Just got back from HRH!

[pjank]

We had the GREATEST time. Everything was perfect. Too much info I can't even type it. From the hotels to the restaurants we ate at, to front of the line access, it was all wonderful. I don't know how I will top this vacation. If anyone has questions let me know. I will be happy to help.
Patti :)

[nhrenee]

Glad you had a memorable trip! What type of room did you have at the HRH?

TIA

[pjank]

We were on the Club level, 7th floor, deluxe pool view!

[cforza]

Just curious, did you reserve the Club level or were you upgraded to it? How was the Mardi Gras parade? Do you do anything with the beads or just keep them? Also, any suggestions for good meals would be appreciated! Thank you.

[pjank]

We were upgraded to the club level. The parade was a parade. They were throwing beads to everyone, yes you get to keep them. I wasn't with my daughter so it definately different seeing it through the eyes of a child.
For dinner we ate at Emeril's which was great, the service and food were awesome.
Mama Della's at Portifino which was also very good.
We would have loved to eat dinner at Mythos but were closed the night we had open. We ended up eating lunch there which was also excellent. Definately going to do dinner next time. The place looks really neat.
We had lunch at Confisco's which was good, for park food.
Patti

[Jon360]

Patti,

Were you upgraded to club level with the Loews Christmas card? Also, did you use a special rate like the Entertainment or AP rate?

[paisleypi]

How long did the parade last? I understand there is a different performer every night. Was the performance before, during, or after the parade? Where is the best place to view the parade?

How about some details about your room? Room size, decor, turn down service, room service, etc?

Any problems at check in? check out? Did they have express check out?

Thanks for all your insight.

[damo]

Was your room the same as the one in the picture on all the advertisements for the HRH?

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[pjank]

Yes my room looked exactly the same as the advertised room. They did have turn down service but the maids weren't able to get into our room b/c of the key/lock. We found out the last night because she happened to be standing there when we got home. They put a little chocolate note on your pillow. The parade seemed long because we waited at Jaws where we thought the parade was starting but it ended up ending there. It wasn't crowded so I would still suggest it. There is a band I think it may have started at 8pm.
The decor of the room was beautiful. They had little things that made it more comfortable, like a real bedroom. Throw pillows, real blow dryers,robes even a scale! The top blankets were white down duvet. I loved it! So close to the parks. It was really fantastic.

[pjank]

no problem with check in or check out. Yes they do have express check out. The man that took our luggage took care of that, we just handed it to him. Everyone was really nice and polite, they greeted you.

[Letsbgoofy]

pjank,

How did you get an upgrade? Are you a Lowe's First member? Did you have any kind of a discount on your room?

[Puffy2]

Was the club level concierge? What type of food , snacks offered and when?

[pjank]

Yes, I am a Loews member. To get the upgrade, we just asked. The club level is the concierge level. For breakfast they had cereal, croissants, bagels, muffins, fruit. From 5-7 they had sandwiches and potatoe salad, one night it was sushi. Some sausage stuff on another night. They also had beer, wine and alcohol and cheese and crackers. At night they had cookies. The sad part was the people there are like animals, they get off the elevator and just grab, there's food all over the place, they don't clean up after themselves. Don't get me wrong you are there on vacation but people are SO greedy and pushy. At times we just avoided the whole area. They also had soda, coffee and water out all day long.

[Belle1962]

Did you use FOTL and how did it work? Once per ride or unlimited? (Sorry to start this again but gotta know...)

[pjank]

I hadn't really read anything posted about Fotl b/c it seemed all to complicated. I'll make it simple. Show your room key(card) to the attendant at the front of the line and they tell you where to go. It was usually right by the baby swap area. I didn't read that it was only until 10am until I returned home. We used it all day long! There's nothing like riding dueling dragons back to back w/o a wait. At one point spiderman was an hour wait, we waited 4minutes. THIS IS THE WAY TO GO!!!It was really wonderful. Keep in mind front of the line and express are 2 different things. Only certain rides have express,but we used fotl on every ride. You'll understand better after your trip, just make sure to flash that room key!

[minijeanie]

We are staying at HRH in August. We have deluxe room/pool view. Is that what you had. I have heard on these boards that upgrading means a smaller room. Is that true? Glad to hear you had a great time. We are anxiously awaiting our trip.
Did you have a car? and if so, where did you eat offsite?

minijeanie

[pjank]

I don't think deluxe means the club level. I didn't get to see any other rooms, so I don't know about their size. I do know that our room looked just like the advertisement. The couch was so great, I can't get it out of my mind. Sage green chenille. I would love it in my house. We didn't have a car and didn't need one. I definately recommend eating at Mythos, Mama Della's and Emerils, as that's what we did.
Have a great trip!

[luvpooh]

Hi pjank,

Did you get automatic seating at any of the restaurants? I read that if you stay onsite you can just walk into a restaurant and be seated next, like a priority seating at WDW. Is this good at Citywalk only, or is it also good in the hotels and in the parks?

Also, did you use any discounts (i.e. intro rate, Entertainment card, etc.) and still got the upgrade?

Thanks :)

[pjank]

I had reservations at the restaurants that I wanted to eat at. You get priority seating at most of the restaurants at city walk if you stay at PBH or HRH.
Most places ask for AAA cards, which we didn't have.
I didn't use the entertainment rate, b/c I got a comparable rate with my travel agent.

[anne60]

what is it? does it cost $$$ and how do u get it?

[tnkrbell]

I just made ressies for May at Hrh have you ever stayed on Disney property?? Which would you compare this too?? Have you ever stayed at portifino?? how does this compare?? Thanks!!! :D

[pjank]

I have stayed at Caribbean Beach at Disney, obviously HRH doesn't compare. At the HRH you can't help but feel happy and ready to party with the music playing in the backround. It is a beautiful hotel. I would definately stay there again!

[tnkrbell]

So do you mean you think Hard rock is nicer then carribean?

[Beckles]

The Hard Rock is much nicer than the Caribbean Beach Resort (which happens to be the only Disney property I've stayed at anyway). The HRH is comparable to the hotels near the top of the Disney offerings.

[The Mystery Machine]

1) How long would you say it took you to enjoy US & IOA?

2) Did you make priority seating ahead of time or when you checked in?

*We are staying at HRH 2 nights, and I want to go to Sea World but I don't think it is possible.
There are 4 of us me, DH, 9yo & 4yo.

Thanks!

HRH/CBR June 2001

[pjank]

YES HRC is nicer than Carribbean Beach, I didn't make myself clear.
With front of the line access I think you'd be able to get in SeaWorld.
I wasn't with kids so it took us no time at all to do both the parks. Actually after riding the "big" rides we looked at our watches and it was only 10:30. We did everything in 4 days (not including Sea World) at a very very leisurely pace. Could have done it in 2days.
I had reservations for dinner before my trip for the restaurants I wanted to go to.

[love mickey]

Well my wife and i just got back from FL last week and we stayed at the contemporary resort(11th floor overlooking the park) and HRH. We both loved the HRH. We have stayed at the polenesian resort and the contemporary resort but we still like the HRH best. There is something about the hotel that you just feel so relaxed.The pool is awsome the people are very friendly the food is good and it is so close to the parks and citywalk. My wife and i were able to see both parks in 2 days(no kids) it was kind of cold when we were there but no problem. The 3rd day we went back and hit the stuff we really liked.
The club room and the deluxe rooms are not the same.Club rooms are on the 7th floor only Deluxe rooms can be most floors but are the biggest rooms they have.Nice with a bigger family.
We love this hotel.. :) :) :)

[nancir]

Did the Club Rooms have a day bed or sleeper sofa for a fifth person?

Thanks
Nanc

[chase_pc]

You got upgraded to Club, but what was your ressie for? Deluxe? Pool? Family?... want to know, so I dont make a mistake. By the way, I had Pool View, and asked for an upgrade. I got a garden view overlooking exhaust vents and a bus stop, an argument, kicked out for 8 hours, and finally, the pool view I had originally paid for. I was the pauper to your prince on that ride! The cust svc director was very kind to listen to about an hour of my complaints (1/2 drank beverages in the minibar on arrival, no lightbulbs, soap, or mini toiletries, room downgrade, kicked out, humilitation when card declined at restaurants, 'lost' items from room, cookies, lied to by staff, no credit for downgrade, no upgrade later, employee's insisting based on price I paid for gardenview and not looking up or maybe not understanding my room code, even after I 3 times stated he was incorrect on price AND room type, and no manager after 3 requests to speak to one... etc etc etc) and finally he made a gesture of apology which I found very considerate and fairly acceptable considering his patience with my (perfectly understandable) outrage and rambling. Well, I must say I have mixed feelings, and I really would like to go again, and hope it's better, because were it not for the treatment by the people, the place is amazing, and USF and IOA are like herion to me. DR DOOM the first time literally makes you high, very high, but also the adrenaline and endorphine rush are amazing. I got off and ordered my friend "let's go back on, let's go back on, NOW!!!" I forgot all about my troubles while there. I will be writing about it all later. But, hey, you pay a lot of money to relax and be treated nicely. To get royally screwed sucks, but to get royally screwed when you expect to be treated 'extra nice' is infuriating. Well, I will give it another chance, and report back...
Anyway, what room did you start with before the upgrade...
thanks,
- jay

[pjank]

Jay,
This all happened at the Hard Rock? Were you speaking to the customer rep while you were there? I don't understand, under those circumstances they should have bent over to please you. I'm sorry to inform you but we had booked a gardenview. WE had a great vacation and look forward to visiting again.
Patti

[chase_pc]

All of that happened in the 3 nights we spent at HRH from 2/13 to 2/15. It was truly horrible, and no, they did not bend over backwards, and when we complained, either the response was, in short, 'oh well', or someone would say they would have it taken care of, and then nothing would happen. We got our milk and cookies on the last day - it was like a slap in the face, a reminder of how they hadnt done anything right the whole time. I had explained that I wanted to maintain a persistent connection to the internet with my laptop 24/7 the whole time. I was told at check-in it was working and was free. For some insane, ridiculous reason, they charge phone rates for interent access. I guess this is common with some hotels. That means: $40 an hour, or in my case, a $2880 bill at check out. If that upsets you, just imaging what I felt like, when I found out! It amazes me that my head did not literally explode, and take several load bearing walls out in the process. Thank goodness that on arrival, when I turned on my laptop, something had happened to damage it, so it never worked. (it's only a year old, and worked perfectly fine, and I hand carried it all the way up to the shuttle from the airport to HRH, so I dont know if it bounced in the car, or when going up to the room, or during storage while we were kicked out). Some people are good, as life is like that, but most of the employees have no idea what their purpose is, and many outright lied to us, screwed us over, stole from us, or something nasty we may not even know about...I could go on. I asked for a mananger to contact me (they were never around when I asked). Upon check out, someone asked how our stay was. Prior to this, as people asked how our stay was, we could not bear to lie. At times, I would be as civil as I could and say "You dont want to know. However, I wouldnt mind telling the manager." Of course, he never was there, or called, or left a note for us to contact him, etc etc. We became quite good at Zooming through the lobby with our faces shielded so as not to see them, and prentend we didnt notice them, so they could not ask how we liked our stay so far...
Anyway, the cust svc director was the one who asked us upon checkout, and there he sat with us for about an hour.
I just cannot believe you started with garden view! We got the garden view with a view of exhaust vents and a bus stop. The green we could see was from palm trees along the side of the street we could see, over the edge of the 4th floor roof.
As I said, they are newly opened, and although it doesnt make me any happier about how I was treated, atleast I can find that reason for it all, with hope that things will improve...
hmmm...

[Cubiclegirl]

Overall our HRH experience was positive. The room, pool, lobby etc was beautiful and you can't beat FOTL and being able to walk to the Parks in 5 minutes.

However, we were supposed to be upgraded at check-in from Garden to pool view (Loews 1st). After traveling with 8 suitcases, a cooler, 2 kids and the bellboy to the very end of the 6th floor - the room was not ready. First they said there were no more pool views, then they found one. Down to 5 we went. The room was ready and it was on the pool side - but a big copper pointed roof blocked most of the view. Since I wasn't paying for pool view and the room itself was fine, we didn't complain. I had no energy to move to a third room and it wasn't a major problem. The bellboy was very helpful and brought us new keys.

What I did resent was how the "hotel guests" were treated during the grand opening festivities. The restaurants closed early and the pool closed at 3:00PM. We were offered the option of going to Portofino's pool. The most annoying thing was being basically kicked out of the lobby when the celebrities arrived. We were told to watch from the front lawn with non-hotel guests. Hotel guest were offered either to attend a party at 10:30 that night in the lobby with drinks and desserts or a citywalk pass. We never did see the VIP's because of the crowds and the media. The party was nothing special

[pjank]

I'm sorry to hear about all the upgrade issues but may I remind you as a loews card holder you are not promised an upgrade. It states if it is available you will receive an upgrade. I'm sorry to hear about the pool closing at 3pm and not being aloud in the lobby, that would really annoy me and I probably wouldn't have reacted very well.

[cforza]

While I believe that just about everyone who reads these boards understands that being a Loews First member does not mean an automatic upgrade, I think we all would love to get one. I believe that you (Pjank) posted several requests for tips on getting upgrades before your trip! Even a gardenview room is not inexpensive, and lets not forget the ticket prices, restaurants and airfare, particularly if this is a long weekend get away with just kids for spring break! My sister and I are going w/out our husbands and we promised not to spend too much money as we are doing a trip to the real Portofino (Italy) in June.
My point is that every one feels a little better knowing that they got a good value, in this case, a club room for the price of a regular room, especially when they know that others were given this perk. Hopefully, we will all be upgraded. If not, we'll still have a great time!

[pjank]

We all hope you have a great time and let us know if you are able to get that upgrade!

[dcchow]

I've been following this thread and board for the past 2 weeks and getting worried now.

We'll be at HRH this week with my 2 sisters and their families. We made ressies for 3 garden rooms using the entertainment rate and have the loew's card too. Of course, we hoping for an upgrde but given the posts on this board, customer service seems less that desireable for HRH guests.

We would really like to get at least a deluxe room or club level. What's the best strategy to get one? Should we book for the deluxe ($149 for entertainment-put in the extra cash) and hope for the best?

Also, what's the crowds/celebs/vip situation like for 3/8-3/12? Hate to chased out of lobbies because of vips. Also, what's a good place for breakfast, if we don't make the club level. Sounds like service is slow and expensive at the restaurant downstairs. Being a new place, seems there are many things to be worked out!!!
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Doris

[chase_pc]

I would suggest you call them to confirm you ressie NOW, and ask about the upgrade. I dont see any reason why your room should not be availble now. Dont wait for upgrade until you arrive. That is the worst thing to do. If they have nothing now, ask again on arrival. Locked rooms may open up they day before. remember, garden upgraded is pool. deluxe or club would be 2 or 3 steps up, so they might stick you anywhere, or not at all.
Also, call the 'room only' number, available from the usf vacation package site, call there, and ask for room only phone number. If they can sell you a room, then they can upgrade you. Many web sites and travel agents can sell you room, when HRH cannot, because HRH sells these other companies a block of rooms and dates. HRH cannot take those rooms back, especially to give away for free.
We ate at the sunset grill every morning. The buffet was truly delicious ($13) but everything tended to cool by the time we got to the table. We ordered after that, and it came hot. not as much food, but better hot. I have no complaints at all about this. I would recommend it.
I was truly unhappy with my experience and treatment at HRH, but if you go in knowing that the room is only one small part of the whole, you can have a great time. I loved the pool, hot tubs, water slide, and the view (once I got one), and the parks were AWESOME. We just stayed out of the room as much as possible.

[cressy]

chase-pc, what a bummer that your HRH experience was lousy. We stayed Feb 18 and 19 and absolutely loved it.For those of you who are questioning, our deluxe room was spacious and luxurious,you can walk to US in like 5 minutes, really, and the FOTL feature alone totally rules. Of course, when we were there, it was still unlimited all day, the USF experts on this board warn that it will soon be limited to once a day. Even so, with clever planning especially, the FOTL is awesome.To answer another guests' question, the extra $ for the deluxe room is well worth it(well, at entertainment rate), particularly if your party is 3 or more, due to the size of the room, and the pullout sofa.And don't forget--beautiful,luxurious,spacious,close to USF,FOTL,etc.etc.etc.etc!!!!!

[dcchow]

thanks for the reassurances!

I called to confirm and our 3 rooms are good. Couldn't get a deluxe room at entertainment rates since they were sold out, but will try when we get down there again. Seems that Friday, 3/9 is soldout but we'll arrive 3pm and see what's available.

We originally booked through the vacation/resort office, but had to talk with the hotel directly to get our 3 rooms and the entertainment rate too. It was process! As you say, there are blocks of rooms for various packages but they aren't available to the direct caller, unless you get the right reservation person.

You're right about being in the room minimally. We plan on being out for the full days, at USF/IOA and WDW. The other 2 rooms are fine for my sisters, but my family of 5 will be tight in the garden room. Hope this works out...

Also, I hope the winter storm for the east coast won't bump our travel plans for next week. We're leaving the latter part of the week so it should clear out.

Looking forward to sun and fun,
Doris :) :cool: :)

[wdwcrazee]

The HRH sounds wonderful...I can't wait until I can stay there myself...My husband and I are big HR fans. Does anyone have pictures that they can post, especially of the rooms and the pool area? I would love to see them.null

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Are the club rooms all deluxe room size?

~ºoº~California Dreaming~ºoº~

[pjank]

Our room on the club level looked just like the picture in the Hard Rock hotel brochure. :)

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Where can I get a HRH brochure at? Thanks.

~ºoº~California Dreaming~ºoº~