The Royal Pacific

We took a break from our countries for a two day mini vacation on Monday and Tuesday. Our Universal Passes have about a month left on them, and we wanted to stay at a resort before they expired. The middle and end of March are like 8's and 9's on the crowd calendar, and the hotel prices sky rocket. So our choices were these next two weeks. We decided since we could see the weather for this week, and it was gorgeous (and totally swimming weather!), and since Tracy was avilable for a night to watch the doggies, that we would go then. 

We debated what hotel to stay at. We had done Cabana Bay when my cousin came to visit, but we wanted the rooms that came with the express passes, where you get to cut the line on nearly all the rides, so we were down to three choices. Ultimately, we've heard good things about all of them, so we went with the least expensive option, the Royal Pacific. It's like Universal's answer to Disney's Polynesian resort. 

I mean, you even get lei's when you check in! We arrived at noon, and thought we'd just be able to drop off our luggage, but our room was ready for us. 

We stayed on the 7th floor on the wing closest to the pool and the boat, which was lovely. 

The room was nice, nothing too fancy. But, they do let you have five per room, which is nice (some Disney rooms you can only have four). We did bring the air mattress for Hayden so we didn't have to pay for a rollaway, and it fit perfectly between the window and the bed. 

The bathroom was huge, which is always nice. Sharing tiny hotel bathrooms with four boys can be, lets just say, not what you might have in mind for a relaxing vacation. 

The view from our window was nice too. You could see the pool, some other Universal hotels, and Islands of Adventure off in the distance. 

When we called to book with the passholder rate, they said we could upgrade to club level for $90. That seemed like a lot, but they said you would have access to the Club level from the morning you got there, until the afternoon you checked out. I did some digging and decided it could cover two lunches, a dinner, snacks and drinks for the five of us. It seemed like a good deal, so we booked it. 

We dropped our stuff in the room and went three doors down to the Club. It was afternoon snacks time, so they didn't have a lot, or anything really special, but it was certainly enough for lunch for us. There were peanut butter and jellys, fruit, and pretzels and chips and such. 

We headed back down to the lobby and over to the kiosks to get our Express Passes. These were awesome, and they normally cost you $80 a day, unless you're staying at one of three Universal Resorts. The only rides excluded were mostly the big Harry Potter rides, but another perk was getting into Hogsmeade early during our stay, so we figured we'd go early to do those. 

After we got our passes we hopped on the boat, and we were the only ones there. I have to say as far as Disney vs. Universal on travel time to and from hotel rooms, Universal wins hand downs. I think it was like a 10 minute trip from our hotel room door to the turnstiles at either park. The boats were on point, and they only go to their designated resort, so it's SUPER fast compared to Disney. I realize they don't have as much land to cover, so there is that. But, we even had our bags checked at the hotel before we got on the boat, so once you got off, there was no fumbling with your stuff or dealing with security. It was LOVELY. (And it allowed us to go back and forth a whole slew of times. It's just not efficient to do that at Disney.) 

When we got into the park the waits weren't too bad (although it was supposed to be a 3 on the crowd calendar, and it was busy considering that). The express passes were also great, because for rides Hayden or I wanted to skip, we hardly had to wait for everyone else at all. 

Asa, Calib, and Peyton hit the Hulk, a big Raptor like coaster, and then met us at Suess Landing where we used our passes to skip the line at various attractions. That also meant Calib and Peyton couldn't wiggle out of things like the Cat in the Hat ride. 

Then we were off to Hogsmeade, where our passes got us on Dragons Challenge, and the Flight of the Hippogriff. All of our waits were under 10 minutes, which was awesome, and the boys loved it. Although, Calib said it was tough on his stomach going from ride to ride without hardly a break. 

We did do a little shopping too. Another perk of staying onsite was having the things we bought delivered back to the hotel. I wanted to get some things for their Harry Potter room, but I hated the idea of carrying those things around, so this was perfect. I did let Peyton pick out some things, including a chocolate frog at Honeydukes. 

We hit a few more rides at Islands of Adventure (the new Kong ride is fun- but I would never have done the 75 minutes wait time listed for it), we took the boat back to the hotel. 

The pool at the Royal Pacific was nice. It was big, and heated, but there is no waterslide. We had a good time floating in the tubes, and playing volleyball with the beach balls. 

After swimming we headed up for dinner at the club level. It changes every night, but we were there for Asian night. They had orange chicken and rice along with shrimp chips, and salad. Plus, all the usual things you find on club level like cheese and crackers and veggie and dip. 

Asa and I even got complimentary drinks! (I asked for just a little red wine, they'll give you as much as you'd like! )

We stopped by the room, and the beds had been turned down for us. 

But we weren't finished yet, we decided to hop on the boat and head back over to the parks. 

Universal Studios was open later, so we opted to head there. 

I'm sure sometimes you guys look at my pictures and think 'don't her kids ever get tired of her taking pictures.' The truth is, they totally do. Especially Calib. I try and explain I'm just documenting his childhood, and then he tells me to 'document this' and puts his hand in my picture. 

And then he gets out of pictures for a little bit. 

Anyway, we used our passes to get on a whole bunch of rides that evening. 

And when Hayden and I sat out, we had a minimal wait, and he had Poke stops to hit anyway, so he was entertained. 

We actually have never been in the Universal Parks at night, and going to Diagon Alley at night was on the must do list. It did not disappoint, though I thought maybe we'd have a short line for Escape from Gringotts (and even with 20 minutes till park closing it was a 45 minute wait). 

But we did get Butterbeers! And do some shopping. 

By the time we made our way around Simpson's land was empty. 

We got back in time for Evening Sweets: cookies, cupcakes, and various pie like desserts. 

Asa and I later wandered the hotel, and came back with a sushi treat for everyone to finish up the evening. 

We wore them all out, and they were asleep by 11:30, a pretty good time for them! 

The next morning we were up bright and early at 6:45, so we could go to the early hours for Harry Potter. The club level had a continental breakfast with cereals, pastries, bagels (and meat and cheese), fruit, juices, and coffee. Calib and Peyton skipped it to stay in the room and shower and get ready. When Asa, Hayden and I arrived back, Calib pretended to still be asleep, and when Peyton told us were were like 'Yea, we figured, we'll just go without him.' Then Calib jumped out of bed showered and ready for the day. He was slightly offended how quickly we bailed on the idea of him coming though. 

They let us have a late checkout, so we figured we would go into the park for a few hours, then come back to pack up. Since breakfast would be over by then, I brought back a plate of pastries in case Peyton and Calib wanted anything then. 

There were more people on the boat that morning, but it still wasn't all that crowded, which probably accounted for the cheaper hotel rate. 

One part of Harry Potter always opens early for hotel guests, either Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure, or Diagon Alley at Universal Studios. We were there for the Hogsmeade early open. It was kind of amazing to walk through with hardly anybody there, usually the place is packed, and it's hard to get a picture by the Hogwarts Express train, but not when you're there at 8 AM! 

We got in line right away for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, it was one of the few places our express passes were not accepted, and it's usually a huge line. We waited about 15 minutes. 

And by 'we', I mean we all went through the line (I mean it's like you're walking through Hogwarts! You get to go into Dumbledore's office and Ron makes it snow on you!), but Hayden and I bailed at the end. It's a common occurrence, because the line is so cool, they have a place that dumps you off if you were just there to see Hogwarts, and the rest of your party can go on to ride the ride. We just amused ourselves in the gift shop while we waited a few minutes. 

Diagon Alley might not have been open early, but we made sure to be the first people on the Hogwarts Express that morning. It takes you from one park to the other (so you have to have a park to park ticket- but they make it seem like you're using the ticket as your ticket on the train, which is kind of cool). 

We were there when the first train of the day came into the station. 

By the time we got over to Diagon Alley, it was just a few minutes after 9, when the park opened, so it was also pretty empty. We got to ride Escape from Gringotts (my favorite!) with a little wait. Peyton even puts that ride up there as a favorite, and he's a roller coaster guy (which this is not), so you know it's a great trip. 

We also took advantage of the early morning and took our picture with the Knight Bus parked outside King Cross Station. Usually there's a huge line, but we walked right up. 

In fact the whole park was pretty empty, so as we made our way out, we stopped for a few rides. 

The new Tonight Show ride is opening in April, but the store is already open. While Peyton, Asa and Calib went on the Rip Ride Rocket for the third time, Hayden and I checked it out. It was a fun little place, they had classroom instruments.. 

...and Hashtag the Panada! The little stuffed ones even play the music. Hayden loved it. 

It was around 10:30, so we decided it was time to head back to the hotel to pack up. 

We picked up our package from the front desk of all the stuff we had bought the day before. I finally got the Platform 9 3/4 sign I wanted to complete their brick wall and luggage carts. 

We hung out for awhile, the boys ate the pastries I had brought back, and we packed up. Hayden and Peyton took in the view one more time while Asa and Calib ran stuff down to the car. 

Even though we were checked out, we still had access to the resort, and our express passes for the day. Plus they told us our keycard would work to get us up to the Club Lounge until three. So we spent the afternoon at the pool. We all got sunburnt, but I think we spent nearly two hours just lounging, floating, and playing some more beach volleyball. 

We had the club lounge for the light lunch, but the boys are always into having Nachos, and they thought it was cool we could order them from our pool chairs. So we obliged. 

After swimming though, we did hit the club lounge one more time for some drinks, snacks, and PB&Js. 

We had to refuel for one more trip back into the park. This time we started at Universal Studios.

We did some rides as a family, but Peyton and I sat out Transformers, and while we were waiting the parade just happened to come back. I teased Peyton about the Dora float, since he's been the loser of Duolingo several times and has had to watch Dora as his 'punishment'. 

The parade was TINY, and it stops, so we caught up to it several times. Small as it might be, it was cute, and Hayden seemed to enjoy it while we waited for everyone else to ride the Mummy. 

We did tell Hayden he could use the rest of his birthday money and we'd go halvsies on a wand with him at Oliveranders. He hadn't gotten one before, and we're not sure when we will be back. We aren't renewing the passes right away, at least so it will probably be awhile. Peyton was really sad about this, so I finally broke down and let him pick one for this birthday. Hopefully he forgets about it between now and then, but somehow I doubt it. 

In case you aren't familiar, at Olivanders, you can buy the wand of pretty much any Harry Potter character. Hayden chose Luna Lovegood's wand. 

We wanted to ride the Hogwarts Express one more time (in the opposite direction that we did in the morning, since they are different trips depending on where you're heading), so we hopped on one more time at platform 9 3/4. 

We made our way through Islands of Adventure, hitting some more rides. The Express Passes were so awesome, whenever we get passes again, I'd love to stay and get them again. We went on virtually every ride in the park, multiple times. I would never pay $80 a piece for them, but when they come with the room, it's an awesome perk. 

We did tell the boys we would take them out for dinner on the second night, since we didn't have access to the club anymore, so to Cowfish we went. 

They've added some things to the menu since the last time we were there, but thankfully the Parmesan truffle fries and the PB (and B) & J milkshake were still on the menu. 

Calib and I always get the Peanut Butter and Banana and Jelly milkshake. Hayden got cookies and cream, and Peyton got this crazy lemon and tarragon milkshake. He said it was the best milkshake he ever had, but I have to admit, I was a little weirded out by the  tarragon. 

For our dinners, Asa got some crazy new burger with chorizo and black beans, and Calib got the hillbilly sushi, which is pulled pork instead of the usual fish. 

Hayden, Peyton and I all got Bento boxes. They give you the most variety, and as much as I always look at the menu like I'm going to order something different, I never do. Peyton this time ordered double edamame, and then ate them all. Cowfish is like his favorite place to eat on the planet, so he was one happy kid. 

The car was still parked at the hotel, so after dinner, we had to take one last boat ride. Again, we're lucky they were so efficient, or we never would have been able to come and go so much! 

That's it for our two days at the Royal Pacific. We all had an awesome time, and felt decompressed and relaxed. I'm super glad we were able to have this trip before our passes expire. I'm sure we'll get them again sometime, I just don't know when that'll be. We all agree going in the summer isn't so great anyway, at least at Disney we can break up the heat with a water park. So we'll revisit the idea in the fall. 

Oh, and for those of you wondering, Peyton's chocolate frog came with a Dumbledore card. I'm not sure if they have different ones, or if he just got lucky, but that was the one he wanted, so he was pretty happy. 

That's it from here. It's been a super busy day. Asa was in the office, but I got tons of work and errands done, while managing everyone's school work. And finally the blog is all up to date. If you've missed some of our last countries, and our president's day fun, you can page back to check those out. 

Next Up: More Countries and Religion Week, and I think on our 'Weekend' a Disney trip!