I just thought I'd add another perspective. My family stayed at the RPR for 4 nights 6/16-6/20 after a 7 night stay at AKL 6/10-6/16/03. The rates were comparable as I booked AKL with a code and RPR with the entertainment rate. We have taken previous trips to WDW, where this was our first US/IOA trip, so we were really looking forward to experiencing the Lowes hotels and Universal parks. Especially after reading all the wonderful reports I think maybe our expectations were a little too high, because we were all disappointed with our Universal half of the vacation.
My children are 10 and 15, and even my roller-coaster addicted 15 yr old liked WDW overall more than Universal. First of all I'll start with RPR. Indeed we thought it was a beautiful resort. We had a nice room which was larger than the AKL room, but we encountered a number of problems: While we were unpacking, I noticed what appeared to be chewing gum ground into the carpet in a number of places(I was barefoot and stepped in it-yuck). That evening, after spending the day in the park and returning rather late, we discovered all the pillows were goose-down, of which my son is extremely allergic. We called for replacements, which took close to 2 hrs to receive even after repeated calls. There were plumbing issues in the bathroom- clogged bathtub and toilet. The front desk seemed unaware of the grade A kids program, and after several calls to different employees to resolve the issue, other employees acted oddly about granting the drinks practically every time! My mother attempted to contact us via telephone and whomever she had spoken with, had very broken English to the point we were never connected. I had arranged a late-check-out for 1:00 on our last day. We went to breakfast, came back at 10:00 and housekeeping was already in our room cleaning! Ok- with each issue, I politely called the front desk. Each time I received an apology and the gum was cleaned out of the carpet, the plumbing unclogged. After continuous problems I was left extremely annoyed. I didn't feel they handled the problems with the same care Disney would have. We never really felt as comfortable here, for a reason I'm not quite sure of myself, maybe it wasn't as friendly, I don't know. It just seemed Disney bent over backwards and RPR acted like we were begging.
As far as the parks, we all really liked IOA even though we thought the Hulk was overated and the FOL was amazing except at the raft ride where FOL suddenly merged into the regular line(not the best system). US left us all disappointed. I also didn't think the CMs at Universal were as concerned as WDW CMs are.(Maybe thats just me). Also, the shuttle to Sea World was a big mistake, we definately should have taken our own car.
My family preferred Disney, both the parks and the resort over IOA/US. I know it is all a matter of indivdual preference, but if the service we received is any reflection upon the Lowes hotels, I'll remain a WDW return customer.
Now I feel jipped!
