ROYAL PACIFIC RESORT INFO...FAQ and more......

[RocketCityMama]

We were there for the Nov OI Meetup and even on Monday the busier day of our trip, before Thanksgiving, the EP times were really short compared to the wait times. We saw 60 min plus on Spiderman and figured EP might be 30, well it was practically walk on, we might have waited a total of 10 mins. Same for other rides as well, it was busy, and lines were LONG but EP lines were moving quite fast.

So we had our first stay at Royal, got there kind of early, maybe 12:30ish, had reservations at 2 for a late lunch before the meetup. Room wasn't ready, which I expected, their systems were also down that does the room keys, so they gave us a temp card that to use for the EP at the parks for the day. We left our luggage in the car at the moment and headed to lunch, and then in the parks to waste some time, and caught the Grinchmas show and got a text our room was ready. So back to unload and get ready for the meetup. The room was nice, we were on level 1 (main level) of tower 1 maybe? I don't even know..... it was right off the lobby past luggage services and we had a view of the water/moat lol that runs in front of the hotel. Room was nice, beds were not quite as comfy as I was hoping, but we managed fine. There was "just" enough room to put a single air mattress on the floor besides the window so my kids didn't have to sleep in the same bed. We did not have enough towels and there were no wash cloths when we arrived, so we requested extras, they came later in the day, no issues. The safety door latch was broken on our door, so we had to make sure to keep the do not disturb sign out at all times, so housekeeping would not just come in, they only came by once in the 4 days we were there, so a non issue really.

All of the TM's we encountered were friendly and helpful, I LOVED the vibe of RP and if I was going on that alone, I would stay again hands down. I wasn't super impressed with the gift shop or the market selections. I figured for a premier, they would both be better, but I felt meh. I really felt that Hard Rock has a better market for quick food pickup options than RP, the HR room was probably a bit bigger, but I prefer the bathroom at RP more lol if you have stayed at HR you know what I mean, esp the door being so close to the dang toilet!! I loved that the market had starbucks coffee available, I got some each day. The SB at HRH was closed super early and often when I wanted some, esp for an afternoon pick me up. I am sure that was staffing issues this past summer though.

Overall, RPR was fine, I would stay there again, but am probably leaning to HRH for our June 2022 trip. We love the premiers for the EP and won't stay elsewhere now! The walk times are not that far off from each other, we made HRH walk in about 5 and I did RPR in about 7, that was a quick walk with purpose not just a leisurely stroll.

 

[bsstone737]

Hi all, we're arriving at RP for 6 nights this Saturday (12/11). First time staying on property at Universal. Can anyone tell me about parking and check-in. We should arrive around 2-3pm. How long should we plan/expect for check-in? We did get annual passes with our stay, is there a dedicated check-in for AP holders? Also is parking self-park or valet and should we all get out with all our stuff and wait to check-in or can people wait in the car until we're checked in?

Sorry for newbie questions but any help would be appreciated!

 

[cschaaf]

Hi all, we're arriving at RP for 6 nights this Saturday (12/11). First time staying on property at Universal. Can anyone tell me about parking and check-in. We should arrive around 2-3pm. How long should we plan/expect for check-in? We did get annual passes with our stay, is there a dedicated check-in for AP holders? Also is parking self-park or valet and should we all get out with all our stuff and wait to check-in or can people wait in the car until we're checked in?

Sorry for newbie questions but any help would be appreciated!

There is self-parking that's across the street from the hotel. 1-2 minute walk at the most. They also have valet if you want.

When you pull into the porte cochere, they will ask you if you want to valet. If you do, you can unload and hand over your keys. If you don't, they will hold your keys while you unload and go check in. You could probably have the others wait in the car. They just want to be able to move it in case it gets busy.

Check-in times will vary. Could be the only one in line and it will be fast... or there could be 10 people in front of you and it will take 30 minutes. All down to luck and timing.

The day before your stay, you might get an email offering mobile check-in. That's typically going to be the faster option. The long part of check-in is that they have to print a personalized room key for each guest (it doubles as your Early Entry pass and your Express Pass). If you do mobile check-in, they pre-print the keys.

Your room may or may not be available. If it is, great. If it's not, you can leave your bags at the luggage desk and they will hold it. Then the hotel will text you when the room is ready. You may or may not have to go back to the desk to get updated keys to match your room.

There's no AP-only check-in line. It's been a while since we've done it, but I believe there is a ticket counter in the lobby where you can pick up your AP. Note that you may also need to show your AP to get the hotel discount (if you got a discounted room). You can do that any time during your stay prior to check-out.

If you chose self-parking, don't forget to go move your car after all of this. They used to not take your keys and once, we forgot to move our car. So excited to get to the parks, we totally forgot. The hotel called us a few hours later and asked us to come back and move the car. lol They had to watch the security tapes to figure out what time we left the car, then compared that to the check-in records.

 

[bsstone737]

Thank you! That is very helpful

 

[georgina]

Checked out of RPR on Sunday, accidentally left something (couple of keys) in the room safe. The safe being in the closet, it's kind of dark and they weren't noticed as we grabbed other things to pack. I realized on the cab ride home from the airport, texted them, and they FedEx'ed them to me, received today. Excellent service!

 

[Midwest9]

Just found this board. Someone said I may be able to find deals on premier hotels here. I’m looking at staying 1 night at Royal Pacific to get the express pass but the price for our date is over $600 for one night with tax! Is this normal? Our date is near Easter Sunday April 10. Will we possibly find a cheaper price closer to our trip? I’m thinking of splurging regardless since buying express passes separately plus a different hotel will kind of add up to the same anyway. Our flights are free with points so that softens the blow a little thanks for any help.

 

[mom2rtk]

Our date is near Easter Sunday April 10.

That’s your issue. Keep watching but deals are much harder to find around major holidays. If it makes you feel any better, the price for express pass is probably through the roof those days.

 

[georgiesgirl]

Due to a illness we had to cancel our reservation for the week after Thanksgiving. We had a package that included hotel, park tickets and dining. We also had the cancel for any reason policy added. They said not a problem they would refund our credit card but still no refund after a month. Is this normal? Thank you

 

[mom2rtk]

Due to a illness we had to cancel our reservation for the week after Thanksgiving. We had a package that included hotel, park tickets and dining. We also had the cancel for any reason policy added. They said not a problem they would refund our credit card but still no refund after a month. Is this normal? Thank you

We recently cancelled one reservation because AP rates came up and we booked again. I don't recall how long it took, but it did seem to take forever.

 

[georgiesgirl]

We recently cancelled one reservation because AP rates came up and we booked again. I don't recall how long it took, but it did seem to take forever.

Thank you

 

[BBZJC]

Does anyone know if the TVs at Royal Pacific are smart TVs or will accept a fire stick? Thanks

 

[cschaaf]

Does anyone know if the TVs at Royal Pacific are smart TVs or will accept a fire stick? Thanks

We've used our AppleTV at most of the resorts, RPR included. I have a small wireless bridge that I use that easily gets me, and all of our devices, through the WiFi portal. The bridge connects to the resort WiFi, then my devices connect to that bridge. As far as the resort network is concerned, I am only connecting one device - the bridge. I get that through the portal, then all connected devices pass through without an issue.

An additional benefit is that the LAN side of that bridge (facing my devices) uses the same network settings as my home network. No reconfiguration of my devices needed - they connect automatically as they would at home.

I'm not sure how you would get through the WiFi portal without a bridge - or if the portal is smart enough to recognize devices without a web interface through which to answer the portal questions.

 

[BBZJC]

We've used our AppleTV at most of the resorts, RPR included. I have a small wireless bridge that I use that easily gets me, and all of our devices, through the WiFi portal. The bridge connects to the resort WiFi, then my devices connect to that bridge. As far as the resort network is concerned, I am only connecting one device - the bridge. I get that through the portal, then all connected devices pass through without an issue.

An additional benefit is that the LAN side of that bridge (facing my devices) uses the same network settings as my home network. No reconfiguration of my devices needed - they connect automatically as they would at home.

I'm not sure how you would get through the WiFi portal without a bridge - or if the portal is smart enough to recognize devices without a web interface through which to answer the portal questions.

Thanks for the info

 

[BBZJC]

Just got back from our trip. We stayed Dec 18-21 in a standard queen room on the fourth floor of tower 3. We are a family of five, two adults, three kids ages 11, 14 and 16. To answer my own question, as far as I could tell it was not a smart tv, however that didn't matter because we spent very little time in the room.
We've been to Orlando several times and always get a condo so we can have room to spread out. So trying a hotel was definitely something different for us, but we really wanted the Express Passes and it was way more economical to get them by staying in the hotel.

The pros:
Loved being able to walk to the parks, and the water taxi was a nice option too. We were in tower 3 so the water taxi was very close.
The beds were very comfortable.
The room was very clean.
The theming was nice.
Express passes were a great perk.
Loved the dual shower heads
My son loved the sushi at Orchid

The cons:
The room was small, especially since we usually stay at a condo. We just barely fit our twin blow up mattress between the bed and the window. It wasn't too much of a problem since we anytime we woke up we went straight to the parks, but it would have been a problem if we were planning to spend anytime in the room.
I was expecting more food options. Tuk Tuk was decent, but they only served hot food 5:00pm-10:30pm and closed at 11pm. Most evenings were not home from the park early enough to use it.
Parking was a bit far away (once again as compared to staying in a condo) especially when were were packing up to go. It seemed like only valet could use the luggage carts. I think I would bring a collapsible wagon next time.
Like everyone else has said the shower leaks horribly. There is literally no way to stop the water from leaking down the side of the door and out on the floor. It truly is a design flaw.
My kids hated the unlockable pocket door to the bathroom.

I was able to check in fairly quickly on Saturday afternoon. But every morning the check in line looked painfully long.

So my in my final analysis if I went again I think I would choose an onsite hotel over staying in a condo, however I might check out Hard Rock since those rooms are a bit bigger.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Does anyone know if the TVs at Royal Pacific are smart TVs or will accept a fire stick? Thanks

Too late to help you, but if others are wondering you can definitely connect a Roku. It'll have you connect it to the hotel wifi network through your cell phone when you first set it up, then you are golden the rest of the stay.

We watched Simpson's on Disney+ each morning. Roku worked in Portofino, Cabana Bay, Sapphire Falls, and RP, so I assume it would work at all onsite hotels.

 

[titaniumfemme]

I and another adult member of my family have a trip to Universal planned for the end of January 2022. We booked a King Suite with the idea that he would take the bed and I would take the sofa bed. (We wanted the extra "living" space that a suite provides.) I've since read on these boards that the sofa beds are very uncomfortable but that the rollaway beds are okay. If that's true, would I be able to request a rollaway bed in the suite? I'm willing to pay an additional charge for it as long as the charge isn't exorbitant. Thanks for any information you can provide.

 

[schumigirl]

I and another adult member of my family have a trip to Universal planned for the end of January 2022. We booked a King Suite with the idea that he would take the bed and I would take the sofa bed. (We wanted the extra "living" space that a suite provides.) I've since read on these boards that the sofa beds are very uncomfortable but that the rollaway beds are okay. If that's true, would I be able to request a rollaway bed in the suite? I'm willing to pay an additional charge for it as long as the charge isn't exorbitant. Thanks for any information you can provide.

Yes, you can have the rollaway in the King Suite. We have one when our adult son comes with us for our Christmas trip and he`s always found the rollaway very comfortable as you are correct, the sofa beds are dreadful!

The King Suites are very nice and yes, more spacious than a regular room.

 

[dalmatian7]

Just got back from our trip. We stayed Dec 18-21 in a standard queen room on the fourth floor of tower 3. We are a family of five, two adults, three kids ages 11, 14 and 16. To answer my own question, as far as I could tell it was not a smart tv, however that didn't matter because we spent very little time in the room.
We've been to Orlando several times and always get a condo so we can have room to spread out. So trying a hotel was definitely something different for us, but we really wanted the Express Passes and it was way more economical to get them by staying in the hotel.

The pros:
Loved being able to walk to the parks, and the water taxi was a nice option too. We were in tower 3 so the water taxi was very close.
The beds were very comfortable.
The room was very clean.
The theming was nice.
Express passes were a great perk.
Loved the dual shower heads
My son loved the sushi at Orchid

The cons:
The room was small, especially since we usually stay at a condo. We just barely fit our twin blow up mattress between the bed and the window. It wasn't too much of a problem since we anytime we woke up we went straight to the parks, but it would have been a problem if we were planning to spend anytime in the room.
I was expecting more food options. Tuk Tuk was decent, but they only served hot food 5:00pm-10:30pm and closed at 11pm. Most evenings were not home from the park early enough to use it.
Parking was a bit far away (once again as compared to staying in a condo) especially when were were packing up to go. It seemed like only valet could use the luggage carts. I think I would bring a collapsible wagon next time.
Like everyone else has said the shower leaks horribly. There is literally no way to stop the water from leaking down the side of the door and out on the floor. It truly is a design flaw.
My kids hated the unlockable pocket door to the bathroom.

I was able to check in fairly quickly on Saturday afternoon. But every morning the check in line looked painfully long.

So my in my final analysis if I went again I think I would choose an onsite hotel over staying in a condo, however I might check out Hard Rock since those rooms are a bit bigger.

We waited about 20 minutes to check in on a Thursday afternoon. There is no difference in check-in with club level and I was surprised I had to check in and then go to the tickets counter separate (we booked it all through Dreams). My husband had gone to get the bags and I had to wait for him to activate the tickets because his name was first on the reservation. Having a paper ticket made me nervous we would lose it so I made sure they were in the app also.

We were there Dec 16-18, club level but 6th floor in Tower 3. I would agree with all the pros above except for cleanliness. I thought the carpets in the hall were in desperate need of a shampoo and our room wasn't dirty, but there were some corners that had not seen a duster in a while. No big deal. We did not try any of the restaurants. We had daily housekeeping. With only three of us we had enough room but could have used another luggage rack to not lose a chair to a suitcase. I like the full length mirror and sink area. The colors in the room are so nice and bright.

I found the food lacking too. The parks were opening really early and there really wasn't anywhere to get food unless we waited until club opened up (which we did). We did have tasty tacos one afternoon poolside. FYI poolside service tacked on a "service fee". When we asked if this was a built in tip, the response was that it was so it could be taxed? That seemed an odd way to explain it and there was still a tip line on the bill. The food was good but that experience kind of turned us off. We were not in the pool chairs, we took a table by the bar, so we were ordering from a person not online. I don't know, it was later on arrival day, we had been up since 4, worked, drove, flew, drove, and were just hungry and looking for food. Maybe we missed something if this sounds wrong to someone with more experience here.

Club offerings were decent, especially the breakfast selections. A wide variety of prepackaged cereals and oatmeals, plenty of beverages, breads to toast, hot and cold options on the buffet, coffee, teas etc. Opened both mornings right at 7. Loved being able to grab a bottled water to take to the park. The only negative was that we were not on the club floor. We were trying to limit indoor unmasked with a group time so we would carry our stuff back to the room. We did find that you could use the stairwell (card reader at the top) and that was much more convenient (as long as you could open the door and balance your plate). Staff was polite and helpful but sometimes missing because they do some prep in a small room behind the buffet. We missed both evening offerings of hot items, and the desserts were just ok.

We ate at Red Oven Pizza and had a nice cheese pizza. I would have liked to have been more adventurous but I was sharing with a kiddo.

We did have an excellent lunch at Toothsome. You can keep the milkshakes, the food was awesome. We ended up with the three of us splitting a milkshake and we still couldn't finish it. Way too thin and sweet for me. We had the Thrilla Vanilla or something. I regret not going back to get some macaroons later. I would eat there again.

We really enjoyed Express Pass. Why is this so simple and WDW is such a mess? I have to wonder what the crowd size difference is that they don't feel like such a simple system could work. The only thing we waited more then 10 minutes for was Hagrids. The sign said 70 but it was the first time we had seen the line inside the walls so we gave it a shot. We walked the line until the area by Hagrids cottage. From there we waited 50 minutes. Not bad with so much to look at. I like that you really can't see the ride until you are on it. I had no idea what was going to happen beyond what the ride vehicle looked like. That made for a great time.

All in all, I would not do US IOA without Express Pass. I really like the walkability of the Royal Pacific, but like the quoted poster, I didn't love it enough to say I wouldn't try Hard Rock next time.

 

[titaniumfemme]

Yes, you can have the rollaway in the King Suite. We have one when our adult son comes with us for our Christmas trip and he`s always found the rollaway very comfortable as you are correct, the sofa beds are dreadful!

The King Suites are very nice and yes, more spacious than a regular room.

Thanks to all for the responses. I've decided to splash out and move us to a hospitality suite for even more room and the ability to comfortably eat in the room if we're not comfortable inside a restaurant when we go in late January.

Which raises another question for me. By staying in a hospitality suite, will we have access to the Club lounge? I found one source on line that says yes, but only one, so I thought I'd ask the experts!

 

[schumigirl]

Thanks to all for the responses. I've decided to splash out and move us to a hospitality suite for even more room and the ability to comfortably eat in the room if we're not comfortable inside a restaurant when we go in late January.

Which raises another question for me. By staying in a hospitality suite, will we have access to the Club lounge? I found one source on line that says yes, but only one, so I thought I'd ask the experts!

It`s not automatic no.

You would have to book a hospitality suite with club access if it`s available. I think you made a good decision, the hospitality suites are lovely, and yes, very spacious.