Just returned with family and friends from one week stay at the Hard Rock hotel from 7th July until 14th july 2008. Fantastic. Also stayed the previous week at the Disney Swan (also fantastic)
We didnt like our first room in the Hard Rock as it was overlooking the pool which is very, very noisy until 11pm at night. But Tom and Garston were extremely helpful and made our holiday special by moving us to the seventh floor overlooking the gardens which was beautiful and relaxing. Room was clean and beautifully furnished with dvd player and cd system but did have a little damp under the window which we could smell faintly.
Location is fantastic for the universal parks, seaworld, discovery cove, wet and wild and shopping. The bypassing of queues at the universal parks with your room key is worth its weight in gold. We never had to wait in a single line...aah...sheer bliss.
Every member of staff we met was full of fun and our 12 year old son and his 12 year old friend thought they were 'way cool'.
The hotel is also ultra cool with a lively, jumping, buzzing pool. The boys loved it. There were games, music, dancing, a great slide and lots of fun. It was hard to drag them out of the pool.
Food was delicious and all included in the club level 7 floor. Which is definitely the way to do it at this hotel. You wont be disappointed.
We will definitely stay here again or any Leows hotel if it is anything like this one.

Good points:

fabulous lobby
attentive staff (all cool and dressed in black, some with black nail varnish ...and that was the men :) )
proximity to the parks, 5 mins walk
fast pass to rides with hotel key card
fast pass to Citywalk restaurant queues
velvet lounge full of hard rocky people :)
icrecream palour on the ground floor
free ice dispensers
nice pod coffee machine with plenty of pods for tea and coffee in the room.
lovely boat ride (5 minutes) to parks
It's interesting to spend some time looking at the Rock memorabolia on framed hangings all over the place.
the Kitchen was nice for breakfast, although a little pricey..
lots of american food, like Grits and breakfast potatoes and sausage and egg pizzas, but plenty of more familar food too!



Bad points:
I had assumed park entry was included with the Virgin holiday package..I assumed wrong!.. had to buy 14 day flexi ticket.
(universal parks entry was included with the hotel at portaventura in salou in spain on our holiday last year)

$9.95 for tv internet, which had to be navigated by arrows on a keyboard (v. difficult)
$7.95 for 15 mins internet in the lobby
wifi wireless at $27.95 for 3 days was a very poor one bar connection.
fridge and microwave for hire at $10 -$15 a day
bed a bit hard with hard dampish linen
500ml of water for $6
pool a bit crowded and was quite shallow at a max of 4'6', so it got quite warm by the afternoon.

We have been going to Hard Rock for the last 5 years on average of 4 times a year, and it has been falling every since. The first couplr of years it was great the last couple nothing short of terrible.

The room service not what you would expect from a good Hotel, They charge for POOL views in which you never get as this last trip our view was a back of a tent. Charging $15.00 to park your car every night over the higher rates then other Hotels seem pretty petty. Overall not a good experience at the higher end pricing. There web site in which is to comment to them diretly is always down and never working.

I booked my holiday to Orlando via the Holiday Hypermarket in the UK. I originally Selected the Wyndham hotel on International Drive from a "First Choice" brochure. But, 4 weeks from the start of the holiday, I requested to change the hotel to the Hard Rock from a "Virgin" brochure, due to negative reviews and I wasn't disappointed. The only negative is that it cost me £800 to change it.

On arrival the assertive valet staff aided my self with my luggage by taking my suit case to the baggage room, which was later delivered to my room.

I was pleased that I was allocated a huge room with 2 double beds in it and a garden view. I ordered room service on 2 occasions. They were delivered by friendly staff, and in a reasonable amount of time. The choice of menu in your room was great, but the prices were high, but this is expected in a high-class hotel. The room that I was allocated had a mini-bar, large t.v., iron, safe, coffee maker etc. inside it.

One of the big positives about the hard rock is the location. You only need a 5-minute walk to get to Universal CityWalk and Studios. Throughout the stay I witnessed security in all areas of the hotel from the pool areas to the lobby etc. This is good for peace of mind. During my stay I noticed a few celebrities including Alan Smith (football player - Newcastle United) visiting the Hard Rock.

In the near future when I return to Orlando, I would definitely book this hotel again.