April 2016 ? Hard Rock w/ express pass or Cabana Bay without?

[vacation_junkie]

Normally we travel end of January /1st week of February to escape the cold. But after this years nightmare airport experience due a crazy snow storm I think we will change it up and go in April next year. We will go over the week of my son's birthday. Which is April 19th.

We have stayed at Hard Rock. Loved the theme but weren't impressed with the accommodations. But we did love the Express Pass option because we only had two and a half days between both parks before our cruise.

This time we will be spending the week in one place..no cruise after.
I am liking the looks of Cabana Bay & the family suites. Plus the activities..bowling and lazy river to float around on some tubes.

My concern is that the express pass doesn't come with our stay at Cabana.
Never going to Universal in April (Been to Disney many times in April) is the Express pass really needed? I know by looking at ride wait times and such that of course the morning is crazy busy on certain rides. And the wait times are better later In the evening.
Since we have nothing planned we'd probably head out to the parks after the morning rush.
I know purchasing it separately is an option but that plus the cost of room at Cabana would be more than the rooms with E.P. Wouldn't make sense to do it that way!


So my long winded point is.....
For those of you that have gone around April 19th ....
Should we opt for Hard rock ..or Portofino ..w/express pass?
Or
Would we be fine at Cabana Bay?

We will have the 14 day unlimited pass so we're not limited to a certain number of days..


Thoughts?

 

[disneylove69]

When is Spring break? Just got back and it was basically dead. Stayed at Cabana Bay. No lines to really speak of.

 

[sharona]

That is right around school vacation week for MA, ME, NH and RI. We'll be there this year 4/23-27. We'll have EP but will keep an eye out to see if there are long stand by waits. I'll report back when we get home.

 

[vacation_junkie]

That is right around school vacation week for MA, ME, NH and RI. We'll be there this year 4/23-27. We'll have EP but will keep an eye out to see if there are long stand by waits. I'll report back when we get home.

Oh....never realized it was spring break time for some. our spring break is mid March. Thanks for pointing this out. I'd love to know how you make out...

I just looked at a tentative 2015-2016 school calendar. It says spring break for NH is April 25-29 2016. So I think that means it would be wise to vacation the week before

Thanks so much.

 

[natebenma]

Oh....never realized it was spring break time for some. our spring break is mid March. Thanks for pointing this out. I'd love to know how you make out...

I just looked at a tentative 2015-2016 school calendar. It says spring break for NH is April 25-29 2016. So I think that means it would be wise to vacation the week before

Thanks so much.

The week before will be school vacation week for most schools. Not sure about the Maine or RI schools.

 

[sharona]

Yes, NH is sometimes different than MA, forgot about that. In MA, we have two 1 week breaks. The first is in Feb. around President's Day. The 2nd week is in April and is not directly tied to Easter. In 2016 it will be the week beginning 4/17.

 

[macraven]

your planned trip is over a year from now.

you never know this far out if new special rates, packages, etc will be happening in the future for Cbay or the other onsite hotels.

sapphire hotel will be open sometime in 2016.
you might find when that hotel opens, it would suit you more.
right now, it doesn't list ep usage but it will have a water taxi from the hotel to city walk.

 

[vacation_junkie]

your planned trip is over a year from now.

you never know this far out if new special rates, packages, etc will be happening in the future for Cbay or the other onsite hotels.

sapphire hotel will be open sometime in 2016.
you might find when that hotel opens, it would suit you more.
right now, it doesn't list ep usage but it will have a water taxi from the hotel to city walk.

I always "plan" trips over a year out.
I have cruises booked for in 2016 & 2017 already.
Its just how I am.

I am just doing the preliminary planning work. Getting ideas...etc..

Sapphire doesn't open until later in 2016.

I'm not worried about packages , special rates...etc.
I don't plan my vacations around those.

 

[damo]

In April, I would do one of the deluxe resorts for sure.

 

[glocon]

I too would recommend the deluxe option. The deluxes really do feel deluxe, and CB does not. CB is cool, but not deluxe. And ep's make for a totally different vacation.
If you are there for an extended time, you can take a day out to explore CB and go bowling, swim, etc.
Hard Rock is our favorite I think- especially for it's nearness to the parks. All the resorts are walkable, but HR is the closest.

 

[vacation_junkie]

I too would recommend the deluxe option. The deluxes really do feel deluxe, and CB does not. CB is cool, but not deluxe. And ep's make for a totally different vacation.
If you are there for an extended time, you can take a day out to explore CB and go bowling, swim, etc.
Hard Rock is our favorite I think- especially for it's nearness to the parks. All the resorts are walkable, but HR is the closest.

We stayed at Hard previously and it did not feel deluxe to us. But location wise it was perfect.

 

[vacation_junkie]

In April, I would do one of the deluxe resorts for sure.

Perfect thanks.. we stayed at Hard Rock last time and we were disappointed with our Stay (Accommodation , service wise)
Maybe we will just choose a different Deluxe resort..

 

[damo]

Perfect thanks.. we stayed at Hard Rock last time and we were disappointed with our Stay (Accommodation , service wise)
Maybe we will just choose a different Deluxe resort..

Hard Rock has just completed its renovations and Royal Pacific has just begun its renovations. By the time you go, all of the hotels will have renovated and you should be happy with your accommodations.

 

[vacation_junkie]

Hard Rock has just completed its renovations and Royal Pacific has just begun its renovations. By the time you go, all of the hotels will have renovated and you should be happy with your accommodations.

We found the Hard Rock rooms very , very outdated.
Was it just club level rooms or all of their rooms?
That was really the only reason that we were thinking about Cabana because it was newer.

 

[macraven]

We found the Hard Rock rooms very , very outdated.
Was it just club level rooms or all of their rooms?
That was really the only reason that we were thinking about Cabana because it was newer.

if you prefer staying at disneys value hotel such as all stars or pop, you will like cabana bay.

 

[macraven]

We found the Hard Rock rooms very , very outdated.
Was it just club level rooms or all of their rooms?
That was really the only reason that we were thinking about Cabana because it was newer.

i don't remember when hrh was renovated...
could have been a few years back, maybe you were there prior to the updating at hrh.

my last 9 stays at hrh were club level so i can't answer you if the other rooms were outdated.
i stay in the king suites so don't how the standard rooms were.

if you decide to stay at one of the deluxe hotels onsite, go with rpr or pbh.
i always go with the suites at rpr.
i like what the hotel has to offer besides the room set ups.
my stays are longer than others so i'm more interested in the deluxe.

rpr renovations will be complete by the time you 2016 vacation would come around.
it should be finished sometime this year.

i have viewed cabana bay but have never stayed there.
just went to checkit out last year and see what people are talking about when they talk about Cbay.
some love it and some don't, all personal choice.

 

[vacation_junkie]

i don't remember when hrh was renovated...
could have been a few years back, maybe you were there prior to the updating at hrh.

my last 9 stays at hrh were club level so i can't answer you if the other rooms were outdated.
i stay in the king suites so don't how the standard rooms were.

if you decide to stay at one of the deluxe hotels onsite, go with rpr or pbh.
i always go with the suites at rpr.
i like what the hotel has to offer besides the room set ups.
my stays are longer than others so i'm more interested in the deluxe.

rpr renovations will be complete by the time you 2016 vacation would come around.
it should be finished sometime this year.

i have viewed cabana bay but have never stayed there.
just went to checkit out last year and see what people are talking about when they talk about Cbay.
some love it and some don't, all personal choice.

We stayed at HRH in a club level room January 2014.

It definitely wasn't a deluxe accommodation by our standards ....by any means.

My 14 yr old commented on the room itself ...how it was like staying at the Comfort Inn ....in comparison to what he's used to at a "deluxe" resort.

 

[CPanther95]

If your budget isn't the primary factor, go for the Portofino Bay. Even a standard room at the Portofino is larger than the family "Suite" at Cabana Bay. Of course, comparing the Portofino to the Cabana Bay is like comparing a luxury car to a lawnmower.

But if you weren't happy with the accommodations at the Hard Rock, I don't think you're going to be happy at all at the Cabana Bay.

 

[vacation_junkie]

If your budget isn't the primary factor, go for the Portofino Bay. Even a standard room at the Portofino is larger than the family "Suite" at Cabana Bay. Of course, comparing the Portofino to the Cabana Bay is like comparing a luxury car to a lawnmower.

But if you weren't happy with the accommodations at the Hard Rock, I don't think you're going to be happy at all at the Cabana Bay.

Thank you for the opinion.
No budget is not an issue.
I have looked at Portofino but I wondered if it would be too boring of a resort for a Teen.

I was just looking at Cabana Bay it as newer resort vs what we felt was worn out rooms at HRH.

 

[damo]

We found the Hard Rock rooms very , very outdated.
Was it just club level rooms or all of their rooms?
That was really the only reason that we were thinking about Cabana because it was newer.

All of the rooms have been renovated. You'll have your choice of newly renovated rooms no matter which hotel you choose.