Author: touringplans.com

Back in 2018, as part of Disney’s plan to include characters in just about anything, the bird show in the Asia section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom was revised to become UP! A Great Bird Adventure. Although seeing the birds do their antics is always enjoyable, the addition of the characters into the show felt really forced. When Disney announced their list of attractions that would be reopening, UP! was not on the list. Needless to say, guests to Animal Kingdom were a bit surprised to see showtimes posted on opening day.

Short-answer, UP is out — no more Russell and Dug awkwardly standing on stage. The focus of the show, as it should be, is back on the birds.

The new show, Feathered Friends in Flight, feels more fast-paced and still has audience participation, albeit in a COVID-19-responsible way (a foot powered rocket launches an item in the air for a bird to retrieve instead of having a person throwing it by hand into the air, for instance).

Birds bring out the oohs and aahs as they fly around the (socially distance seating) amphitheater, providing a delightful experience for young and old alike.

In short, this is a significant improvement on its previous incarnation, and a welcome sight at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. If you’re looking for a place to take a break during your day, you could do far worse than stopping by this show.

The post UP Is Away–New Bird Show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Walt Disney World (FL), Up! A Great Bird Adventure

You’re going on vacation to Walt Disney World! The only problem? You’re not sure which attractions are right for you and your kiddos and you have questions. Which attractions are too intense for little ones? What rides do I really need a FastPass+ reservation for? What’s the disability access like for certain attractions? We’re answering all those questions and more in our Everything You Need to Know attraction series with today’s focus on Kali River Rapids at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!

What is Kali River Rapids?

Kali River Rapids is a whitewater raft ride through a lush Asian rainforest where guests eventually encounter the dangers of a logging site.

Where is Kali River Rapids?

Kali River Rapids is located in the Asia section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom park next to the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

What is the History of Kali River Rapids?

Kali River Rapids opened March 18, 1999, nearly a year after Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s grand opening. The attraction was originally going to be called Tiger Rapids Run but was later changed. However, it does sit next to the Maharajah Jungle Trek where guests may see live tigers, and there’s still a tiger on the sign for the attraction and few tiger-inspired set pieces during the journey.

What You Need to Know About the Queue

The first part of the queue for Kali River Rapids is outdoors and winds through a jungle before leading into the rafting offices for the fictional Kali Rapids Expeditions. Much like the queue for Expedition Everest, the Kali Rapids Expeditions offices are incredibly detailed, immersive, and help tell the story. This part of the queue is partially enclosed, but guests move back outside as they approach the loading platform.

What You Need to Know About the Experience

Once the rafts leaving the loading platform, they float up and onto a slow-moving lift hill. Many guests expect the lift hill to lead to a huge drop, but it doesn’t. Instead, they experience a small dip into the river where a geyser and waterfall are nearby for a little extra splash.

The rafts gently bump and bob down the river before heading into a logging site to see how logging devastates the land and the dangers that it causes. This is also where the rafts slide down a 20-foot slope producing a massive splash!

The raft will then continue its journey down the river, through a small cave, and under a bridge before returning to the station.

The whole ride lasts about 10 minutes, but many guests find the main part of the experience way too short.

What You Need to Know About Getting Soaked

While drenching yourself may sound appealing when visiting during the summer, it can make for an uncomfortable day for so short of a ride. This is even more true when visiting during Florida’s cooler months of the year, especially when going back to your resort mid-day to change into dry, warm clothes was not part of your plan.

If you’re determined to ride Kali River Rapids, consider wearing a poncho, water-resistant clothing, and sandals during your ride.  If you’re wearing socks, take them off before riding and/or wrap a bag or poncho around your shoes to prevent them from getting soaked. After all, walking around in wet shoes pretty much guarantees painful blisters.

Fortunately, Kali River Rapids offers free 2-hour locker rentals to the left of the attraction entrance. For peace of mind, store anything here you wouldn’t want to get wet and/or a change of clothes.

What You Need to Know About Ride Vehicles

The large circular raft vehicles seat up to 12 guests in individual plastic chairs with an armrest on one side. There is a fabric lap belt for every two guests to share, and a circular raised platform rising from the center of the raft with a circular bar at the bottom for guests to rest their feet and another at the top for holding on to during the ride. Larger guests may be more comfortable if they have a two-seat section to themselves. Speak with a cast member if you have concerns.

What You Need to Know About Accessibility

Guests must transfer from a wheelchair or ECV to experience this attraction. Due to the nature of the experience, service animals are not permitted on this attraction.

In order to board the attraction, guests will need to take a small step from a moving walkway to the raft and then a small step down into the raft and then move to their seat.

What You Need to Know About Health and Safety Advisories

For safety, you should be in good health and free from high blood pressure, heart, back or neck problems, motion sickness, or other conditions that could be aggravated by this adventure. Expectant mothers should not ride. Expect the raft to spin, to be facing backwards at times, and for dips, drops, and bumpy or jerky movements.

What are the Height Requirements?

Guests must be at least 38 inches tall to experience Kali River Rapids.

Does Weather Affect Kali River Rapids?

Yes. Since Kali River Rapids is an outdoor water attraction, it may close in inclement weather.

What’s the Best Time of Day to Experience Kali River Rapids?

Kali River Rapids gets very popular in the summer due to the notorious Central Florida heat and humidity. Try to ride the first or last hour the park is open or use FastPass+ or the single rider line.

This chart shows you roughly how long you’ll wait for Kali River Rapids when you visit on a day with a given Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level. The blue bars represent the average “peak” wait time (that is, how long the line will be at its busiest). The bottom and top black lines represent the range of peak wait times to expect (for you fellow nerds out there: it’s the 5th percentile and 95th percentile of peak wait times). Please note that these are estimates, and for a better forecast for your travel dates, see Kali River Rapids Wait Times.

Did I answer all of your questions about Kali River Rapids? Is this attraction at the top of your family’s vacation to-do list? Let us know in the comments.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Kali River Rapids appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Attractions, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Walt Disney World (FL), Disney Attractions, disney world, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Kali River Rapids, walt disney world

Two things are true when Disney releases limited edition items: 1) People are going to flock to the parks and shopDisney online to snatch them up and 2) This flocking leads to frustrating experiences for everyone, except eBay pirates. Disney is introducing MerchPass on shopDisney online in hopes of eliminating, or at least reducing, the frustration.

This new program is being introduced alongside the next addition to the Castle Collection. The thing about MerchPass is your entering online for a MerchPass does not guarantee you’ll actually receive the MerchPass. You’re entering for a chance to purchase items. Read that again. You’re entering for a chance to purchase items.

Here’s how the MerchPass works according to shopDisney’s website:

MerchPass Early Access Drawings

How does the drawing work?

1. Visit the Early Access Drawing page. Be sure to sign up for emails to be in the know of what products are coming out and where to enter for MerchPass drawings.
2. Log in to your Disney Account or create a new account if you don’t already have one.
3. Select your item(s).
4. Click “Submit” to enter the Early Access Drawing.
5. Look out for an email from shopDisney Merch Pass – Early Access Drawing, merchpass@shopdisney.com,  to find out whether your entry was selected in the Early Access Drawing. If your entry was selected, you will receive an email by the time noted on the Early Access Drawing page. If you do not receive an email, you were not selected (make sure it’s not in SPAM or Promotions Folders), but check back for other Early Access Drawing opportunities!
6. IF YOUR ENTRY WAS SELECTED:  Item(s) will be automatically added to your Bag. Log in to your Disney Account to complete your purchase by the time designated on the Early Access Drawing page using the link in the notification email.

You can enter the drawing for more than one item, but there is a limit of one entry per product, per person. For more information on shopDisney’s MerchPass I suggest visiting their FAQs page.

Do you think this new system will help? Let us know what you think in the comments.

The post shopDisney Introduces MerchPass – An Opportunity to Purchase Limited Edition Items appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Merchandise, News, limited edition disney, shopdisney online

It was the best of times
It was the bestest of times

If Charles Dickens ate what I ate over two dinners last week at Grand Floridian Cafe, that’s how he would’ve started his review.  Let’s jump into the reasons why, because – just as I said last week about The Wave’s chefs doing some fantastic cooking – the Grand Floridian Cafe is putting out delicious food with its new summer menu.

The highlight of my first dinner was the Buttermilk Fried Chicken ($24), with “loaded” smashed potatoes, and wilted spinach sprinkled with a warmed bacon vinaigrette.  It was delicious, mostly because the chicken’s crust was substantial and crunchy.  If you, like I, believe that science has neglected its duty to engineer a Thanksgiving turkey made entirely of crispy skin, you would’ve been overjoyed at the kitchen’s results with this breading.  And yes, those are bacon bits on top of the chicken.  Because the crust was so crispy (and thick), I was impressed with how the kitchen managed not to overcook the chicken breast during the long fry time.

The sides were equally good, with the tangy vinaigrette on the spinach cutting through the smoothness of the loaded potatoes.  I ate all of this.

In fact, it was so good that I did something I almost never do at a Disney restaurant – I ordered it again the next week.  And I’m so very glad that I did, because it was even better.  Here’s how it came out from the kitchen:

Your first thought is probably “Oh, they brought Len half a fried turkey. Interesting.”  It was not, dear reader, a turkey, despite almost reaching both sides of a 12″ dinner plate.  It was the largest chicken breast I’ve ever seen.  The photo above doesn’t even do it justice, because it stood at least 3″ high off the plate.  My first two questions to the server were “Is that a chicken?” and “How did you catch it?”

This week’s version of the chicken breast came in a cornflake batter, which added a hint of nuttiness to the crust. The frying technique was even better than before, the chicken breast more moist and tender than ever.  The loaded potatoes were just as good, and I was thankful that the flavor of the vinaigrette had been boosted a bit, because it help cut through the massive amount of chicken on the plate.

Here’s a close-up of the crust, with bits of bacon as God intended:

You won’t be surprised to hear that I couldn’t finish this – I got about two-thirds through it, though.  I’ve long thought that the best fried chicken in Walt Disney World was over at Bull and Bear in the Waldorf Astoria (when it’s available).  I’m no longer certain that’s true.

The fried chickens were the stars of my meals.  Here’s a quick rundown of the other things Laurel and I tried at our visits.

The Chilled Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail ($16) had four large shrimp on top of fresh Florida citrus, ribbons of pickled onions, and spinach.  Pickled onions are having a moment, and these were perfectly sour. They went well with the citrus to balance out the sweet, sweet shrimp.

We also tried two salads – Laurel went with the Caesar ($8), and I chose the Grilled Romaine Market Salad ($15). Of the two of these, I think the Caesar salad was the better value.  Both were large portions and could’ve been split by two people.

I thought the romaine could’ve been left on the grill to develop more char. I would’ve preferred that the carrots, peppers, and squash in the salad were grilled, too, to soften them up a bit and impart additional flavor.  When I order this again, I’ll ask for that.

Laurel had the Miso-glazed Salmon ($27) one night. This came with lemon-scented sticky rice, french beans, and a ginger-soy vinaigrette:

The glaze on this salmon was the kind of luscious brown that I imagined Ricardo Montalbán had in mind whenever he said the words “rich, Corinthian leather.”  Laurel loved everything about this plate, and said that the saltiness of the soy worked really well with the rice and green beans.

Laurel tried the Impossible Burger ($16) with caramelized onions, plant-based, smoked “Gouda” cheese, and a generous side of huge fries:

Like the fried chicken, these were huge portions and still cooked properly throughout.  The fries were very good – creamy inside, crispy and salty on the outside.

We split one dessert one night – the Grand Flo Cafe’s version of Key Lime Pie ($8) with mango sorbet, fresh strawberries, and Key Lime sauce:

This is a bargain at $8 – it’s big enough to split.  The pie crust is firm, sweet, and just thick enough to provide some bite.  The key lime filling balances sweet and tart pretty well – I thought it was great, while Laurel thought it was too sweet.  We both enjoyed the mango sorbet and the strawberries.  I’d definitely get this again.

As if the food wasn’t enough, you can order cocktails and other alcoholic drinks with dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe.  Plus, the Grand Flo Cafe accepts Tables in Wonderland discounts.  Our first dinner included the shrimp appetizer, fried chicken, and Impossible burger came out to around $60 before the Tables discount and gratuity; our second dinner of two salads, the fried chicken, salmon, Key lime dessert, and one cocktail was around $100 before discount and gratuity.

Here’s the full menu – it’s short, but almost everything on it is done well.

 

Have you dined at the Grand Floridian Cafe? Does that fried chicken make you drool just looking at it? Let us know in the comments.

The post A Tale of Two Chickens – Dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Dining, Grand Floridian Cafe, Walt Disney World (FL)

This week’s SATURDAY SIX takes a look at Loews Royal Pacific Resort! Over the course of this weekend, a lot of eyes in this country are going to be watching Florida. Not only do we have the long-awaited reopening of the Disney theme parks, but the sunshine state’s reported COVID-19 cases are going up faster than the amount of people streaming Hamilton on Disney+. It’s easy to understand why many are concerned about going to Orlando, but as we’ve seen over the course of the last month at Universal’s CityWalk, theme parks, and on-site hotels, in many ways they are the safest places you can be in the entire state. This past week I made a trip up to the Universal Orlando Resort to see what was going on at my favorite hotel, the Royal Pacific Resort.

# 6 – Safety First

One of the biggest changes you’ll see at the Royal Pacific (and the Universal Orlando Resort in general) is the amount of constant cleaning happening around. Team Members are constantly wiping surfaces down. This starts right at the front of the resort with valets and bellmen vigorously cleaning the luggage carts, and continues throughout the hotel with the wiping down of anything guests come in contact with. For the guests themselves, there are hand sanitizer stations everywhere, and I mean everywhere. If there is a place where you are reasonably expected to touch a surface (whether it be elevator buttons, a gate to the pool, or at the front desk checking in) there will be hand sanitizer available for you to use. All of the restrooms have large signage outside and inside reminding people to wash their hands as well.

At every access point in the hotel there is a security member doing a temperature check. Once you get your temperature taken, you are given a wristband to wear. There are checkpoints at the hotel lobby, by the bus stop area, and at the water taxi dock.

Each day there is a new wristband color, so you will need to be rechecked. Mask compliance during this stay was 100% from what I saw, which is just amazing to see when the number is nowhere close to that in the cities I live in and work at in Florida. I’ve also seen security and Team Members remind guests to wear their masks correctly (i.e., not below their nose). We’d be lucky if the rest of America had measures half as good as what Universal and Disney have put into place.

Social distance markings have been put on the ground at any place where a queue can be expected to form.

In the lobby there are plexiglas partitions separating guests from the Team Members.

These new lighting fixtures at the check-in desk were installed within the last week or so. They look sharp.

When walking the resort in the morning, I saw that every single floor mat was being replaced. You know it’s morning at the Royal Pacific when you wake up and see all that frost on the windows. It’s the “little things” that resonate with a lot of us that vacation a lot in Orlando, and for the Royal Pacific this is one of the things that just brings a smile to my face.

Over at Universal Studios Florida, Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts ends with Bill Weasley reminding guests that Gringotts Bank is “the safest place on Earth.” If that’s true, than the Club Level at Royal Pacific may be the second safest place. The room is fully equipped with social distance markings, hand sanitizer stations, and highly trained staff. I’m often asked if Club Level at the Universal resorts is “worth it,” and for the most part that’s a personal decision on what matters to you as a guest. For our family, we like that there are a lot of grab and go options for early in the morning when we are going to rope drop the parks. (They even have the coffee station set up outside the room in the morning to make it even faster.) We also like the fact that there is always a vegan option during the dinner hours, and it’s nice to be able to stop by at any time to grab sodas or water bottles. (It doesn’t hurt to have unlimited beer or wine at night either.) While Disney runs its on-site resorts, Universal partners with a luxury hospitality company in Loews Hotels. Because of this partnership, the level of service at all of Universal’s hotels is extremely high, and this is especially true in the Club Level.

# 5 – The South Pacific Theming

Our family has vacationed in many areas of the world, but my absolute favorite place that we have visited was Hawaii. I love the tranquility and relaxing nature that you find there, and that feeling exists in Royal Pacific’s exotic theme. The entire resort is filled with ambiance in the form of landscaping, torches, statues, and water elements. Fresh orchids are found throughout the resort, and the outdoor courtyard near the lobby is amazing with elephants playing in the water (along with a great sign asking guests not to disturb them). The whole resort has an exotic Pacific-region theme that just draws you in, and is the perfect area for either a break during the afternoon after battling the Florida sun, or a great way to unwind after a hard day of hitting the parks.

The entrance into the Royal Pacific may be my favorite in all of Florida. The large covered bridge is lined with cute frogs “playing” instruments.

Among the various pieces of Royal Pacific Resort-branded merchandise is this glassware. One is shaped like a bamboo stalk and the other is a tiki.

OF COURSE I BOUGHT THEM!

 

How amazing is this bench?!!

There are statues throughout the grounds of the resort.

Over at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, there is a Bocce Ball court tying into the Italian theme. At Royal Pacific there is a Croquet Lawn.

A running theme throughout the resort is “travel,” whether by old steamer ships or the air. Along with artwork on the walls, there are scale models of ships and planes as well.

One of the most popular photo-ops in the entire resort is the full-size sea plane located in the lagoon directly outside the Royal Pacific. The storyline behind this plane is that its pilot, Jake McNally, loved island-hopping through Southeast Asia checking out all the local bars. This leads us to….

 

Jake’s American Bar

Located on the ground floor of Royal Pacific is Jake’s American Bar, a deceptively large table service that has a lot of seating inside, outside, and at the bar. The original theme park resort bar themed to a sea pilot (cough – we’re looking in your direction Jock Lindsey), Jake’s is inspired by the adventures of  Captain Jake McNally. Throughout the restaurant you will find references to the golden age of travel, with gorgeous posters featuring exotic locales along with many references to the mysterious disappearance of Captain Jake.

 

For the “unprecedented times” that we are currently in, Jake’s American Bar has social distancing measures put in place for both the indoor and outdoor seating areas.

We enjoyed eating outside during the pleasant weather we’ve been having. The homemade pretzel rods appetizer is always a hit.

 

# 4 – The Rooms

Not too long ago, every single room at the Royal Pacific was completely refurbished. The new aesthetic combined the older Polynesian theme with a more modern take on the concept. Standard rooms are 335 square feet–about the size of a room at Disney’s moderate resorts–and feature one king or two queen beds. King rooms sleep up to three people with an optional rollaway bed, and queen rooms sleep five with that rollaway bed. Rooms include a 32-inch flat-panel LCD television, refrigerator, coffee machine, and an alarm clock with a lightning connector iPhone docking port. The refrigerator is an actual “fridge” in that we put a gallon of room temperature water into the fridge when we entered the room, and later that evening it was nicely chilled. Other amenities include a small desk with two chairs, a comfortable reading chair, chest of drawers and large closet. There are several outlets equipped with USB ports located near the beds and desk. As with all the Loews hotels at Universal, the unique lighting features always blow me away.

Every room is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized after each guest checks out, and remains empty for a minimum of 24 hours.

Rooms at the Royal Pacific have a dressing area with sink, and the dressing area is separated from the rest of the room by a wall. Adjacent to the dressing area is the bathroom, with a tub, shower and toilet.

 

Jurassic World Kids’ Suite

These two-bedroom suites contain one King Bed in one room and two Twin Beds in the dinosaur-loaded second. The kids bedroom beds are covered with rings like the geospheres from the popular Isla Nublar resort of Jurassic World. The bedding, flooring, and wall mural are all dino-themed and even the door and drawers are industrial like a Jurassic Park laboratory. The suites can sleep five with the addition of a roll-in bed. Like the nautical themed kids suites in Sapphire Falls, the door in the kids’ room only leads to main room.

As a kid, I would have flipped out being able to stay in one of these rooms.

You can also get a King Suite, which is a 670 square foot room that features a living room (with pull-out sofa) and a separate bedroom.

 

While the NBA players are discovering the luxurious rooms inside the Disney bubble, real “ballers” know that the Captain’s Presidential Suite at Royal Pacific just may be the best room at the Universal Orlando Resort. Here how it is described: You’ll be swept away by the lush and exotic grandeur of out aristocratic Presidential Suites. This expansive 1,340 square foot suite becomes your own exclusive island retreat comes complete with a large dining and conference area, separate study area, service pantry with refrigerator & separate sink, one and one-half bathroom, oversized shower, and luxurious furnishings. I’ve lived in many an apartment that were smaller than this hotel room.

A TV is built into the bathroom mirror.

The shower in the Captain’s Presidential Suite just may be the greatest in the history of man. Not only is there a rainfall shower head above you, and the now-standard shower head attachment that you can detach, but there are three jets on the wall that also have water spraying at you. It’s an incredible experience.

 

The room service menu at Royal Pacific features many items from the hotel’s restaurants, including Jake’s American Bar. You can have a complete contactless experience, in which the items are left at your door. When we ordered food (and later, towels) they were delivered by a cart. When I answered the door, the Team Member stepped back, allowing me to pick up the items.

One item we ordered was the vegetable spring rolls, which are an appetizer at Island’s Dining Room.

We also ordered the vegan “lasagna.” This is an entree at Jake’s American Bar. It is comprised of vegan cheese, zucchini, squash, eggplant, potatoes, roasted red peppers, hummus, vegan bolognaise, and tomato sauce.

The “lasagna” was incredible, and the best item we had during our entire trip (which included eating at CityWalk and the parks).

I thought the bottle of ketchup that we got at Jake’s American Bar was small, but apparently that was the supersized version compared to the bottle of Tabasco we got from room service.

Room Service offers a kids’ menu along with a Loews Loves Pets menu, where you can order items like “Bow Wow Beef.”

“Dinner is served.”

 

# 3 – Pet Friendly

As you can see the Royal Pacific is pet friendly, which means you can bring your favorite furry friend. You are allowed up to two pets per room, and the cost is $100 per length of stay. For this trip we traveled with Bacini, the official dog of DisTwitter. We’ve had great experiences bringing Bacini with us to Orlando and having him stay at various kennels, including Best Friends Pet Resort over at Walt Disney World, but because of the coronavirus many of these places have adjusted the hours for which you could visit your pet, as they have reduced staffing at night. It’s completely understandable, but when you have a very demanding spoiled rotten loveable pup like Bacini, you want to be around them more. So for this trip, we brought him with us.

It’s great that we can now take Bacini with us to Disney and stay at some of their dog-friendly hotels, but each of those venues (including the Yacht Club and Art of Animation) had dog relief areas shoehorned into them. Royal Pacific was built with pets in mind, so the dedicated area for them is just a much better experience.

There’s even statues in the pet park!

The pet park area is huge, and is shaped like a large “L.”

This was actually Bacini’s second time at Royal Pacific’s pet park, as we stopped by on trip last year while staying at a different resort.

There is also a dedicated entrance from the hotel leading to the pet park.

With outdoor seating at the restaurants, it allowed us to spend more time with Bacini at the resort.

# 2 – The Lagoon Pool

The lagoon-style pool at the Royal Pacific Resort is massive. While it is the only Premier resort pool at Universal without a slide, it does feature the gigantic Royal Bali Sea interactive water play area connected to the pool. This play area is themed to a ship, features water cannons, and seemingly dumps about a million gallons of water on the people playing around it. When I was a kid all the pools were the same shape: a rectangle. If pools and play areas existed like this, I’m not even sure my parents would have been able to drag me away to go to the theme parks.

For adults, there is plenty of (social distanced) seating, a white sand beach, zero entry, cabanas, and the Bula Bar & Grille. The pool area offers towels, magazines, and newspapers to read while laying out in the sun, and games such as ping pong. While there is plenty of covered seating at the Bula Bar, servers will come out to the pool area to deliver drinks and food. Our recommendation: Shipwrecked Loaded Nachos (but you can’t go wrong with the Char Siu pork lettuce wraps either).

Ducks have been a controversial subject in the theme park world this week (don’t worry, if you don’t know what I’m talking about we’ll cover it later in the annual Turkey of the Year Awards), but it is always nice seeing ducks enjoying the pool area at Royal Pacific. Is there anything cuter than baby ducklings following their mother around?

Outside the lagoon pool area is a relaxing beach area where you can relax the day away while the water taxis make their way back and forth. This was also the very same place where the next level bonkers ending to Sharknado 3 was filmed.

# 1 – The Location and BENEFITS

Disney has several resort areas where location is king. Who doesn’t want to stay at one of the monorail resorts and enjoy a quick ride over to the Magic Kingdom? A stay at Disney’s BoardWalk is a hop, skip, and a jump away from both EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Because of the compactness of Universal, a room at the Royal Pacific is within walking distance to everything at the Universal Orlando Resort. You’re less than 10 minutes door to door from your room to Toothsome or Voodoo Doughnut. Unlike the Contemporary, where your walk to the Magic Kingdom includes a stoplight and waiting for traffic, your walk from the Royal Pacific is along a gorgeous garden walkway filled with lush landscaping. One of my favorite things in Orlando is walking from Royal Pacific to the parks, because as you venture further towards CityWalk, the Ocean Trader Market background music from Islands of Adventure’s Port of Entry begins to get louder and louder. It truly is magical.

You don’t have to walk if you don’t want to, as Universal provides complimentary water taxis to CityWalk. It’s also worth noting that the water taxis service only their home resort, so you don’t have to wait long for one or have to sit as they make multiple stops like Disney’s resort watercraft.

For this trip, we were spending a day at Volcano Bay, so we were going to take bus transportation over to the park as the water taxis only service CityWalk and Universal’s two theme parks. As is almost always is the case with Universal buses, as we walked up to the bus area there was a bus pulling in.

I wanted to time how long the bus ride to Volcano Bay would take, so I started my stopwatch as soon as the bus started moving away from Royal Pacific.

Less than three minutes later, we arrived at Volcano Bay. Now, I figured it would be pretty quick, but I didn’t realize it would be even quicker than walking to Volcano Bay from Sapphire Falls.

One of the great benefits of staying onsite at at Universal hotel, including Royal Pacific, is the early access to the theme parks and Volcano Bay. For the first time ever, we were first in line at the turnstiles for a park opening.

Having the early park admission at Volcano Bay is incredible as all the open attractions have zero wait. For this trip we were actually able to ride the Krakatau aquacoaster three times in a row without even having to get back in line!

Even better, not only does staying at the Royal Pacific give you early park admission to the Wizarding World over at the theme parks, your room key is also an unlimited express pass. This means you can ride your favorite attractions like Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk Coaster, Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, or Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts over and over again with little to no wait.

Honorable Mention – Tuk Tuk Market

We mentioned the rooms at the Royal Pacific had undergone a complete refurbishment. Once that was done, the hotel focused on completely transforming the lobby.  This included adding a much-needed quick service location in Tuk Tuk Market. While other hotels like Cabana Bay and Surfside have a dedicated Starbucks location, Tuk Tuk serves Starbucks coffee along with a wide variety of grab-and-go items, ice cream, and made-to-order hot foods.

This gorgeous chandelier now hangs above the lobby bar area.

Seating at the bar is very guest friendly. Looking forward to experiencing this once the world gets more back to normal.

The lighting fixtures next to the bar look like hanging lanterns. Just a great design choice.

The Royal Pacific Resort’s incredible refillable mug was released shortly before the theme parks closed down in March. I absolutely love that it pays tribute to the playful elephants in the lobby courtyard.

The worst part of a trip to Royal Pacific?

The Ride Home…

I think I know what he is dreaming of…

So there you have it: The SATURDAY SIX Spends a Night at Loews Royal Pacific Resort! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! articles covering the latest from the Disney Outlet Stores. You can also follow Your Humble Author on Twitter (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

DAVID & DEREK: The Do’s and Don’ts of COVID-19 Safety Protocols at the Theme Parks

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Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHyde and you Potterheads will  enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.

The post The SATURDAY SIX Spends a Night at Loews ROYAL PACIFIC RESORT appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

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