This was 1st visit (2/5-8/05) to Universal (myself, DH, DD(16),DS(13). Have been to WDW and SW in the past. We arrived on Saturday morn via SW flight at Orlando airport, Tiffany Towncar w/driver was waiting (4 people $80 r/t + $20 tip to HRH). Arrived at HRH at 11:00am - front desk said we could check in immediately if we took a "smoking optional" club room w/garden view that was available instead of club "non smoking" and water/park view we requested. Front desk staff gave us a copy of the artists that would be performing at the concert in US that night and told us most of the performers would be staying at the HRH and we might see them in the hallways--the kids liked that idea 
Staff also explained to the kids how to use their room key as an express pass and how to use the card to purchase food and gifts in the park and told them all the great things available for use at the hotel. The staff was really great with the kids and gave them instructions on everything teens would be most interested in knowing at the hotel. Very impressed. We were given keys to room 7123 and decided to take room since we could occupy immediately. Front desk called and asked if room smelled like smoke and we said slightly -they said they would send up an ionizer which we thought was great. As it turned out, we realized that evening the ionizer had never arrived but we used room spray we brought along and it was fine. I was told when I made the HRH reservation that we wouldn't get any of the Loews welcome gifts because we got the APH rate for the room but the front desk asked if I had a loews card and sent a bottle of chardonnay (our choice) and bowl of nuts to our room that afternoon (our choice). Our kids received happy-faced bouncey balls, tatoos and peace sign necklaces at turn-down during our 3 nights stay. We had a good feeling about this hotel 
Room was average size, like having separate sink outside bathroom, a couple of burns/permanent small stains on carpets made room appear a bit worn. Comfy beds/pillows. Looked like new carpeting in hallways. We were two hallways from elevator and club room which was fine w/us and nice and quiet. We were told hotel was booked. During our stay, bathroom doorknob came off in my hand, plastic piece on wall-blowdryer broke off and tv remote wasn't working. Called and blow dryer and doorknob were taken care of but they replaced our remote w/one that ony worked sporadically so we had to call again. This time we got a new one and it worked fine.
Club room is right next to elevators. Used club room at all hours for coffee/soda/waters. Kids took advantage of club breakfast (bagels/toaster/creamcheese/jellys/donuts of all kinds/fruit/cereals) which seemed to be the same each morning (7:30-11:00). From 5:00-7:00 each night were wine (chardonnay/merlot) and 3 kinds of beer (Heinikin/bud/a lite beer) and appetizers. 1st night-spicy chicken skewers, 2nd night- mini-meatballs, pasta salad, antipasto salad, 3rd night- small hot dogs and rolls, hot soft pretzels, all 3 nights: selection of cubed cheeses, fresh vegetables and dip, fresh fruit. Noticed on the weekend nights the beer/wine were poured for you by concierge, on week night wine/beer was serve yourself. One night we went for dessert - selection of large baked cookies/choc-covered pretzels. One night I asked for two glasses of wine--no problem--the conceierge even put them in plastic for me so I could take them down to the pool, but when my husband went up for two beers he was told he could only have one at a time? Apparently it was the same conceirge too. Only saw a few kids in club room, some w/dirty bare feet or in dirty socks----eewwwww. We didn't observe any "hoarding" I've read about, everyone was polite and nice. BTW, wasn't particularly crowded in there for the Superbowl game--surprising. DD asked for tea one night and hot chocolate another and they got it from a back room for her even though it wasn't "out." Club concierge made dinner reservations for us one night and arranged a ride from valet to RPR--they were so friendly and helpful. They can answer any questions you might have. WE love this hotel!
Restaurants: Went to HardRockCafe twice--kids loved it, fun atmosphere, food & service good. Margaritaville-fun atmosphere, food good, service slow. Islands at the RPR food very good (not from the buffet), atmosphere-just OK-lots of little kids and characters when we were there for dinner. Tchop Chop--atmosphere very nice/unique, food and service was disappointing as compared to Emerils restaurants in LasVegas and NewOrleans. Only had one server who was slow and forgetful and DD (eggplant) and I (snook) meals were disappointing for the $$ and DD sent hers back and got chicken which took forever. Dessert was excellent. Beach Club at HRH pool-food average -a bit expensive. Ice cream parlor at HRH--worth every penny Never ordered room service.
Express pass - What can I say--it is THE greatest thing EVER! I can't imagine it NOT being worthwhile to stay at an on-site hotel because of this. It saves SOOOOOOOOO much time! And we were not even there when it is crowded--I can't imagine waiting in line in the heat of summer--especially w/young children! Another nice thing is you don't have to carry any money at all to the parks--your room key/express pass takes care of everything--food and/or gift shop purchases are charged to your room. AND you don't even have to strain your dear little arms carrying your purchases--they will even deliver them to your room!! Incredible. BTW, we found a few things discounted or on sale at just about every gift ship we looked at. The Hard Rock Cafe nightshirts ($28) discounted to $5 and boxer shorts discounted to $3 were a great buy. My kids got visors in the park for only $6. Also, my DD had an annual pass ($170) so we got another 10% off at the gift shops and restaurants (except Tchop) which was nice. Her annual pass enabled us to get our club room for $223/night. Also, she'll be visiting IOA again in April w/her highschool band so she'll be able to use it again. The rest of our family had the "pay for 2 get 5 day" two-park pass ($120/each). We picked up all tickets the first day at the will-call machines in the park. We walked or took the water taxi from HRH to the parks. Walk was less than 5 minutes--water taxi 15 or a bit more depending. Water taxi feels good after walking all day--it runs till 2a.m. because of Citiwalk. We all agree the HRH is fantastic!
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Staff also explained to the kids how to use their room key as an express pass and how to use the card to purchase food and gifts in the park and told them all the great things available for use at the hotel. The staff was really great with the kids and gave them instructions on everything teens would be most interested in knowing at the hotel. Very impressed. We were given keys to room 7123 and decided to take room since we could occupy immediately. Front desk called and asked if room smelled like smoke and we said slightly -they said they would send up an ionizer which we thought was great. As it turned out, we realized that evening the ionizer had never arrived but we used room spray we brought along and it was fine. I was told when I made the HRH reservation that we wouldn't get any of the Loews welcome gifts because we got the APH rate for the room but the front desk asked if I had a loews card and sent a bottle of chardonnay (our choice) and bowl of nuts to our room that afternoon (our choice). Our kids received happy-faced bouncey balls, tatoos and peace sign necklaces at turn-down during our 3 nights stay. We had a good feeling about this hotel Room was average size, like having separate sink outside bathroom, a couple of burns/permanent small stains on carpets made room appear a bit worn. Comfy beds/pillows. Looked like new carpeting in hallways. We were two hallways from elevator and club room which was fine w/us and nice and quiet. We were told hotel was booked. During our stay, bathroom doorknob came off in my hand, plastic piece on wall-blowdryer broke off and tv remote wasn't working. Called and blow dryer and doorknob were taken care of but they replaced our remote w/one that ony worked sporadically so we had to call again. This time we got a new one and it worked fine.
Club room is right next to elevators. Used club room at all hours for coffee/soda/waters. Kids took advantage of club breakfast (bagels/toaster/creamcheese/jellys/donuts of all kinds/fruit/cereals) which seemed to be the same each morning (7:30-11:00). From 5:00-7:00 each night were wine (chardonnay/merlot) and 3 kinds of beer (Heinikin/bud/a lite beer) and appetizers. 1st night-spicy chicken skewers, 2nd night- mini-meatballs, pasta salad, antipasto salad, 3rd night- small hot dogs and rolls, hot soft pretzels, all 3 nights: selection of cubed cheeses, fresh vegetables and dip, fresh fruit. Noticed on the weekend nights the beer/wine were poured for you by concierge, on week night wine/beer was serve yourself. One night we went for dessert - selection of large baked cookies/choc-covered pretzels. One night I asked for two glasses of wine--no problem--the conceierge even put them in plastic for me so I could take them down to the pool, but when my husband went up for two beers he was told he could only have one at a time? Apparently it was the same conceirge too. Only saw a few kids in club room, some w/dirty bare feet or in dirty socks----eewwwww. We didn't observe any "hoarding" I've read about, everyone was polite and nice. BTW, wasn't particularly crowded in there for the Superbowl game--surprising. DD asked for tea one night and hot chocolate another and they got it from a back room for her even though it wasn't "out." Club concierge made dinner reservations for us one night and arranged a ride from valet to RPR--they were so friendly and helpful. They can answer any questions you might have. WE love this hotel!
Restaurants: Went to HardRockCafe twice--kids loved it, fun atmosphere, food & service good. Margaritaville-fun atmosphere, food good, service slow. Islands at the RPR food very good (not from the buffet), atmosphere-just OK-lots of little kids and characters when we were there for dinner. Tchop Chop--atmosphere very nice/unique, food and service was disappointing as compared to Emerils restaurants in LasVegas and NewOrleans. Only had one server who was slow and forgetful and DD (eggplant) and I (snook) meals were disappointing for the $$ and DD sent hers back and got chicken which took forever. Dessert was excellent. Beach Club at HRH pool-food average -a bit expensive. Ice cream parlor at HRH--worth every penny
Never ordered room service.Express pass - What can I say--it is THE greatest thing EVER! I can't imagine it NOT being worthwhile to stay at an on-site hotel because of this. It saves SOOOOOOOOO much time! And we were not even there when it is crowded--I can't imagine waiting in line in the heat of summer--especially w/young children! Another nice thing is you don't have to carry any money at all to the parks--your room key/express pass takes care of everything--food and/or gift shop purchases are charged to your room. AND you don't even have to strain your dear little arms carrying your purchases--they will even deliver them to your room!! Incredible. BTW, we found a few things discounted or on sale at just about every gift ship we looked at. The Hard Rock Cafe nightshirts ($28) discounted to $5 and boxer shorts discounted to $3 were a great buy. My kids got visors in the park for only $6. Also, my DD had an annual pass ($170) so we got another 10% off at the gift shops and restaurants (except Tchop) which was nice. Her annual pass enabled us to get our club room for $223/night. Also, she'll be visiting IOA again in April w/her highschool band so she'll be able to use it again. The rest of our family had the "pay for 2 get 5 day" two-park pass ($120/each). We picked up all tickets the first day at the will-call machines in the park. We walked or took the water taxi from HRH to the parks. Walk was less than 5 minutes--water taxi 15 or a bit more depending. Water taxi feels good after walking all day--it runs till 2a.m. because of Citiwalk. We all agree the HRH is fantastic!
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I felt so so sad leaving my "happy place" 
I was felt like a queen 
for those few days! Now I'm cooking, washing and driving the kids everywhere 
Back to real life 
