally Posted by WIGGYSMUM View Post
Looking forward to next years reports !
🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞 For all of us to get back.

Originally Posted by Lily8 View Post
Thank you for this report! I really enjoyed following your adventures and it got me very excited about a Universal visit in the future. I think I underestimated just how much was there to do, despite there only being 2 parks. The resorts look fantastic too. I can see how it can make for a very chilled break, dipping in and out of the parks. The food seems fantastic as well.

I've been busy pricing up a trip for December 2021 but I'm still in two minds about the Universal/Disney ratio. Once I add Disney ultimate tickets into the mix (since the 1-2 day ones seem really poor value, and ideally we'd like to visit all 4 parks), I end up with a very short stay at Universal
Thanks. Universal is great, you can do it quickly but we like to treat it a bit more chilled out. Whatever works for you. Not as many food choices as Disney but some really nice choices at a bit less of a price, depending where you go.

It’s really hard to fit everything in and December might be busy. We started with just 1 night at RPR to get the universal flavour, it’s not the same experience but a few nights after Disney in an express pass hotel would be great if it fits your budget.
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Old 9 May 21, 03:28 AM  
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Loved reading your reports, thank you.
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Old 9 May 21, 10:03 PM  
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Originally Posted by christoby View Post
Loved reading your reports, thank you.
Thanks so much for reading.
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Old 9 May 21, 10:24 PM  
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A very nice report. Thankyou for taking the time to share your experiences.

Good luck with next year and beyond!
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