Wednesday, February 27th - Last Day

I had packed up a few things the night before and mainly had to place everything in my suitcase.  I was feeling rested and much better so once I had everything ready to go, I put the Do Not Disturb keycard in my door slot and went down to breakfast.  This morning was our wrap up session and we had a big square of tables set up in a private room.  We had been running a few contests during the training and the various winners were announced and great prizes awarded!  Then Amy, who is in charge of our training, handed out our specialist certificates and some cute take-home gifts with a Universal theme.  Then she announced that we were again, for the 3rd year in a row, the Universal Agency of the Year!  After breakfast, we took some pictures with our award and our gifts.  Most of us said our goodbyes here and everyone was going their various ways, some home, some on to Disney.

Shannon had arranged some transportation for those of us going on to Disney. We had a couple of us getting off at Pop Century and a couple of us getting off at Wilderness Lodge.  Once I got let off at Pop Century, I took my luggage over to the airline check in and had it sent on to the airport for my flight which wasn't until 7:10.  Then I had to have my Magical Express dates changed from Feb 24th to Feb 27th; they just had to verify that I never used my return on the 24th and I was all set!

It was a nice and warm day, not too hot so I thought I would just sit near the pool, get a glass of ice water and enjoy the atmosphere and weather.  NOTE TO SELF: even though there is a breeze and you do not LOOK red, you are burning!  I sat out there for about an hour and a half, listening to the trivia pool games and actually learned quite alot with some of their questions! It seems like everyone was having fun.

my view from my chair

I went inside to get a little bit of lunch; got a burger and pasta salad with a lemonade.  The food court was very empty of people so I had to wait for a fresh burger. Afterwards, I walked in to the gift shop to spend some gift cards but really did not see anything in there I wanted; I will save them where I have a better selection.  Before too long, I went outside near the Magical Express pick up area and waited the last half hour. One bus came but it was the one before me.  Then I saw a family who had missed their scheduled bus get put on a bus which, in turn, bumped a whole family on to the next bus.  They took it surprisingly well.  While they waited, their kids decided it was cute to make paper airplanes out of park maps and were throwing and flying them all over the waiting area, landing in the bus lanes, up in the fans, annoying everyone around them with the parents saying nothing.  One of their kids even started climbing on the back of the bench I was sitting. I turned around and gave her a  REALLY? look and the dad said to stop doing that. I just kept praying they were not on my flight! From the sounds of their  New Yawk accent, they were not.

At the airport, everything went very smooth. Security was about 15 minutes with no issues.  I was shocked to see in the bathroom, when I looked in the mirror, all I could see was the whites of my eyes!  I broke my number one vacation rule and did not have on enough sunscreen! I am always so careful but I should have reapplied something when near the pool. The worse part is, I look about 10 years OLDER!  I have even stayed in all day today applying moisturizers and aloe vera gel. When Joe picked me up he was calling me Pocohantas!  My eyes are even puffy. I only have myself to blame but I was tired and the warmth felt so good and I wanted to soak it up while I had the chance. STUPID DONNA, lol

Saw a cute poodle service dog while waiting to board.  The plane was empty towards the back so I had a whole row to myself!  I got some ice water and then dozed off. When I got off the people mover in Pittsburgh, there was Joe and Jake waiting for me with Jake reminding me that we leave for Disney exactly one month from this day.

So another trip has come to an end and it was a great one for so many reasons!  Everything went so well, every one of my fellow agents are so nice and helpful.  It is great to share what works for us and to learn what works for others.  I absolutely love Universal Studios Florida!  I can't wait to go back there again! You learn so much more actually experiencing things for yourself. I am so thankful for the opportunity!

As I sat on the Magical Express bus, I looked out my window and saw this message.

Tuesday - February26th

I literally have to look at a calendar because I forget it is February!!!

This day we are scheduled to tour each hotel, its rooms and amenities.   I am thoroughly impressed with each one of these resorts and what they have to offer.  They are all 4 DIAMOND resorts!  We started with our resort we are staying at Portofino Bay.  We already knew we had the biggest rooms of the 3 hotels, they are massive!  If you love pillows, you will love this place!

We passed through the lobby and piazza area, just beautiful!

We roamed around little street areas and saw the main pool and the quiet pool areas. I absolutely LOVED the cabanas!

Quiet Pool

We made our way back out to the Main Piazza and walked back towards the main pool area.

This is where most of the restaurants are located, indoor and outdoor

zero entry main pool

We then made our way down to the Mandara Spa which is huge!  There was also an exercise/workout area down here.

After we left the spa, we were shown some rooms with an adjoining kid suite. This was a regular room with a King bed and the ajoining room had two small beds and their own table. The theming was adorable!

We then moved on to Hotel Royal Pacific.  It reminded me a little bit of the Polynesian but seems alot bigger and newer, absolutely beautiful gardens!

I loved how spread out everything seemed here. The restaurants are huge. This resort fills up quick because it is the lowest priced on site hotel of the 3 but I think it is just beautiful and great for families!

We checked out the pool area which looked so inviting!

view of pool from above

We got to see one of the rooms; they are considerably smaller that Portofino but fine for a family of 4.

this is the view from the room above

We made our way downstairs to check out the pool closer and to see some of the restaurants.

waiting for the restaurant to open, lol

beautiful pool

This restaurant downstairs has a great feature.  They have a separate room dedicated to families with small children. The parents have their own tables in the corners, the kids have a place to play and even their own kid-sized buffet!

Our last hotel of the site tour was The Hard Rock Hotel.  You got a different vibe (pun intended) the minute you walked in the door. There was memorabilia everywhere you looked. The expansive lobby area was loaded with seats, lounges....almost like mini living rooms including a movie screen showing a movie.  Our guide told us they have concerts here 10 times a year for a great price....yes, right here in the lobby. This is a great hotel for music-loving teens and young-at-heart parents who don't mind it getting a little loud from time to time.  You could spend hours just checking out the walls of memorabilia, even the bathroom was cool!

one of the check in areas

view from the room below

huge bathroom

check out the sunglasses on the fountain

Our lunch was in a private room downstairs and took place in conjunction with a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line training session.  There was also some additional Universal training as well.  Here is where we learned about the still-being-built Cabana Bay Beach Resort.  It will be a value-priced resort with 900 standard rooms and 900 family suites. It will even have a 10 lane bowling alley! It will not, however, have Front of the Line Access that the other resorts have.  The price is fantastic at just over $100 a night for standard and I think this will be a popular resort for families....it is on the Islands of Adventure side and within walking distance.

Universal and Royal are partnering for a land/sea package

It was somewhere during this training that I could not find my glasses.  I thoroughly checked the bathroom area, under our table and no glasses.  I had no spare, so I kept looking and since our training was over for this session, I went to check with Lost and Found. I described them and they had them!  The man from lost and found brought them up but wanted to see picture ID and I did not have any on me! It was back in the room in one of my purses.  Not sure why that was needed but he gave them to me and I left the Hard Rock and walked across the street to Portofino.  This was the free time portion of our day but I was starting to not feel well so I decided to take advantage of the free time and rest.

guitar fountain at the entrance

Alot of the girls were heading back in to the parks, one got a massage and I spent the afternoon napping and trying to feel better. However, when I woke up a few hours later, I felt worse. I debated skipping dinner but I had really been looking forward to this dinner at Mama Della's Ristorante, a true Italian dining experience. I thought maybe once I got out and got some fresh air, it would help.   I headed downstairs and as I walked outside, I heard opera singing.  In the main piazza, way up overlooking a balcony, there were opera singers serenading the crowd.

perfect preshow to our dinner!

We entered the restaurant at 7 and had our own private room with a really long table back in the back.  The opera singers that were outside were going to each table to sing.  They asked if we had any requests when they got to our table. Of course, I requested Bella Notte!  I could barely keep it together as they sang this song that is so dear to my heart. It was done so beautifully!

We had more food here on one table than I have ever seen!  We started out with bruschetta which was SO good! The next serving was antipasto, with meats and cheeses and breads. Then they brought out a mixed greens salad with some type of delicious vinigrette dressing. Then about an hour after all that, which gave us a chance to enjoy all the appetizers, the main courses came out.   There was lasagne, pasta/mussels/scallops/shrimp, sliced steak.  Keep in mind, there were about 6 dishes of EACH entree set on the table. It was just fabulous! Even though I wasn't feeling that great, I did have some of each thing I thought I would like.

click on the picture to see how good!

Slice Steak

I ate small portions but still was not feeling that well which makes it hard to join in the conversation. I knew some wonderful desserts would probably be next....like cannoli....and I did not think I better mix that with all this goodness.  I  excused myself and went back to my room and got comfortable and put a cold wash cloth on my face and laid down.  I fell asleep about 9:30 or so to the wonderful nature sounds from the ihome on the nightstand. I did not wake up til 5 in the morning!

It was a great evening and not feeling well, thankfully, was temporary. I am so glad that I chanced it and went down for dinner.  I am still amazed at the amount of food we had and it was, by far, the best Italian food I have ever eaten!

Tomorrow is wrap up day and back to Pop Century for a few hours and then Magical Express to the airport for my 7:10 flight back home.

UNIVERSAL FAM TRIP - FEBRUARY 25TH

I slept extremely well.....not a single sound in the room and I do not think I even moved in this heavenly bed! I got up around 6 and got my shower and got dressed in park touring clothes, which means comfy shoes!  We were meeting at 8 at Trattoria Del Porto for breakfast;  I headed down around 7:45 and took some pictures along the way.

taken from a balcony in the villas section

Forgot to mention there's a Keurig in the room

Shops inside just off the lobby area

Best flower I ever smelled!

We had some tables assigned already for us and most of us walked in a few a time.  Most of us had  the buffet which was filled with french toast, belgian waffles, pancakes, all kinds of melon, croissants, pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, oats.  I had some small pastries, eggs/bacon/ and a wedge of french toast and one quarter of a belgian waffle. It was all really good!  You know it's good when I forget to take pictures!

Around 9:15, we were ushered out to our shuttle bus that took us to the entrance of the parks. We were taken to a VIP gathering area where there was coffee/tea/water and restrooms. At this point, we met our VIP tourguides and were given our VIP lanyards.

  We were going to tour Islands of Adventure first.  First up was The Hulk.  Most rode, a few stayed back, me being one of them.  I know what I can handle and what I cannot handle. Upside down and backwards or spinning tends to give me really bad headaches and nausea but I can do simulators with no problem. The rides were all explained to us before riding and this really helped us decide what to do.  After Hulk, we were backdoored in to Spiderman. I had been on this before and knew I liked it. It was great and so realistic!

This whole Marvel comic area is so well done. After Spiderman, we went backstage and in to a Spiderman vehicle "garage" where vehicles are repaired and/or tested. They even have a mini version of the track and one was being tested while we were in there. As we waited for the door to open, Spiderman drove by on an ATV and waved!  No pictures backstage though!

You can say that again!

Next up was Jurassic Park. I always thought this was so well done. Last time I had been through here was not long after the movie came out!  We were given ponchos if we intended on riding but you still get pretty wet depending on where you are sitting.  It was really warm today and I guess that would have felt good but I did not want wet feet. A few of us sat it out but since all the riders were being backdoored on to rides, our waits were no longer than 5 minutes or so for those not riding.

After the riding was over, we walked through the Discovery Center which is exactly like the movie, right down to the dinosaur eggs!

dino eggs hatching

Next up was Wizarding World of Harry Potter!  I had heard so much about this "land" but I have not seen the movies or read the book so while it was harder for me to understand the theming, even  I could see how well done this is. I was not sure about riding the ride itself but I did not want to go home and say I chickened out!  I had heard lines were really bad here but it said only a 20 minute wait for regular guests. Of course, we were backdoored and walked through part of the castle and saw some really neat effects.  Well, I am here to say I did survive but there were times during the ride, it was doubtful!  The last thing I remember seeing was big spiders and I started feeling strange in my head like I might pass out. I kept my eyes shut, opening every once in awhile. It seemed very long!  When I opened my eyes, it got worse....how much longer would this last, lol.  Finally, it was over and I did it.  There are steps when you get off the ride and it is very dark, thank goodness it was cool in there.

I forget the name of the next ride, I did not pay attention when I saw that it twisted and went upside down. A few of us stayed back and watched the bags for those that rode.

Next we went to one of my favorite parts of the park, Seuss Landing. Not because we were going to have lunch here but because I love the whimsical and whacky look and feel of this land.  Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss!

We had lunch inside here and there was also a drink refill station.  We were given these large cups that you normally would purchase and they are good for refills at these stations through the day. I do not drink pop much so I got some Lite Lemonade.  If you purchase the meal plan, you are given a bracelet showing your length of purchase and you do not get credits like Disney, it is literally good for food for as many times as you want to get it.  There are 3 counter service areas for this in each park.  This is one of them, where we had lunch.

The Seuss train passes through here.

One of the drink stations, endless options!

Next we went in to Shrek 4D which is watched with 3D glasses and motion seats move you around. This was a cute movie with Shrek and Fiona and you even get a little wet!  Shrek and Fiona were outside for a meet and greet.

Rip Ride Rocket

Next up was Rip Ride Rocket which I sat out.  A few of us went on a bathroom break in the Monsters Cafe.

One of the best 3D rides I've ever been on!

We were headed in to the Horror Make up Show and were seated down in front. This was not only funny but somewhat graphic! It must have been pretty bad and somewhat unexpected for some because about 5 different groups of guests got up and left in the middle of the show! The hosts were joking at first when they left but then started letting the guests know they were not happy. They said we are not at Disney, I do not have to be nice.    :::::GRAPHIC PICTURE WARNING:::::::::::

At some point, some people did Revenge of the Mummy.  I decided to sit it out but I probably should have tried it.

We headed over to try one more ride, Men in Black, before dinner.  We are so spoiled getting on these rides so fast!  I was doing good but did not realize to push the red button at the end and that would raise my score.  Saw some huge celebrities along the way!

Lucy!

Marilyn!

We were running a few minutes late for dinner so we headed out to Lombard's Seafood Grille. It was not far away at all from Men in Black.  We had preordered from the menus already (while at breakfast). This is part of the Cinematic Experience and included a dessert bar after dinner.  I had sirloin steak and salad for my appetizer.  The desserts looked so good! Our timing was perfect because as we were seated for dinner, the skies let loose!

After dinner and desserts, we were seated on the outside terrace to watch The Cinematic Experience.  It was a series of film genres from Universal projected on to a water screen with dancing waters and fireworks.  It was narrated by Morgan Freeman.  It was really enjoyable and covered so many favorite of movies of mine.

After the show, it was time for us to head back and call it a day.  It was a nice pleasant walk back to the water taxis, the park was closed and very little guests were still around; everyone was making their way out. It had been a long but really super fun day with everyone! I was not nearly as tired as the day before and I felt like I could go a bit longer but I was looking forward to relaxing in my villa!

walking out

That is it for today's VIP Park Tours!  Tomorrow is the site tours for all 3 hotels and RCCL training and some free time in the afternoon.  Starting with breakfast at Trattoria del Porto and ending with dinner at Mama Della's. How perfect is this job for me!