Help! Where to stay at Universal Studios!

[HannahAubree]

Hello everyone, I am new here and would love to have some advice for my upcoming trip this fall to Universal Studios Orlando. First of all, where would you guys recommend staying? I would prefer to be on site and don't mind spending more for that. My boyfriend and I are planning on staying for 2-3 days, wanting to go to universal studios for one day and then maybe islands of adventure for another day. Are there hotels on site that give deals/packages for tickets and such? Sorry for such a loaded question. Thanks a lot everyone!!

 

[BuzzyBelle]

We just got back from our first US stay. We were at the Royal Pacific club level for 4 nights. It was very nice, not Disney deluxe nice, but everything was fine. We chose it since it was the least expensive of the "deluxe" resorts but still gave us express passes. Even though we were there during a low crowd time we still took advantage of these frequently. The resort is in a great location and even with a 5 year old we only took the boat once. If it had been really hot out we may have taken it more, but the hotel is very close- especially to IOA. I think the pools at the other resorts are probably more elaborate, but RPR was pretty and relaxing. Plus you can always visit the other pools If we go back in the future I think we would choose RPR again. As far as packages we did book through Universal direct and got tickets and room. I don't believe we saved anything by doing this- just like at Disney. It was just convenient since it was a last minute trip and I believe we had missed any deals that may have been available by that point. I do think staying at an onsite resort was the best choice between location and the express passes

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I love the Royal Pacific Resort. Beautiful resort and you get the unlimited resort express pass which is different than the express pass you pay for.

The paid for express pass only lets you do each ride with express once per day but the unlimited resort express pass lets you ride the attractions more than once per day.

The Royal Pacific doesn't have a pool slide but you can pool hop to the Hard Rock Resort and use their pool there which does have a slide.

I also enjoy the Hard Rock Resort but for a first time, I'd choose the Royal Pacific.

 

[disneylove69]

Since you will be at the parks a majority of the day go to Cabana bay. Rooms are small put it has a nice property, food, drinks, great bus system and you can save some big bucks.

 

[schumigirl]

You won't get Express Pass at Cabana Bay if that's important to you. EP is worth its weight in gold for us.

Choosing a resort is easy......pick the theme you like best and stay there. They are all lovely in there own way. We are biased to RPR.....for us it's the nicest of them all for many reasons.

Can't help you on packages as we don't ever use a package.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We loved Royal Pacific as well!

 

[bas71873]

We prefer HRH because it's smaller and more compact and closer to the parks for walking. We also like the pool area for our chill out, no parks day and DD likes to have a slide. I also would not do Cabana Bay only because there is no FOTL pass, which like someone else said is worth it's weight in gold.

Packages aren't an issue at US. We book our room either with an APH code (which for our dates this year there are none) or through Cheaptickets.com with a 20% code. I just bought my park to park tickets through Undercover Tourist and saved a few bucks. We just pay OOP for food and usually hit the grocery store for breakfast items.

 

[kelleybean]

Honestly you can't go wrong with any of them. We loved Portofino but it was further from the parks than the others. If you don't want to have to rely on the water taxi then you might want to lean towards Royal Pacific or Hard Rock.

 

[RMulieri]

We also love Portofino.But we tend to have a lot of resort time and spend at least 4 days at the parks when we go

 

[macraven]

op, if money is a priority, chose from one of the 3 deluxe hotels to book.
if you plan to do in the fall, late september or october, make your mind up soon.

once hhn site is released, many will be booking rooms for that hard ticket event.
weekend rates will be higher than weekdays at that point.

if you are going late fall and in november, you will see hotel prices fall to a lower rate.

i'm too comfortable staying at RPR for my stays.
i couldn't give that up for the value hotel onsite.

read up on www.universalorlando.com and check out the hotels.
it might give you an edge in making your decison on which hotel you would prefer.
maybe the list of amenities at the hotels will sway your decision.

happy planning!