Did I make the right choice?

[tinkerbellybutton]

We are going to WDW for Christmas this year. A few weeks ago my hubby suggested we leave earlier than planned and we were going to book a room only ressie at a Disney resort for 2-3 nights. However, we just decided to book those 3 nights at a Universal hotel since we planned to go to IOA one day during our trip. We've only been to IOA twice, so this way we can get a better feel for Universal and we'll do both parks instead of just IOA.

I was going to book Royal Pacific Resort, mainly because its the cheapest of the three, but I knew my oldest son, 11, would have loved to stay at Hard Rock Hotel. When I called I asked about any military discounts and sure enough there is, 30% off the room is what I got. So I booked Hard Rock for under $200 a night! Now I'm second guessing myself. I really know nothing about any of the resorts. If anyone has any suggestions, or reassurance, please feel free to lay them on me!

 

[damo]

I tend to just go to whichever hotel is the cheapest at the time. You can visit each hotel easily. HRH doesn't usually tend to be that terribly much more expensive than RPR, so it probably doesn't matter.

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

No your right, it wasn't much more than RPR, but I'm just wondering which resort is better for a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 boys, ages 11 and 9. Does HRH have any advantages, better amenities than RPR? Like I said I don't really know anything about these resorts!

 

[macraven]

We are going to WDW for Christmas this year. A few weeks ago my hubby suggested we leave earlier than planned and we were going to book a room only ressie at a Disney resort for 2-3 nights. However, we just decided to book those 3 nights at a Universal hotel since we planned to go to IOA one day during our trip. We've only been to IOA twice, so this way we can get a better feel for Universal and we'll do both parks instead of just IOA.

I was going to book Royal Pacific Resort, mainly because its the cheapest of the three, but I knew my oldest son, 11, would have loved to stay at Hard Rock Hotel. When I called I asked about any military discounts and sure enough there is, 30% off the room is what I got. So I booked Hard Rock for under $200 a night! Now I'm second guessing myself. I really know nothing about any of the resorts. If anyone has any suggestions, or reassurance, please feel free to lay them on me!

what dates in december?

if you go the first 2.5 weeks, you could snag a better price.

check and see if the stay more, save more promo is still available.
the discounts are different based on the number of nights you book.

the rph and the pbh have the Loews Youfirst program.
the hrh has the All Access program that anyone can sign up for.

the AA program can be used on the first visit.

check out the stickies for the onsite hotels.
check out the HRC site for info on the hrh hotels and Loews for the other two.

it will give you more indepth info about those 3 UO onsite hotels.

i would go with the cheapest rate.
you can hotel hop.
(eat at the others, use their pools)

the military rate is available at the other two hotels also.

 

[macraven]

No your right, it wasn't much more than RPR, but I'm just wondering which resort is better for a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 boys, ages 11 and 9. Does HRH have any advantages, better amenities than RPR? Like I said I don't really know anything about these resorts!

difference of the 3 are the size of rooms, lobbies, food places within the hotel or nearby city walk, decor and price.

pools are all different.
some have slides, some don't.

there are pool activites and die in movies at all 3

 

[damo]

The three hotels each have a very different feel. It really is personal preference.

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

Thanks for the replies. I guess price isn't that much of a concern. With the military rates the difference in price isn't very much for just 3 nights. Our dates are Dec. 17, 18, 19. Looking at pictures nothing really stands out to me between one resort or another looking nicer than the others, they all look great to me. My kids love a pool slide, but between the possible lower temps in December and the short amount of time we'll actually be there I don't think they'll have a ton of time for the pool anyway. Maybe an hour or two one day, but not enough for the pool to really make a difference. What about location. Does any one resort have a better location to the parks and city walk than the others? That could be the deciding factor.

 

[damo]

HRH is closer to USF. RPR is closer to IOA. Both are an easy walk. PBH is the furthest away.

 

[macraven]

and rph is closest to the main stretch of city walk.

 

[DutchsMommy]

there are pool activites and die in movies at all 3

Are the movies really THAT bad?!?

 

[Zim]

I think your boys will enjoy the rock star feel of the HRH. They play rock all over, including the elevator and under the water. They had a guitar building contest in the sand around the pool when we were there (we won!). They do have a nice water slide.

My DD13 will be disappointed we aren't doing HRH this time, but this is a special additional trip to our normal once every 2 years venture to Orlando. IMHO HRH does a nice job of just giving you that rock star feel. The kids will probably get inflatable guitars when you check in and they sometimes have an MP3 downloadable music set both complimentary.

The rooms are very mod - with the Hard Rock theme, photos and memorabilia everywhere. The hotel itself looks very fancy, I think they'll like The Kitchen (make sure you get the chocolate guitars for dessert one night - they are paintable if they still have them, very cool). They also sometimes have the Simpsons making an appearance at The Kitchen

Hope that gives you a better idea of HRH, I've never been to either of the others so I can't give you comparisons!

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

I think your boys will enjoy the rock star feel of the HRH. They play rock all over, including the elevator and under the water. They had a guitar building contest in the sand around the pool when we were there (we won!). They do have a nice water slide.

My DD13 will be disappointed we aren't doing HRH this time, but this is a special additional trip to our normal once every 2 years venture to Orlando. IMHO HRH does a nice job of just giving you that rock star feel. The kids will probably get inflatable guitars when you check in and they sometimes have an MP3 downloadable music set both complimentary.

The rooms are very mod - with the Hard Rock theme, photos and memorabilia everywhere. The hotel itself looks very fancy, I think they'll like The Kitchen (make sure you get the chocolate guitars for dessert one night - they are paintable if they still have them, very cool). They also sometimes have the Simpsons making an appearance at The Kitchen

Hope that gives you a better idea of HRH, I've never been to either of the others so I can't give you comparisons!

Thank you so much. This probably just gave me all the reassurance I needed. All that you mentioned is stuff my boys, especially my 11 year old, would love. He'd love to feel like a rock star for a weekend! I think I'll stick with what I booked. Can you tell me what kind of view can I expect with a Garden View? Anything other than landscaping?

 

[macraven]

Are the movies really THAT bad?!?

ha, i had a typo.......
dive in movies.....

 

[macraven]

Thank you so much. This probably just gave me all the reassurance I needed. All that you mentioned is stuff my boys, especially my 11 year old, would love. He'd love to feel like a rock star for a weekend! I think I'll stick with what I booked. Can you tell me what kind of view can I expect with a Garden View? Anything other than landscaping?

landscaping is one of them.........sort of.

it could be the garden views from the side by the water taxi,
could be a view of the front lawn, the drive up to the front of the hotel...
sometimes a bit of the water canal and greenery


like you said, landscaping....

 

[Zim]

Yep just landscaping... the lake isn't close enough to see, and it's really beyond the pool anyway, which would be Pool View. But we've actually gotten the cheaper 'blocked view' rooms and aside from a gravel roof to look at it's not much different... just lots of landscaping. They don't have balconies, and my feeling is, how much day time do you spend in the room looking out the window anyway??

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

Yep just landscaping... the lake isn't close enough to see, and it's really beyond the pool anyway, which would be Pool View. But we've actually gotten the cheaper 'blocked view' rooms and aside from a gravel roof to look at it's not much different... just lots of landscaping. They don't have balconies, and my feeling is, how much day time do you spend in the room looking out the window anyway??

No balconies???? Oh well, like you said, how much time will we be in the room anyway. I was actually going to book standard view, but there were no standard view rooms available so I went with the next thing, which was garden view. View really doesn't matter, I was just wondering what to expect. Thanks for all the info.