Disney Deluxe vs Universal Resorts? Compare

[rapunzal]

Stayed at Poly, Cont, W.L and most recently AK lodge. Looking to do a few days at Universal... for those that have stayed at both how do these resorts compare? What would be good for a 6 and 9 year old? Seems like $200 a night it a lot...never spent that with my Ap! Should I just stay at a 2 bedroom condo for the same price? Looking to go the first week of Oct. Thanks

 

[PatsGirl]

FOTL access is worth every penny. We stayed at Royal Pacific a few years back before our Disney cruise. The rooms were small but the lobby was gorgeous, the bar was very nice, and the staff were great as well. The pool was nice as well. We loved being able to walk to the parks (about 10 minutes maybe) or just to CityWalk (is that what it's called?) for drinks or dinner. It's similar to DTD but smaller I think.

Back on subject. There is nothing like FOTL and it is worth every penny. We surpassed hundreds of people in line, felt guilty actually, , but we were there on T'Day weekend and never waited more than 10 minutes for anything.

Now, if you were going during slow season, you have to consider the $. As for us, we stayed at Royal Pacific for their "opening" at $99/night. I've tried to get back in but can't find anything less than $150 which I'd take if it were holiday or high season for sure. Remember to sign up for Lowes too. We got a few good rewards!

Brenda

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Wow! I've never gotten the Poly for less than $200/nt., even with a discount, I'm so jealous!!

We stayed at HRH when it first opened, and frankly were blown away by it! Very nice resort, more amenities than some of the Disney deluxe resorts. And we were just steps away from US, an easy walk. DD, DS and I really loved this resort, and FOTL access is awesome! Definitely would stay onsite at US/IOA just for that perk!

 

[ccw]

A friend of mine just returned from Hard Rock at Universal and had nothing but fabulous things to say about her stay. Well, actually, they did have a problem in that she reserved (and paid for) a water view room which didn't really have much of a water view (sound familiar?). She mentioned it to the manager and ended up getting a refund of over a hundred dollars. She also raved about the wonderful service from the bellhops who basically packed her car for her! To tell you the truth, it made me a little jealous because, as much as i love Disney (DVC member), i am not always impressed with their service at the resorts.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We love HRH. We stay in a deluxe room and love it. There is no price you can put on FOTL with three small children in July. I think the HRH deluxe resorts are comparable to Disney deluxe resorts.

 

[Bob NC]

In MY opinion, Universal hotels are truly DELUXE, the way Disney resorts USED to be. We stayed in a HRH deluxe room and it was awesome. The staff is great, they actually call you by name whenever you deal with them. Universal resorts IMO have not sunk to the level of mass consumption that the Disney resorts have. They appreciate your business and treat you that way. FOTL can't be beat.

 

[lUVTOGO]

We stayed at the HRH deluxe room and it was great. The hotel is clean, very upscale, the pool area has cabanas you can rent for the day. The lobby area has all kinds of neat artifacts and rock and roll memorabilia. We loved it there and you cannot beat FOTL access.

 

[goofie4goofy]

We love the Portofino Bay Hotel. In comparing GF Conc to PBH CL, I would have to say the rooms at PBH are bigger, and less money too! The offerings are about the same, breakfast, snacks, drinks, softdrinks. The deluxe rooms at the PBH hotel have much larger bathrooms, seperate showers and tub and the living space is larger too. The hotels are newer than the WDW hotels (I think or at least they look it) The views from the rooms vary but all great. The service is excellent, and the boats to the park run every 15 minutes.

The FOTL access is the best feature..you can do all the rides in no time and have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the hotel. It is more of a vacation because the parks are much more contained. We rode the mummy 15 times last visit, I think the most we waited was 10 min. For Shrek 4D we walked right in past the long line. The parks are always clean and well groomed. We call Universal "Disney lite".

I don't know if they still offer this BUT if you go to the universal website you can buy a 5 day park tickets (hopping both parks no extra charge) for the price of 2. For 2 adults it costs us around 200 dollars for 5 days. You can't beat that with a stick!

Many people get confused with the park passes---your ROOM key is the FOTL pass, not your park ticket. So always have your rom key accessible.

We also stayed at HRH and loved that too. We visited RP when we went to tchop Tchop, and it is beautiful - and new!

Since NBC bought Universal, you will see changes for the better!

 

[ILuvWDWorld]

as far as the $ goes, we stayed at Royal Pacific for $109 a couple of years ago. We were able to get a cheaper rate through AAA so we called RP and asked if they could do a little better. They went to like $159 from $189. Anyway, we just kept looking on the internet for cheaper prices and would call back to see if Royal Pacific could do better each time we found a cheaper rate. When we were finally done, we had saved $80!

Because the hotels are not "Universal"-owned (unlike Disney), they will sometimes come down on the rate. It never hurts to ask.

 

[gigi1313]

we recently spent a night at RPR just so we could get FOTL access and it was very nice... the grounds are lovely... the kids enjoyed the pool (the volleyball net was a big perk for my kids LOL)... the restaurant was great for a quick meal... the room was bigger than our bunk-bed savannah room at akl... all this for $150 w/aaa discount!

it was our original plan to buy the fotl/express pass pkg but for four people for two parks (even though we visited both parks in the same day) the cost was $212... when we found out it was cheaper to take a room, we did!

that being said, we did not really care for the universal parks and it will probably be a long time before we go back... but if we did, we'd stay onsite again

 

[antmaril]

I have stayed at the Boardwalk Inn and the Beach Club (Concierge) at Disney. We have stayed at all three of the Universal Hotels. I have to say, the Universal resorts are truly deluxe. We stayed in a deluxe room at Portofino Bay a couple of times and the rooms are really big and the bathroom is absolutely fantastic. The bathrooms at the Disney resorts cannot compare in any way. Now don't get me wrong, I love Disney and we are going again in January staying at the Boardwalk Inn. We always do both on our trips. We stay a few nights at Disney and then a couple of nights at Universal. We have stayed at the Royal Pacific several times. Rooms are smaller than the other two resorts, but it is still a great resort. Nice pool, lovely decor.

Of course, as mentioned in other posts FOTL is the best perk of all. We always do Disney first because we have FOTL to look forward to. Once you go to the front of the line, you are spoiled forever.

I can highly recommend the resorts at Universal. I will say that bargains have been a little hard to come by lately. I have reservations at Portofino Bay in January and I'm waiting to see if the rate will come down at all. Even AAA would help.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[pozey]

My 2 cents....

On our most recent vacation this past June, we spent 8 nights at the Polynesian and then the last 3 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal.

Seems like $200 a night it a lot...never spent that with my Ap!

How have you gotten the Poly for less than $200???

At the Poly, we were in the Tahiti Longhouse with a Lagoon View. The room was very nice, and the bathroom was extra large. We had a great view. The grounds were spectacular. I thought our entire stay at the Poly was incredible.

We moved over to the Hard Rock for our final 3 nights. We had reserved a Club Level room. The room was much smaller than the room we had at the Poly, but it was nice. The service was excellent, even though we had to have our room key cards replaced 3 separate times. We also requested a pool view room, but our request was not met. But the FOTL perk is worth every penny!!

The kids enjoyed both resorts (my kids are DS(9), DS(6), and DD(2)). I just now asked my DS(9) his thoughts.....

He said he liked both resorts almost equally. He liked the pool at the Hard Rock a little better. He liked the atmosphere at the Poly better.

We are planning another trip next year. Again, we plan on splitting our stay between 8 nights at Disney (probably the Beach Club) and 3 nights at the Hard Rock.

 

[goofie4goofy]

Just an FYI

The hotels are owned by LOEWS hotels. The best thing you can do is to go to the loews website and sign up for loews first. There is not charge for this but they will give you lots of stuff. After 5 nights (i think) you become a plat member which includes a frree upgrade (when available) . There's lots more stuff, I did this a long time ago so I don't remember all the details. They keep a "profile" on you so the stuff is automatically there every visit, and you can change your preferences on the website.

If I remember corectly, they give you a choice of newspapers, snack (milk and cookies or fruit and water etc) I also think you get late check out. It's a great thing to sign up for and its no charge. Another nice touch

 

[wendypooh]

We've stayed at RPR (Royal Pacific) 3 times. It is absolutely beautiful. We loved it, and when we do US/IOA trips, we will NOT stay anywhere else. Our boys loved it. Everyone is correct FOTL is beyond worth it. We thought the rooms were lovely, adequate size, and the resort itself is gorgeous. My little one was just 3 the first stay, and the zero entry area of the pool was "his" spot!! As he got older, he now loves the water area, and swims all over the pool. The restaurants are wonderful, and citywalk has some very good places as well. Margaritaville, NBA (we had an AWESOME meal here). But, back to the resort, you cannot go wrong with any of the US resorts.

I do have to admit, we've never stayed deluxe at disney, we are going to AKL in Jan. so I won't know how to compare until then, but I have no doubts they'll be just as nice. It is worth the money in my opinion to stay onsite at one of the US resorts.......... you'll be with all of us on that point the first time you use your FOTL!!!!

Have fun!!!

 

[Hawk]

We went to Universal last year during our WDW stay. We drove 3 times as we got the three day pass. I recall a special pass that was either the same or very similar to FOTL for an extra $10.00. Therefore, you may not have to stay at the hotels at Universal. Just a thought.

Tim/Hawk

 

[goofie4goofy]

We went to Universal last year during our WDW stay. We drove 3 times as we got the three day pass. I recall a special pass that was either the same or very similar to FOTL for an extra $10.00. Therefore, you may not have to stay at the hotels at Universal. Just a thought.

Tim/Hawk

It is like a fast pass, - sort of and is a ticket. you can only buy a certain amount of tickets per day, and once you use up your tickets- that's it. Also once they are sold out you cannot get anymore for that day, since they only sell a limited amount per day. FOTL works all day on every ride. There is a huge difference.

 

[Tinkbell]

As others have said, the Front of the Line access makes their resorts top notch! I personally like the look and feel of the Disney resorts better, but now I will always stay at Universal for a couple of days to enjoy the line "cutting".

 

[ToyStory]

We stayed at HRH this July and paid $264 for our room, but that included tickets to the parks. They had a promotion stay for 4 play for free. FOTL was great especially in July Therefore I think it was a better value then Disney.

My son loved the slide at the HRH and it was only a short walk to the parks. The room was nice and we had a view of great lawn and the boat launch.

 

[LeahA]

I have only stayed at a Disney Deluxe 1 time and that was the WL. I love the theming of the WL and the grounds are beautiful. We had a courtyard view and it was very nice.

I have only stayed at a Universal Hotel 1 time and that was the Royal Pacific. I loved being able to walk to Citywalk and the theme parks. I loved having the FOTL access. The hotel pool was very nice as well.

I felt both hotels, the rooms were small. You can't go wrong with a Universal Hotel especially if your going to the theme parks there. Citywalk if fun, even with kids. There is Margaritaville, Emeril's, and also at the RP the best meal I ever had was at Emeril's Tchop Tchop. ( I know I spelled that wrong!)

 

[isyt]

I will always stay at Universal for 1 maybe 2 nights. I do enjoy the FOTL access, I always find my time more valuable than the price. However that being said I do find the service at the hotels to be alot less than Disney. I had several instances on this last trip where Hotel and park employees were rude and not helpful. I had even complained to Port.Bay with no acknowledgement. It was odd on Saturday of July 4th weekend that the only ice cream shop closed in our face at 10:01pm. There was a line of people but we were stopped at the door. We also stayed concierge and the cms could not figure out how to change my Spiderman breakfast time. We also did come across some very confused and unknowledgable park employees. The boat service was awful, the boat employee was telling us how they were understaffed.

Don't get me wrong I do like Universal but can only take it for a couple of days. ( My dh is in the backround saying if you don't count the people the Universal hotels are "nicer") . I still have a big problem with the service!!