First trip to Florida and RPH

[scrabblegirl]

Hi Everyone,

We leave for Orlando on Thursday and my head is spinning from all of the planning! I have a tendency to overplan anyway, but I got tired of everyone being indecisive ("I don't know, what do YOU want to do?"). So now I make a flexible plan so we don't spend our time watching tv in the hotel room.

I have a few questions, but I guess I'll tell you a bit about our trip in case you have any other suggestions. My boyfriend and I are playing in the National Scrabble Championship at RPH starting Saturday. My 13yo son will be staying with us too. We booked using the group rate of $159 a night for 6 nights. I signed up for the Loews First program-thing a while back and from what I understand, I'll be a Blue member upon check-in.

1. Is it possible to get a room upgrade with a group rate? (This info wasn't given on the stickie re: Loews First)

2. Does anyone know if it's possible to pay for an upgrade to a club level room from a group rate? We probably can't afford it, but I'll ask when I get there anyway.

3. Has anyone ever been bumped to another hotel? I've heard of this at Disney hotels. I would just love to stay at HRH or PBH but their rates are probably double what I'm paying. I know I'm really dreaming with this one but we have almost 700 players and I have gotten bumped to a suite at other hotels because there were no standard rooms during a tournament.

4. What is the size of the sipper cups that can be purchased with the Meal Deal? I've looked everywhere and can't find one site or book that talks about this! Sipper cup sounds like something babies drink out of. Do I have to wait in line to get 8oz of pop? I read something about refillable mugs that are .69 a refill. How big are those? Are they good for more than one day?

5. I know the nighttime Mariner's Club is for 4-14yo, but would a 13yo really enjoy it? He's a very easygoing kid.

6. How hard is it to get to City Walk by water taxi at lunchtime? Has anyone used the shuttle busses? It seems like I read a while back that there were long lines for the water taxis, but I haven't seen anything recently about it. How long is the walk? We'll have about 1hr 15m for lunch and I just want to know what I'm up against.

7. I can't find my Loews First card anywhere. I booked the room with my member number and will write it down and take it with me. Will they still give me any perks or is the card absolutely necessary?

I appreciate your time in answering my questions. In every call I've made to RPH regarding my reservations, I wasn't impressed. I don't know if they look down on group reservations or what. I felt like I was bothering the operator! Now that the Loews First program has changed, I don't really have any incentive to stay with them again. I'm a gold member at Marriott because we travel so much for tournaments, so I guess I'll continue to use Marriott hotels in the future.

 

[macraven]

Hi Everyone,

We leave for Orlando on Thursday and my head is spinning from all of the planning! I have a tendency to overplan anyway, but I got tired of everyone being indecisive ("I don't know, what do YOU want to do?"). So now I make a flexible plan so we don't spend our time watching tv in the hotel room.

I have a few questions, but I guess I'll tell you a bit about our trip in case you have any other suggestions. My boyfriend and I are playing in the National Scrabble Championship at RPH starting Saturday. My 13yo son will be staying with us too. We booked using the group rate of $159 a night for 6 nights. I signed up for the Loews First program-thing a while back and from what I understand, I'll be a Blue member upon check-in.
no you will be a member.
you won't be blue for status until you have had 2 previous stays.
someone mentioned before of not getting the credits as they went thru a third party vendor for the ressies.

1. Is it possible to get a room upgrade with a group rate? (This info wasn't given on the stickie re: Loews First)

no

i can't imagine getting an upgrade when you book with a group rate.
also, you booked thru a 3rd party person and ineligible for LUF amenities.

2. Does anyone know if it's possible to pay for an upgrade to a club level room from a group rate? We probably can't afford it, but I'll ask when I get there anyway.

ask at the front desk. again you are going with a group rate.
if you had to pay the difference to upgrade for club, i'm sure it will be costly

3. Has anyone ever been bumped to another hotel? I've heard of this at Disney hotels. I would just love to stay at HRH or PBH but their rates are probably double what I'm paying. I know I'm really dreaming with this one but we have almost 700 players and I have gotten bumped to a suite at other hotels because there were no standard rooms during a tournament.

i have been allowed to be bump to another hotel as i am a repeat customer.
there was an over booking at hrh 6 years back and a few repeat customers were given the option of pbh. the ones that were over booked were placed at off site hotels. the customers that have to go to an offsite hotel are moved by universal to it. the fotl was issued to them still as compensation. don't know if this has happened since then.

have never ran into overbooking of the hotels since then.

4. What is the size of the sipper cups that can be purchased with the Meal Deal? I've looked everywhere and can't find one site or book that talks about this! Sipper cup sounds like something babies drink out of. Do I have to wait in line to get 8oz of pop? I read something about refillable mugs that are .69 a refill. How big are those? Are they good for more than one day?

the sipper cup deal has to be bought with the meal deal program.
if you buy a mug, you can get refills at the discounted price. people have posted it was .69 for them. last year in early october the refill cost was $1.25
if you want to buy a soda, yes you wait in a line.

from the website:


This ticket entitles you to one (1) day of unlimited soft drink fountain beverages at all participating Meal Deal locations at either Universal Studios Florida OR Islands of Adventure.

To purchase the 1-Day Meal Deal Sipper Cup ticket online you must also purchase a 1-Day Meal Deal ticket in the same online transaction.

All Ages
$8.99

5. I know the nighttime Mariner's Club is for 4-14yo, but would a 13yo really enjoy it? He's a very easygoing kid.

yes, there are age related activities

6. How hard is it to get to City Walk by water taxi at lunchtime? Has anyone used the shuttle busses? It seems like I read a while back that there were long lines for the water taxis, but I haven't seen anything recently about it. How long is the walk? We'll have about 1hr 15m for lunch and I just want to know what I'm up against.

short walk. water taxi short ride if it is there when you need it. they depart usually every 20 minutes.

7. I can't find my Loews First card anywhere. I booked the room with my member number and will write it down and take it with me. Will they still give me any perks or is the card absolutely necessary?

no card necessary, just your number.
the loews you first program became effective july 15th.
if you did not book thru loews, you are not eligible for the luf amenitites

I appreciate your time in answering my questions. In every call I've made to RPH regarding my reservations, I wasn't impressed. I don't know if they look down on group reservations or what. I felt like I was bothering the operator! Now that the Loews First program has changed, I don't really have any incentive to stay with them again. I'm a gold member at Marriott because we travel so much for tournaments, so I guess I'll continue to use Marriott hotels in the future.

mariotts are good.

 

[scrabblegirl]

Thank you, ma'am!

I checked the tournament event website where I got my information when I made the reservation in May and it says:

"Event participants may make hotel reservations by calling the Royal Pacific Resort directly at 866-360-7395."

I assumed that was through the hotel. Anyway, if it is a third party, the worst-case-scenario is my boyfriend has to pay for his internet access.

I knew I was just dreaming about getting bumped. I may have to go back again someday just because the HRH and PBH look so awesome! I'm glad they allow pool-hopping.

Oh, and about the sipper cups... I knew that they had to be purchased at the same time as the meal deal. My question was, how big are the cups? We went to Cedar Point in Ohio a few years ago and their refillable cups were really small, like the volume of a small coffee mug. It wouldn't be worth it to me to have to wait in line several times a day to refill a tiny cup.

Thanks again!