disneyfor3
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2003
- Messages
- 393
Here is a summary of our universal trip:
Cast: Me 39, DH 41, DS 4.
Flight: Flew SW from BWI - They are now handing out kid packs with a coloring book, multicolor pencil and airline wings in it. My son loved this! Great flights as usual.
Arrived at MCO at 8:30 am. Received luggage quickly. Proceeded to National's Emerald Aisle. Picked a Pontiac G6 which my husband enjoyed driving. No line to get out.
Arrived at Hard Rock Hotel at 9:00 a.m. on 5/21. I had purchased through AAA South a Preferred Annual Pass for myself and Power Passes for my husband and son. I originally made an APH reservation for a club room but decided we would not spend the extra and changed it to a deluxe room for the rate of $199 the first night and $179.00 the last three nights. When we went up to the counter we had a very efficient, quick talking, reservationist who whenever I would start to ask a question she would cut me off and state she wasn't done yet and she needed to finish doing her job. Sooooo, my husband and I said okay. Well, turns out she says .... you have a concierge room booked at the rate of $199 for the first night and $179 for the last three nights and these are your privileges. If you hurry, you can go up to the lounge and have breakfast (great, we're starving - the cookies on Southwest didn't quite satisfy us). Well, who are we to argue. We shut up and said okay and proceeded up to the lounge after receiving our room keys for the park. Not quite sure what happened there - not sure if we were upgraded or if they forgot to change the room type with the new room rate but we were happy with the end result
.
Our room was ready around 2:00 p.m. We were in Room 7069 which is right next door to the lounge. At first, I was a little worried about noise because my son tends to go to bed around 8:00 p.m. but it worked out terrific. We never heard any noise from the lounge and loved being able to pop over quickly and grab a bite. The concierge in the lounge were all very friendly. We loved having the bottled water and sodas available; the donuts were a little too tempting in the morning but hey it's vacation time!
We found housekeeping to be great with our room cleaned before we returned every afternoon and turndown always done while we were either at the pool or out at dinner. Loved the little turndown gifts. My son was thrilled with the smiley face bracelets, yellow bouncing balls with smiley faces, and hard rock tattoos. Loved all the toiletries as well - mouth wash, body wash, shampoo, cream rinse, face, body and hand soaps and needle and thread, etc. (my bathroom at home looks a little like the Hard Rock right now - couldn't resist bringing a few soaps home).
We loved the pool at the HRH and used it almost every day. We all loved the slide, especially my son. He loved the fact he could touch bottom in a lot of the pool, although at some points my husband and I felt like crabs crawling along the bottom after him.
We visited both parks - my son loves thrill rides: he says his favorites are all of them but judging by the number of times we rode them I would have to stay his favorites were: Spiderman, ET, Jimmy Neutron, MIB, Jurassic Park Water Ride, Flyers, Dudley Doo Wright Falls (Spelling?), Bilge Rats, and the Woody Woodpecker Rollercoaster (although to be honest he loved riding anything he was tall enough for and was disappointed he couldn't do Hulk or Mummy).
Food: Our favorites were Mythos and Finnegans. At Mythos I had the crispy greens salad with scallops, my husband had a chicken sandwich and my son had the children's steak (the salad and the steak were both fabulous) and the bread they serve beforehand is very good. At Finnegan's my husband and I both had the fish and chips (mouthwatering good - they make them from scratch there) and my son had a triple decker PB&J and a shirley temple with extra cherries (they took me seriously when I asked for an extra cherry or two (they gave my son 4 on a sword and 3 in the cup - he was in heaven). They also serve a great soda bread with apple butter.
We also ate at Hard Rock Cafe (good) and Margaritaville (just okay - I had the crabcakes which was probably a mistake since we are from Maryland and used to really good ones), my son's spagetti and my husband's meatloaf sandwich were pronounced good.
We also did the character breakfast at Confisco's with Spiderman, Cat in the Hat, and Thing 1 and Thing 2. We all loved this! We thought the food was great (scrambed eggs with cheese, peppers and onions, potatoes, bacon, sausage, waffles, red or plain pancakes (they had little cups you could put syrup in which my son loves to use for dipping) as well as fresh fruit, yogurt, and assorted muffins, croissants, and pastries. Milk, coffee, and soda were included in the price. Juice was not. We got the 15 percent discount here with the preferred annual pass as well as at Finnegans and Mythos, etc. Spiderman came over right away and spent a few minutes speaking with my son (my son's still talking about it) and came back again later to say hi again. We also saw the other characters as well. I saw spiderman and his assistant standing to the side at one point looking around the room to make sure he did not miss anyone (I loved seeing him perched on a chair in his POSE with an older woman and the husband chuckling and clicking away with his camera). My husband kept saying "I bet you like this character meal - Spiderman sure works out (I'll have to say I didn't complain). He really has the voice down. My son is used to mickey, etc. and kept saying for the next two days - Spiderman really talks mommy, he really talks.
We had a great time. It was a nice change for us since we usually do Disney (a lot) and wanted to try something different). We'll be back. Any questions, please feel free to ask.
Cast: Me 39, DH 41, DS 4.
Flight: Flew SW from BWI - They are now handing out kid packs with a coloring book, multicolor pencil and airline wings in it. My son loved this! Great flights as usual.
Arrived at MCO at 8:30 am. Received luggage quickly. Proceeded to National's Emerald Aisle. Picked a Pontiac G6 which my husband enjoyed driving. No line to get out.
Arrived at Hard Rock Hotel at 9:00 a.m. on 5/21. I had purchased through AAA South a Preferred Annual Pass for myself and Power Passes for my husband and son. I originally made an APH reservation for a club room but decided we would not spend the extra and changed it to a deluxe room for the rate of $199 the first night and $179.00 the last three nights. When we went up to the counter we had a very efficient, quick talking, reservationist who whenever I would start to ask a question she would cut me off and state she wasn't done yet and she needed to finish doing her job. Sooooo, my husband and I said okay. Well, turns out she says .... you have a concierge room booked at the rate of $199 for the first night and $179 for the last three nights and these are your privileges. If you hurry, you can go up to the lounge and have breakfast (great, we're starving - the cookies on Southwest didn't quite satisfy us). Well, who are we to argue. We shut up and said okay and proceeded up to the lounge after receiving our room keys for the park. Not quite sure what happened there - not sure if we were upgraded or if they forgot to change the room type with the new room rate but we were happy with the end result

Our room was ready around 2:00 p.m. We were in Room 7069 which is right next door to the lounge. At first, I was a little worried about noise because my son tends to go to bed around 8:00 p.m. but it worked out terrific. We never heard any noise from the lounge and loved being able to pop over quickly and grab a bite. The concierge in the lounge were all very friendly. We loved having the bottled water and sodas available; the donuts were a little too tempting in the morning but hey it's vacation time!
We found housekeeping to be great with our room cleaned before we returned every afternoon and turndown always done while we were either at the pool or out at dinner. Loved the little turndown gifts. My son was thrilled with the smiley face bracelets, yellow bouncing balls with smiley faces, and hard rock tattoos. Loved all the toiletries as well - mouth wash, body wash, shampoo, cream rinse, face, body and hand soaps and needle and thread, etc. (my bathroom at home looks a little like the Hard Rock right now - couldn't resist bringing a few soaps home).
We loved the pool at the HRH and used it almost every day. We all loved the slide, especially my son. He loved the fact he could touch bottom in a lot of the pool, although at some points my husband and I felt like crabs crawling along the bottom after him.
We visited both parks - my son loves thrill rides: he says his favorites are all of them but judging by the number of times we rode them I would have to stay his favorites were: Spiderman, ET, Jimmy Neutron, MIB, Jurassic Park Water Ride, Flyers, Dudley Doo Wright Falls (Spelling?), Bilge Rats, and the Woody Woodpecker Rollercoaster (although to be honest he loved riding anything he was tall enough for and was disappointed he couldn't do Hulk or Mummy).
Food: Our favorites were Mythos and Finnegans. At Mythos I had the crispy greens salad with scallops, my husband had a chicken sandwich and my son had the children's steak (the salad and the steak were both fabulous) and the bread they serve beforehand is very good. At Finnegan's my husband and I both had the fish and chips (mouthwatering good - they make them from scratch there) and my son had a triple decker PB&J and a shirley temple with extra cherries (they took me seriously when I asked for an extra cherry or two (they gave my son 4 on a sword and 3 in the cup - he was in heaven). They also serve a great soda bread with apple butter.
We also ate at Hard Rock Cafe (good) and Margaritaville (just okay - I had the crabcakes which was probably a mistake since we are from Maryland and used to really good ones), my son's spagetti and my husband's meatloaf sandwich were pronounced good.
We also did the character breakfast at Confisco's with Spiderman, Cat in the Hat, and Thing 1 and Thing 2. We all loved this! We thought the food was great (scrambed eggs with cheese, peppers and onions, potatoes, bacon, sausage, waffles, red or plain pancakes (they had little cups you could put syrup in which my son loves to use for dipping) as well as fresh fruit, yogurt, and assorted muffins, croissants, and pastries. Milk, coffee, and soda were included in the price. Juice was not. We got the 15 percent discount here with the preferred annual pass as well as at Finnegans and Mythos, etc. Spiderman came over right away and spent a few minutes speaking with my son (my son's still talking about it) and came back again later to say hi again. We also saw the other characters as well. I saw spiderman and his assistant standing to the side at one point looking around the room to make sure he did not miss anyone (I loved seeing him perched on a chair in his POSE with an older woman and the husband chuckling and clicking away with his camera). My husband kept saying "I bet you like this character meal - Spiderman sure works out (I'll have to say I didn't complain). He really has the voice down. My son is used to mickey, etc. and kept saying for the next two days - Spiderman really talks mommy, he really talks.
We had a great time. It was a nice change for us since we usually do Disney (a lot) and wanted to try something different). We'll be back. Any questions, please feel free to ask.