Day 8, Live from the Hard Rock Hotel.

[MarkMichaels]

Today we hit both parks, IOA first for a few hours, a nice break and a few hours at US to end the day. IOA looked pretty busy today, at noon wait times for Spidey and Hulk were both 60 minutes. We rode Hulk twice, Spidey 3 times, Fire & Ice, Popeye, and Dudley. The crowds were pretty getting big and we were all kind of tired from the long week so we came back to the Hard Rock for a swim.

We spoiled ourselves by getting the cabana the other day, today they were all taken by the time we thought about it. Bar service is much better at the cabanas. I found it was quicker to come in by the Sunset Grill to get a drink as no one is there during the day. We stayed by the pool till close to 5, grabbed a quick shower and headed to US. We only did a few things at US, ET, MIB, Woodys coaster, and some midway games. Grabbed some sandwiches and by 7:30, we were all tuckered out. Since we got so many beads at the parade last night, we all decided to come back and grab an ice cream.

We really enjoyed our stay at the club level and would recommend it if its not going to strain your budget. At Christmas we are going to take the 3 day Disney cruise and now come back here for 3 days. If we enjoy it as much then, I think we might come back next spring break and stay here with the 5 park pass. I'm not trying to start a Disney/Universal debate here, but for our family we really enjoyed our stay here more than Disney this time. Disney was much more expensive and failed to provide the extra service we had hoped for. Coming back for 6-7 nights would make a great vacation for us. We like to have a down day or two where we could just sit by the pool and relax. Three days at IOA/US are plenty to do everything and a day at Sea World, Bush Gardens, and Wet-N-Wild would really round out the week.

We fly home early tomorrow morning, so if anyone has any questions, I'll be glad to answer them if we can.

 

[JOC]

Thanks for your trip reports! We'll also be cruising on the Disney Wonder in December, spending some time at WDW, then heading to HRH for Grinchmas. We also like to go to WDW and Universal/IOA because they each have different things to offer. Have a safe trip home!

 

[bjakmom]

Mark - thanks for the trip report! After spending a day at the HRH pool on our last trip (stayed @ RP) - we will be ending our next WDW trip with 3 nights at HRH. I've been trying to decide about trying club level - ouch! you're really twisting my arm with this report - sounds so great! - now I'll have to hope for a great rate so I can swing it!

 

[nhrenee]

Thanks for the trip report! Where did you eat your breakfasts while at Universal?

 

[Lola1]

Thanks for the great trip reports, I've enjoyed reading them. We'll be staying there next month. Have they begun the renovations/improvements on the cabanas? From what I understand the lines are 60 minutes long for FOTL access? I guess it was wishful thinking on my part that the lines would be shorter than that. Probably terrible when we go, oh well, we'll be on vacation so who cares?

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Lola, I think that he meant that the wait times were around 60 minutes for the regular lines. FOTL times should be way shorter. We've never been during a real busy time, however, so I don't know how short short is. When will you be there next month? We'll be there 4/13-17.

 

[Nanajo1]

Thanks for posting. I've enjoyed your reports and you've got me thinking about a stay at HRH in the near future.

 

[Lola1]

Tigger&Belle we'll be at the HRH from the 17-25. Looks like we'll just miss you. I hope you're right about the FOTL being shorter than 60 minutes. I'll go anyway and enjoy just the same. Does anyone know how long the wait will be around that time for the rides?

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I think that I'm missing everyone since a lot of people seem to be going the week before or after us. Maybe the parks will be empty! I wish.

 

[MarkMichaels]

Glad everyone liked the reports. Heres a couple answers to some of the questions-

We never waited more than 2-3 minutes with FOTL, without it, waits were 60 minutes.

Breakfast - One morning we ate in CityWalk, can't remember the name of the place, but they have breakfast pizza and eggs with bacon or sausage. Its pretty good and reasonably priced. The other mornings, we just grabbed a couple donuts in the club lounge before heading out.

We are also looking forward to Grinchmas this year. Not sure which resort we'll stay at, but it will be an on site hotel. I think we only have 3 days, 24-26 to stay at Christmas, but we are already working on saving for Spring Break next year.

Not sure on the renovations to the cabanas, we didn't use one last time, but they are fairly plain. Small tv, fridge, table with 4 chairs and 2 loungers. For our next spring/summer trip, I'll definately plan a pool day and get the cabana for the day.

For those who have stayed at HRH before, whats the deal with parking? I read reports of people paying $6 to park, but the gates were always open when we went in or out (both times we have stayed here) and we never paid a dime.

We also checked rates for Club level rooms for our next trip, to book in advance is $120 more per night, but they only charged us $50/night to upgrade at the desk from a Garden View to Pool view club. Not sure if it always works that way, but $50 was a good deal as far as we were concerned.

 

[Disney Debbie]

Thanks for the report. We stayed at Hard Rock 2 years ago and only had 2 nights. We really wanted to spend more time at the pool so this time we're staying 5 nights at RPR and doing a day at Sea World - just like you suggest! Can't wait to get there!