So - I thought I would share my thoughts on the resort - we only stayed for one night, but I think we still got a general overview - though didn't get a chance to dine at the restaurants or anything.
FYI we are normally Disney / DVC people, but had bought an AP for Universal last February, and went for 3 days at the start of our trip this year. We stayed at PBH because it actually had the best price of any of the FOTL resorts, which were the dominant reason we were choosing to stay there. The FotL benefit was HUGE, though I would argue the "early entry" benefit was practically a non-starter - the crowds at "early entry" were so high, we ended up going in for Early Entry, but ended up sitting around waiting for the FotL to open, because the wait for "Early Entry" was 45 minutes on Forbidden Journey - and sat around for 20 minutes to walk on in 5 minutes with FotL.
The resort is very nice - very relaxing, very clean. While we ended up in a "deluxe" room - so I am not sure how this compares to a regular room, but the room was HUGE. High ceilings and significantly more spacious than the Disney deluxe resorts. The resort transportation to the parks was very handy, never waited more than about 5 minutes for a boat. (I think went back and forth 4 times total.) And never had to wait for a second boat or anything. The pool area was also pretty decent, but I thought it was a bit small - at least at the time we went we had a very hard time finding seats, and the pool was very full of people - but it was around 4 PM. Certainly decent but not top end for theme park resort pools. (We didn't try the quiet pool.) In fact, it reminded me of the Polynesian Pool in that it was nice but not big enough to handle the people using it.
The theming of the resort was nice, but having just been to Italy I'd say the one part they maybe missed on is it was much to "clean", it didn't have the old feel that Italy has. It's a minor thing certainly, but it made the theme fill somewhat "false" to me.
Overall, I have to say this is a very nice resort. Honestly, even though I wasn't super happy at the price - the $385 per night + tax price was actually a decent price considering (a) the holiday and (b) the FotL benefit. While I think many of the Disney deluxe resorts are nicer - this price point still makes this a better "value" (if you can call use that term at these price points) than the Disney deluxe resorts which often run at $500+ and don't provide any park benefits other than location - especially considering the size of the room. This WAS an AP rate, so I am not sure how much it would've cost without the AP. That said, at a slower time of year where the FotL benefit isn't as beneficial - I would not pay this price just for the resort, but that's just me.
Overall, it was a very nice experience - and I would definitely go back there again, though I would still consider trying whichever FotL resort was cheapest. (That was the case here - where even the Royal Pacific was more money than this resort was.)