Which resort???? RPR or PBR

[vbarry]

Heading to Universal for spring break with daughters ages 7 and 11. We are DVC members and have stayed at every Disney Deluxe with the Grand Floridian and Polynesian being our favorites.

We are staying 5 nights so plan relaxing at the pool and enjoying the resort.
We have stayed at HRH one time and it was nice but want to try something different. Which resort would you choose. Both seem nice. Is RPR considered
deluxe? Unsure why it is so much cheaper. Thanks for any advice!

 

[phyllis2011you]

Morgen, die Zukunft, die sich zuerst?

 

[bumbershoot]

They are both very nice. PBR has bigger rooms by a few square feet. Their pool, to me, feels VERY luxurious, and has a slide.

BUT you are welcome to pool hop to any of the 3 onsite resorts, so don't let the pool be the deciding factor!

 

[AlexandNessa]

Yes, the RPR is deluxe. We like both, but tend to lean more toward RPR due to its closer proximity to the parks, and the fact that it has a pool bar. The PBH does have a cool pool and a slide and you can order food around the pool, but in all of our stays there, it seems to take forever for the food to arrive. The RPR pool doesn't have a slide, but does have a water platform/play area that the kids seem to love.

The PBH std rooms are much larger than RPR. And the other positive of PBH is that we do love the plaza/harbor and Sal's pizza.

If you are going to stay club level, we definitely prefer RPR Club to PBH Club. RPR Club is more of a homey experience, whereas at PBH, just about anyone in anyone can add club to their reservation upon check in, and there is no dedicated club floor.

Bottom line, you can't go wrong at either.

 

[macraven]

you should call and see which hotel has rooms available at this point for your dates.

the longer you wait might become an issue for you.


i prefer RPH.
the ambiance is wonderful.
staff attentive.

have stayed at all 3 onsite hotels but keep going back to rph.


all 3 hotels allow you to order food and brought to you at the pool.
all have activities around the pool for kids and teens.

pool hop but take your hotel card key with you for the use of towels at the pool.


you can't go wrong no matter which hotel you decide on.

 

[vbarry]

No pool bar at PBH????? hmmm that may be a deal breaker!

I am checking today and will let you know what I decide!

 

[AJA]

I think you would really really love PBH especially if you are used to GF!!

RPR is very nice too. And you can pool hop if the girls miss the pool slide.

 

[AlexandNessa]

No pool bar at PBH????? hmmm that may be a deal breaker!

I am checking today and will let you know what I decide!

Well, it does have a little sort of walk-up hut to get a drink, but no Beach Club or Bula Bar equivalent like at HRH or RPR. We stopped ordering food at the PBH pool because it just took forever. I am not sure where the runners have to go to get the food, but it was typically long overdue and not exactly hot when we got it.

PBH does have a lovely beach pool, but food and drink is a big part of our pool day, so......

And if you order anything from the PBH Villa Pool, double your Beach Pool wait time.

 

[damo]

No pool bar at PBH????? hmmm that may be a deal breaker!

I am checking today and will let you know what I decide!

If you are at the main pool, there is a snack bar right beside it but you have to go out of the pool gate. The Thirsty Fish bar is right around the corner but also outside of the pool gate.

You can use this map to see where dining/drinking places are in respect to the pools.

http://www.uomeetingsandevents.com/Hotels/Portofino_Bay/Hotel_Map/Hotel_Map.asp

 

[vbarry]

So if we decide to stay at RPR how far is it to HRH to use the pool and slide? Can we walk??

Also...would you say RPR is equivalent to the Polynesian...without the slide and smaller rooms??

I think booking the luau would be fun!!

 

[AJA]

So if we decide to stay at RPR how far is it to HRH to use the pool and slide? Can we walk??

Also...would you say RPR is equivalent to the Polynesian...without the slide and smaller rooms??

I think booking the luau would be fun!!

Yes you can walk to HRH but riding the boat would be better. Take the boat from RPR to City Walk and then change over to the HRH boat.

RPR is gorgeous. If you are used to the Poly you wont be disappointed. PBH however really feels like a 5 star resort if you really want luxury I go with PBH.

 

[vbarry]

Well here is the break down on the annual passholder website.

RPR $229
Club 334

PBH
Bay View $299
Deluxe room $334
Club $399

So here are the pros and cons. The two cons of RPR are the very small rooms and no pool slide. The pro...I love the island theme, cost and close to the parks.

PBH only scares me because it is further from the parks, no real pool bar and everyone says it is huge! I would really love a balcony as I will miss this from Disney for sure!

Any thoughts on any of this and since you now see the price...what would you do? I do have a $400 a night budget for lodging but would love to be under and use that money somewhere else but also want a great experience!

Can you tell me where all these different PBH rooms are located? Thanks!

 

[damo]

Well here is the break down on the annual passholder website.

RPR $229
Club 334

PBH
Bay View $299
Deluxe room $334
Club $399

So here are the pros and cons. The two cons of RPR are the very small rooms and no pool slide. The pro...I love the island theme, cost and close to the parks.

PBH only scares me because it is further from the parks, no real pool bar and everyone says it is huge! I would really love a balcony as I will miss this from Disney for sure!

Any thoughts on any of this and since you now see the price...what would you do? I do have a $400 a night budget for lodging but would love to be under and use that money somewhere else but also want a great experience!

Can you tell me where all these different PBH rooms are located? Thanks!

You aren't guaranteed a balcony at PBH. I really don't find that it is any larger than RPR. Just request the villa or west wing and you are pretty close to everything. It is my favourite of the three onsite hotels. If you take the walk through the HRH parking lot, it is only about a 10 minute walk...not much different than the walk from the RPR.

However, when the price of RPR is considerably lower, I will always stay there.

 

[Mudd77]

Well here is the break down on the annual passholder website.

RPR $229
Club 334

PBH
Bay View $299
Deluxe room $334
Club $399

So here are the pros and cons. The two cons of RPR are the very small rooms and no pool slide. The pro...I love the island theme, cost and close to the parks.

PBH only scares me because it is further from the parks, no real pool bar and everyone says it is huge! I would really love a balcony as I will miss this from Disney for sure!

Any thoughts on any of this and since you now see the price...what would you do? I do have a $400 a night budget for lodging but would love to be under and use that money somewhere else but also want a great experience!

Can you tell me where all these different PBH rooms are located? Thanks!

Ha ha...tough decision, I know because I just went through it. You just have to pick the resort that is best for you and your family. I ultimatly could not justify the price difference (I'm a cheap skate ). I have stayed at RPR before and loved it. Check out the links below. When I was doing my research, I came across this site. They have some great photos of each resort and the room types.

http://www.oyster.com/orlando/hotels/universals-royal-pacific-resort-a-loews-hotel/photos/

http://www.oyster.com/orlando/hotels/universals-portofino-bay-hotel-a-loews-hotel/photos/

 

[ready4mouse]

For us, it's Portofino Bay- no question about it!!!

We were actually just looking at pictures the other day and saying we would go back just for the hotel!

We did request a room with a balcony overlooking the water and our request was honored- the room was nice, bathroom was great, and the balcony was a great added extra!

We just thought everything was done right at PBH...the attention to detail was great and coming back from the parks on the boat at night and seeing all the beautiful lights around the resort was fabulous!

We really didn't think it was too far from the parks at all...an easy boat ride or walk- either way was fairly quick!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[AlexandNessa]

Well here is the break down on the annual passholder website.

RPR $229
Club 334

PBH
Bay View $299
Deluxe room $334
Club $399

So here are the pros and cons. The two cons of RPR are the very small rooms and no pool slide. The pro...I love the island theme, cost and close to the parks.

PBH only scares me because it is further from the parks, no real pool bar and everyone says it is huge! I would really love a balcony as I will miss this from Disney for sure!

Any thoughts on any of this and since you now see the price...what would you do? I do have a $400 a night budget for lodging but would love to be under and use that money somewhere else but also want a great experience!

Can you tell me where all these different PBH rooms are located? Thanks!

Do your quotes above include the 12.5% tax? I always seem to forget that.

Honestly, you can't really go wrong at either. We've had good stays at each of the resorts, but really, we'd rather be at HRH or RPR for the proximity. Only 6% of the rooms at PBH (and I want to say there are 750 or so guest rooms there) have balconies or patios. So I don't like those odds for basing your decision on PBH on the chance you might get a balcony or patio. I do miss balconies too and wish they had considered it for the Universal properties.

We stopped staying club level a while ago, even though we loved it at the time. We make a grocery stop for breakfast bars, fruit, water, and beer and do Happy Hour at City Walk (which may not be your thing with the kiddos... but City Walk has some great happy hours), and that's savings we freely spend elsewhere. Got a collapsible cooler or cheapie throwaway styrofoam cooler at our grocery stop, used the ice machines freely, and we couldn't justify the extra several hundred $$ for club anymore. Also, Beach Club or Bula Bar will both give you plastic cups for your room.

Whatever you decide, come back and let us know so we can steer you correctly on room requests by what's important to you. I have requests I make at each resort, lol. They are pretty general requests (Tower 1 or Tower 3 at RPR, close to the elevators at HRH, West Wing at PBH), and they've always been accommodated.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[bumbershoot]

Well here is the break down on the annual passholder website.

RPR $229
Club 334

PBH
Bay View $299
Deluxe room $334
Club $399

So here are the pros and cons. The two cons of RPR are the very small rooms and no pool slide. The pro...I love the island theme, cost and close to the parks.

PBH only scares me because it is further from the parks, no real pool bar and everyone says it is huge! I would really love a balcony as I will miss this from Disney for sure!

Any thoughts on any of this and since you now see the price...what would you do? I do have a $400 a night budget for lodging but would love to be under and use that money somewhere else but also want a great experience!

Can you tell me where all these different PBH rooms are located? Thanks!

Well, the rooms aren't THAT much different from each other, but for us, because we're typically coming from a DVC villa, having that perception of extra room was important to us.

Biggest thing for me was that PBR's bathroom is entirely in the bathroom. RPR has the vanity out of the bathroom.

We did have 9 months between trips, but I didn't feel that RPR was that much closer to the boat dock than PBR. Now, we did walk from RPR sometimes, and never did from PBR, but that's b/c we had some amazing boat luck on that trip. But I was never *scared* of the walk...just didn't need to do it.

 

[macraven]

it's not the distance in your hotel of walking to the boat dock but the distance to the parks.
especially if you end up walking to the parks from your hotel.

big difference in that w/ pbh compared to rph.

 

[vbarry]

I think we are going with the PBH. A little luxury for mommy (bigger bathroom also!)and a pool slide for my daughters. I figure we can always pool hop over to RPH and we are going to book the luau.

They did have a portofino suite availble for a decent price. Any opinions on them??

 

[damo]

I think we are going with the PBH. A little luxury for mommy (bigger bathroom also!)and a pool slide for my daughters. I figure we can always pool hop over to RPH and we are going to book the luau.

They did have a portofino suite availble for a decent price. Any opinions on them??

The suites are great because you get another bathroom. It doesn't have a tub but does have a shower.