Just back, RPR great, Clearchannel certificate probs, fun trip

[Prince Eric1]

We are back. A more detailed report and smaller threads will follow but here are a few observations from our trip, which was mostly great.
We got picked up at Sanford and the Limo I got for the trip to the hotel was waiting and the girls eyes lit up. Great driver, cold soda, great stares from cars as we passed trying to find out who was inside.

We got to the hotel, the RPR was fantastic again, room ready and we were given our keys at 11:00am. No welcome gift with entertainment rate, but who cares. We had room 1450, tower one, with a view of the Hulk and Dr Doom. Great staff, clean, can't ask for much more.
Went for lunch before parks, WARNING, if you have the clear channel gift certificates with the extended dates. We ordered ours when they first came out with no expirations on the website. They arrived with dates we couldn't use and were given letters to attach from clearchannel extending the dates to 8/31. The kitchen would NOT honor them, stating clearchannel had no rights to do so. We decided to find out if the Nascar Cafe would. Again, we were told no, clearchannel had no rights to "spend their money". We went to Pastamore later and they reluctantly but nicely stated they would honor the certificate, but that Clearchannel had no rights to do this. The manager nicely stated that his bosses would get a kick out of the letter attached. We also used GC's at Pat O'Briens and the waiter was nice until he saw the GC at the end, when he made a snide comment that we should have told them up prior to ordering. I stated that it didn't say we had to and he said it was on the letter that came with them. EXCUSE ME. I must say that while the food was great they made me feel like a second class citizen when I was paying. Will probably not buy these again, and will be making a call Monday to see if a refund is possible for the two I purchased and they wouldn't take.
We all had a great time at the parks and the rides were fantastic. My six year old daughter is now a member of Fly Fly's cult, she just loved the ghostbuster show and had to watch it twice and would have more if I'd let her. The parks seemed a bit short staffed in the evenings and I wondered if it was due to the hurricane or back to school, but it never seriously affected our wait time for the rides. (ex Jurassic park, one employee boardiing riders, no one at express or telling riders what rows to get in, one employee at one fish two fish doing it all).
A couple minor negatives, the buses to Seaworld don't pick up until an hour after Seaworld has opened, and the able bodied men who push around the women and children in line for the bus and then will not give up a seat to a child so the children have to stand for the ride, and the parents that walk around the line for the characters, send their kids up while half the line tells them where the line is, take the picture and walk away indignantly.
FOTL was fantastic, the staff at the hotel and park were great, and we all had a super time. Any questions feel free to ask, I will probably post more detailed later on the trip report board.

 

[Cindy B]

We had no problems with our Clear channel certs. They had expiration dates of 8/31-9/30. The servers even offered to give us an annual pass discount on top of all the certs!

 

[zaxmom]

Don't ask Clear Channel for a refund. Call them and tell them you will be mailing them back since their letter did not work. Tell them how you paid and they can refund the credit to your credit card. Just be nice and matter of fact and don't give them an opportunity to tell you no. And next time a waiter gets snotty with you, tell him you will take it out of his tip. I use coupons all the time and am an excellent tipper. I do not put up with that crap. My husband is in the restaurant business (and I used to be) so I tell it to them like it is.

 

[Prince Eric1]

I would have no intention of being impolite to the lady at clear channel. She was extremely polite when I spoke with her originally and I assume that she did not believe it would be a problem. As far as the waiter, I left him what I believed to be a good tip (about $14 on a $50 bill) as he had been exellent up until he saw the certificate. I should have taken some of it out before giving it too him but I was not going to let minor things ruin my trip. I tipped pretty well using the certificates since it wasn't costing me as much, so these people should have been happy. I don't blame clearchannel at all (other than they should have had expiration dates listed when I originally purchased the certicates), it seemed to be the restaurants that had the problem with them.

 

[Cindy B]

We handled our certs differently. We had our AP's in a holder, and most wait staff noticed them before they rang up the bill. They rang up the bill, and we concsciously stayed around $50. (the calculator feature on cell phone is handy). We would then place the cert with any cash to offset the difference (most times less than $5). We also paid tip/tax in cash. So, we would just put the cert in the folder along with the cash and left.

 

[zaxmom]

Prince Eric-I didn't mean for you to be rude to them, just meant you should tell them how they are to resolve it. Not to ask for a refund, let them know that is what is expected. Nice and matter of fact about it. It has been my experience that the people you get on the phone when you have problems sometimes don't realize what they need to do. I did not have any trouble with Clean Channel myself. I guess I am really dealing with incompetant people at other businesses right now and I am venting. I'm sick of telling other people how to do their job.

 

[mtblujeans]

Originally posted by zaxmom
Don't ask Clear Channel for a refund. Call them and tell them you will be mailing them back since their letter did not work. Tell them how you paid and they can refund the credit to your credit card. Just be nice and matter of fact and don't give them an opportunity to tell you no. And next time a waiter gets snotty with you, tell him you will take it out of his tip. I use coupons all the time and am an excellent tipper. I do not put up with that crap. My husband is in the restaurant business (and I used to be) so I tell it to them like it is.

Good suggestions! I like to tip well, too, and it helps to know what to do if they want to get rude with you. I don't like to be treated rudely or treat other people rudely in front of my kids. Thanks for the "tip"!

 

[themepark]

Originally posted by Cindy B
We handled our certs differently. We had our AP's in a holder, and most wait staff noticed them before they rang up the bill. They rang up the bill, and we concsciously stayed around $50. (the calculator feature on cell phone is handy). We would then place the cert with any cash to offset the difference (most times less than $5). We also paid tip/tax in cash. So, we would just put the cert in the folder along with the cash and left.

This is exactly how we handled most of our certificates. We never presented them up front and there was nothing on the certificates or in the letter they came with stating that we had to do so. I don't understand why the waiters get in such a wad over people using discounts and coupons. Maybe some people only tip on the discounted amount?? I always tip them more than usual (if they have given good service of course) because I have saved money on the meal.

 

[highlander447]

Cant wait to read your reports Prince Eric sounds like u enjoyed your stay

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Prince,

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about the certificates. You know, some people are just rude. On our trip, people did the same thing with the character meet and greets. But I would remind the employees with the characters and they would send those evil people away....LOL...

 

[Selina]

Hi Prince Eric....... I just got back too late Saturday from a trip to the coast. Glad you had a nice holiday. Can you remember if your room could have been an adjoining one? and also if it had a fridge or minibar?- how stocked was it? Was there room to store some milk, water,fruitjuice? Looking forward to reading your reports later....

 

[Prince Eric1]

Our room had an adjoining room. There was also a mini bar, but we didn't use it and I don't know how stocked it was. There was no fridge. Haven't gotten to the report yet.

 

[Selina]

Okay, thanks.

We are going to be collected by a stretch limo from the airport too......it was so fun last time that we just had to bonk it again! Did you like the pool area and beach bar bit?...any particular cocktails that you enjoyed there? Also food........how did you find RPR breakfasts? Although a bit expensive..we like to eat a good breakfast in the morning and apart from a light snack lasts us until the evening... so will probably choose to breakfast there. Oh..this is a question from my 8yo ds to your 6yo dd....were there "kelloggs Apple Jacks" cereal?? (We can't get them over here though I have tried through the kelloggs website but nowhere in the UK does them!)

 

[Prince Eric1]

Sorry, but I can't answer most of those for you. The only day we actually had breakfast was when we did the character breakfast at the Confisco at IOA. That one had eggs, french toast, croissants, bacon, sausage, potatoes, pastries, fruit, sausage gravy and biscuits. The rest of the time we had bought mini muffins and cereal bars to eat to hold us until lunch, as my kids don't eat much in the mornings. Most of the limo services give a grocery stop, so maybe you could buy some apple jacks and plastic spoons and styrofoam bowls and get the milk from the RPR store. Let me know, I'll mail you some boxes from NY to England.
The kids loved the pool area a lot, thats what they wanted to do most of the time. The water is very warm and the pool spacious, and they can play on the ship with the water cannons also. We didn't have anything from the bar, but did buy some ice cream from the pool stand.

 

[Selina]

Thanks Prince Eric.......we think we'll book a confisco's when we get over there for a breakfast one day. Ths ship with water cannons sounds like lots of fun. Last time we were at the HRH, so they had the slide - but that sounds nice too at the RPR.....did you swim at any of the other hotel pools during theme park mornings or afternoons? We thought we might pop along to the HRH pool one lunch time to cool off so the kids can do the slide again.....I imagine we can order a cocktail too and a snack! I think I'll ask the limo guy if he wouldn't mind doing a grocery stop - I'll need some milk and water too..... it seems like such a long wait for us still till next May...but at least the summer holidays are almost over, kids back to school Thursday...then roll on Christmas!!

P.s. Been over to trip reports.......good read!

 

[Prince Eric1]

We didn't use the pools at the other resorts, though we had planned to try. I didn't realize the HRH and Portofino were so far away. It made me appreciate the RPR more, as it seemed much closer. The kids were so tired at night when we used the pools we just used the one at the RPR, which they were thrilled with. I really wanted to do the water slide at the HRH, but we just didn't get to it. 5 days seemed like such a long time, but it flew and between covering SW and Universal, it went quick.

 

[Selina]

We'll be staying 14 nights at the RPR and we plan to do all the parks. We usually go every other day to Universal/IOA and Disney ones/water parks/sea world/shopping in between. Decided to miss out Busch Gardens this time to give us a free day to relax by the pools!! 14 nights sounds like a lot - but it isn't - first week usually goes slowly but second always flies by! I can understand how 5 days zooms by!!