Hard Rock Hotel or Royal Pacific?

[alebisi]

Hello US and IoA lovers!
Last year I went with my boyfriend to both parks and also to attend Halloween Horror nights, we are in love now!! Last year we stayed only at Pop century (WDW property) so in 2014 (we are returning for HHN in September!!) we went to stay the first 3 nights of our trip at US and IoA property.
I thought Hard Rock would be my choice but I saw pictures of Royal Pacific and now we are torned! What would you suggest? We love that everything is near here (Citywalk and both parks) as we like to rest in the afternoons and having express passes makes it so mucho relaxed and enjoyable.
We are a couple of twenty-something years old!
What do YOU suggest?
Thanks!!

 

[bumbershoot]

We just recently stayed at HR and probably won't be back. If there's an event, big portions of what you feel to be public space might be blocked off, like what happened last Sun to Tues for us. The room wasn't great. The shampoo is different than the Lather brand at RPR and PBH (unless they have all changed since last year). It just felt like it was trying SO hard to be cool that it just felt silly instead. We will limit ourselves to RPR and PBH in the future.

 

[dreamscometrue47]

We stayed at the HRH (mom who is 57, daughter 23 and son 19) this past January. We LOVED it. I was a little worried (thinking omg LOUD ROCK) but it's not like that at all. The atmosphere was perfect, the hotel people were THE best (we do travel a bit) and I would go back there in an heart beat. BUT, I do hear wonderful things about Royal Pacific... These decisions are so hard to make.

 

[buckeev]

No bad choice here!
We've stayed at both and have a hard time deciding too.
The two biggest factors for us are:
1) Hard Rock usually allows us to get into the parks-especially Universal Studios-much faster.
2) Royal Pacific is generally quieter and offers a more relaxed atmosphere.
These are our opinions...(every family member feels exactly the same way).

Oh yeah...RPR is usually a little bit less expensive, based on availability of course.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

We just recently stayed at HR and probably won't be back. If there's an event, big portions of what you feel to be public space might be blocked off, like what happened last Sun to Tues for us. The room wasn't great. The shampoo is different than the Lather brand at RPR and PBH (unless they have all changed since last year). It just felt like it was trying SO hard to be cool that it just felt silly instead. We will limit ourselves to RPR and PBH in the future.

I agree with this. We stayed at Hard Rock last month for the first time. None of us liked it. We didn't like the room, we didn't like the housekeeping/cleanliness, and everything else was just average. We have stayed at RPR once and enjoyed it, but we feel spoiled at PBH and will be there again next time.

 

[schumigirl]

Oh you`ll have a great trip regardless where you stay.

In saying that I would always choose RPR.

It is so beautiful and very welcoming. As you say being so close to the parks is perfect. It takes us less than 10 minutes to reach Margaritaville when we walk, a moment more takes you to entrance to IOA.....very close. Not much further and you are in Studios.

We love being able to wander back to the hotel in the afternoon for pool time or just chilling out. Plenty of places to do that there.

Staff are among the best we have ever come across anywhere. We are always welcomed like family there, so friendly and helpful.

We like this resort as it`s lively without being rowdy. The atmosphere around the pool is a lot of fun....for all ages.

Food choices at RPR are all excellent. Jake`s Bar and The Bula Pool Bar are firm favourites of ours. Breakfast at the Islands is wonderful but we usually eat in Orchids for breakfast. Good choice of serve yourself items like croissants, mufffins, cereals, toast, fruit, pastries and more. Very good value for money too.

Having EP does make it a very relaxing trip too. Have fun choosing

 

[ky07]

While we have stayed at RPR but never stayed at HRH it just doesn't seem to be our type of hotel
We love the RPR for the relaxed feel and the staff there is awesome and not to mention the grounds and theming of the hotel is great and with either choice you won't be disappointed

 

[TheAviator]

Well I'm a musician, have played in rock bands since I was a little kid and I prefer the Royal Pacific. For me Hard Rock is OK and all, but just really pretty sterile IMO, kind of almost hospital ish. Its a good hotel, but I just don't really like the theme, or lack there of. The RP for me is so plush, love the tropical theme, you really feel like you are at a resort on a pacific island. I really love that aspect of it. THe rooms are not super duper plush, nice, but nothing too spectacular, its really the resort itself and the theming that is the draw there.

As another option, the Portofino is also great. All things equal ($) I would probably stay in the Portofino more, its super elegant and I actually prefer the pool there (eventhough you can pool hop, and eventhough the RP pool is very nice) I just prefer having the waterfalls at the pools and the Portofino is the only one that has waterfalls. But I would still probably spend more time at the RP just because overall I do like the tropical theme the best. But for me Portofino and RP are roughly equal, eventhough Portofino is quite a bit more $$

 

[rusty4]

I think that people in their 20's would love Hard Rock. At least that was our impression when we visited the pool this past weekend. We have kids that are mid 20's and then a 9 year old. We felt that our older 2 boys would probably like the "party vibe" there while we really didn't care for it. The hot tub was full of guys with buckets of beer in the middle of the afternoon. I can see where groups would have a blast or the younger adult crowd would as well.

Our son liked the pool slide and the fact that the music could be heard under the water. But he really preferred the RPR pool overall. Portifino pool looked very cool. But it was not active at all. It was even colder by the time we got over there so no one was there but the lifeguards so it was harder to judge.

We had a standard room and I wish I took a photo of the view but I didn't. The palm trees were right outside of our room. We faced the front entrance of the resort. You could see the entrance bridge if you looked sideways. But if you were looking straight out all you saw were the trees blowing with the breeze. Very nice for standard view.

RPR has alot of pool activities going. The torch lighting ceremony at night with the hula dancer and fire dancer you would probably enjoy.

 

[Ofinn]

We have stayed at HRH twice and absolutely loved it. I just switched to RPR because I felt like I wanted to try something new and it is a little cheaper. I don't have a bad thing to say about HRH. Check out trip advisor the reviews for HRH are much more favorable than RPR or Portofino.

 

[alebisi]

Thank you all for your advice!! I'm still undecided they BOTH seem great!

 

[jlp879]

Thank you all for your advice!! I'm still undecided they BOTH seem great!

Do you know what that means? That you will just have to take 2 trips -- stay at each property and tell all of us which one works best for you!!!

Seriously, there are pros and cons to each, but both sound like they would be just fine!

(For your age, my gut reaction would be to go for Hard Rock.)

 

[alebisi]

Lol that's a good idea! Ha ha
I still haven't decided, I have one year exactly to decide.
Hard Rock seems a cool hotel specially for younger people, we are from Italy so staying at a Hard Rock hotel seems something out of this world.
I must say though that Royal Pacific looks really really nice.
Another thing I liked about HR is that you can literally walk to the parks, it's so near!!
As soon as I decide I'll tell you all about it!

 

[chs27]

It's a short walk from Royal Pacific too.