going end of 3/2008 - new updates ?
 

Hi everyone,

I noticed that most of the threads on PR are a bit old for the area we're wanting to visit.

I'll be traveling with my 3 kids (15,13,10) and will have a rental car. We are staying at the Hyatt timeshare by/in Dorado.

I'm interested in knowing things and places we should go/do besides just hanging out.

I was thinking the caves now that they've reopened, the rainforst, .... but I don't want to interrupt the kids beach/pool/relaxing time and really want just short day trips.

On Saturday we fly out at 7pm and could spend that day in SanJuan doing something. Not sure what since my guys aren't museum type kids.

HELP!! and thanks in advance.

The caves aren't that exciting, the rain forest is definitely nice. U can also go to a water park there, but not sure of the name the kids will enjoy that. Well there are alot of stores downtown san juan, but I dont know if they would like that. U can go to El Morro is an old war look out they may like that. There are alot of cool views and different rooms they can explore.

My kids (4 and 7) really enjoyed El Yunque. We hiked to La Mina falls and they got to play in the waterfall. The visitor's center was very informative and the guides were awesome.

We took a couple of days and flew to Vieques for their beaches and the bio-bay.

Another day we spent roaming around Old San Juan and exploring the walled portion of the city. The kids enjoyed running around both forts (El Morro especially), seeing the statues and checking out the architecture. But my kids are museum-type kids (travel geeks). *grin*

Also - I've read on another site that the caves aren't full reopened...just a very small portion...?

You should be aware that the old Hyatt Cerromar river pool has been shut down along with just about everything else at the Hacienda del Mar complex except the basic pool. You will end up cooking in your unit or traveling into Dorado for meals (there are a few decent restaurants inDorado).

Since 1999 I have been an owner of a Hyatt Hacienda Del Mar timeshare and I just learned from tripadvisor and this site that the river pool and water slide have been shut down. I am absolutely livid about this as the owners were promised this would not happen and we pay over $1,000 in maintenance a year, have no idea where our money is going! When the entire resort was fully functional (Hyatt Dorado, Cerramar & Hacienda Del Mar) it was one of the best family resorts ever. I am currently contacting Hyatt if I find anything out I will let you know.

alanb - what are some of the nice restuarants in Dorado that have some character? - maybe on the beach and pretty easy going.

eileen - I would be pretty pissed off myself. We are owners in Colorado and I can not imagine what this has done to the value of your property. We were going for the pools and having the main 2 kids pools/water items shut down is very upsetting. I was going to call tomorrow. If you have documentation about keeping the pools open, I would start sending off. I'm hoping that they were shut down for maintenance before the big rush.

I went ahead and called the hotel -- the front desk said that even though the lazy river/kiddie pool/slides are ~20 feet away from their olympic size pool, all belonged to the neighboring hotel/facility. That hotel/facility was bought out by someone and is being renovated for the next 2 years.

Confirmed that only the 1 large pool is open.