Cast: Me, DH, DD16, DD12
After "Jaws" we headed over to MIB. My all-time favorite. There was a sign telling us that you couldn't carry anything onto MIB and telling about the free lockers. I guess we interpreted the pictures on the sign wrong because as it turns out, you could carry purses, backpacks, etc. We did see them take away a HUGE Tasmanian Devil stuffed toy from one person, but we were allowed to take our backpack and camera bag on later rides. But, the free lockers are convienent and easy to use. It was nice to be unencumbered for a while, as well. The Express line worked well, as usual. MIB lends itself to an efficient Express set-up. Since there are two lines of vehicles going, they are able to designate one to Express. It looked as if the single riders line was used by both sides which made everything move right along. This is such a fun ride for everyone. I don't think it would be frightening for younger kids. The big bug alien might be a little scary and you do spin a little during the ride and alot at one point at the end, but the aliens, for the most part don't seem too threatening or anything. We didn't score all that great, but it was so much fun that we didn't care. There are restrooms to the left of the exit. I guess here would be a place to put in a word about the restrooms at USO. For the most part, I was impressed with them. (I only have personal experience with the Women's so that is what I will talk about.) Every stall has the paper seat covers available. We always had tissue and they have actual paper towels, not those infernal blow dryers. There was most always an employee in there cleaning and spraying air freshener. There were also changing tables. For as much traffic as they get, I give them an A+ for restrooms.
Next stop - Back to the Future. By this time it was getting late so the crowds had thinned a little. We went through the Express entrance but when we got to the second checkpoint the ride attendant said they weren't really doing Express because there wasn't a wait. Easy to understand that. She said a man had just yelled at her because they weren't doing Express. I really can't believe that he yelled at her. There was no wait. That is what Express is for - to avoid waiting. It wasn't necessary. Just go ride the ride. If everyone would just be nice things would be so much better. (Anyway, speaking of the second checkpoint - as you go through any of the Express lines, you have to show your room card or Express Pass to more than one person so don't put it away until you get to the person who takes up the passes [not cards, though]. I think this is good because people could just jump over the dividers and be in Express without a pass or card.) BTF was good. It is on the rough side and there seemed to be a hole or something in the screen. But it is a great experience. The front row is more comfortable, but the back row is not unmanageable.
E.T. was our final ride of the night. We just love this one. There have been improvements since last year and E.T. said all of our names. This was a first for us. Everybody should do E.T.! The beginning walk-through forest is about my favorite part.
Finally, we got back to the HRH. Our room was ready so up we went to 6049. Each floor has a display case in the foyer by the elevators. When we got to the 6th floor - guess who's clothes were in our foyer - yep, NSYNC!! We had mentioned going to the concert to Mac who initially checked us in so I think she assigned us to this floor on purpose. All of the HRH employees were so helpful and went out of their way to be nice. Our room was just great. When we walked in, there was our milk and cookies! The cookies were delicious, and were freshly baked. DH was so excited to get "real" milk. We only buy low-fat at home. At first we were a little disappointed with our view. We were directly over the front drive-through canopy, but minutes later we were thrilled as we saw that we had a perfect view of the US fireworks. We couldn't see the ones closer to the ground, but it was so neat to sit in the comfort of our room and watch this beautiful display. I loved the understated decor of the room. It was so restful and tasteful. There was an overstuffed chair and ottoman and 2 leatherlike straighter chairs and a table. The dresser had 6 nice sized drawers. I could go on and on about it. The carpet design had squares with different textures in green and blue in the area with the beds. Then in the foyer and sink area the carpet was a level weave that matched the other carpet. One thing I liked better than the PBH was the two sinks. There is a pedestal sink in the bathroom with a small shelf above it to hold toiletry items. Then outside this room there is a large sink vanity area. Inexplicably, there are scales on the floor. Are there really people who obsess over their weight so much that they have to weigh while on vacation? We won't even discuss the magnifying mirror!! Directly across from the vanity sink there is the mini-bar, coffee maker area. (We never got a key to the minibar. There was no price list available, either. But we didn't mind.) The area above it is mirrored and well lit (actually better lit than the vanity) with an outlet, too. So this gave us three hairdrying/getting ready areas. Very nice with 4 people trying to get ready at the same time. There is even another mirror in the bedroom. I just couldn't get over the beautiful drinking glasses - such a nice touch. And the ice bucket even has a scoop. There was an ice machine on our floor, although two nights it was out of ice - couldn't keep up with the demand. The towels were nice, too, thick and textured. The toiletries are cute - just labled: skin, body, rinse, etc. Our shower actually had decent water pressure, not great, but better than the Hyatt in Tampa. Something that I really appreciated was that when the light switches were off they had little lights on them so you could find them easily in the dark. Such a small thing, but so nice in a strange place in the middle of the night. We enjoyed the CD player and our welcome CD. There is also a hotel map in the little welcome packet. Oh, there are 6 or 8 elevators, I can't remember, maybe more, but we never had to wait very long for one. All in all a great place to be. I recommend it highly. Even though it is an extraordinarily fine hotel, we never felt out of place or "uncool". The employees are just exceptional. We never got around to eating in any of the restaurants so I can't comment on those. We did shop in the Hotel store. Look up to see Britney Spears' pants on the wall. A really neat thing is that there are monitors with live pictures from inside HR Cafes all over the world - Cancun, Bali, etc.
Next: Margaritaville, more IOA, HRH and USF, Factory Outlet Mall
After "Jaws" we headed over to MIB. My all-time favorite. There was a sign telling us that you couldn't carry anything onto MIB and telling about the free lockers. I guess we interpreted the pictures on the sign wrong because as it turns out, you could carry purses, backpacks, etc. We did see them take away a HUGE Tasmanian Devil stuffed toy from one person, but we were allowed to take our backpack and camera bag on later rides. But, the free lockers are convienent and easy to use. It was nice to be unencumbered for a while, as well. The Express line worked well, as usual. MIB lends itself to an efficient Express set-up. Since there are two lines of vehicles going, they are able to designate one to Express. It looked as if the single riders line was used by both sides which made everything move right along. This is such a fun ride for everyone. I don't think it would be frightening for younger kids. The big bug alien might be a little scary and you do spin a little during the ride and alot at one point at the end, but the aliens, for the most part don't seem too threatening or anything. We didn't score all that great, but it was so much fun that we didn't care. There are restrooms to the left of the exit. I guess here would be a place to put in a word about the restrooms at USO. For the most part, I was impressed with them. (I only have personal experience with the Women's so that is what I will talk about.) Every stall has the paper seat covers available. We always had tissue and they have actual paper towels, not those infernal blow dryers. There was most always an employee in there cleaning and spraying air freshener. There were also changing tables. For as much traffic as they get, I give them an A+ for restrooms.
Next stop - Back to the Future. By this time it was getting late so the crowds had thinned a little. We went through the Express entrance but when we got to the second checkpoint the ride attendant said they weren't really doing Express because there wasn't a wait. Easy to understand that. She said a man had just yelled at her because they weren't doing Express. I really can't believe that he yelled at her. There was no wait. That is what Express is for - to avoid waiting. It wasn't necessary. Just go ride the ride. If everyone would just be nice things would be so much better. (Anyway, speaking of the second checkpoint - as you go through any of the Express lines, you have to show your room card or Express Pass to more than one person so don't put it away until you get to the person who takes up the passes [not cards, though]. I think this is good because people could just jump over the dividers and be in Express without a pass or card.) BTF was good. It is on the rough side and there seemed to be a hole or something in the screen. But it is a great experience. The front row is more comfortable, but the back row is not unmanageable.
E.T. was our final ride of the night. We just love this one. There have been improvements since last year and E.T. said all of our names. This was a first for us. Everybody should do E.T.! The beginning walk-through forest is about my favorite part.
Finally, we got back to the HRH. Our room was ready so up we went to 6049. Each floor has a display case in the foyer by the elevators. When we got to the 6th floor - guess who's clothes were in our foyer - yep, NSYNC!! We had mentioned going to the concert to Mac who initially checked us in so I think she assigned us to this floor on purpose. All of the HRH employees were so helpful and went out of their way to be nice. Our room was just great. When we walked in, there was our milk and cookies! The cookies were delicious, and were freshly baked. DH was so excited to get "real" milk. We only buy low-fat at home. At first we were a little disappointed with our view. We were directly over the front drive-through canopy, but minutes later we were thrilled as we saw that we had a perfect view of the US fireworks. We couldn't see the ones closer to the ground, but it was so neat to sit in the comfort of our room and watch this beautiful display. I loved the understated decor of the room. It was so restful and tasteful. There was an overstuffed chair and ottoman and 2 leatherlike straighter chairs and a table. The dresser had 6 nice sized drawers. I could go on and on about it. The carpet design had squares with different textures in green and blue in the area with the beds. Then in the foyer and sink area the carpet was a level weave that matched the other carpet. One thing I liked better than the PBH was the two sinks. There is a pedestal sink in the bathroom with a small shelf above it to hold toiletry items. Then outside this room there is a large sink vanity area. Inexplicably, there are scales on the floor. Are there really people who obsess over their weight so much that they have to weigh while on vacation? We won't even discuss the magnifying mirror!! Directly across from the vanity sink there is the mini-bar, coffee maker area. (We never got a key to the minibar. There was no price list available, either. But we didn't mind.) The area above it is mirrored and well lit (actually better lit than the vanity) with an outlet, too. So this gave us three hairdrying/getting ready areas. Very nice with 4 people trying to get ready at the same time. There is even another mirror in the bedroom. I just couldn't get over the beautiful drinking glasses - such a nice touch. And the ice bucket even has a scoop. There was an ice machine on our floor, although two nights it was out of ice - couldn't keep up with the demand. The towels were nice, too, thick and textured. The toiletries are cute - just labled: skin, body, rinse, etc. Our shower actually had decent water pressure, not great, but better than the Hyatt in Tampa. Something that I really appreciated was that when the light switches were off they had little lights on them so you could find them easily in the dark. Such a small thing, but so nice in a strange place in the middle of the night. We enjoyed the CD player and our welcome CD. There is also a hotel map in the little welcome packet. Oh, there are 6 or 8 elevators, I can't remember, maybe more, but we never had to wait very long for one. All in all a great place to be. I recommend it highly. Even though it is an extraordinarily fine hotel, we never felt out of place or "uncool". The employees are just exceptional. We never got around to eating in any of the restaurants so I can't comment on those. We did shop in the Hotel store. Look up to see Britney Spears' pants on the wall. A really neat thing is that there are monitors with live pictures from inside HR Cafes all over the world - Cancun, Bali, etc.
Next: Margaritaville, more IOA, HRH and USF, Factory Outlet Mall
