AP or not... RPR or PBH??

[BabyBelle1]

I have booked 2 nights at Royal Pacific Resort in a club level room for $419/nt. I (unsuccessfully, obviously) tried to find a discount before I booked.

Now, there is an annual pass rate available at Portofino Bay Hotel, club level room for $369.

If I get the AP and take the discounted room, I'll save a whole $23 on the hotel, and I'll be staying in a "nicer" hotel.

AND I'll get 15% discount on the 2 3-day park to park tickets which will save me about $45
AND with the 10% savings on food and merch, I'll probably save at least another $40 with that!

So, total savings about $100...
I really like the theme of RPR (stayed at Polynesian last year, and loved it)
I'm concerned about the distance between PBH and the parks.

Does RPR pool have a slide like PBH?
Is the distance a big deal?
Does anyone who has stayed club level at both hotels have a strong preference?
Should I switch to PBH??
Is there a penalty for canceling the room I've already booked at RPR?

This is our first trip to Universal, and I'm a bit overwhelmed!!

 

[damo]

RPH does not have a slide. The other two hotels do. As long as you have just booked room only and are more that 5 days out, you can cancel without any penalty.

 

[Bluer101]

We only stay at RPR. I have gone over to PBH and to be honest we do not care for it. All three hotels are nice in their own way. The reason PBH is more is not because of it's nicer, it's because the rooms are bigger. Same goes for HRH.

We have never stayed club because I don't want to make it back when the meal times are. But where ever you stay you can pool hop, it's encouraged.

I forgot to add:

The distance to us is a big deal to PBH. At RPR and HRH it's a quick 5-10 minute walk tops.

 

[heidijanesmith]

We stayed at PBH last trip and it was not our cup of tea. We did a WDW/US trip, Poly then PBH. Like you I got a good deal at PBH, so that's where I booked.

We found PBH rooms to be huge and very comparable with the Poly. Our room was far, far, far from the elevator...far from the boat launch and far from the pool.

The boats were always 2-3 trips deep and walking was not going to happen for us in the July heat, PBH is too far for us to walk after the parks. We always take a mid-day break, so being close is important. There are the rick-shaw options (there is no "fee" they work on tips), but after using them 4x a day, it got to be expensive for the four of us.

We are trying HRH this year, as I think the pool and theme will be more of what we like and is very close to the parks. I think even in Aug, we will be able to walk back and forth. I purchased an AP this year, so with the rooms savings, ticket savings and parking savings, we are saving around $400.00 off of rack rate. I am also hoping to use the AP for food/merchandise discounts as well.

I have not stayed at RPR, so I am not sure how close it is to the parks.