Just returned from 2 weeks in Orlando. First week at Disney Port Orleans Riverside, second week at Royal Pacific Resort (RPR). I took some photos at RPR and am uploading them to my Ofoto account right now. When they are done uploading, I'll share that album with you.
We checked into RPR 10 days after the hotel first opened. We arrived on a Friday around noon and they checked us into our room right away even though the official check in time is 3:00 pm. I had supplied by Loews First member number when I made the reservation along with preference for non-smoking room, choice of welcome gift and daily newspaper, but none of the seemed to be with my reservation. Since the hotel is new, there appear to be many new people training - in fact when we checked in there were two people checking us in and we were told that one of them was in training.
We brought my daughter's report card with A's on it for Loews grade A program. They are supposed to give the child a wrist band which gets them free breakfast every day and the parents free coffee. They had not received their shipment of wristbands yet - so I think we got something even better. They gave us 7 coupons for free breakfast buffet (the coupon did not say it was for child only) and 7 coupons for free drinks up to a value of $7.50 each drink.
The bell hop took us up to our room and explained how everything works, including the safe (there is a small safe in the closet and you punch in your own 4 digit code to lock it an unlock it).
The rooms are comfortable - 2 queen beds, nice feather pillows.
If you want to sleep in (as we did one day), the drapes keep ALL the light out. The air conditioning has an electronic thermosat on the wall and comes from a vent on the wall - a lot quieter than the type under the windows.
Coffee maker with one regular and one decaf and powdered creamer, sugar. Coffee was good.
Iron, ironing board, hair dryer. Bar soap, shampoo, conditioner, hand cream - sometimes bath gel. Magnifying mirror. Large thick towels, hand towels, wash cloths. Water pressure in the shower is poor. The hot water is not very hot no matter what time you use it. I always had the lever turned all the way to the hot side. And it seems in the morning when a lot of people are showering,
it is barely warm enough for a comfortable shower. If you like a nice hot shower like I do, don't expect to get it here.
Two phones both with speakerphone in the room with 2 lines, one phone is cordless. You can set wake-up calls from characters like Betty Boop, Cat in the Hat, Dennis the Menace, Olive Oil, Spiderman. My daughter set the wake-up calls every night and surprised us with a different character. We pressed speaker phone when the wake-up call came through so we all heard the character talking.
Minibar with the usually very expensive snacks and drinks. A one liter bottle of Evian water was listed at $7.00 We were able to move things around in the minibar refrigerator to put a small amount of our own stuff in there - including half and half for the coffee, a few bottles of water, some snacks. We felt there was enough room to hold the things we wanted to put in there.
We had the $99 entertainment card rate standard room. They call it "garden view". You can see the area between two of the towers and the highway.
We had a rental car, and the parking situation was terrible/unacceptable. There is not enough parking available in the main area that leads to the main entrance. They offer valet parking for $12 a day, or self-park for $6 a day. We chose self park, although we were never charged for it. If I had been charged, I definitely would have asked to have the charge removed based on the poor parking I'll describe next. We drove around and around the lot the first day and were lucky to find someone leaving and got a spot near the entrance. It was the same situation every time we went out and came back to park, and got worse as time went on. At first, it appeared that the valets were parking cars in a lot that is way in the back of the hotel. But after a few days, they blocked off a part of the main lot with barricades and a sign that said valet parking, leaving even less space for self parking. So then there were cars parked on the ends of the rows and parked along both sides of the road making it very difficult to drive. And watch out for the valet parking attendants - they just might run you down in their hurry to park the cars and try to get an available space because they were also valet parking cars in the area that was left for self park.
The water taxi is a nice way to get to the parks. It is a quick 5 to 10 minute ride and the landscaping is nice along the way. It looks like they have 2 boats running to the RPR so at busy times there is a boat going in both directions. They do have a limit to the number of people that can fit on the boat, so you may find yourself not able to get on and have to wait for the next boat. The boat drops you off at Citywalk midway between Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.
The walk from the hotel is also very nice. The landscaping is pretty - they put in a lot of palm trees and large size bushes, trees and flowers. The RPR is closer to IOL so you can be there in less than 10 minues.
The pool is large - supposed to be the largest pool in Orlando. Open until 11pm. One end has zero entry walk in and is 4 1/2 feet at deepest point. There is an area that looks like part of a boat with a number of places where kids can play and shoot water out of guns and stuff. They will give you towels at the pool - very large thick ones. They allow people to throw frisbees and volley balls around in the pool (the reason I say they allow it is because the lifeguard was joining in), which I think was kind of dangerous as I saw some unsuspecting people come close to getting hit in the head with the ball. One of the parents who's little girl almost got hit with the volley ball came up and asked them to stop, right in front of the life guard. After he left, the lifeguard was laughing about it along the the kids who were throwing the ball.
It was apparent in many areas that the hotel is new and that there are new, unexperienced people working there. As I mentioned, my Loews First number and preferences were not with the reservation for some reason - so I provided them at checkin and asked for the fresh fruit as the welcome gift and for USA Today. The next morning, I didn't get the newspaper so I called and asked for it and they said I wasn't supposed to get a newspaper because my Loews First number was not in their system. So they took the information again. When we got back from Universal that evening, we had not received the fruit. I called about it and they said there was no Loews First number in the system. So I gave it again. I finally got my welcome gift the second morning we were there.
One afternoon my daughter and I went back to the park while my wife stayed at the room to rest. Around dinner time we tried to call her from my cell phone to tell her to come over to meet us for dinner. I called the hotel number to get through to the room but got a recording saying that they were busy and to wait for the next available operator. So I stayed on hold while we decided to walk back towards the hotel. 10 minutes later we arrived at the elevator of the hotel ready to go up to the room when the operator finally answered. (P.S. - I have Sprint PCS cell phone which worked well at the hotel and in the parks, compared to Disney where service was poor at the POR and spotty in the parks)
Housekeeping was variable - some days they didn't replace the shampoo or bath gel or coffee or they turned the dirty glasses upside down and put them back into the tray. Many of the housekeeping people don't speak english, so don't try to leave notes or ask them - it's better to call the housekeeping number. However, one morning I saw what appeared to be a supervisor trying to communicate with one of the housekeepers and she couldn't communicate with her either. And during mid morning when all the rooms are being serviced - watch out for the obstacle course of housekeeping carts as they often would be in two rooms opposite each other and put their carts there with no room to walk by.
We had the breakfast buffet in the Islands Restaurant. It is a standard breakfast buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, french toast, pastries, cereal, fruit, and a cook making omelets to order. The omelet was good, the french toast was average, and the potatoes were not good - my daugher said they tasted like yesterday's left over baked potatoes that were fried with onions. I think the cost was $14.94 for adults and $7.50 for children 12 and under. We went down for breakfast July 4 and they said the wait was 30 to 40 minutes. A lot of people were upset because there were two rooms in the dining area that they weren't using. The person taking names said they couldn't use those rooms because they didn't have enough people to service them. Apparently they didn't anticipate the crowd they would get on July 4. On July 6 we went for breakfast again, this time they had one of the extra rooms open. The breakfast buffet is open until 11am weekdays, 12 pm Sundays and holidays, and maybe until 12 pm Saturdays.
We were there on July 4 and got to see spectacular fireworks over IOA, US and Citywalk. There appeared to be pretty good security at Universal and Disney while we were there, but I think the security at the RPR is lacking. Even though you are supposed to use your room key to return through the pool area when walking back from Citywalk, the gate does not close all the way so it was usually unlatched. I think the biggest security problem is that anyone can walk in through the doors that are at the ends of each of the guest room towers. One late night when we could not find a parking spot in the lot, we parked on the road near our tower. Instead of walking all the way up to the main entrance, I thought I would try to see if I could use my key to get in the side door. I had to walk through the landscaping, but to my surprise, the door was not locked and there was no place to use a room key to get in. I got right in and could walk into the halls of the guest rooms. The next day I had to go to the front desk for something and I mentioned that I was concerned that anyone could get in through those doors - the clerk handed me a comment card and told me to write it on there and mail it in.
You can check your charges on the TV in your room. Since we used our room key to charge food and stuff in the parks, I found it easier to check every night. There was a charge that showed up for the restaurant that we didn't make - when I called the front desk, they promptly removed it. When you check in, you can tell them if you want express check out and to have your bill left at your door the morning you are leaving. I called the night before leaving and they said that the bill would be left before 6:30am, I also asked for extended checkout time and they gave me until 12:30 instead of 11am. At around 8:00am the last day, the bill wasn't at the door. I called and they said they were just being delilvered. When we left at 12:30 the bill still had not been delivered. Since I wanted a print out, I had to go to the front desk and wait in line to get one. I guess these are the little things I have come to expect at other hotels and have never thought twice about opening my door early in the morning and finding the bill there or slid under the door.
To be continued....
Here are the pictures. I am still editing them and will try to put titles on them.
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?m=25802997403&n=1058656872
We checked into RPR 10 days after the hotel first opened. We arrived on a Friday around noon and they checked us into our room right away even though the official check in time is 3:00 pm. I had supplied by Loews First member number when I made the reservation along with preference for non-smoking room, choice of welcome gift and daily newspaper, but none of the seemed to be with my reservation. Since the hotel is new, there appear to be many new people training - in fact when we checked in there were two people checking us in and we were told that one of them was in training.
We brought my daughter's report card with A's on it for Loews grade A program. They are supposed to give the child a wrist band which gets them free breakfast every day and the parents free coffee. They had not received their shipment of wristbands yet - so I think we got something even better. They gave us 7 coupons for free breakfast buffet (the coupon did not say it was for child only) and 7 coupons for free drinks up to a value of $7.50 each drink.
The bell hop took us up to our room and explained how everything works, including the safe (there is a small safe in the closet and you punch in your own 4 digit code to lock it an unlock it).
The rooms are comfortable - 2 queen beds, nice feather pillows.
If you want to sleep in (as we did one day), the drapes keep ALL the light out. The air conditioning has an electronic thermosat on the wall and comes from a vent on the wall - a lot quieter than the type under the windows.
Coffee maker with one regular and one decaf and powdered creamer, sugar. Coffee was good.
Iron, ironing board, hair dryer. Bar soap, shampoo, conditioner, hand cream - sometimes bath gel. Magnifying mirror. Large thick towels, hand towels, wash cloths. Water pressure in the shower is poor. The hot water is not very hot no matter what time you use it. I always had the lever turned all the way to the hot side. And it seems in the morning when a lot of people are showering,
it is barely warm enough for a comfortable shower. If you like a nice hot shower like I do, don't expect to get it here.
Two phones both with speakerphone in the room with 2 lines, one phone is cordless. You can set wake-up calls from characters like Betty Boop, Cat in the Hat, Dennis the Menace, Olive Oil, Spiderman. My daughter set the wake-up calls every night and surprised us with a different character. We pressed speaker phone when the wake-up call came through so we all heard the character talking.
Minibar with the usually very expensive snacks and drinks. A one liter bottle of Evian water was listed at $7.00 We were able to move things around in the minibar refrigerator to put a small amount of our own stuff in there - including half and half for the coffee, a few bottles of water, some snacks. We felt there was enough room to hold the things we wanted to put in there.
We had the $99 entertainment card rate standard room. They call it "garden view". You can see the area between two of the towers and the highway.
We had a rental car, and the parking situation was terrible/unacceptable. There is not enough parking available in the main area that leads to the main entrance. They offer valet parking for $12 a day, or self-park for $6 a day. We chose self park, although we were never charged for it. If I had been charged, I definitely would have asked to have the charge removed based on the poor parking I'll describe next. We drove around and around the lot the first day and were lucky to find someone leaving and got a spot near the entrance. It was the same situation every time we went out and came back to park, and got worse as time went on. At first, it appeared that the valets were parking cars in a lot that is way in the back of the hotel. But after a few days, they blocked off a part of the main lot with barricades and a sign that said valet parking, leaving even less space for self parking. So then there were cars parked on the ends of the rows and parked along both sides of the road making it very difficult to drive. And watch out for the valet parking attendants - they just might run you down in their hurry to park the cars and try to get an available space because they were also valet parking cars in the area that was left for self park.
The water taxi is a nice way to get to the parks. It is a quick 5 to 10 minute ride and the landscaping is nice along the way. It looks like they have 2 boats running to the RPR so at busy times there is a boat going in both directions. They do have a limit to the number of people that can fit on the boat, so you may find yourself not able to get on and have to wait for the next boat. The boat drops you off at Citywalk midway between Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.
The walk from the hotel is also very nice. The landscaping is pretty - they put in a lot of palm trees and large size bushes, trees and flowers. The RPR is closer to IOL so you can be there in less than 10 minues.
The pool is large - supposed to be the largest pool in Orlando. Open until 11pm. One end has zero entry walk in and is 4 1/2 feet at deepest point. There is an area that looks like part of a boat with a number of places where kids can play and shoot water out of guns and stuff. They will give you towels at the pool - very large thick ones. They allow people to throw frisbees and volley balls around in the pool (the reason I say they allow it is because the lifeguard was joining in), which I think was kind of dangerous as I saw some unsuspecting people come close to getting hit in the head with the ball. One of the parents who's little girl almost got hit with the volley ball came up and asked them to stop, right in front of the life guard. After he left, the lifeguard was laughing about it along the the kids who were throwing the ball.
It was apparent in many areas that the hotel is new and that there are new, unexperienced people working there. As I mentioned, my Loews First number and preferences were not with the reservation for some reason - so I provided them at checkin and asked for the fresh fruit as the welcome gift and for USA Today. The next morning, I didn't get the newspaper so I called and asked for it and they said I wasn't supposed to get a newspaper because my Loews First number was not in their system. So they took the information again. When we got back from Universal that evening, we had not received the fruit. I called about it and they said there was no Loews First number in the system. So I gave it again. I finally got my welcome gift the second morning we were there.
One afternoon my daughter and I went back to the park while my wife stayed at the room to rest. Around dinner time we tried to call her from my cell phone to tell her to come over to meet us for dinner. I called the hotel number to get through to the room but got a recording saying that they were busy and to wait for the next available operator. So I stayed on hold while we decided to walk back towards the hotel. 10 minutes later we arrived at the elevator of the hotel ready to go up to the room when the operator finally answered. (P.S. - I have Sprint PCS cell phone which worked well at the hotel and in the parks, compared to Disney where service was poor at the POR and spotty in the parks)
Housekeeping was variable - some days they didn't replace the shampoo or bath gel or coffee or they turned the dirty glasses upside down and put them back into the tray. Many of the housekeeping people don't speak english, so don't try to leave notes or ask them - it's better to call the housekeeping number. However, one morning I saw what appeared to be a supervisor trying to communicate with one of the housekeepers and she couldn't communicate with her either. And during mid morning when all the rooms are being serviced - watch out for the obstacle course of housekeeping carts as they often would be in two rooms opposite each other and put their carts there with no room to walk by.
We had the breakfast buffet in the Islands Restaurant. It is a standard breakfast buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, french toast, pastries, cereal, fruit, and a cook making omelets to order. The omelet was good, the french toast was average, and the potatoes were not good - my daugher said they tasted like yesterday's left over baked potatoes that were fried with onions. I think the cost was $14.94 for adults and $7.50 for children 12 and under. We went down for breakfast July 4 and they said the wait was 30 to 40 minutes. A lot of people were upset because there were two rooms in the dining area that they weren't using. The person taking names said they couldn't use those rooms because they didn't have enough people to service them. Apparently they didn't anticipate the crowd they would get on July 4. On July 6 we went for breakfast again, this time they had one of the extra rooms open. The breakfast buffet is open until 11am weekdays, 12 pm Sundays and holidays, and maybe until 12 pm Saturdays.
We were there on July 4 and got to see spectacular fireworks over IOA, US and Citywalk. There appeared to be pretty good security at Universal and Disney while we were there, but I think the security at the RPR is lacking. Even though you are supposed to use your room key to return through the pool area when walking back from Citywalk, the gate does not close all the way so it was usually unlatched. I think the biggest security problem is that anyone can walk in through the doors that are at the ends of each of the guest room towers. One late night when we could not find a parking spot in the lot, we parked on the road near our tower. Instead of walking all the way up to the main entrance, I thought I would try to see if I could use my key to get in the side door. I had to walk through the landscaping, but to my surprise, the door was not locked and there was no place to use a room key to get in. I got right in and could walk into the halls of the guest rooms. The next day I had to go to the front desk for something and I mentioned that I was concerned that anyone could get in through those doors - the clerk handed me a comment card and told me to write it on there and mail it in.
You can check your charges on the TV in your room. Since we used our room key to charge food and stuff in the parks, I found it easier to check every night. There was a charge that showed up for the restaurant that we didn't make - when I called the front desk, they promptly removed it. When you check in, you can tell them if you want express check out and to have your bill left at your door the morning you are leaving. I called the night before leaving and they said that the bill would be left before 6:30am, I also asked for extended checkout time and they gave me until 12:30 instead of 11am. At around 8:00am the last day, the bill wasn't at the door. I called and they said they were just being delilvered. When we left at 12:30 the bill still had not been delivered. Since I wanted a print out, I had to go to the front desk and wait in line to get one. I guess these are the little things I have come to expect at other hotels and have never thought twice about opening my door early in the morning and finding the bill there or slid under the door.
To be continued....
Here are the pictures. I am still editing them and will try to put titles on them.
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?m=25802997403&n=1058656872
