Hotels near Universal

[wechevarria]

Hi. I am new to the Forum. Still have some trouble searching for answers to my questions, and I might have posted the same question twice... please bear with me
My husband, two daughters (6 and 8) and I will be staying at Bay Lake (DVC) Jan 2-8. We want to get to Orlando on Dec 31, stay near Universal Parks, visit them Jan 1 and 2, and then move to Bay Lake.
On site Universal Hotels are full. Don't want to rent a car.
Questions:
1. Which nearby hotels do you recommend?
2. How are their shuttle services?
3. Are any at walking distance?
4. Another option we are considering is Nickelodeon Hotel. What do you think?
Cutting it close, so all input will be much appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[macraven]

i just pulled up the website and see rooms with 2 Q's are available for your dates at rph at a reasonable price.
rooms also available at pbh.

only hrh lists no rooms available.


doubletree and a few more hotels are near by.

it is about a 10-15 minute walk from there to the parks.


the Nick hotel is not as close to the parks.


some of the off site shuttles only have a few to and from the park each day.
they are not continous shuttles.

 

[wechevarria]

Sorry - rph?
The other - pbh is Loew's Portofino? I keep getting that they are booked. Will call tomorrow.

 

[macraven]

royal pacific hotel
portofino bay hotel


i think it is more convenient to stay onsite when you have children the ages of yours.
less rushing to get everyone ready in the morning for the parks.
less travel time to the parks.

it is a short 7-8 minute walk from rph to ioa.
coming in from offsite, could take you more time than that.

if you go to Loews website or to www.universalorlando.com, you can find availability now.

once at UO site, click on "book hotels".


staying onsite allows you unlimited usage of all the express lines for rides and shows in the parks.
it also allows you early entry to the parks.
(one hour prior to the official opening time)

you are going during a time period where you will have some crowds in the park.
less line waiting for rides will be a good thing.

 

[wechevarria]

Thanks for your help and nice disposition.
I just rechecked. No rooms available for Dec 31-Jan 2.
You say you checked and got available rooms?

 

[macraven]

i put in dates of jan 1, check out jan 3rd.
the way i read your first post i thought you needed the hotel room on jan 1st.

"We want to get to Orlando on Dec 31, stay near Universal Parks, visit them Jan 1 and 2, and then move to Bay Lake. "


sorry for that confusion.


you could stay offsite on the 31st and then move by taxi to the onsite on jan. 1st if that would work out for you.

a taxi ride from the doubletree to rph would be under $10.

my friend used a taxi from rph to the shopping plaza near pbh at the cost of $5 one way.

 

[Metro West]

Since you are asking about offsite hotels, I'm moving this thread to a more appropriate section.

 

[Planogirl]

There is a Doubletree across from the entrance into Universal that has a shuttle too but I'm not sure how convenient it is. You can walk but you have to cross a very busy street. Just a bit further is a Hyatt Place that we enjoyed a few years ago. It's not fancy but comfortable. I don't recall them having a shuttle though.

If you have a car you might just want to bite the bullet and pay the parking. I think that it's way more convenient if you're offsite.

 

[Seeker615]

A couple of years ago we stayed at the Holiday Inn and Suites Maingate.

It was a very nice clean hotel and we were upgraded to a suite. It had a full size fridge and microwave and a nice sitting area as well as a stove top.

There was an onsite restaurant as well and a decent pool with a kiddie splash area.

You could walk to the parks but it is a bit daunting with the busy road you need to cross.

We did the free shuttle a couple of times and took a taxi twice. Very reasonable for the taxi.

 

[Dynamoliz]

We stayed at the Westgate Palace in September. We had a rental car, but we did see some people walking. It is quite close but I don't think close enough for young kiddos to walk, and then expect them to walk all day at the park. It's less than 5 mins in a car so it wouldn't be an expensive taxi ride. I know the hotel had shuttle service but I didn't pay much attention since we had a car. We stayed in a 2 BRM suite and our view was of the Universal parks and Wet N Wild. You can't really get any closer than the WP I think unless you are onsite. It is a Universal "partner" hotel so you get early entrance to WWOHP, and at the time we booked we also got two days of Free Dining Credits. The deal was on Universal's website... you might want to check it out.

 

[zaz]

We've stayed at the Best Western Plus that part of the package with universal. They had a good pool, and comfy rooms. You had to reserve the shuttle, but we never had a problem. 2 minutes to the parks!!! We sometimes cabbed it too.

 

[wechevarria]

Booked @ the Holiday Inn and Suites Maingate. Will take a taxi.
Thanks to all for your advice

 

[donaldduck352]

Booked @ the Holiday Inn and Suites Maingate. Will take a taxi.
Thanks to all for your advice

We stayed there before,very nice.

Just one warning-check for bed bugs before unpacking.

 

[wechevarria]

Bed bugs...yikes!
Well, thanks to my newfound friend macraven, I just changed EVERYTHING! Will stay at the Four Points Sheraton on Dec 31st (the day we arrive), and the next morning will move to RPH! Will do a pre-check in, so we can get our express passes, and will stay there just one night (Universal Parks both days). We actually saved some money!!! DIS rocks!!!