US/IoA Trip Report-- 6/5-6/7 at Royal Pacific-- Days Two and Three

[floridamom]

Day Two

We awoke early and sure enough it was pouring rain, courtesy of TS Andrea. Undeterred, we had a quick breakfast at the club lounge. The offerings included oatmeal, fresh fruit, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, cereal, donuts, breads, croissants and bagels.

Since there was no boat in sight, we decided to walk to IoA. Our trusty raincoats did keep the parts they covered dry-- too bad they weren't full length! But the girls were great-- we had known what to expect and there was no complaining-- everyone was too excited to see the WWoHP. Upon entering Hogsmeade, we went directly to Ollivander's and were the last family ushered in to that particular "showing." (Yay, no waiting outside in the rain!) A 13 yo girl was picked and it did not occur to our DDs to feel disappointed. (Double yay!) The show was well done, and afterward the girls each selected a wand at the shop next door.

Our next stop was the Forbidden Journey. We basically walked through up until the room where Harry, Hermione and Ron appear. From there the wait was about 5 minutes. Great ride, we all loved it.

Dragon Challenge and the Hippogriff were not running (Weather or too early-- not sure.) So we decided to depart IoA and walk over to US. It was still raining, of course. Once there we first visited Minion Mayhem-- very cute and a favorite of DD8. This was followed by the Mummy (first time for me--loved it), the Simpsons (not my favorite- I found the humor a bit disturbing, and I am someone who finds the Family Guy funny), Men in Black and E.T.

By now it was about time for some lunch, but since we were cold and wet we decided to go back to the hotel. But wait! Rip Ride Rocket, which had been down due to the weather, was now open. DD10 and I got in line while DH and DD8 got a snack. Unfortunately, the RRR express line wait took over 40 minutes. The posted regular wait time was 55 minutes-- no way that was true given what our wait was. It was a great ride, they just need to work out the kinks of managing Express, but then again maybe it was somehow weather-related. There also seemed to be many non-functioning seats in the different ride vehicles.

So back to RPH we trudged, not wanting to wait for a boat. By this time the winds had picked up considerably and rain was blowing sideways, so we were glad to be warm and dry. We spent the next couple of hours eating and resting while the storm blasted through.

Around 3:30 p.m. there looked to be a break in the weather, and from our room we could see the coasters were up and running again. DDs were ready to return to action. DH stated behind while the girls and I returned to IoA. We went to Dragon Challenge, which was still down, but the CMs said it would open any minute. In the meantime, I noticed that the FJ wait time was posted as 10 minutes What?!? I am guessing it had been down and just reopened. So off we went to ride for the second time that day. Bonus! It was neat noticing the details I had missed the first time around.

By the time we left FJ, Dragon Challenge was open and DD10 rode while DD8 and I waited. Then we all enjoyed a Butterbeer- YUM. (And I am not a cream soda fan.

During this afternoon jaunt, there was no rain -yippee! But we were tired and had plans to meet friends for dinner offsite, so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for that.

We had dinner at 4 Rivers BBQ (Longwood location). It is a favorite of ours that we hit each time we are in the Orlando area. A bit of a drive from the parks, but IMHO, well worth it. There is a sweet shop at that location with unbelievable desserts, and we lingered with our friends for a couple of hours. When we returned to the hotel, we thought we might check out the dive-in movie at the pool, but it didn't appear to be happening. The weather was improving, but not enough, I guess. It all worked out though, because both DDs were beat and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. We had considered doing another early entry morning the next day, but since we had gotten in our bonus FJ ride that afternoon, we figured we would "sleep in" instead. (Which for our girls means 7:30 a.m.)

Day Three

7 am rolled around and we awoke to ... sunshine! We took our time getting ready, had breakfast (same offerings in the club lounge as the day before) and decided to visit the Dr. Seuss area of IoA, which DD8 was nostalgic about from previous visits. We had secured a slightly later checkout of noon, but thought it would be better to go ahead and put our suitcase in the car before going to the park so we didn't have to rush back by a certain time.

Once at IoA, we rode Cat in the Hat (very spinny), the Caro-Seussel and Dudley Do-Right again (no raincoats this time!) We also did some shopping at both IoA and Citywalk (Margaritaville!) before catching a boat back to RPH. The weather continued to look promising, so we decided to spend a couple of hours at the pool--very relaxing.

We had packed a change of clothes, and after we were done we were able to use the very nice changing/locker room facilities adjacent to the fitness center. We ended up leaving the property around 4:00, stopped at the Premium Outlets (DDs love Vera Bradley) and had dinner at Bahama Breeze before returning home. It had been a great end to a very fun trip-- we managed to work around the weather and get three full vacation days into a two-night stay.

Next trip-- came home and booked just one night at the end of July at Portofino. RPH was great, but the AP rates were better at Portofino, plus we like to mix it up!

[DizneyFreak2002]

Sounds like a great trip despite the weather... I rode Cat in the Hat for the first time in 2011... Became an instant favorite... I think it is a cute, C ticket attraction...

[Mrs Bus Driver]

Nice trip report, haven't been to the one in fl yet but hope to someday.