10 days of theme park madness 3 at universal and 7 disney!!

[pattiken]

[Hello everyone and welcome to my first ever trip report. I meant to make notes on this trip but did not get around to it so bare with me as I hope I will remember all details.

Our story
Trip sep 19-30th 2012
1 night buffalo milenium hotel for our early morning flight to orlando with delta.
3 nights at Hard Rock hotel club level room 1701
7 nights saratoga springs resort disney room 1325 congress park area

me mom Patti..major planner, obsesser..dis boards watcher[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]

thats DD haley 10 smiley..loves water parks and now thrill rides

DH ken wonderful father, husband go with whatever I plan kinda guy..contractor who works really hard
DS riley 15..typical teenager who really suprised me this trip..smiles and actually woke up with us every day

Thats the start of if..I will post on universal trip board then move over to disney for the rest.
hopefully I can figure out how to post chapter links to make it easier.

Night in Buffalo uneventful..nice hotel with great rate to park our car for 14 days. Up early on the 20th to catch our 615am flight to atlanta and then onto orlando..landing around 1130.
Everyone so excited!! Picked up our car from National that I used my airmiles to get..upgraded to bigger because of emerald card..and made our way to our stop for the next 3 nights..HARD ROCK HOTEL!!

up next..first day at parks...

[pattiken]

This spot reserved for chapter links ( I hope) I thnk my pics are too big too I will try and make smaller

Chapter1..first full day
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...88&postcount=3

[pattiken]

First full day

I researched like crazy for this trip and after reading boards and forums I decided to book HRH. I figured DH and I would love classic music vibe as well as kids since they are older. Since this was our first trip to Universal I wanted to make it a memorable one so I Upgraded to club level. My first booking was with a deluxe room that had the extra couch pullout was what we needed as DS and DD would not sleep in same bed. I took a chance upgrading as you cannot request deluxe on this floor as there are only a couple rooms this size.
Upon checking in and being brought up to our room i was given a reg standard room..this was disappointing to me as room was small for 4 of us for 4 days...I asked to pay extra for kid suite however they were all booked.
We then ventured into concierge fabulous fantastic room and met Lynn the wonderful lady at the desk...She immediately saw my frustrated look and went out of her way to give us our first bit of pixie dust we were upgraded and moved to a deluxe size room on floor 7!!!! woohoo..as i grinned from ear to ear we ran to new room and were so suprised and happy.
Pull out couch 2 wonderfully comfortable queen size beds and huge changing area
typical my kids!!!

After filling up on complimentart PB & J pocket sandwiches from concierge room we ventured down to get our express passes!! really I dont know if we could have done these parks without them..There is a machine in lobby that takes your pic then puts it on a card that you have to show in order to use express line....A short beautiful stroll around the pool and sidewalk we were on our way to our first park...

[pattiken]

...which park did we go...Universal Studios!!
I had 3 day park hopper tickets so we could go bk and forth which was great.

Upon entering we loved the decorating for the halloween horror night..however posters scared DD so there was no way I was getting her in to those nights. DH and DS went on the friday night..more on that later.

After we walked around entrance awing at the the hollywood fun stuff we headed to our first ride...Despicable Me Minion Mayhem...
entrance and waiting area were aweome themed..huge line..gotta love express pass!!
Ride was was so much fun loved the 3d effects. After exiting ride we did this

dancing with minions!!!

Our next ride that I chickened out on and wish I would have went was this one

rip ride rock it roller coaster..there is no express pass line for this and only a 10 min wait so rest of family ran on..later I tried to go on but was 45 min wait so I didnt go...Anyways another great ride according to them..music was fun touch.
By this time it was around 4pm and we wanted to make it back to our hotel for happy hour and diner so we did one more ride which was DD fav ride of the trip that we went on about 4 times all weekend. Very fun and loved cast members (can I call them that not at disney?) they stayed in character the whole time...
After this we exited the park...wow was it hot on this trip and had a nice walk back to the hotel for club lounge..

next up universal at night

[Tink2Day]

Beautiful Family!

Can't wait to read all about your trip. Sounds fantastic!!

Great on the room change!

[pattiken]

Originally Posted by Tink2Day

Beautiful Family!

Can't wait to read all about your trip. Sounds fantastic!!

Great on the room change!

Thks for the nice comment

[loganpaulsmom]

I loved reading your TR.. My family and I were going to stay at HRH club level and do a split stay at Disney, but Universal was so expensive that we decided we couldn't do it.
I would b very curious to find out what type of fast pass you got for Disney? I have never heard of one like they have at Universal at Disney Nd this will b my 14th time..

[pattiken]

Originally Posted by loganpaulsmom

I loved reading your TR.. My family and I were going to stay at HRH club level and do a split stay at Disney, but Universal was so expensive that we decided we couldn't do it.
I would b very curious to find out what type of fast pass you got for Disney? I have never heard of one like they have at Universal at Disney Nd this will b my 14th time..

It was very expensive trip..once in a lifetime for us for sure! Im not really sure on the pass..I wouldnt want to get him in trouble ...I think it was more like a disabilities pass..although I wouldnt want to think of it like that since none of us have a disability..I do believe in karma..u never know so i will think of it more like a pixie dust pass for us...does that make sense ..kinda of wordy reply lol..I believe it was being in the right place at the right time.

[happydisneymom]

I went to Universal for one day about 14 years ago (wow, I'm old) and enjoyed it but after reading this post I am even more excited to take my kids this upcoming summer. YAY, thanks!

[pattiken]

Originally Posted by happydisneymom

I went to Universal for one day about 14 years ago (wow, I'm old) and enjoyed it but after reading this post I am even more excited to take my kids this upcoming summer. YAY, thanks!

Thanks for reading!! Thats great your bringing kids..I loved the joy on my kids faces...made it all worth while! wish we were going back sooner..Have great trip

[WanderlustNZ]

Thanks for the great read. I've just booked HRH for September next year and your TR has made me more excited.

[DaddyDon]

Love your trip report...Glad you had a great time on the dark side...

[pattiken]

Originally Posted by DaddyDon

Love your trip report...Glad you had a great time on the dark side...

Thanks for reading We loved the dark side!!!

[pattiken]

Originally Posted by WanderlustNZ

Thanks for the great read. I've just booked HRH for September next year and your TR has made me more excited.

Thanks for reading
September is great time to go, Ive been trying to convince DH for us to go back at that time..crossing fingers!