Family Vacation
My family has never had a family vacation before.
I had a great childhood, truly. We’d go to the movies, eat out on the weekends and spend time together at home. We’d visit family in New Jersey, take day trips to Chinatown/ Philadelphia and go to the beach about once a year. But we never did the “vacation” thing.
I made up for lost time by going on my own personal travel ventures over the last few years. Those experiences gave me the skills and confidence to propose and plan a family vacation to Universal Orlando.
I planned this is August 2020, during COVID-19, because there were good deals being offered and it gave my family something to look forward to.
Cost Breakdown
4 Adults
Standard 2 Queen Room at Loews Royal Pacific Resort
3-Park 4-Day Base Promo Tickets
Free Universal Express Unlimited
Complimentary Water Taxis
Early Park Admission
December 21-26, 2020
$2,760 BUT
Volcano Bay (one of the three parks) was closed during the days we booked, so Universal gave us the price difference in the form of a gift card plus 20% which came out to $196. We spent the gift card on souvenirs. So, the effective total came to be:
$2,564
Roundtrip flights with JetBlue: $453
Miscellaneous (check in bag, Lyft between airport and hotel, PreFlight Parking): $209
When I was playing with options and dates, I could get it down to $1,800- $2,100 but we ultimately chose to splurge for the package above. Mom insisted on staying at a nice place, and this resort had some unique perks:
Free Express Unlimited passes: Express passes vary in price depending on what you get and time of year. Express Unlimited at the time we went would have cost $100 per person, per day. That would have been an extra $1600 if we got a different package.
There are only 3 hotels that come with this. Loews Royal Pacific Resort is one of them. It allowed us to use the Express line instead of the regular line for peasants. The regular lines could be anywhere from 45-180 minutes… waiting…slowly inching forward…in a line.
Imagine waiting for 3 HOURS for an attraction that lasts one minute. With these passes, we were able to essentially walk onto the ride or only wait 10-20 mins at most. It was a game changer for young guns like my brother and me. It was a necessity for my parents who are senior citizens and would not have gone on or enjoyed any of the rides if they had to wait in line. I can’t stress enough how valuable it was for all of us to have fun efficiently and to make the most of our time.
Walking Distance: If you’ve ever been to Disney, they offer free shuttles to get in between the parks and the resorts but it can take you 30-60 mins to get from one place to another. At Universal, the resort was a 10 min walk to the parks and City Walk. But if we didn’t feel like walking…
Water Taxi: My family really loved this. After a long day of eating and skipping to the front of lines…bougee elites such as ourselves could not be fussed to exert any more effort for a strenuous 10 min walk. Oh no… only muggles do that.
Instead, we took free, leisurely boat rides from City Walk back to the luxury resort.
Early Park Admission: This allowed us into the park one hour early and it was essential for one reason: Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. This ride is in Islands of Adventure and it is the only major attraction without an Express line. The most efficient way to get on this ride is to do it FIRST THING, as soon as you get in. Trust me on this.
There will be a line for this which will grow exponentially longer ALL DAY, to the point where they cut the line off in the last few hours so that everyone who is in line will have a chance to ride. It is insane.
Capacity: Because of COVID-19, the parks have implemented a lot of safety precautions such as hand sanitizer everywhere and limiting the amount of people in the parks. Because of the latter, if the parks reached capacity, they would not let other people in. By staying in the resort, we were the last tier of people who could be denied access into the parks. The was essential considering we visited during the Christmas holiday.
Food
We did not hold back on the food.
I’ll start with a huge THANK YOU to mom and dad because they paid for the entire vacation and gave us carte balance to enjoy ourselves. We ate out for every meal, most of them sit down restaurants at City Walk and got whatever we wanted to eat.
The biggest splurge was a special family-style holiday prix fixe dinner. We were able to get a discount on this because they essentially did a bait and switch. I was so excited. I had hyped up this meal and read the menu to my family every day leading up to it. I had prepped my body and timed an edible for this. It was advertised as “All-you-care-to-enjoy”.
My interpretation was if I care to enjoy more food, I will ask for more food and you will give me more food. My family read what was advertised and wholeheartedly agreed.
Long story short: It was not intended to be “All-you-care-to-enjoy” even though it was advertised as such. We were rightfully PISSED. We were 4 HANGRY Filipinos. And my family came together to fight for what we came for. You would have thought we were knights at a round table constructing a battle plan.
Lord help me, we pulled a Karen and spoke to the manager. We were polite, said our piece, showed our evidence, she was nice, agreed with us, gave us a 20% discount for the trouble…
AND I GOT MY FUCKING OYSTERS. And another roasted butternut squash soup. And another seafood platter.
In total, with tax and generous tips, we spent roughly $1400 on food during the vacation.
Yes it’s a chunk of change and you can probably cut that cost down to about $600 if you’re being frugal. Like I said, we’ve never had a family vacation, so we went all out. I had a Red Velvet Cake Milkshake with Nutella Ice Cream and it also had a red velvet cupcake on top of it. Also had one with waffles and bacon in it. I gained 5 pounds on this trip.
Attractions
I won’t spoil it for you, but most of the rides are this: You get in a box that jiggles you around, while you stare at a screen wearing 3D glasses. There are 3 roller coasters and a handful of water rides. That’s it.
Wish I could say more. My brother and I had fun, but we went on everything in the first two days. I highly recommend bringing friends like Lucy, Mollie and Mary Jane if you want to get the most out of your experience.
My favorite moment involved the Jurassic World Ride at Islands of Adventure. Imagine this: Me, high on life and other things, gorgeous weather, in this boat with my awesome little brother as company.
We’re cruising along water and trees… and we get to these magnificent doors. The anticipation builds as the classic Jurassic park theme music crescendos into supreme epic-ness. DA NAAA NA NA NAAA DA NA NAAA NAAA NAAA….NAAAA NAAA NAAAA!!!!!! OMG I have goose bumps… I feel it coming on…WOOOOWWW…
The doors open to reveal….
A long….FLACID…yellow…giant….dildo of a “dinosaur”.
Staring at us. The mechanics slowly elevate it to all it’s feeble glory.
We burst out and die of laughter, The juxtaposition of expectation vs. reality was too much.
Solid 10/10.
———
What are your family vacations like?
What are some tips you have for planning and saving money?
Where should we go next?