In Your Opinion - What is best/most convenient Universal Resort?

[Wendybird55]

Hi,
Looks like my 9 year old son is ready to take a trip with his Aunt without mom & dad. We are Disney folks and DS has gone since he was 2. During our 2 week Disney trip last summer we visited Universal and DS enjoyed himself and is thinking that would be the trip he wants to take with his Aunt.

I'm thinking a 5-day trip - arrival and departure days and 3 full days for Universal. So to make this a full Universal experience, which resort do you think is best based on accomodations, activities (game room, pool, etc), dining and most of all convenience to the Universal parks?

Thanks for your help.

 

[BeDisneyHappy]

Hard rock hotel is most convenient and our 9 yr old liked it. But he LOVED cabana bay for all of the stuff to do there. CB was the least convenient location wise. Plus does not include express pass benefit.

 

[macraven]

I've only stayed at the 3 deluxe onsite

All had good things about them for families

You can hotel hop and partake in activities at all of them if staying at any of the 5 hotels onsite

 

[damo]

When my son was that age, Hard Rock Hotel was his favourite. He loved the water slide and the proximity to the parks.

 

[kbelle8995]

Hard rock hotel is most convenient and our 9 yr old liked it. But he LOVED cabana bay for all of the stuff to do there. CB was the least convenient location wise. Plus does not include express pass benefit.

May I add that even though Cabana bay is farther than the other hotels, they do have an excellent bus system. I have never had to wait long for one.

 

[schumigirl]

HRH is closest to Studios, RPR is closest to IOA........PBH is not really that much further away. All are totally walkable and there are the boats.

Don't choose a hotel on proximity. They are all close in comparison to Disney hotels. Choose one for the theme you think would suit you best. We all have our favourites......no right or wrong choice.

CBay while furthest away is walkable and has a good bus service according to folk that have stayed there. Compare them all and choose the one to suit you best.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

IMO, Cabana Bay with its Lazy River is probably the most fun for kids. However, it doesn't include the Express Pass and that is my #1 reason for staying on-site. If you decide that Cabana Bay is the best for your family, you could price Cabana Bay and adding on the Express Pass for part of your trip if you want that, too.

DD loves the pool at Royal Pacific. She also thinks the rooms with the giant flowers on the walls and two shower heads are incredible. It is our go-to for on-site at Universal.

 

[dsmom]

To me Cabana bay was most inconvenient, don't like being dropped off at Citywalk. I guess I'm spoiled by the other three resorts. All three are close for me as we never walk, just use the boats. My son loves PB the best and he loves the beach pool there the best.

 

[dixonsontour]

My DD was age 8 and 9 on our Cabana bay stays and adored it. It was ideal for kids her age-bowling, lazy river, harry potter movies by the pool, firepits for smores. Refill mugs to make her coca cola freestyle mixes in.

We thought the bus was great and convenient. My husband hates buses and even he was happy. Never waited and took 5 minutes at most.

My two trip reports are in the Universal trip reports sections below.

 

[squirrel]

I'm taking my niece in September and we are staying at Cabana Bay Resort. I stayed at the Holiday Inn back in 1999 and took my cousins and we walked to Universal. I'm looking forward to staying on property this year.

Universal isn't as big as WDW so even a 5 min or so ride to the parks is great to me.

 

[bumbershoot]

Best? Portofino.

Most convenient? Closest to Studios is Hard Rock Hotel. I haven't mapped the walk from HRH passing Studios to IOA vs Royal Pacific to IOA, though.


We are huge Portofino fans here.

Pool hopping is encouraged so never let a pool stand in the way of a choice.

 

[keishashadow]

Hi,
Looks like my 9 year old son is ready to take a trip with his Aunt without mom & dad. We are Disney folks and DS has gone since he was 2. During our 2 week Disney trip last summer we visited Universal and DS enjoyed himself and is thinking that would be the trip he wants to take with his Aunt.

I'm thinking a 5-day trip - arrival and departure days and 3 full days for Universal. So to make this a full Universal experience, which resort do you think is best based on accomodations, activities (game room, pool, etc), dining and most of all convenience to the Universal parks?

Thanks for your help.

If your DS & his aunt are into 'cool' and rock n roll, HRH would be most excellent. Also very convenient as to walking back to resort. At times the lines for the resort launches can be long, depending on how you hit it & # of boats running. That said, I'd rather wait for the boat back to RPR than walk, when i'm usually dragging after a long day in the parks lol.

PBH is always the resort I check 1st but rates are usually highest. Everyone in my family agrees, it's the best onsite property for us. It has large expanse of grounds, other than the main plaza in the evening for opera singers, rarely crowded. Their main pool seems to have a less boisterous vibe than the other two properties, which is what we are looking for as a respite from the parks.

Lately, we've been landing @ RPH. It's well-themed, fun & especially romantic at night. The pool can get very lively & crowded as to seating. Props to the entertainment staff which seems especially engaging with the kiddos.

I don't see the point of pool hopping, too much time and effort for me (especially to get to CB to check out the lazy river), but it is nice to have the option.

My kids termed the game rooms a meh. Pictures are on hotel website, rather small. You really cannot go wrong with any of the properties imo.

 

[kbelle8995]

I'm taking my niece in September and we are staying at Cabana Bay Resort. I stayed at the Holiday Inn back in 1999 and took my cousins and we walked to Universal. I'm looking forward to staying on property this year.

Universal isn't as big as WDW so even a 5 min or so ride to the parks is great to me.

My sister made the same comment about Cabana Bay. She stated that the outer design reminded her of Holiday Inn in the 70's. But it's much nicer. I think that you will enjoy Cabana Bay.

 

[squirrel]

My sister made the same comment about Cabana Bay. She stated that the outer design reminded her of Holiday Inn in the 70's. But it's much nicer. I think that you will enjoy Cabana Bay.

I'm just not that picky about where I stay. I picked Holiday Inn back then as I didn't want to have to rely on shuttles. We walked to US each morning. We were even there before park opening. We only used the shuttle for Sea World and Wet n Wild.

I know I will love Cabana Bay as I love the Disney value resorts. I have looked at the menus from RPR and I would have a hard time finding food that I would eat there.

 

[LadyPageTurner]

I've only stayed at HRH once nearly 16 years ago, but I was 13 and LOVED it then! We chose Portofino for our honeymoon because it looked the most romantic. It was so wonderful, and I am quite tempted to stay there again, but I'd like to give RPR a chance so I can say I've been to all the deluxe hotels. We have eaten at Tchoup Chop. It was really nice and the staff was so sweet. It was during our honeymoon trip and we got free champagne! I prefer taking a boat than walking because after a long day in the parks, I don't care how close a hotel is - I do not want to walk anymore!! Plus, the boat is so nice and relaxing. It feels like a bonus ride. Expresses passes are essential to my trips, so I haven't considered staying at Cabana Bay or the new Sapphire Falls. I feel like you can't go wrong with any of the onsite hotels. I'm sure CB and SF are/will be beautiful and super fun. We've usually gone during winter months, so I look forward to pool hopping this time around.

I've been looking around the boards to find out if we can go to the CB pools. There seems to be some conflicting info - perhaps when they first opened it was not allowed and now it is? And if that was the case, then I'm guessing SF won't allow deluxe resort guests into their pools this year.

 

[macraven]

You can use the Cbay pool
Would assume sf also

 

[LadyPageTurner]

You can use the Cbay pool
Would assume sf also

Thanks! I hope so!!

 

[keishashadow]

I've been looking around the boards to find out if we can go to the CB pools. There seems to be some conflicting info - perhaps when they first opened it was not allowed and now it is? And if that was the case, then I'm guessing SF won't allow deluxe resort guests into their pools this year.

you can pool hop there. For us the challenge was gettting there. If you have a car & want to drive over you have to pay parking fee. a deal breaker for us on principle as I don't think onsite guests should be expected to pay a daily parking fee twice. I'm tired too after doing the parks, don't want to tromp to the shuttle pick-up to CB.