Do any of the Universal Hotels have any....

[jacksmom]

Balconies or patios?? Also any queen beds??? We are thinking about staying 4 nights in March before heading to WDW for a week! We have never stayed at US before and could use some advise! Thanks for any help!

 

[patster734]

I believe that the only hotel that has balconies is the Portofino Bay and only a few rooms have them, and those that do are at least deluxe level rooms. This past December, we received a free upgrade from standard to deluxe which had a balconey. As for beds, most rooms have either 2 queen beds or 1 king bed.

 

[Fan2CSkr]

Portofino Bay has patios and balconies. There are 3 room types not including the suites.
Gardenview
Bayview
Deluxe
Balcony or patio offered with bayview or deluxe, not sure about garden. Few rooms offer this but it can be requested on your reservation.

All three onsites have 2 queen beds or a king.

 

[Mortlives]

I would like to repeat the conventional wisdom here about going to Disney first, and then doing Universal, if possible. Universal can make you awfully impatient with the fastpass system.

However you order it, it sounds like a great vacation.

 

[webray]

I agree with the other posters. You may want to do Disney first, especially if you are staying at a disney resort. All of Universal resorts are much nicer than disney. Universals RPR, which they call their value is at the same level as disney's deluxe resorts. Portofino, Universals top resort is much, much nicer than disney's Grand Floridian resort. With the front of the line access that comes with staying at a universal resort, you will definately get worn out with disney's fastpass system and waiting in lines. Portofino has some balconies.

Either way you will have a good trip!

 

[MassMom94]

We're just back Friday and bucked the conventional wisdom by doing Universal first (HRH for 2 nights), then Disney (was supposed to be 6 nights at WL, turned into 8 - thanks to Ernesto and Southwest cancelling all flights for what turned out to be a light rain! ). This worked out fine because crowds were light, and we didn't even have to use fastpass that much. It might have been an issue had we gone during a busier time.

I was wondering why four nights here - are you planning on doing four-five days in the two Universal parks? Or are you planning on visiting Sea World, Wet 'N Wild, shopping, a pool day? Much as I liked them, I think you can do US and IOA in 2-3 days. We were ready to move on after that.

 

[ddoll]

We've done it both ways: Uni first vs WDW first. Doesn't matter to us. Each experience is so different. We find Uni much more relaxing, so I guess it' snice to end there.