Closest hotel to Universal

[brooker]

A little of topic, but I am wondering which hotels are the closest to US in regards to walking. I've been on I Drive but I can't recall. Is it easy to actually walk to US? Are there proper crossings?

 

[ky07]

A little of topic, but I am wondering which hotels are the closest to US in regards to walking. I've been on I Drive but I can't recall. Is it easy to actually walk to US? Are there proper crossings?

The 2 that comes to my mind is The Doubletree at the entrance to universal on major bld and Hyatt place on caravan court.
I have stayed at the doubletree and its about a 10 min walk and the same amount of time for hyatt place.
Yes there is a crossing but you do have to cross Kirkman Dr and it is very busy but we managed it ok and we had our 2 sons with us.
Hope this helps

 

[Darcy03231]

We stayed at the Sheraton Studio City which was half a mile away. As a PP pointed out it is a very busy area with major roads/intersections.

 

[brooker]

So honestly its doable, but probably not great for walking to the parks. Would that be fair to say?

 

[ky07]

So honestly its doable, but probably not great for walking to the parks. Would that be fair to say?

Where Sheraton is located it will be I think would be busier but from doubletree it is doable but just makes for a long day after walking to the park and then walking back.
But a cab ride back to the doubletree was only $5.00

 

[Sue909]

We just stayed at the Hyatt Place on Caravan Court at the beginning of April and it was easier to walk over then to drive our rental car ($10 parking). It took longer to go round and round the parking garage then it took to actually walk over.
You just walk up the road to the light. Cross over at the light (major highway) and then there is a pathway to take you right to City Walk. It was very easy. We saw many people doing this regularly. My 13, 11 and 6 year old walked both to and from each day. My 6 year old enjoyed counting the little alligators (as he called them) along the sidewalk. We got to about 40 at one point.
They have a shuttle and it ran something like 8:20am, 10:30am and 11:30am. Then, it would come back twice about one and two hours before the park closed. So, even if you walked one way and took the shuttle back, it wasn't bad. The shuttle going was more convenient than the one coming back due to the times. One time, my husband headed back to the hotel a little earlier and when we were ready to leave, he swung by and picked us up at the Valet line which was empty and took up back to the hotel.
The other nice thing about The Hyatt Place was they had a Cracker Barrel across the parking lot where we walked to and ate almost every night and stocked up on candy for the parks the next day. Also, across the other part of the parking lot was a TGI Fridays. One night after the parks, we walked by TGI and my husband stopped in while we continued on to our hotel. He went in and got a bunch of appetizers to go and brought them back to the room while we watched the Final Four game.
And, the staff at The Hyatt Place was unbelieveable!! So, so nice. Anything we asked for, they ran for it and with a smile on their faces.

 

[Sue909]

I just wanted to say one more thing, don't go by my shuttle times. Not sure if they change for certain times of the year. They may cut down to 2 in the AM and 2 in the PM when it's not peak time. So, if you go, call the hotel and ask them what their times are.

 

[brooker]

We stayed onsite for 2 nights at RPH our last trip. We are looking at early October this year so am I correct in thinking that the crowd levels will be relatively low during that period? Everybody does the comparison to on and offsite I know, but is that time of year a good one to be offsite?

 

[pmiranda]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the Loews hotels. They are on property, and Hard Rock Hotel is a 5 min. walk from US, or Royal Pacific Resort is only a 10 minute walk and they're both on nicely landscaped dedicated walking paths. HRH is only about 10 min from IOA, and RPR is only about 5 min from IOA. They all also have boat service, which is best if staying at the Portofino, which is the farthest away of the three.

 

[donaldduck352]

The only way I stay is on-site.But it not cheap.I looked up the DoubleTree and looks really nice and you can get it for 1/2 the price of on-site at times..But like ky07 stated you got to cross some busy roads and it makes for a long day to walk back..
Check the Universal website and see if thats in your budget for on-site.The benifits sometimes makes up for the price!!

 

[Metro West]

We stayed onsite for 2 nights at RPH our last trip. We are looking at early October this year so am I correct in thinking that the crowd levels will be relatively low during that period? Everybody does the comparison to on and offsite I know, but is that time of year a good one to be offsite?

Yes...the crowds are fairly light in October so you could save some money and stay off-site since you won't need the EP during that time period.

 

[brooker]

My problem is that even though my son really likes US, he still wants to do "1 or 2" Disney parks. As you know Disney tickets are very expensive. So if we are going to do any Disney at all it is probably best to stay onsite at Disney for around 3 days, then stay close to US for the other 4 or 5 days. Staying onsite at US, which I prefer, would add an extra $3-400 again. So that is the reason I am looking at offsite. Still nothing in stone by any means. Just looking at options.

 

[Todd&Copper]

We stayed at the Doubletree and there are stoplights with pedestrian indicators at ALL of the crosswalks we had to use. It was not a death-defying mad dash across traffic a la Frogger.

 

[brooker]

We stayed at the Doubletree and there are stoplights with pedestrian indicators at ALL of the crosswalks we had to use. It was not a death-defying mad dash across traffic a la Frogger.

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George tried to move the Frogger game from the store to his apartment...

So is it always necessary to be at US from opening when staying offsite even during a low season? Thats what kinda turns me off about staying offsite.

 

[claudiacobain]

If you don't mind a short car ride, I highly reccomend the Wyndham. It's very close by, moderately priced, and has great pools, restaurants, and everything in between.

 

[ky07]

We stayed at the Doubletree and there are stoplights with pedestrian indicators at ALL of the crosswalks we had to use. It was not a death-defying mad dash across traffic a la Frogger.

No not a mad dash frogger style but you can't take your time to walking across either cause as I remeber it the light changes pretty quick

 

[Darcy03231]

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George tried to move the Frogger game from the store to his apartment...

So is it always necessary to be at US from opening when staying offsite even during a low season? Thats what kinda turns me off about staying offsite.

Even though its "low" season if you don't want to wait in long lines for the major attractions its best to get there when the park opens. For those staying off-site, a lot of them still don't want to get up early on vacation and will wander over later in the morning/early afternoon. Those off-site guests "in the know" realize that getting up early and getting to the parks and not having to stand in line are a trade off against a more liesurely morning/standing in line.

Keep in mind that most people who are staying on-site are doing it for the privilige of the unlimited Express Pass. They won't be the ones getting their butts out of bed early to be there for park opening. They'll sleep in, get breakfast and wander over late morning/early afternoon because they know they don't have to worry about standing in line.

 

[brooker]

Even though its "low" season if you don't want to wait in long lines for the major attractions its best to get there when the park opens. For those staying off-site, a lot of them still don't want to get up early on vacation and will wander over later in the morning/early afternoon. Those off-site guests "in the know" realize that getting up early and getting to the parks and not having to stand in line are a trade off against a more liesurely morning/standing in line.

Keep in mind that most people who are staying on-site are doing it for the privilige of the unlimited Express Pass. They won't be the ones getting their butts out of bed early to be there for park opening. They'll sleep in, get breakfast and wander over late morning/early afternoon because they know they don't have to worry about standing in line.

Just looking at the US site, I can book HRH for (7) nights with (3) 7 day passes for $1554. Thats a great price. It is just over $1000 at the 4 Points Sheraton. If it wasn't for that darn Disney park my son wants to go to we could have a relaxing and relatively cheap vacation....might try and work out some sort of bribe with him...

 

[Sue909]

I was just there staying at the Hyatt Place and it wan't bad walking across the highway. No mad frogger dash. The light didn't change too quickly. We walked with my 6 year old who doesn't walk fast. I think they give you something like 30 seconds to cross the street. I remember getting to the middle with around 19 seconds left and getting to the other side with something like 10 seconds left. I thought it was plenty of time to cross. I was never rushed or in a panic.
Sue

No not a mad dash frogger style but you can't take your time to walking across either cause as I remeber it the light changes pretty quick

 

[Darcy03231]

Just looking at the US site, I can book HRH for (7) nights with (3) 7 day passes for $1554. Thats a great price. It is just over $1000 at the 4 Points Sheraton. If it wasn't for that darn Disney park my son wants to go to we could have a relaxing and relatively cheap vacation....might try and work out some sort of bribe with him...

How about just getting a one day park hopper for WDW (that's what we got this trip). My kids are teens and we've been to WDW multiple times over the years. There are a few rides they like and want to do so with the one day hopper we just get there early, hit DHS for Toy Story Mania, RNR and Tower of Terror. We then hop over to AK for Dinosaur, Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids. From there its over to Epcot for Test Track and then to MK where we finish out the day and stay for the fireworks. While its a long and busy day we have fun doing it.