We were there from June 19th - June 23rd. We were booked for a deluxe tower room.
I'd gotten a call several days before our reservation to tell us they were overbooked and I would be staying at the Sheraton Safari. I wasn't happy since I booked quite a while ago. The woman made it sound like I would have no choice no matter what time I showed up in the morning. I said, so no one in the hotel will be checking out that day? I have no chance of staying there at all. She said that was correct.. I have no chance of staying there.
I called Bookit.com and they put me on hold as they called HRP. The woman came back on the line and said that I will not be moved, and I will get the room I was promised.
So I showed up nice and early just in case (I was already in Orlando for the past week). No one met my car at the door. I knew there was no valet parking, which I would usually only use the first day anyway. But I saw no bellmen. Not a big deal. I left the luggage in the car anyway while I went to check in. I had no problems checking in, and the front desk cleck, LaToya, even gave me a choice of rooms. The highest room she had was on the 9th floor. That was fine. None of the rooms were ready yet anyway (it was only 8am).
So we went and enjoyed the day and came back at 3:30. No one met the car. DD and I got the luggage out fine ourselves. No valet, but the valet parking area is directly accross from the main entrance, and you are allowed to park there. Very convenient.
I got Luis at the front desk, also very nice. I told him how I'd taken the highest room available since my dd liked that, me not so much. He laughed and said he had one on the 15th floor.. a premier tower, would I like that? Umm.. yea! So we had an upgrade. A room with a jacuzzi.
Not sure what the overbooked thing was. They didn't seem to be putting us in the only room available. There was even a room on the top floor.. but facing the back and we wanted to be facing the other way. We could see Wishes from our window, and a great view of DTD too.
The room was nice. I felt the bathroom could have been cleaner. It was very new, but the grout in the tiles was noticeably greyed... where under the vanity area it was bright white. Some dots on the ceiling above the shower looked like the start of mold. It was a big bathroom though! Shower and jacuzzi were separate. Bath & Body Works products were nice.. but OH SO TINY! DD and I used a full bottle for each of us! We both have very long thick hair. Coconut Lime Verbana & Warm Vanilla Sugar scents. Both nice.. though not my fave
The room was big too. We had a pull out couch though we didn't need it. It was nice to have though.
Housekeeping was ok. We needed more towels I guess apparent from the fact we used them all, and were left more towels the next day. They didn't vacuum much. We went to Goofy's Candy shop the first night and my dd got mini m&ms on the carpet. I picked up most of them, but the couple I missed under the table and by the balcony were still there when we left 4 days later. Also sand from the beach was still there.
We didn't like the breakfast buffet. The food was mediocre. DD was free, but she would only eat the cereal and mini bagel. It was enough for her. I wouldn't eat much of it, the bacon was floppy, the sausages greasy (even for sausages).. the scrambled eggs were ok. The make your own waffle machine was broken. For the price, we ate out afterwards.
The counter service was friendly, and average price for the area. I mostly got my coffee in the morning there on the way out. And once pizza later one night.
The pool is warm, but small. There were a lot of kids, loud, and some a bit wild. No life guard to keep control. No diving board or slide. Even my water rat daughter got board there.
If we were completely unpacking.. we would have never had enough storage. But since we were only staying 4 nights, we didn't unpack everything.
We are currently at the Beach Club, club level. Our room now could almost fit in the bathroom of the HRP..lol! And our bathroom here is TINY as all WDW bathrooms are.. but it's Disney, and we'll be back!
Since we only paid $74.25 per night (don't forget the $8 + taxes a night also) for the HRP, we were happy with it. If I got that price or close to it again.. I would go back! Their rack rate of $189?! NO WAY!
Hope you enjoy your stay there
