PBH-6/20-6/25-Had a great time!Very long!

[Mary Diehl]

Our family (me, husband and 3 sons 10, 13 &16) left from PA on Friday 6/18 and stayed at a Wingate Inn in Stafford, Va. Very nice and just opened in March. Very friendly people. Left Saturday morning 6/19 and stayed at a Marriott in Jacksonville, FLA. It was o.k. but no refridgerator and no free breakfast. Sunday 6/20 arrived at the PBH at 11:30. It is beautiful. Only two people in the check-in line. After I finished checking in, there was about 10 people waiting in line. Anyway, I checked in and they would not let me have my Loews milk and cookies. They said since I got the Ent. rate, they have been getting very strict and could not allow me to have it. Also, if I wanted an upgrade, it would cost me $80/night. I said "no thank you". Our room was not ready and was told to check in later. We then decided to go eat at the Nascar Cafe(kind of tradition-for we've eaten here the other two previous years upon check-in) Had our two $25 gc. Should have gotton two $50 ones for my husband decided to get the most expensive thing on the menu-NY strip. I got the shrimp skewers which was very good. The others just got bacon cheeseburgers. Service was good as usual and was actually pretty full. The other times we usually have the place to ourselves. After lunch we headed for US to do Mummy. Did the Mummy several times-we all liked it. I couldn't really follow the "story line" for it went so quick. Also, with each consecutive ride we noticed different things that were obviously down and then fixed. Like in the beginning, a mummy came out of the coffin, that was broken most of the time and didn't work until our last day. Rode it three times and on the third time, it wasn't working again and just had a face projected on the coffin. Anyway, FOTL can't be beat for there were waits for over an hour for some rides, Shrek being the worst-90min wait. FYI: there is no express for this ride and you have to approach the worker and let them know you're staying at a Loews hotel and they will let you right in. Around 5pm we headed back to our hotel and checked in. We got a deluxe room overlooking the bay. We were in room 2406. Perfect view and nice size room. Big bathroom. The only real disappointment I had(other then no milk and cookies) was that there was no laundry facilities. We were told that we could use Hard Rock's and I said that was very inconvenient and that I've stayed there before and knew they only had two washers/dryers and waited hours to use them then too. I told them I didn't appreciate wasting half my day going somewhere else and doing wash. He agreed but said unfortunately since this was the first hotel built, they didn't make a laundry facility. Anyway, my husband and I went out into town and found a laundramat near the Millenia Mall next to an Eckerd drug store. Only took us about 2 hrs. but still didn't care to have to go out into town to do this. For dinner we decided to eat at Sal's Market Deli. We ordered two pizzas. They were very good. When going up to our room, we opened the door and noticed music playing, our lights down and sheets pulled down with chocolates on our pillows. Very nice touch and we received this 4/5 nights we were here.
Monday 6/21 -did IOA and started off with the Hulk like we always do. My 10 yr. old was excited because now he was tall enough to ride it and did it several times. We just love this ride. We had reservations at Mythos and was good again as usual. Had chicken risotta-good, penne shrimp-I swear the portions keep getting smaller on this but still good, and my one son had coq au vin ? which he didn't like the sauce and later got sick in our hotel room at 11:30pm. We think it was from this. I indulged on the chocolate tasters sample thing. Delicious!!! We left here and went to the cineplex and saw Shrek II. It was excellent and can't wait for it to come out on video. Went back to swim and had a blast on the slide and just swimming and relaxing. Went back out into US and ate at Mel's. All had burgers, shakes and fries. Mummy was down which was typical off and on throughout our trip. Also, I had an Orlando card and Fan Club card and tried using them at every restaurant and store. Most of the places we ate and shopped said they do not take either but ended up giving me some kind of discount anyway.
Tues. 6/22- Went into IOA, did some rides and then ate at the Enchanted Oak. Always way too much to eat and some of us even shared and couldn't finish. Did some more rides and then this is the day my husband and I did wash. Came back and went back out into IOA and did the water rides. Rode Dudley Do once and then broke down. Went back to hotel and swam. Decided to order from Sal's again and took a pizza and hoagie up to the room.
Weds. 6/23-Went into US and ate at the Boulangerie. Good deli sandwiches and were given a free cookie with each sandwich ordered. Went back to swim again and relax. Walked Citywalk later and decided to eat at Pastamore. Very good and was given 15% off our check. I had lasagna-couldn't finish it. Husband had chicken parm, boys-shrimp scampi(only disappointment was the portion was very small-unfortunately our biggest eater ordered this) spaghetti and chicken fingers. Two of our boys got the espresso cheesecake. This was the evening we were to do Mama Della's and decided not to for it was very expensive. Two of my boys couldn't find anything that appealed to them and also I inquired about a menu to take up to the room and they were very reluctant and curt with me in explaining they don't do that. So, I didn't get a very good impression and couldn't justify spending that kind of money.
Thurs. 6/24-Did IOA and US for the last time. Ate at Hard Rock-had open faced sirloin, T-bone, curly mac and cheese, burger and sizzlin chicken fajitas. All very good. Went back to swim and then ate at Margaritaville for dinner. Longest wait-50min. Had burgers, ribs and a turkey wrap. The nachos looked good and were going to change one of my son's orders but the food came too quickly and couldn't get our waiters attention. Ended the evening riding Mummy three times in a row.
All in all this was a very good trip. We only had rain the day we arrived.
Average walk from PBH to parks(which we did alot to work off all we eat) was about 15min. Boats were very efficient.
This was my favorite hotel out of all three. The rest of my family didn't agree and that's because it was too far to walk. Funny though, for my two oldest sons chose to walk back from the parks in lieu of taking the boat most of the time. Go figure!!

Negative: no complimentary milk and cookies and no laundry facilities. Many places said they didn't take Fan Club card or the Orlando card(Most did anyway)but felt I had to beg each time.

 

[Antonia]

Was the room noticeably larger than the rooms at RPR? I am having a hard time deciding where to stay.

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Great report! Thanks for sharing! I cannot wait to go back to the PBH!

Antonia, the rooms are noticeably bigger than at the RPR, but we love that resort just as much. The service rooms and atmosphere are great!

 

[Mary Diehl]

We had a deluxe which was wider, I believe, than a regular room at RP. I liked this deluxe better than the reg. room we had at the RP last year. Also, the bathroom is spacious and big-separate shower and tub.
Also, I wanted to mention that the locker system in the parks was awful. They didn't seem consistant when letting you in with/without bags. Some people were let in line with bags when others(like us) were told we had to put our things in the lockers. Only certain rides did this and I believe both parks offered different "free time". US-first 2 hrs. free, IOA-first 1hr 1/2 free. This costs us money for we thought they all offered the same free time and ended up having to pay $2 just for having our small pkg in an IOA locker for a little over 1hr 1/2. I was NOT happy. Had I of known, we would have taken our pkg out and moved on to something else. Also, area with lockers is not big enough and it was total gridlock when trying to rent one-even have to wait in line to get your things back out of the locker. Anyway, just wanted to give everyone the heads up on this. Also, because of this I only filmed about 20min. of our entire vacation because my boys complained about me taking the camcorder out into the parks for they knew what we were in for as far as waiting for lockers, getting it out etc. So, I opted not to take the camcorder into the parks most of our trip. I usually get about 3 hrs. of filming so this was kind of a bummer.

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.