A mini PTR for my birthday weekend getaway to Universal Orlando - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
A mini PTR for my birthday weekend getaway to Universal Orlando
I'm having a really blah day and I need these next two weeks to fly so I decided to start a little PTR of my birthday weekend Universal Orlando trip.
Here's how it REALLY started...
March of 2009 my fiance, Gary, and I took his two boys to Disney from a Tuesday to a Tuesday. We had oodles of fun, and I hadn't been to Disney since I was a kiddo so I was thrilled to be there. Within the month after our vacation, we got engaged, bought two adorable kitties, Karma and Bonsai (sisters), and then proceeded to fall into the unemployment blues. Money wasn't a terrible issue, but lack of work was down right depressing. BACKSTORY SENTENCE: Gary lost his job the day before we left for Disney.
Last year it was the beginning of June and Gary called me to ask how much credit we had available on the credit card... I told him and he continued to tell me that he just found really good flight prices through JetBlue to go to Orlando on my birthday weekend. Sweet! I then went online and started researching what hotel we would want to stay at and ticket prices. It all fit together! Gary made a quick phone call to his travel agent (after already booking the flights) and we were all set with a Friday to Monday stay at the Hard Rock Hotel with Multi-Park Passes for our entire stay! Oh, and a shuttle to get us from the airport to the hotel of course
We left bright and early on that Friday July morning, and hit about everything in Universal Studios that afternoon. Okay not about everything, we did the entire park. We did the entire Islands of Adventure Park the following day. It was perfect. Having the Express Pass, staying in luxury. We were living the life
This year, I decided to have my revenge on the business that had let Gary go the day before our Disney trip and then RE-HIRED him in October of 2009... and I booked another Disney trip for the SAME week as we went the previous year. That's where my Most Magical Moments TR comes in
So earlier THIS week, Gary sends me an email that says that JetBlue is having special $10 pricing for flights from SYR to JFK for the weekend. Well that could be cool because we have some friends down that way and a weekend trip to the city would be fun. Well it didn't work out... but it DID get me curious...
I proceeded to change my destination from JFK to MCO and change the dates from June 19th to July 2nd...
Less than 12 hours later it was booked, and we're having a repeat travel year and going back to Universal for my birthday weekend again!!
Who's Going?
Me - Melissa (23, turning 24 in two weeks!) I'm a Document Control Coordinator for a medical device company and I LOATHE it here. I'm currently looking for other opportunities
Fiance - Gary (32) He's a morning radio show host for the local top 40's radio station and he is my rock!
When?
July 2nd - July 5th
Where?
Universal Orlando
Staying at?
Loew's Portofino Bay Hotel
Add-ons?
We've scheduled a Mears shuttle for airport transportation.
We also picked up Meal Deal passes for two of the days we'll be there.
Why?
To celebrate my birthday and all the wonderful things to come in the year of 24! Universal, Disney, Jamaica, and getting married!
Up Next: More Details... Universal is much simpler than Disney unfortunately
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Great start Melissa? How didyoulikeHrH? We stayed there in 2001 and loved it. I have friends who have stayed at PBH and loved it. It'sabeautiful hotel. Looking foward to more please.
Great start Melissa? How didyoulikeHrH? We stayed there in 2001 and loved it. I have friends who have stayed at PBH and loved it. It'sabeautiful hotel. Looking foward to more please.
We didn't have an awesome view when we went last year, but the room was phenomenal! Loved the layout! And we tried to use the short walkway to the parks, but it was REALLY hot so we ended up getting those biker people with the carriages for like $5 each way.
The only complaint that we had was that we wanted to try the hookah bar at HRH and the service was terrible. We couldn't get anyone to assist us, and they told us that they were out of hookah's to give us after they had just given one to a group of kids that I'm certain were under 18. They "found" one for us and it didn't even work.
I also stayed at HRH when I was in high school and went to Universal with my parents. My mom got some deal and we were able to stay in Club level for a few days, and then we switched to a regular room. Club level wasn't much of anything to me back then, but I'm sure I would love it today!
Our first choice would have been Hard Rock if it was available. I don't know if it was because I got this three night special, or if Hard Rock and Royal Pacific are just completely booked. Gary actually was imagining ourselves at Hard Rock when we were talking about it... then I had to break it to him that it wasn't available!
Because it's Universal, I can't really tell you all of my exciting ADRs or anything because there really aren't any. After I booked the trip, there wasn't much else for me to do! Well... other than laundry and start thinking about what I want to bring...
Here's my full itinerary anyway!
Thursday, July 1st is my birthday. I'll be a big girl now and turn 24 and celebrate it with whoever shows up to Saranac Thursday. I'll only drink liquor and none of that beer stuff. It causes me some fierce headaches. I'll probably demand McDonald's on the way home. I'll hopefully have packed our one or two carry-ons by this time so I won't have to worry about them. Friday, July 2nd I've already taken off from work. I'll sleep in really long and sleep off whatever hangover I may have. If I need to pack/finish packing, that will get done this morning. Gary will be at work from 5am-1pm. As soon as he gets out, he'll come pick me and our luggage up and we'll drive the 45 minutes to Syracuse. We'll probably snack in the car on the way out there on protein bars and such. We'll go through security and chill at our gate. Our JetBlue flight leaves SYR at 4:40pm and gets us to MCO at 7:29pm. Because we did this so last minute, and were trying to be kind of cheap, the only seats available on this flight out weren't together... unless you chose the Extra Leg Room seats which were $25 extra per flight leg (?? whatever that means..) I didn't want to chance having to pay extra, so we each got a window seat in the same row. We won't be sitting together, but Gary will probably be sleeping anyway, and I'll either be sucking on ice to get rid of my hangover, watching some JetBlue satellite, or listening to my iTouch <3
Okay so we land, we get off the plane... tram... Mears check in... And we wait for the shuttle... yada yada... We get to the hotel. We'll check in, drop off our stuff in our room, and then catch the next bus or boat to CityWalk. We decided that it would be in our best interest to go to the electronic kiosks and get all of our park tickets on our arrival night, including all of our Meal Deal tickets, even though we won't be visiting a park tonight because we'll be getting in pretty late.
I haven't made a reservation, but we are only two people, so we're going to do a walk-up for Bubba Gump's for dinner. My choice. I love it here. I've been to this location twice before, and the location in NYC twice also. This is the only real sit-down restaurant we're planning on going to. Once dinner is over, we'll see how we feel and what time it is, and possibly go over to see some Dueling Pianists at Pat O'Brian's. We stopped here last year and loved it too!
The next morning we'll be up VERY early. We're planning on either getting snacky breakfast items from CityWalk or a hotel store, or bringing a box of granola bars or muffins. We'll make Keurig coffee in our room Today we will get early admission into Islands of Adventure. Our first destination will be Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The only *must-do* without Express Pass. After we finish this, we'll probably take in Hogsmeade and then use our Express Pass to it's fullest at every single ride in the park <3 If Green Eggs and Ham is open, we'll have to eat there at some point as they have NEVER been open when I've gone to Universal before...
We'll be using a Meal Deal wristband today, which I have figured out will only be worth it if we each eat at least twice a day in the park. No big deal, early lunch, early dinner, late night dinner. We'll make it worth it! My favorite Meal Deal location in this park is Comic Strip Cafe, but I also want to try Burger Digs. Gary also might want to splurge and get a sammich from Blondie's. If I get my Green Eggs and Ham, he can have his Dagwood
The park closes at 10 tonight, so we will then make our way over to CityWalk, maybe do some dancing at the groove. Maybe some Pat O'Brian's. Maybe I'll show off my singing skills at Rising Star! Who knows!! We're planning on going out and having a good time this evening though!!
Sunday Morning, July 4th, we'll sleep in. Whenever we get up, we'll go to Universal Studios and our first destination will be Rip Ride Rockit. After we get that out of the way, we'll enjoy everything else there is to offer! My guess is that we'll do lots of The Mummy, The Simpsons, and watch the shows <3 Maybe we'll take an afternoon break...
As far as Meal Deal goes, I really love two places here! Mel's Drive-In (cause my nickname is Mel and I love burgers and fries ) and Louie's Italian Restaurant. Those will be my two choices but I also want to try the International Food place as I also love Asian cuisine.
This evening we'll take in the spectacular 4th of July fireworks at Universal Studios and just melt as our vacation will be coming to an end... We'll get to bed whenever we do this evening, making sure that all of our things are packed and ready to go for the morning.
Gary and I get July 5th off in observance of the 4th. Our shuttle will get to the hotel around 5am is what I'm guessing, and we'll probably do kiosk check in, and then make our way through security and to our gate. Our flight leaves MCO at 8:00am and gets into JFK at 10:26am. We'll probably grab a quick lunch, possibly one of the "best cupcakes ever", and then our next flight leaves JFK at 12:40pm and gets into SYR at 1:56pm. My hope is to possibly hit up Dinosaur BBQ and take it home for dinner. It might help me to decide on if I want to keep Dino BBQ for my catering services for my wedding (an update soon to come in my Destination Wedding PTR!).
Getting back early will be nice. It'll give us plenty of time to settle back into the home-scene, and get us ready for the workday on Tuesday...
Ya know, I really love writing PTRs and TRs, but I ESPECIALLY HATE having to write about the end of them!!!
Very smart to hit the ticket kiosks the day before you plan to visit the parks. That will save you time. And - I'd plan to be at the gate of IOA well before opening time, because they often open the gates early. I've seen them open the gates 20-30 minutes early.
Also, try the Midway Grill in US - it's our favorite place to eat in US. Nathan's hot dogs and awesome fries!!
Oh you've just reminded me that I forgot to put Pat O's into our itinerary this fall. I had/have 2 favourite night-time entertainment spots in Orlando. One was Adventurer's Club (Kungaloosh! ) and one is the Dueling Piano Bar at Pat's.
Your trip looks awesome, your plans look great. Enjoy!
About This Page: 
*Melissa
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
it all started with a mouse
PassPorter Guide Author
Michelle - with my step sisters!
Today we will get early admission into Islands of Adventure. Our first destination will be Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The only *must-do* without Express Pass. After we finish this, we'll probably take in Hogsmeade and then use our Express Pass to it's fullest at every single ride in the park <3 If Green Eggs and Ham is open, we'll have to eat there at some point as they have NEVER been open when I've gone to Universal before...
I had/have 2 favourite night-time entertainment spots in Orlando. One was Adventurer's Club (Kungaloosh! 
) and one is the Dueling Piano Bar at Pat's.
Linear Mode
