Hard Rock Hotel

[KayleeUK]

Well I have finally given up waiting for a discount rate and booked Pool view at the HRH for 2 nights

If you have stayed here tell me what you like about it? Have you ever been there on a Friday Evening - I think they have a movie at the pool??

Can I arrive early in the morning and check in to the hotel(not the room) and get the front of line pass and then go and play? What does the front of line pass look like?

Thanks

 

[rainyUK]

Hi Kaylee UK - we stayed there last February in a pool view room which was OK, we really enjoyed it, and decided to stay there again this time we will try the club floor, we will be there again in two weeks time on 10 Feb - can't wait. Front of the line privilidges can't be beat in my opinion it makes you feel good not to queue up as usual and bypass all of the lines even if it is just for 2 days (you start your Front Of The Line access when you check in and continue it even after you check out the next day (the FOTL is good for two days when you stay one night).

You can check in as early as you want to and they will issue you with the plastic key card for the room - if the room is not ready you can leave your luggage there and take the key card, which acts as your front of line privilidge to the park. Just show your key card to the CM at the fast pass line and they will let you through (sometimes they scan the card through their machine but not always). We found it invaluable as you could bypass the normal lines - which were sometimes over an hour long! The walk from the Hard Rock is really nice or you could take the river taxi which is also nice - when you walk into the hotel you can "smell the money" in the air and you immediately feel important. The pool is really nice too as it has a water slide and is shaped like a guitar with piped music underwater - cool. The movie is shown out by the pool on Friday nights on a big screen - we stayed on a Saturday night so did not see this but have heard good reports. My son (aged 7) loved the kids club and it was open until midnight - it gave him his Playstation fix for the holiday and the people were really nice.

We didn't get charged for parking which was a bonus.

We can't wait to go on Saturday - really looking forward to it flying BA for the first time in Club World (special offer when we booked - just for the same price as Virgin PE we upgraded to Club class outward and WTP back but as the planes will not be configured for WTP we have been upgraded to Club class on the way back - which is a huge bonus - I have never been in a Club lounge before & thought we would try BA after 6 straight years of Virgin where we usually travel PE).

Feel free to ask any more questions.

 

[Frances999]

Great atmosphere at The Hard Rock, especially for kids. The pool is an oasis of "cool" on a Friday night when they play the dive-in movie on the big screen. When we were there last April they played "School of Rock".

The rooms are quite small but nicely decorated with comfy beds. The coffee machine and sachets is a great bonus and it is replenished regularly. As rainy said, there is no specific front of the line pass, instead each member of your party is issued with a named room-key and you just show this at the express entrance to each attraction. You can also use your room key to charge purchases back to your room. Also, unlike at Disney (unless you stay concierge) purchases can be delivered right into your room - not just the hotel shop.

The pool is absolutley amazing. It is pretty shallow but there is music piped underwater and the atmosphere is amazing. The HRH is great because it is so close to the parks, the water taxis also run regularly to CityWalk. Don't miss The Kitchen restaurant. We loved the breakfast buffet even though it was a bit pricey compared to other choices outside of Universal Orlando.

Are you with the AA? If so, type in promotional code AAA onto the Universal Orlando reservation form. Apparently, codes are rarely being released by Universal this year (compared to last year) but AAA seems to be available for most dates. You simply flash you AA card when checking-in if you book the AAA rate.

Have a good trip!

 

[Merylj]

Have you got an annual pass? I bought one just to bring the room rate down, it was well worth it. Plus you get up to 20% off food and purchases in the park.
DD loved the pool and the staff were very good. I liked the snack bar, you could buy thick white bread to toast, although $3 for two slices
Have a great time.
Julie.

 

[MsPennieLane]

Kaylee, have you got an Entertainment Card? We got huge rates at the Universal hotels using this - the Annual pass rates are hardly anything. You could contact them again asking what the Entertainment Card rate would be and you could always apply for the book afterwards. We spent a night at the Portofino Bay hotel in December and saved $100 on the basic room and it worked out cheaper than a night at the Hard Rock. When are you going again?

Anz

 

[KayleeUK]

Thanks guys I have looked for ENT,AAA,and the AP rates but there seems to be none for my dates Never mind.


Thanks for the info about the front of line and the pool. The Kitchen sounds good too.

 

[daywalker]

There are no ENT rates available this year.
AP rates are thin on the ground, people only seem to get these at the last minute.
AAA is the only discount available.

HRH is a great hotel although we've opted for Royal Pcific this year, the benefits of booking with Virgin swung us and we got a nice 15% for booking on Xmas day.

 

[Miffy2003]

Only to say that I am jealous LOL

 

[Frances999]

There are no ENT rates available this year.
AP rates are thin on the ground, people only seem to get these at the last minute.
AAA is the only discount available.

Daywalker is totally right. Apparently even AAA discounts are getting hard to come by. When are you travelling Kaylee? Universal have offers at the moment for free LOS passes during certain dates. I just booked 4 nights at the HRH this August and getting the free LOS passes by paying rack-rate worked out cheaper than using the AAA discount and purchasing tickets separately (the free LOS passes only come when paying rack rate).