2vets
Addicted since 1971
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2001
- Messages
- 2,174
Hi-
Just wanted to post about our experiences last weekend. There were 4 of us - we stayed at the HRH in a standard room, garden view - lovely. The room was spacious with fantastic beds and cool fixtures - and the four of us (my sister and I and our significant others) were very comfortable for the night in the one room. We booked the Ent Rate of $124 ( a BARGAIN for this room) - no one asked to see the card, and our room was ready when we checked in at noon. We got four keys - good, as several people manning FOTL/Express areas wanted to scan each key individually. They did not seem to mind us riding some rides over and over - we rode MIB about 10 times in a row one day.
Here are some other observations:
1) If you think you would be OK without FOTL...think again. We were able to do every ride we wanted in both parks - in a day and a half. Some rides we were able to ride repeatedly - if we had been in line, the waits would have been 20-60 minutes each for almost every ride. This was WELL worth the extra $$ of staying on property.
2) I will admit it - I am a Disney lover who occasionally visits US/IOA, so my next comment is biased. I adore the rides at IOA, but the employees (on the whole, but NOT ALL of them) are sometimes downright surly compared to WDW CM's - many act like they are doing you a favor to get you your $2.50 Coke! Only other major complaint is that the counter service restaurants are sometimes left filthy - we were in Mel's diner one afternoon, for example, and there wasn't a single clean table at all, flies everywhere...disgusting. I felt that the prices for food were comparable, but IMO, Disney has more variety and possible more healthy food options (not that I am one to care about healthy food options when I am on vacation...). I am sure that many people will rebuff this statement with similar ones about WDW...this is just my opinion based on maybe two trips to US/IOA. I still think that several rides - MIB, Hulk, Spiderman, Dragons, etc - make a trip to US/IOA well worthwhile - those sorts of thrill rides simply blow most (maybe all) Disney rides out of the water.
3) HRH was fantastic - we walked by the pool at around 11 pm - a teenager/young adult's dream!! Hundreds of people in the pool - on rafts and in the water - and a large screen set up with rock videos playing. I would absolutely recommend this hotel - it was wonderful. Oh...and the Starbucks on the first floor was a GREAT touch!!
4) We had dinner at Jimmy Buffet's - the cheeseburgers were among the best we have ever had. This was another time that staying on property helped out - we overheard the hostess telling the group of 4 in font of us that they would have to wait for over an hour or eat in the bar...our on-property group of 4 was seated in 30 minutes...at 7:30 pm when the parks had just closed.
I don't frequent this site often, so I probably won't be checking to answer questions after about a day or so...hope this post helps you lucky souls planning a trip to US/IOA!!
Just wanted to post about our experiences last weekend. There were 4 of us - we stayed at the HRH in a standard room, garden view - lovely. The room was spacious with fantastic beds and cool fixtures - and the four of us (my sister and I and our significant others) were very comfortable for the night in the one room. We booked the Ent Rate of $124 ( a BARGAIN for this room) - no one asked to see the card, and our room was ready when we checked in at noon. We got four keys - good, as several people manning FOTL/Express areas wanted to scan each key individually. They did not seem to mind us riding some rides over and over - we rode MIB about 10 times in a row one day.
Here are some other observations:
1) If you think you would be OK without FOTL...think again. We were able to do every ride we wanted in both parks - in a day and a half. Some rides we were able to ride repeatedly - if we had been in line, the waits would have been 20-60 minutes each for almost every ride. This was WELL worth the extra $$ of staying on property.
2) I will admit it - I am a Disney lover who occasionally visits US/IOA, so my next comment is biased. I adore the rides at IOA, but the employees (on the whole, but NOT ALL of them) are sometimes downright surly compared to WDW CM's - many act like they are doing you a favor to get you your $2.50 Coke! Only other major complaint is that the counter service restaurants are sometimes left filthy - we were in Mel's diner one afternoon, for example, and there wasn't a single clean table at all, flies everywhere...disgusting. I felt that the prices for food were comparable, but IMO, Disney has more variety and possible more healthy food options (not that I am one to care about healthy food options when I am on vacation...). I am sure that many people will rebuff this statement with similar ones about WDW...this is just my opinion based on maybe two trips to US/IOA. I still think that several rides - MIB, Hulk, Spiderman, Dragons, etc - make a trip to US/IOA well worthwhile - those sorts of thrill rides simply blow most (maybe all) Disney rides out of the water.
3) HRH was fantastic - we walked by the pool at around 11 pm - a teenager/young adult's dream!! Hundreds of people in the pool - on rafts and in the water - and a large screen set up with rock videos playing. I would absolutely recommend this hotel - it was wonderful. Oh...and the Starbucks on the first floor was a GREAT touch!!
4) We had dinner at Jimmy Buffet's - the cheeseburgers were among the best we have ever had. This was another time that staying on property helped out - we overheard the hostess telling the group of 4 in font of us that they would have to wait for over an hour or eat in the bar...our on-property group of 4 was seated in 30 minutes...at 7:30 pm when the parks had just closed.
I don't frequent this site often, so I probably won't be checking to answer questions after about a day or so...hope this post helps you lucky souls planning a trip to US/IOA!!
