Hard Rock Hotel Orlando, a Review

Hard Rock Hotel Orlando, review

My family of 4 recently took a trip to Universal Studio's Orlando, in Florida. In our party is myself, my husband and our 2 kids, a 3 year old boy, and a 7 year old girl. Over the years we have figured out a few tips here and there to make our theme park experiences go smoothly. While getting the most fun for our time and budget.

So this review is of our hotel experience and why I feel that this hotel deserves it's own review. First of all it's a beautiful resort. If you like to take pictures of your family members the Hard Rock Hotel is a picturesque location for capturing those fleeting moments.

Upon our check-in the staff was friendly and inviting. One person even remarked that I seemed like a "rockin lady" LOL!! I would not call myself a  "rock n roll" chick, but there were plenty of other genres of music memorbilia to delight any music fan. The hotel clerk informed me of  our basic amenities, and one of the biggest reasons we chose to stay on property was the free unlimited Express passes for each member of our party. These passes were good all day for the arrival and departure date, so we were covered for both days! Each person had a pass with there photo and name printed on it.

If we had bought our passes out right for the one week day and one weekend day we would have paid $859.92....that is buying for 4 people. The Express pass has a different rate during the week than on the weekend.Now you may be thinking, but you may not need an Express pass for the 3 year old, and that is true. He was extremely limited on the Express pass uses that he could do. Buying 3 unlimited Express passes still cost $644.94. What about just for 2 people, then you are paying $429.96. Our room was discounted and we paid $254.00 for the one night. Which more than justified our decision to stay on the property. Our room was a standard room with 2 queen beds, it overlooked the front the of the hotel. But honestly, we didn't mind the view because we were not there to stay in the room. We were there to go to the theme parks.

Another great perk of being on the Universal Property is not needing to take a shuttle to the park or drive your vehicle and pay for parking. Although there was a nightly fee for parking. It was secure and convenient. We parked our car in the hotel guest parking early that morning, picked up our passes and walked to the theme park. Our room would not be ready, but we left all our luggage in our vehicle and planned to get it that evening when we were done for the day. The hotel also offers to hold your bags and put them in your room for you when the room is ready. They also alert you by text when the room is ready and available to you.

Along the short path of the Hard Rock Hotel to Universal Studio's Orlando we enjoyed great scenery. It was gorgeous and mostly shaded by lush palm trees, foliage and bamboo. There is a Butterfly garden and tons of lizards. My sons favorite thing is a creepy lizard! The path follows the lake. There are other transportation options like riding a rickshaw, or the water taxi. On the path you must watch out for the rickshaw drivers, but other than that a pleasant walk to and from the park.

Later than night, we tried to enjoy the pool and it's claim of being heated. But, my son's lips were purple and I don't think it was actually heated. We did go in mid May, so I'm not sure when they turn the heat down, maybe May 1st LOL! Also we missed the super slide, because it was too cold for us. They had a poolside family movie night, and we would have enjoyed that. But everyone was over crowded the hot tub to try and stay warm. We called it a night shortly after getting in the cold water.

Back in our room, the beds were oversized Queen beds. The kids were given inflatable Hard Rock Hotel guitars to play with. After a nice hot shower we all layed down for bed. The beds were super comfortable and the pillows were nice. Great for a long day running around a theme park!

The next day we stopped at Emack & Bolio's Marketplace for a quick breakfast. We had hoped to save money in the park. It ended up being pricey to feed us all at the HRH, but we we did save  money in the park later for lunch. As you can see my daughter picked a healthy option....that donut is bigger then her head!

Review Wrap Up: A+

For the price and savings, I would recommend this resort to anyone! We only needed the room for one night as we made other arrangements for the next evening. It was worth the rate we paid to get the unlimited Express Pass. And I would definitely stay here again or at another Universal Resort if  I were coming back. I did meet a lady in the park that mentioned she was at the new Cabana Bay Beach Resort. We actually tried to stay there, it's the lowest tier offered at this theme park area. It was totally sold out.  She said the room was really small and she wasn't that impressed. I personally don't think that would have mattered to us, although our room was huge.

thanks for reading
StMS