Beach Club vs. HRH?? Worth a try?

[MermaidsMom]

I never thought I would be thinking about staying at a Universal Resort, but we may split our trip for the 1st time ever. Has anyone stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel who has also stayed at the Beach Club? I really hate the idea of messing up this trip and moving to Universal if these hotels do not compare favorably. We have never even BEEN to Universal. I would appreciate any info at all, I have done many searches and cannot find the answer to this particuliar question. Thanks!

 

[Mattsmom]

We have stayed at both BC & HRH last June. It was DH, myself and DSs 17, 15 & 10. DH & I enjoyed both hotels. We liked the Epcot area better, better choices of restaurants IMHP. Also liked having a balcony. HRH doesn't have any. We perfer WDW to Universal parks. HRH is a newer property though and it shows.

My DSs LOVED both resorts!!!! They spent alot of time at both pools. Couldn't pick a favorite. IOA is my older two's fav. park. Front of the line made a BIG difference!

A perfect trip for my family is splitting our stay in FL. A few days at Univ/IOA staying at HRH, then a longer stay at WDW staying at BC. Or now BCV as we just bought DVC!

 

[missymj]

We were at HRH last year on club level and loved it (Hard Rock all access rate of 197.00). You can walk to either park IOA or US (and City Walk). My kids loved the hotel and the front of the line access. The pool is great too. This year I am splitting our vacation 3-days at BC and 4-days at Hard Rock. I've never been to the BC but my DD's are really looking forward to the HRH

 

[PartyofSix]

We are spliting our stay in June-July 5 days WDW offsite home and 3 nights at US?IOA on site at PBH. I got a 180 ent. rate for PBH. I must say I have a lot of requests and each time I have called PB they have bent over backwards to accomadate me. They even assigned me two ajoining rooms and a king room two doors down. Usually you can't get more than we'll try too from folks. They are baby proofing our room and removing the furniture I requested out of the "girls" room. Because they will be two they don't need a table and chair or lamps or the mini bar so they are moving all this into our connecting rm. If the service holds up during our stay I will be thrilled to death. They are so nice. I can't wait. You should do a search for HRH and see all the nice things people have said about HRH and PBH. They compare the PB with the GF and with PB being the newer of the two and the FOTL benefits PB wins hands down. The HRH you can walk to US from behind there pool grounds in 5 minutes. There are plenty of places to eat over at Citywalk and HRH has 5 rest. and PB 8 rest. I don't think you have far to go for food. PB has 24 hr room service. The only difference I saw in PB and HRH is the PB rooms are slightly bigger and it's a 5 star hotel and I believe HRH is a 4. PBH has 3 pools and 1 slide and a few less cabanas to rent and HRH has one pool I think but it has a beach pool and dive in movies. As for the BC never stayed there. BUt I just wanted to offer you insight on these two that I have read. Check out www.loewshotels.com Happy Vacation.

 

[margaritabnl]

The HRH is awesome! We spent a week there May 2001. My kids were 6 and 9 and loved it. The Camp Lil'Rock onsite daycare was excellent. The kids were begging to go back. Everything mentioned so far about the HRH is accurate. However, I would rate the hotel 5 star just because the service is incredible.

It's an upscale hotel. Very hip and chic without being pretentious at all. Various dining options in all price ranges and variety of food offered. From very fancy meals to your basic sandwhich.

We are having such a hard time deciding where to stay in WDW for May 2003 since the HRH was so excellent and spoiled us. We have previously stayed at the ASM and POFQ. It's a toss up between CBR and BWI for us but I don't think we will ever replicate the overall experience we had at the HRH.

I especially loved the fact that I could sit anywhere poolside at the HRH AND still see my kids in the pool or on the slide! Wether at a table by the bar for lunch, a lounge chair, or in the hot tub with margarita , I could ALWAYS see them.

 

[DisneyMissey]

The HRH is SO wonderful....My DH and I just got back from Orlando a few weeks ago, and we split our stay between the Dolphin and the HRH.....I much preferred the HRH, because it is newer and the rooms are definitely better than any rooms I've ever stayed at on Disney property. You absolutely can NOT beat the express access that on-site guests get, and the HRH pool is GREAT!! I would definitely recommend the HRH!!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

The HRH and PBH are both awesome!!! I think splitting your stay is a great idea... we have done the same thing.

We spent a lot of time at HRH... the hotel itself is very luxurious... all the music memorabilia is really neat to see too... I love how they play music everywhere you go (even in the halls). The lobby is a great place to just sit and relax.... and the bathrooms were amazing!!! The pool area was one of the best I've ever seen! I really can't say enough about it. Add 2 great parks and front of the line access and you will be in heaven.

It's funny... even though Universal is great you'll be so excited when you get to Disney. It's hard to explain, but you'll understand after you do it. We made the mistake of doing Universal after our Disney stay one time, big mistake! You definitely want to do Universal first and then move on to Disney.

Have a great time!

 

[Muushka]

Oh yes, for sure. We stayed at BC a few years back. It was a nice hotel, but in my opinion, HRH was much nicer. The rooms were wonderful at HRH with so many ameneties. Another major difference is HRH offers some really fantastic rates. We stayed in Jan for 99.00 a night. We had 3 adults in the room, and they chose not to charge the extra 25.00/night. All of the people that we ran into that worked there were very nice and helpful. I cannot wait to go back! We will probably never return to BC (unless we snag a good deal on our DVC )

 

[goofyfordisney]

We stayed at Hard Rock and BC on our trip in November--we also stayed at AKL for 2 nights too!

We really like them all--for different reasons. We only paid $99/nite at HRH so the price was much better, for sure! The room was very nice and new. We liked having the front-of-the-line pass. My kids really liked Universal and Islands of Adventure.

Beach Club was my least favorite of the three--but the location was great! I felt that the room was kind of in need of some refurbishment--it was kind of tired looking. I am really glad we only paid $169/nite. The Storm-a-long pool was great--but way too crowded. We usually went down to the quiet pool that was closest to our room. The best thing about BC was Location, location, location!! It was nice to be able to walk around the Boardwalk area and to Epcot at night.

I would definitely split my stay again with one of the Universal resorts--I don't think we could ever go back to Orlando without doing Universal/IOA again!! I probably would pick one of the other Epcot area resorts instead of Beach Club though. Just my opinion!

Have fun on your trip!
Sue

 

[nwdisgal]

Not to distract from the Beach Club, but have you considered Yacht Club at all? It sounds like they are doing some neat renovations there this summer? I don't know when you are planning to travel.

I haven't stayed at BC, but I have stayed at HRH. It is really a neat place, very elegant and urban chic. The rooms were beautiful and luxurious. It is definately worth a couple nights stay. Also, I agree with Erika, I would do Universal, then head to Disney. I think Universal is great, but Disney just has that.... I don't know, can't put my finger on it, but I like Disney better overall. I think they landscape better at the theme parks, of course there is the theming, and that really plays on my warm, fuzzy psychology. Universal is great, but I've had it there after a couple of days. JMHO.

 

[oshun]

We have stayed at both BC and HRH. I like both hotels.
The pool at HRH is not deep (I believe it goes to 5 ft or somewhere around 5 ft is the deepest). You can hear the music underwater at HRH. The hotel is a very short walk to Universal Studios which is very convenient. The rooms are very nice.
The pool at BC of course is the best pool. I love the room and the convenience to Epcot and MGM.
We are planning a trip in Jan 2003 and I would like to stay at HRH again for a few nights before we head over to BCV for the rest of the week. Now that I said that, I think I will make that a plan. LOL!! Love HRH and Universal too!