eandesmom
I'm with Beast
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 14,172
Wed been to the Islands of Adventure before. Not all of us, but Jeff, Myself and the Es. Of course given that they were 4 and 5 they didnt remember much. Wed all been to Universal before, but the CA version and given that the Es were 2&3 for that one and K&T, though older (7 and 12 maybe?) they were all pretty darn clueless.
None of us had ever set foot in, even walked by, any of the Universal (Loews) Resorts. Heck, I didnt even realize they existed. To me, City Walk was something you well, walked through. Like a shopping gauntlet I had to keep kids out of, full of bad restaurants with the occasional Jamba Juice break. Granted, this jaded view was a bit influenced by my long tenure at Starbucks on the foodservice side of the coffee business. City Walk had some locations that were very controversial in the company and it skewed my view for whatever reason.
So, driving to the Hard Rock, I really didnt know what to expect. Ive been to several Hard Rock Cafés. They were fine and to an extent, predictable. Recently one opened in Seattle and wed gone for dinner one night. It was a bit overpriced but everyone except Kendall, really liked it. She had a bad burger (and it was definitely bad. Kids size I think and small and WAYYYY overdone). But thats the café. Not the hotel. When wed decided to do Universal and stay at an actual Universal resort, choosing to do so for the front of the line pass that comes with a resort stay and could be key to surviving the Harry Potter crowds (not to mention an hour earlier am access to the WWOHP aka Wizarding World of Harry Potter) wed looked into them all. For those of you who dont know, there are 3. The Royal Pacific (RPH), Hard Rock Hotel (HRH) and the Portofino. Truly, they all looked great and all get outstanding reviews. RPH was more in our budget and Jeff loved the seaplane theming but we decided to let the big kids pick. Our favorite rocker, Taylor, of COURSE picked Hard Rock.
We sucked up the cost difference, bought an all access pass which would get us discounts, credits and a possible upgrade. We also changed our dates after Paul found out his conflict so that Universal fell into the low rate season and lowered our overall cost quite a bit. A quick note on the all access pass (I think thats what its called; basically its the Hard Rock membership card. For $25 I got a cinch sack, a 3 month subscription to Rolling Stone, a pin and $20 loaded on our all access pass card. It came with upgrades if available on any room booking and a 10% discount on all food, as well as getting coupons, etc via email. When wed gone to the new café wed used a member coupon. As you might imagine, buying one was kind of a no brainer.
This is what you see pulling up. As I was still Ellie Mae like in the van, I didnt exactly take pictures. And, as always happens on day 1 of a trip (and this felt like day 1 with the change of venue) not many pictures at all.
Not too shabby huh
The lobby (again, borrowed pictures).
NiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Now I felt really Clampett like and couldnt WAIT to get rid of the bags. Bell Services took most of them but left us with our carry-ons and lunch bag(s)
I went to check us in. As a recurring theme the question was .were the room connecting? Except this time, I could also ask about our all access upgrade and see if we were really going to get one. Wed booked garden view rooms, hoping for pool view.
Check in was a breeze, but our rooms werent ready.
Some of us headed down to change and then hit the pool. We used a random restroom, near one of the main pool level exits. Even the area outside of the bathroom was cool. I thought I took a picture but apparently not. Maybe I did later in the trip. Oh well!
Some of us was .Myself, Kendall, and the Es. If memory serves, Sandie and Paul wanted to do something (for the life of me no idea what maybe just not change in front of the rest of us) so they didnt change.
Jeff was still dealing with logistics.
Those of us that were ready for the pool headed out. Guessing it was about 1:30 at this point.
This is what we saw as we walked out
And the view from our loungers
Pretty isnt it!
But crowded. Definitely a full hotel, as theyd told me when I checked in. We'd found loungers, in the shade but right next to the smoking area. No one else was there and we planned to be in the pool, not the loungers but, we still chose chairs as far away as possible. Just in case. Which wasnt all that far. Thankfully, this day, it worked out great and we loved the spot.
There is something about the packing up and moving, whether its to another hotel or the airport that is a bit wearing and that last lunch run had me feeling a little travel worn. The pool felt AMAZING! Its a cool pool and while I dont have many pictures here, there will be more, I promise. It was very interesting to compare all the pools at this point. I loved loved loved the look of the hard rock pool. And honestly, it was a much better (cooler) water temperature than SAB or the YC quiet pool. BUT .it was shallow. Ridiculously shallow in spots. The boys, Kendall and I checked out the slide and then Kendall and I decided to float around, looking for cute boys. Or at least boys Kendall thought was cute. It was kind of a riot, we floated around (really more like walking crouched down to stay wet, very awkward given how shallow it was), seeing what we could see. I kept pointing out boys that apparently were either too young, or too old, I had a hard time getting it right. I swear we did this for at least 45 minutes. It was fun.
Paul and Sandie appeared at some point and settled into the shade, wasting no time ordering a poolside cocktail. I will say, the poolside cocktail service was very attentive and the waitresses in outfits Im quite sure Taylor would appreciate.
It was the Hard Rock after all.
However, Taylor wasnt there. In fact, as I found out a little bit after Sandie and Paula arrived, Taylor was in a cab on the way to the Vans skate park, which was actually located not all that far from Universal. Safely off, with the cab instructed to pick him up at a certain time, pre-paid and numbers exchanged Jeff was finally ready for the pool. He still hadnt heard from the seaplane folks and was not happy. Getting wet, and a pool drink, helped. We inhaled our lunches and basically just stayed in the pool all afternoon. Most of us did anyway. At a about 3pm I finally got the call that our rooms were ready and went to pick up our keys and get our luggage moved up and do my unpacking. I vastly prefer unpacking with no one else around and was pleased they were all occupied so I could get us settled and check out the room.
Wed booked a garden view.
Check out what we got.
Pool view! Through a lot of garden type views lol. The Hard Rock does not have balconies, actually neither does the RPH and most of Portofino. It was such a pretty view it would have been even lovlier had we had a balcony.
Oh well.
The rest of the room
Sleeping area
Vanity outside the bathroom
Our bar with the remaining rum and beer wed brought with us from the YC
The view with the drapes open (terrible picture, new camera will do a much better job)
Wall art and TV
Close up just in case you couldnt tell who it was
Cool chair and view
The chair had to get moved in Sandie and Pauls room to allow for the rollaway. Unlike the YC, no daybed so we had to get a rollaway
Just next door, Sandie and Paul had a slightly better pool view
Continued in next post
None of us had ever set foot in, even walked by, any of the Universal (Loews) Resorts. Heck, I didnt even realize they existed. To me, City Walk was something you well, walked through. Like a shopping gauntlet I had to keep kids out of, full of bad restaurants with the occasional Jamba Juice break. Granted, this jaded view was a bit influenced by my long tenure at Starbucks on the foodservice side of the coffee business. City Walk had some locations that were very controversial in the company and it skewed my view for whatever reason.
So, driving to the Hard Rock, I really didnt know what to expect. Ive been to several Hard Rock Cafés. They were fine and to an extent, predictable. Recently one opened in Seattle and wed gone for dinner one night. It was a bit overpriced but everyone except Kendall, really liked it. She had a bad burger (and it was definitely bad. Kids size I think and small and WAYYYY overdone). But thats the café. Not the hotel. When wed decided to do Universal and stay at an actual Universal resort, choosing to do so for the front of the line pass that comes with a resort stay and could be key to surviving the Harry Potter crowds (not to mention an hour earlier am access to the WWOHP aka Wizarding World of Harry Potter) wed looked into them all. For those of you who dont know, there are 3. The Royal Pacific (RPH), Hard Rock Hotel (HRH) and the Portofino. Truly, they all looked great and all get outstanding reviews. RPH was more in our budget and Jeff loved the seaplane theming but we decided to let the big kids pick. Our favorite rocker, Taylor, of COURSE picked Hard Rock.
We sucked up the cost difference, bought an all access pass which would get us discounts, credits and a possible upgrade. We also changed our dates after Paul found out his conflict so that Universal fell into the low rate season and lowered our overall cost quite a bit. A quick note on the all access pass (I think thats what its called; basically its the Hard Rock membership card. For $25 I got a cinch sack, a 3 month subscription to Rolling Stone, a pin and $20 loaded on our all access pass card. It came with upgrades if available on any room booking and a 10% discount on all food, as well as getting coupons, etc via email. When wed gone to the new café wed used a member coupon. As you might imagine, buying one was kind of a no brainer.
This is what you see pulling up. As I was still Ellie Mae like in the van, I didnt exactly take pictures. And, as always happens on day 1 of a trip (and this felt like day 1 with the change of venue) not many pictures at all.
Not too shabby huh
The lobby (again, borrowed pictures).
NiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Now I felt really Clampett like and couldnt WAIT to get rid of the bags. Bell Services took most of them but left us with our carry-ons and lunch bag(s)
I went to check us in. As a recurring theme the question was .were the room connecting? Except this time, I could also ask about our all access upgrade and see if we were really going to get one. Wed booked garden view rooms, hoping for pool view.
Check in was a breeze, but our rooms werent ready.
Some of us headed down to change and then hit the pool. We used a random restroom, near one of the main pool level exits. Even the area outside of the bathroom was cool. I thought I took a picture but apparently not. Maybe I did later in the trip. Oh well!
Some of us was .Myself, Kendall, and the Es. If memory serves, Sandie and Paul wanted to do something (for the life of me no idea what maybe just not change in front of the rest of us) so they didnt change.
Jeff was still dealing with logistics.
Those of us that were ready for the pool headed out. Guessing it was about 1:30 at this point.
This is what we saw as we walked out
And the view from our loungers
Pretty isnt it!
But crowded. Definitely a full hotel, as theyd told me when I checked in. We'd found loungers, in the shade but right next to the smoking area. No one else was there and we planned to be in the pool, not the loungers but, we still chose chairs as far away as possible. Just in case. Which wasnt all that far. Thankfully, this day, it worked out great and we loved the spot.
There is something about the packing up and moving, whether its to another hotel or the airport that is a bit wearing and that last lunch run had me feeling a little travel worn. The pool felt AMAZING! Its a cool pool and while I dont have many pictures here, there will be more, I promise. It was very interesting to compare all the pools at this point. I loved loved loved the look of the hard rock pool. And honestly, it was a much better (cooler) water temperature than SAB or the YC quiet pool. BUT .it was shallow. Ridiculously shallow in spots. The boys, Kendall and I checked out the slide and then Kendall and I decided to float around, looking for cute boys. Or at least boys Kendall thought was cute. It was kind of a riot, we floated around (really more like walking crouched down to stay wet, very awkward given how shallow it was), seeing what we could see. I kept pointing out boys that apparently were either too young, or too old, I had a hard time getting it right. I swear we did this for at least 45 minutes. It was fun.
Paul and Sandie appeared at some point and settled into the shade, wasting no time ordering a poolside cocktail. I will say, the poolside cocktail service was very attentive and the waitresses in outfits Im quite sure Taylor would appreciate.
It was the Hard Rock after all.
However, Taylor wasnt there. In fact, as I found out a little bit after Sandie and Paula arrived, Taylor was in a cab on the way to the Vans skate park, which was actually located not all that far from Universal. Safely off, with the cab instructed to pick him up at a certain time, pre-paid and numbers exchanged Jeff was finally ready for the pool. He still hadnt heard from the seaplane folks and was not happy. Getting wet, and a pool drink, helped. We inhaled our lunches and basically just stayed in the pool all afternoon. Most of us did anyway. At a about 3pm I finally got the call that our rooms were ready and went to pick up our keys and get our luggage moved up and do my unpacking. I vastly prefer unpacking with no one else around and was pleased they were all occupied so I could get us settled and check out the room.
Wed booked a garden view.
Check out what we got.
Pool view! Through a lot of garden type views lol. The Hard Rock does not have balconies, actually neither does the RPH and most of Portofino. It was such a pretty view it would have been even lovlier had we had a balcony.
Oh well.
The rest of the room
Sleeping area
Vanity outside the bathroom
Our bar with the remaining rum and beer wed brought with us from the YC
The view with the drapes open (terrible picture, new camera will do a much better job)
Wall art and TV
Close up just in case you couldnt tell who it was
Cool chair and view
The chair had to get moved in Sandie and Pauls room to allow for the rollaway. Unlike the YC, no daybed so we had to get a rollaway
Just next door, Sandie and Paul had a slightly better pool view
Continued in next post
I don't think I ever took a picture of the pool waitress outfits, really should have.
Glad Taylor got a chance to go to the skate park. 
