Where to stay for Universal trip?

[Bonnie (NJ)]

I am looking to go to Universal for 1st time. We have been to disney 4 times. The universal hotels seem a little pricey. What is the best deal for these hotels? Are there any hotels outside the park that are nice but reasonable? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bonnie

 

[damo]

Using the Entertainment rate (the book that you buy has a card in the front that will give you the discount), you can get Royal Pacific for about $125/night, HRH for about $130/night and Portofino for about $170/night. Call the hotels and ask about their discounts. They have great prices and there is no need to pay rack rate.

 

[gschmerl]

Call 1-800-BeAStar and ask if they have the Entertainment rate or Fan Club rate available for your dates. Also try Hotelkingdom--they sometimes offer the Universal Hotels at a discount. Staying on site is WELL WORTH IT!

 

[Flyfly_Eclipse]

I, too, strongly recommend you stay onsite. The convenience of location, quality of the rooms, and FOTL are worth it. Great staff...just completely worth it. Entertainment rates are great and you can find discounts sometimes on various websites like hotelkingdom and expedia.

However, if it is not an option anymore and you must stay offsite, I recommend Fairfield Inn Universal. It's a short drive from Universal (across the street from the property, but not within walking distance...besides, you wouldn't want to cross the busy street anyway). The rooms aren't anything special, but they are comfortable and the location in convenient (in a different way from the on-site resorts though. On-site, you are within walking distance to the parks and CityWalk, which is such an advantage if you want to take a break in the day. Even though you have to drive to get your your hotel offsite, the Fairfield Inn is sharing a parking lot with a 24-hour Walgreens, a Burger King, and I believe a Ponderosa (?) with a breakfast buffet, in addition to a few other restaurants nearby. I've stayed at Fairfield Inn twice and was satisfied. I didn't like AmeriSuites TOO much...wasn't bad but...

Here, I reviewed the two off-site hotels I've stayed at. I listed some advantages and disadvantages of them. Click here to read them, if you'd like!

 

[Earlene217]

I would recommend staying on site too! It was our lst time at Universal Studios and staying at the RPR seemed to make our Universal experience more fun and having the FOL was great.
Using the water taxi and the Universal transportaion was great.
We were so close to both parks.
We drove down and did leave the resort one in awhile but it was a hassel to find eating places so it was better just to take the water taxi to city walk. It saved us time and was more convient to stayed on the property.

 

[SpideyHulk24]

One more for onsite!!!! The FOTL access is worth it alone. But truly, the resorts are great and they will enhance your experience.