First time back to USO in over 5 years!

[couturelover]

HI EVERYONE!

As you can see by my post count, I am new here to the DIS! I have lurked for a consistent two years, and I have finally decided to register because...

I'M GOING TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS THIS SUMMER!

Excitement aside, I have some questions/statements/concerns/opinions wanted so please, please, please, tell me what you know!

Last time we stayed on property was 2006, so a lot of my "knowledge" is on the fuzzy side. I apologize if anything is repetitive, I have just been overwhelmed with the threads and my eyes are a little wonky!!! Just to clarify, I'm a student so I am going with parents, etc.

1) What can you tell me about a deluxe room at HRH? Since there are 5 adults, this option was the most affordable for us. We have already booked this room. The sofa bed will be expected to be average. How is the bathroom size/layout/comfort? Drawers for clothing?

2) Does the HRH still have the poolside bar and, for lack of better term, snack bar? Do they have standard poolside fare?

3) We booked our hotel separate from our tickets which we will purchase through AAA. Can we attach these presumably paper tickets to our room keys at HRH? Is it an issue at all? Which leads to...

4) Is there a master list of sorts of where AAA discounts are applicable on the property? We want to maximize this benefit as best as we can to put the extra $$$ toward other things we want (souvies, etc).

5) Does the hour early entry apply every day at IOA? In other words, can we plan to be able to start every park day at WWOHP/Spiderman (assuming that early entry is still granted in August for Spiderman).

6) Any info on the karaoke joint at City Walk? I am of age but my sister is still under 21. Can we go earlier in the evening if we wanted to?

I want to just say that I consider myself a relatively experienced park goer, but I think the addition of WWOHP will definitely throw off what I have known about the UOR so much I am a HUGE HP fan, and my family is rather lukewarm about the whole thing. What can I do to get them on my side besides a movie marathon? They don't read much.

Thanks again for any and all help!!!

 

[macraven]

HI EVERYONE!

As you can see by my post count, I am new here to the DIS! I have lurked for a consistent two years, and I have finally decided to register because...

I'M GOING TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS THIS SUMMER!

Excitement aside, I have some questions/statements/concerns/opinions wanted so please, please, please, tell me what you know!

Last time we stayed on property was 2006, so a lot of my "knowledge" is on the fuzzy side. I apologize if anything is repetitive, I have just been overwhelmed with the threads and my eyes are a little wonky!!! Just to clarify, I'm a student so I am going with parents, etc.

1) What can you tell me about a deluxe room at HRH? Since there are 5 adults, this option was the most affordable for us. We have already booked this room. The sofa bed will be expected to be average. How is the bathroom size/layout/comfort? Drawers for clothing?

Did you book 2 rooms?
only 4 adults per room is allowed.

bathroom is a decent size.

bureau in the room has sufficient drawers.


2) Does the HRH still have the poolside bar and, for lack of better term, snack bar? Do they have standard poolside fare?
yes


3) We booked our hotel separate from our tickets which we will purchase through AAA. Can we attach these presumably paper tickets to our room keys at HRH? Is it an issue at all? Which leads to...

can not attach park tickets to the hotel room.
hotels are not owned by universal.



4) Is there a master list of sorts of where AAA discounts are applicable on the property? We want to maximize this benefit as best as we can to put the extra $$$ toward other things we want (souvies, etc).


10% discount off of food and merch in the parks.
some places in city walk honors the AAA


5) Does the hour early entry apply every day at IOA? In other words, can we plan to be able to start every park day at WWOHP/Spiderman (assuming that early entry is still granted in August for Spiderman).
don't know how long the spiderman ee will be.
as of now, parry hotter and spiderman have the early entry.
rest of the park opens an hour after that.


6) Any info on the karaoke joint at City Walk? I am of age but my sister is still under 21. Can we go earlier in the evening if we wanted to?

i went to Rising Star twice.
it is a hoot!
if you are under 21, you get a hand stamp and not allowed to drink.
some nights it is 21 and over, i think.

I want to just say that I consider myself a relatively experienced park goer, but I think the addition of WWOHP will definitely throw off what I have known about the UOR so much I am a HUGE HP fan, and my family is rather lukewarm about the whole thing. What can I do to get them on my side besides a movie marathon? They don't read much.

Thanks again for any and all help!!!

answers above.
read the stickies and some of the other threads on how others prepared for the park their first time.
it has changed some since the last time you were there.

hope you have fun!

 

[schumigirl]

I never knew you could get under 21`s into Rising Star on some nights with a hand stamp........I hope that`s still the same as we really fancied going to that place, but DS is well under 21.



Couturelover.......I hope you love every minute of your trip. I think even people who are not big HP fans like your family, will still enjoy the wwohp.

It`s done so well and the castle itself is lovely to see. The shops can get busy but they are worth a bimble through.

Don`t forget to listen out for Moaning Myrtle when you use the bathroom in that area

 

[macraven]

schumigirl, 2 years back, andy, keishashadow (& her Mr) did Rising Star.

2 girls at the table in front of us were 18.
they had a stamp on their hand.

but, the one girl was drinking out of a bottle concealed in her purse and was quite tipsy.

she got nailed by security.


so, i have seen under 21 in the club.

i thought it was saturday that was the 21 and over but not sure.

thursday night is TM/CM night.

practically all are underaged on that night of the week.
our waitress stated she would not work on thursdays as no one drinks and no one tips.
she told us tips are a big part of her salary.

 

[francie57]

As the pp said, basically every restaurant in the parks gives the AAA discount and the stores. Most of City Walk restaurants also give the discount with the exception of the most expensive ones (Emerils is one). We purchased our park tickets from AAA for our Aug. trip and they aren't tickets this year (at least ours in CT aren't), they are computer printouts with each person named on one and that must be signed and each person must show their ID when first used. In the past we have always been given a paper ticket but not this year.

 

[couturelover]

Thank you all for your replies!! We are super excited to experience UOR (I keep going forth between USO/UOR so I apologize) again. You are all super informative!

Francie, would it benefit us to pick up our tickets that first afternoon? We are doing 3 day park to park and obviously we don't want to waste precious WWOHP time in line getting tickets the first morning! Do you know if you get a AAA printout even if you purchase the tickets at a branch?

Macraven, thanks for the Rising Star info! I am pretty hammy at times and enjoy a good laugh when it comes to people "performing," and I might do it myself! Of course, the dogs might come howling if I do...

Schumi, thanks for the good vibes!!! I am definitely looking forward to Myrtle and I think she might scare my parents!


Do all of the rooms at HRH have Keurig coffee makers? We utilize one here at home and would be ECSTATIC to bring some pods with us. Also, I recently noted on here (somewhere) that City Walk has a Starbucks? Can any of you confirm/deny? Also, would this be a full service Starbucks or just a kiosk selling Starbucks coffee? As you can see, between the 'bucks and my Keurig, I kind of worship coffee

All this part talk is making me nostalgic. Do you all have treasured old attractions? I remember King Kong, Back to the Future, Jaws, The Futuristic World of Hanna Barbera, and the Alfred Hitchcock Experience (where my dad played "MOTHER"), etc...

Hope you all have a lovely day! Today in NJ we are going to be in the low 70's...

 

[Karpkg]

They carry a selection of keurig cups; Newman's Own, Timothy's decaff Columbian, Tully's Coffee. I gave hot chocolate to my son, I had I think Green Tea. It was also because of these hotels we bought our own Keurig.

Jaws is gone. We ate at the Lombardo Sea Restaurant outside because it was so nice, and sat watching the big CAT demolish the site. My son had tears in his eyes. It was just poor timing on us to have chosen that particular spot to eat lunch, to eat outside, and to be seated on the side where we can see it. He loves all things sharks and DH and I were just kicking ourselves for doing this to him.

 

[macraven]

They carry a selection of keurig cups; Newman's Own, Timothy's decaff Columbian, Tully's Coffee. I gave hot chocolate to my son, I had I think Green Tea. It was also because of these hotels we bought our own Keurig.

no more Emerils coffee pods??
i was last there 4 months back and that was the brand of all the pods in my room.


to the OP:
if you stay RPH club at the hotel, they have Starbucks coffee in their lounge.
also, City Walk has Starbuck stands.

 

[Karpkg]

no more Emerils coffee pods??
i was last there 4 months back and that was the brand of all the pods in my room.


to the OP:
if you stay RPH club at the hotel, they have Starbucks coffee in their lounge.
also, City Walk has Starbuck stands.

Forgive me, that was the first one my DH snatched up before I went over to peruse over the selections. He has to have his coffee to function in the morning.

 

[macraven]

Forgive me, that was the first one my DH snatched up before I went over to peruse over the selections. He has to have his coffee to function in the morning.

thanx for letting me know.
i was about to have a breakdown..............