Hard Rock Hotel is by far my favorite Universal Premiere resort with Portofino Bay coming in second. The walking distance to Universal Studios is unparalleled. Just a quick 5 minute walk and you are at the park. I wish that I could have a bottle of whatever the lobby smell is. Can’t wait until we stay at Hard Rock in October.
It smells so good! Haha, I don't know what it is, but it's amazing. The walk to the front gate of Universal Studios is insane... literally you could probably be there in like 3 minutes with a quicker pace of walking even. So nice! That'll be really nice for you in October, especially if you're doing HHN!
That walk after a long night of HHN must be SUPER nice, especially if you're doing multiple nights! No fighting crowds to get through traffic and such, a nice easy walk back in 5 minutes to get to your hotel room, just seems AMAZING for a long stay!
We've stayed just about everywhere EXCEPT Hard Rock so it was very cool to get to see inside. Thanks for showing us around! Normally we stay at Royal Pacific, which is maybe a 10 min walk to City Walk. I know some work was recently done on Portofino Bay, maybe it'll kick off refreshers at all the hotels?
We haven't stayed at any of the resorts yet, so I'm looking forward to being able to stay at a few of them in time! I'm really looking forward to Helios at Epic Universe. That seems CRAZY, plus all of the technology going into the park, I imagine the experience will be insane. I think Royal Pacific and Portofino's theme is so unique, I'd love to try those out at some point. I just have to keep an eye out for those AP discount prices 😅 But those perks are honestly unbeatable! I'd love to see some updating to the resorts, if they've started at Portofino already. I'm all for modernizing a few things for the convenience haha 😄
Honestly all the premiere resorts at Universal are marvelous. You could put them in any order but for me it would be Hard Rock, than Portofino Bay, then Royal Pacific. Then again it could go either. Can't wait to decide which one to go for my birthday in September of this year.
Nice! Have fun!! Going to HHN?? I would live to stay at all of the hotels at some point, they're actually very nice and pretty dang affordable from what I see!
@@Dillon.Thomas Oh yeah. It was spectacular. My top favorite houses were Monsters Unmasked, Exorcist, Last of Us, Yeti, stranger things, Chucky, Dr Oddfellows Dueling Dragons and Darkest Deal. Quite frankly they were all great in their own right.
@@autisticantonio 100% agree! I think every house was actually really good this year! And I feel like they just got better and better throughout the year!
We just had our first stay there on the 10th for our first ever HHN and the express passes with the quick walk alone was enough for us to love the experience. I do feel like a lot of other people have said that the hotel/rooms are a bit on the dated side just because its one of the older properties. I know they were renovated at some point but they're looking a bit worn again. The fact that they didn't change the outlet covers irked me haha. Also you can tell they didnt upgrade the shower tiles 😅 regardless its still a good value for the aboved mentioned perks.
I think the fact you get express the day you check in and the next day is HUGE! That's 2 days of Unlimited Express for 1 night. That's actually a great value. Especially if you have a family of 4 or more, that could be as much as the hotel, if not more! The walk over is beautiful, too. Just so relaxing and close. I do think it could take a giant tech update and some cleaning up in a few small places. But overall, they've kept up with it for the most part. The hotel itself is very clean and looks like it's in great condition. Just some minor stuff in the room, which I have to point out, as some people are VERY picky about it. And rightfully so, it's an expensive resort, you want to make sure you feel like you got your moneys worth. Overall, love the hotel, and maybe in the future they'll do some of those changes to bring it more "up to date" haha 😅
@Dillon.Thomas Absolutely! My husband wants to go again but I got our next trip booked for Royal Pacific. We've also done Dockside and Surfside! Hoping with our new 15 month annual we can try every hotel at least once! Dockside's cafeteria style food had me hooked with all the options!
OK - juke box? LOL - that's a portable record player - you are probably to young to remember those - 12 inch 33 1/3 vinyal disks and 7 inch 45 disks that we used to carry around in boxes (there were even 78's at 10 inches). HA!! Yes - you guessed right on those artists (I'm pretty sure!) The Hard Rock is an excellent hotel - its great for a "staycation" just to be close to the park, etc. Some of the rooms are really like apartments! Showers are def on small side, as a bigger guy, I like my space! I'm looking forward to the new hotel at Epic (Helios I think it will be called in the park, plus the two outside, Terra and Nova.) Regarding your question about the RIP tour with the 3 houses that were flooded and closed on Wednesday. There were no refunds as it is considered "an act of G-d" - sure, blame Him! 🤣 We were able to re-visit open houses if we wanted. Heading back to HHN for third round today (Friday.) It did rain again for a bit Thursday, but not a wash-out as it cleared up nicely. All houses were open. OK then - another great video. Be well!
Haha, I think I knew this was a record player, I think there was too much to take in I goofed hahaha. When I was young my mom used to play records she had all of the time. We actually bought her this electronic one for Christmas just like 2 years ago so she could play her old records! Fascinating to see the progression of music devices and how we play music now haha. Definitely would have liked to see a bigger bathroom/shower, but at least the room was MASSIVE. I've never seen a bedroom that big for a single bedroom in most of these hotels. I'm really hoping to get a stay at the Helios, all things permitting, I think that's going to be an INSANE hotel. Especially with all of the advanced tech they're talking about at Epic Universe. That stinks you guys were screwed out of the houses, but I guess with your express you could just head back over to them. I guess they can't control it, but it would have been nice to have a like an "RIP Tour Ticket" to skip everything if something wasn't going for the night and you could just get right in haha. I've seen a few people do that, but I never know what it's for. Just like 2 random people at a time will completely cut in front of everyone, and I don't know what they were doing. No RIP tour or anything either, so I'm not sure haha. I saw the rain last night at Hard Rock and I'm like uh oh... is it happening again?? Thankfully it seemed pretty light overall. Enjoy another night! I think we're going today and tomorrow. I have to check out the garage sale event both at Universal and Disney before they go away!
B Side - is that the brand. It’s a play on words. B side is the second side of an LP, back when records were a thing. B Side = side for the But. Get it?
Ah! That makes sense haha 😅 I guess I should have tried to think a bit more about the theming of hard rock, and less about "toilet paper" LOL. Thank you for clarifying that 😄
How many times did I say hotel in the intro? 🤔🤣
Hard Rock Hotel is by far my favorite Universal Premiere resort with Portofino Bay coming in second. The walking distance to Universal Studios is unparalleled. Just a quick 5 minute walk and you are at the park. I wish that I could have a bottle of whatever the lobby smell is. Can’t wait until we stay at Hard Rock in October.
It smells so good! Haha, I don't know what it is, but it's amazing. The walk to the front gate of Universal Studios is insane... literally you could probably be there in like 3 minutes with a quicker pace of walking even. So nice! That'll be really nice for you in October, especially if you're doing HHN!
@@Dillon.Thomas we are going to HHN. Very excited!
@@AndEyeOop Nice!! That'll be amazing to walk back to your resort within 5 minutes after a long exhausting night at HHN haha. Jealous!
We stayed at Hard Rock last week for HHN. Easy 5 minute walk. We just got back on Saturday. Love the hotel and Universal.
That walk after a long night of HHN must be SUPER nice, especially if you're doing multiple nights! No fighting crowds to get through traffic and such, a nice easy walk back in 5 minutes to get to your hotel room, just seems AMAZING for a long stay!
First! You rule man!
Darn it! One day I WILL BE first! 🤣🤣🤣
@@Sir-Rayhaha! I’m normally never first! It’s only his vids I’m first on!
Haha thank you!! 🤗😎
We've stayed just about everywhere EXCEPT Hard Rock so it was very cool to get to see inside. Thanks for showing us around! Normally we stay at Royal Pacific, which is maybe a 10 min walk to City Walk. I know some work was recently done on Portofino Bay, maybe it'll kick off refreshers at all the hotels?
We haven't stayed at any of the resorts yet, so I'm looking forward to being able to stay at a few of them in time! I'm really looking forward to Helios at Epic Universe. That seems CRAZY, plus all of the technology going into the park, I imagine the experience will be insane. I think Royal Pacific and Portofino's theme is so unique, I'd love to try those out at some point. I just have to keep an eye out for those AP discount prices 😅 But those perks are honestly unbeatable! I'd love to see some updating to the resorts, if they've started at Portofino already. I'm all for modernizing a few things for the convenience haha 😄
Honestly all the premiere resorts at Universal are marvelous. You could put them in any order but for me it would be Hard Rock, than Portofino Bay, then Royal Pacific. Then again it could go either. Can't wait to decide which one to go for my birthday in September of this year.
Nice! Have fun!! Going to HHN?? I would live to stay at all of the hotels at some point, they're actually very nice and pretty dang affordable from what I see!
@@Dillon.Thomas Yep. Going to HHN. It's only my second time ever at HHN. So excited to go again. The first time was amazingly scary and awesome.
@@autisticantonio Oh nice!!! That's exciting, did you go this last year? It was VERY good. I'm hoping 2024 is a strong one as well!
@@Dillon.Thomas Oh yeah. It was spectacular. My top favorite houses were Monsters Unmasked, Exorcist, Last of Us, Yeti, stranger things, Chucky, Dr Oddfellows Dueling Dragons and Darkest Deal. Quite frankly they were all great in their own right.
@@autisticantonio 100% agree! I think every house was actually really good this year! And I feel like they just got better and better throughout the year!
We just had our first stay there on the 10th for our first ever HHN and the express passes with the quick walk alone was enough for us to love the experience. I do feel like a lot of other people have said that the hotel/rooms are a bit on the dated side just because its one of the older properties. I know they were renovated at some point but they're looking a bit worn again. The fact that they didn't change the outlet covers irked me haha. Also you can tell they didnt upgrade the shower tiles 😅 regardless its still a good value for the aboved mentioned perks.
I think the fact you get express the day you check in and the next day is HUGE! That's 2 days of Unlimited Express for 1 night. That's actually a great value. Especially if you have a family of 4 or more, that could be as much as the hotel, if not more! The walk over is beautiful, too. Just so relaxing and close. I do think it could take a giant tech update and some cleaning up in a few small places. But overall, they've kept up with it for the most part. The hotel itself is very clean and looks like it's in great condition. Just some minor stuff in the room, which I have to point out, as some people are VERY picky about it. And rightfully so, it's an expensive resort, you want to make sure you feel like you got your moneys worth. Overall, love the hotel, and maybe in the future they'll do some of those changes to bring it more "up to date" haha 😅
@Dillon.Thomas Absolutely! My husband wants to go again but I got our next trip booked for Royal Pacific. We've also done Dockside and Surfside! Hoping with our new 15 month annual we can try every hotel at least once! Dockside's cafeteria style food had me hooked with all the options!
Is this a standard room?
There are standard rooms, yes! We got this one on a very good last minute deal for passholders, so it ended up being like 35-40% off normal rate.
I apologize, this is NOT a standard, I thought you asked if there WAS a standard room. This was a King Suite room.
OK - juke box? LOL - that's a portable record player - you are probably to young to remember those - 12 inch 33 1/3 vinyal disks and 7 inch 45 disks that we used to carry around in boxes (there were even 78's at 10 inches). HA!! Yes - you guessed right on those artists (I'm pretty sure!) The Hard Rock is an excellent hotel - its great for a "staycation" just to be close to the park, etc. Some of the rooms are really like apartments! Showers are def on small side, as a bigger guy, I like my space! I'm looking forward to the new hotel at Epic (Helios I think it will be called in the park, plus the two outside, Terra and Nova.)
Regarding your question about the RIP tour with the 3 houses that were flooded and closed on Wednesday. There were no refunds as it is considered "an act of G-d" - sure, blame Him! 🤣 We were able to re-visit open houses if we wanted. Heading back to HHN for third round today (Friday.) It did rain again for a bit Thursday, but not a wash-out as it cleared up nicely. All houses were open.
OK then - another great video. Be well!
Haha, I think I knew this was a record player, I think there was too much to take in I goofed hahaha. When I was young my mom used to play records she had all of the time. We actually bought her this electronic one for Christmas just like 2 years ago so she could play her old records! Fascinating to see the progression of music devices and how we play music now haha. Definitely would have liked to see a bigger bathroom/shower, but at least the room was MASSIVE. I've never seen a bedroom that big for a single bedroom in most of these hotels. I'm really hoping to get a stay at the Helios, all things permitting, I think that's going to be an INSANE hotel. Especially with all of the advanced tech they're talking about at Epic Universe.
That stinks you guys were screwed out of the houses, but I guess with your express you could just head back over to them. I guess they can't control it, but it would have been nice to have a like an "RIP Tour Ticket" to skip everything if something wasn't going for the night and you could just get right in haha. I've seen a few people do that, but I never know what it's for. Just like 2 random people at a time will completely cut in front of everyone, and I don't know what they were doing. No RIP tour or anything either, so I'm not sure haha. I saw the rain last night at Hard Rock and I'm like uh oh... is it happening again?? Thankfully it seemed pretty light overall. Enjoy another night! I think we're going today and tomorrow. I have to check out the garage sale event both at Universal and Disney before they go away!
B Side - is that the brand. It’s a play on words. B side is the second side of an LP, back when records were a thing. B Side = side for the But. Get it?
Ah! That makes sense haha 😅 I guess I should have tried to think a bit more about the theming of hard rock, and less about "toilet paper" LOL. Thank you for clarifying that 😄