After a very magical 8 night stay at Disney's Polynesian resort we continued our vacation with a 4 night stay at HRH. I realize that Universal had a lot to live up to especially after being upgraded at the Polynesian from a garden view room to concierge so I will try to be fair but please don't be mad this is not a glowing report.
We are not seasoned travelers so the first thing DH was not thrilled with was that one, we had to pay to park and two, we had to unload EVERYTHING at the main door unlike at the Polynesian where you can park and they bring a cart to bring you to your room. If you fly this would not be a problem but traveling in a car with 3 kids when you have just repacked after 8 nights, things are a little confusing. I was also unsure as to who exactly to tip. First, there was the guy who tried to help unload the car and then there was the guy who brought everything to your room. I felt a little put off to have to tip them both when I felt they each did half a job.
Upon check in the only thing I had requested was a view of the theme parks. I was politely told that the only rooms which had a view of the theme parks were smoking rooms. Since DD has asthma this was not an option. Check in was easy but I did not feel like anyone cared to impress me this being our first visit. Our room was on the 5th floor. We had a view of the Woodstock Lawn and the water taxi. It was nice but DS (12) and DD (11) are both roller coaster fanatics and it would have made their trip to look out and see the parks.
The room did not impress me at all. It was much smaller than the one at the Polynesian and I was sorry I did not reserve a deluxe room for the 5 of us. It was rather stark, in need of a paint job and new carpeting and I felt the TV and dresser were too small. We also had to hunt around to plug in the alarm clock and the toilet was clogged the 1st night. Okay, we are really only here to sleep but this is supposed to be a high end hotel. Oh, and there is no refrigerator except the mini bar which we would be charged for if we removed any items. The beds were very comfortable.
The grounds were nice and the walk to the parks was very close and enjoyable. This hotel is in the best location of the three. The pool was severely overcrowded and I felt there were not enough lifeguards on duty. I know they encourage pool hopping but I don't feel my kids should have to stand in a 25 minute line to use the slide or I should have to wait until there is room in the hot tub when I am a guest at this hotel. The kids liked the slide but they liked the pool and slide at the Polynesian better. One night we decided to check out Portofino Bay since this is where we originally had resservations. The pool was just about empty and the hotel much quieter. They kids and I agreed that we would stay there next time. I really didn't feel we fit in at the HRH even though everyone in our family are avid music lovers.
One very pleasant surprise was The Kitchen. With the reviews being so-so I was a little uneasy but it was close and convenient. We had the breakfast buffet there twice and both times it was very good. Robert, the chef, was very friendly and the service was excellent. We also decided to eat at The Kitchen one night around 9:00 PM when we just didn't know where else to go. Again, we were pleasantly surpised. There was a nice buffet for the kids, I had a chicken pot pie and I don't remember what DH had but we felt the food was good, the service excellent and the price reasonable.
Pastamore was perhaps the best place we ate at Universal. We enjoyed this meal very much and would go back. We also ate at NBA City since the entire family is into basketball big time. The food was okay (I had to send my steak back to be put on the grill a little longer) but nothing to write home about.
In the parks, we did the character breakfast in Confisco's Grill. Thing 1 and Thing 2 were very entertaining and Spiderman was great with the kids. The food was a typical buffet nothing outstanding but we enjoyed the characters. We also ate at the Enchanted Oak (?) where we took cover from a rain storm. The menu was great in that it varied from the usual fast food choices. Next time I would like to try Mythos (?).
FOTL is SUPER!!!! This would be my number one reason to stay on site again. We enjoyed the parks but I do not have a burning desire to return right away. It felt more "theme parky" than at Disney but they do have more thrill rides. We thoroughly enjoyed most of the shows. Next time I would follow my instincts and do Universal first and Disney last. I guess I just feel more away from it all at Disney. One thing about visiting Universal after Disney was that I was certainly ready to go home by the 4th day.
Our departure was where the real problems began. We had parked our car in the hotel parking lot for the 4 nights of our stay. When DH came back from bringing a few things to the car he said to me, "Don't get upset if you see a few ants in the car." There was an ant hill near where the car was parked. We packed up and had the bell service take our bags down and we loaded the car. Now again, we were driving back to NJ and you don't feel like you can take much time organizing your car while you are taking up space in front of the hotel so we pulled back down to the parking lot to get organized for the long trip ahead. It started with DD saying there are ants in the car. The kids then started to see more and more of them. I started to see them in the front where I was sitting and opened the car door to help the kids. When I opened the door the entire interior of the door was covered with ants!
Hundreds and hundreds of the tiny creatures started to crawl out into the front of the car and more were appearing in the back of the van. We now realized that there was no way we could drive to NJ like this and I walked all the way up the drive and back into the hotel. At the front desk they clearly did not know what to say to me. Finally, they said they had sent for someone to come and help.
About twenty minutes later Chris Garcia, the Manager on Duty, arrived and by this time DH had brought the car back to the entrance of the hotel. Mr. Garcia was very nice and took the car to maintenance to have it vaccummed out. We waited in the lobby until he returned with our car. He was very apologetic and gave me his card in case the car needed further detailing. This was not to be the end of this saga. We drove home and every time we stopped and then returned to the car they were everywhere. By the time we got home we had to make sure EVERYTHING was shaken out so that we didn't bring them into the house. All the food and snacks we had taken on our trip had to be thrown out because the ants were in them. THREE WEEKS later though they have decrease in number, I am still killing ants and my rugs are now littered with them. To top things off now the passanger's side window does not work and we think the infestation might have played a part in the problems with the electrical system we are experiencing. Still waiting on word from our mechanic.
I know this has to be an isolated problem but no guest should go on vacation and have to deal with a problem of this nature. How pleasant do you think our ride was with 3 kids killing bugs for 1200 miles?! Let alone how I felt that my kids were being put into this situation. Imagine bugs crawling on you and your kids.
Okay enough about the ants. I have put my comments into a survey that was sent by Loews. I am hoping to hear at the very least an apology for our trouble. Other than that as I said I was not overly impressed and the ending just made me want to leave all the more. We may try Portofino Bay in the future if the kids really want to return to Universal but probably only for 2 or 3 nights at most. We are not planning on returning to FL anytime in the next couple of years. I need to return to work now that my youngest is almost through elementary school and the house is in need of some TLC. It is sad that our trip ended on such a sour note but hopefully HRH will refurbish their rooms and hire an exterminator that gets the job done so no one else will have this nightmare to deal with.
We are not seasoned travelers so the first thing DH was not thrilled with was that one, we had to pay to park and two, we had to unload EVERYTHING at the main door unlike at the Polynesian where you can park and they bring a cart to bring you to your room. If you fly this would not be a problem but traveling in a car with 3 kids when you have just repacked after 8 nights, things are a little confusing. I was also unsure as to who exactly to tip. First, there was the guy who tried to help unload the car and then there was the guy who brought everything to your room. I felt a little put off to have to tip them both when I felt they each did half a job.
Upon check in the only thing I had requested was a view of the theme parks. I was politely told that the only rooms which had a view of the theme parks were smoking rooms. Since DD has asthma this was not an option. Check in was easy but I did not feel like anyone cared to impress me this being our first visit. Our room was on the 5th floor. We had a view of the Woodstock Lawn and the water taxi. It was nice but DS (12) and DD (11) are both roller coaster fanatics and it would have made their trip to look out and see the parks.
The room did not impress me at all. It was much smaller than the one at the Polynesian and I was sorry I did not reserve a deluxe room for the 5 of us. It was rather stark, in need of a paint job and new carpeting and I felt the TV and dresser were too small. We also had to hunt around to plug in the alarm clock and the toilet was clogged the 1st night. Okay, we are really only here to sleep but this is supposed to be a high end hotel. Oh, and there is no refrigerator except the mini bar which we would be charged for if we removed any items. The beds were very comfortable.
The grounds were nice and the walk to the parks was very close and enjoyable. This hotel is in the best location of the three. The pool was severely overcrowded and I felt there were not enough lifeguards on duty. I know they encourage pool hopping but I don't feel my kids should have to stand in a 25 minute line to use the slide or I should have to wait until there is room in the hot tub when I am a guest at this hotel. The kids liked the slide but they liked the pool and slide at the Polynesian better. One night we decided to check out Portofino Bay since this is where we originally had resservations. The pool was just about empty and the hotel much quieter. They kids and I agreed that we would stay there next time. I really didn't feel we fit in at the HRH even though everyone in our family are avid music lovers.
One very pleasant surprise was The Kitchen. With the reviews being so-so I was a little uneasy but it was close and convenient. We had the breakfast buffet there twice and both times it was very good. Robert, the chef, was very friendly and the service was excellent. We also decided to eat at The Kitchen one night around 9:00 PM when we just didn't know where else to go. Again, we were pleasantly surpised. There was a nice buffet for the kids, I had a chicken pot pie and I don't remember what DH had but we felt the food was good, the service excellent and the price reasonable.
Pastamore was perhaps the best place we ate at Universal. We enjoyed this meal very much and would go back. We also ate at NBA City since the entire family is into basketball big time. The food was okay (I had to send my steak back to be put on the grill a little longer) but nothing to write home about.
In the parks, we did the character breakfast in Confisco's Grill. Thing 1 and Thing 2 were very entertaining and Spiderman was great with the kids. The food was a typical buffet nothing outstanding but we enjoyed the characters. We also ate at the Enchanted Oak (?) where we took cover from a rain storm. The menu was great in that it varied from the usual fast food choices. Next time I would like to try Mythos (?).
FOTL is SUPER!!!! This would be my number one reason to stay on site again. We enjoyed the parks but I do not have a burning desire to return right away. It felt more "theme parky" than at Disney but they do have more thrill rides. We thoroughly enjoyed most of the shows. Next time I would follow my instincts and do Universal first and Disney last. I guess I just feel more away from it all at Disney. One thing about visiting Universal after Disney was that I was certainly ready to go home by the 4th day.
Our departure was where the real problems began. We had parked our car in the hotel parking lot for the 4 nights of our stay. When DH came back from bringing a few things to the car he said to me, "Don't get upset if you see a few ants in the car." There was an ant hill near where the car was parked. We packed up and had the bell service take our bags down and we loaded the car. Now again, we were driving back to NJ and you don't feel like you can take much time organizing your car while you are taking up space in front of the hotel so we pulled back down to the parking lot to get organized for the long trip ahead. It started with DD saying there are ants in the car. The kids then started to see more and more of them. I started to see them in the front where I was sitting and opened the car door to help the kids. When I opened the door the entire interior of the door was covered with ants!
Hundreds and hundreds of the tiny creatures started to crawl out into the front of the car and more were appearing in the back of the van. We now realized that there was no way we could drive to NJ like this and I walked all the way up the drive and back into the hotel. At the front desk they clearly did not know what to say to me. Finally, they said they had sent for someone to come and help.About twenty minutes later Chris Garcia, the Manager on Duty, arrived and by this time DH had brought the car back to the entrance of the hotel. Mr. Garcia was very nice and took the car to maintenance to have it vaccummed out. We waited in the lobby until he returned with our car. He was very apologetic and gave me his card in case the car needed further detailing. This was not to be the end of this saga. We drove home and every time we stopped and then returned to the car they were everywhere. By the time we got home we had to make sure EVERYTHING was shaken out so that we didn't bring them into the house. All the food and snacks we had taken on our trip had to be thrown out because the ants were in them. THREE WEEKS later though they have decrease in number, I am still killing ants and my rugs are now littered with them. To top things off now the passanger's side window does not work and we think the infestation might have played a part in the problems with the electrical system we are experiencing. Still waiting on word from our mechanic.
I know this has to be an isolated problem but no guest should go on vacation and have to deal with a problem of this nature. How pleasant do you think our ride was with 3 kids killing bugs for 1200 miles?! Let alone how I felt that my kids were being put into this situation. Imagine bugs crawling on you and your kids.
Okay enough about the ants. I have put my comments into a survey that was sent by Loews. I am hoping to hear at the very least an apology for our trouble. Other than that as I said I was not overly impressed and the ending just made me want to leave all the more. We may try Portofino Bay in the future if the kids really want to return to Universal but probably only for 2 or 3 nights at most. We are not planning on returning to FL anytime in the next couple of years. I need to return to work now that my youngest is almost through elementary school and the house is in need of some TLC. It is sad that our trip ended on such a sour note but hopefully HRH will refurbish their rooms and hire an exterminator that gets the job done so no one else will have this nightmare to deal with.
).
. Luckily it was a rental car and we just gave it back to Hertz 
