What would you do? Which resort?

[KLAIT]

Ok, I am really torn. We are planning on one of the Universal resorts Thursday, Oct 27 through Sunday, Oct 30. Since it is so close to Halloween I am assuming that it will be quite busy. We will have our little guy who is 7 with us and loves the water and especially waterslides.

Am thinking that since Horror nights will be all 3 nights that we are there, we plan on hitting the pool each night as well as for a good portion of the day on Saturday....

My dilemma is that I cannot decide which resort. The Royal Pacific is quite a bit cheaper than the other 2 which are pretty close in price...so that would sway me toward the Royal Pacific, but we have stayed there before and the pool is OK, but no slide...

So, that leaves me with Hard Rock or Portofino.....I am leaning toward the Hard Rock, but am worried that with Horror nights, it may be a lot of young folks who are enjoying the festivities and I wonder what the pool will be like???

Any suggestions?

 

[robvia]

I wouldn't worry about the crowds at the pool.
The slide is fun, and the walk to the park is short, so it's worth the extra money if you can afford it.

 

[bjakmom]

We had a similar dilemma - going over 3 day Columbus Day weekend and the big kids want to do HHN on Sun night - need 2 rooms with at least 3 of us in each room - have 2 little ones along (7 & 2). We have stayed at RPR and HRH and love both.
We decided to try PBH this trip because we had the same concerns you do - RPR is a smaller room and will be much too crowded for us with a crib or our travel tot bed. We also think HRH will be crowded with possibly a lot of young people partying for HHN - I'm not as worried about the pool as I am about the noise in the hallways - on our last visit there was a lot of noise in the hallways that we hadn't heard on earlier visits - woke us up a few times. Last month DH and I took a walk over to PBH to check it out and thought it was lovely and very quiet - nice pool area for the kids. We know we'll miss the cabanas and the shorter distance to the parks, but we're going to give it a try and hope that it will be a relaxed stay.

 

[PooohBear]

I would go with the HRH, I love it and the kids love it ! The water slide was nothing special yet my DD was constantly going down it and having a ball ! as far as the crowds go, it's alot younger at the HRH and alot more fun !

 

[KLAIT]

bjakmom- did you get a chance to see what the pool looked like at the Portofino? I cannot find any pictures of the slides at these rsorts.

I am really leaning toward the HRH as I have wanted to stay there for a long time, but keep thinking that with the HHN and the drinking, (hey, I used to be young once too...not tooo long ago), that maybe the pool area will be a little too wild for my little guy..

Thoughts?

 

[bjakmom]

Klait - this site has some great pictures of PBH and the pool : http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/Universal/portofino_bay_resort.htm

I also like the overhead view of the pool (under photos) and the virtual tours on Expedia.com - search under hotel name.

We did walk around the pool and it was very nice - in fact I was surprised that I had never read much about it before - I didn't even realize that they had a large themed pool with a slide, I thought that the Villa pool was it (probably because that's where the cabanas are at PBH).

I have stayed at HRH 4 times in the last 2 years and have never seen anyone drinking too much at the pool, but I have been at very off-season times of year and it is really 'jumping' even then - that's one of the reasons I (and my older kids) love it so much. But for this trip, and knowing that HHN will be going on all 3 nights over a holiday weekend, and considering that I'll have 2 little ones with me, one that will need naps and an early bedtime, I'm hoping that the PBH will fill the bill for a quieter, more laid back stay. IMHO, you can't go wrong - they are all beautiful hotels !

 

[Gary & Lisa]

Just got back from the PBH. They have 3 pools. My son only went to one and it had a water slide. He enjoyed it alot. Lisa

 

[robvia]

I am really leaning toward the HRH as I have wanted to stay there for a long time, but keep thinking that with the HHN and the drinking, (hey, I used to be young once too...not tooo long ago), that maybe the pool area will be a little too wild for my little guy..

It's not going to happen like that. People going to HHN will be at the park all night. When they come back, they'll be too tired to go down to the pool. There will be kids in the pool throwing nerf balls, playing water basketball, and going down the slide having fun. The adults hang out in the hot tub and don't make a scene. Lifeguards are watching, so teenagers and adults don't act up, the lifeguards will stop it.