Welcome to Day 2 ~ Sunday August 17th
Spiderman was my wake up call today ~ although the barking dog down the hall could have sufficed.
The beds here at Hard Rock are very comfy and I forgot to mention the turndown service last night, they left a bucket of ice, fresh towels, emptied the garbage pails and left a little happy face ball on the beds. Tonights turndown was fuzzy animal pens...ice, towels etc... it is a nice touch as they put music on, close the drapes and put the low lighting on, nice to arrive back to in the evening.
This morning we visited the lounge for breakfast and I was witness to hoards of parents & their children trashing it... Way too many people for the space allowed and everyones plate whether standing or sitting or loitering by the elevators was piled high with jelly donuts etc...
As I stood in amazment and was about to retreat with breakfast to our room...a family abruptly stood from a table right in front of me and left. I wasn't quite sure they were done as the entire table surface was covered with cups, half eaten food, plates of untouched food, napkins.. etc.. I quickly sat there and claimed my territory immediately receiving stares and grumblings from other club floor guests yet to find a spot to consume their donut.
I asked a staff member who was fighting his way through the maddening throng with a tray of mini cereal boxes if he could help me clear the table and wipe it down. He gave me a look bordering on frustration and resentment but did soon return with a cloth to help me tidy up.
For breakfast they had the aforementioned donuts in several varities plus fresh fruit salad, things for toasting (ie) bagels and breads and several cereals..... there was plenty of food but just not enough room to enjoy it. The coffee is good here by the way.
We finished eating quickly as families were staring at our coveted location like your dog stares at you when you eat a steak dinner... and we were off to the water taxi & Universal Studios where we arrived at 10:00am. Our plan today was to do 5 specific rides, have lunch and be back to the pool as today we had Cabana #2 and tonight was the Dive In Movie.
We arrived at Universal and headed for the new attraction Shrek 4D, the regular line had a 40 minute wait.. but not us, no siree, we had Front of the line access and were in the preshow torture chamber in 2 minutes flat. Shrek was a great show with fun effects... I am not going to post spoilers but will tell you it is similar in ways to Honey I shrunk the Audience.
We came out of Shrek feeling good about life and walked across to Jimmy Neutron - also a new attracton - the regular line was 45 minutes... I think not! we have FOTL Access and are immediately admitted. What a great ride/show it is.. some good fun and even Spongebob squarepants is there...
Next we walk over to ET who's voice was not working today so he didn't thank us (which he usually does) anyway.. we love that ride. Then we did one we never tried before a kiddie coaster called Woody Woodpeckers Nuthouse Coaster - it was quick, 30 second ride, but fun for little kids. (This was a bonus ride not on our agenda)
Next was Back to the Future - bumpy, bumpy, nearly coming off that ride with a concussion and dislocated shoulder... LOL - by the way it was 30 minute wait.... NOT! We were on in 5 minutes with FOTL access.
Next was Men In Black... 45 minute wait and again.. we were shown right in and a quick walk to the boarding area - no time to even slowdown and look at the preshow stuff... right on the ride, quick as that and our scores sucked. lol
It is now 11:30am we have one more ride on our list to complete. We headed for "Jaws" and again the FOTL access was amazing - there was a posted 35 minuted wait and we breezed by and straight on. We are now done our ride list
and it is barely noon.
On the way out of the park Noel spotted her first tacky souvenier... it is something shaped like a surfboard about a foot long and made of wood with a painting of dolphins jumping on one side... it was $15.00.. I hope she enjoys it
We arrived at the Margaritaville restaurant and were seated immediatly near the Volcano the music is great and the atmosphere fun and lively, the restauant is also sort of open air so it is very comfortable, breezy and cool
Noel ordered a chocolate shake and the kids spaghetti and meatballs.. I had an ice tea and the Jerk-Shrimp pasta which was very good. Noel spotted a kid at the next table blowing up a beach ball that said Margaritaville on it.. and decided she had to have one for the pool.
She has her own hotel charging card so off she went to buy it in the margaritaville giftshop. We then grabbed a water taxi back to the Hard Rock and came up to our room to change it was 1:00pm now and the room was still not serviced.
We then went to the pool to check out our Cabana... I highly recommend Cabana # 1 or # 2 on the Dive in Movie night, they are directly opposite the screen and perfect for viewing the movie.
We again had a fridge with 6 sodas and 2 waters, a fruit basket & towels & TV. We went swimming with the new ball and before long some kids had taken it and I had to go rescue it. Noel met a new friend... a little girl from Norway who was very pale and blonde. she spent several hours with us and I put some sun lotion on her and gave her a soda & some fruit in the cabana when we were having a break from the sun watching some Cartoon Network. I wasn't sure where her parents were and neither was she. Her name was Cecilia and she spole perfect English and was very sweet... she had just arrived that day and later (much later) when her parents arrived at the pool I found out they had had some problems with their reservations and room.. etc
Anyway Cecilia stayed with Noel and I the whole day/evening and I bought her pizza for dinner as she had not eaten by 7:00pm when we ordered some food in the cabana... maybe this is how it works in Norway LOL... desert your kid with kind foreign strangers
I came back to the room at 4:30pm to grab my camera and the room was still not serviced... I dialed the star service button and they apologized and said they would look after it. By the time we got back after the movie it was done. I am surprised as there were housekeepers right outside our door this morning when we left for the park.
The Dive In Movie... very cool! The film was Jimmy Neutron, the picture quality and sound were excellent and kids and parents had a great time watching while swimming or sitting around the pool. After the movie I collected Noel all wrinkled from the water and said goodnight to Cecilia - who said she thought she knew where her parents were
Well, this is the second day I never even thought to check out the food offerings in the lounge - even though we were in the resort... we were just having too much fun at the pool to get dressed to go to the lounge. During the movie I came up to get a coffee and the lounge was empty - also there was no food/snacks/cookies etc... so maybe that explains it.
The weather today was PERFECT... sunny and clear, not too humid, breezy... no rain at all - a great day... 2 more weeks of this? is it possible?
Thanx for reading... tomorrow we hit Islands of Adventure and see if Noel is tall enough for the Hulk.
Goodnight from the Hard Rock
>>^..^<<
Spiderman was my wake up call today ~ although the barking dog down the hall could have sufficed.
The beds here at Hard Rock are very comfy and I forgot to mention the turndown service last night, they left a bucket of ice, fresh towels, emptied the garbage pails and left a little happy face ball on the beds. Tonights turndown was fuzzy animal pens...ice, towels etc... it is a nice touch as they put music on, close the drapes and put the low lighting on, nice to arrive back to in the evening.
This morning we visited the lounge for breakfast and I was witness to hoards of parents & their children trashing it... Way too many people for the space allowed and everyones plate whether standing or sitting or loitering by the elevators was piled high with jelly donuts etc...
As I stood in amazment and was about to retreat with breakfast to our room...a family abruptly stood from a table right in front of me and left. I wasn't quite sure they were done as the entire table surface was covered with cups, half eaten food, plates of untouched food, napkins.. etc.. I quickly sat there and claimed my territory immediately receiving stares and grumblings from other club floor guests yet to find a spot to consume their donut.
I asked a staff member who was fighting his way through the maddening throng with a tray of mini cereal boxes if he could help me clear the table and wipe it down. He gave me a look bordering on frustration and resentment but did soon return with a cloth to help me tidy up.
For breakfast they had the aforementioned donuts in several varities plus fresh fruit salad, things for toasting (ie) bagels and breads and several cereals..... there was plenty of food but just not enough room to enjoy it. The coffee is good here by the way.
We finished eating quickly as families were staring at our coveted location like your dog stares at you when you eat a steak dinner... and we were off to the water taxi & Universal Studios where we arrived at 10:00am. Our plan today was to do 5 specific rides, have lunch and be back to the pool as today we had Cabana #2 and tonight was the Dive In Movie.
We arrived at Universal and headed for the new attraction Shrek 4D, the regular line had a 40 minute wait.. but not us, no siree, we had Front of the line access and were in the preshow torture chamber in 2 minutes flat. Shrek was a great show with fun effects... I am not going to post spoilers but will tell you it is similar in ways to Honey I shrunk the Audience.
We came out of Shrek feeling good about life and walked across to Jimmy Neutron - also a new attracton - the regular line was 45 minutes... I think not! we have FOTL Access and are immediately admitted. What a great ride/show it is.. some good fun and even Spongebob squarepants is there...
Next we walk over to ET who's voice was not working today so he didn't thank us (which he usually does) anyway.. we love that ride. Then we did one we never tried before a kiddie coaster called Woody Woodpeckers Nuthouse Coaster - it was quick, 30 second ride, but fun for little kids. (This was a bonus ride not on our agenda)
Next was Back to the Future - bumpy, bumpy, nearly coming off that ride with a concussion and dislocated shoulder... LOL - by the way it was 30 minute wait.... NOT! We were on in 5 minutes with FOTL access.
Next was Men In Black... 45 minute wait and again.. we were shown right in and a quick walk to the boarding area - no time to even slowdown and look at the preshow stuff... right on the ride, quick as that and our scores sucked. lol
It is now 11:30am we have one more ride on our list to complete. We headed for "Jaws" and again the FOTL access was amazing - there was a posted 35 minuted wait and we breezed by and straight on. We are now done our ride list
and it is barely noon.On the way out of the park Noel spotted her first tacky souvenier... it is something shaped like a surfboard about a foot long and made of wood with a painting of dolphins jumping on one side... it was $15.00.. I hope she enjoys it
We arrived at the Margaritaville restaurant and were seated immediatly near the Volcano
the music is great and the atmosphere fun and lively, the restauant is also sort of open air so it is very comfortable, breezy and cool Noel ordered a chocolate shake and the kids spaghetti and meatballs.. I had an ice tea and the Jerk-Shrimp pasta which was very good. Noel spotted a kid at the next table blowing up a beach ball that said Margaritaville on it.. and decided she had to have one for the pool.
She has her own hotel charging card so off she went to buy it in the margaritaville giftshop. We then grabbed a water taxi back to the Hard Rock and came up to our room to change it was 1:00pm now and the room was still not serviced.
We then went to the pool to check out our Cabana... I highly recommend Cabana # 1 or # 2 on the Dive in Movie night, they are directly opposite the screen and perfect for viewing the movie.
We again had a fridge with 6 sodas and 2 waters, a fruit basket & towels & TV. We went swimming with the new ball and before long some kids had taken it and I had to go rescue it. Noel met a new friend... a little girl from Norway who was very pale and blonde. she spent several hours with us and I put some sun lotion on her and gave her a soda & some fruit in the cabana when we were having a break from the sun watching some Cartoon Network. I wasn't sure where her parents were and neither was she. Her name was Cecilia and she spole perfect English and was very sweet... she had just arrived that day and later (much later) when her parents arrived at the pool I found out they had had some problems with their reservations and room.. etc
Anyway Cecilia stayed with Noel and I the whole day/evening and I bought her pizza for dinner as she had not eaten by 7:00pm when we ordered some food in the cabana... maybe this is how it works in Norway LOL... desert your kid with kind foreign strangers
I came back to the room at 4:30pm to grab my camera and the room was still not serviced... I dialed the star service button and they apologized and said they would look after it. By the time we got back after the movie it was done. I am surprised as there were housekeepers right outside our door this morning when we left for the park.
The Dive In Movie... very cool! The film was Jimmy Neutron, the picture quality and sound were excellent and kids and parents had a great time watching while swimming or sitting around the pool. After the movie I collected Noel all wrinkled from the water and said goodnight to Cecilia - who said she thought she knew where her parents were
Well, this is the second day I never even thought to check out the food offerings in the lounge - even though we were in the resort... we were just having too much fun at the pool to get dressed to go to the lounge. During the movie I came up to get a coffee and the lounge was empty - also there was no food/snacks/cookies etc... so maybe that explains it.
The weather today was PERFECT... sunny and clear, not too humid, breezy... no rain at all - a great day... 2 more weeks of this? is it possible?
Thanx for reading... tomorrow we hit Islands of Adventure and see if Noel is tall enough for the Hulk.
Goodnight from the Hard Rock
>>^..^<<
