Booking universal hotels from the uk?

[ButterbearUK]

Hi there,
It's been a while but we are now booked to go back to wdw next September!!!

To mix things up a little though, we have decided to do 3 nights at Universal first. Since we have only ever been to IoA for the day before this has left me with lots of questions... Can anyone help?

A bit about us:
We will be 4 adults and 1 infant: Me, DH an DS and my sister and her DH.

We are going to be at universal in the last week of September 2016.

We are currently thinking that a poolside family suite at cabana bay would be our best option, as we love to swim in the afternoons and the pool looks epic.

So, questions:
1. Does cabana bay pool deliver? The photos look amazing, is it as good in the flesh?
2. Do universal still allow pool hopping? If so, is it limited to deluxes or for everyone?
3. Are there any other nearby hotels that you might recommend instead? (Our budget won't stretch to multiple rooms at the on site deluxes)
4. When is the best time to book universal hotels to get the best discounts?
5. From the uk where is the best place to book universal hotels for the best price?
6. We want at least 2 day park hopping tickets. Is it best to book package or separate?
7. If we book separate room and tickets, will we still get early entry? (I know cabana bay doesn't get front of line, but we are fine with that)

I think that is it for now, but there may be more later...

Thanks in advance

 

[DLPdaft]

Hi there,
It's been a while but we are now booked to go back to wdw next September!!!

To mix things up a little though, we have decided to do 3 nights at Universal first. Since we have only ever been to IoA for the day before this has left me with lots of questions... Can anyone help?

A bit about us:
We will be 4 adults and 1 infant: Me, DH an DS and my sister and her DH.

We are going to be at universal in the last week of September 2016.

We are currently thinking that a poolside family suite at cabana bay would be our best option, as we love to swim in the afternoons and the pool looks epic.

So, questions:
1. Does cabana bay pool deliver? The photos look amazing, is it as good in the flesh?
the pools are amazing - there are 2, plus a lazy river, the pools are zero entry to around 5ft deep.
2. Do universal still allow pool hopping? If so, is it limited to deluxes or for everyone?
3. Are there any other nearby hotels that you might recommend instead? (Our budget won't stretch to multiple rooms at the on site deluxes)
4. When is the best time to book universal hotels to get the best discounts?
5. From the uk where is the best place to book universal hotels for the best price?
the usual suspects - booking a 4-night stay or longer gets you the better discounts for the Universal hotels, including the Cabana Bay. Try Trivago to get you started (I booked in March I think for end of August this year).
6. We want at least 2 day park hopping tickets. Is it best to book package or separate?
source your park tickets separately.
7. If we book separate room and tickets, will we still get early entry? (I know cabana bay doesn't get front of line, but we are fine with that)
yes, you get early entry no matter who you book with, we booked our hotel and park tickets separately.

I think that is it for now, but there may be more later...

Thanks in advance

For anyone who wants to chill out at a Universal hotel, I really can't recommend the Cabana Bay enough - its completely fabulous!

 

[godders]

Yes you still get early entry even if you book things separately. I haven't stayed at Cabana Bay myself nor do I use the pool so I can't answer those questions I'm afraid. I found the best deals on Travel Republic and Orbitz for hotel stay and get my tickets through Undercover Tourist because they often to buy 2 get a day free deals.

 

[chmurf]

1. Does cabana bay pool deliver? The photos look amazing, is it as good in the flesh?

the pools are quite cool
there are 2 pools (one with a slide) and a lazy river (you can buy tubes or bring your own, TMs will inflate them for you)

pools there are much better than at Disney Values.

. Do universal still allow pool hopping? If so, is it limited to deluxes or for everyone?

so far, they do.

3. Are there any other nearby hotels that you might recommend instead? (Our budget won't stretch to multiple rooms at the on site deluxes)

I would have a look at Sapphire Falls. It's the newest universal onsite hotel. It will open in 2016 and will be open next september.
slightly more expensive than Cabana Bay, but not as much as the deluxes
it will have Early Entry, but NOT express (same as Cabana Bay Beach)

4. When is the best time to book universal hotels to get the best discounts?

this is a tough one
if you book on the universal site, you'll pay one night as a deposit, with free cancellation. So you can secure a reservation without taking risks and still look at prices on hotel.com and the likes, cheaptickets sometimes have deals on universal onsite hotels.

depending on your length of stay, you could take advantage of the stay more save more rate on universal website. Or you might even realise that it's cheaper to get 1 Annual Pass and book the passholder rate

just pop by the universal hotels board on this forum, you'll find lots of threads regarding hotel rates and deals

5. From the uk where is the best place to book universal hotels for the best price?

as above, have a look at the threads on the universal hotels forums on this board. There are so many ways and so many variables, that there is no definitive answer.

6. We want at least 2 day park hopping tickets. Is it best to book package or separate?

once again this is a 'how long is a piece of string' question.
first of all, you need to determine how long you need tickets for. UK bonus tickets valid for 14 days compare with 3 days tickets. So if you go for such a ticket, you're basically out of the package loop.

you need to decide how long you need tickets for, then how long you'll stay for, and check the different rates. Here again there is no definitive answer.
package is peace of mind, as all is included. if you want to be able to tweak things and fine tune the cost, then do it yourself.

7. If we book separate room and tickets, will we still get early entry? (I know cabana bay doesn't get front of line, but we are fine with that)

yes
perks come with the room key, not with whomever you book with

 

[pinklotusflower]

We really enjoyed staying at Cabana Bay and spent quite a bit of time in the lazy river. We booked direct and you pay a deposit and the rest when you leave, if you have a car there is an additional $12 a day parking charge. The food area was also good and had lots of options and there's a star bucks and pool bars. You get to go in the parks an hour early but there are only two rides open, when we went it was Harry Potter. The buses were about every 5 mins which was really good. We bought our tickets in the UK from http://www.attraction-tickets-direc...ion-tickets/walt-disney-world-orlando-tickets

 

[mackay_j]

just a heads up ba.com has had some great prices for the royal pacific (£110 per night) - in fact cheaper than cabana bay and you get the all day express passes if staying there

 

[scoobydooby]

Have you thought about one deluxe room and one room at one do the cheaper hotels? You could put all four adults down as staying at the deluxe even if you're not all in the room then all get front of line perks. With an infant front of line perks will be worth their weight in gold.

 

[ButterbearUK]

Ohhh, thanks mackay_j and scoobydooby. Maybe if I combine both your suggestions we might be able to get 2 rooms and still be able to stay deluxe! That would be brilliant

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[BagOLaughs]

Hi there,
It's been a while but we are now booked to go back to wdw next September!!!
Thanks in advance

So, questions:
1. Does cabana bay pool deliver? The photos look amazing, is it as good in the flesh?
Just got back. It was amazing! I loved this hotel. Couldn't fault a single thing.

2. Do universal still allow pool hopping? If so, is it limited to deluxes or for everyone?
I've heard it does although we didn't try. CBBR has gates around the pools you need to swipe to enter.

3. Are there any other nearby hotels that you might recommend instead? (Our budget won't stretch to multiple rooms at the on site deluxes)
Don't know sorry.

4. When is the best time to book universal hotels to get the best discounts?
Wait for a deal I'd say. 30% off or something like that.

5. From the uk where is the best place to book universal hotels for the best price?
Don't know. We booked through Virgin as a 14 day package holiday and got lots of free extras which made it very good value but that's not really what you're looking for.

6. We want at least 2 day park hopping tickets. Is it best to book package or separate?
See if you can get tickets included with the room.

7. If we book separate room and tickets, will we still get early entry? (I know cabana bay doesn't get front of line, but we are fine with that)
Yes! But its only for IOA and when we were there only for Harry Potter rides (although it changes all the time)

If you want to see some more photos of a family room, pool side view click on the link in my description for my trip report. The 1st page has lots of photos of the resort.

Don't forget they charge $12 + tax a day for parking if you have a car.

 

[Ruth B]

Its worth looking at travel site through top cash back .we booked a club room at RPR and got £170 cash back. Which has brought the price down to the same as a standard room. Worth checking. Ruth