First of all, I want to thank everyone who has posted the last couple of months. I lurked around getting as much information as possible before our trip and it was worth all the time I spent reading hundreds of posts. I don't know how anyone could fully experience the resorts and parks without the knowledge shared on the boards. Now that I am back I finally registered and am ready to post. This is long and some may find it boring, but I got the most out of the detailed posts, so I think others might like details also, so here goes.
We arrived on Saturday July 20 around 2:30pm for a 5 night stay. The valet and bellmen were courteous and helpful. We valet parked the car after reading about the parking situation. There was no line to check in but unfortunately we got a new hire who was being trained by none other than the dreaded Brian (discussed on other posts) We had booked the trip through Universal rather than directly with Loews. Although the rate we were paying was approximately $150 based on the receipt from Universal, we learned that Universal had booked the room at the $99 intro rate. This was ok because based on pricing the different items in our package, we still came out better than booking directly. However, because we had not booked through Loews, Brian told us that we were not eligible for our Loews First welcome gift, we could not get the upgrade and that our stay did not count toward upgrading our Loews First level status. He wasn't apologetic or regretful, he seemed to enjoy telling us what we couldn't have.
The lady that checked us in was inexperienced but pleasant and gave the kids (G6 & B8) their shell necklaces. After we were checked in I asked her about the Grade A program. She was familiar with it but had never checked anyone in with it. She took the report cards and went into the back (luckily Brian had taken his break) to find out what to do. After several minutes she returned and prepared room keys with the kids names indicating that they were Grade A status. I asked her not to allow charging privileges on these cards and she said it was taken care of. This was not true as I would later find out. She had made copies of the report cards. While she was in the back, 2 clerks were free at the next station and I asked them about the Loews First benefits hoping they would be more generous than Brian(another tip learned from the Boards, since it seems to be who you get on check in as to what you get) However, they told me the same thing, so they may be cracking down on the benefits. They also told me that the hotel was overbooked for the next several days.
As for the hotel itself it is wonderfully themed. The air conditioning felt wonderful. There were employees everywhere taking care of all details. Our room was not ready so we grabbed the bag of swimsuits that we had packed and headed by car to Wet&Wild. We had to park in the far shell paved lot with grass 4 feet tall because it was so crowded. We were able to go on several slides before the storms rolled in. The rides reopened for a short time, but closed again. Although we didn't get to do everything we wanted, we had a great time and visited with another family while we waited. The storm wasn't moving so we headed back to the hotel around 8:00. The biggest aggravation of the trip was walking back to the car at Wet&Wild. As I said we were in a shell parking lot. Actually after all the rain it was a mud lot with tall grass. They did not turn the lights on in the lot so it was dangerous. I stepped in a deep mud puddle and slipped. If they are going to have people park back there and charge them $6.00 to do it they should have the lights on. OK, off my soap box.
Back at the hotel, we went to the bell desk and gave the bellhop our room key and she was able to give us our room number. She called another bellhop and he immediately retrieved our stored luggage and took us up to the room. We were in tower 2 at the end of the hall. He showed us all of the features of the room of which the floor lamp did not have a bulb and the safe was locked. He filled our ice bucket and called for maintenance and security. Security was up within 5 minutes and opened the safe and demonstrated its use. Maintenance came about 10 minutes later with a light bulb. Our view was of the grounds. Being at the end of the hall, we did not hear any noise that others have complained about.
We have stayed at DL, YC and GF and I would but RP between DL and YC. Not as large as YC, but very nicely appointed. I don't think a rollaway would be a comfortable fit, but it was fine for the 4 of us. I like the sink outside the bath as different family members can be getting ready at the same time. My wife hates to do her hair in the bath while I am steaming in the shower! The towels are new and thick, a plus, and the drying cord in the tub is a nice feature. We had no problem with housekeeping. We requested fresh towels and turndown service 2 nights and it was taken care of.
Has anyone else had a problem with the thermostats at RP. I have not seen anyone else post about the thermostats so I think we may have had a less sensitive one. The gist of the problem is that they are motion activated. If it does not sense motion in the room it sets itself to an uncomfortable high temperature. I would wake up several times a night sweating in a hot room. I would have to stand up get the ac to switch on. Occasionally sitting up and waving my arms would do the trick, but not often. Throwing a pillow would work sometimes too. I discovered that they were motion activated when we got back from Wet&Wild. I had hung a beach towel over the closet door and left it open in front of the thermostat. After about an hour of being in the room it had gotten very warm and I knew I had set it on 70 degrees when we arrived. As soon as I swung the closet door closed, the ac clicked on. When it is on, it works really well. Anyway, after 3 nights of this I complained at the front desk and was told that the sensitivity could be adjusted and they would take care of it. She said that it should be sensitive enough to stay on even from a little motion lying in bed. I don't know if they looked at it before we checked out, but the problem continued throughout our stay.
On the third day we came back to the room from the parks to wait out a thunderstorm and was playing with the TV. I looked at our bill on the screen and was shocked by the total. Although we prepaid for the trip and presented a voucher at check in the nightly room charges were still being added to the bill. I had read about this problem on the board, so I wasn't too concerned. I called star services and they connected me to room control and she deleted the 2 nights on the bill. I also noticed a charge for Bula Bar. On the 2nd day, the kids got soft drinks from there while we looked around the pool and grounds. I guess I wasn't paying attention at the time, because my 6 year old, told me that the bartender asked her to sign the ticket when she got her drink. So much for the kids not being able to charge. I told the lady at room control that the kids were Grade A kids and she said no problem and took that charge off the bill also. I also told the kids, to make sure the bartender sees the Grade A on the room key. They didn't have another problem although they did have to point it out a few times. As far as the room charges went, I thought that would be the end of it, but when we got our bill hanging on the door on the morning of the 25th, it had 3 nights on it. So I had to go stand in a lengthy line to get it corrected at checkout. One nice surprise was that we were charged for self parking rather than valet. I would still valet even it I was charged the additional 6 dollars. It is well worth it.
All in all, we enjoyed the hotel and would return. The pool is great and the kids loved the play area. It is a nice walk to CityWalk and very convenient to IOA. If you were going to US I would ride the boat. The bus is also convenient for US, but you stop at PB and HRH first and this takes a good bit of time. We didn't eat at any of the restaurants at the hotel based on what I had read here, but we did have a couple of expensive drinks ($9.00 a Bloody Mary) at the pool.
This was our first trip to Universal, so we will probably stay at HRH or PB next time to try them, but I think the RP is a good value. A few more months and I think they will have the kinks worked out. I hope this helps someone else planning a trip.
P.S. We decided to add a night to our stay, but there was no room available at RP and just $300 suites at the HRH so we went to the Crowne Plaza Universal. Got $85/night rate. Clean new large rooms and a decent pool and workout room, but sterile and bland compared to RP. And it is definitely worth the extra money to stay onsite for FOTL access.
We arrived on Saturday July 20 around 2:30pm for a 5 night stay. The valet and bellmen were courteous and helpful. We valet parked the car after reading about the parking situation. There was no line to check in but unfortunately we got a new hire who was being trained by none other than the dreaded Brian (discussed on other posts) We had booked the trip through Universal rather than directly with Loews. Although the rate we were paying was approximately $150 based on the receipt from Universal, we learned that Universal had booked the room at the $99 intro rate. This was ok because based on pricing the different items in our package, we still came out better than booking directly. However, because we had not booked through Loews, Brian told us that we were not eligible for our Loews First welcome gift, we could not get the upgrade and that our stay did not count toward upgrading our Loews First level status. He wasn't apologetic or regretful, he seemed to enjoy telling us what we couldn't have.
The lady that checked us in was inexperienced but pleasant and gave the kids (G6 & B8) their shell necklaces. After we were checked in I asked her about the Grade A program. She was familiar with it but had never checked anyone in with it. She took the report cards and went into the back (luckily Brian had taken his break) to find out what to do. After several minutes she returned and prepared room keys with the kids names indicating that they were Grade A status. I asked her not to allow charging privileges on these cards and she said it was taken care of. This was not true as I would later find out. She had made copies of the report cards. While she was in the back, 2 clerks were free at the next station and I asked them about the Loews First benefits hoping they would be more generous than Brian(another tip learned from the Boards, since it seems to be who you get on check in as to what you get) However, they told me the same thing, so they may be cracking down on the benefits. They also told me that the hotel was overbooked for the next several days.
As for the hotel itself it is wonderfully themed. The air conditioning felt wonderful. There were employees everywhere taking care of all details. Our room was not ready so we grabbed the bag of swimsuits that we had packed and headed by car to Wet&Wild. We had to park in the far shell paved lot with grass 4 feet tall because it was so crowded. We were able to go on several slides before the storms rolled in. The rides reopened for a short time, but closed again. Although we didn't get to do everything we wanted, we had a great time and visited with another family while we waited. The storm wasn't moving so we headed back to the hotel around 8:00. The biggest aggravation of the trip was walking back to the car at Wet&Wild. As I said we were in a shell parking lot. Actually after all the rain it was a mud lot with tall grass. They did not turn the lights on in the lot so it was dangerous. I stepped in a deep mud puddle and slipped. If they are going to have people park back there and charge them $6.00 to do it they should have the lights on. OK, off my soap box.
Back at the hotel, we went to the bell desk and gave the bellhop our room key and she was able to give us our room number. She called another bellhop and he immediately retrieved our stored luggage and took us up to the room. We were in tower 2 at the end of the hall. He showed us all of the features of the room of which the floor lamp did not have a bulb and the safe was locked. He filled our ice bucket and called for maintenance and security. Security was up within 5 minutes and opened the safe and demonstrated its use. Maintenance came about 10 minutes later with a light bulb. Our view was of the grounds. Being at the end of the hall, we did not hear any noise that others have complained about.
We have stayed at DL, YC and GF and I would but RP between DL and YC. Not as large as YC, but very nicely appointed. I don't think a rollaway would be a comfortable fit, but it was fine for the 4 of us. I like the sink outside the bath as different family members can be getting ready at the same time. My wife hates to do her hair in the bath while I am steaming in the shower! The towels are new and thick, a plus, and the drying cord in the tub is a nice feature. We had no problem with housekeeping. We requested fresh towels and turndown service 2 nights and it was taken care of.
Has anyone else had a problem with the thermostats at RP. I have not seen anyone else post about the thermostats so I think we may have had a less sensitive one. The gist of the problem is that they are motion activated. If it does not sense motion in the room it sets itself to an uncomfortable high temperature. I would wake up several times a night sweating in a hot room. I would have to stand up get the ac to switch on. Occasionally sitting up and waving my arms would do the trick, but not often. Throwing a pillow would work sometimes too. I discovered that they were motion activated when we got back from Wet&Wild. I had hung a beach towel over the closet door and left it open in front of the thermostat. After about an hour of being in the room it had gotten very warm and I knew I had set it on 70 degrees when we arrived. As soon as I swung the closet door closed, the ac clicked on. When it is on, it works really well. Anyway, after 3 nights of this I complained at the front desk and was told that the sensitivity could be adjusted and they would take care of it. She said that it should be sensitive enough to stay on even from a little motion lying in bed. I don't know if they looked at it before we checked out, but the problem continued throughout our stay.
On the third day we came back to the room from the parks to wait out a thunderstorm and was playing with the TV. I looked at our bill on the screen and was shocked by the total. Although we prepaid for the trip and presented a voucher at check in the nightly room charges were still being added to the bill. I had read about this problem on the board, so I wasn't too concerned. I called star services and they connected me to room control and she deleted the 2 nights on the bill. I also noticed a charge for Bula Bar. On the 2nd day, the kids got soft drinks from there while we looked around the pool and grounds. I guess I wasn't paying attention at the time, because my 6 year old, told me that the bartender asked her to sign the ticket when she got her drink. So much for the kids not being able to charge. I told the lady at room control that the kids were Grade A kids and she said no problem and took that charge off the bill also. I also told the kids, to make sure the bartender sees the Grade A on the room key. They didn't have another problem although they did have to point it out a few times. As far as the room charges went, I thought that would be the end of it, but when we got our bill hanging on the door on the morning of the 25th, it had 3 nights on it. So I had to go stand in a lengthy line to get it corrected at checkout. One nice surprise was that we were charged for self parking rather than valet. I would still valet even it I was charged the additional 6 dollars. It is well worth it.
All in all, we enjoyed the hotel and would return. The pool is great and the kids loved the play area. It is a nice walk to CityWalk and very convenient to IOA. If you were going to US I would ride the boat. The bus is also convenient for US, but you stop at PB and HRH first and this takes a good bit of time. We didn't eat at any of the restaurants at the hotel based on what I had read here, but we did have a couple of expensive drinks ($9.00 a Bloody Mary) at the pool.
This was our first trip to Universal, so we will probably stay at HRH or PB next time to try them, but I think the RP is a good value. A few more months and I think they will have the kinks worked out. I hope this helps someone else planning a trip.
P.S. We decided to add a night to our stay, but there was no room available at RP and just $300 suites at the HRH so we went to the Crowne Plaza Universal. Got $85/night rate. Clean new large rooms and a decent pool and workout room, but sterile and bland compared to RP. And it is definitely worth the extra money to stay onsite for FOTL access.
