Help me pick a club level hotel

[dreamer17555]

First time visitor traveling with DD20 and DS15 in May. Looking at the premier hotels for express pass but really want a good club level lounge as well. My dd loves the Poly when staying at WDW, my son loves the YC. I was leaning towards HRH but saw the club lounge might be lacking and there might be construction???

What Lowes Premier would you book and why?

 

[Dawn Peterson]

Also interested in this post. We have only done Portofino Bay club but I loved it. I’m told their warm breakfast offerings (which were very good, things like sausage egg and cheese croissants and potatoes) are above the cold breakfasts at the other 2. My kids eat the donuts so they don’t care either way. The dinner food was excellent for me, but a little too much flavor for my picky pre teen kids. We went before the remodel but I’m told the new club room is beautiful with fantastic views. We are trying Hard Rock this time. It sounds more similar to Beach Club, club level which my kids preferred to Portofino Bay. I am also concerned about the remodel at Hard Rock, since it appears to be the roof and walking past it was ridiculously loud as they dropped the tiles. Im going to wait and see because my kids love the pool at Hard Rock over the other 2 top tier resorts. For older kids who would choose poly and yacht club, I would probably go Portofino. Pools and relaxed vibe is more similar to those two. My kids choose contemporary at Disney.

 

[sp'smom]

I have booked HRH club for May. Will be traveling with young adult children and they love the convenience of the Hard Rock to City Walk and the Parks. I would love to have more hot offerings also. Any recent food photos from the HRH club would be appreciated!

 

[Lemur_dad]

Reviving a really old thread instead of opening a new one - I am in the same boat for our August trip.

Here is the conundrum: we were set for HRH, but then realized we can fit club rooms into the budget. So now we are choosing between HRH and PB. 3 kids - 13, 10, 8.

HRH. Pros: proximity, vibe, pool. Cons: meh food at club level
PB. Pros: larger rooms, better food at club level. Cons: not really walkable to park in the heat.

We are going last week of August mid-week. Which would you prefer? Is the HRH lounge going to be super busy? Is the HRH club lounge food really that bad? Or still an ok value for extra $90 per night - for 5 days, I think soda and breakfast alone make the math work, but maybe not? Am I overthinking it?

 

[IzzyBella]

We’ve stayed at both post-pandemic as a family of 3. We don’t make dinner out of the lounge, so the proximity of HRH works best for us, and we used the club for light breakfast, drinks and snacks.

That said, our next trip is as a group of 5, so we’re going to PB because the rooms are so much larger. On this trip we may try to make it dinner 1-2 nights, too.

Hope that helps!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

The PB pool is really nice (have not been to the HRH pool) so I wouldn't consider the HRH pool a pro, they're probably even at best.

Unless the boats stop due to weather, there's really no reason to walk from PB.

I really liked the Club level at PB, have not stayed at HRH at all (yet?) for comparison though.

If you're trying to do dinner a few times, I would probably opt for PB. I thought the evening offerings were fine for dinner, granted we stayed just one night. And for sure worth the upgrade price for 5 peeps. If you are not going to bother hitting dinner or dessert times and a less robust breakfast is fine, then it's more of a toss up.

Either way, have fun & remember that those club level sodas travel just fine to the parks! And they fit in the lockers.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Reviving a really old thread instead of opening a new one - I am in the same boat for our August trip.

Here is the conundrum: we were set for HRH, but then realized we can fit club rooms into the budget. So now we are choosing between HRH and PB. 3 kids - 13, 10, 8.

HRH. Pros: proximity, vibe, pool. Cons: meh food at club level
PB. Pros: larger rooms, better food at club level. Cons: not really walkable to park in the heat.

We are going last week of August mid-week. Which would you prefer? Is the HRH lounge going to be super busy? Is the HRH club lounge food really that bad? Or still an ok value for extra $90 per night - for 5 days, I think soda and breakfast alone make the math work, but maybe not? Am I overthinking it?

This was almost exactly the same question we had, my kids are of similar age, and we are going at almost the same time lol. I went with PB due to cost, really, but the PB club lounge looks really nice. Also I do like that there are larger rooms, since we'll have to pay for a rollaway.

 

[Lemur_dad]

This was almost exactly the same question we had, my kids are of similar age, and we are going at almost the same time lol. I went with PB due to cost, really, but the PB club lounge looks really nice. Also I do like that there are larger rooms, since we'll have to pay for a rollaway.

This is where I am leaning.

First, it's just nicer and larger room AND cheaper (which also induced a bit of FOMO since I think it's due to renovation and won't happen again soon)
Second, my wife also needs to take 2 important video calls on the days of our check-in and check-out, and after I spent 30 mins on the phone with each hotel, it sounds like PB facilities for that are much nicer
Third, my kids may be upset about NOT staying at HRH, but we can go there easily - both to the pool and for fun - and we can't go from there to a PB club lounge dinner

 

[Lemur_dad]

This was almost exactly the same question we had, my kids are of similar age, and we are going at almost the same time lol. I went with PB due to cost, really, but the PB club lounge looks really nice. Also I do like that there are larger rooms, since we'll have to pay for a rollaway.

We are considering bringing an air mattress, by the way, instead of paying for the rollaway.

 

[ELT]

Are you able to pay to upgrade a villa suite to club level? I don’t see any club level suites ( need two bedrooms) at portofino for our dates.

 

[Disneytam]

Are you able to pay to upgrade a villa suite to club level? I don’t see any club level suites ( need two bedrooms) at portofino for our dates.

Universal wont let you add it before your trip but everyone I've talked with says that you can add it at the front desk when you arrive. I think the currant cost is $150 a night.

 

[TeddieM]

Universal wont let you add it before your trip but everyone I've talked with says that you can add it at the front desk when you arrive. I think the currant cost is $150 a night.

In the past this could be done, from what I was told this isn't allowed anymore. Was a fun add on if you booked a room like the Jurassic Park one.

 

[Disneytam]

In the past this could be done, from what I was told this isn't allowed anymore. Was a fun add on if you booked a room like the Jurassic Park one.

Do you know how recent a change this is? We were offered a switch last December to a suite and were told we could add on the CL for $150 a night. That will really mess up our plans if it is no longer allowed

 

[Disneytam]

I was curious so I called PBR concierge. You are allowed to add on the CL to your room for a $150 per night add on. This is subject to availability.

 

[kittylady1972]

We are attempting our first Universal Resort Club Level room next week at Portofino. Husband is Italian, so I'm sure he'll love the food options and we both don't need huge meals. We are just two adults (well two groups of two adults each) staying for 2 nights and have Universal APs so no need to kill ourselves in the parks in the FL heat anyway. Hoping to get a lot of use out of the lounge. Will try to remember to report back.

 

[schumigirl]

We are attempting our first Universal Resort Club Level room next week at Portofino. Husband is Italian, so I'm sure he'll love the food options and we both don't need huge meals. We are just two adults (well two groups of two adults each) staying for 2 nights and have Universal APs so no need to kill ourselves in the parks in the FL heat anyway. Hoping to get a lot of use out of the lounge. Will try to remember to report back.

Hope you have a wonderful trip and yes, there have been some lovely improvements to their Club Lounge, I`m sure you`ll love it. And yes, please come back and let us know how it was for you.




It has always been possible to add Club Level, if available to any room or upgrade before your trip. Again, if there is availability.

 

[nycdisneygal]

trying RPR club level in november. My kids prefer that hotel because of location and the 2 bedroom suite we did last year was outrageous (this year) - this was cheaper (2 rooms). Will let people know how it was. I hear the lounge is the least nice of the 3 though.

 

[kittylady1972]

Just realized I never reported back on our Portofino Club Level experience last month but let me just say...we LOVED it! We hung out in the club quite a bit, even before and after the food. Let me see if I can provide a quick recap.

We arrived on a Tuesday afternoon, met our friends at the lounge for snacks. They had hot pretzel sticks and mustard, hummus and various veggies, and some other bagged snacks for grabs (including pop tarts, popcorn and pretzels I think). There may have been some fruit too?


I guess there was some bread. Oh and the cookies...they cookies (no photos) were very good. Of course there were drinks (bottles and cans) including flavored waters and teas.

That night we returned in time for dinner...since it was raining. I think they had a soup, more veggies and some meats and cheeses, pasta and sausage. This was part of mine:



There were two sauce options, I am not a red sauce fan but this white was good. Plus the green beans and I think another veggie? The menu that they sent us ahead of time was pretty accurate.

Desserts that evening (yep we came back...in fact I think we ate dinner, then hung at the lounge until dessert) were a bunch of mini cupcake like things and the cookies. Probably some drinks.

Speaking of drinks, we took full advantage of the bar during cocktail hour of course. Between 4 adults we would order 2 drinks at a time. Some nights some of the drinks were no longer stocked, like specific beer. There were only a few, but I'm not a beer drinker so can't elaborate. I had a hard cider one night and wine another night, all good. Bartenders were friendly though.

We did breakfast as well, for the two mornings we were though, but my stomach wasn't the best so I didn't really partake. I think they had oatmeal and fruit and make your own parfaits, plus eggs and probably cereal and yogurt? I can't recall if there was a breakfast meat at some point? Sorry I'm bad about that one.

Basically favorites were snacks...I recall they said they rotate between the pretzel sticks with mustard/cheese to breadsticks with sauce...I didn't try the latter but enjoyed the former. Veggies and hummus and dips all good too. Evening always had some meats and cheese selections, plus the hot dishes, and I do think there was a soup all nights but I didn't try it. The cookies...grab a few of those, the chocolate chocolate chip were great. The other mini desserts were okay but didn't really WOW me and that's okay. Hot food selections for our two nights were good Italian choices.

Basically you have access to the lounge even when they aren't serving food, so we would hang out there on the rainy day and find a seat near the window and people watch. There were also tvs in there.

Any other questions I'm happy to answer. This was our first Club Level experience at Universal and we really did enjoy it.

 

[barb969]

I finally got my husband to try PB club. The last few years we have been going to HR club. The first night(Sunday) he wasn’t impressed with the food and was saying we’re never coming here again. In the morning the breakfast won him over. He now doesn’t want to go to HR. The food is much better at PB.

The thing I never see mentioned is the PB club lounge is impressive. There are 5 rooms with tables. I counted 69 tables in 4 rooms never counted the last one. We never had trouble finding a table And it never felt crowded. HR club always reminds me of a cheap coffee shop, even after the upgrade.It is crowded and difficult to get a table sometimes. There is only one room with less than 20 tables.

 

[vspenn]

Can anyone share exprience with club level at the Royal Pacific recently? looking at dates in April and it's the best priced of club levels and I like the overall hotel theming.