Orlando Riviera Extravaganza - Nov 2022 - Nicole, Vista Cay, and Universal
For the rest of this trip report, I'm going to condense the remaining 5 days into this last post, which is no small feat, so forgive me if it's long. In this portion, we ride out a tropical storm/hurricane, and enjoy two days at Universal.
Wednesday
Most things are closing later in the day. Nicole is meant to make landfall near Port St Lucie as a hurricane in the wee hours of the next morning, but the rain, wind, and dreariness are already intensifying. The eye should pass over Orlando around 7 AM Thursday.
At the Diner, a nearby restaurant, is still open this morning, so we go there for breakfast around 9:00. It's a really good place, great food, good portions, great service despite a sign on the door apologizing that not all staff could make it in. I would recommend it.
The Lyft for my mom arrived at the VRBO around 11:00 and she headed off to the airport while I stuck by my phone worried that her flight might be delayed and then canceled. After she left, the husband headed to the conference center to see what was going on. He was there to attend IT Nation, which is where he would be from early morning to after midnight most days - the conference was not impacted by the storm. I took a walk around the resort to check out the clubhouse and other pools.
Vista Cay has two pool complexes (both with a large pool and, a hot tub, and changing rooms, and one with a pool bar), and a clubhouse with a game room, a gym, and a shop - all of which, except for the game room, were closed Wednesday and Thursday.
Back at home base after a blustery walk, I filled a pitcher and kettle with water just in case we lost power and needed water for drinking or flushing. By the afternoon, the rain was torrential, and I had settled in to a long Hell's Kitchen marathon on the TV, totally bored at being stuck in the rental. The approaching storm even made my head and throat hurt that night (I felt better by morning).
Early Wednesday, a hurricane may have been coming, but people were still in the pool
Disney's Storm Preparedness
Although I wasn't there anymore, I did keep up with Disney's announcements. Here's what they did for Nicole:
Closed all parks early on Wednesday
Opened all parks late on Thursday, in a phased approach
Relocated guests who were staying at Fort Wilderness Campground and the Saratoga Springs Treehouses to other resorts for the duration of the storm
All announcements for Disney's preparedness plans were made via the Genie app.
Thursday
The storm came through during the night and early morning. My husband walked from and back to his conference in what was likely the height of it, even though Orlando police were warning not to venture outside until at least noon on Thursday. I slept through it, though apparently the hall to our unit had become a wind tunnel during the night and all sorts of benches were blown all over the place in there. In the aftermath, there were leaves and palm branches everywhere, but it wasn't terrible.
Around 3:30 PM, the rain had mostly stopped, and things were started to reopen, so my daughter and I ventured out to the Orlando International Premium Outlets. My goal was to go to the Disney Character Warehouse and be amazed at the bargains, possibly filling a suitcase with merch, but while there were good deals, nothing there really caught my eye, and it was insanely crowded. We moved on and explored some other stores, ending our trip at a Fish Spa, which is a place where fish nibble on your feet to "exfoliate" them. We'd never seen one before, so it was a fun mother/daughter thing to do. We giggled most of the time.
We ended our day at Bahama Breeze, which was a restaurant across the street from the Outlets. Again, I recommend it. It was very quiet there, but the place was big and the food was excellent. My kiddo had lemonade, a chicken sandwich, and key lime pie. I had a pinot noir, coconut shrimp, and broccoli. It was nice to be eating something other than cold cuts, cold veg, and cheese from the VRBO fridge.
Bahama Breeze is a good place I recommend!
It was humid and misty. We had a really nice Lyft driver on the way back to the VRBO who talked about the UK with us. It was nice enough to go to the pool, but when I went to check it out that night, it was still closed.
Friday
Finally, we were able to go to Universal. The storm did put a minor wrench in my plans because I had gotten a Buy 2 Days, Get 2 Days Free deal for tickets, so the plan had been to go at least Weds night, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but that was not to be. I hadn't been to Universal in almost 30 years so had no idea what to expect, and my daughter and husband had never been, so given our limited time, the plan was not to have a plan and to just see where the day took us.
Diagon Alley at Universal Studios
Daughter really wanted to do Harry Potter things. Her number 1 wish was to get a wand, so that was our only goal of the day. We honestly didn't do much else because it was Veteran's Day and the crowds, despite the storm, were incredible. I have a lot to say about Universal that I'll save for another post, both good and bad. But to summarize my thoughts:
It's changed a lot, for the better, in 30 years
It's now legit competition for Disney, though still aims toward a different crowd
We had a great time there, despite crowds
There were a few frustrations in how they ran things
Here's a quick rundown of what we did on Friday, just daughter and I, which wasn't much since we were mostly looking around, exploring, and daughter was afraid to go on rides since I couldn't tell her which were scary and which weren't like I can at Disney.
Rode ET (15 min wait)
Snacked in Springfield
Saw Animals on Stage at 11:15
Watched Beedle the Bard in Diagon Alley
Shopped for a Wand at Ollivander's (literally body to body packed), then used the wand a couple times
Got late lunch at Richter's Burger Co. (insanely long wait even with mobile order)
Shopped for candy
Watched the Horror Make-Up Show (daughter's favorite)
Walked to Islands of Adventure to have a look around
Shopped (and over-indulged) at Honeyduke's
Checked out the Jurassic Park Discovery center and marveled at the people brave enough to ride the Velocicoaster
The fantastic selection at Honeyduke's
We left around 5:30, just feeling done with the crowds. There was a lot my daughter wanted to do but also wanted to wait for her dad to join us to do since he's a big Simpsons and Men in Black fan. She promised to be willing to ride more rides the next day.
We ordered Grubhub for dinner from a Middle Eastern/Mexican fusion place. My kebab bowl was delicious, and I got a little hot tub time in. Met a family at the pool who was heading back to EPCOT still that night, so we talked a little Disney. I'm always up for talking Disney.
Saturday
We don't know why Universal for some reason has the gorgeous house that looks like it's from Encanto, and yet.... snapped this pic near the park exit. The skies were perfect for it.
Our last full day, and the one day the husband could join us. We got to Universal earlier on this day, in time for opening. This time, we entered Islands of Adventure first. I had hoped to "rope drop" Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure, but between holiday weekend crowds and the fact that my husband's ticket, bought at the last minute, did not include early entry, it was just not going to be possible, so we decided to ride whatever was convenient. I'm pretty impressed with what we were able to ride with so little planning, and without Express Passes, though. Here's what we did:
Spiderman (no wait, super fun ride - Husband's favorite - Wish we did it again)
Kong (no wait)
Jurassic Park River Adventure (no wait, daughter's favorite ride of the day. I have to say I LOVE the free lockers. Disneyland needs to take a clue for their version of Splash Mountain)
Watched the crazy people on the Velocicoaster
Took the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley (it was around 10:30, so the line was now about 20-30 minutes, which was still much better than the day before)
Tried both kinds of Butterbeer while sitting on the steps to watch the dragon atop Gringott's (warm butterbeer is better than frozen)
Cast some more spells with the wand
Rode Men In Black: Alien Adventure (no wait since we caught it just coming up from a delayed opening due to technical issues)
Lunch at Moe's Tavern (long wait again for food, despite mobile ordering. A flaming Moe was enjoyed by the husband who was getting really into the specialty drinks scene)
Watched the Bourne Stunt Spectacular (Husband was impressed. I was underwhelmed.)
Daughter insisted we see the Horror Make-Up Show again (Look, it's a great show)
Husband and daughter got ice creams at Schwab's
Watched the Blues Brothers do their Christmas set
Saw a bunch of Christmas parade preparations taking place (but did not watch the parade as it interfered with our dinner reservation)
Rode Jimmy Fallon's Race Through the Streets of New York (My favorite. It was fun and funny and the queue for this ride is what all queues should be. Just really well planned out.)
4:30 reservation at Margaritaville for dinner
After dinner, we could have returned to the parks, but we did not. We were pretty tired and there was really only one ride we wished we could've ridden that we didn't (aside from Hagrid's) and that was the Minion ride, which was pulling 40+ minute waits all day (and still was). I would say for a single day of riding at Universal, we did really well. Our strategy to ride early, and then focus on shows after lunch was one that I would recommend because shows seldom build a queue that gets any longer than the show itself. But a full day in the parks without a rest in the middle is still pretty exhausting, so by early evening, we were done for.
Took a Lyft back to our VRBO. Husband and I returned to the hot tub with some wine in tumblers (shhhhh, don't tell anyone).
Sunday
Sunday was departure day for us. We woke up around 6:30ish to finish packing and cleaning up the VRBO. People complain sometimes about the lists VRBOs leave you, but the cleanup we've always been asked to do is never terrible. Lock the doors, close the windows, return the clubhouse key to where it was, set the thermostat, take out trash, remove linens from the beds, and pile your dirty towels together. No big deal. While we cleaned, we watched the Weird Al Yankovich Story on Roku.
Got to MCO by 8:30 AM for an 11ish flight. Had time to get breakfast. Flights home were smooth. The Detroit flight was once again delayed 20 minutes because the plane wasn't there, but it wasn't a big deal.
Hogwarts at Universal Islands of Adventure
Final thoughts:
Tropical storms aren't that scary, but they do put a wrench in plans
Don't wait until you are hangry to find food at Universal since it takes a long time to get it
Vista Cay is a really decent VRBO resort for the price. I would gladly stay here again. We're already talking about next year since it's likely my husband will go to the same conference again.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is worth seeing, and is amazingly detailed, but daughter agrees she doesn't need to do it again. She and I are Disney through and through. Husband, on the other hand, found Universal more his speed and would be mad if he can't ever have another butterbeer.
Disney's Riviera Resort is the right amount of intimate and luxurious. I'm so lucky we got to stay there. It was a dream.
Walt Disney World cast members were a huge improvement over the cast members I experienced the prior year at Disneyland. I'm sure there are multiple factors, but I was truly impressed by all the cast members on this trip.
I know it's controversial and deserves its own post, but my experience with Genie+, Lightning Lane, and Individual Lightning Lane was fantastic. With a little knowledge on how to use the system to your advantage, lines were not a thing I had to worry about, ever, unless I chose to. I realize, however, the cost is a turnoff, but in my time=money equation, I would say it's worth it.
The Magic Band+ on the other hand was pretty, but overall not really worth it. Sure the lights were cute, and waving at the golden statues was amusing for a bit, but these are just diversions and not really necessary to enjoy Disney World.
Food & Wine was honestly hard to enjoy with the crowds it drew. I miss the days of less crowded EPCOT festivals. And I think I prefer the Festival of the Arts.
Using Lyft to get around concerned me at first as I thought it would be a huge inconvenience over renting a car, but truly, it was lovely. Rides always arrived within 5-10 minutes and it was fantastic.
The SKYLINER is so much better than I imagined. The value of having a smaller, quieter cabin, and a constantly loading transportation system can't be overestimated. I think this is the future monorail.
It was easy to do keto at Walt Disney World. Not so much at Universal. More on this later.
Mother daughter time (in both directions - both the time I spent with my mother and the time I spent with my daughter) is always worth it.
As I sit here in the aftermath of a blizzard, I can't wait until my next trip to Orlando. I hope you enjoyed this trip report. Until next time...
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