Best premier hotel for tweens?

[Lucy2015]

Probably standard rooms. This would be in late January so not sure how much they would use pool but want to take pools into account. Doing 2-3 days at parks. Initially we were leaning Royal Pacific but reviews tend to favor the other two for older kids. Thanks

 

[pinkxray]

Any of them are good choices. We tend choose Hard Rock mostly because it is the easiest walk. The portofino theme was lost on my kids both younger and the teen, but the pool was very nice.

The Hard Rock pool has a slide but if I’m remembering correctly isn’t very deep? Royal Pacific is very pretty. I would pick either of these two, maybe based on cost. We are staying at Hard Rock this year after also staying there last year. However we just put a deposit on Royal Pacific for 2023 since it is the cheapest of the three.

 

[Dawn Peterson]

My tweens/teens prefer hard rock for the close walk and the pool. They are not fond of royal pacific because no waterslide. I’m not sure how much pool time you will get so it might not matter.

 

[Lucy2015]

I also realized that there will be an event during the time we are planning to go…Rock the Universe. I wonder how that will impact crowds in hotels and park. Do most people stay at Hard Rock for that event?

 

[Mom2Anna&Elsa]

I also realized that there will be an event during the time we are planning to go…Rock the Universe. I wonder how that will impact crowds in hotels and park. Do most people stay at Hard Rock for that event?

It’s a large Christian Rock concert/event. Universal Studios park will close at 6 pm for those that don’t have a ticket to Rock the Universe.

I would imagine all UO hotels will be affected, to some extent.

 

[Nabas]

Probably standard rooms. This would be in late January so not sure how much they would use pool but want to take pools into account. Doing 2-3 days at parks. Initially we were leaning Royal Pacific but reviews tend to favor the other two for older kids. Thanks

We have stayed at all three.

Definitely not Portofino Bay - too far and perhaps too mature theming for them to appreciate.

Royal Pacific is a closer walk to IOA. Hard Rock is a closer walk to US. The pools are comparable (and will be heated in January) as are dining options.

I suggest picking the one whose theming appeals more to you.

 

[mort1331]

We are in the same boat,,,12 and 16,,,had looked at Port,,,but now thinking of changing. 1st time going,,,is the walk to the parks that much different. Are the rooms about the same size and layout. Not worried about price since we are not paying..lol..be in the parks most of the time. Thanks

 

[pinkxray]

We are in the same boat,,,12 and 16,,,had looked at Port,,,but now thinking of changing. 1st time going,,,is the walk to the parks that much different. Are the rooms about the same size and layout. Not worried about price since we are not paying..lol..be in the parks most of the time. Thanks

We (including DD who stayed at 16 at Portofino and 17 at Hard Rock) really prefer the Hard Rock. The walk to Universal Studios is so quick. I can’t remember exactly but it was something like 7 minutes to HRH and maybe 15 to Portofino. Every night when we walked by Hard Rock to get to Portofino we said next time we are staying there.

We did stay at Portofino during the summer though so the boats were shut down a lot due to lightning. The rooms at Portofino were noticeably larger since we are a family of 5. We spend most of the time at the parks so we didn’t care about the room size.

One area I find to be a bit lacking at Hard Rock was quick service food. I didn’t think Emack and Bolio’s marketplace had many options. The pool bar does have more offerings but we haven’t tried it yet. I also didn’t see much Universal stuff in the store. Instead of a big Universal store they have a large Hard rock store. (Unless I missed another store?) The walk to city walk is so close though so we ate outside of the hotel most of the time.

We stayed at Royal Pacific once and only used the boats so unsure how the walk is.

 

[Lucy2015]

OP here. Thanks for feedback. I’m wondering if most of the Rock the Universe crowd ends up at Hard Rock and RP might be best.

 

[Magical2017]

Our family loved Portofino Bay and the kids have requested we stay there again in January. They are 16 and almost 14 but our family has not tried the other two premiere properties yet. I do like the larger rooms but the other two resorts have a closer walk.

 

[mort1331]

So from what I am reading,,,walk is 15mins..doable..like BW to HS...what about the boat..shorter??

 

[Magical2017]

So from what I am reading,,,walk is 15mins..doable..like BW to HS...what about the boat..shorter??

When we visited PB over Memorial Day in 2021, the afternoon boat line was long. We are big walkers, so we did not mind the walk at all. On the way back to the resort the boat lines were also long, so we walked back in the evenings. Mid-day the lines were pretty short for a boat. I would say 15 minutes, 20 if you walk slowly or stop to rest or take photos (or have a teen who dawdles a bit).

 

[georgina]

If you don’t mind a non-scenic walk there is a shortcut from PB which goes through the Hard Rock parking lot. Cuts off a lot of the winding pathway.

I have mostly used the boats when staying at PBR and have been lucky with short waits.

link to thread with shortcut map - https://www.disboards.com/threads/short-cut-from-pbh-through-hrh-parking-lot-to-us-ioa.3473821/

 

[ElenaRN]

We stayed at RP with our 3 kids last spring and they loved it. We love Hawaii though so the theming was perfect for our family.
We did long park days so didn't use pool. We walked back and forth, about a 10 min brisk walk. Once we attempted to wait for boat to come home and wound up leaving the line and walking and still beat boat back.

We stayed at Portofino once before kids.

I would say the Express Pass is worth more than anything so you can't go wrong with any top tier resorts.
Go for wherever you can find the best deal.