Orlando / Disney / Universal Chat

[JustLikeMe]

We were happy to split the family for single rider queue did save a lot of time but you do sometimes miss the ride build up attractions , the missus wouldn’t do it for Gringotts as you miss the bank goblins.

Single rider also works best for rides which have rows of more than two. The single rider line for Hagrids and Velocicoaster in particular can take longer than the normal queue.

When we join the Hagrids line I always try to remember what someone joining the single rider line at the same time looks like - 80% of the time we catch up to them in the final room and beat them on.

 

[zxspectrum16k]

I've never booked with Tui myself but I've had the occasional look and I’ve definitely seen Royal Pacific as an option before. Either way it can make sense to book one night at one of the three top hotels even if you have another hotel sorted for the duration of the trip just for the express.

August is peak season and would be pretty last minute, but I've just had a look at the night of the 13th August on hotels.com for two adults and two teens. Royal Pacific is £403, Hard Rock is £476 and Portofino is £488.

View attachment 255749

If we go with Royal Pacific as the cheapest of those, that works out to £100.75 for two days of unlimited express per person / £50.38 per day and you get a hotel room chucked in.

If you were buying Unlimited Express direct from Universal it would cost $180 + tax per person on the 13th and $170 + tax per person on the 14th. That works out to $372.75 / £293.47 for two days of unlimtes express per person / £146.74 per day.

The only problem is once you get used to having Unlimited Express you'll always want it. My wife and I love Sapphire Falls but tend to end up staying at Royal Pacific instead just to get the benefit. Then again we don't have kids so only have to cover flights / park tickets / meals for two, which makes the whole trip much more affordable. We also collect Virgin points which we use for flight redemptions etc.

For a little while we had the top tier Universal annual pass which gave us single use express after 4pm, and when we had that we ended up staying at Sapphire but this year we went back to lower tier passes and booking Royal Pacific. Being able to do what you want, when you want, with very little time spent in the lines is very hard to beat.

We are going to go for Hardrock. Any advantages to using Hotels.com? Or do you think best to book direct with Lowes, but is £12 more ?

 

[JustLikeMe]

We are going to go for Hardrock. Any advantages to using Hotels.com? Or do you think best to book direct with Lowes, but is £12 more ?

It depends really - I like to book on Hotels.com because I earn Virgin points via the Shops Away portal, and also because as a Hotels.com member I get one free 'reward night' for every ten nights I book through the platform.

If you don't collect Virgin Points and aren't a Hotels.com member then the only benefit for booking via Hotels.com is that you can pay in GBP, whereas if you book direct with Loews you'll pay in USD and depending on your credit card incur some FX fees. If Hotels.com is cheaper though I don't think there's any reason not to go for it, it's how we normally book and we've never had any problems.

You can also check the prices via Universal but again you'll pay in USD

Universal Orlando

Universal Orlando Resort

www.universalorlando.com

Both Royal Pacific and Hard Rock are both great options, you can't go wrong with either. If your kids are young adults and you're staying at Cabana Bay for the rest of your visit then Hard Rock probably edges it. If it weren't for those two factors I'd say consider Royal Pacific for proximity to Sapphire Falls for Strong Water Tavern, but Cabana Bay is just over the road from Sapphire so will be easy for you to check out another time.

We find Portofino a bit sedate, and it's also undergoing fairly major renovations at the moment so I'd strongly recommend avoiding til those are over.

Hope you have an amazing trip.

 

[zxspectrum16k]

It depends really - I like to book on Hotels.com because I earn Virgin points via the Shops Away portal, and also because as a Hotels.com member I get one free 'reward night' for every ten nights I book through the platform.

If you don't collect Virgin Points and aren't a Hotels.com member then the only benefit for booking via Hotels.com is that you can pay in GBP, whereas if you book direct with Loews you'll pay in USD and depending on your credit card incur some FX fees. If Hotels.com is cheaper though I don't think there's any reason not to go for it, it's how we normally book and we've never had any problems.

You can also check the prices via Universal but again you'll pay in USD

Universal Orlando

Universal Orlando Resort

www.universalorlando.com

Both Royal Pacific and Hard Rock are both great options, you can't go wrong with either. If your kids are young adults and you're staying at Cabana Bay for the rest of your visit then Hard Rock probably edges it. If it weren't for those two factors I'd say consider Royal Pacific for proximity to Sapphire Falls for Strong Water Tavern, but Cabana Bay is just over the road from Sapphire so will be easy for you to check out another time.

We find Portofino a bit sedate, and it's also undergoing fairly major renovations at the moment so I'd strongly recommend avoiding til those are over.

Hope you have an amazing trip.

massive thanks buddy

 

[Scorn]

Really boils my P!ss the whole fast pass, genie + thing

Must have spent £3500 for all the tickets for a family of 4. To then have to fork out again is beyond me. Just another way to milk you for every penny.

I’m going end of August as it’s the quietest time to go so hopefully the ques won’t be too bad.

 

[taz turbo]

Really boils my P!ss the whole fast pass, genie + thing

Must have spent £3500 for all the tickets for a family of 4. To then have to fork out again is beyond me. Just another way to milk you for every penny.

I’m going end of August as it’s the quietest time to go so hopefully the ques won’t be too bad.

Couldn’t agree more, they will just squeeze you for every cent!

We were at Universal on Sunday 07th July, it was surprisingly quiet, longest queue we had was for Velocicoaster, from entrance to ride was 15 minutes (standard walk on queue) most other rides were ITRO 5 minutes, less popular rides were just walk on! It was great!

Are Sundays quieter or was it to do with Independence Day being a few days prior??

 

[neilljj]

We are going to go for Hardrock. Any advantages to using Hotels.com? Or do you think best to book direct with Lowes, but is £12 more ?

If you are booking via hotels.com do it through topcashback you will get 12% cashback on the hotel booking.

 

[JustLikeMe]

Really boils my P!ss the whole fast pass, genie + thing

Must have spent £3500 for all the tickets for a family of 4. To then have to fork out again is beyond me. Just another way to milk you for every penny.

I’m going end of August as it’s the quietest time to go so hopefully the ques won’t be too bad.

This is one of the many reasons we haven’t been to Disney since 2019 - prices keep increasing, quality keeps declining, and they keep either cutting services that were previously included or replacing them with paid versions that don’t work as well. The endless nickel and diming is exhausting.

Couldn’t agree more, they will just squeeze you for every cent!

We were at Universal on Sunday 07th July, it was surprisingly quiet, longest queue we had was for Velocicoaster, from entrance to ride was 15 minutes (standard walk on queue) most other rides were ITRO 5 minutes, less popular rides were just walk on! It was great!

Are Sundays quieter or was it to do with Independence Day being a few days prior??

Anecdotally this summer seems to be quieter than it has been for quite some time. Florida tourism was huge post covid but it seems that the ‘revenge travel’ phenomenon has now calmed down a bit. Normally early July is peak season, particularly the days around the 4th.

 

[Paul]

prices keep increasing, quality keeps declining, and they keep either cutting services that were previously included or replacing them with paid versions that don’t work as well.

Agree 150%. I was lucky enough to go every year from 2016 to 2020. Then Covid etc hit... Went last in 2022 (October)... Magic completely gone. All about the £££. Bottle of coke in the park? £6 please. (£, since it was around £1.04 to the $). Pay to park at the resorts. Genie plus taking more ££ (Tho i was lucky and managed to get in right at the start when it was a fixed price - however now it's surge pricing & hit and miss).
That was disney... Universal wasnt a huge amount better to be fair.

I'm waiting for the sour taste in my mouth to disappear before I go back...!

 

[SteadyP]

Took the fam to Arcade Monsters this evening- they had lots of fun and the wife actually enjoyed LOTR (didn’t complain for 4 hours which is a Christmas miracle)
I spent more time than I expected playing the Japanese Viewlix fighting stuff and rhythm games. Quick takes on the pins- John Wick LE is a good looking pin and backglass stands out. I seldom checked out the movie footage as my only chance was to trap up to hit the narrow ramp to lock balls- otherwise the slings were instant death- shots felt good and managed to get multi-ball going a few times. Never seen the movies but I liked the game.

Godfather was enjoyable but not £13k enjoyable- flippers not spongy like WOZ. Toy Story 4 was quite fun but my own kids strangely not bothered about it- both gravitated to MM and AFM. PF- wasn’t levelled so I can’t comment on it as it ruins the experience of any game. Favourite pins were EHOH, FF premium and Venom LE- sadly didn’t get a chance to play on Jaws LE as I ran out of time. Good venue but maybe avoid on weekends- gets very busy

 

[Deleted member 5505]

 

[Scorn]

Went here the other day with the family. Had a great time and spent far longer than planned in there. Bargain for what it cost compared to the rest of I drive.

 

[Deleted member 5505]

Went here the other day with the family. Had a great time and spent far longer than planned in there. Bargain for what it cost compared to the rest of I drive.

Glad to see they have some CGC in there now like their Oviedo location, in April it was all Stern's and JJP's.
Will be popping in again next week.

 

[Deleted member 5505]

Thread ''The Pinball Palace' at Dezerland Park, Orlando, some videos of the machines'

Sep 7, 2024

While on a family holiday in Orlando, I took a few hours away from the theme parks to visit ‘The Pinball Palace at Dezerland Park’ with Luke.
I shot a few videos of the machines, as I thought people might be interested in what they have.
I was impressed; although some of the machines needed more TLC, they had a good selection of machines from different eras and loads that I had not seen or tried before.
Call Out for me was ‘The Grand Wizard’, loved playing it; for luke, it was Attack from Mars

ENJOY, and as you can tell I am no Steven Spielberg when it comes to camera work ...

• zxspectrum16k
• Replies: 3
• Forum: General Pinball Discussion

• 

 

[Deleted member 5505]

Spent a few hours in Arcade Monsters (idrive) yesterday. Great they have some CGC in there now, the AFM is stunning and plays fast, MM kept developing a fault where the VUK couldn't kick out balls consistently. However, saw 2 fellas getting under the hoods there so games seem to be receiving some maintenance and played better than my visit in April. Pulp Fiction is absolutely glorious, was my first time playing. Leah absolutely owned me on it and put up an impressive 3M, we can't wait for our LE to arrive

Just now in Disney's contemporary hotel for a steakhouse 71 lunch and the arcade seems to have swapped out the games they had this time year. The current AiQ, gotg and SW look far less battered, didn't play any as went beer hunting

 

[neilljj]

Spent a few hours in Arcade Monsters (idrive) yesterday. Great they have some CGC in there now, the AFM is stunning and plays fast, MM kept developing a fault where the VUK couldn't kick out balls consistently. However, saw 2 fellas getting under the hoods there so games seem to be receiving some maintenance and played better than my visit in April. Pulp Fiction is absolutely glorious, was my first time playing. Leah absolutely owned me on it and put up an impressive 3M, we can't wait for our LE to arrive

Just now in Disney's contemporary hotel for a steakhouse 71 lunch and the arcade seems to have swapped out the games they had this time year. The current AiQ, gotg and SW look far less battered, didn't play any as went beer hunting

Have a great time out there mate, such a shame we had to postpone our trip out there next week as it would have been good to meet you for a coffee in Cabana Bay. Next time mate

 

[Slingshot99]

Visited the Lido Beach site in ‘22 where there were about 6 machines, at least half had niggling faults that would have been a 5 minute fix with the glass off! Disappointed with the faults and more so that they wouldn’t let me fix them! Back there next week, may take a look at what they have

 

[JustLikeMe]

Spent a few hours in Arcade Monsters (idrive) yesterday. Great they have some CGC in there now, the AFM is stunning and plays fast, MM kept developing a fault where the VUK couldn't kick out balls consistently. However, saw 2 fellas getting under the hoods there so games seem to be receiving some maintenance and played better than my visit in April. Pulp Fiction is absolutely glorious, was my first time playing. Leah absolutely owned me on it and put up an impressive 3M, we can't wait for our LE to arrive

Just now in Disney's contemporary hotel for a steakhouse 71 lunch and the arcade seems to have swapped out the games they had this time year. The current AiQ, gotg and SW look far less battered, didn't play any as went beer hunting

We stopped in at Arcade Monsters on Intl Drive for a couple of hours on Sunday. Busiest we've seen it, probably combination of the weather and it being a weekend. One small problem with the everything on free play model is that if someone wants to commandeer a machine for hours they can do it. There was a guy on John Wick LE for over 90 mins playing game after game - frustratingly at least 25% of that time was him standing in front of it with a ball in the shooter lane messing around on his phone. Proper knob. Also highly recommend some sort of ear protection, it was incredibly loud this time.

The pins were in much worse shape than when I last visited - and sounds like in worse shape since you were there @Crewey just a few weeks before. Finally played Pulp Fiction but only managed a couple of games before the left flipper stopped working entirely. I enjoyed it but didn't feel the immediate need to buy one, think I need to play it again in an environment where I can actually hear the sounds. Godfather was unplayable due to right flipper not working. AFM wasn't working due to a ball missing that ball search couldn't find. Jaws LE didn't seem to have any problems apart from the fact that the flippers weren't strong enough to get the ball to the upper playfield. Most of the GI was out on Walking Dead making it impossible to play.

On a positive note the Bond LE, Foo Fighters Premium and John Wick LE all played great. I've only played John Wick Pro at Funland a handful of times but the LE didn't feel much different to shoot. Really enjoyed it but no great desire to rush out and buy one.

Didn't see any pins anywhere else but to be honest didn't spend much time outside of Universal and I'm pretty sure that there are no pins left there now the small arcade in the MIB gift shop is closed. Unfortunately had to fly home a bit early - we were meant to leave Tampa late on Tuesday but didn't seem sensible to drive towards an incoming hurricane so flew out of MCO on Monday instead along with huge numbers of other people. Really hope that this storm isn't as bad as some of the models are predicting,