Universal Newbie and worried about staying at HRH

[2mickeys1minnie]

This will be our first time staying on site at Universal. We are a family of 5 with kids ages 15, 13 and 9. I just booked a deluxe queen at the HRH for our stay 10/31/-11/5 with the 40% off pin code. I've been reading a bunch of reviews on here and it seems like alot of people were very disappointed with their HRH room/stay. Should I consider switching to RPH? Please help. I have no idea what I'm doing lol.

 

[macraven]

This will be our first time staying on site at Universal. We are a family of 5 with kids ages 15, 13 and 9. I just booked a deluxe queen at the HRH for our stay 10/31/-11/5 with the 40% off pin code. I've been reading a bunch of reviews on here and it seems like alot of people were very disappointed with their HRH room/stay. Should I consider switching to RPH? Please help. I have no idea what I'm doing lol.

if i read discouraging reviews that were about a hotel i was booked at, i would be concerned also.

be aware that more people are quicker to report poor/negative reviews on hotels rather than the good/positive.

what is important to one guest might not be for another.


i have 22 prior stays at hrh before i started making rph my home away from home.

both hotels are good.

hrh has the standard deluxe rooms, rph doesn't.

 

[mischief32]

We love the HRH and my family prefers to stay hear. I agree that psome people always look for the negative and not the positive. A must have is the giant donut at the store on the first floor. Nothing like a suger rush for breakfast.

 

[sandyplayer]

we stayed last year and we don't often book the same place twice because we like to stay at different hotels

when I suggested to my husband and kids that next summer we might try another hotel they all went nuts

We really loved it. Loved it. Rooms are OK. They are nice and simples and clean but modern which is not my style.

The pool is really what got us. My husband, who vacations only to make the rest of us happy, has decided it is his favorite hotel ever. He loved the rock music vibe. If you were born between 1965 and 1978 you will love the music. The kids loved the constant chaos at the pool. I will admit that when I saw how nutty it was (think MTV spring breaks for the 5-15 year old and 35-45 year old crowd) overwhelming. And then we just relaxed and ordered drinks and hung out.

My husbands one request for our stay next year (which is a split stay between disneys boardwalk and hard rock)? he wants an entire day hanging at the hard rock.

The waitresses and staff were nice. we loved the cabana pool bar and really never wanted to leave the pool so we ended up ordering 3 meals from there. Its fun.

There always people who will complain.

One tip on room requests......corridors are LOOOOONG! ask for a room near an elevator!

 

[gschmerl]

The rooms at the HRH are larger than the rooms at the RPR. With five of you in one room, I would stick to the HRH.

 

[damo]

I think your kids will probably enjoy the pool at the HRH better. I suggest you take a look at photos of the room so you know what to expect. They are a bit different and more sparse than normal hotel rooms because they are keeping with the "cool" theme.

http://www.oyster.com/orlando/hotels/hard-rock-hotel-at-universal-orlando-resort/photos/#

The one thing I really admire about the Loews hotels is that if something isn't right and you let them know, they will make it right. So go with confidence you'll have a great time but if things aren't up to what you expect, make sure you let them know and give them an opportunity to correct things.

 

[Choozee]

That is a terrific link! Thank you for sharing it

 

[fizbobunny]

Sandyplayer, we are also doing a BWV / HRH split stay!

 

[bumbershoot]

One tip on room requests......corridors are LOOOOONG! ask for a room near an elevator!

Ah but then it's NOISY. We had that situation during our one stay at HRH; especially bad because there was a huge car dealer convention at the time.


I think that having the two teens with you will help you like it more. I just had the then-8 year old, and there just wasn't enough to make us love it, or even like it. The convention caused the whole pretty front reception-y area of the lobby to be entirely blocked off during our stay (they were putting up the big curtains as we checked in, and were taking them down as we left) so a big pretty part of the hotel that I'd seen (when we pool-hopped from PBH during a previous stay) was gone.

If we'd had some teens with us that might have brought some energy to the stay, that might have been different.

But I don't know. We had sugar ants in the room (which they took care of promptly once I realized they weren't just going to go away), we had to completely unmake our bed because the egg crate cushion* was heading south, causing a big dip where our pillows were and in doing that we discovered that the beds weren't attached to the wall or the headboard and the bed kept moving and our pillows were sliding back...there was too much empty space and not enough usable space in the room, and they used different toiletries than we'd had at RPR and PBH, and the smell made them impossible for me to use (I'm highly sensitive).


If those things wouldn't bug you, don't let my negative review of the place bug you! We loved, and I have said we loved, RPR and PBH, and now that we got our obligatory HRH stay out of the way, we'll go back to loving those places. But maybe you guys won't have a convention, will see the pretty view of the pool as you walk in, will hae a different room, will have a room just far enough down the hall to not have the noise but just close enough so your feet won't hurt from walking back to the room, etc etc.

Always pay attention to WHAT people are complaining about. If those things don't bug ya, then don't worry about it!


RPR is the smallest standard room. It works fine for my family of 3. It probably wouldn't work well for your family.



*I thought it was a proper mattress thingie until we undid the bed and found the old-looking egg crate foam instead.

 

[sandyplayer]

I am better with the noise and chaos now that the kids are older. Back when we were in the napping stage it would have been tough. We actually like the chaos, and being a bit claustrophobic, those long corridors are tough. But I agree, if I could ask for a room a few doors down, it would be perfect.

I don't know where the deluxe rooms are. At boardwalk it is easy, all deluxe rooms are club level and face the lagoon. But I can't find info about HRH deluxe room locations.

We thought the beds were comfy. And the room was clean. Sounds like you guys had a tough time with the room. Those things would be have freaked me out.

 

[sonofanarchy]

I generally say that you're going to read more bad reviews of any hotel because people tend to complain more than praise, but in this situation, I would change. We just got back from Hard Rock and were very disappointed. The room, while bigger than Royal Pacific's, is nowhere near as nice, and the bathroom is so small you'll feel like you're on a cruise ship. Not to mention the bathroom was just nasty. The hotel itself wasn't bad, but Royal Pacific, in my opinion, is one of the top resorts in Orlando. It's absolutely beautiful, immaculate, gorgeous rooms, and pretty much the best staff we've ever encountered at a hotel.

If price is the same, I'd still switch, but wouldn't worry so much about staying at Hard Rock. If it's cheaper to stay at RPR, then change. That's just my 2 cents.

 

[natebenma]

We just returned from a split stay at HRH and Disney's Beach Club. We really liked the Hard Rock! We stayed at the Portofino 2 years ago, but the vibe at the HR and the location were much more suited to our family.

I am just about to post a link to pictures of my room and the resort in another thread.

We were at the very end of a long set of corridors, but the walk didn't bother us at all.

 

[hpriamson]

We stayed 3 nights in a Deluxe queen at HRH with 3 kids (13, 10, 8) in April. Thoughts:

1. Hotel is great for kids. Especially the pool.

2. I can't imagine trying to shove the 5 of us and our luggage in a smaller room. 2 queen deluxe is the largest room available at any onsite unless you move up to a $uite.

3. Room was clean, but felt a little tired. Could use a paint job & refurb. Had old mattresses too - ours had the eggshell foam on top, but replacement would have been better.

4. Yes, the bathroom is tiny, but the second sink outside the bathroom is priceless. Made mornings much faster.

For a family of 5, I'd definitely recommend it.

 

[damo]

I would imagine that HRH is next on the list for refurbs now that PBH is almost done. Anyone hear any rumblings about it?

 

[2mickeys1minnie]

Thank you very much everyone for your input. I'm still not sure what to do. RPH would be cheaper but I really don't feel like cramming us all into a very small space. I'm going to have to really think about this. I want it to be a fun trip and I certainly don't want ants in my room. YIKES!!

 

[glocon]

We have stayed there twice, and we will again if we go for HHN this fall break. My son would revolt if we stayed anywhere else. We really like it there, and would not go back again this fall if we didn't. We have never had problems with dirty rooms or bugs or housekeeping or anything. We had a pool view room last stay and never heard anything.

The décor is sparse, but clean and crisp. And a great short walk to the parks.

 

[lstokes]

Is this something that was mailed to you? I have misplaced our mailer. I am going to call directly and see if they will still honor. Anyone have issue with not having the code on hand?

 

[2mickeys1minnie]

Is this something that was mailed to you? I have misplaced our mailer. I am going to call directly and see if they will still honor. Anyone have issue with not having the code on hand?

It was an email with a unique pin code. I got it early last week. Hope that helps.