So, back from the mini-vacation, time for an update.

Flight: With Frontier's MasterCard sign-up bonus being more than a little misleading, we ended up $204 (+taxes and luggage, so close to $300) out of pocket for airfare. Not awful, especially when you consider that I got my $69 annual fee back by canceling the card after returning. The flight times were close to perfect - we left midday on Saturday and came back on Wednesday afternoon so I could get back to work for half a day. The flights themselves could have gone more smoothly - lots of wind coming into both MCO and DTW, but them's the breaks - it's March, after all. To F9's credit, the A321 was nice and new (we had Otto the Owl on the tail), but man, those seats are wafer-thin... We lucked out on the way there because we had seats eight rows apart (due to different itineraries, one on miles and the other with cash), but ended up in the $50 exit rows thanks to a nice desk agent. Didn't help much on the rollercoaster landing, but at least we got off the plane quick-ish.

Car: I picked up a CCAR at Sixt. No Mini Coopers or VW Beetles (the non-Nissan Versas mentioned in Sixt's fleet guide) to speak of, so we were offered a Prius. For an extra $64 (making the four-day rental $212 total) we ended up in a BMW 228i which I already had once in L.A. and absolutely loved. It was quite beat up for only having 10K miles on the odo and sported exactly one option (apart from the AT) - red trim on the key fob and the dashboard, but it drove like a small BMW which was all it needed to do in my book. As mentioned above, I opted out of the prepaid tolls and used my wife's Garmin GPS for directions. Worked out quite swimmingly.

Hotel 1: I picked the Holiday Inn Express in the faint hopes of scoring some points (still waiting to see if I will; in my recollection third-party paid stays which ours essentially was do earn points, but who knows) and maybe an upgrade due to my Spire status (unfortunately the chatty dude at the reception who talked the manager's ear off as we were waiting to check in got the last one). The property could clearly use an update, as it was probably the most back-to-the-basics HIE I've stayed at in a while, but the management at the hotel clearly eats their Wheaties - when at checkout I mentioned some minor niggling issues (stopped up toilet we discovered on the last morning, some sloppy housekeeping, bonus 500 points not posting - which they still haven't done), they were very receptive to the feedback and offered 2K points in addition to the 500 to make up for the trouble which I thought was more than fair (I didn't really expect anything at all). Imagine, then, my surprise, when an hour after we checked out, as we were having lunch, I got a call from the manager at the hotel saying that she'd like to refund us the last night but because we were pre-paid through Universal, she'd just give us its points value (30K) in what was a jaw-dropping moment of epic proportions (I've gotten similar comps from IHG before, but it was never proactive, nor was it really warranted in this case). So, all told, not bad for $840, which included 2-park admission for 3 days. The shuttle (Route A) runs on time but it's worth mentioning that the schedule only has it running to the park before noon and from the park after 4 pm.

Hotel 2: Not wanting to shell out another $150 or so for the last night and then hoof it to the airport at 6 a.m., I spent 15K Club Carlson points on a room at the Country Inn & Suites by MCO. Perfect for the 9:25 flight back as we managed to get a full night's sleep and even grab a bite at breakfast before the flight. The room itself was nicer than that at the HIE, but the bed wasn't very comfortable. But, again, it was a lower-tier property, so expectations were tempered from the beginning.

Entertainment: As mentioned in this thread before, the Harry Potter experience was what we were after and we got that. What I, of the Disneyland annual past holding experience, forgot to consider, however, was the fact that there wasn't a park devoted solely to Harry Potter - it's just a section of Universal (duh, I know), so if you're there strictly for HP like we were, it's definitely not worth the price of a three-day ticket (ours were 2+1 free day, but still) as you can cover it all in a day even if you do spend some time waiting in line. With that said, though, I enjoyed it thoroughly even though I was merely a tag-along to my wife who didn't stop giggling for the duration of our visit (I can only imagine what will happen when we go to London and the proper Potter park once she graduates from her Ph.D. program). We didn't end up going on many rides at all (neither one of us are rollercoaster people - we were kind of done in by the Jurassic River Cruise, to give you an idea), so it was more of a "walk around, spend entirely too much time without spending almost any money at the shops" kind of visit, which may arguably not be worth the price of admission for most, but it worked for us. Apart from Universal, we also visited the Harry P. Leu Botanical Gardens (a really peaceful way to round out the visit) and my wife went up in the Orlando Eye (judging by her photos I didn't really miss a whole lot). We also drove around Lake Ivanhoe but didn't find the surrounding area overly compelling. Went to the outlets, as well, but the most expensive thing we ended up buying on the trip was a Stoke City (the Potters! - a 100% coincidence, btw, but hey, it's nice when things work out) jersey for me at United World Soccer at the Florida Mall.

So, all in all, a good trip, sorry for the rambly post and thanks to everyone for your help and advice.