Hard Rock Hotel Advice

[UBSHANG]

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions, comments or advice about your experiences with Universal Studios' Hard Rock Hotel. We've enjoyed a previous vacation at the Royal Pacific Resort, but would like to try another property. What did you like or dislike about the HRH and why? Thanks.

 

[quentina]

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions, comments or advice about your experiences with Universal Studios' Hard Rock Hotel. We've enjoyed a previous vacation at the Royal Pacific Resort, but would like to try another property. What did you like or dislike about the HRH and why? Thanks.

I LOVE HRH. It is my favorite place to stay...ever. I love the rock music, Th Kitchen is great, the beds are lovely etc........

 

[bumbershoot]

I haven't stayed, but it's worth knowing the thou can't properly SWIM in the HRH pool. It's too shallow, all the way around it. The one deep spot is where the slide empties, and you have to swim immediately out of that area.


But Universal encourages pool-hopping, so if you want to have an actual swim, you can go over to RPR's pool or PB's "quiet" pool and have a nice time.

 

[francie57]

We love the HRH and will be returning in two weeks!! The rooms are really nice, large, and the beds are really comfy. The short walk to Universal or IOA can't be beat. The pool area is really great. The pool is on the shallow side but that doesn't make a difference to us since we just love to get in the water and keep cool - we do our swimming when we move to Disney after Universal. The ice cream at the store on the bottom floor is really great. You won't be disappointed if you choose the HRH.

 

[stormer]

We love to eat in the Kitchen. Dinner with characters is cute. Also, after a long day at the park grab a ride back to the hotel with one of the guys who ride the bicycles and pull the carts you can sit in.

 

[cbsnyber1]

I prefer the vibe at HRH, a kind of hip, cool, rock 'n roll attitude the place has. Portofino is way more laid back (have never stayed at RPH yet). Also love the short walk to the parks - we never took the shuttle, always did while staying at PBH.

One neat benefit: if you play guitar, you can "rent" one of twenty Fender guitars with amp and headphones. You have to provide a credit card that they charge with a $1,000 deposit, and they clear it when you return the guitar (in one piece).

And while the pool is not deep, it is huge. I never had any trouble swimming in it and the slide is a lot of fun. Go - you won't regret it.

 

[sunshineNJ]

What characters are at The kitchen? Thanks

 

[buckeev]

What characters are at The kitchen? Thanks

The characters appear only on select nights, and are "subject to change" but we were there a couple of Saturdays ago and saw Shrek and The Simpsons. We have also seen Scooby & Shaggy there. The other hotels also have characters on different nights ...so call ahead and make a reservation.
BTW, The Kitchen burgers are awesome & the staff are extremely attentive and friendly!

 

[JessicaR]

I have a huge affinity for Hard Rock. The staff makes that place outstanding. The pool area and cabanas are great for a down day. The Kitchen has an excellent breakfast buffet. Really love the food at the beach bar too. It's laid back and deluxe at the same time - suits us all perfectly.

 

[stormer]

What characters are at The kitchen? Thanks

Both times we ate dinner there we saw Homer and Bart. Both were Saturdays.

 

[pixeegrl]

You can ask either at the front desk or concierge....can't remember....for a map showing all the memorabilia in the hotel we haven't done this yet, but will be doing it this time!

 

[minniebeth]

We stayed at RPH a few years ago and then at HRH a couple of weeks ago. While we loved the theming of RPH, our HRH experience blew our RPH experience away. We were disappointed with the upkeep of our RPH room and even hallways, etc. The restaurants were just ok, and DD has a peanut/tree nut allergy. They were not accomodating to that at all. The service overall lacked as well. We did love the pool and the theming there though and still had a good time.

Everything about our HRH experience was perfect! The service, the rooms, the cleanliness, distance to US/IOA, etc. The HRH has a fun, vibrant atmosphere yet maintains a high level of class and sophistocation. The food at the Beach Club and The Kitchen was our favorite overall for our 11 day Disney/Universal trip. While expensive, at least we felt like we were getting quality delicious drink and food for the money, way superior to Disney for example.
The only downside to HRH in the summer is how crowded The Beach Club area gets (pool). Our last trip to RPH was during a spring break and we went to HRH's pool and it was calm and quiet. This trip, in the summer, it was like Spring Break, lol! People everywhere in the pool with drinks, etc. Very hard to find any type of seating. It was crazy wild (pool party), but once I got over "we're not in Disney anymore" we had a blast. Family friendly too, my kids had a blast.

 

[SmallWorld71]

We loved our stay at HRH!

All the TM's from the front desk, to bell serivces, to the housekeeping were fabulous. We stayed Club Level and the TM's there were very helpful whenever we needed anything.

I don't know if this makes a difference or not to you, but we found that almost all the families when we were there had teens/ tweens/ school aged children. It was extremely rare to see a toddler or preschooler. This was great for us as the pool games were geared toward the older kids, not little kids. We participated on several different days. Not sure if this is always the case, as were there in the summer.

 

[huckster]

Hubby and me picked this place for Oct this year for oyur 30th wedding annv cant wait my hubby is a music man so looking foward to exploring