wolfpacker
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
- Messages
- 2
HRH - July 20 - 25, Me, Wife, Son-13, Daughter-11
What a trip! THis was our first time to the HRH and we were not disappointed one bit. We requested a Pool View room and got a great one! 5th Floor, just around the corner from the elevators, dead center of the hotel. We could watch the nightly fireworks right from the beds! We requested a couple of Hard Rock hotel robes which were delivered promptly and which we wore all the time! Great for lounging especially when you're sharing a room with two kids.
Check in was no sweat. We arrived around 11am (room was not ready yet), got our room keys, and it was off to Universal to experience the FOTL I had been reading about all summer in this forum. FOTL rules! I also like the fact that you can use your room key to charge back anything in either park to your room (food, t-shirts, drinks, etc.) Anyhow, because of FOTL, we had most of Universal Studios knocked out before we went back to the hotel around 4:30 to check in. (When checking in be sure to take the kids reports cards to get the free soda deal at the hotel beach club. The kids loved the fact that their room keys said A+Kids on them and that they could go up to the bar, order a soda, flash their room key , and walk away with a free drink!)
Back to FOTL: This option takes the stress right out of your vacation. There's no need to haul-butt over to the parks right when they open. You can get over there 3 hours after the parks open and ride everything in no time. Can you say SLEEP IN? Wooohoooo! Here are some examples of the wait times we avoided all thanks to FOTL:
Hulk - 60 Mins
Spiderman - 90 Minutes
Dueling Dragons - 30 Minutes
Jurassic Park - 45 Minutes
Men in Black - 75 Minutes
Shrek - 90 Minutes (This line is always huge even the FOTL line)
Bilge Rat Barges - 45 Minutes
We did however take advantage of the 8:30am early entry (Special Hulk Promotion) on Wednesday so we could ride in the front row of the Hulk coaster (no FOTL for front row). We had the entire coaster to ourselves! After we rode The Hulk we did Spiderman, Dr. Doom, Dudley Do-Right, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Pteranadon Flyers, and the Ice Dragon and were back at the hotel by 10:45 for a nice relaxing pool day.
Restaurants where we ate during the week: Margaritaville, Bob Marleys, Hard Rock Cafe, Mythos, Sunset Grill at HRH. Mythos and Bob Marleys were our favorites. For lunch at IOA I would go to the Enchanted Oak. You can get a nice sized salad and a baked potato and it will only run you about 6 bucks. Typically when we ate lunch in the parks it was always around $30 for our family of 4.
Side note: We did Wet and Wild on Thursday (our last day). Too crowded. We stayed probably 3 hours and then it was back to the HRH Pool (which is great!) and then back to IOA for more unlimited, no wait, FOTL rides.
Do I have any tips for you?
- HRH has plenty of towels pool side. You don't need to pack beach towels.
- You can preview your hotel bill on your TV the night before you check out. Very cool.
- Joins Loews hotel club before you arrive. You get a free gift when you check in.
- Buy a fanny pack to wear around park. I bought a day hike pack at a local outdoors shop and used it all week. I could keep our wallets, camera, ROOM KEYS, small snacks, and 2 water bottles in in. And because you wear it around your waist you dont have to take it off when you ride the coasters.
I know I have left some things out but will be happy to answer any questions you put on this post.
What a trip! THis was our first time to the HRH and we were not disappointed one bit. We requested a Pool View room and got a great one! 5th Floor, just around the corner from the elevators, dead center of the hotel. We could watch the nightly fireworks right from the beds! We requested a couple of Hard Rock hotel robes which were delivered promptly and which we wore all the time! Great for lounging especially when you're sharing a room with two kids.
Check in was no sweat. We arrived around 11am (room was not ready yet), got our room keys, and it was off to Universal to experience the FOTL I had been reading about all summer in this forum. FOTL rules! I also like the fact that you can use your room key to charge back anything in either park to your room (food, t-shirts, drinks, etc.) Anyhow, because of FOTL, we had most of Universal Studios knocked out before we went back to the hotel around 4:30 to check in. (When checking in be sure to take the kids reports cards to get the free soda deal at the hotel beach club. The kids loved the fact that their room keys said A+Kids on them and that they could go up to the bar, order a soda, flash their room key , and walk away with a free drink!)
Back to FOTL: This option takes the stress right out of your vacation. There's no need to haul-butt over to the parks right when they open. You can get over there 3 hours after the parks open and ride everything in no time. Can you say SLEEP IN? Wooohoooo! Here are some examples of the wait times we avoided all thanks to FOTL:
Hulk - 60 Mins
Spiderman - 90 Minutes
Dueling Dragons - 30 Minutes
Jurassic Park - 45 Minutes
Men in Black - 75 Minutes
Shrek - 90 Minutes (This line is always huge even the FOTL line)
Bilge Rat Barges - 45 Minutes
We did however take advantage of the 8:30am early entry (Special Hulk Promotion) on Wednesday so we could ride in the front row of the Hulk coaster (no FOTL for front row). We had the entire coaster to ourselves! After we rode The Hulk we did Spiderman, Dr. Doom, Dudley Do-Right, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Pteranadon Flyers, and the Ice Dragon and were back at the hotel by 10:45 for a nice relaxing pool day.
Restaurants where we ate during the week: Margaritaville, Bob Marleys, Hard Rock Cafe, Mythos, Sunset Grill at HRH. Mythos and Bob Marleys were our favorites. For lunch at IOA I would go to the Enchanted Oak. You can get a nice sized salad and a baked potato and it will only run you about 6 bucks. Typically when we ate lunch in the parks it was always around $30 for our family of 4.
Side note: We did Wet and Wild on Thursday (our last day). Too crowded. We stayed probably 3 hours and then it was back to the HRH Pool (which is great!) and then back to IOA for more unlimited, no wait, FOTL rides.
Do I have any tips for you?
- HRH has plenty of towels pool side. You don't need to pack beach towels.
- You can preview your hotel bill on your TV the night before you check out. Very cool.
- Joins Loews hotel club before you arrive. You get a free gift when you check in.
- Buy a fanny pack to wear around park. I bought a day hike pack at a local outdoors shop and used it all week. I could keep our wallets, camera, ROOM KEYS, small snacks, and 2 water bottles in in. And because you wear it around your waist you dont have to take it off when you ride the coasters.
I know I have left some things out but will be happy to answer any questions you put on this post.
