Planning - Starting Over!

[damo]

Wow, just noticed your numbers, and I wondered how much I had really committed for. Thank goodness it is a much lower amount (sort of)!

Cost for room
Room Avg. Nightly Rate Cost of Stay Taxes/Serv. Charge Sub-Total
Type: King Suite $291.00 $1458.75 $182.35 $1641.10
Rate: Stay More, Save More
Sun May 12, 2013 $291.75
Mon May 13, 2013 $291.75
Tue May 14, 2013 $291.75
Wed May 15, 2013 $291.75
Thu May 16, 2013 $291.75

Total CostUSD) $1641.10
Amount charged on credit card for deposit: $328.22

ETA - Hahaha! That was funny. I never use emoticons, yet the perfect combination of a colon and open parens created little Mr. Frowny Face. See, the inner tightwad in me manifests itself in the strangest ways! All I did was copy and past from the pop up window. Really!

lol, I got the same emoticon when I pasted. It is the colon with the frowny bracket. I think I just deleted that part.

So you didn't pay in full which is good if you are looking to change your room.

 

[damo]

Lots of rooms available for each day except the Thursday night. Hmmm....you just need someone to cancel for Thursday.

 

[DryCreek]

Lots of rooms available for each day except the Thursday night. Hmmm....you just need someone to cancel for Thursday.

Thanks, maybe I'll get lucky and a block of rooms that were being held by some planner will suddenly come open. I try checking the website at least once a day, but most days at work are not slow like today, so I don't check until after I get home in the evening.

Damo, are you a TA? You seem to be on top of which days base rooms are available, so I reckon that you must have a different screen view than I have. Either that, or you get bored easily and just for grins try different dates for strangers!

Thanks, either way.

 

[damo]

Thanks, maybe I'll get lucky and a block of rooms that were being held by some planner will suddenly come open. I try checking the website at least once a day, but most days at work are not slow like today, so I don't check until after I get home in the evening.

Damo, are you a TA? You seem to be on top of which days base rooms are available, so I reckon that you must have a different screen view than I have. Either that, or you get bored easily and just for grins try different dates for strangers!

Thanks, either way.

No, not a TA, lol. I was just looking for something else for someone on another thread and since your dates were on the top of my head, I used those. You'll find that the veterans on this board all do the same thing. We really enjoy helping others out. Someone did that once for each one of us and we like to return the favour. I've got most of the links bookmarked and usually refer to them a few times a week to help out a newbie! Being retired helps too.

 

[DryCreek]

OK, just did a rate check for my stay, and it looks like a standard 2-queen room has opened up at the Hard Rock Hotel. Since it showed up on the Loews website, would I be able to switch my reservation to over there?

Next question - should I?

 

[damo]

OK, just did a rate check for my stay, and it looks like a standard 2-queen room has opened up at the Hard Rock Hotel. Since it showed up on the Loews website, would I be able to switch my reservation to over there?

Next question - should I?

Hard Rock is my least favourite of the three hotels. That said, it is very close to the Studios.

Take a look at the photos:

http://www.oyster.com/orlando/hotels/hard-rock-hotel-at-universal-orlando-resort/photos/

 

[DryCreek]

Hard Rock is my least favourite of the three hotels. That said, it is very close to the Studios.

Take a look at the photos:

http://www.oyster.com/orlando/hotels/hard-rock-hotel-at-universal-orlando-resort/photos/

Thanks for the link. After discussing it with the DW, she said that for only a savings of $11 per night, we'll keep the King Suite and nearly double the space. Plus, when I described the difference in themeing, she appeared to like the 'Relaxed South Pacific" description I gave her more so than the "hip and trendy, urban style" I assigned to HRH.

Maybe I was too harsh?

 

[damo]

Thanks for the link. After discussing it with the DW, she said that for only a savings of $11 per night, we'll keep the King Suite and nearly double the space. Plus, when I described the difference in themeing, she appeared to like the 'Relaxed South Pacific" description I gave her more so than the "hip and trendy, urban style" I assigned to HRH.

Maybe I was too harsh?

I'd hold out for the cheaper room at the RPH.

 

[buckeev]

OK, just did a rate check for my stay, and it looks like a standard 2-queen room has opened up at the Hard Rock Hotel. Since it showed up on the Loews website, would I be able to switch my reservation to over there?

Next question - should I?

Tough choice...but we really like both hotels. I'd say the descriptions you gave the boss are pretty spot-on...so the decision may already be made.

 

[DryCreek]

I'd hold out for the cheaper room at the RPH.

Tough choice...but we really like both hotels. I'd say the descriptions you gave the boss are pretty spot-on...so the decision may already be made.

Now I see a standard room rate at HRH for $216.75!

wife says that for only a difference of $75 a night she didn't want to change.

The Scots blood in me is truly conflicted.....

 

[damo]

Now I see a standard room rate at HRH for $216.75!

wife says that for only a difference of $75 a night she didn't want to change.

The Scots blood in me is truly conflicted.....

You've still got lots of time. You could switch to that one at the HRH and then switch again if a cheaper RPH came up. If you switch, remember that they will cancel your entire reservation and give you a new one. You'll have to wait for a refund for your deposit even though you've made a new one.

However, you can try to get them to just keep your deposit as it is and just leave the remainder as a credit on your account to be applied at check-out. Make sure you ask for this option as they probably won't offer it. They will then transfer you to their accounting department to have it done. It is a pain in the butt but worth it.

 

[DryCreek]

You've still got lots of time. You could switch to that one at the HRH and then switch again if a cheaper RPH came up. If you switch, remember that they will cancel your entire reservation and give you a new one. You'll have to wait for a refund for your deposit even though you've made a new one.

However, you can try to get them to just keep your deposit as it is and just leave the remainder as a credit on your account to be applied at check-out. Make sure you ask for this option as they probably won't offer it. They will then transfer you to their accounting department to have it done. It is a pain in the butt but worth it.

Just got off of the phone. I was able to book another room at a substantial savings over the King Suite rate. We are now booked into the Portofino Bay Hotel for the same five nights (May 12 through 17), but in a standard Garden View two-queen bed room. The rate is $231.75 per night and is the SM-SM rate. That's a savings of $300 over the length of the reservation, so I consider that to be substantial. I do understand that the PBH is located a little bit further from the parks, but they also offer the water transportation like the RPH. In fact, on our arrival day we plan to ride the water taxi over to RPH where it looks to be closer to jump across the street to the Walgreens to buy "essentials" - like beer and toothpaste.

The nice lady helping to change the reservations constantly reminded me that this was considered their most luxurious resort. I am sure that we will like it - although I suspect that we might have preferred the South Pacific theme offered by the RPH.

I am sure that just getting away on vacation will be enough to make me happy wherever we end up!

 

[damo]

Just got off of the phone. I was able to book another room at a substantial savings over the King Suite rate. We are now booked into the Portofino Bay Hotel for the same five nights (May 12 through 17), but in a standard Garden View two-queen bed room. The rate is $231.75 per night and is the SM-SM rate. That's a savings of $300 over the length of the reservation, so I consider that to be substantial. I do understand that the PBH is located a little bit further from the parks, but they also offer the water transportation like the RPH. In fact, on our arrival day we plan to ride the water taxi over to RPH where it looks to be closer to jump across the street to the Walgreens to buy "essentials" - like beer and toothpaste.

The nice lady helping to change the reservations constantly reminded me that this was considered their most luxurious resort. I am sure that we will like it - although I suspect that we might have preferred the South Pacific theme offered by the RPH.

I am sure that just getting away on vacation will be enough to make me happy wherever we end up!

PBH is my favourite. There is a short cut walk to the parks. Instead of following the path along the waterway to HRH walk out the front roadway and cross to the Hard Rock main drive. Don't go all the way up to the door but cut through the HRH parking lot on the right hand side and follow the parking lot all the way down until it ends. By that point you can see Universal Studios and you can just follow the road on the right directly to the bag check. Barb posted photos... http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36946846&postcount=7

Make sure you eat at Sal's Deli. They have great pizza!!! RPH is not closer to Walgreens. PBH actually is. Go out the back through employee parking and you will be right across the street from Walgreens. Looks like googlemaps has identified the PBH as the RPR. The hotel in the following link is the PBH http://maps.google.com/maps? q=Loew...rsal+Orlando,+Orlando,+FL,+United+States&z=18

This is the shortcut from the PBH to the parks.

 

[DryCreek]

PBH is my favourite. There is a short cut walk to the parks. Instead of following the path along the waterway to HRH walk out the front roadway and cross to the Hard Rock main drive. Don't go all the way up to the door but cut through the HRH parking lot on the right hand side and follow the parking lot all the way down until it ends. By that point you can see Universal Studios and you can just follow the road on the right directly to the bag check. Barb posted photos...

Make sure you eat at Sal's Deli. They have great pizza!!! RPH is not closer to Walgreens. PBH actually is.

This is the shortcut from the PBH to the parks.

Thanks!

I will be sure to ask for directions once we get ready to head on over and pick up our supplies. We are attempting to get by without any checked baggage on this trip. We are successful for most (not the cruise though). I showed the DW how to roll everything up to make more space. That is how we packed out entire issue into our seabag. The Navy did teach me a couple of tricks through the years!

 

[DryCreek]

I noticed that it has been mentioned that there is a poolside show at the RPH on certain evenings. Since we have changed our booking to the PBH, would we be able to catch this show if they have one during our stay in May?

 

[damo]

I noticed that it has been mentioned that there is a poolside show at the RPH on certain evenings. Since we have changed our booking to the PBH, would we be able to catch this show if they have one during our stay in May?

You can visit any pool. Just bring your key along.

 

[DryCreek]

You can visit any pool. Just bring your key along.

That's what I thought I understood, now the trick is to find out exactly which evening for us to play interloper on.

It looks like the Sunday was arrive on may be Mothers Day and they have the Wantilan Luau scheduled for that evening. I wonder if the poolside entertainment would coincide with that? I probably could also just e-mail guest services (or whatever they're called) and ask if any of the dates we will be there are on their entertainment calendar.

 

[damo]

That's what I thought I understood, now the trick is to find out exactly which evening for us to play interloper on.

It looks like the Sunday was arrive on may be Mothers Day and they have the Wantilan Luau scheduled for that evening. I wonder if the poolside entertainment would coincide with that? I probably could also just e-mail guest services (or whatever they're called) and ask if any of the dates we will be there are on their entertainment calendar.

It might just be on Saturdays.

 

[DryCreek]

It might just be on Saturdays.

Well, if that's the case - we'll be missing it. I tried to book a Saturday stay to lower the cost of airfare, but since that raised the rate of the hotel - the savings weren't there.

Strange how all of this trip planning pricing overlays depending on weekend/weekday time frame. You can cut costs here, but no there.

 

[bumbershoot]

It might just be on Saturdays.

It meaning the wantilan luau or any poolside entertainment?