Just got back

[satchel01]

Hi Everyone,
I just got back from a 5 night stay at Hard Rock Hotel with my two kids, age 18 and 22. We all had an awesome time, especially the 18 year old. This was the first time we've ever been to Universal and it was so much fun having new parks to explore. We thought the whole place was very charming. Staying on the grounds was wonderful. We loved the short walk to the parks and Citywalk. Our favorite rides were the coasters, Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey, Despicable Me, and the Simpsons ride. We had dinners at Hard Rock Cafe, Bubba Gump's, The Kitchen twice (soooo goooood), and Pastamore. We were happy with all of our dinners. The food at the Kitchen was the best!! One night I had the Filet, and the other night I had the pork chop which was like a steak too. We also had the breakfast buffet on the morning we left. The staff here is so friendly and welcoming we just wanted to keep going back! The only unpleasant staff member I encountered the entire trip was the housekeeping person who answered the phone when I called to ask for toilet paper and a couple coffee pods because we didn't get room service that day. She made me feel like a criminal for asking for 2 coffee pods!! Crazy. When they come to clean your room they replenish the coffee pods so I don't see what was wrong with asking for 2 pods when we didn't have room service that day. Everyone else at the hotel made up for her though.

I felt terrible having to leave my husband behind on this trip, but he doesn't have as much vacation time yet as I do. So now we're planning our next trip which will be Disney again. I do think some day we will plan another Universal trip, but I think I'd add a day at Seaworld and maybe one for the beach. That would be a perfect vacation.

[MizMissy]

Glad you had a good trip!

Isn't the express pass wonderful?? I could never do Universal without staying on-site. And, the convenience of how close the parks, hotel and city walk cannot be beat.

[NJGIRL]

I'm glad you enjoyed your stay. IMO Universal and their hotels are still hidden gems that most Disney fans have not discovered yet.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Sounds great

[DVC2004]

Sounded like you had a great time! We love Universal and I think the hotels there are very nice, they usually seem to go out of their way to make you feel welcome. Great pools and service, too! When we stayed at Portofino last year they had complimentary ice water with lemons, and frozen fruits on a stick, italian ice- all free at the pool. Also huge bottles of sunscreen with pumps. Just nice, thougthful touches. We haven't tried Hard Rock yet but plan to next trip. My boys are teens now so they really enjoy the coasters. Thanks for reporting back.

[satchel01]

Hard Rock also had the ice water with lemon slices at the pool. Not sure about sunscreen because I was just passing by from a distance but there were other things on the table, so maybe.

The express pass was fabulous.

I forgot to mention that we had a standard view room, but we ended up having a view of the nightly fireworks and a few palm tree tops which really made it a nice view. Glad I didn't pay more for a special view!

[DisneyBarb]

So glad you shared! I'm heading out for our first visit to Hard Rock with my kids (hubby staying home) and we are Disney Snobs. We are going with an open mind and happy to be able to get there! !!

[DryCreek]

We (me and DW) have our trip scheduled for mid-May now. Airfare paid, tickets bought (through Undercover Tourist), and hotel reservations at the Royal Pacific.

Sounds like it will be as great a time as we had last year for our return visit to DL - first time in 20 years! We loved how we could get a room just across the street from the plaza entrance. It was actually closer to the center of the plaza from our room than it was from our room to the bus stop at POR!

[BigRedDad]

We love Universal. The only thing we found with it is after you have been, long stays are not that great. We can go for an extended weekend now or sandwich the trip with Seaworld. That makes a perfect week long trip: US, IoA, SW, Aquatica.