Just back from 17 nights at the Hard Rock. Had a great time. My daughter (2 1/2) loved every minute of it.
Having fun in a Universal store
When we checked in we had been allocated a king suite (room 1100) on the ground floor, so we changed it for a king suite on a higher floor (4100). Check-in was very smooth. I was never asked for my AAA ID. This room had a partial view of the pool and was mainly obscured by the palms.
Room View
King suite bed
HRH Pool
We used Valet on the first night, then put the car in self-park for the rest of our stay. Valet is $14.91+tip per night and self park is $7.46 per night.
During our stay we ate around the pool (beach club) several times. In the week the pool area was usually quiet and at the weekends it was a lot busier. The pool servers usually come out around 11.00am. We noticed the pool always got busier towards the end of the day. At the weekends we were usually asked for or room cards as ID to get towels for the pool.
Typical weekday morning at the Hard Rock pool
For lunch around the pool for 2 adults 1 child, it would usually cost around $50 inc tip (added automatically).
Beach Club menu
One afternoon they closed off the volleyball area and filmed an episode of 'Let's Cook' with Twisted sisted frontman 'Dee Snider'. Later on that day the band 'Men at Work' were playing in the lobby. This was a ticketed event called 'Velvet Sessions' which happens on the last Thursday of every month. We were given complimentary tickets from Carlton Hudson (hotel manger).
Dee Snider
Hard Rock Cabanas
Places we ate included:
The Kitchen (nice, quieter, but pricey $120 for 2ad 1ch inc tip)
The Kitchen
Hard Rock Cafe (quite reasonable prices ($90 for 2ad, 1ch inc. tip), All access card is a must for immediate seating, steaks arent as good as the used to be, but the Jumbo Combo, ribs and Fajitas are great, the manageress (Denise) was great with our daughter
Margaritiville (usually have to wait for a table and eat outside, large portions, great food and reasonably priced)
Mythos (ate here 3 times, great food for a theme park and cheaper ($40) than eating around the pool)
Finnegans (good basic food, good atmosphere and a nice cool place to get away from the afternoon heat in USF)
Richters (counter service, nice burgers, was surprised that they had no childrens meals ($28).
Mythos Appetizer
Hannah with her Mythos Kids Pizza
Other places we ate included MGM's Hollywood and Vine and the sci-fi restaurant, Liberty tree tavern, Cindy's Royal table, Crystal palace (twice), Rainforest cafe and Planet Hollywood.
As an inexspensive and convenient way to start the day with breakfast, we used to grab a box of $3.99 'crispy creme' donuts (to share) from the Walgreens on the corner of I-drive. We also bought a cooler box, milk and sodas from here and filled the cooler with ice from the machine located right outside of the room. The laundry rooms were also so located on the 2nd and 4th floors, so we had one just down the hallway.
We usually walked to the parks through the gate at the side of the pool, as we found this much faster than waiting for the boat (as nice as it is). We also found it quicker to walk to the parks by going down the steps to the car park and turning left. This would usually bring us to the entrancre of USF in about 3 minutes.
Spidy!
Poisiedens fury
During our stay we never encountered any major queues in both IOA and USF . The hulk was always a walk on (even during HHN, with express passes). My daughter was a bit dissapointed that she never got to see Dora (apparantly this character has been taken away permenantly).
The Hulk
City Walk at night
USF
Other highlights during our stay included:
Outbound Flights: Upstairs cabin was empty. Air hostesses kept our daughter entertained for most of the 9 hours in the air.
Virgin Atlantic
Illuminations cruise: Shared this with another couple. Great way to see the fireworks at EPCOT. Cost $150 with a $30 tip. Didn't make an advanced reservation. Walked upto the Yacht club marina on the night.
Housekeeping putting helium balloons in the room for our daughter.
HHN on the 30th: Some great houses and the express passes were a godsend.
FOTL: Worth the price of the stay alone.
Universal and IOA Staff: Seem to get friendlier every year.
Hard Rock Pool: Coolest pool on the planet IMHO.
Fantasmic dinner package.
Ride in the front of the monorail at MK with the driver.
Getting to Disney parks early: Cannot stress this enough. At MK we did 10 rides before 11am then had lunch and left the park by 12.30pm.
Kids Nite Out: (night of HHN) We had never left our daughter (Hannah) with anyone before, so it was a very big step for us to leave her with someone, especially a stranger in a foreign country. I did a lot of research before we left and then contacted the concierge at the HR hotel, who reccomended a company called 'kids nite out'. We had a caregiver called "Ellen" who exceeded everyone of our expectations. I cannot express how professional this company is. Within seconds she had Hannah's 100% attention and we were able to leave the room without her noticing. On returning to the room she gave us a written report what she had done and at what times.
Going home
Problems Encountered:
Double billed for room service. Had to ask front desk to rectify this twice.
Line jumping into the express line on the Hulk Ride.
Hope this post has been informative. Any questions?
Having fun in a Universal store
When we checked in we had been allocated a king suite (room 1100) on the ground floor, so we changed it for a king suite on a higher floor (4100). Check-in was very smooth. I was never asked for my AAA ID. This room had a partial view of the pool and was mainly obscured by the palms.
Room View
King suite bed
HRH Pool
We used Valet on the first night, then put the car in self-park for the rest of our stay. Valet is $14.91+tip per night and self park is $7.46 per night.
During our stay we ate around the pool (beach club) several times. In the week the pool area was usually quiet and at the weekends it was a lot busier. The pool servers usually come out around 11.00am. We noticed the pool always got busier towards the end of the day. At the weekends we were usually asked for or room cards as ID to get towels for the pool.
Typical weekday morning at the Hard Rock pool
For lunch around the pool for 2 adults 1 child, it would usually cost around $50 inc tip (added automatically).
Beach Club menu
One afternoon they closed off the volleyball area and filmed an episode of 'Let's Cook' with Twisted sisted frontman 'Dee Snider'. Later on that day the band 'Men at Work' were playing in the lobby. This was a ticketed event called 'Velvet Sessions' which happens on the last Thursday of every month. We were given complimentary tickets from Carlton Hudson (hotel manger).
Dee Snider
Hard Rock Cabanas
Places we ate included:
The Kitchen (nice, quieter, but pricey $120 for 2ad 1ch inc tip)
The Kitchen
Hard Rock Cafe (quite reasonable prices ($90 for 2ad, 1ch inc. tip), All access card is a must for immediate seating, steaks arent as good as the used to be, but the Jumbo Combo, ribs and Fajitas are great, the manageress (Denise) was great with our daughter
Margaritiville (usually have to wait for a table and eat outside, large portions, great food and reasonably priced)
Mythos (ate here 3 times, great food for a theme park and cheaper ($40) than eating around the pool)
Finnegans (good basic food, good atmosphere and a nice cool place to get away from the afternoon heat in USF)
Richters (counter service, nice burgers, was surprised that they had no childrens meals ($28).
Mythos Appetizer
Hannah with her Mythos Kids Pizza
Other places we ate included MGM's Hollywood and Vine and the sci-fi restaurant, Liberty tree tavern, Cindy's Royal table, Crystal palace (twice), Rainforest cafe and Planet Hollywood.
As an inexspensive and convenient way to start the day with breakfast, we used to grab a box of $3.99 'crispy creme' donuts (to share) from the Walgreens on the corner of I-drive. We also bought a cooler box, milk and sodas from here and filled the cooler with ice from the machine located right outside of the room. The laundry rooms were also so located on the 2nd and 4th floors, so we had one just down the hallway.
We usually walked to the parks through the gate at the side of the pool, as we found this much faster than waiting for the boat (as nice as it is). We also found it quicker to walk to the parks by going down the steps to the car park and turning left. This would usually bring us to the entrancre of USF in about 3 minutes.
Spidy!
Poisiedens fury
During our stay we never encountered any major queues in both IOA and USF . The hulk was always a walk on (even during HHN, with express passes). My daughter was a bit dissapointed that she never got to see Dora (apparantly this character has been taken away permenantly).
The Hulk
City Walk at night
USF
Other highlights during our stay included:
Outbound Flights: Upstairs cabin was empty. Air hostesses kept our daughter entertained for most of the 9 hours in the air.
Virgin Atlantic
Illuminations cruise: Shared this with another couple. Great way to see the fireworks at EPCOT. Cost $150 with a $30 tip. Didn't make an advanced reservation. Walked upto the Yacht club marina on the night.
Housekeeping putting helium balloons in the room for our daughter.
HHN on the 30th: Some great houses and the express passes were a godsend.
FOTL: Worth the price of the stay alone.
Universal and IOA Staff: Seem to get friendlier every year.
Hard Rock Pool: Coolest pool on the planet IMHO.
Fantasmic dinner package.
Ride in the front of the monorail at MK with the driver.
Getting to Disney parks early: Cannot stress this enough. At MK we did 10 rides before 11am then had lunch and left the park by 12.30pm.
Kids Nite Out: (night of HHN) We had never left our daughter (Hannah) with anyone before, so it was a very big step for us to leave her with someone, especially a stranger in a foreign country. I did a lot of research before we left and then contacted the concierge at the HR hotel, who reccomended a company called 'kids nite out'. We had a caregiver called "Ellen" who exceeded everyone of our expectations. I cannot express how professional this company is. Within seconds she had Hannah's 100% attention and we were able to leave the room without her noticing. On returning to the room she gave us a written report what she had done and at what times.
Going home
Problems Encountered:
Double billed for room service. Had to ask front desk to rectify this twice.
Line jumping into the express line on the Hulk Ride.
Hope this post has been informative. Any questions?
