Just back from HRH

[Bchamp]

Just came back from a very quick trip to orlando, arrived at HRH sat morn at 9:30, and came back last night around 7 pm.
Had fabulous time even though our 4 yr old was just getting over the flu ( bummer), he still keep saying he was so glad we came here. Parks were HOT HOT HOT, seemed hotter on Sunday than Saturday. Seemed pretty crowded, some of the posted times for waits were well above 30 minutes. IN fact, one fish, two fish had a 50 minute wait at 10:30 in the morning. THANK GOD FOR FOTL!! Could not and would not do it any other way.
Hard Rock was wonderful, once again, IMO, RP can't compare to it,
We asked for 1154, our fav room, it was booked but they did give us 1152 - right next door! Wonderful short walk to the exit , pool and park. Did not eat at citywalk or HRH - went offsite and ate Saturday dinner at Carrabas. The food was wonderful and the service - our waiter, was excellent!! I worked in a restaurant for 20 years so I am very critical ( silently of course LOL) of rest. service and this was A++++.
No problems at HRH, kids got welcome gifts ( 1st time in 4 trips), we got upgrade from garden to poolview, cookies and milk came quickly and they fixed the one mistake on our bill.
sunday, back at the park but it was soooo hot, we ended up back at the pool until we went home.
Any questions feel free to ask.

 

[FOV]

Thanks so much for the trip report! We will be going to the HRH June 26-30th. I will try to request the rooms you suggested - thanks! This will be our first time at HRH and US/IOA.

My son will turn 5 during the trip. Which rides did your 4 y/o enjoy the most? What aspect of the pool did he like? Did he try the water slide? Did he ride Spiderman?

I can't imagine how hot the weather will be there when we go! We usually go to Florida in the late Fall. I plan on spending LOTS of time by the pool!

Thanks! (Sorry if I have deluged you with too many questions - I am just sooo excited!)

 

[JOC]

Glad you had fun! You said you got an upgrade and your Loews perks...did you book using a discounted rate?

 

[Bchamp]

First of all, I booked a garden view room for $125.00 and then I asked for an upgrade to room 1154( pool view). The rooms at the end are wonderful because my hubby is a smoker and when he goes outside to smoke, the kids ususally follow. So to have a room right next to the exit door practically make it very convenient for all.
At Islands of Adventure, my 4 year old, who is not a real rider, loves the carasoussel of course and also one fish two fish
We went and played in the discovery center game room. He also played in the arcade room while my hubby and 12 yr old did spiderman,
At Universal, he was going to do Jimmy Neutron but we decided not to risk it because he had an upset stomach. So my hubby and 12 yr old went on that and said that there were many small kids on it in seats that were stationary.
Barney, we saw last time and he liked that although he was probably one of the oldest kids there.
We played in Woody woodpeckers ball zone which my kids loved and Curious Georges water town was neat.
What I LOVE about the parks is all the fans blowing cool mists everywhere, if it wasn't for them, it would have been really bad. No breeze or wind at all in orlando.
Last time we were here, my 4 yr old went on ET and Jaws. They both scared him so he passed this time.
Hope you all have a wonderful time there, I am sure you will, with FOTL it makes it so much more tolerable to brave the florida sun.

 

[Robinrs]

Welcome back, Barb!

I laughed when you said that your son was the oldest one there. I took my son for the first time when he was 6. He told me he'd be thoroughly HUMILIATED but ended up thoroughly enjoying it!

BTW, I had to do the stationary seats at Jimmy Neutron myself because of nausea. They work fine.

Glad you had a great time!

 

[DisOrBust]

I would love to hear about your offsite restaurant experience. I always worry I'll end up in a ba d area of town etc...Was it kid friendly? What kind of food? Any website?

 

[FOV]

Thanks for the great info, Barb! I am REALLY lookingforward to our trip!

 

[Bchamp]

I forgot to say that we had an "entertainment card rate" and I just gave her that card and our loews cards when we checked in.
We did have lunch at the HR Cafe on Saturday, I forgot earlier, I had gotten a 20 percent off coupon emailed to me a couple of weeks ago , so we used it. It was ok, but nothing to rave about. I think the kids had pizza , I had chicken fingers and my hubby had pulled pork. Saturday night was the best. We went to Carabbas.
Carabbas is an italian restaurant I will try to give you directions,
but I am really bad at this......when you go out of HRH turn left and go to light..turn right and go to main street, can't remember the name--- go through main light and Carabbas is on the left side. I think it took all of 5 minutes to get there.
We walked in at 7:30 and it was full but there were tables outside so we asked if we could sit there. It was old time Italian, the ceasar salad was the kind where the lettuce didn't drown in the dressing. The romano cheese was shredded instead of having a parmesean in a carton. My son and I had chicken parmesean with the red sauce on the side, it came with either garlic mashed potatoes, which he had or fettucini alfredo, which I had. My husband had a scallop concoction which he loved also. The chicken was so tender you could cut it with a fork. The waiter , his name was Jose, was an older gentleman who I thought was Italian until I heard his name LOL. he had alot of class. He was so professional but very comfortable to be around.
My little 4 yr old did not eat, and I think my older one had 2 pops and I had water and my hubby had probably 3 bar drinks. The total was around 60.00.
I think the main courses went from 12.00 up.
We also ate at Cracker Barrel for breakfast on sunday, It was okay also but not as good as I remember.

FOV -- as far as the pool slide at HRH, there were kids around 5 and 6 running up there and sliding down but I forgot to bring my little ones vest, but I don't know if he would have done it. Maybe if we had gone with him the first time, but my 12 yr old could not stay off it. He must have gone down it 30 times if not more. He just loved it. And there were people of all sizes and ages going up to slide. As far as the rest of the pool, since it is only 4 ft deep, ( I think), the last time we were here my little one had a blast. He was all over the place, tons of kids and music and just a great time.
The food and drinks are kind of steep and they had a buffet out by the pool bar and you could see the birds landing on the rolls and taking pieces of them. Kinda make me glad we went to Cracker Barrel to eat.
There is a guy at the top of the slide kind of directing traffic, so to speak, so they don't all go slamming into each other. Kids don't have much patience to wait.
We did watch Spiderman the movie in the hotel room on Saturday night while we were drifting off to sleep. We had never seen it and it was pretty good.
I could go on and on, I just love the HRH and the parks.
Hope this helps.

 

[FOV]

Thanks again, Barb. Your posts are really informative!

Can you rent or borrow childrens vests from the HRH or do you have to bring your own from home?

 

[FOV]

Oh ya, one more question if you don't mind - did you see the movie at the pool? What time did it start? Thanks! (Sorry for being such a pest!)

 

[barbnbrian]

Great post. Thanks for the info. Just wondering, what did were the welcome gifts the kids received?

 

[Bchamp]

FOV - I don't know about renting vests at the pool, my little one took his own last time. HOWEVER -- there is a Walmart about 3 miles down the main road in front of the universal parking garage, and we went to get my hubby a bathing suit. So I guess you could go pick up one if you needed to.
We watched Spiderman in the room - I didn't notice a movie at the pool, however, last year we did watch Mrs Doubtfire while the kids laid in big rafts in the pool Really neat.

Barbnbrian - They got the welcome gifts at the front desk at check in. It is the first time in 4 times of staying that they actually got them. Just a little foam sunvisor, sunglasses and a little ball and a plastic blow up guitar. It was a little young for my boys -- they are into race cars and driving them. So they weren't too thrilled. My 2 yr old grandson loved them though. We brought them home to him.

Ok, I gotta rest LOL

 

[JOC]

barbnbrian,
This is out of topic but I had to tell you that when I first saw your user name I thought it said "barbarian" and I had to do a double take!

 

[barbnbrian]

Too funny. Although sometimes I might agree that the second half of the name "Barb n Brian" might as well be a Barbarian! He's the non-Disney type! Booo, hisssss! But he is getting excited about going to HRH & Universal this summer!

Barb

 

[JOC]

Hey, your other half must be related to my other half! He could care less about Disney, but he doesn't mind going to Universal and IOA!

 

[lcborn2run]

Thanks for all the info..now for a possibly dumb question-was your room on the "11th" floor as the number seems to be? (May be dumb as I have no idea how many floors are in the hotel!)

We're going in August, and I have a 2, 5 and 8 year old. I've heard some rooms are a far walk from pool, elevator, etc. Do you reccommend those rooms/areas for my family?

THANK YOU!!

Lisa