P
pixie dust gal!
Guest
We are back from a 10 day stay at HRH. This was our 6th stay at HRH. It was DH, DS's 19 and 14, and our best friends with their DS age 14.
Our flight on SWA was wonderful, as always (love, love love SWA).
We rented a car from National and had EA choice or full size - the choices were not many other than mid-size cars. There was a little Rav4, and the Intrepid that we grabbed, but other than that - all mid size. Our price for the 10 days total was $232 - great price!!!!!!!!! When I checked the car out at the kiosk in the garage they had a sign up that said "gas $1.52" so inquired and the girl at the window stated if we would rather have them fill the car upon return that was the price "for that day" - I said great! When we returned the car with 3/4 of a tank they charged me $4.79 per gallon for the remaining 1/4 tank........ I had to argue my way through this as the attendant did not note our account at check-out (my fault too, I never looked at the agreement). Gas around Universal is only $1.32 per gallon.
We arrived around noon time and there was a line at check-in - waited about 20 minutes before we actually got to the front desk and another 10 minutes to check in. I am a Platinum Member and there are no separate line for Loew's Members at HRH like there is at RPH. Everyone asks about "upgrades" - I was able to upgrade to a suite (if available at time of ressie) and suites were available - however, we chose the club floor instead because it has more amenities to offer. We have always stayed in deluxe sized rooms or kids suites, normally. This was our second time on the club floor; and if the four of us return together again on our next visit, we will book the kids suite. It is too much for the 4 of us to be in one room - it really is like having 3 adults and 1 almost adult-size in the same room. They offered to put a roll-away bed in the room, but there wasn't much space to begin with. I wasn't that happy, but made do. I miss the extra room and would rather have the larger room/extra room than the amenities.
Our friends arrived 30 minutes after us and called us on the cell phone so we could meet them outside as they drove up the driveway. This was their first trip to HRH. It was so much fun to see their faces when they pulled up to the hotel. Seeing as we have been there so many times, staff remember us and we asked several of them to welcome our friends as they got out of their SUV. They all started clapping and yelled "welcome Smith family"! They got the biggest kick out of that! Our rooms were ready and our luggage arrived to our room about 5 minutes after we did. We had connecting rooms with our friends. We had rented a cabana for the 10 days, so the kids put their swimsuits on and they ran to the cabana to drop off their pool toys/games and into the pool. They know this hotel like they do their own home. It is so nice to have staff remember you and say, hello and welcome back AND remember your favorite drink! (I will talk about this later).
I unpacked quickly and dh invited our friends for a drink at the cabana. It was HOT, but cooler inside the cabana. The server came around and asked us if we would like a drink - we all ordered a frozen drink and she asked "would you like to double the size"? - we all nodded yes........ the bill came and it was $72 for 4 drinks........ double the size, but still.......... DH signed for it before I saw it and tipped $5 - $77 total!!!!! The drinks are more expensive when they are delivered to the cabana. For $77 I should have had a cabana boy massaging my feet! The drinks have gone up since our last visit!!!!!!! When I later saw the receipt - I gasped........ and almost killed DH. Our friends were shocked too - and, of course, DH said "it's vacation". I gave him the evil eye and said "here we go again; this is not monopoly money, you know" - this phrase followed us throughout our vacation from both DH and friends, always laughing and saying "Deb, it's just monopoly money".......... Needless to say, we only had the one drink and went up to shower for dinner.
DH, DF and DS's went down to the lounge at 5pm to see what there was to munch on. I joined them about an hour later. The lounge offers wine, beer, and soft beverages along with a selection of cheese, crudites, breads and a hot and cold appetizer. The line is VERY LONG at 5pm and the seating is quite limited. So get their on time just to have a family member save seats or wait until 6pm. I sampled the food every night but mostly just enjoyed a glass of wine with everyone during out stay. Tonight's menu was wings -and everyone seemed to enjoy them.
We made ressies at Motown and there was hardly anyone in the place - around 6pm. We saw some look-a-likes Michael Jackson and Diana Ross -took pictures with them. My DF and I sang to some Aretha, Marvin and Temptations out loud at our table - it was alot of fun. The kids just rolled their eyes and asked if they could be excused to go to the arcade
I was not very hungry and just ordered this Motown onion appetizer and another drink, friends ordered pulled pork and raved about it; everyone else had the typical kids fare.
It was pouring rain at this time and we stayed a bit longer till the rain let up. We then went to USF and went on Jimmy Neutron, Shrek, Jaws and MIB. I loved Shrek so much that we throughout the 10 days we saw it 5 times! That was all the time we had before it closed - it closed at 9pm.
The boys couldn't wait to get back to the room to see if the "goodies" had arrived. Fabulous milk and cookies and DH ordered freshly whipped cream and strawberries and a bottle of wine for us...... (what was he thinking???? we had the kids with us!) - so I got to indulge and not having to "thank him" for being so thoughtful
LOL
Sweet Dreams ............
Tomorrow is USF.
Our flight on SWA was wonderful, as always (love, love love SWA).
We rented a car from National and had EA choice or full size - the choices were not many other than mid-size cars. There was a little Rav4, and the Intrepid that we grabbed, but other than that - all mid size. Our price for the 10 days total was $232 - great price!!!!!!!!! When I checked the car out at the kiosk in the garage they had a sign up that said "gas $1.52" so inquired and the girl at the window stated if we would rather have them fill the car upon return that was the price "for that day" - I said great! When we returned the car with 3/4 of a tank they charged me $4.79 per gallon for the remaining 1/4 tank........ I had to argue my way through this as the attendant did not note our account at check-out (my fault too, I never looked at the agreement). Gas around Universal is only $1.32 per gallon.
We arrived around noon time and there was a line at check-in - waited about 20 minutes before we actually got to the front desk and another 10 minutes to check in. I am a Platinum Member and there are no separate line for Loew's Members at HRH like there is at RPH. Everyone asks about "upgrades" - I was able to upgrade to a suite (if available at time of ressie) and suites were available - however, we chose the club floor instead because it has more amenities to offer. We have always stayed in deluxe sized rooms or kids suites, normally. This was our second time on the club floor; and if the four of us return together again on our next visit, we will book the kids suite. It is too much for the 4 of us to be in one room - it really is like having 3 adults and 1 almost adult-size in the same room. They offered to put a roll-away bed in the room, but there wasn't much space to begin with. I wasn't that happy, but made do. I miss the extra room and would rather have the larger room/extra room than the amenities.
Our friends arrived 30 minutes after us and called us on the cell phone so we could meet them outside as they drove up the driveway. This was their first trip to HRH. It was so much fun to see their faces when they pulled up to the hotel. Seeing as we have been there so many times, staff remember us and we asked several of them to welcome our friends as they got out of their SUV. They all started clapping and yelled "welcome Smith family"! They got the biggest kick out of that! Our rooms were ready and our luggage arrived to our room about 5 minutes after we did. We had connecting rooms with our friends. We had rented a cabana for the 10 days, so the kids put their swimsuits on and they ran to the cabana to drop off their pool toys/games and into the pool. They know this hotel like they do their own home. It is so nice to have staff remember you and say, hello and welcome back AND remember your favorite drink! (I will talk about this later).
I unpacked quickly and dh invited our friends for a drink at the cabana. It was HOT, but cooler inside the cabana. The server came around and asked us if we would like a drink - we all ordered a frozen drink and she asked "would you like to double the size"? - we all nodded yes........ the bill came and it was $72 for 4 drinks........ double the size, but still.......... DH signed for it before I saw it and tipped $5 - $77 total!!!!! The drinks are more expensive when they are delivered to the cabana. For $77 I should have had a cabana boy massaging my feet! The drinks have gone up since our last visit!!!!!!! When I later saw the receipt - I gasped........ and almost killed DH. Our friends were shocked too - and, of course, DH said "it's vacation". I gave him the evil eye and said "here we go again; this is not monopoly money, you know" - this phrase followed us throughout our vacation from both DH and friends, always laughing and saying "Deb, it's just monopoly money".......... Needless to say, we only had the one drink and went up to shower for dinner.
DH, DF and DS's went down to the lounge at 5pm to see what there was to munch on. I joined them about an hour later. The lounge offers wine, beer, and soft beverages along with a selection of cheese, crudites, breads and a hot and cold appetizer. The line is VERY LONG at 5pm and the seating is quite limited. So get their on time just to have a family member save seats or wait until 6pm. I sampled the food every night but mostly just enjoyed a glass of wine with everyone during out stay. Tonight's menu was wings -and everyone seemed to enjoy them.
We made ressies at Motown and there was hardly anyone in the place - around 6pm. We saw some look-a-likes Michael Jackson and Diana Ross -took pictures with them. My DF and I sang to some Aretha, Marvin and Temptations out loud at our table - it was alot of fun. The kids just rolled their eyes and asked if they could be excused to go to the arcade
I was not very hungry and just ordered this Motown onion appetizer and another drink, friends ordered pulled pork and raved about it; everyone else had the typical kids fare. It was pouring rain at this time and we stayed a bit longer till the rain let up. We then went to USF and went on Jimmy Neutron, Shrek, Jaws and MIB. I loved Shrek so much that we throughout the 10 days we saw it 5 times! That was all the time we had before it closed - it closed at 9pm.
The boys couldn't wait to get back to the room to see if the "goodies" had arrived. Fabulous milk and cookies and DH ordered freshly whipped cream and strawberries and a bottle of wine for us...... (what was he thinking???? we had the kids with us!) - so I got to indulge and not having to "thank him" for being so thoughtful
LOLSweet Dreams ............
Tomorrow is USF.
!
As of 6:30 the place was still half empty so, if you are going early for dinner I wouldn't worry; however, if you are planning a later dinner, I was told by staff that it gets crowded. The do have a kids menu - pretty much typical kids fare - mac and cheese, hot dogs, chicken fingers, burgers. I think the price is about $6.
