To cabana or not to cabana that is the question!

[MadamG2U]

We will be going down in Aug for 4 days. I was thinking of taking one of these days as a pool day for myself while everyone else is at the parks.

I've read about the cabanas and thought it would be a good idea. Ran it by friends and family and most folks are saying it is a waste of money.

We are staying at PBH and I thought 1/2 day rental would be refeshing.

What do you all think?

 

[tazz]

I'm also wondering the same thing. Is it worth it on a Friday when they have the movies--that's when we were thinking of doing it? Are there lounge chairs by the cabanas. I don't think I'd want to spend a lot of time sitting in those regular chairs in the cabana. With club level is it worth it? We can just run up to the lounge and get snacks & drinks. Any input from someone who's done a cabana??

 

[noseybuddy]

I rented a cabana at the Hard Rock 2 years ago. It had lounge chairs and regular chairs. It also had a TV ceiling fan and a fridge stocked with soda and water. Also a bowl of fresh fruit was included. I rented it for half a day. It was nice to have it on a hot day if you didn't feel like going in the water. The ceiling fan was a big help. Also if you have little ones it is a good place to nap.

 

[lookingforward]

I think the cabanas are worth the money at the Hard Rock but not so sure about the PBH. The pool at the PBH is, in my opinion, much quieter and empty than the HRH. I think you can rent a cabana at the HRH even ifyou are a guest at other Loews hotels, but not sure. We have rented them twice at theHRH, once for the whole day and once for a half day. I enjoyed the cabanas for a few reasons. One is that I have kids and it was a "gathering" spot for everyone. It allowed me to sit out but not get too much sun (I am approaching middle age and much more careful with my skin). It was also great to be able to order drinks and lunch and have it at the shaded table in the cabana. There are two lounge chairs and four regular chairs for you and friends. The fan was nice when I wanted to take a break and read quietly or my daughter wanted to nap. (For mom's they will even bring a crib down to the cabana for your child) We enjoyed the fruit and complimentary drinks and the access to a phone and television that were provided.

We rented the cabana once for the day during the dive in movie and that was really great. Many people stopped by to ask how I rented one and said they thought it would be cool to do during special pool events. I am not sure how much the rentals are anymore but when I did it a year or so ago it was $60 for the day and I got a discount since we were in a club room. I absolutely LOVE the HRH pool. It is so much fun. My kid's favorite hotel and pool.

 

[tazz]

Today I called & reserved cabana #6 for Friday night while we're at HRH. I'm worried that I chose a cabana too far from everything. When I made the reservation I asked for the closest to the kiddie pool. Looking at the map, it doesn't look like this one is by the kiddie pool?? We want to be close to where our 4 yr old ds will be most of the day. #2 was also available. Does anyone know if you can you watch the movie from Cabana #6?? Or is #2 or 3 a better choice?

By the way, it was $40 for the day (8am - 11pm) if you are staying club level, otherwise it is $75 for the day.

 

[shpedly]

I think #6 would be hard to see the movie. They set it up in the sand area in front of the kiddie pool facing the pool. For the movie, I would go with #2, but this is the farthest from the kiddie pool. It would depend on whether being by the kiddie pool is the most important. With a 4 yr old, I wouldn't think #2 would be the best. The ones like 8, 9 would be closest, but they would be behind the movie screen?

 

[lookingforward]

8 and 9 are right at the kiddie pool and number 10 is close and also by the water slide. Number 6 has a restricted view (trees) which makes it nice for adults but not for families. I know because we had 9 reserved once and they tried to talk me into number 6. There used to be a cabana map on this website, maybe you could do a search and find it again.

 

[taylor1293]

Cabana's 7 and 8 are right behind the kiddie pool. #7 is their themed "yellow submarine" cabana. We had both of these on our last trip.

However, if you want to see a movie, I don't think 7 or 8 will work because I believe (not positive) that they tear these down for the movie.

I would think cabana 1 or 2 would be your best bet for being able to view the movie from your cabana.

http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/hrockmap.html

Here is a hotel map. The yellow boxes are the cabana's (with the exception of the 3rd box, I think that is where you pick up towles/floaties ect). Start at the top right and move clockwise.

Teresa

 

[lookingforward]

Cabanas 7, 8 and 9 are very close to the kiddie pool. Cabin 10 is great if you have older kids because it is right near the volleyball area and the great water slide. They do tear down 7 and 8 for the movies (they put up a huge screen in this area) now that I remember it because that is what we had reserved for the dive in movie and they called to tell us we had to move and offered us cabana 6 which is partially obstructed and would have been of no use for the movie (since the screen is on the same side).

 

[tazz]

Thanks everyone! I changed to cabana #2.

 

[MadamG2U]

still trying to decide what to do.

 

[tazz]

MadamG2U

I think you will have a very relaxing day hanging out in the cabana and everyone in your group will be happy to get back from the parks and have the cabana to recooperate at if they get back in time. We're planning to go to the parks in the morning for a short while, then hang out at the cabana the rest of the day and into the evening (I reserved for the whole day because the HRH only does full day reservations for Fridays). I think it will be great because if our ds gets tired, he can just rest on the lounge in the shade. I'm looking forward to this down day for us.

-Sherry

 

[MadamG2U]

Tazz thanks so much for the reply. I still haven't decided but am leaning towards doing it. One questions. I have friends who live not to far away and was thinking that day would be a nice day to visit. Would the hotel have a problem with my inviting 2 friends over?

 

[shpedly]

I can't imagine that they would. They do not check id's except to get towels, and you can get as many as you want with your resort id. Nobody checks otherwise. Coming in or out of the hotel. They only give six drinks in the fridge, so you'll need to buy extra. We always just brought drinks from our room from our cooler. We bought stuff at the Super Target and kept it in our room cooler.

 

[tazz]

One thing, when I made my reservation, the guy said we could not bring any outside drinks into the cabana...they have to be purchased at the pool. I will bring them from the club level tho. I'm not paying twice.

 

[taylor1293]

Tazz,

We brought outside drinks into our cabana and put them in the frig . Mostly from the club level, but we also brought some beer down from our room (carried it in my big bag).

There was no way I was going to pay high prices for soda and beer that I already had available to me. However, we did end up spending way too much money on "blue suede shoes", an awesome frozen drink from the pool bar! Yummy!

Teresa

 

[pixie dust gal!]

We just returned from HRH and we had cabana #10 (our favorite) for 10 days. During the summer, it is so HOT that we need a cabana to stay at the pool all afternoon.

We have always brought extra drinks down to the cabana with us whether we were on the club floor or not (this stay we were on the club floor). I have always bought extra juice boxes and soda - we have done this for every stay (about 6 trips so far) and have never received a comment.

Debbie

 

[kjcolv]

We just got back from PBH and had a cabana rented for just the reasons you mentioned. We needed a break for a day and I had friends in town that I wanted to visit. I had a cabana reserved at PBH. I didn't realize the PBH cabanas were at the "quieter pool" (the one without the slide). There are no cabanas at the beach pool. My kids wanted the slide. They called HR for me and there were no cabanas available, however they took my name and called the next day to say they had a cancellation. We had cabana 8 and it was great. We brought drinks and put them in the fridge. No one looks in the fridge, the wait staff stops by to see if you need anything but they never said a word about our other drinks (of course we did order enough to keep them happy!!). OUr friends came and there was no problem, there were towels at the cabana and we could get more with our room cards. It was a nice break and I highly recommend it. My friends enjoyed getting to come to the hotel and hang out with us. If you are looking for quiet place then the PBH cabanas are a good choice, although the villa pool never looked busy to me so you could have a quiet space without the cabana. If it's for kids and friends I'd say HR is the place.

 

[MadamG2U]

kjcolv, thanks so much for the reply. If I can ask how much did it cost to rent the cabana for the day? Also if I plan to go to the park in the morning would that be a problem? I am so looking forward to this trip! Aug. 9th just wont come fast!

Thanks again!

 

[kjcolv]

It was $74.00 (including the tax for the day) 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. We went over around 10 and stayed until 5:00 when it started raining and they had to clear the pool deck. They put a sign on the table in the cabana saying (Reserved for Smith) and a plastic chain with a reserved sign on the cabana furniture. Some of the cabanas stayed like that for most of the day, so you could go to the parks and then to the pool. Just be aware of the weather, it rains frequently in the late afternoon. We thought about going back for the evening but we never made it.

I also thought it was clever and really appreciated that the cabana furniture was different patterns and colors from the surrounding furniture, even different cabana to cabana, so there was no mistaking what was "reserved" furniture. That was you could put your lonuge chair out in the sun and not worry about someone taking it while you were gone to the pool or something. I thought overall it was a great value and the perfect break.