Aptman
TUG Member
First of all, a huge thank you to Jestme, who in this thread recommended that, in response to my disillusionment with my room at HHV, I go and ask them for a different room, citing the noise of the room from the pool. As you can see from my comments in that thread, in addition to the fact that being in a low unit on the pool side of the room and the attendant noise, I was also unhappy with the size of the unit. I went downstairs last night, told them the problem, and asked if they'd move me. They said that there was a unit coming available today, and that they would hold it for me. I went down this morning to confirm, and this afternoon, they moved us to a unit on the other side!!! Let me just say, what a huge difference.
First of all, there is no comparison with the lagoon side vs. the pool side. It is so much more mellow outside the lagoon side, and even though we are a lower floor, we can leave the lanai door and other windows open with much less noise. It's not silent, let's be serious, it's HHV, but it's so much more pleasant.
But, here is the warning for all TUGers going to the Lagoon tower in a 1BD - avoid the 68 rooms (ie - 668, the room we were in, or the other ones on other floors). The rooms are much smaller. Last year we were in a 70 unit (870), and it was a mansion by comparison. The 68 1BD has a smaller bedroom, a smaller living room (we have our 2 boys on the couch in the living room), and an absolutely tiny kitchen (there aren't even drawers big enough for the silverware tray in the 68 unit's kitchen, and almost zero counterspace). They moved us to a 61 unit, and it's just like the 70 unit we were in last year. We can't believe the difference in size.
All I have to say is make sure when you come you don't get stuck with the 68 unit. As an interesting aside, I was trying to find out from the bell man who moved us whether there was a difference in these types of units (ie - were they both dedicated 1BD, or was one of them part of a 2BD lockoff). He started talking about different levels of points needed for different rooms, and it became clear that he thought that these were 2 different classes of rooms, so different are they. He told me that the 68 units throughout the building are smaller.
So, thank you so much Jestme for that simple advice. We still have 5 more nights here, and I'm thrilled that they're going to be in this (huge by comparison) unit.
One final thing, we went to the owner's update/sales tour today, and are just returning from the luau they gave us for attending. They also offered us $150 in Hilton vouchers, but here's the rub, they actually give you 6 separate $25 vouchers, and you can't get change if you spend less than $25. Obviously, they're hoping that you go over by about $10 and shell out the extra amount, or go under and give up on the remainder. If you were otherwise planning on spending that money, and the increments aren't a problem for you, great. The luau is exorbitant, and we would not plunk down the $270 it costs for our family of 4 ($90 per adult, $45 per kid 13 and under). But they gave us 2 free admissions for doing the presentation, and we bought the other 2 for our kids (they even gave us $10 off per kid, so the total cost for all 4 was $70). It was quite schticky, but the kids enjoyed it, and at their age, it's probably better than a full-day extravaganza at the Polynesian Cultural Center (all our kids really want to do is go to the beach, pools and lagoon anyways).
A few quick hints to save a dollar or two:
Go to Walmart after you get here and buy things that you'll want for the beach and pool. HGVC charges a huge amount for everything, and rather than spend $50 or so to rent beach chairs and an umbrella, go to Walmart and get an umbrella for $15 or so. You can buy beach chairs there as well, although they're not quite as cheap as you'd imagine. We also got other beach toys like buckets, a football ($8 at Walmart vs. $20 here at the hotel) there. We're going to either sell them on Craigslist when we're done, or just give everything away (anyone coming here around Thursday or Friday this week with little kids?).
If you have kids, and they are under 4 1/2 feet tall, they need to be wearing floaties of some sort to get a wristband to go down the water slides at the new pool. The pool people happily sell you water wings, for instance, for $10 per pair. Interestingly, the store inside the timeshare sells water wings for under $3. The Lagoon tower store is about 50 feet from the Lagoon tower swimming pool store. You do the math. Or buy something at Walmart. They're pretty cool about letting the older kids take the wings off once they get their wristbands if they're close to 4 1/2 feet tall.
They have not been checking hotel room key cards anywhere at the pool, including getting towels. As a result, the new pool is absolutely packed. You can't get a chair around it after 9AM unless you're lucky enough to see someone leaving, and the pool is a murky mess by noon (visibility was more clear in the lagoon than it was in the pool). The jacuzzi was filled with people so that getting in is a challenge, and finding a seat is no guarantee. Because it's been a little chilly here, and the pool's not very heated, the jacuzzi has been more packed than expected.
The new pool has sucked the life out of the other pools - which is great if you want a mellow pool with space and clean looking water. Even my kids enjoyed the respite of a little quieter, easy going place (and from my boys, that's a real surprise). My kids are relatively good swimmers, but they're too young to be out of sight, so the older pools are a relief, because you can see the whole pool and don't have to follow them around through this large, disjointed area to see where they're going. It was nice to be able to lounge on a chair for a little while as they played in the pool and actually read a little without having to get up and look for them every 2 seconds. If you have kids, don't give up on the other pools. If you don't have little kids, I see little reason (after you've done the slides a couple of times - and I'm a water park fanatic) to go to the new pool. We can thank that pool for making the existing ones a little more manageable, though.
The units all have rice cookers in them, get yourself some good Japanese rice at the market and cook it up in the unit, it's easy and tasty.
I know I don't have to remind you all of this, but "Just Say No" at the timeshare presentation, but you all know that by now.
Have a blast, as windy and chilly as it's been here, this place is still paradise.
Aloha!
First of all, there is no comparison with the lagoon side vs. the pool side. It is so much more mellow outside the lagoon side, and even though we are a lower floor, we can leave the lanai door and other windows open with much less noise. It's not silent, let's be serious, it's HHV, but it's so much more pleasant.
But, here is the warning for all TUGers going to the Lagoon tower in a 1BD - avoid the 68 rooms (ie - 668, the room we were in, or the other ones on other floors). The rooms are much smaller. Last year we were in a 70 unit (870), and it was a mansion by comparison. The 68 1BD has a smaller bedroom, a smaller living room (we have our 2 boys on the couch in the living room), and an absolutely tiny kitchen (there aren't even drawers big enough for the silverware tray in the 68 unit's kitchen, and almost zero counterspace). They moved us to a 61 unit, and it's just like the 70 unit we were in last year. We can't believe the difference in size.
All I have to say is make sure when you come you don't get stuck with the 68 unit. As an interesting aside, I was trying to find out from the bell man who moved us whether there was a difference in these types of units (ie - were they both dedicated 1BD, or was one of them part of a 2BD lockoff). He started talking about different levels of points needed for different rooms, and it became clear that he thought that these were 2 different classes of rooms, so different are they. He told me that the 68 units throughout the building are smaller.
So, thank you so much Jestme for that simple advice. We still have 5 more nights here, and I'm thrilled that they're going to be in this (huge by comparison) unit.
One final thing, we went to the owner's update/sales tour today, and are just returning from the luau they gave us for attending. They also offered us $150 in Hilton vouchers, but here's the rub, they actually give you 6 separate $25 vouchers, and you can't get change if you spend less than $25. Obviously, they're hoping that you go over by about $10 and shell out the extra amount, or go under and give up on the remainder. If you were otherwise planning on spending that money, and the increments aren't a problem for you, great. The luau is exorbitant, and we would not plunk down the $270 it costs for our family of 4 ($90 per adult, $45 per kid 13 and under). But they gave us 2 free admissions for doing the presentation, and we bought the other 2 for our kids (they even gave us $10 off per kid, so the total cost for all 4 was $70). It was quite schticky, but the kids enjoyed it, and at their age, it's probably better than a full-day extravaganza at the Polynesian Cultural Center (all our kids really want to do is go to the beach, pools and lagoon anyways).
A few quick hints to save a dollar or two:
Go to Walmart after you get here and buy things that you'll want for the beach and pool. HGVC charges a huge amount for everything, and rather than spend $50 or so to rent beach chairs and an umbrella, go to Walmart and get an umbrella for $15 or so. You can buy beach chairs there as well, although they're not quite as cheap as you'd imagine. We also got other beach toys like buckets, a football ($8 at Walmart vs. $20 here at the hotel) there. We're going to either sell them on Craigslist when we're done, or just give everything away (anyone coming here around Thursday or Friday this week with little kids?).
If you have kids, and they are under 4 1/2 feet tall, they need to be wearing floaties of some sort to get a wristband to go down the water slides at the new pool. The pool people happily sell you water wings, for instance, for $10 per pair. Interestingly, the store inside the timeshare sells water wings for under $3. The Lagoon tower store is about 50 feet from the Lagoon tower swimming pool store. You do the math. Or buy something at Walmart. They're pretty cool about letting the older kids take the wings off once they get their wristbands if they're close to 4 1/2 feet tall.
They have not been checking hotel room key cards anywhere at the pool, including getting towels. As a result, the new pool is absolutely packed. You can't get a chair around it after 9AM unless you're lucky enough to see someone leaving, and the pool is a murky mess by noon (visibility was more clear in the lagoon than it was in the pool). The jacuzzi was filled with people so that getting in is a challenge, and finding a seat is no guarantee. Because it's been a little chilly here, and the pool's not very heated, the jacuzzi has been more packed than expected.
The new pool has sucked the life out of the other pools - which is great if you want a mellow pool with space and clean looking water. Even my kids enjoyed the respite of a little quieter, easy going place (and from my boys, that's a real surprise). My kids are relatively good swimmers, but they're too young to be out of sight, so the older pools are a relief, because you can see the whole pool and don't have to follow them around through this large, disjointed area to see where they're going. It was nice to be able to lounge on a chair for a little while as they played in the pool and actually read a little without having to get up and look for them every 2 seconds. If you have kids, don't give up on the other pools. If you don't have little kids, I see little reason (after you've done the slides a couple of times - and I'm a water park fanatic) to go to the new pool. We can thank that pool for making the existing ones a little more manageable, though.
The units all have rice cookers in them, get yourself some good Japanese rice at the market and cook it up in the unit, it's easy and tasty.
I know I don't have to remind you all of this, but "Just Say No" at the timeshare presentation, but you all know that by now.
Have a blast, as windy and chilly as it's been here, this place is still paradise.
Aloha!