Universal Hotels - Help me please!

PrincessMiko

PrincessMiko

New Member
Original Poster
Has anyone ever stayed at any of the Universal on-site hotels? I am thinking about splitting my next stay between Hard Rock hotel and somewhere else, but I am unsure. I have searched all over the internet and people just don't talk about Universal the way they do Disney! I haven't been able to find any good advice about staying at Universal at all!

So, any advice that anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! :kiss:
 
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agent86

New Member
I try to stay at least one or two nights at Hard Rock whenever I go, although it's a bit pricey. In many regards, I think it's nicer than most Disney onsite hotels, and relatively speaking, you get better perks. Probably the best perk of all is the fact that your room key works as a permanent "fastpass" all day long, as many times as you want on any ride, at any time, at both parks. A second perk is the fact that Hard Rock is such an easy, quick stroll to the 2 Universal parks and CityWalk. Also, the hotel itself is really beautiful, as are the grounds. The pool is great too, and it has the unique feature of having speakers underwater so you can hear music when you go underwater. Pretty cool.
 
crazydaveh

crazydaveh

Active Member
I've stayed at all the Universal resorts. They are all great.

The Royal Pacific is the cheapest of the three, but it's not "cheap." It's mostly along the lines, and probably nicer than Disney Moderate resorts. They are not as large land wise, but they do have the same fun amenities such as a pool, restaurant, bar, and themeing.

The Hard Rock is the middle of the three Universal Resorts. It's in between a moderate and Deluxe Disney resort. It of course has a "rock n roll" theme it and is nicely done. The best part of the Hard Rock is the pool and it's location. You can walk to the parks in two minutes, as it sits just outside of the Universal Studios Park.

The Portifino is the highest quality resort at Universal. They have a spa, a really nicely themed common area with restaurants, shops, and bars. The pool is fun and this resort has several smaller pools as well.

That's my quick info on the resorts, they are all awesome, they all beat 90% of the Disney resorts (IMO) and they offer skip the line passes by showing your room key card at the Express Pass Entrance at the attractions!
 
Pumbas Nakasak

Pumbas Nakasak

Heading for the great escape.
Will be staying at the Hard Rock in November. Its one of my favourite hotels. Chilled laid back atmosphere and all that memorabilia. Good on site restaurants in my opinion, and although the pool is not deep enough for Olympic athletes to practice in, its perfect for those of us intent on sipping a cocktail or two.

This is our sixth stay, joined the Lowes loyalty scheme so a free upgrade to a suite when we made our booking, plus just love those Express privileges in the parks. It was also cool to watch a movie floating in the pool.

Im sure the other hotels are great, just happy with what the Hard Rock gives you.
 
The Mom

The Mom

Moderator
Premium Member
BTW, I stayed at the Portofino for a couple of nights the first week it opened, at a special FL resident rate.

They had an extensive questionaire for us to fill out, and I was critical about a couple of items, especially the danger of the mixture of high beds with marble floors, with small children sleeping in them. Management was apparently extremely appreciative of my suggestions, as they comped our room!
 
kcnole

kcnole

Well-Known Member
All of their hotels are at least moderate value with Portofino definitely being Deluxe value at Disney. The only one I've stayed at however is Royal Pacific. Its the cheapest of the three, but its absolutely beautiful, especially if you can get a park or garden view room. Unfortunately I've always had to settle for views of Orlando which kind of hurts the illusion.

That said the resorts are fantastic, I love the water taxis to Citywalk, and having unlimited express pass access makes staying there an incredible value. Here's my brief rundown of the three hotels.

Portofino is the crown jewel of the hotels, but if you're going with kids it may not be the best option. Its more of a quiet and romantic type location and is absolutely beautiful.

Hard Rock is a lot of fun with the whole rock theme. The pool area is a lot of fun (even having underwater speakers playing music) and has a fun water slide. It is a very loud resort though due to all the music playing all the time.

Royal Pacific is absolutely beautiful. Its still a lot of fun with kids but does not have a water slide in the pool. So if you really want that then I'd suggest one of the other two hotels which do.

All three are fantastic hotels and you won't go wrong with any of them.

For some more info and pictures on these three hotels, visit discoveruniversal.com. On the links on the left hand side they have info on all three hotels.

http://www.discoveruniversal.com/
 
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ann0d

Active Member
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 95pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=126 border=0 x:str><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 95pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 4608" width=126><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD class=xl19 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 95pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=126 height=17 x:str="'We stayed at the Royal Pacific last year for three days, and then spent a week in Disney, loved the hotel, loved the fact you can take a boat over to City Walk, and loved the fact you get Fast pass if you stay at the hotel. That alone, is worth staying in one of the hotels! If you need anymore help - shoot me a message!">We stayed at the Royal Pacific last year for three days, and then spent a week in Disney, loved the hotel, loved the fact you can take a boat over to City Walk, and loved the fact you get Fast pass if you stay at the hotel. That alone, is worth staying in one of the hotels! If you need anymore help - shoot me a message!</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
 

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