Just back from 7 nights at HRH! We had a great time! Loved fotl access, were in the parks Monday through Friday.
Got in around 10 am on Sat. Checked bags and went to the pool. No upgrade avail as they were sold out. Had to have a smoking room as my sister is a smoker. Spent the day at the pool, room was ready at 3 pm. Went to check the room out and have bags delivered. Opened the door, and was assaulted by a perfumy smell, took the sandals off, and lo and behold, the carpets were wet from cleaning! (Explains the smell, it was just like carpet shampoo) Went back to front desk to request another room, no problem, they moved us down the hall (1st floor on the end). Went to check this one out and call for the luggage. Meanwhile notice that one light does not work, and the remote for tv won't work either. Ask the bellman if i'm not working the remote right, but he couldn't either. He kindly calls to have them come and fix. Nice guy from maintenance there in 5 minutes. Turns out the connections on the back of tv were messed up, and the lamp had no light bulb. The room itself was nice, I found the beds to be comfy, down pillows get hard though after awhile. Room was very clean, but did notice a little wear as well as a water stain on the wall and carpet in the corner from some kind of leak.
Liked the decor of the room a lot, very soothing. Showered and went to Portofino and had dinner at Sal's. Very quiet and no one around! Were just one of three groups eating at the time. Had paninis which were good, and the service was very good. Went to bed early, no problem with music from pool as we had garden view. Unfortunately, the room next door was playing music and you could hear the bass which kept me up for a little while. Decided not to call about it as my kids were already embarrased that I called about the room stuff. The next night there were teeanagers going in and out of doors and carrying on from around 11-12. My sister opened the door and asked that they keep it down as we were trying to sleep. She is a braver woman than I as I was afraid they would act up more! They calmed down though after that. Would have liked to know where their parents were!
Next day had a cabana for the day, number one by the beach club. Got a lot of special treatment. Rented a raft for $10 for the pool. Had a lot of people ask where to get one, no one had one the day before. Guess I'm a trendsetter! LOL. Enjoyed the drinks and fruit in the cabana as well as the tv. Have found all the staff to be friendly and attentive so far. Went to room at 3, and it wasn't cleaned yet. Called star services and said I needed it by 4 cause we needed to shower and get to the airport. Said they'd send someone right off, but unfortunately they were not there by 4, and didn't get to the room till 4:20 finished at 4:40. Had to rush and shower to get to airport in time. Just made it. Also figured out that the phone by the bed didn't work, and I had gotten the closet door off track, so I made another call to star services. Had someone there in 10 minutes. Not bad! Needed a new battery for the cordless phone. makes me wonder if all this stuff had been like that, but nobody let anyone know! I figure if you don't call and tell them, they probably wouldn't ever know! My dd's and ds teased me that I was on a first name basis with star services! lol
Had a cabana again on Monday, enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to anyone. Did universal later that day. Rode Jimmy Neutron and loved it. Still was in trials so no fotl, but the line was only 15 min anyway. All the other ones we just walked on.
Did pool and parks the rest of the week. Loved the slide at HRH. Pool got pretty full by around mid-morning, so it was hard to get a number of seats together later in the am if you wanted good sun. had to close HRH pool later on Wed for 3-4 hours, so they provided a shuttle to Portofino or RPR to use their pool. We went to Portofino, and found the pool not very crowded at all and had no problem getting chairs. It is smaller and quieter than HRH, and not as crowded. I found I prefered that pool to HRH and so did my dd's. We went back again on Friday (it was sort of cool, but not bad when the sun was out). There were no more than a dozen people there. Had a nice relaxing afternoon there. I definitely want to check out this resort for next time.
Sorry this is so long, but I just couldn't help myself. All in all we had a great time, the staff was friendly and attentive, got great service in the restaurants, and after the first day things went much smoother. They even offered to have my room cleaned earlier; when would i like it cleaned, and i said around noon, and it always was! Maybe the tipping helped??? I did tip frequently and well.
Any questions don't hesitate to ask.
Got in around 10 am on Sat. Checked bags and went to the pool. No upgrade avail as they were sold out. Had to have a smoking room as my sister is a smoker. Spent the day at the pool, room was ready at 3 pm. Went to check the room out and have bags delivered. Opened the door, and was assaulted by a perfumy smell, took the sandals off, and lo and behold, the carpets were wet from cleaning! (Explains the smell, it was just like carpet shampoo) Went back to front desk to request another room, no problem, they moved us down the hall (1st floor on the end). Went to check this one out and call for the luggage. Meanwhile notice that one light does not work, and the remote for tv won't work either. Ask the bellman if i'm not working the remote right, but he couldn't either. He kindly calls to have them come and fix. Nice guy from maintenance there in 5 minutes. Turns out the connections on the back of tv were messed up, and the lamp had no light bulb. The room itself was nice, I found the beds to be comfy, down pillows get hard though after awhile. Room was very clean, but did notice a little wear as well as a water stain on the wall and carpet in the corner from some kind of leak.
Liked the decor of the room a lot, very soothing. Showered and went to Portofino and had dinner at Sal's. Very quiet and no one around! Were just one of three groups eating at the time. Had paninis which were good, and the service was very good. Went to bed early, no problem with music from pool as we had garden view. Unfortunately, the room next door was playing music and you could hear the bass which kept me up for a little while. Decided not to call about it as my kids were already embarrased that I called about the room stuff. The next night there were teeanagers going in and out of doors and carrying on from around 11-12. My sister opened the door and asked that they keep it down as we were trying to sleep. She is a braver woman than I as I was afraid they would act up more! They calmed down though after that. Would have liked to know where their parents were!
Next day had a cabana for the day, number one by the beach club. Got a lot of special treatment. Rented a raft for $10 for the pool. Had a lot of people ask where to get one, no one had one the day before. Guess I'm a trendsetter! LOL. Enjoyed the drinks and fruit in the cabana as well as the tv. Have found all the staff to be friendly and attentive so far. Went to room at 3, and it wasn't cleaned yet. Called star services and said I needed it by 4 cause we needed to shower and get to the airport. Said they'd send someone right off, but unfortunately they were not there by 4, and didn't get to the room till 4:20 finished at 4:40. Had to rush and shower to get to airport in time. Just made it. Also figured out that the phone by the bed didn't work, and I had gotten the closet door off track, so I made another call to star services. Had someone there in 10 minutes. Not bad! Needed a new battery for the cordless phone. makes me wonder if all this stuff had been like that, but nobody let anyone know! I figure if you don't call and tell them, they probably wouldn't ever know! My dd's and ds teased me that I was on a first name basis with star services! lol
Had a cabana again on Monday, enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to anyone. Did universal later that day. Rode Jimmy Neutron and loved it. Still was in trials so no fotl, but the line was only 15 min anyway. All the other ones we just walked on.
Did pool and parks the rest of the week. Loved the slide at HRH. Pool got pretty full by around mid-morning, so it was hard to get a number of seats together later in the am if you wanted good sun. had to close HRH pool later on Wed for 3-4 hours, so they provided a shuttle to Portofino or RPR to use their pool. We went to Portofino, and found the pool not very crowded at all and had no problem getting chairs. It is smaller and quieter than HRH, and not as crowded. I found I prefered that pool to HRH and so did my dd's. We went back again on Friday (it was sort of cool, but not bad when the sun was out). There were no more than a dozen people there. Had a nice relaxing afternoon there. I definitely want to check out this resort for next time.
Sorry this is so long, but I just couldn't help myself. All in all we had a great time, the staff was friendly and attentive, got great service in the restaurants, and after the first day things went much smoother. They even offered to have my room cleaned earlier; when would i like it cleaned, and i said around noon, and it always was! Maybe the tipping helped??? I did tip frequently and well.
Any questions don't hesitate to ask.
