RPR Club Level or PBH GV ?

[DJmommy]

Looking for some suggestions for our 1st trip to Universal with the kids, (12 and 9 years old). Currently we have a club level biooked at RPR for early November. When I originally made the reservation, PBH was not available for all 5 of the nights but now it is, so I am faced with making this decision. We will probably be spending a decent amount of time around the resort and plan on checking out each one for future stays.

Having never stayed at the Universal resorts, I know very little about each but I think my husband and I would probably prefer PBH since we love Italy. I know the rooms are significantly bigger at PBH but it is a little further from the parks. However I know that everyone would enjoy the club level at RPR and if we switched over to PBH, we would only be doing a garden view room.

If anyone who has stayed at both can give me their personal feedback, I would really appreciate it. Or if there are pros and cons to either resort, let us know.

Thanks so much.

 

[damo]

The pool at PBH has a water slide and the pool at RPH does not. That is about the major difference. However, you can pool hop.

 

[glocon]

I've only ever stayed at HRH so don't know either of the others, but my thoughts are with CL you have the CL room to overflow into as well as your hotel room. At PBH you would only have your room, though it would be bigger. Personally I would stay where I could do CL, especially since you plan on pool hopping and visiting the other two resorts.

Unless of course you can do CL at the PBH where you really would love to stay.

 

[Disfan3]

Hello. Just returned from a wonderful (first time at US and US hotel) stay club level at RPR. I will say that the extra space we had available in the lounge area was great as the rooms are not large at all especially because we came from a 2br villa PLUS studio at Kidani the week before.

Having said that: the resort was wonderful. Staff were amazing, dare I say BETTER than staff we encountered at WDW that week...I mean all staff not just club level staff... The rooms (as said) were smaller than I was expecting and storage in the bathroom could be an issue (why they have no storage in there is beyond me, there is room under the sink!). Club level was nice especially because it rained a lot and we used the club many times just to hang, get drinks or eat. The desserts offered were the same every night and there is no flavored creamer for coffee in the lounge but those are really my only complaints (they also put us on the 6th floor but gave access to the 7th club lounge and we never got bathrobes which would have been nice with us all in close quarters, now that I think about it).

It's not club level at the Grand Floridian by any means as far as offerings but I really did not expect it to be. Snacks were eh: goldfish, chips, Uncrustables (my kids liked them I guess so that was good).


The access to the parks is super duper easy!! Loved it!

The pool is really nice and has a great pool bar/food service/ hot tub/sand area!


I would not hesitate to stay there again and probably will.

Hope that helps!

 

[bumbershoot]

Personally I would stay where I could do CL, especially since you plan on pool hopping and visiting the other two resorts.

On the other hand, since they will already be spending quite a bit of time away from the parks, adding in Club level creates MORE time away from the parks. To get value from it, you need to be there at points throughout the day. Waiting for it to open for breakfast means that unless you're in and out and take your food to go, you'll miss early entrance to WWoHP (talking from experience here). To get snacks, you have to come back from the parks. For beer/wine, appetizer, dessert, you have to be there to get them (obvious, but sometimes not something we think about). So now they are roaming the other resorts, pool hopping, AND they need to keep returning to RPR to make use of the Club level.

To ME, it seems like a lot of time away from the parks. That's me, though.


Although we will stay at RPR again (and the time we stayed, we stayed Club level which was *not* a big value to us and we probably won't do it again), we really love PBR and their big rooms with large bathrooms with room to keep stuff.

 

[macraven]

Disfan3, if you stay at rph again, and if something is not in the room that you would want, use the star service option.

on your hotel room phone, punch the star service button.
they will bring you robes, flavored creamer, or anything you forgot to pack without charge.

it is listed in the info packet you receive at check in what star service does.


i use this service often for extra coffee pods.

 

[DJmommy]

Thank you all for your feedback. Over the past week, there was availabilty for PBH, then the next day none, then just Bay view rooms, and now just Deluxe rooms. Since we were still on the fence, I never made a move. Tonight I just checked again & saw that AP rates were out for our dates. I called & switched to the AP rate for a standard room at RPR for $149 per night which seems like a really good deal. The AP discount for the club level room wasn't substantial. With the savings with the AP rate, we will have more spending money to eat when & where we want.

I have a new question however. We have old tickets that I bought from AAA quite a few years ago that we never used. Can I upgrade my 7 day multi park ticket to an AP? I forgot to ask when I called whether I needed the AP on arrival, or if I could show it the next day?

 

[macraven]

I have a new question however. We have old tickets that I bought from AAA quite a few years ago that we never used. Can I upgrade my 7 day multi park ticket to an AP? I forgot to ask when I called whether I needed the AP on arrival, or if I could show it the next day?

go to guest services and tell them you want to upgrade the 7 day ticket to the ap.
you would pay the difference between the two.

i know i bought 3 sets of 7 day tickets years ago for $89 and $99 for the other set.
depending on what you paid to UO for the tickets will be applied to the ap pass cost.

as long as you show the ap to the hotel front desk before you check out, your ap rate will be honored.

 

[DJmommy]

macraven, thanks. Do I need to enter the park and activate the ticket first before I do the upgrade or should it be done before entering the park?

About $89 sounds right to me. We bought them at our local AAA office & never ended up using them. Actually this is our first trip to the dark side with the kids. DH and I went many, many years ago.

Another question - are the AP renewal prices significantly cheaper than buying a new AP? I thought I read that awhile ago.

 

[macraven]

i don't know if the 7 day ticket will scan at the gate.

you can try it but if it doesn't work, then off to guest services for help.



the aph renewal for the preferred was $170.34 for me this year.
i miss the old days when it was $99 to renew..........

yes, it is cheaper to renew the ap than let it lapse and buy new again.