Taste of Disney

May 2015 Trip Review

We parked near the front door of the hotel and the kids remained in the car while I went inside to check in. After waiting in line for a bit it was my turn to step up to the lobby desk. The nice gentleman at the desk asked for my identification and began the usual process of hotel check in…or so I thought anyway.

After typing in my information he abruptly stopped, looked at me with a big grin on his face and said, “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news for you, which would you like first?” I of course answered, “Give me the bad news.” He replied, “The bad news is that we don’t have anymore Garden view standard rooms available for tonight.” [This type of room, one step up from standard view, was the least expensive available for my dates with a AAA discount so that is what I had reserved]

Ok, so I figured he was about to tell me the good news that I’d been upgraded one category to a water view standard room. Nice, but not really worthy of the big grin that remained on his face. He then asked, “How would you like to be treated like Rock Royalty?” Never having stayed at a Hard Rock before, I had no idea what he was talking about, so I replied hesitantly, “Umm, yeah sure.” He then realized I had no idea what he was talking about so went on to explain that “Rock Royalty” at the Hard Rock meant Club Level. We had been given a complimentary upgrade to the…

Once the check-in process was complete, I returned to the car to tell the kids the good news. I had been given four room key cards (since my oldest daughter would be arriving later this evening) and was told that we would need them to gain access to the Club level, which was the 7th floor. We unloaded a few of our bags and my son and I took them on up to our room while Emily parked the car in the Self-Parking Lot (which required her room key card to get through the gate) for a fee of $20 per night plus tax.

I had been told that the hotel was in the process of renovating all of their rooms and had started with the Club Level so these rooms were all done. So what does a newly renovated “Rock Royalty” room look like?

It looks like this…

The theming seemed fairly minimal to me, especially compared to many of the rooms at the Disney World resorts. Although I was not particularly excited by the room decor, I did enjoy our view of the pool…

And a glimpse of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket ride at Universal Studios in the distance…

We were only in the room long enough to take these pictures, then we were off to the airport to pick up my oldest daughter. But first we made a quick stop at the Rock Royalty Lounge…

…where according to the schedule I’d been given, we would find some Bed Time Snacks.

There was a sign just inside the door of the lounge which listed all of that evening’s offerings…

If only I’d known, it looks like I could have satisfied my craving for coconut shrimp here.

But it was after 8:30 so we all had a Make Your Own Ice Cream Sundae. Here is my son’s, who topped his ice cream with caramel sauce and crushed Oreo cookies…

He paired this with a glass of milk.

 

As for me, hold the Oreos but add hot fudge and whipped cream along with the caramel sauce…

Emily forgot to take a photo before she dug into her sundae so I’ll leave her topping choices up to your imagination.

Want to know what I did next on this trip or just want to share a comment on this review? Click here to go to this trip’s blog post!You just graduated from college!! What’s next? – May 2015 Trip