1st Trip Report

[arcticdisneylovers]

We are just back from a 3 night stay at the HRH. We had wonderful time though we were rained out today (our last ticket day). We had planned on doing a split day of IOA and US but once we saw the miserable cold rain we bailed and called our ride early to pick us up from the hotel. DD was having a nasty allergic skin reaction to something so we wanted to take her to a doctor as well. She is now on antibiotics and Benadryl so hopefully she will be feeling better when we arrive at WDW on Sunday. Since we can use our ticket up to 14 days from activation we might head over for the day if the weather is nice later in the week.

This was our first family visit. We really enjoyed the location of HRH and for that reason will definitely stay there again. The min walk to US is the major selling point for us. : We took a $50.00 per night upgrade to Club level and we glad we did. I don't think we would book Club but would pay for an upgrade if offered again. We booked a King deluxe room originally, but when we checked in the girl said that by the time we paid $25.00 for the cot and $15.00 for the fridge each night it would only really be $10.00 extra a night for Club so we said sure! She had a fridge delivered to the room for free.

We LOVED the Palm Restaurant and ate there 2 nights. The lobster was great and the steak better than any we have had on WDW property. The service was superb as well. Unfortunately we also tried the Kitchen, let's just say my DH summed it up by saying, "1/3 of the price, 1/3 of the service, 1/3 of the taste" compared to the Palm. Next time we will stick with the Palm every night (just wish there was a bigger menu selection)

Crowds seemed light and the Express Pass meant basically walking on most of the rides. It was great and really spoiled us, we will always stay onsite.

Our first day we got to US around 10am as we checked in HRH at 9:15am. We rode everything we wanted to, multiple times (except Terminator). We even stayed for the 7pm show. We went back to the hotel for a couple of hours in the afternoon once our room was ready to freshen up and unpack. It was our favorite park.

Then we went to IOA the next day and rode everything we wanted, again multiple times. We skipped the wet rides, it was too cold for us (even though we are from the arctic ) We arrived at 8am and DH and DD rode Forbidden Journey twice and little rollercoaster twice and we did the wand shop show and bought DD the robe, wand, scarf, headband and broom all before 9am They did Dueling Dragons twice and we moved on to Seuss world. DH and DD rode all the big roller coasters twice and the Storm Force six times. We were finished all we wanted to do by 1pm so we went to Bubba Gump's for lunch and went back to the pool for the afternoon.

We had a terrific day at Sea World on Tuesday; we took the free shuttle over at 8:25am and came back at 4:15am. It was beautiful; we saw 3 shows, feed the dolphins, sting rays and sharks and rode all the rides. DH and DD rode the roller coasters twice. It was not too crowded but we did pay for the "quick que". It's $19.95 per person. Probably a waste of money but we figured we'd rather be safe than stuck in lines.

We've decided that US will now be part of our annual vacation; I guess it will be 7 nights at WDW (though I prefer 10 nights) and 3 nights at US. We will stay at HRH, my only complaint is the blaring music everywhere I know I must be getting old

 

[macraven]

sounds like you had a great time at the darkside!



the other two deluxe hotels don't have the "blaring" music.

try a different onsite hotel the next time.

 

[rowan555]

Was there an unlimited quick queue option at Sea World? If so, do you know how much it was?

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Great report! Glad you all had a great time and got to ride so many rides.

You know I was reading reviews of HRH recently and as soon as they mentioned something about being lulled to sleep (and woken up) by the bass beat in other people's rooms at the resort, (and they said it as if it was sort of a positive point in staying there) I quickly X'ed it off my list and will choose, most likely, RPR, instead since it seems more peaceful. Whether or not you can hear other people's music while in your room at HRH, I'm not taking any chances, even though I know someone in my party would love staying at HRH, he can always visit the resort and pool. I'm just not a fan of constant blaring music. I don't even like all the movie screens they put up at the Disney resortbeaches and the Disney ships. To me, it really takes away from the peaceful vacation experience. But that's me and I guess I'm old, lol.

Thanks for the tip on the Palm vs the Kitchen.

Do you remember how long the ride was from Uni to Sea World?

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

The bus left at exactly 8:25am (so don't be late) and then we stopped at the other US hotel (no one got on) there were only 3 families aboard. We got off the bus and were walking towards the SeaWorld turnstiles at 8:55am. The Quick Queue at SeaWorld was unlimited and $19.95 per person. The music blaring at the pool and in the Club Lounge was the most annoying but we loved the close location to US so I guess we'll have to put up with. I could not hear any noise from inside our room but we were on the 7th floor. There was a family with 2 small babies (twins I think under a year)in the room right next to ours and I commented that I hoped we wouldn't hear them crying all night But we never heard a peep, though the fact they would throw there dirty diapers onto the hallway floor outside their room was pretty disgusting

 

[Metro West]

Moving to the Trip Reports board.

 

[wiigirl]

Following along.