Both the kids told my parents that the Universal trip was the best vacation they had ever been on, and I wondered if maybe it was perspective, and that they appreciated it more because we hadn't taken a vacation in two years. But then I saw a commercial for a Disney cruise last night and I really started reflecting. (I don't think the allure of a cruise will ever mesh with me again. Just thinking about those people who were stuck in their cabins for months at the beginning of the pandemic makes me feel very claustrophobic, and that's not even a normal phobia of mine.)
So I was thinking about all the things that made this trip so special to me, and it might have been my favorite vacation we've been on too. It was just so....easy. Staying at the Portofino kept us away from the busier hotels and we legitimately never saw another person on our entire floor of the hotel. I occasionally heard a person when we were inside our room, but I never saw a single person. We did see people on the grounds walking around, but even then it was never crowded, not even at the main pool.
Another perk was the water taxi. It felt luxurious to not have to wait for busses and be able to walk right on the water taxi. Security checked your bags before you even boarded, making it so much faster than Disney's system of bag check once you're at the park. Gage and I missed the water taxi one morning and they told us it would be about 20 minutes because it had just left. So we chose to walk instead. It took us 11 minutes and we actually beat the people who were on the water taxi to the gates of the park. Having bag check already done, scanning your park ticket and getting your day started was such a breeze. And then leaving the parks in the evening was also so simple. We were used to the Disney busses, and at the end of the day you are exhausted and still have to wait up to an hour for a crammed bus. There were a few instances in the past where Owsley had fallen asleep on the concrete as we waited for a bus. We always got on the very next water taxi available.
I had read some discouraging reviews about how long wait times to order food were over the summer, but we never waited to order. In fact, the longest food line I waited in was when I was getting Gage some popcorn and a man in a hover round drove in front of me and people started lining up diagonally behind him, and I was pretty much ignored. We never had to search for an open table, and Universal did a great job at keeping things clean.
The rides themselves never had incredibly long wait times, but having those unlimited express passes that came with our hotel allowed us to basically walk on everything except Hagrid's and Velocicoaster. During our four park days we got to experience everything we wanted, multiple times.
We always came home from our Disney trips needing a few days to recuperate. This wasn't the case this trip. It felt much more relaxing and less stressful. We never saw any arguments between guests, or even any toddler meltdowns, which we would see a multitude of at Disney. In fact, I'd argue to say that I see more unhappy people at the 'Happiest Place on Earth' than we did at Universal.
Comments
Post a Comment