Hijinks & Shenanigans but not much Mayhem@The Dark Side+Disney:Link to DL/Hawaii TR

[natebenma]

The bathroom was kind of small. But there was a sink inside the bathroom to wash your hands and one outside of the door for prepping so that definitely helped speed things up in the morning.










Safe Dimensions: 15x12x5 ½ 
Worked with a 4 digit keypad entry


We had originally booked a standard view room through Travelocity. About a month after booking I called Hard Rock directly to see what the AAA room rates were- turns out that was a much better deal. They were sold out of standard view rooms, but we booked a garden view for less money. No cancellation penalty with Travelocity, so this is what we ended up with:

















WE LOVED THESE VIEWS!!!



A couple of minutes after we entered the room, a guy came in to see if we needed anything in the mini bar or ask if we wanted him to take the key away. He took the key. I was told by a friend that if I asked, they would clear the fridge for you to use during your stay, but we didnt bother.







A few moments after that someone from housekeeping came by to see if we needed anything. We mentioned that we would like to have a rollaway bed delivered to the room ($25 per night). About 5 minutes after she left, our phone rang

This is Star Service, we received your request for a rollaway and we will be bringing one to your room

30 seconds after that

This is Star Service again. You dont need to wait in your room for the rollaway. We will deliver it while you are out

Sweet! If this is Star Service, sign me up!!!









We took their advice and cleared out of the room- Universal Studios was our destination and we will get to that, but my next update will be:


On Tour at the Hard Rock Hotel

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ETA: I think someone asked if we stayed club level at the Hard Rock. We did not. The main draw to us for staying club level is the breakfast to get you going before hitting the parks. Two years ago, we booked CL at Portofino, not realizing that breakfast didn't start until 7 am, the same time WWoHP opened. We did not make that mistake again this year. But I have had my yearly quota of Poptarts!

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[MEK]

Nice room and even NICER view! So the trick is to call the hotel directly? I was looking at room rates in October, toying with the idea of a two night stay, but the rooms are expensive. The DVC thing has me spoiled and I get sticker shock when I look at room rates.

Looking forward to more pictures from the hotel and bring on the parks!

 

[Simba's Girl]

Dee is it me or is the time on the picture of the alarm clock 11:11???? (hard to see with the glare!)

That room looks nice, great view!

 

[HockeyMomR]

Nice room and lovely view. Good job on getting the better view at a better rate Love when that happens.

Like the safes with codes so much better than when a key is needed. And excellent quick response time for the cot. Star service indeed.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I have to say that I MUCH prefer the keypad entry on the safe as opposed to the key I had at POP. One less thing to carry around.

Yup, that's definitely a pretty view. Nice work on the switch.

 

[JanetMom]

Looks like a great room. Very nice!

Love that the picture of Nate in the chair is blurry. Clearly you only had seconds to get the shot before the teen snarled or ran away, so I understand why there would not be time to focus the shot.

 

[natebenma]

Nice room and even NICER view! So the trick is to call the hotel directly? I was looking at room rates in October, toying with the idea of a two night stay, but the rooms are expensive. The DVC thing has me spoiled and I get sticker shock when I look at room rates.

Looking forward to more pictures from the hotel and bring on the parks!

We really loved that view. We could see walking on the path from Hard Rock to City Walk, the boats would pass by on occasion and sometimes we would see one of the rickshaws go by.

But, Spoiler Alert: It wasn't the best room view of the trip!

Yes, for the AAA rates, you call the hotel. They were super nice, friendly and helpful when I called.

Dee is it me or is the time on the picture of the alarm clock 11:11???? (hard to see with the glare!)

That room looks nice, great view!

You are right, it does say 11:11. I couldn't tell for sure, but I have two more pictures taken a few minutes later and they clearly say 11:17. Not bad timing for having arrived in Orlando and being in our room!

Nice room and lovely view. Good job on getting the better view at a better rate Love when that happens.

Like the safes with codes so much better than when a key is needed. And excellent quick response time for the cot. Star service indeed.

Every time I turned around with this trip I saved money! I have never made so many changes to my bookings before. We changed our Hard Rock reservation. I applied the 30% summer discount to my original Beach Club booking, then made it a package, then changed it back to room only.

We prefer the code to the key on the safe, too.

The star service was excellent. Mark used it one time when our room was not made up- which really wasn't an issue- but we needed the coffee restocked- THAT is an issue- and they came right up with it.

I also "butt" dialed Star Service at 2 am- my pillow knocked the phone receiver off the cradle and I had to explain to them that we were all set.

Oops!

I have to say that I MUCH prefer the keypad entry on the safe as opposed to the key I had at POP. One less thing to carry around.

Yup, that's definitely a pretty view. Nice work on the switch.

Ditto on the keypad.

There are very few, if any balconies, at the Hard Rock, but even so, we enjoyed having the lovely view.

Looks like a great room. Very nice!

Love that the picture of Nate in the chair is blurry. Clearly you only had seconds to get the shot before the teen snarled or ran away, so I understand why there would not be time to focus the shot.

I was thinking that exact same thing when I was posting the picture. Nate doesn't like when I take pictures of him, so I have to do it quick.


Mom: Why wont you let me take your picture?
Nate: Because they all come out blurry!

We could go round and round like that all day!

 

[pixarmom]

OK, I am willing to admit that the aforementioned (and pictured) non-Disney room is nice.

As for the cartoon, do you have a stash of cartoons at home in an envelope with my name on it? Although the only reason this doesn't apply is that I will NEVER run out of Disney soap/shampoo! I even have the old kind with the red bubble top. And then last summer on the Disney Wonder when I asked our stateroom host for extras (for legitimate purposes) he left more than I could even fit in our ziplock bags.

Really nice view - and as you know, I'm always a fan of booking the garden view category!

 

[natebenma]

OK, I am willing to admit that the aforementioned (and pictured) non-Disney room is nice.

As for the cartoon, do you have a stash of cartoons at home in an envelope with my name on it? Although the only reason this doesn't apply is that I will NEVER run out of Disney soap/shampoo! I even have the old kind with the red bubble top. And then last summer on the Disney Wonder when I asked our stateroom host for extras (for legitimate purposes) he left more than I could even fit in our ziplock bags.

Really nice view - and as you know, I'm always a fan of booking the garden view category!

I do have a stash of cartoons that I plan to use for this report- in a folder, not an envelope. I have the perfect one for my "Momma Scores Big on Buzz" chapter, but it is a bit, shall we say "risqué" Watch your email!

I have my own stash of shampoos and soap. I don't know if you saw when I posted a picture, captioned "One Shampoo Bottle Away from an Episode of Hoarders"

 

[DisMomAmy]

Subbing! Will be back to catch up later!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Gorgeous room Dee and love those views
Love it even more that you have a wee folder full of cartoons all good and ready for this report (and to think I thought I was an organised person).

Looking forward to the tour

 

[lsenquiz]

It is not easy to get through Airport security anymore. My DS25 flew by himself for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I felt like I had to give him an hour lecture on what he should not put in his carry on.

Bummer that you guys could not get seats together on the plane but it sounds like you had an uneventful flight which are my favorite kind. Boring is what I always pray for when I board a plan (I do not like flying which is why I am so glad we live close enough to drive!)

I think my Hard Rock name tag would would be a country singer. Wonder if that would be allowed? I think DH would have The Police, DS25 would have Queen & DD21 would be country like me.

I am excited to see your resort pictures. I have never stayed at the Hard Rock hotel in Orlando but have eaten at the restaurant many times. The Hard Rock hotel in Vegas is my favorite place to stay when we go there so I am interested to see if they are similiar.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Hi Dee! We are home

Going to get caught up today. It was a great trip but it still went by way to FAST!!! It doesn't matter how long you're there.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[ddluvsdisney]

We do love the HR! DS12 asked when we were staying there again.... DH said start saving your $$$ Lol

You had a really nice view. The first time we stayed CL we had a park view. That was cool.

Isn't the walk over there great?? I loved how close we were.

That was super great service!!! Wow.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[catho72]

Wow! I love your room at Hard Rock! It's modern AND homey looking, which to me is what CR should look like....instead it looks angular and not homey at all.

Can't wait to read about your days at US.

BTW, the names I would choose for my name tag would be Tim McGraw or Barry Manilow. Polar opposites, huh? Love 'em both! Jimmy Buffett IS awesome....remind me to tell you about "seeing" him in concert last year.....never actually saw him or made it to our seats. Oops!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[mickeystoontown]

I laughed out loud at the cartoon at the beginning of this installment. I cleaned out the bathroom cabinets and was able to fill a fairly big box with hotel shampoos and soaps. Hey, I paid for 'em, I might as well take 'em. And, they come in handy on our camping trips.

Way to go on saving the extra $ by changing your booking. I have never booked through Travelocity and didn't know that if they had any type of cancellation fees.

The rooms looks really nice and that view is very pretty!

 

[natebenma]

Subbing! Will be back to catch up later!

Thanks for stopping by. I have some major catch-up to do on your report!

Gorgeous room Dee and love those views
Love it even more that you have a wee folder full of cartoons all good and ready for this report (and to think I thought I was an organised person).

Looking forward to the tour

We were really happy with the room!

Hope everyone enjoys the comics. They're not all gems, though!

It is not easy to get through Airport security anymore. My DS25 flew by himself for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I felt like I had to give him an hour lecture on what he should not put in his carry on.

Bummer that you guys could not get seats together on the plane but it sounds like you had an uneventful flight which are my favorite kind. Boring is what I always pray for when I board a plan (I do not like flying which is why I am so glad we live close enough to drive!)

I think my Hard Rock name tag would would be a country singer. Wonder if that would be allowed? I think DH would have The Police, DS25 would have Queen & DD21 would be country like me.

I am excited to see your resort pictures. I have never stayed at the Hard Rock hotel in Orlando but have eaten at the restaurant many times. The Hard Rock hotel in Vegas is my favorite place to stay when we go there so I am interested to see if they are similiar.

We are usually pretty lucky going through security.

Last year on the middle school class trip, my son had a full-sized stick of deodorant in his carryon.

It wasn't the best flight we have ever had but it was far from the worse!

Resort pictures coming up VERY SOON!

Hi Dee! We are home

Going to get caught up today. It was a great trip but it still went by way to FAST!!! It doesn't matter how long you're there.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

We do love the HR! DS12 asked when we were staying there again.... DH said start saving your $$$ Lol

You had a really nice view. The first time we stayed CL we had a park view. That was cool.

Isn't the walk over there great?? I loved how close we were.

That was super great service!!! Wow.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

So sorry we couldn't make a meet-up work. We felt like it was a super short trip because the Disney part was only a little more than 4 days.

Save those $$$! We really liked the resort and we will be back.

A park view would be really cool, but I would totally be looking out saying... we should be THERE!

Wow! I love your room at Hard Rock! It's modern AND homey looking, which to me is what CR should look like....instead it looks angular and not homey at all.

Can't wait to read about your days at US.

BTW, the names I would choose for my name tag would be Tim McGraw or Barry Manilow. Polar opposites, huh? Love 'em both! Jimmy Buffett IS awesome....remind me to tell you about "seeing" him in concert last year.....never actually saw him or made it to our seats. Oops!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Glad you liked the room. We were right at home.

Too funny about the JB concert! The best part of the concert is the tailgating though and I suspect your story has a little extra partying going on.

I laughed out loud at the cartoon at the beginning of this installment. I cleaned out the bathroom cabinets and was able to fill a fairly big box with hotel shampoos and soaps. Hey, I paid for 'em, I might as well take 'em. And, they come in handy on our camping trips.

Way to go on saving the extra $ by changing your booking. I have never booked through Travelocity and didn't know that if they had any type of cancellation fees.

The rooms looks really nice and that view is very pretty!

I think a lot of us have those little stashes of shampoo and soap.

Enviromentally, I am always glad when I stay at a place that has the dispensers on the shower walls.

We have booked a few things through Travelocity. This was a room only booking, so we got all of our money refunded. Might have been different if we had booked airfare through them.

We really enjoyed the room and the view. When we were around.

 

[natebenma]

I'm getting ready to post "On Tour at the Hard Rock" a 7-part showcase of the resort. Those of you who know my work on the BC/YC FAQ should expect no less!



The posts will be mostly pictures with a little commentary.

If you have no interest in learning about the Hard Rock Hotel, feel free to skip these posts and check back later in the week. I promise you, we WILL actually visit a theme park!

On Tour at the Hard Rock:

Be Our Guest (Lobby and Public Areas)
A Few of My Favorite Things (Memorabilia)
I Melt With You (Emack & Bolios)
Twistin' by the Pool
(Rockaway) Beach Club (Poolside Bar and Restaurant)
Get Busy (Resort Activities)
Walk This Way

 

[natebenma]

Insert Resort Map


“Be Our Guest” Lobby & Public Areas

















Lobby- Third Floor:
















Hallways:







These were the views of the theme parks from the windows near the elevators:








When you take the elevator to the First Floor, you end up in this rotunda, with exits to The Kitchen restaurant, Emack and Bolios, the pool and the boat launch/walking path







Look who showed up:





Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

“A Few of My Favorite Things!” Memorabilia





Love on an Elevator (3rd Floor Elevator):



Workin’ for the Weekend:



I Want to Rock and Roll All Night!



Cool for Cats:







I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You







I Think I Love You! (David Cassidy was my first crush, and recipient of the very first love letter I ever wrote)




Continued in Next Post