I'M GOING TO...Universal? TRIP REPORT!

Talked with hubby; he says it's up to me, but if we do spend a day at a WDW major park, he wants Epcot for the Flower and Garden Festival. (The new marketplace food booths are a plus.) Epcot is fine with me; I'm dying to visit the revamped Test Track and suck down some more Beverly.

I'm inclined to wait till we get there to buy tickets in case I decide the water parks, Downtown Disney, and resort dining are enough of a Disney fix. Single-day base tickets are $89 online. Does anyone know if they're more expensive at the gate? If it's just a few dollars' difference I would still wait; if it's more I might buy tickets now.

Thanks, JMUDukz (guess I know where you went to college, huh?).

So here is our latest plan for Disney days during our Universal vacation.

Saturday: arrive, dinner at Boma.

Sunday: Blizzard Beach (weather permitting, Downtown Disney if it's raining), counter service lunch, dinner at Cape May Cafe (new ADR). Cancelled the Chef Mickey's breakfast ADR so we can go to Blizzard Beach as early as possible.

Monday-Wednesday: Universal parks with sister and family, no detailed plans so far (more on that in a bit).

Thursday: Character breakfast at Cape May Cafe (new ADR), Downtown Disney (Blizzard Beach if it rained Sunday, the Cape May ADR is early enough to do both), dinner at Kouzzina. If I decide I can't let the week pass without visiting Epcot, we'll go there Thursday immediately after the Cape May breakfast ADR, cancel the Kouzzina dinner ADR, and skip Downtown Disney.

Friday: head for home.

The reason our Universal days are completely unscheduled, and why it's taken me this long to fully nail down the plans for our Disney days - sister and her family don't schedule. At all. Of course this was making me a little nervous - like most of you, when I plan a Disney vacation I have my days scheduled and my ADRs made well in advance of the trip. Sis and her crew will show up in Orlando and, each morning, decide what they want to do, and take their chances on where they're going to eat. (I guess this is easier to do at the Universal parks.) I've burned emails to them presenting my tentative schedule and asking about their plans so I can synch mine up with theirs, and...nothing. With less than a month to go, I decided I needed to nail down the Disney days to make sure hubby and I got to do everything we want to do Disney-wise.

Brief backstory so you don't have to scroll back to the beginning:

Sister and her family are HUUUUGE Harry Potter fans and love Universal Islands of Adventure. They made plans to go back this spring, invited us to join them, we said what the heck, it ain't Disney World but it will still be fun. Because it's mostly Universal we're staying at a non-Disney timeshare resort.

Hubby has never been to Universal, so that will be new for him. He loves thrill rides, so I think he'll enjoy the parks. I have motion sickness issues, so there isn't a whole lot at Universal that I can handle. I'd rather go to WDW, but the point of this trip is to hang out with sis and family. Fortunately we have some Disney fun included so I can get my Disney fix.

Now that the trip is just a week away, sis and family have gotten into planning mode and we have a pretty firm itinerary:

Saturday: hubby and I arrive, dinner ADR at Boma.

Sunday: sis and family arrive, we all go to Blizzard Beach (Downtown Disney if it rains), no firm dinner plans (cancelled Cape May ADR because I wasn't sure we'd have time to get back to the timeshare from Blizzard Beach, shower and change clothes, and get back to WDW and the Beach Club in time for our 7:00 ADR). Might cook in, might eat at an off-property restaurant.

Monday: Islands of Adventure, counter service lunch, ADR for all of us at Ohana.

Tuesday: Universal Studios, counter service lunch, dinner probably cooked in at the timeshare.

Wednesday: Islands of Adventure, counter service lunch, dinner probably cooked in at the timeshare.

Thursday: Cape May Cafe breakfast ADR for hubby and me, then we meet sis and family at Downtown Disney (Blizzard Beach if it rained Sunday). Sis and family leave late afternoon, hubby and I have a dinner ADR at Kouzzina.

Friday: hubby and I head for home.

And then I start planning our next REAL Disney vacation.

Yes, we're doing Ohana Monday evening. My vegan niece was outvoted by her mother (my sister). This dinner is supposed to be for sis and BIL's anniversary, so sis got the final vote. She did tell her daughter there would be no hard feelings if she preferred not to come along, but daughter chose to come anyway.

And we're back! Just got in this evening. So without further ado, here is the trip report!

Day 1 - Arrival Day. In the past we've always flown out of/into major airports. This time around, we checked the local airport, Harrisburg International (Pennsylvania), which qualifies as "international" only because of flights to Toronto. This airport is SMALL. Standing in the center of the airport, within the length of a football field I had the daily parking garage behind me, the ticket counters to my right, baggage claim to my left, and the nearest gates in front of me. Lines were all but nonexistant, even at security. Our airline's ticket counter wasn't open when we arrived - it was staffed only two hours prior to a flight. I think they have a total of twelve gates, all just a short walk from security. And visible from large windows at the end of the gate area, just beyond the end of the runway? Three Mile Island's cooling towers. No, I am not joking.

The flight was a little bumpy, but otherwise uneventful and on time. We flew into Sanford, which is larger than Harrisburg but still nowhere near as large as the airports we've used in the past (like Orlando, for example). Because of this, we got from the gate to baggage claim to the car rental counter and on the road in a matter of minutes.

This time we stayed at a timeshare off International Drive, which I can't recommend and won't name. (Just a few lowlights - the place showed its age and wasn't very well maintained. We had an in-unit washer/dryer, but I discovered the dryer didn't work at about 11:00 p.m. and had to hang my laundry from shower rods, coat hangers, and patio chairs to get it dry. We were supposed to get a midweek housekeeping visit to replenish consumables, change towels, remove trash and make beds, but the housekeeper left no new soaps or paper products, ignored the beds in the second bedroom, and removed a few used towels but didn't provide replacements.) We won't go back to that place. But we didn't know most of that when we checked in.

Dinner that night was at Boma, one of our favorite Disney restaurants. We arrived a good 15 minutes early, checked in, and were seated almost immediately. I sampled a few different salads, roasted root vegetables, cous cous with fruit, Durban chicken, beef, pork ribs, and salmon. I didn't have much room for dessert but managed a zebra dome, Kenyan coffee tart, cinnamon chocolate mouse, and panna cotta. We both left stuffed but happy.

We had a bit of an adventure on our way back to the timeshare. As you all know, the Disney folks make finding your way around the property incredibly easy with all the signs pointing the way to whichever park or resort you want to visit. Finding your way out is another matter (hubby calls it a "mousetrap" - once you're in you can't get out). So we ended up taking a wrong turn and driving through the Epcot parking lot gates before we finally found our way off property.

Thanks to the delicious but overabundant Boma dinner and a loud party in a nearby unit (I think they were in a different building, but I could still hear them - and this is another black mark against the resort for not enforcing the 10:00 p.m. quiet time), I had trouble sleeping that night. I can tell you when the party finally broke up (past 2:00 a.m.) because I was still awake. But no problem, I was on vacation and could sleep in if I wanted to.

Oh, yes - on the front of the envelope containing the resort information, it said "Welcome Home." Who do they think they're kidding?

Coming on day 2 - my sister and her family arrive.

Before I move on to Day 2, I forgot to mention the bed at our resort. Kristen, you would've loved it. It was much too soft for me, and the pillows (six on our bed alone, and as many more for the second bedroom and sleeper sofa) were huge and fluffy. I hated them

Day 2 - In spite of not sleeping well, I was up by 9:00 a.m. The relatives joined us before noon. And our plans immediately changed.

The family consisted of my sister, Lynn; her husband, Scott; her daughter, Kat; Kat's boyfriend/roommate, Ben; and everyone's housemate, Tim. All of them were operating on no more than four hours' sleep, and the 20-somethings got none at all, so our original plans to do Blizzard Beach got postponed till Thursday, which was just as well since the weather forecast for Thursday was better than Sunday. Their hotel rooms weren't ready, so most of them crashed at our timeshare for a couple of hours while Tim, hubby, and I went to Downtown Disney. We mostly strolled around, peeked into a shop or two, and braved the long line at Earl of Sandwich because I was determined to eat there this trip. And I have to say I would stand in that line again without any hesitation. I got the club sandwich (without the cheese), and while I can't say it was the best sandwich I've ever had (that would be any of several choices from the triple-digit menu at Roy's Place in Gaithersburg, Maryland, http://www.roysplacerestaurant.net/), it was awesome. EOS will be a must-visit on all future trips to WDW.

After lunch we headed back to the timeshare to rouse everyone from their naps, then it was back to Downtown Disney for a few hours at Disney Quest. This is probably the reason I made it through the trip without feeling cheated out of a real Disney World experience. Disney Quest ain't Magic Kingdom, but it is a lot of fun, and the Pirates of the Caribbean - Battle for Buccaneer Gold VR attraction easily makes my top 10 WDW attractions. Groups of up to five people man their own pirate ships and battle other pirates (and ghosts) for pirate treasure. Very interactive. Because we were seven people, we had to split into two groups. My group of three (Scott, Tim, and I) chose a ghost pilot so we could all man the cannons and made it to the second-highest ranking, Kings of the Caribbean. Dan's group (Dan, Lynn, Kat, and Ben) had Lynn as their pilot, and they made the top ranking, Masters of the High Seas! Dan and I had never done that well before, so I was quite proud of them.

The others did most of the other Disney Quest attractions while I stood by or played video games (motion sickness makes most VR rides impossible for me). If you've never visited Disney Quest and have the water parks and more option on your WDW pass, I highly recommend spending an evening there.

After Disney Quest the relatives checked into their hotel, then we all met up at a grocery store to pick up food for dinner back in the timeshare kitchen. This was more of a production than I'd anticipated - planning meals for seven people ain't easy, especially when one is vegan, another is Paleo, and everyone has their own particular likes and dislikes. By the time we'd shopped and cooked, dinner ended up being past 10:00 p.m. and I confess I was not looking forward to future evenings of cooking in.

Dan and I inherited a roommate that evening. The relatives had been told they could get a rollaway bed in one of their rooms for Tim, but when they checked in learned that it would cost extra. Since we had a second bedroom and bathroom, we had no problem with letting Tim use it to save them a little money.

Coming on day 3 - Universal Studios, our Ohana reservation, and a huge change of plans.

While playing video games at Disney Quest, I passed by a child's fire truck ride and commented that there was no way I could get into it.

Challenge accepted!

This is my BIL Scott after he successfully wedged himself into the thing.

I tried the raft ride once and had to close my eyes halfway through because it was making me queasy.

But IMO most people with motion sickness issues would be able to handle the POC Battle for Buccaneer Gold ride. So give it a try if you visit Disney Quest on your next visit.