There’s a bear on the loose at Universal Studios. A security guard at the Hard Rock Hotel Orlando first saw the bear on a security screen as the bear was taking a dip in the hotel’s swimming pool. The bear then clambered out of the pool and went on a tour of the hotel grounds. The young, and apparently hip and cool grizzly was last spotted outside the Hard Rock Hotel, and is probably snoring his head off in a wooded area on the Hard Rock’s property, after the exhausting swim and a tour of the grounds. The search to find and evict the gate crasher continues. Photo credit Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel.  

WFTV, FL has a report which quotes Lt. Jeff Hudson, Florida Fish and Wildlife as saying that at this time of the year, bear cubs are often kicked out of their homes by Mommy bears, and often get confused, and the bear in question made a wrong left turn on Albuquerque. For the record, this is no isloated incident, and bear sightings are pretty common in Orlando.

Besides, you can’t blame the bear for wanting to hang out at the Hard Rock Hotel Orlando. For starters, as summer sets in, the number of things to do in Orlando goes up exponentially. Second, most of this ’summer sizzle’ is centred around Universal Studios. Third, the Hard Rock Hotel Orlando is the proverbial cool cat in the middle of the largest entertainment zone in the Continental United States and a gaggle of Orlando hotels.

Here’s a laundry list of amenities and services the hotel offers: 621 pet friendly guest rooms and 29 suites, $1 million worth of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia sprinkled around the hotel, 5 restaurants and lounges, including the famed Palm Restaurant, a 12,000-square-foot pool with a sand beach, underwater stereo, interactive fountains, a 260-foot pool slide and a Beach Club pool bar with private poolside themed cabanas like the ‘Musicquarium’ Cabana and the ‘Yellow Submarine’ cabana. What self respecting young bear wouldn’t want to take a dip in a pool like that? This is so not the bear’s fault. Photo by scmikeburton via Flickr.

Additionally, the hotel offers supervised children’s activity center, fitness center, and game room. The hotel concierge can get hold of local attraction tickets and provide area information, while hotel guests are provided complimentary transportation to nearby SeaWorld® Orlando, Discovery Cove® Orlando and the Wet ‘n Wild®–Orlando water park. 

Info: 5800 Universal Blvd Orlando FL 32819; (888) 832-7155; www.hardrock.com/locations/hotels2/orlando/

Posted on May 29th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Hotels