HRH or RP For 1 Night

[blademankev]

My DW and DS12 are staying at AKL next July, but we are wanting to book a night at Universal, mainly to take advantage of the Express Pass facility over the two days in US and IOA, and also so that we can enjoy the night life without having to drive back. As we will not be spending much time actually in the hotel, which one would you recommend?. Is it worth the extra $50 for our DS12 to enjoy the underwater music and other facilities? We do plan to nip back at some stage during the day for a rest from the parks & to take a dip, but having never even seen the hotels before, I need advise from you experienced DISSERS.

Thanks in anticipation

 

[bubba's mom]

I think if you can get HRH, go for it! More spacious rooms, not as far from Universal & CW (a bit further from IOA and RPR is a little further from parks & CW). If you think you will definately use the pool, HRH has a waterslide, RPR does not have any slides. If the extra $50 doesn't bother you, I'd go for it! Sounds like a great plan you have...you will have a wonderful time!

 

[Fan2CSkr]

It's one night, I would save the $50 and stay at RPR! Three people fit fine in a standard room. Request a view of the parks. The walk is an easy one to IOA. The pool at RPR is larger and deeper and I doubt you will have much pool time during your short stay anyway. RPR is lovely, you cant go wrong.

 

[nibby]

We just stayed at the RPR for one night too - to take advantage of the Express Passes and boy was it worth it! I would save the money and stay at the RPR, after all you'll hardly be in your room. It's very close to IOA if you're happy with walking. You can use the pool at HR anyway as a guest of RPR, which we did on our second day. The underwater speakers are nothing to write home about but we did like the pool area (beach and slide) better than the RPR pool.

 

[blademankev]

Thanks for the advice guys, we decided to go for the HRH, as I am determined to make this vacation really special.

Nibby did you manage to use your room key to express pass the rides on both days (i.e. day of arrival & day of departure?)

Only 48 weeks to go!!

 

[nibby]

Nibby did you manage to use your room key to express pass the rides on both days (i.e. day of arrival & day of departure?)

Only 48 weeks to go!!

Yes, we arrived at RPR around 9.00 and our room was ready, although if it hadn't been we would have been issued with our room keys and been able to store our luggage. We used the keys all day and the whole of the next day until we left around 5.00 pm (very tired, but very happy). The keys have the dates of stay printed on them and are valid from the start of check-in day to the end of check-out day

 

[robvia]

If you check into the HRH at 7am, your room may be ready. If it is, then you unpack your stuff and head to the parks. Otherwise the front desk will hold your luggage. Eitherway, you get your magic keys.
Since you said 48 weeks to go, that means you'll be going at the end of July. The parks stay open until 10pm during this time, and there's a show to end the day.
You'll have plenty of time to visit a park, come back and swim from 1-4pm, then go back to a park at night.
The next morning, you can visit a park for a few hours, come back to check out of the room, then go back to the parks for a few more hours before driving away.