bfrosty
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2006
Universal Studios – Hard Rock Hotel Trip Report 04/21/17
***I don’t have any pics to post with this TR. Sorry, I went electronics free to the parks this time***
Greetings from a long time Disney Fan Family with DW, DS18, DD12 and DS3 on our 4th Universal trip over the last 5yrs. We typically stay at Cabana Bay, but tried HRH this time for many reasons.
Some general information about us, we are long time Disney fans and since all the construction projects at Disney parks and Resorts we’ve been put off and have wandered over to US Orlando. We have been pleasantly surprised how awesome US is and all it has to offer. Disney and US are very different and I’m not doing a comparison of the two in this trip report.
Our Frontier flight was awesome, we use to fly SWA, but since they’ve raised/doubled flight costs from St. Louis over the years, we’ve been delightfully happy with our experience with Frontier Airlines.
Upon arrival at MCO (Orlando) we got a call from our driver “Ron”, who is mentioned a lot on this board. We’ve used him several times and are 150% satisfied with his service and communication throughout every aspect of our trip. Believe it or not, our bags were 1st off the plane, so we got a jump on things and did a PUBLIX grocery stop and headed over to HRH.
[The Hard Rock Hotel]
Our experience was very good overall, roomy 500SqFt Queen deluxe that felt bigger than most Studios at Disney and bigger than the Family Suite over at Cabana Bay. No issues here, plenty of room for 5. HRH has Starbucks!!! Nuff said. Great Pizza, Yogurt Parfaits and the Coke SelectAMatics had free ice and water, unlike at the parks. The kids used the pool and we used the laundry once and were very satisfied. Our room was outside the ICE machine cubby, not too loud and was convenient for us!
The HRH should be renamed to SRH (Soft Rock Hotel). I was really expecting ACDC, Aerosmith, Quiet Riot, KISS, Bob Seger and more to be played around the hotel interior/exterior. A lot of unknown songs...we did hear Hotel California the day we left. Maybe there is some strict licensing rules as to why they can’t play certain artists?
Our room was on the 4th floor, a hallway and a half from the elevators (not bad), took a short ride in the elevator each day to exit on the 1st Floor, took a few turns and ended up outside on the sidewalk to US. It took 4mins each day to walk over (really awesome) and just as quick going back. They do have rickshaws drivers that will cart you back, but really not necessary unless you were going all the way over to the Portofino. Yes, the Portofino is just across the street from HRH.
[Food Ratings]
Emack and Bollios ***.5 stars Good Pizza (Emack Attack, Margherita, Sausage) Mixed Berry Yogurt Parfaits were excellent for morning breakfasts, fresh fruit and donuts too.
The Kitchen *** stars Below average (MacNCheese, Flat Bread Pizza, Philly Cheese Sand, Cuban Sand.) Above Average (Mahi Grilled Sandwich) I wouldn’t recommend eating here too much, maybe once per stay.
Velvet Lounge: Didn’t experience
The Palm: Didn’t experience
[The Parks Experience] Universal Studios
[Rides We Didn’t Like]
Despicable Me - I loved the old Jimmy Neutron ride...they just re-skinned it. I love minions, but the execution on this ride was poor. We didn’t enjoy it and probably would skip it next time.
Shrek – Fun, but showing its age. The sound of 500 compressed air valves is a buzz kill for this ride
Jimmy Fallon – Wow, not a big fan of the TS and him. The seats are horrendously uncomfortable. The flick is okay, but all you see are pictures and people saying over and over It’s Jimmy Fallon, you are going to race Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Fallon this and Jimmy Fallon that. Ugh, it got old fast.
Men In Black – Wow, it needs to go and Fear Factor and Terminator and Barney
[Great Rides]
Rip, Ride and Rocket – Love the music, vertical lift, smoothness and variety of loops, twists and turns.
The Mummy – We are big fans of the Brandon Frasier series of these movies and the ride rocks. Love the surprises.
Transformers – Liked the first movie and it feels like Spiderman, just leveled up!!! Great execution and smoothness of transitions.
Gringotts – Great theming, and execution like Transformers above.
The Simpsons – Great theming and great reskin from Back to the Future.
[Surprises] (These rides/shows surprised us)
Monster Horror Makeup Show – This was really funny (1st show), very racy jokes. We went back
and saw another and it was a lot tamer. Still, funny and makes you jump.
ET – I know, its soooo old its so Corny!!! It took 3 rides before I figured out why you give your name to the attendant. ET says goodbye to everyone at the end by saying your name. Wow, that’s kinda cool.
Curious George Playground – We liked the water gadgets, but found the secret playground behind it. Holy Cow!!! Nerf ball, Compressed Air Cannons and lots of open space equals FUN!!! We spent a lot of time here hitting each other. This was really fun and I think its overlooked by many.
The Bards Tale – A short, puppet play put on in Diagon Alley.
The Phoenix Symbol – Burning up in Knockturn Alley (look Up)
The Construction Workers – Beat Box Song Dance performance
The Fisherman Dance – Acrobatic Dancing with Fish!
[We didn’t ride these at IOA this time]
Fear Factor
Terminator
Twirl N Hurl
Looking forward to…
Fast and Furious
[Food Reviews]
Monster Cafe - ***.5 stars
We enjoyed the theming and sat in the Crypt Room. Food was a bit expensive, but tasted good and filled you up.
Finnegan's - ****.5 stars
We ate here twice and loved it both times. I recommend the Leprechauns Platter (Fresh Fruit and Sorbet) as an appetizer. Webb Burger, Irish Cobb Salad, Pistachio Crusted Salmon Salad, Reuben, Corned Beef Sandwich on Pretzel Bun and COD sandwich.
Diagon Alley – **** stars
Butter Beer, Fish-n-Chips, Banger Sandwich, Specialty Chicken Sandwich and Mac-n-Cheese
[The Parks Experience]
Islands of Adventure
[Rides We didn’t Like]
I think we enjoyed everything at this park
[Rides We Liked]
Dr. Seuss Land – Love all these rides, my DS3 just loves the colors, music and theming of this area
Poseidon’s Adventure – Korny, but entertaining. A great way to get out of the sun for a while. I wish they sold Draconon Tshirts.
Dragon Challenge – Reskinned, but fun and the HP props and Music done well.
Hippogriff – Great for my little one to ride.
Forbidden Journey – Loved this ride since the 1st time I rode it, love the execution.
Jurassic Park – Big movie fan and close to my heart, love the drop!!!
Jurassic Park Playground – We all had a blast here.
Kong – Cool, but short. Love the ending
Rip Saw Falls – You get wet, very similar to Splash Mountain
Popeye – Popeye is an okay comic, but the detail here is outstanding, fun and entertaining. You get wet, like really, really, really wet.
Spider-man – Classic, ahead of its time.
Hulk – Great renovation, love the push and hulk roar as you leave the crest of the hill.
[Food Reviews]
Mythos ****.5 Stars
I recommend the Fish Tacos, Gnocchi, Pad Thai, Lamb Burger and Flat Bread Pizza for appetizer.
3 Broomsticks ***.5 Stars
Butter Beer, Fish-N-Chips, Pancakes
[We didn’t ride these at IOA this time]
Pterradon Flyers – Looks cool, but to tall to ride.
Dr. Doom – Okay ride
Storm – Okay ride
One Fish, Two Fish – Okay ride
[Miscellaneous Stuff]
My DS3 discovered that Transformers (My Robots) was the best thing in the world. I think we rode it about 6 times. He also discovered all the candy shops in the Wizarding World. We bought a lot of candy. He was not a fan of the Horror Make-up Show!!!
Everyone from the Airport, our Driver Ron, The HRH staff and US Theme park staff were very nice, polite, helpful, accommodating and talkative to everyone in our family. Thank you for making our vacation awesome.
***I don’t have any pics to post with this TR. Sorry, I went electronics free to the parks this time***
Greetings from a long time Disney Fan Family with DW, DS18, DD12 and DS3 on our 4th Universal trip over the last 5yrs. We typically stay at Cabana Bay, but tried HRH this time for many reasons.
Some general information about us, we are long time Disney fans and since all the construction projects at Disney parks and Resorts we’ve been put off and have wandered over to US Orlando. We have been pleasantly surprised how awesome US is and all it has to offer. Disney and US are very different and I’m not doing a comparison of the two in this trip report.
Our Frontier flight was awesome, we use to fly SWA, but since they’ve raised/doubled flight costs from St. Louis over the years, we’ve been delightfully happy with our experience with Frontier Airlines.
Upon arrival at MCO (Orlando) we got a call from our driver “Ron”, who is mentioned a lot on this board. We’ve used him several times and are 150% satisfied with his service and communication throughout every aspect of our trip. Believe it or not, our bags were 1st off the plane, so we got a jump on things and did a PUBLIX grocery stop and headed over to HRH.
[The Hard Rock Hotel]
Our experience was very good overall, roomy 500SqFt Queen deluxe that felt bigger than most Studios at Disney and bigger than the Family Suite over at Cabana Bay. No issues here, plenty of room for 5. HRH has Starbucks!!! Nuff said. Great Pizza, Yogurt Parfaits and the Coke SelectAMatics had free ice and water, unlike at the parks. The kids used the pool and we used the laundry once and were very satisfied. Our room was outside the ICE machine cubby, not too loud and was convenient for us!
The HRH should be renamed to SRH (Soft Rock Hotel). I was really expecting ACDC, Aerosmith, Quiet Riot, KISS, Bob Seger and more to be played around the hotel interior/exterior. A lot of unknown songs...we did hear Hotel California the day we left. Maybe there is some strict licensing rules as to why they can’t play certain artists?
Our room was on the 4th floor, a hallway and a half from the elevators (not bad), took a short ride in the elevator each day to exit on the 1st Floor, took a few turns and ended up outside on the sidewalk to US. It took 4mins each day to walk over (really awesome) and just as quick going back. They do have rickshaws drivers that will cart you back, but really not necessary unless you were going all the way over to the Portofino. Yes, the Portofino is just across the street from HRH.
[Food Ratings]
Emack and Bollios ***.5 stars Good Pizza (Emack Attack, Margherita, Sausage) Mixed Berry Yogurt Parfaits were excellent for morning breakfasts, fresh fruit and donuts too.
The Kitchen *** stars Below average (MacNCheese, Flat Bread Pizza, Philly Cheese Sand, Cuban Sand.) Above Average (Mahi Grilled Sandwich) I wouldn’t recommend eating here too much, maybe once per stay.
Velvet Lounge: Didn’t experience
The Palm: Didn’t experience
[The Parks Experience] Universal Studios
[Rides We Didn’t Like]
Despicable Me - I loved the old Jimmy Neutron ride...they just re-skinned it. I love minions, but the execution on this ride was poor. We didn’t enjoy it and probably would skip it next time.
Shrek – Fun, but showing its age. The sound of 500 compressed air valves is a buzz kill for this ride
Jimmy Fallon – Wow, not a big fan of the TS and him. The seats are horrendously uncomfortable. The flick is okay, but all you see are pictures and people saying over and over It’s Jimmy Fallon, you are going to race Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Fallon this and Jimmy Fallon that. Ugh, it got old fast.
Men In Black – Wow, it needs to go and Fear Factor and Terminator and Barney
[Great Rides]
Rip, Ride and Rocket – Love the music, vertical lift, smoothness and variety of loops, twists and turns.
The Mummy – We are big fans of the Brandon Frasier series of these movies and the ride rocks. Love the surprises.
Transformers – Liked the first movie and it feels like Spiderman, just leveled up!!! Great execution and smoothness of transitions.
Gringotts – Great theming, and execution like Transformers above.
The Simpsons – Great theming and great reskin from Back to the Future.
[Surprises] (These rides/shows surprised us)
Monster Horror Makeup Show – This was really funny (1st show), very racy jokes. We went back
and saw another and it was a lot tamer. Still, funny and makes you jump.
ET – I know, its soooo old its so Corny!!! It took 3 rides before I figured out why you give your name to the attendant. ET says goodbye to everyone at the end by saying your name. Wow, that’s kinda cool.
Curious George Playground – We liked the water gadgets, but found the secret playground behind it. Holy Cow!!! Nerf ball, Compressed Air Cannons and lots of open space equals FUN!!! We spent a lot of time here hitting each other. This was really fun and I think its overlooked by many.
The Bards Tale – A short, puppet play put on in Diagon Alley.
The Phoenix Symbol – Burning up in Knockturn Alley (look Up)
The Construction Workers – Beat Box Song Dance performance
The Fisherman Dance – Acrobatic Dancing with Fish!
[We didn’t ride these at IOA this time]
Fear Factor
Terminator
Twirl N Hurl
Looking forward to…
Fast and Furious
[Food Reviews]
Monster Cafe - ***.5 stars
We enjoyed the theming and sat in the Crypt Room. Food was a bit expensive, but tasted good and filled you up.
Finnegan's - ****.5 stars
We ate here twice and loved it both times. I recommend the Leprechauns Platter (Fresh Fruit and Sorbet) as an appetizer. Webb Burger, Irish Cobb Salad, Pistachio Crusted Salmon Salad, Reuben, Corned Beef Sandwich on Pretzel Bun and COD sandwich.
Diagon Alley – **** stars
Butter Beer, Fish-n-Chips, Banger Sandwich, Specialty Chicken Sandwich and Mac-n-Cheese
[The Parks Experience]
Islands of Adventure
[Rides We didn’t Like]
I think we enjoyed everything at this park
[Rides We Liked]
Dr. Seuss Land – Love all these rides, my DS3 just loves the colors, music and theming of this area
Poseidon’s Adventure – Korny, but entertaining. A great way to get out of the sun for a while. I wish they sold Draconon Tshirts.
Dragon Challenge – Reskinned, but fun and the HP props and Music done well.
Hippogriff – Great for my little one to ride.
Forbidden Journey – Loved this ride since the 1st time I rode it, love the execution.
Jurassic Park – Big movie fan and close to my heart, love the drop!!!
Jurassic Park Playground – We all had a blast here.
Kong – Cool, but short. Love the ending
Rip Saw Falls – You get wet, very similar to Splash Mountain
Popeye – Popeye is an okay comic, but the detail here is outstanding, fun and entertaining. You get wet, like really, really, really wet.
Spider-man – Classic, ahead of its time.
Hulk – Great renovation, love the push and hulk roar as you leave the crest of the hill.
[Food Reviews]
Mythos ****.5 Stars
I recommend the Fish Tacos, Gnocchi, Pad Thai, Lamb Burger and Flat Bread Pizza for appetizer.
3 Broomsticks ***.5 Stars
Butter Beer, Fish-N-Chips, Pancakes
[We didn’t ride these at IOA this time]
Pterradon Flyers – Looks cool, but to tall to ride.
Dr. Doom – Okay ride
Storm – Okay ride
One Fish, Two Fish – Okay ride
[Miscellaneous Stuff]
My DS3 discovered that Transformers (My Robots) was the best thing in the world. I think we rode it about 6 times. He also discovered all the candy shops in the Wizarding World. We bought a lot of candy. He was not a fan of the Horror Make-up Show!!!
Everyone from the Airport, our Driver Ron, The HRH staff and US Theme park staff were very nice, polite, helpful, accommodating and talkative to everyone in our family. Thank you for making our vacation awesome.
