We were going to go to DisneyWorld in May, then July, then August, and just kept cancelling and rescheduling. Luckily our DVC points were refundable and our Southwest airline miles are very flexible. For our November in service days, we decided not to go to Disney, but instead to try another trip to Universal Studios, as our annual passes from last October were extended due to their shutdown and we had until December 1 to use them again. The original hotel we booked (Portofino, where we stayed last year, too) never reopened so we updated our booking to the Royal Pacific Hotel. It was a great spot because we could walk everywhere, and we had a king suite, so William had his own space in the living room and we had our space in the bedroom. As a back up, I also reserved a few days at Disney "in case" lines were long at Universal or we were able to do everything we wanted in fewer days. Both ended up being the case. We did virtually everything we wanted to on the first afternoon we arrived, so only spent one extra day instead of two or three more days there. That gave us time to hit up Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, as well!
Our first time to an airport since February! William's last trip was the two of us going to WDW for President's Day weekend. I had a trip the next week to Phoenix. We were shocked to put into days how many it had been! Midway has mostly completed the renovation they started in 2019 (2018?) and I barely recognized the place!
We missed YOU a lot too Orlando! The only annoying part was waiting in the rental car line. We have never rented a car in Orlando before thanks to Uber/Lyft and Disney transportation, but we wanted to be in our own space this trip.
The resort was beautiful. Sort of a cross between The Polynesian and Bay Lake Tower at Disney (absent the monorail of course). It was about a 7 minute walk to Universal City Walk and Islands of Adventure Park. It was about12 minutes walk from Universal Studios park.
First stop was Hogsmeade! We had our Express Passes and a less than 30 minute wait for Hagrid's Motorbike ride. After we rode all the rides there, we took the train over to Diagon Alley, where we closed out the park at 5 p.m. and left for dinner.
Friday morning "Larry Potter" was ready for more fun! After 5 days in Universal parks, he finally decided he wanted a wand. Considering the robe was garage sale and his souvenir last year was a bag of candy, it felt like it was time! The robe ended up being hot, but the wand was cool! I got a Ravenclaw mask for myself. The rest of my family are Gryffindor.
After a lovely warm morning and afternoon in the park, we retired pool side for late lunch and swimming. It wasn't super hot, but it was warm and it was nice to eat some fruit and salad! The pool chairs were nicely spaced out so although we didn't wear masks it felt fine. In the parks, masks were required except when stopped to eat or drink. Queues had markers (tape on the floor) indicating 6 feet/2 meters spacing. For the most part that was observed.
On Saturday morning I was refreshing my phone at 6:59 a.m. to attempt a Rise of the Resistance boarding pass for Star Wars Galaxy's Edge in Hollywood Studios. I got it and then went back to bed for an hour since we didn't need to arrive at the park until 9:30 for a 10 a.m. open.
While we were standing in line for the new Runaway Railway ride we got the great news that the AP had called the election for Biden! The ride was also fantastic.
That evening we returned to Hogsmeade to get a warm butter beer. I have now sampled all flavors of butter beer and rank this #1! (2-frozen drink; 3-ice cream; 4-cold drink; 5-fudge; 6-pudding). The virtual queue for Hagrid was already completely full for the day, so we just browsed in all the souvenir shops and road Hulk and then went back to the hotel to find dinner. Eating "real food" was the hardest part of the trip since we don't choose to dine indoors. At the hotel we ended up with carryout from the hotel restaurants two nights and we ate on the Margaritaville patio in City Walk the first night. I don't want to forget to mention we bought Voodoo Donuts that first night, too, for breakfast. They were sugary goodness. Because of them we never got a Simpsons big pink donut.
Sunday we started the day at Pandora and ended it in Asia. Animal Kingdom might be my favorite park. Especially when we go for multiple days in the same year and have our fill of rides and shows so spend more time to explore the nooks and crannies. This day the Flights of Wonder bird show (back after a hiatus) was particularly great. An owl flew low right over John's head! He was talking for a long time after about fearing he'd lose his eyeballs! The pumpkin spice Tree of Life cupcake held us over until dinner at the airport.
The only bummer of the trip was that after loading the plane we had to deplane for maintenance. The plane was full and it was hard being so close to people first while we waited on the plane, then as we unloaded, and finally as the waiting area had a lot of lazy mask wearing. Those few hours were the most nerve wracking, and we agreed we would spend our next long weekend (Thanksgiving) at home relaxing instead of fighting crowds. We'll see how we feel at Christmas!
I got a Disney souvenir mask, too!
