We stopped at the Premium Outlets in Orlando where they had an As Seen On TV store and within seconds we found out that this mall is NOT RV friendly at all. We drove into the parking area still just trying to find the store and within seconds security was on us, motioning to us to follow him to get us out of there, we went back and forth with him trying to explain we need to run in and out but he kept insisting that we had to park literally a mile away in another area. We are 26’ and only take up 2 parking spaces, this was a weekday at 10am when the mall just opened and we were only going to run in to pick up our gadget and leave. Finally after some coaxing, he agreed and we parked. We were back to our rig after our purchase quicker than it took for us to coax him to let us stay.
While visiting Universal Studios we chose to stay at Fort Summit KOA in Davenport, it was the closest decent park that provided free shuttle service to and from any of the major attractions. Check out our review at RV Parking or Lunch (a new review website we are testing) for all of the details and as usual you can also find a separate post on our website.
The shuttle service was…well for lack of a better word…interesting. They use a local taxi company that provides a mini van with a driver. The driver is where it all went wrong…one of the drivers was not the best driver on the freeway, he drove within a few feet of the car in front, all the while looking everywhere but to the front. He took a call, a text and came within inches of getting us rear ended when another vehicle was trying to merge onto the freeway. Luckily this driver was only on for one of our trips, the other 3 trips we made were uneventful and were much calmer.
Universal Studios has two parks and neither is for the young or faint of heart. Many of the rides are intense and are simulators which makes spins, turns, and really jerk you around.
There were a few at the top of our list to ride, but unfortunately the one at the very top of that list was Jaws and they had it shut down for maintenance.
Even though we took one day at each park, we now realize that we could have done both parks in one day with a hopper since it was not a busy time at all and the longest we waited for any ride was 10 minutes.
That is until we made it over to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter area and found out that is where everyone was hanging out.
It was so crowded that we had a hard time just walking through but Jerry had to ride the Dragon Challenge so we ventured in. We both love roller coasters, but the new ones now do way too much spinning and twisting for me so Jerry gets to ride them himself and after watching the video I created, you will see why I am very glad that I did not ride this one. Jerry’s opinion of some of the new rides has changed a bit as well, check out this video.
We tested the Meal Deal at each park, we paid under $30 per person, per day which included a souvenir drink container for refills throughout the parks. The food was nothing spectacular, but was abundant. Every trip through the line, you could choose a main course, one side and a dessert.
After getting soaked on a ride, we found this great invention and for only $5 for probably about 15 minutes of heated drying, it was well worth it.
Acting like children and having to see everything took a toll on our bodies, someday we will have to come to terms with the fact that our bodies are not as young as our minds, but until that day happens we will continue to do as much as we can for as long as we can and deal with all the aches and pains afterward, knowing it was all worth it. We had a great time and would definitely recommend it to others whenever they are in the area.
To truly understand our total experience, please check out all of our photos at our Picasa Web Albums.
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