Just returned from PBH, Concierge... my thoughts.... :)

[Dagny]

Hi everyone. I just got back from our Orlando vacation. We have been gone for over two weeks and while it was nice to get home again, I am already planning my next Orlando fix, LOL.

This trip, for the "Universal" portion of our stay, we travelled to Portofino Bay and decided to try Concierge. Our family had not stayed at PBH since it first opened.... in addition to PBH, our family has stayed at HRH twice and RP three times.

PBH is absolutely beautiful and the rooms are huge, however, I just didn't feel like I was on vacation the entire stay. There was a convention going on during our stay, but most of the conventioneers were staying at RP. I don't think I saw one person during our stay, though, that wasn't sporting a cute name tag and a briefcase. My son (age 5), who has never met a stranger, was unable to find a friend to play with at the pool because their were absolutely NO kids to be found... at least not at the main pool at night. I think our travel party, which consisted of me, DH and our two kids (DD 14, DS 5) as well as our friends and their two kids (DS 16, DD 14) were the ONLY people out at the pool at night... really shocking to us for a June vacation. The Concierge was nice but a tad inconvenient given the resort layout. We managed to have breakfast here each morning, grabbed some waters for the road and were back to enjoy some of the 5 - 7 pm offerings each night.

The resort, in general, is really really spread out. We had requested connecting rooms to our friends, but PBH managed to give us two rooms that were on opposite ends of the hallway (same floor at least). The kids wondered where the tram was to deliver them from one room to another, LOL. We frequently heard our children singing "The Long and Winding Road" as they travelled back and forth between our rooms. By the end of the 2nd day, we had mastered the elevator layout to the concierge room, pool area, harbor and lobby

In addition the the spread out layout of the resort, it was quite a hike to the theme parks if you intended to walk. Both RP and HRH are much closer to IOA and Universal respectively. And while I can always use the excercise, I really would have enjoyed the closeness of RP on the several days where the thunderstorms ceased the boat operations (lightning) and my 6 year old son wanted to be carried back to the resort

Honestly, I can say that I have given PBH a second chance, but I will not stay there again unless that is the ONLY resort available at a discounted rate. On the flip side (and to be fair), DH really really likes PBH and would definitely stay there again - he likes the size of the room size and says he prefers this resort to any of the three on property. The kids? They prefer the Hard Rock, and I prefer Royal Pacific...... to each his own, I always say

 

[Motherfletcher]

I was staying at RPR Memorial Day when someone posted that they had read that it was inconvenient to walk from the room to the club at PBH. They had just been to PBH and couldn't understand the complaint. I hopped on the resort bus (that's what you should have used instead of walking) to PBH and measured from the club to the end of the villa wing where we had once stayed in the last 2 rooms on the left. I measured 830' which is a long ways to walk for a soda!
My kids prefer HRH and I've grown a fondness for the customer service at RPR but PBH holds a place in my heart as the first USO hotel and the easiest one to get an upgrade. The next trip you will have to get a bay view room in the west wing. Its closer but a little smaller and no shuttered window over the bathtub.
There was a convention at RPR while we was there but not as intense as yours. I've seen the beach pool nearly vacant, though, when no convention was in town. The other 2 resorts seem to always have more playmates for the kids.

 

[MamaKate]

Thanks for posting your review!!

We will be staying at PBH Club Level in September and are a little worried, but we wanted to be able to say we tried all three (have already stayed at RPR & HRH).

Do you mind elaborating on the offerings for breakfast and the evening in the lounge. Was there anything your 5 year old enjoyed??

Did your room have a DVD player?? I read you can borrow DVD's for your room, but not all rooms have DVD players.

Thanks for any input!
,
Katie

 

[Dagny]

Hey there! Don't be worried, we had a great time and so will y ou


Breakfast: assortment of cereals, (small individual boxes), bagels (I had poppy seed and plain), melons, raspberries (really really nice and big), toast (can't remember exactly the kind, but it was not plain), croissants and muffins. Coffee, tea, water, juice, milk and sodas were available to drink.

Mid Morning - assorted mixed nuts (kinda like chex mix, but not that good in my opinion) and a couple of kinds of granola bars.

Evening - Assorted cheeses and crackers and an antipasto type salad were available each night. During our stay we also had coconut chicken one night and cheese ravioli with marinara sauce a couple of nights. The cheese ravioli was very very good.

My 5 year old was good for breakfast, but the evening offerings were not appealing to him.

Yes, we did have a DVD player in our room. The Concierge Lounge had a small section of movies and board games that you can check out. We drove this trip so we brought our own movies so I can't comment on the selection of movies available, sorry 'bout that.

Let me know if I can help you further!

 

[MamaKate]

Thanks for a quick reply.

Glad to hear you had a DVD player in your room.

If they have ravioli's at night my DD will be happy, but I won't count on it since I know the selections vary.

I'm actually excited to stay there, because we usually are a commando type family, but this year we are doing Universal & Disney at a slower pace and actually planning a couple days just to relax at our hotels and not do any parks (GASP)!

PBH seems like a very relaxing hotel, so it should be perfect for this trip.

,
Katie

 

[Dagny]

We did a similar vacation.... less park time, more relaxation time, it was great! You will have an awesome time. As soon as I get my pictures posted on my website, I will post here!

 

[MamaKate]

Looking forward to seeing your pictures from your trip!!!

,
Katie

 

[thedisneymom]

Dagny
Do you actually mean PBH now has some hot offerings. I know besides myself Motherfletcher will flip. You also mentioned the infamous raspberries. I leave tomorrow for Disney -later PBH. WOOHOO!!

 

[Dagny]

Yeppers, there was one hot offering during the 5-7 pm time frame

Have a great trip!!!!!

 

[Motherfletcher]

Do you actually mean PBH now has some hot offerings. I know besides myself Motherfletcher will flip.

HOT?!!?
Don't forget the strawberries! Breakfast is the best deal there unless you drink!
Have fun thedisneymom and good luck on MIB. Beat DS!

 

[thedisneymom]

Thanks! I am soo excited I could explode(which I probably will do after 10 days of vacation food), and a hot offering too! I will talk to you guys from the club lounge.

 

[twinmomto3boys]

Hi Dagny,
I was wondering if you could answer this... what kind of room location would you request to aviod the long winding hallways? Close to the elevators? Also, what are the room views of? We usually stay at HRH and wanted to try somewhere different and the layout of Portofino confuses us. We have decided on the deluxe club level. Thanks for any information!

 

[lrauers]

We were at PBH earlier this month, mom and dad in one room, 3 teens in the other, 2 deluxe club level rooms, 2507 and 2502. Both have great bay views, 2 queen beds. 2507 is closer to the elevator and has a nonusable balcony. 2502 is next to the presidential suite so there's no door to an adjacent room, therefore, very quiet. No balcony but floor to ceiling window. Both rooms are just a very short walk to the elevator and then down to the main level (floor 3), where the club is located. We paid 288.00 per room per night AAA and loved it!

 

[Dagny]

Hey there! As I recall, there are three different elevator banks. We were in rrom 2601 which was very close to the elevator which leads to front of the resort on the 3rd floor and close to the boat on the 1st floor. We had a nice view of the bay from our room. The 2nd elevator bank dropped you close the concierge lounge on the 3rd floor and the pool and central piazza on the 1st floor. I never mad it to the third elevator bank, sorry! The higher the number, the further back you are in the hallway....

The layout definitely can be confusing. We made the mistake of trying to get the pool from our elevator bank and we actually got kinda lost! We had it down by the 2nd night though! Enjoy

 

[twinmomto3boys]

Thank you (all) so much for the info!

 

[Suzyq123]

We just got back from the PBH Club level and also stayed in room 2507. The room was nice but i was expecting something much larger and more luxurious. The hotel itself is very nice, the club lounge was smaller than expected but again , nice. The Villa pool was much nicer than the beach pool. The chairs at the beach pool had no cushions and were extremely uncomfortable and covered in mildew. yuck. The Villa pool felt much warmer than the beach pool too, but we had no waiter service there for the first 4 days, actually one day we had the pool all to ourselves. It was very quiet.
Mamma Dellas for dinner was ok. Good but not great.
HHN was great, we went on 10/31 and i was scared. The guys thought it was fun. The parks were not crowded at all.
All in all the trip was very nice, I just didn't feel there was any one thing that I said "WOW" to.

 

[FeeFeeWhite]

Do they have water and can drinks out all day so you can take them back to your room? Are the doors locked at certain times? I can't stand Club Lounges where they lock the doors during some hours. We visit soon and I hope it is open all day with at least drinks!

 

[damo]

Do they have water and can drinks out all day so you can take them back to your room? Are the doors locked at certain times? I can't stand Club Lounges where they lock the doors during some hours. We visit soon and I hope it is open all day with at least drinks!

At Hard Rock the drinks were always available as well as lemonade.