Club Level at Hard Rock?

[sammysmom]

Is it worth upgrading to club level for 3 day visit? Two adults and 2 teens. What kind of recent food offerings are there? Going in September

 

[schumigirl]

Don't think the offerings have changed much over the last few years.

Haven't had many report back from HRH Club Level in a while.......maybe do a search and see what's been posted in last year or so.

Sorry you haven't had much response, but for some reason HRH doesn't get the same reports back that the other hotels do.

 

[macraven]

i just googled and only found one thread of March 2017 regarding food.

Did see trip advisor had some reports but nothing current and not much about the food.



Do not know if the HRH sticky would help you.
It is general information and has some club info but just general regarding the food serving hours.

 

[macraven]

Just remembered this....


You can call the hotel concierge and be transferred to the club lounge.
Staff there can tell you what foods will be offered for the dates you are there.

They will have knowledge for the evening menus but do not know if it will be known this far out from September

On the sticky the different food time periods are listed.

the sweet hour at HRH club lounge when I was last there had great desserts.


breakfast in the club lounge will be quite similar to the other two hotels.
snacks out during the day would be soda, coffee, tea, water bottles
usually chips, pretzels for basic snacks
sometimes the lounges in general have had the crustables.

dinner, no idea but usually they will have at least two hot dishes, cold dishes, salad type of items, and veggies with dips, appetizer items, etc

 

[Pumbaa_]

We were there in may

Bfast is continental, donuts, baby cinnamon buns, baby chocolate croissant oatmeal w ooyions brown sugar raisins and I believe granola.
Hard boiled eggs are the only protein item. I will often make egg salad, sometimes on a croissant

Bagels, different types of toast cream cheese, peanut butter, jelly, cereal
Coffee tea, juice milk
Honey and flavored syrups for the coffee

Soda is not out but is available. I usually keep 2 cans as well as water in my fridge

Snacks was chocolate chip cookies, Doritos, chips, granola bars. Flavored water and lemonade I think along w tea coffee and soda

We didn't do much at dinner. The free wine and beer are set up in the hall. There will be a line about 5 deep at all times. The lounge turns into feeding time at the zoo

There is always cheese tray w frackers
The other offerings will change daily. You can make a meal if you are not fussy. It is crowded and seating is a challenge

Dessert never followed what was posted and in general was sub par, imho
But again, if not picky and just want a little something something it works.
Churro w caramel sauce
Cookies
Cupcakes, tiny and appear to have been frozen


What I like best is the unlimited beverage variety, egg option at breakfast and cheese tray.
If I can make something else work, it's gravy

 

[macraven]

Pumbaa, many thanks for sharing what food offerings you had in the spring.

Appears that the sweet hour they list for club is nothing special now.


Probably things that can be bought in the parks

 

[Jujumama]

We were at HRH club in 2015. I traveled with a 2 year old and 5 year old so for the time it was worth having access to Milk and snacks all the time. However, as they grew older I began to questions the necessity.

Pros

• Club lounge same level as room
• Breakfast had cereal (only 3 varieties), milk and juice. Lot's of carbs sweets like doughnuts, bagel, slicked bread, croissants, pastries.
• Snack time snacks were all prepackaged and portable like chips, goldfish?, granola etc. which was helpful to bring to the parks.
• good variety of evening appetizers. Always a cheese platter and veggie platter. I think 2 hot dishes and a salad.
• nice variety of wine and beer
• you can fill up and take things back to your room

Cons

• Only protein is hardboiled egg and yogurt and breakfast. No cheeses or cold cuts etc.
• The lounge area is small and at the time opened at 7:00 which made it a challenge to get something and make it to early entry early enough. I was there in April and I think early entry was 8:00.
• For me, it felt a little stressful to make it back to the room by 5:00 or 6:00 for evening appetizers. The little ones went to bed early so we often had early dinners which meant we had to choose either go to citywalk and have dinner or fill up on evening appetizers/eat locally so the kids can get to bed at a reasonable time.

I did find it convenient enough to do it again except at RPR in 2016. This year we did not book club level and will attempt a grocery run before hand and see how that works. I liked the RPR's lounge but for some reason felt I liked HRH offerings better overall. I really like Portifino's offerings but not in the budget this year plus I'll get to experience breakfast at some other places.

Hope that helps.

 

[perditax]

Feb 2017, I remember donuts and some good pastries in the morning, cheese and crackers, I want to say fried mac n cheese balls? something like that? and bbq chicken tender skewers at night. I remember some of the pastries were good enough that I took plates of them back to the room to stash in fridge for later. Can't remember what they were, though.

It's like most concierge lounges in that it's best for beverages (we grabbed many bottles of water between the two of us) and morning caffeine, and only light eaters who don't mind mostly cheap carbs can really rely on it for sustenance. (We're of the 'pay for convenience, not for the equivalent dollar amount of food/drink' type and I'm not hauling cases of bottled water anywhere on vacation.)

It was crowded during the breakfast rush and happy hour. But the way they line up the 'bar' at happy hour you can get around the line to just get your drinks or snacks.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Having booze in the hall makes it so much easier to get inside

My biggest complaint of the lounge is the noise. Videos play all day long. At times it would be nice to have it a little less loud. I know it's hard rock and all, but the videos tend to suck.

Is what it is

 

[macraven]

So great to have jujumama and perditax share their experiences also

It has been 7 years since I last did club at hrh

From what I have read here, very similar to my experience

I had the same experience with limited seating in the lounge
Was hoping it had improved since I was last there

 

[DMOMof3]

Checking into club level in 3 weeks, looks like I'll have to take pictures!

 

[macraven]

Would love to have more pictures and be able them to my hrh sticky!


Anything you wish to share here after your trip, would be appreciated


Have a great vacation

 

[Lisa0620]

Do they offer club for a 3 day stay? We're doing a split stay with CBBR Thanksgiving week and I can only get club to pop up at HRH if I book for 4 days not 3. Wasn't sure if that was just because it's a busy week or if that was some kind of policy. (Although I guess I'm less worried about getting it after reading this thread!)

 

[macraven]

A person can book one night club.
Depends on availablity they have.

I have booked a 3 night stay and 10 night stays at HRH club.

If the room is open, not a problem

Have not heard or read any posts before they could book a 4 night stay and not a 3 night stay.
Maybe call the hotel direct and find out if there has been a policy change.



If you are going during the HHN period, at sometime they put into effect that if you want a weekend stay, you must include the Friday and Saturday.

If you want to spend 3 nights (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) during HHN period, can only book it if you include Saturday.

Many ran into that problem last year.
They had plans and wanted one weekend night, not both nights.
Room was not bookable when it got a few months out from the start of HHN.

Maybe the same policy involves other holidays such as Tday period?

 

[cleopenn]

Worth it? Depends on what one wants and needs out of a lounge but I will say I was pretty impressed with the lounge at Portofino Bay. I spend 12+ nights a year in CL rooms at JW Marriotts, Hiltons, etc. and it compared favorably to big city hotel lounges. Being that the two hotels are the same level, I would expect similar quality offerings.

There were hot dishes at breakfast and dinner. We ate breakfast there all but one morning (and regretted our non-lounge breakfast, too pricey for what it was) and visited every evening for drinks and snacks. We got our money's worth. The attendant will give you to-go cups for booze.

 

[macraven]

I liked club at hrh but the lounge is much smaller than the club lounge at pbh or rpr

Pbh has a nice variety of food choices as the others have out

 

[Moon Child]

we did Club Level twice at the Hard Rock. Once, my hubby and I got upgraded for free, for our anniversary trip.
The 2nd, was with our teenage boys, we paid for that one lol
We thought it was worth it
The breakfast was ok, I do remember there were mimosas pastries, cereal
the happy hour I think we only did once, it's hard to make it back to the resort at that time while you're in the parks (for us anyway)
the desserts were good when we went
make your own strawberry short cake one night
make your own sundaes another, we love Club Level, my boys eat a lot so it's worth it lol
You do get a lot of bagged snacks and drinks, bottled water, to take back to your room, or to the parks

 

[mjhtvchick]

It is a tough decision - for us, we decided it probably wouldn't be worth it. It would add $90 per night to our room rate. There are three of us - me, DH and DD13, who eats next to nothing. So $30 each per day. We figured it would probably be good for breakfast, some bottled water, maybe a beer or two and not much else. The math just didn't add up for us.

 

[cfoxga]

We had access to club at Animal Kingdom Lodge for a Disney trip several years ago. We spent most of our time in the parks and prefer to eat at a variety of restaurants. So we didn't use it very much, just enough to eat a light breakfast, grab some water bottles, and a couple of desserts. It didn't feel worth the added expense.

That said, I can certainly understand why some people swear by them. If it fits in with the way you like to vacation, they could be a nice perk...

 

[NickyH]

I'm staying at the HRH and using the Club Level lounge. I suppose it depends how much the cost would be to upgrade and then calculate if you would spend that amount on out of pocket expenses. I like the option of the lounge as it helped me budget for our expenses before we left home to visit Universal.

The lunch options are pretty useless at this lounge with packets of crisps / potato chips and cereal bars being the offerings whereas in comparison we stayed at the Portofino lounge last year and for lunch they had bread and bagels available so the children could have toast as a quick lunch option. The evening snacks are fine and the happy hour is good, beers wine and a sparkling wine cocktails are offered but for those who are only visiting the parks for one or two days probably wouldn't be in the lounge for the drinks as the Happy Hour runs from 5-7. The lounge is small too and guests often find it difficult to get a table for breakfast. The staff seem not as prompt as their counterparts at the Portofino - food and drink often runs out with the guests having to ask for the items to be replenished. An advantage to this lounge is that the club level rooms are on the same floor as the lounge meaning it's very easy to take snacks or drinks back to your room.