UNIVERSAL GRAND HELIOS info & FAQ

[Rags]

Staying at the Helios starting this Sunday and have Epic tickets for Monday. Went to add single day on Sunday and they are sold out. Does Helios sell same day tickets if it is sold out? TIA

 

[Minnie1222]

Does Helios sell same day tickets if it is sold out? TIA

No.

 

[Rags]

No.

Thank you!!

 

[Minnie1222]

You probably already knew this. There are different types of tickets and not all of them are sold out on the same day.

When I was there last month, I had the urge to add on a 3rd Epic day but all single day tickets were sold out for both AP and non-AP. However, they still had various packages available, and luckily one of them matched a package I previously bought. All they had to do was changing the start date of the package and I was able to enter Epic.

 

[daveybarra]

Any reports on the TVs in the rooms? Do they have accessible HDMI ports? Built-in streaming or casting features? Smart features?

 

[neverlandsky]

NM found my answer.

 

[Lewisc]

Any reports on the TVs in the rooms? Do they have accessible HDMI ports? Built-in streaming or casting features? Smart features?

TVs have some apps and casting. I don't know about HDMI ports.

 

[Philsfan77]

Staying at the Helios starting this Sunday and have Epic tickets for Monday. Went to add single day on Sunday and they are sold out. Does Helios sell same day tickets if it is sold out? TIA

They do. My buddy joined last minute for our trip this past week, and single day tickets for our dates were sold out. He decided to come anyways, and was able to get single day tickets for both days (Thursday and Friday) the day of. The planning desk opens at 7AM and he went down there around 6:45 both days, and got his tickets when the desk opened.

 

[Philsfan77]

Yes agreed - in the morning it really has to be enforced - its not like there is some restaurant that people are coming over for breakfast.

that said...

So I had a very different experience - turned out the employee was wrong.
So at 3:45 I went over to Helios to check out the rooftop bar - and they told me if I entered Helios I could not come back into epic and had to go to Citiwalk and back to Epic. I told the employee what I know from your comments and she started going off about how they are Loews and not Universal that that is how it is - even if I had a reservation for the bar (I did not that night). I spoke to the concierge desk at Epic and she made a few phone calls and said as long as I had a reservation I was OK. The next night no issues at all - no one stopping people from coming in etc - spoke to the bar manager and she was not happy and went and sorted it out.

One thing she did say was there was a problem with folks coming to the bar and not leaving in time to get back into Epic - but they parked at Epic - so now they cant get back to their car.

I do think they need to figure out something to keep Epic day guests from just using the Helios lobby for a break - some folks have already talked about doing that on their live streams.




First - So I did not stay at Helios so take this with a grain of salt - I also think the park entry wont be enough of the perk overall after taking to quite a few folks who stayed there - I did 5 days of epic so talked to quite a few people at the various bars to waiting in lines etc.. - they really like the hotel and the location cant be better - but for the most part they wont stay again. Basically without express they will stay at one of the other two Epic hotels for Epic. They also did not feel the early entry was all that helpful since all hotels guests get early entry - they would like even an hour or 30 minutes before the main entrance because by the time they get to Nintendo its already packed.

The other thing is - its a PITA to get to Citiwalk so you are sort of trapped at the hotel - and its very pricy.

This is absolutely my take on Helios after spending 3 days/2 nights there. It was nice for proximity and when it rained, having a room right there to go hang and view the park, and walk right back into the park quickly when the rain stopped was nice. However, everything else was lackluster given the price point. The rooms are small for a deluxe/premier/signature hotel. There is 1 sink space in the bathroom, a lot of bare walls with the exception of 1 singular 18 by 14 picture frame, our blinds in our room would not work with the tablet, and we needed assistance on day 2 getting them open, our door actually didn't shut behind us, which typically doors do in the hotel industry. Thankfully, I always wait to hear the click, and when I didn't I turned around and went back to pull the door fully shut. Pool is pretty basic for the price point/category, and doesn't have a slide like the other signature properties. The store in the hotel is one of the smaller ones at Universal. It reminded me a lot of Grand Destino Tower, which is a hotel I like for the price point (Helios overall may be a lesser version in my personal opinion) minus proximity to the park. Our food at Bar Helios was very good, and I'd say outside of the views of the park, this was the next best thing this hotel has going for it. We stayed at Stella Nova the last 2 days, and other than having to walk (10-15 minutes) or take the bus 3-5 minutes, and no body wash in the shower, everything about this hotel was more or less the same as Helios, room space felt about the same, decor other than the gold finishings was virtually identical, same single sink set-up for the bathroom, walk-in shower, same shower head setup, curtains that I actually could open on my own that worked, bigger check-in area/desk with more workers at it, pool space may be bigger here and definitely had more loungers around the pool area.

 

[wdwrule]

Is there walkable access between Helios and Stella Luna (or bus)? We’ll be staying at Helios then switching over one night at Stella Nova. The Stella Nova day is also our departure day so we were planning on a leisure breakfast before our flight… possibly at Flora Taverna. Otherwise I might switch to Aventura for that last night and have breakfast at Islands or Amatista.

 

[Philsfan77]

Is there walkable access between Helios and Stella Luna (or bus)? We’ll be staying at Helios then switching over one night at Stella Nova. The Stella Nova day is also our departure day so we were planning on a leisure breakfast before our flight… possibly at Flora Taverna. Otherwise I might switch to Aventura for that last night and have breakfast at Islands or Amatista.

There was not...we Uber'd. I'd do Amatista over Flora personally. Eaten at both for breakfast now...same items/comparable items at Flora are $4-$8 more per item.

 

[wdwrule]

There was not...we Uber'd. I'd do Amatista over Flora personally. Eaten at both for breakfast now...same items/comparable items at Flora are $4-$8 more per item.

Sounds good thank you! Maybe we’ll try Amatista. We really enjoyed Islands breakfast buffet at RP but I think they’re still remodeling and this would be for mid-August. I believe it’s temporarily set up in Jake’s but not sure if there are the same offerings. Amatista might be the winner then.

 

[Philsfan77]

Sounds good thank you! Maybe we’ll try Amatista. We really enjoyed Islands breakfast buffet at RP but I think they’re still remodeling and this would be for mid-August. I believe it’s temporarily set up in Jake’s but not sure if there are the same offerings. Amatista might be the winner then.

If you are doing the buffet, then either one will most likely work. There isn't a ton of variation between the buffet's at any of the Universal properties from what I've experienced, and they all are priced the same as far as I know at $34.

 

[wdwrule]

If you are doing the buffet, then either one will most likely work. There isn't a ton of variation between the buffet's at any of the Universal properties from what I've experienced, and they all are priced the same as far as I know at $34.

Good to know. We’re usually not big buffet people but the one at Islands made for a nice leisure time with a good variety including a great MTO omelette station. It sounds like they might all be similar then. Thanks for your input.