ROYAL PACIFIC RESORT INFO...FAQ and more......

[Miffy]

You can do it online, the reservation e-mail you were sent has a link to cancel/modify. Or you can click the "my reservations" link at the top of the Loews/Universal booking site. Both take you to the same place.

Thank you! We were able to modify it via the reservation email. Easy!

 

[pannm]

Anyone ever try to re-create the resort rooms from Royal pacific in your own bedroom? I am very experienced in room re-do and know how to do the stenciling on the wall but I cannot for the life of me find the LARGE wall stickers and flowers to put on my wall. There are several options for SMALLER ones (even though they're called "giant" they are not giant or large!). Anyone have any ideas or any luck with finding something similar in size without spending a tremendous amount of money? I am hoping to use "peel and stick" or actual wall paper that I can cut around and just make the flowers out of. I guess I need to dig in further to get other ideas. This is one of our favorite resorts and I'm getting ready to re-do my master bedroom and bathroom.

 

[Miffy]

I keep checking for AP rates for our December trip and a couple of days ago I saw that the first two days have an AP rate, but day 3 doesn't. Day 3 is a Tuesday. Should I just keep checking? The discount for the first 2 days is good, but it's not good enough to upgrade to an AP. Three days probably would be.

Or is Tuesday a day that never gets a discount? Hey, I don't know. I'm new to the whole Universal thing.

Thanks!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Might want to book the 2 nights at the AP rate. Then if the Tues shows up, you can modify to include it or book the Tues separately. And if it never shows up, you can just cancel it.

 

[Miffy]

Might want to book the 2 nights at the AP rate. Then if the Tues shows up, you can modify to include it or book the Tues separately. And if it never shows up, you can just cancel it.

Thanks for the info, however, this doesn't work out for me since we don't have APs yet and would be getting one only to book the room. So I need to see all 3 nights at the discount. I keep checking every day and I've been noticing how much things change. So I have hope.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You do not need the AP in hand to book the room at the AP rate. And since it is fully refundable, you aren't out anything if you don't end up going that route in the end. But I can understand not wanting to have to lay out the multiple deposits on a maybe.

 

[Miffy]

You do not need the AP in hand to book the room at the AP rate. And since it is fully refundable, you aren't out anything if you don't end up going that route in the end. But I can understand not wanting to have to lay out the multiple deposits on a maybe.

Thanks. I knew that I didn't need the AP in hand, but the bolded text is the sticking point. I believe we'd need 3 reservations--the one we already have for the 3 nights, and one for 2 nights at the AP rate along with another for only the final night at the non-AP rate.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Personally I would just ignore the Tues for now. Since you would cancel the AP reservation first 2 nights if the Tues doesn't show up, there's no reason to book the single Tues at the non-AP rate. Since you probably wouldn't want to deal with merging reservations, you are probably right to just wait and see if something pops up for the whole stay in one shebang.

 

[jmdisney]

Reading a lot of on line reviews. I see some great reviews and some bad reviews. Please provide your opinion of the cleanliness and conditions of the rooms. I have a hard time getting comfortable in a hotel room unless it's really clean. Have you had any bad experiences at RP?

 

[weather_lady]

Thanks all for the detailed feedback. It was very helpful. weather lady, please update me on the hotel and your stay when you get back. I look forward to hearing about it.

We're back!

We (me, DH, DS17 and DD16) stayed 3 nights, the first two at RPR, and the third at Sapphire Falls. (I couldn't find a passholder rate at RPR for that last night, so we saved $300+ by switching). Both stays were lovely, with no complaints.

We checked in at RPR around 9:30am on Friday after a 3-hour flight, pausing as we entered the lobby to inhale deeply of the intoxicating aroma they pipe in. (*Note: Based on past experience, I'd expected an e-mail for mobile check-in ahead of time, but RPR no longer does this. We got lucky and arrived during a lull, so I waited all of 90 seconds to check in. A large group - perhaps a Mears bus-load? - got there just after us, and by the time we were heading out of the lobby 5 minutes later, the line to check in had ballooned all the way back from the check-in counters and around the corner to the guest services desk near the entryway!!! Given that only 3 of the check-in stations were staffed, I wouldn't be surprised if there were guests in that line who had to wait 30 minutes or more just to check in. YMMV.)

(*Random "it's a small world" moment: I'm one of the over 5,500 members of a RPR Guest Facebook group, and the day before we left, a woman happened to post on the group page about how excited she was to be checking in the next day for the first time: I was among a few page members who excitedly commented, "I'm coming tomorrow, too!" As I stood in line to check our bags with Bell Services, the guest in front of me gave her name to the attendant, and I instantly recognized her as the woman from Facebook. I introduced myself and we had a good laugh over the coincidence, and a nice conversation about our vacation plans.)

During check-in, I confirmed that we'd get a room on the 7th floor, so we wouldn't have to hoof it upstairs from the 6th to reach the Lounge. We'd booked an Accessible 2 Queen, simply because it was the only Club Level room offered at a passholder discount rate, and I had let the front desk know that we did not need the accessibility features, so they could switch us if there was another guest who had a mobility impairment. However, the room was not needed by anyone else, so we were assigned the Accessible room. Although the room wasn't ready at check-in (so we weren't told the number), we were issued room keys that would allow us to access the Lounge, and the Unlimited Express Pass benefit in the parks, in the interim.

After a quick visit to the Lounge to grab breakfast, we headed off to the parks. However, having arisen at 3am that morning to catch our flight, and confronting temperatures 20+ degrees higher than at home, our energy and stamina petered out faster than we'd anticipated, and we were badly in need of naps by 2pm. Since we still had no room, we came back to the privacy and welcome air-conditioning of the Lounge and just sat with our eyes closed for a bit. A little after 3pm, I left to return to the front desk just to make sure we hadn't missed a room-ready text (something that's happened to us a few times before). I was halfway down the hall when the text arrived! We were assigned Room 3745, just steps away from the Lounge. Not only was our room spotlessly clean (attn: @jmdisney) with everything in good working order, but housekeeping even stopped by late Friday EVENING (our arrival day) while we were back in the parks after a nap -- some 5 hours after we'd "moved in" -- and cleaned and refreshed it for what had to have been the second time that day! The windows did tend to be foggy/dusty on the outside, but after several stays at RPR, we realize this is an ongoing issue, particularly for high-up rooms like the one we had, which faced the highway on one side, and luau portions of the resort toward the other. (Despite the highway proximity, the soundproofing was excellent: we could see cars zipping by, but never heard them!)

This room's particular features were a mixed blessing. Room 3745 is on the inside edge of a "bend" in the building, which meant it was a few feet shorter than usual, such that the second queen bed was pushed right up against the bathroom wall. I was sharing it with our 16-year-old daughter and ended up on that side, so every time I wanted to get up without disturbing her I had to scoot down to the foot of the bed to get out. (On the other hand, I could snuggle right up to the wall on the edge of the bed with no worries about falling out.) The bathroom was a large single room with an oversized accessible door rather than the usual split bath, which was really annoying when four of us were trying to shower, use the toilet, and/or fix our hair and faces at the same time in the morning. But on the other hand, all those hand rails proved to be handy for hanging up towels, the bathroom didn't "fog up" as easily due to the larger floor plan, and the heavy door provided great soundproofing, so those who got up early could get ready without having the family be bothered by every little noise. Note that RPR rooms (indeed, almost all Universal hotel rooms) don't have a controllable fan in the bathroom, so it's not a bad idea to bring a little travel-size spritz bottle of Febreze to put on the back of the toilet to address anything odoriferous.

As for the Club Level Lounge, I did feel that we got our money's worth, in light of the fact that our nightly cost for Club Level was only $140 more than it would have been for the non-club standard room we'd initially booked (both at passholder discount rates). Here's what we "got":

Friday, Saturday, Sunday AND MONDAY mornings ($10/ea.) - continental breakfasts for 4 people (coffee, juice, bagels, muffins, fresh fruit, turkey/ham, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, hot and cold cereals), approx. $10 value each compared with the groceries we'd otherwise have bought to have breakfast in our room. I include Monday because by the time we checked out of RPR on Sunday, we'd amassed enough extra bagels and pieces of fruit (brought back to the room the previous mornings by the kids, whose eyes were bigger than their stomachs) that they comprised a decent in-room breakfast at Sapphire Falls the day after we switched hotels.

Friday and Saturday afternoon snacks ($10/ea.) - $10 value in bagged chips, fruit, and bottled water, compared with what we'd have spent on groceries to bring them

Friday dinnertime ($100) - $76 value (what we'd otherwise have spent on a counter service dinner), which included chicken tenders with dipping sauces, a delicious homemade mac and cheese, Caesar salad, and crudités, cheese and crackers, plus $24 for the 2 alcoholic beverages my husband and I enjoyed, which run about $12 apiece in the parks. The food wasn't upscale by any means, but it was tasty, nicely prepared, served at the appropriate temperature, and continually restocked and refreshed.

Saturday dinnertime ($30) - Although we had Saturday dinner reservations, we stopped by the Lounge first for a couple of pre-dinner drinks (meaning we did not feel the urge to order alcohol at the restaurant when we went to dinner) and light bites. We did notice that the published menu for the night had included cheese tortellini, which had been quietly replaced with your standard-cheap-buffet-quality penne and marinara sauce. While we weren't relying on the dinner options that evening for a meal, I imagine some guests might have been a tad annoyed at the downgraded substitution, even though the published menu does note in the fine print that it's subject to change.

Saturday desserts ($30) - We missed the desserts on Friday and were slated to miss them on Saturday, which my daughter was upset about as they included cheesecake and cannoli, two of her favorite things. When I asked one of the Lounge attendants at the dinner service if it was possible to get a "to-go" box for her with that night's desserts, since we couldn't be there for them, she gave me a box FILLED with 8 servings of each of the two items! The $30 "value" of those desserts is an estimate based on what we'd otherwise have spent for a round of snacks in the parks, but didn't, since we knew we had something sweet waiting for us back in our hotel room fridge.

Adding it all together, we spent $280 on Club Level, and enjoyed $220 worth (in my totally random valuation, anyway) of food and beverages. (Had we done dinner in the Lounge on Saturday, we'd have easily come out ahead.) However, given the intrinsic value and time-saving convenience of not having to buy or prepare anything, and enjoying our food on real dishes, in a clean, well-stocked, air-conditioned space that in many ways was a badly-needed expansion of our room (e.g., I'm an early riser and could let the family rest and get ready for the day with greater privacy, rather than waking them by galumphing around, preparing my breakfast and brewing coffee in the room, and taking up space while everyone else tried to get ready), I felt the expense was well worth it. We also noticed and appreciated, even though we did not use, the Lounge's borrowing library of books and board games. I cannot speak highly enough about the Lounge staff, who were unfailingly friendly, welcoming, upbeat, and well-informed.

In short, while I'm skeptical that Club Level would always be a decent value for us, given our particular schedule this trip, wherein we spent more time at the hotel than usual, but had less time overall to cram in all the activities we wanted to do, Club Level was a convenient, time-saving, and meaningfully vacation-quality-enhancing choice. I was grateful we did it!

As for other aspects of the resort, we didn't use the pool at RPR or dine at any of the onsite restaurants this time around (although we've eaten everywhere except Islands Dining room on prior trips and had great experiences at them all). I did notice that despite several recent complaints about the pool being closed for cleaning, etc., it was open during all advertised hours every day -- and was open later, until 10pm or so, than we remembered from previous years.

Overall, we had a fantastic and relaxing (yet action-packed) 4-day weekend trip to Universal. If you have any questions about anything, don't hesitate to ask.