Figment22
Hulk, MIB and MLB Fan!
- Joined
- May 21, 2000
- Messages
- 5,426
We checked into the Hard Rock at about 10:30 a.m. on 8/2
following our sleepless night at RPR. Everything was in order at
HRH and our room was ready for us even at that early hour
which was greatly appreciated. After unpacking, we had a bite
to eat at the Sunset Grill and then for a swim at the pool. I had
forgotten how relaxing it is to just float in the HRH pool and
listen to the music from the underwater speaker system. What
a great pool!
We really enjoyed the Dive-In concert on Sunday night. They
also have a Dive-In movie on Friday night at the pool. For those
who don't know, they close up the sandy beach area of the pool
and set up a giant movie screen facing the pool. We had first
row chairs on the opposite side of the pool for a great view.
People rented floats and just hung out in the pool too. That
Sunday they ran the Eagles Hell Freezes Over concert. Just
perfect as HRH is so reminiscent of the Hotel California on the
Eagles album cover. What a great idea.
The kids spent an evening at Club Lil' Rock as they had last year
and had a great time (even though the PS2 wasn't working.)
They love staying at this kids' club even more than the Disney
Kids' clubs.
We were able to see the airborne fireworks from USF from our
room which was very cool. We did go to the fireworks at IOA
on our last night, however, so we could see the ones that were
down on the water. It was a beautiful display and all the more
enjoyable because as annual pass holders, there are special
sections roped off for the fireworks just for AP holders. The IOA
spot is on the lagoon by Seuss Landing. This is a very nice perk.
You can ride the rides until the last minute and then just slip in to
a front row seat. I love that Universal does stuff like this for both
its hotel guests and AP holders.
I took a survey at USF; they cornered me coming out of Twister,
which took all of 15 minutes and paid $10.00. Not bad for 15
mins. work!
I'd like to give props to Abney at the Hulk Photo shop. We wanted to purchase our family's Hulk photo this time because our
youngest son finally made the height requirement. Hooray! I had
locked all my stuff except for my HRH key card in the Hulk lockers
intending to charge the purchase to our room. Abney asked if we
had AAA or an AP for a discount. I said I had an AP, but it was
locked in the locker. He gave us the discount anyway which I
thought was really nice. A very good guy.
The other thing I like about AP's at Universal: We had AP's last
year so this year we qualified for the renewal price of only
$105.00. This is about a 35% renewal discount and unlike Disney,
your Universal AP is effective from your date of activation not from
the expiration date of your prior AP. Big $$$ plus!
We got some great scores on MIB. One ride our AVERAGE score
was over 400,000. We were pleased. I remember reading in
MIB999,999's post that the maximum number of bonuses that
one car could get was three. Well, on one ride, it was our
family of 4 and one other guy and all five of us got the 100,000
bonus! That was a surprise. Up until that point, I actually didn't
"push the red button" each time because my youngest gets real
upset if I get the bonus and he doesn't, but from that point on I
figured we all had a chance.
We really had pretty good restaurant experiences all around.
Mythos, of course, was wonderful. I had the Corvina Provencale,
which was the best fish I have ever eaten (and I eat fish out a
lot in many great restaurants). It is a South American seabass
which was presented over garlic mashed potatoes, with sauteed
broccoli rabe and kalamata olives. It was fabulous. Oh, funny
story which should be appreciated by the many Mythos lovers on
the board. One afternoon while we were having lunch at Mythos
(We ate there twice) it started to pour like crazy. I guess lots of
people just came in to get out of the rain. I was in the ladies room when two wet women who had just came in had this
conversation: "Well, now that we're in here, what's on the
menu?" "Nothing good, I just looked. I guess we ducked in the
wrong place." Oh well, no accounting for taste I guess!
We also ate at Thunder Falls Terrace, & Enchanted Oak at IOA,
Monsters Cafe and Lombard's Landing at USF and NBA City at
City Walk. The only clunker was the International Food Court
next to BTTF at USF. We also ate lots of meals offsite at Golden
Corral, Perkins and Steak N Shake. Believe it or not we had never
eaten at a SNS before. Not bad for burgers and shakes.
All in all, it was a great trip with much needed R&R for our whole
family. Can't wait for our next one!
following our sleepless night at RPR. Everything was in order at
HRH and our room was ready for us even at that early hour
which was greatly appreciated. After unpacking, we had a bite
to eat at the Sunset Grill and then for a swim at the pool. I had
forgotten how relaxing it is to just float in the HRH pool and
listen to the music from the underwater speaker system. What
a great pool!
We really enjoyed the Dive-In concert on Sunday night. They
also have a Dive-In movie on Friday night at the pool. For those
who don't know, they close up the sandy beach area of the pool
and set up a giant movie screen facing the pool. We had first
row chairs on the opposite side of the pool for a great view.
People rented floats and just hung out in the pool too. That
Sunday they ran the Eagles Hell Freezes Over concert. Just
perfect as HRH is so reminiscent of the Hotel California on the
Eagles album cover. What a great idea.
The kids spent an evening at Club Lil' Rock as they had last year
and had a great time (even though the PS2 wasn't working.)
They love staying at this kids' club even more than the Disney
Kids' clubs.
We were able to see the airborne fireworks from USF from our
room which was very cool. We did go to the fireworks at IOA
on our last night, however, so we could see the ones that were
down on the water. It was a beautiful display and all the more
enjoyable because as annual pass holders, there are special
sections roped off for the fireworks just for AP holders. The IOA
spot is on the lagoon by Seuss Landing. This is a very nice perk.
You can ride the rides until the last minute and then just slip in to
a front row seat. I love that Universal does stuff like this for both
its hotel guests and AP holders.
I took a survey at USF; they cornered me coming out of Twister,
which took all of 15 minutes and paid $10.00. Not bad for 15
mins. work!
I'd like to give props to Abney at the Hulk Photo shop. We wanted to purchase our family's Hulk photo this time because our
youngest son finally made the height requirement. Hooray! I had
locked all my stuff except for my HRH key card in the Hulk lockers
intending to charge the purchase to our room. Abney asked if we
had AAA or an AP for a discount. I said I had an AP, but it was
locked in the locker. He gave us the discount anyway which I
thought was really nice. A very good guy.
The other thing I like about AP's at Universal: We had AP's last
year so this year we qualified for the renewal price of only
$105.00. This is about a 35% renewal discount and unlike Disney,
your Universal AP is effective from your date of activation not from
the expiration date of your prior AP. Big $$$ plus!
We got some great scores on MIB. One ride our AVERAGE score
was over 400,000. We were pleased. I remember reading in
MIB999,999's post that the maximum number of bonuses that
one car could get was three. Well, on one ride, it was our
family of 4 and one other guy and all five of us got the 100,000
bonus! That was a surprise. Up until that point, I actually didn't
"push the red button" each time because my youngest gets real
upset if I get the bonus and he doesn't, but from that point on I
figured we all had a chance.
We really had pretty good restaurant experiences all around.
Mythos, of course, was wonderful. I had the Corvina Provencale,
which was the best fish I have ever eaten (and I eat fish out a
lot in many great restaurants). It is a South American seabass
which was presented over garlic mashed potatoes, with sauteed
broccoli rabe and kalamata olives. It was fabulous. Oh, funny
story which should be appreciated by the many Mythos lovers on
the board. One afternoon while we were having lunch at Mythos
(We ate there twice) it started to pour like crazy. I guess lots of
people just came in to get out of the rain. I was in the ladies room when two wet women who had just came in had this
conversation: "Well, now that we're in here, what's on the
menu?" "Nothing good, I just looked. I guess we ducked in the
wrong place." Oh well, no accounting for taste I guess!
We also ate at Thunder Falls Terrace, & Enchanted Oak at IOA,
Monsters Cafe and Lombard's Landing at USF and NBA City at
City Walk. The only clunker was the International Food Court
next to BTTF at USF. We also ate lots of meals offsite at Golden
Corral, Perkins and Steak N Shake. Believe it or not we had never
eaten at a SNS before. Not bad for burgers and shakes.
All in all, it was a great trip with much needed R&R for our whole
family. Can't wait for our next one!
