WendiDarling
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 16, 2007
So, I like a bit of peace and quiet in the morning. Since the room is crowded with the 5 of us, I'm going out to the common area to work. You are pretty much listening to rock music 24/7, lol! It's not very peaceful... Also, I would love to have a balcony! Does PBH have balconies? If so, we will be going there next time. Also, hot tubs are closed. Guess that is something I should have researched/anticipated. But I was VERY disappointed. For me, after a long park day, that is pretty much the highlight of my day, sitting in the hot tub with an adult beverage!Thank you so much for sharing all of this. I am hanging on every word! We are trying to decide between HRH and RPR. You said hard rock is not your vibe? Tell me a little bit more please.
The freestyle cup sounds great! Is it difficult to get a refill? Do you hand them the same cup?
That’s a bummer that the quick service isn’t so quick. Very frustrating!
How are you filling your time in the evenings with the parks closing earlier? My guess is that we will be hanging out by the pool.
Thanks again!
I thought walking would be more of a draw, but we really like the water taxi. So we've been using that 90% of the time. Even if we have to wait a bit. Very relaxing ride and saves the feet!
On the plus side, I have encountered nothing but nice TMs. So everyone here is friendly and helpful. And the express passes are beyond invaluable.
The vacation desk in the lobby can upgrade passes for you. They cannot do everything guest relations can do, but were very helpful as well doing our upgrades. Also, paid for the hotel with gift cards. The TM helping me was very nice, but it took a long time. Make sure you do that at "off" hours of the day. I did it right before dinner and it was perfect. But at check-in or check-out time it would have been rough. At HRH, at least, they had to verify the balance on your card, then redeem the card, then apply the card to the room. 3 steps for each card with a very old technology machine, and I had 5 of them, since you can't combine. It took probably 20 minutes at the desk.
Not difficult with the cups at all. There are self-service refills throughout the park. they have every other one blocked off for covid precautions. Or, if it's a counter service, they will just give you a paper cup of whatever you want to pour into your own cup.
Yes, the quick service has probably been the biggest challenge. Everywhere is mobile order. But we were paying with gift cards and dining plan which made it very cumbersome because you can't do that in the app. So at this time, I do not recommend doing that. And I would not do it again. Also, they just tell you to sit down and raise your hand when you're done mobile ordering and some one will come over. It's weird. I hope we get to experience a more "back to normal" quick service when we come back. We ate at Thunder Terrace again yesterday because we tried 2 other places (Three Broomsticks and Dagwoods) that didn't' seem to have the ability to help us with any kind of speed. Its crazy. People starving in a theme park and we couldnt' seem to find anywhere to eat, lol! That NEVER happens. Thunder Falls seemed to have it most together with their system. Although the food was just ok for me, the kids liked it.
At night...we've been leaving the parks when they close at 5/6pm. Then going to dinner at CityWalk and a bit of pool time. That's been it for us. After long days, it's really all I've been up for! I would really like the parks to be open later. We have not taken afternoon breaks b/c of the short hours. But it would be nice to have the option to go back later.
We ate at Hard Rock Cafe last night. Best server and best service of the trip. Shortest wait at 40 minutes. Food was pretty good.
Even with Express Passes, for a first time guest, I would suggest having a plan. We didn't on the first day and felt kind of aimless and chaotic. But again, I thought it would be just "show up and go". The second 2 days, we wrote down what we'd like to accomplish and checked things off the list. MUCH better for me...but I'm a list person. So I would do that again, at least for first time visit. Second visit and beyond could maybe just wing it a bit more...