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Old 27 Feb 20, 04:38 PM  
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moosha
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A Universal Adventure February 2020 - Pre-Trip Report

A Universal Adventure: February 2020 - Pre-Trip Report

I didn't get a chance to upload this before our trip so I'm posting our pre-trip after the holiday. Highs and lows coming soon.

In two weeks we’re off on our seventh Florida trip as a family so I thought it was about time I got the new pre-trip done. As well as getting ready for this year’s holiday, I’m also currently trying to get my 2018 and 2019 reports done, but if you’ve not come across my reports before feel free to catch up in the meantime.

A quick recap of the cast:


Me: Michelle, chief planner and trip report writer, loves everything about Florida and US holidays. Favourite Universal rides are Gringotts and The Mummy



DH: Mat, driver, mostly happy to go along with whatever he’s told on these trips, also loves Florida and US holidays. Favourite Universal ride is Gringotts. I don't have any recent photos of him so here's one from Diagon Alley in August 2018 featuring the girls looking much younger:



DD1: Seren, will be 14 in a few months, easy-going, queen of procrastination, addicted to taking selfies, loves all things about these trips and is already crazy excited. Also the only one of us who’s not a ride wimp. Favourite Universal ride is The Mummy



DD2: Freya, turns 12 the day after we get back from the trip, ray of sunshine, Miss Independent and stubborn little madam, loves rides and eating. Favourite Universal ride is The Mummy



Background:

Last February half term we went to Orlando for a week because we liked the idea of going when it was a bit cooler than our previous August trip and quieter than our previous Easter trips. The weather was perfect but the crowds were up there with Easter, especially the first half of the week (Presidents’ Day weekend.) We did all four Disney parks and both Universal parks and it was full-on. Being offsite we weren’t able to get FastPasses for the headliners at Disney and we were determined to do everything we wanted to because we were there for such a short period of time. So we did very early rope-drops and had very long days. We’re quite hardcore when we’re in Florida though, so it didn’t faze us too much. We had a great holiday (as you’ll see when I finally get the report done) and while we were there we were already discussing returning in 2020 at the same time of year.

We stayed onsite at Universal the entire week in 2019, first at Hard Rock while we were in the parks and then we moved to Sapphire Falls while we were visiting the Disney parks. We loved all of it but during the Disney days, we talked about how much more relaxed we felt at Universal with no FastPasses to rush to and just being able to decide what we wanted to do on the spot. We also found ourselves annoyed with the fact that Disney has become more ‘money-grabbing’ over the years we’ve visited. There are now so many upcharge events (After Hours, dessert parties etc) and as I said, it was a busy week so Disney cutting the park hours to charge people a lot of money for early / late admission (After Hours) was irritating. Then there’s the cost of things like character meals (well over $200 for the four of us per meal) and even parking which was so expensive ($25 per day). Although we could have paid nearly double that for ‘preferred parking’ if we fancied it.

So we talked about 2020 being Universal only and this seemed like a more relaxing, cheaper holiday than 2019. Another 2018 photo:



We still love Disney and I expect our next Florida trip will include Disney onsite, hopefully with free dining. We’re also going to California in August so we will be getting our Disney fix there, and we also went to Disneyland Paris in October.

So what will we be doing?

We’re flying in and out of Tampa with BA, booked as a flydrive with some sort of SUV. Last year we flew into Orlando for the first time in a few trips and it took so long to get through immigration and get our car (45 minutes from joining the line) that we decided it wasn’t more ‘convenient’ than flying into a cheaper airport after all. In 2018 we had flown home from Tampa and liked the airport so we decided to fly in and out of there this time. We’re fine with the 90 ish minute journey up to Universal on arrival evening. We’ve done worse!

It seemed like a good idea to have our park days at the end of the week when it ‘should’ be quieter than the beginning based on our experience last year. So Wednesday to Saturday will be spent at the Universal parks and we’re staying at the Hard Rock Hotel for the fourth time because we love the look and feel of the hotel and how convenient it is for the parks, plus the Unlimited Express passes of course.

Here's a not especially good photo of the beautiful hotel from our 2018 trip:



Oh here's a better one from the same trip:



I booked with Expedia (Quidco cashback) in March and when the room options came up, we could book Club Level for £90 extra in total for the three nights. We’ve never done Club Level before but for £30 a day it seemed worthwhile if we can get snacks, water and the odd alcoholic drink. So we’re excited for that.

The first half of the week we’ll be staying at beautiful Sapphire Falls for the third time. We absolutely love the hotel and it was a no-brainer that we’d go back there for our chill-out days. The girls will definitely visit the pool while we’re there as it’s lovely and Mat and I like chilling by the pool with a coffee. From 2018:





During the first half of the week we’re also planning:

Volcano Bay once or twice as we’ll have the 14 day unlimited entry Universal tickets which include Volcano Bay for free. We loved Volcano Bay in 2018 and it was one thing we all said we missed in 2019

[

Disney Springs (so we will be getting a Disney fix). Disney Springs is up there as one of my absolute favourite things to do in Orlando. We have two meals booked there, at House of Blues and Raglan Road, our two favourite DS restaurants. One of the days we’ll visit long enough so that we can also squeeze in Blaze pizza because it would be a crime to go to Orlando and not go to Blaze

Disney mini golf (ok two Disney fixes.) If you’ve read my previous trippies you’ll know we love mini golf at Disney and like Volcano Bay, it was something we didn’t have time to fit in last year. As we’ll be paying for it rather than it being included with Disney Ultimate tickets, we’ll only go once. And if we can’t really be bothered to drive down to Disney we might just do one of the CityWalk ones again

Shopping. Possibly. We’re not shoppers (apart from Seren but she doesn’t have any money so...) but we might pop to one of the malls or outlets if we have time. Or just mooch around the Disney Springs shops if we don’t have time

Parks. Because we have the 14 day tickets we may pop into the Universal parks once or twice over the first few days to make the most of them. But because it will be busy and we won’t have Express Pass, it will be with a mission to ride one or two particular rides, or just have a wander around Diagon Alley

Food:

Mat and I have been vegan for more than two years so have already done two Florida holidays as vegans so we kind of have our bearings and know which places are best for us to eat at. Seren is also now vegan and is very fussy and has nut allergies so we’ll just see how that goes I guess. We do have restaurants booked most days. Here is the list of places we’ve booked and / or hope to eat at:

Raglan Road
House of Blues
Blaze Pizza
Hard Rock Cafe
Antojitos
The Cowfish
Sal’s Market Deli at Portofino Bay
Sweet Tomatoes

I have decided to prioritise this report over the two that I haven't finished so I'll be cracking on with it as soon as we get home. Thanks for reading along .
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Old 27 Feb 20, 05:01 PM  
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Floridadreams
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Looking forward to reading - we were there around the same time as you and really enjoyed Universal for the more relaxed feel
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Old 29 Feb 20, 09:02 AM  
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caitlinsmummy
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Looking forward to following along x
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Old 21 Jun 20, 08:58 PM  
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Fuellady
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I'm so late in reading this report Michelle. It all sounds like great plans and you're right, so much more relaxing than the Disney rush. Nice to have a little touch of Disney though, with a couple of trips to Disney Springs and possibly mini golf too. Those first few days at Sapphire Falls sound idyllic, just being able to do as you please each day.
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*Complete* A Tale of Two Cities - Washington D.C. & Boston - March 2023
We Love Food! An Offsite Dining Report - May 2022
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