We just returned from our 6/2/07 6/9/07 trip to Universal and SeaWorld. We stayed at the RPR (1 night), HRH (4 nights), and the Hilton Garden Inn SeaWorld (2 nights).
Overall, we (Me, dh, and our three 8 year olds) had a wonderful vacation! Here are the details, good and not-so-good.
Saturday, June 2. Today was the kids birthday. Wed had their birthday party a week early. We arrived at MCO around 4:45 p.m., retrieved our luggage and headed for the taxi stand. My husband had said that he did not want to hire a car service (I had gotten a round trip quote from Sunray for $82.00) and did not want to rent a car (I was okay with this, since I didnt want to pay the $12.00 self-park fee to have the car sit in the parking lot for most of our trip). Besides, the taxi fare estimator (http://www.mearstransportation.com/TaxiFareEstimator.asp ) said that it was only $29.75 from MCO to Universal Studios, so I figured wed actually be saving a few bucks by taking a cab. WRONG! We were informed just before getting into the cab that the cost would be around $39, which is what it ended up being. For about the same amount of money, we could have gotten the free grocery stop by using a car service! Ugh! (Oh, and the cab smelled strongly of cigarette smoke!!)
Cant remember what time we actually arrived at RPR, but check-in went very smoothly. The person behind the counter (Kathy) was very pleasant and was verifying that, according to our reservation all the kids were 8 years old. I told her yes, that they all turned 8 years old that day. She had the correct rate of $159 AP rate, but never asked to see our AP. (We had ordered it on-line and had not had it activated yet, but we had the receipt showing we had paid for it.) She handed us three gold coins and told us to visit the Mariners Club (the babysitting service) to turn them in for three gifts just for checking out the club. Pretty smart marketing!
Our room was #3554 which is on the 5th floor. Some people on the disboards have been commenting that the rooms seem tired. There were only two negative points to our room. First, it looked like the edges of the carpet had not been vacuumed in a while. Second, either the bed wasnt made correctly by housekeeping or the bedding (specifically, the mattress pad) needed to be replaced. The bed was made as follows: mattress pad, covered by a tucked-in flat sheet. Then, you covered with a blanket which was sandwiched between two more flat sheets. It seemed very comfortable when we first got into bed, but after a few minutes everything was all messed up. I think the problem was that the elastic on the mattress pad was worn out and it kept slipping off the corners. I woke up with the top half of my body lying directly on the bare mattress. Yuck!!!
Now, dh and I are never concerned with our view. We spend very little time in the hotel room anyway. I thought we had booked a garden view because it was the only thing available, but I just double-checked our confirmation and it says standard room. Good thing, because this was the view if you looked straight down from the window:
But THIS was the view if you looked straight across:
Here are some pictures of the room:
The first thing a triplet mom does when she enters a hotel room is to re-make one of the beds sideways. Yes, the bed is movable. We later put the backs of two chairs on the left as a bed rail.
Note the hairdryer on the shelf in the closet. It took us a while to find it!
The lights on either side of the mirror are on a dimmer switch and make a great nightlight:
Next, we headed to Jakes for dinner. Stay tuned for FOOD PICS ..
Overall, we (Me, dh, and our three 8 year olds) had a wonderful vacation! Here are the details, good and not-so-good.
Saturday, June 2. Today was the kids birthday. Wed had their birthday party a week early. We arrived at MCO around 4:45 p.m., retrieved our luggage and headed for the taxi stand. My husband had said that he did not want to hire a car service (I had gotten a round trip quote from Sunray for $82.00) and did not want to rent a car (I was okay with this, since I didnt want to pay the $12.00 self-park fee to have the car sit in the parking lot for most of our trip). Besides, the taxi fare estimator (http://www.mearstransportation.com/TaxiFareEstimator.asp ) said that it was only $29.75 from MCO to Universal Studios, so I figured wed actually be saving a few bucks by taking a cab. WRONG! We were informed just before getting into the cab that the cost would be around $39, which is what it ended up being. For about the same amount of money, we could have gotten the free grocery stop by using a car service! Ugh! (Oh, and the cab smelled strongly of cigarette smoke!!)
Cant remember what time we actually arrived at RPR, but check-in went very smoothly. The person behind the counter (Kathy) was very pleasant and was verifying that, according to our reservation all the kids were 8 years old. I told her yes, that they all turned 8 years old that day. She had the correct rate of $159 AP rate, but never asked to see our AP. (We had ordered it on-line and had not had it activated yet, but we had the receipt showing we had paid for it.) She handed us three gold coins and told us to visit the Mariners Club (the babysitting service) to turn them in for three gifts just for checking out the club. Pretty smart marketing!
Our room was #3554 which is on the 5th floor. Some people on the disboards have been commenting that the rooms seem tired. There were only two negative points to our room. First, it looked like the edges of the carpet had not been vacuumed in a while. Second, either the bed wasnt made correctly by housekeeping or the bedding (specifically, the mattress pad) needed to be replaced. The bed was made as follows: mattress pad, covered by a tucked-in flat sheet. Then, you covered with a blanket which was sandwiched between two more flat sheets. It seemed very comfortable when we first got into bed, but after a few minutes everything was all messed up. I think the problem was that the elastic on the mattress pad was worn out and it kept slipping off the corners. I woke up with the top half of my body lying directly on the bare mattress. Yuck!!!
Now, dh and I are never concerned with our view. We spend very little time in the hotel room anyway. I thought we had booked a garden view because it was the only thing available, but I just double-checked our confirmation and it says standard room. Good thing, because this was the view if you looked straight down from the window:
But THIS was the view if you looked straight across:
Here are some pictures of the room:
The first thing a triplet mom does when she enters a hotel room is to re-make one of the beds sideways. Yes, the bed is movable. We later put the backs of two chairs on the left as a bed rail.
Note the hairdryer on the shelf in the closet. It took us a while to find it!
The lights on either side of the mirror are on a dimmer switch and make a great nightlight:
Next, we headed to Jakes for dinner. Stay tuned for FOOD PICS ..
Now, that pic at hard rock I have seen but I cant place. Is it in a bathroom somewhere? That was very nice of Kathy to send up a B-Day surprise for the kids. Its things like this that keep us coming back again anad again. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
