Royal Pacific Review

[wayneg]

http://www.disunplugged.com/2010/03/29/royal-pacific-great-place-but-dont-trust-a-ho-really/

Pete has written a review, we were planning on spending 4 nights here in August, before reading we were 50/50 on cancelling due to exchange rate, internet fee & parking fee.
I now find parking is $20/night(thought $15) on top of room rate, net & tax. 4 nights would cost us $812 (£540, £135/nt)
Compare to our deal at OKW £100/nt incl all our food.(+$9.95 net)

Other options
Numerous places we have stayed at before and enjoyed from £26/night inclusive, eg Best Western Lakeside, Country Inn & suites(incl breakfast) etc.
Or
Offsite 5 star from around £65/nt eg Rosen Shingle creek, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek etc

I know we would get Front of line while at RPR which would probably be needed 4-8th August but if we didn't stay there we could do Universal parks later in the month when everything should be walk on.

I certainly don't like the sound of a DJ near the pool, quieter the better when relaxing.
After reading the review I am 75/25 in favour of cancelling, is RPR really worth £135/nt? offsite I could save enough for a day at Discovery cove.
What to do?

 

[luke]

Just listened to Pete's review, and was also unaware how high parking was!!

But seeing as how we're only wanting it for one night, and the main reason is the FOTL I think we'll still be doing it.

It wasn't a bad review per say (got 82/100 I think) either.

Oh and you know my thoughts on the Hyatt Regency, Wayne, if you're thinking about offsite near there then just do it - it's a wonderful resort, and we would definitely be staying there this August if SSR hadn't been such a good deal

 

[disney_princess_85]

I certainly don't like the sound of a DJ near the pool, quieter the better when relaxing.

I suppose it depends on where your room is but I didn't see/hear a DJ near the pool when I stayed at RPR in 2008. Besides, it's not like the festivities would go on all night- it's a family resort at the end of the day.

After reading the review I am 75/25 in favour of cancelling, is RPR really worth £135/nt? offsite I could save enough for a day at Discovery cove.

I really enjoyed my time there and I'm planning on a one-night stay in August, so I suppose my answer is yes.

The thing is, you're comparing the rate to the deal at OKW. While this is understandable, it's a little unfair on RPR as the OKW deal is so good. Do you see what I mean? See the £135 rate for what it is: undoubtedly expensive but then again it is a 4* hotel located within one of the world's best theme parks.

$20 a night for parking seems quite unreasonable though, you'd think it would be free.

 

[luke]

I suppose it depends on where your room is but I didn't see/hear a DJ near the pool when I stayed at RPR in 2008. Besides, it's not like the festivities would go on all night- it's a family resort at the end of the day.

The DJ couldn't be heard from the room, just when by the pool, playing inappropriate stuff for a family resort, was the problem I think

 

[disney_princess_85]

The DJ couldn't be heard from the room, just when by the pool, playing inappropriate stuff for a family resort, was the problem I think

Thanks for clarifying Luke, I haven't listened to the review! I'm at work right now so I'm unable to listen to it. What sort of stuff were they playing?

 

[burt]

$20 Dollars a night for self parking seems a little steep, we are there for 4 nights, parking will cost nearly as much as car hire through expedia deal

The FOTL is great perk but turning into an expensive one, To be honest Wayne if we hadnt already booked and paid for our universal tickets i would have been tempted to not do universal this year and add a few extra days at the coast and done busch gardens instead.

 

[wayneg]

Thanks for clarifying Luke, I haven't listened to the review! I'm at work right now so I'm unable to listen to it. What sort of stuff were they playing?

This is from Pete's review.
I am just getting old, I see no reason for a DJ at a pool when relaxing, unless they are going to play a little Vivaldi, I think not
Around 4pm the “DJ” (and I use the term loosely) set up shop and started playing music. Keep in mind now that the pool was FULL of younger kids. There were a few songs played that I thought were probably inappropriate (something about ripping off bikinis and smacking girls asses), but I held my tongue – that is until he played a song that included the lyrics “Don’t Trust a Ho” came on. Yes, you read that right – a song with lyrics “Don’t trust a ho” being played for a pool full of children in a resort that bills itself as ‘family friendly’. Well, either I’m really old and the definition of ‘family friendly’ has changed wildly in recent months, or this guy was just there to entertain himself and play music that HE wanted to listen to.

So, I approach him and ask if it’s really necessary to play songs like that when there are kids around. His dismissive response was to point to a manager walking nearby saying “if you don’t like the music, go tell him”. At this point the review really starts writing itself. I approached the ‘manager’ he pointed to and repeated my concerns. I was told that no one had ever complained before – so I guess this made it okay. I swear he rolled his eyes at me while I was talking and questioning the logic behind the song choices. After our ‘chat’, he did go up to the DJ and have him switch songs. As we were leaving the pool, the manager comes up to me and tells me that they “play a top 40 playlist – kids can hear this on any radio station”. Of course he misses the point that a radio station can be shut off or changed, not so much when you’re sitting at a pool having that blasted in your ear (and I do mean BLASTED). He also misses the point that there are a number of songs that are considered “top 40” that are far more appropriate than some of the ones being played.

 

[mcarthur205]

We stayed at RPR for three nights at the end of April last year. We had a Jurassic Park Kids Suite and I really liked the resort. The pool area was beautiful and I didn’t see or hear a DJ at any time when we were there. The main reason we stayed there was for the FOTL access and it was totally worth it. We hadn’t been to Universal since 1999 and I wanted to make the most of our time and minimise waiting in line. The parks weren’t mega busy but FOTL was still a great perk.

We’re going back to Universal in October but I’ve only booked one night ($152) at HRH so we get FOTL for two days. I reckon it’ll be worth it because the parks might be busy with Harry Potter open and now that we’ve experienced FOTL we wouldn’t want to do without it! Not going to stay in the room though, so won’t need internet and we’d be paying to park at Universal anyway so the parking charge isn’t an issue as we’ll just park the car in the hotel lot.

I do have pics of the Jurassic Park Kids Suite if anyone wants to see them.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Around 4pm the “DJ” (and I use the term loosely) set up shop and started playing music. Keep in mind now that the pool was FULL of younger kids. There were a few songs played that I thought were probably inappropriate (something about ripping off bikinis and smacking girls asses), but I held my tongue – that is until he played a song that included the lyrics “Don’t Trust a Ho” came on. Yes, you read that right – a song with lyrics “Don’t trust a ho” being played for a pool full of children in a resort that bills itself as ‘family friendly’.

Sorry, I know I shouldn't find it amusing but I do. Yes, it's inappropriate but it's no different to what is played on the music channels or the radio.

So, I approach him and ask if it’s really necessary to play songs like that when there are kids around. His dismissive response was to point to a manager walking nearby saying “if you don’t like the music, go tell him”. At this point the review really starts writing itself. I approached the ‘manager’ he pointed to and repeated my concerns. I was told that no one had ever complained before – so I guess this made it okay. I swear he rolled his eyes at me while I was talking and questioning the logic behind the song choices. After our ‘chat’, he did go up to the DJ and have him switch songs. As we were leaving the pool, the manager comes up to me and tells me that they “play a top 40 playlist – kids can hear this on any radio station”. Of course he misses the point that a radio station can be shut off or changed, not so much when you’re sitting at a pool having that blasted in your ear (and I do mean BLASTED). He also misses the point that there are a number of songs that are considered “top 40” that are far more appropriate than some of the ones being played.

While the manager has a point, his attitude sounds rubbish.

 

[pandv_2000]

Sorry, I know I shouldn't find it amusing but I do. Yes, it's inappropriate but it's no different to what is played on the music channels or the radio.



While the manager has a point, his attitude sounds rubbish.

The point is if something like that comes on the radio you have the option to switch it off. If you are in the pool with your kids the only way to avoid it is to take them out and have very unhappy kids.

 

[disney_princess_85]

The point is if something like that comes on the radio you have the option to switch it off. If you are in the pool with your kids the only way to avoid it is to take them out and have very unhappy kids.

Yes, I understand that. Sometimes it's out of our control though, e.g. in a shop etc.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I think if you can find a good deal at a Universal hotel they are worth serious consideration, I like the look of RPR as well as Hard Rock Cafe.
However, $20 a day for parking is a joke, that's even more than some of the beach hotels charge at Fort Lauderdale and Miami (and they charge because parking is often limited).

 

[Elise79]

We’re going back to Universal in October but I’ve only booked one night ($152) at HRH so we get FOTL for two days. I reckon it’ll be worth it because the parks might be busy with Harry Potter open and now that we’ve experienced FOTL we wouldn’t want to do without it! Not going to stay in the room though, so won’t need internet and we’d be paying to park at Universal anyway so the parking charge isn’t an issue as we’ll just park the car in the hotel lot.

The parking charge referred is the hotels self parking - it will be cheaper to park in the regular lot if you are just going during the day.

BTW I think $20 a day is way too much for self parking - Disney's valet parking is only $14 a day - how do they get to that figure??

 

[mcarthur205]

I see from the Universal Orlando website that parking in their theme park lot is $14 per day ($22 for valet). Does anyone know whether parking in the hotel lot is charged per day or per night? If we have a room for one night, are we charged parking for one night or two days?

 

[wayneg]

The main reason we stayed there was for the FOTL access and it was totally worth it. We hadn’t been to Universal since 1999 and I wanted to make the most of our time and minimise waiting in line. The parks weren’t mega busy but FOTL was still a great perk.

I can fully understand the FOTL value for some and we would use it but we have been AP holders for 6 years incl the early years when FOTL was included with them, I know we can go later in August and everything will be walk on without any passes.

I think if you can find a good deal at a Universal hotel they are worth serious consideration, I like the look of RPR as well as Hard Rock Cafe.
However, $20 a day for parking is a joke, that's even more than some of the beach hotels charge at Fort Lauderdale and Miami (and they charge because parking is often limited).

This is supposed to be a deal Johnny, $152 for 3 nights £159 for the other but tax, net, parking & exchange rate makes it a lot more than I expected.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Although we have yet to stay at Royal Pacific, we absolutely LOVE Hard Rock and the FOTL access as well as the easy access to the parks. So I think the price for the hotel itself is worth it.

However I LOATHE paying the car parking charges, which I agree are extortionate, so next trip we are deliberately using Hertz car rental to get from Port Canaveral so that we can drop off the car at the Hard Rock Hertz rental desk and avoid paying any car parking fees. It might be a bit extreme but I know that the car would just be sitting in its very expensive space for the whole time we are at Universal, so for me it is worth doing.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

This is supposed to be a deal Johnny, $152 for 3 nights £159 for the other but tax, net, parking & exchange rate makes it a lot more than I expected.

The little add on's often make that decent offer not so decent after all.

I would be very reluctant to book anything in $ at the moment, the rate is so poor.

 

[mcarthur205]

So I asked about hotel parking on the Universal Resorts Board here and was told that parking in the hotel parking lot is $15 per night. So I can park there for two days for $15 total (plus tax of course). Parking in the theme park lot would be $14 x 2, so $28 for the two days. Doesn't sound so bad now.

 

[WiganTony]

When we visited last Easter the parking rate was $15 per night, not per day. However, a 33% increase in charge does seem over excessive!!

We managed to book RPR for 4 nights in July/August at the "glitch" rate and I transferred money to my Fairfx card to cover it (at around $1.8=£1), so it will end up costing us around £100/night. Having stayed there last Easter with the FOTL privileges in the parks, we had decided to spend a few nights here before hitting Disney as we know that we can probably have the parks "done" by around 3pm each day so have a few hours around the pool (hopefully the same DJ won't be there!!) or Citywalk.

 

[GingerJay]

It was only $15 for parking when we stayed there earlier this month. And that's per night, I think. We only paid the $15.00 once, and we stayed for one night, two days.

I hope that they did not increase the fee to $20.00 because that's super crazy, but it was a really pretty resort. The rooms were big too, and since we have a family of five, very important.

Interestingly enough, we noticed that pool was pretty dirty for our stay, too. Although there wasn't anyone in it when we were there because it was COLD!

Even still, I would definitely stay here again.