Which express pass hotel to stay at?

Trs5257

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 29, 2017
Which is the best hotel to stay at out of the 3 that offer the free express pass? Trying to look at the numbers, it looks like the best thing to do is to buy an AP and get the AP hotel discount. I think we will be back in December anyway, so we can pop back over. All 3 hotels have discounted rates for the weekend I am looking at in May. Lowes Royal Pacific is the cheapest, and Portofino Bay and the Hard Rock are about $55 more total. I think the Hard Rock is the closest to the parks? Would that be worth the $55 more?
 
Which is the best hotel to stay at out of the 3 that offer the free express pass? Trying to look at the numbers, it looks like the best thing to do is to buy an AP and get the AP hotel discount. I think we will be back in December anyway, so we can pop back over. All 3 hotels have discounted rates for the weekend I am looking at in May. Lowes Royal Pacific is the cheapest, and Portofino Bay and the Hard Rock are about $55 more total. I think the Hard Rock is the closest to the parks? Would that be worth the $55 more?

No $55 isn’t not worth basing a decision, IMO all 3 of these hotels are wonderful!

I would look at the features of the hotels to base a decision, for example RP doesn’t have a slide at the pool and the others do, or the walk to PB is a bit longer than the others.

Fact HR is closer to US and RP is closer to IOA.

Room sizes for standard rooms:

RP 335 SQ FT

HR 375 SQ FT

PB 450 SQ FT

Either way you’re in for a treat at any of these!
 


As mentioned there are differences between the hotels: themes, room sizes, pools, on-site restaurants, club lounges, etc. The answer to your question is more of a personal answer, it depends.

How many will be staying in the room? As noted in one of the above posts, the room size differences are actually pretty striking. If there are 5 of you staying in a room, PBR's extra space may well be worth much more than $55. If there are only 2 of you, then room size may not be a big issue to you. Also, are you looking at base, view, deluxe or club rooms at each of the hotels? The club lounges are a bit different for each of the hotels as well. So if you are looking at those, you might want to check out the reviews of each hotel's club lounge.

For me personally, while RPR is closer to IOA and HRH is closer to US, all 3 are close enough (and with the water taxis) that distance to the parks is one of the least of my concerns. When my kids were younger, RPR was their favorite hotel as they liked the interactive pirate ship area of the pool. But now, they like PBR the best as the rooms are larger and they like to choose between the quieter/adult pool and the larger main pool with a slide.
 
Thank you all for your replies! It is only 2 adults and we plan on maximizing most of our time in the parks, so it seems like it makes sense to go with the cheapest option as distance to the park really won't be an issue. Royal Pacific is $244/night in a standard room and Hard Rock and Portofino Bay are both $266/night in a Garden view (before taxes/fees).
 
This is very subjective and they will all be equivalent in terms of amenities, quality, service, etc. Since room size doesn't matter and the price difference is negligible, it just comes down to the vibe and look/feel that you most prefer. IMO:

Hard Rock Hotel - closest to the parks in terms of walking distance, but only a pinch shorter than Royal Pacific. The vibe here to me is very laidback/casual, CMs treat you like buddies but in a professional way, if that makes any sense. Love the music at the pool and around the resort. Mine & DH's favorite.

Portofino Bay - great theming, really feel like you're in Italy! Awesome pools and restaurants. Has a more "luxurious" or "fancy" feel - its still casual, but has the feeling of being a notch up in that regard. Kind of a long walk to the parks from here, but its doable and of course they have the water taxi.

Royal Pacific - Nice pool, great dining. The theme here appeals to me the least of the three, its a little more subdued. Would be easy to visit Sapphire Falls or Cabana Bay from here. Its also on the Islands of Adventure side of the property, making for a faster walk there than the other two resorts, so something to consider if you think you'll spend more time in that park.
 


We are PBH fans and will not stay any place else. So when our twenty something son and his girlfriend decided to take a short Universal trip they stayed at PBH. They found and loved The Kitchen at HRH for breakfast and liked the lobby of the HRH so much that for the next trip they booked the HRH. Though they had a fun trip but they both quickly decided that they liked the PBH rooms and pools so much more. Even with just the two of them they really noticed the room size difference especially in the bath room.
 
I don't think you can go wrong with any of them! I've stayed at (and loved) RP and HR, but would try PB in a heartbeat as well.
 
Ask 10 people and you're pretty sure to get 10 different answers, I really do think it's a case of looking at each hotel and deciding what looks and sounds right for you.

For us it was and always will be HRH because for us it has great staff, great places to eat and drink, is the closest to the parks & Citywalk and is not a themed hotel. What I mean is, yes it has Hard Rock/music memorabilia around but other than that it's just an amazing hotel.

We visited the other Premium hotels but never once did we feel they offered something that HRH hotel didn't.
 
We have stayed at all 3 and they were all nice.
We liked HRH the best- closest to the parks, actually shorter to walk than to take the boat since HRH is on the same side as the parks and the boat dock is on the CW side. The theming is cool, the rooms are cool, we love The Kitchen.
RPR is our second favorite. Love the theme and Jakes, the pool is nice.
PBH was our least favorite. Didn’t like the bathroom area there and had housekeeping issues there (that could happen anywhere, but did sour our experience). The pool area looked great but we didn’t actually go in. And the food options there are great. The walk to the parks is quite long compared to the other two, especially after a long day at the parks. You can always wait on a boat though.
They are all beautiful resorts. Look at pictures and see which speaks to you.
 
We are PBH fans and will not stay any place else. So when our twenty something son and his girlfriend decided to take a short Universal trip they stayed at PBH. They found and loved The Kitchen at HRH for breakfast and liked the lobby of the HRH so much that for the next trip they booked the HRH. Though they had a fun trip but they both quickly decided that they liked the PBH rooms and pools so much more. Even with just the two of them they really noticed the room size difference especially in the bath room.
Does PBH have a slide at the pool?
 
Hard Rock is a 5 min walk to the Universal Studios side vs Royal Pacific being like an 8 min walk to the Islands of Adventure side. They are all great, if you are primarily going for parks and express pass just pick the cheapest.
 
Does PBH have a slide at the pool?
Yes, the main pool has a good sized slide.

Do a Google search for Portofino Bay hotel pool. You should see some pictures of the main pool and the slide.
 
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RPR has a shorter ferry ride, but on several occasions we had to wait for a second ferry. There were no lines for HRH or PB. Thats one place where you really see the price difference play out. Nothing catastrophic.
 

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