Universal Orlando Resort is made up of the theme parks plus the resorts. The resorts themsleves are grouped into four different categories. They range from Value to to Premier. Let's take a look at each category of resort and what you get at each level. Well start with most affordable and save the most expensive for the end.
With all levels of resort you will have free transportation to and from the theme parks. If flying in, you must arrange you own transportation to the resort from the airport. If driving, it's important to note that Universal does not own and operate these resorts. Lowes, the owner of the resorts, does charge a nightly parking fee. Premier and Preferred resort guests have the option of self park or valet. All others are self park only. One thing to note is that ALL Universal resorts have EV charging for free for resort guests! All Universal Resorts also offer Early Admission (EPA) 1-hour before official park opening. This will be one park or the other (either Universal Orlando or Islands of Adventure, not both). The park that offers early admission changes throughout the year, so make sure you check their official website or app for your dates. It is also limited to just a few rides, so you will not have access to the entire park during EPA, and those rides can also change.
Value Resorts
Universal has two resorts in this category. These are sister resorts called Universal's Endless Summer Resorts. They are sub-divided into two buildings called Surfside Inn and Suites and Dockside Inn and Suites. These two resorts are the newest resorts on property. The rooms at both resorts are laid out the same. Surfside is a smaller resort with only about 750 total rooms compared to Dockside's 2000+ rooms. With Dockside being a significantly larger resort, it has 2 pools. Both have an arcade. Check out our Value Resort Full Guide for more details and info.
The first thing I noticed was that we had a long drive to get from the parks to the resort. You drive down regular city streets, going outside of the Universal Bubble. Transportation is bus only, ride share, or drive. These two resorts are situated in the middle of normal business. Surfside was directly across the road from a KFC and Walgreens. This is not my personal preference, as I prefer to stay "in the bubble".
Since these rooms are pretty far away from everything, they are priced accordingly. The lowest prices I could find for these standard rooms was $104 during the middle of the school year. In contrast, the same room is going for almost $200 per night during the fall and around Christmas.
Did you notice the "And Suites" part of the name? Yep, this Value Resort has 2-bedroom suites also! These suites can sleep up to 6 people. They are just two rooms with a total of three beds and have one bathroom (no living room as the main room contains 2 beds). There is a kitchenette with small table and chairs. These are an affordable option to sleep a larger party without having to book two separate rooms. Suite prices start at $179 per night.
We stayed in a regular room, not a suite, and LOVED the room itself. It was more upscale than a lot of value level resorts we have stayed in before at other theme parks. The finishes and detailing were beautiful. We loved the beach theme to the room and the soft blue colors. I liked that there was room under the bed to slip our bags to get then out of the way. There was not a lot of storage though. It was fine for us, as we were just there for one night, so we didn't bother to unpack. However, if you are a family of four and are going to be staying there for a few days, you will probably find that you don't have enough drawers for all of your clothes.
Dining at these resorts is food court style quick service. Food is geared to families with kids such as burgers, chicken tenders, puffy pizza, sandwiches, and fries. There are also grab-and-go options. You'll also find a Starbucks at both. If you don't want to leave your room, you can order pizza delivery during certain hours. Pools at both resorts have a poolside bar.
Prime Value Resorts
Ok, I'm going to be honest here. I didn't even know this category existed until I started doing research for this article today (I fact check everything with the Universal website for accuracy and there aren't any bots writing my articles). Heck, I never realized that there are actually four resort categories instead of just three. I always thought that the two resorts in this category were a part of a second out of three situation. This goes to show you that even the Universal regulars still have a lot to learn. Check out our Value Prime Full Guide for a more detailed review and more info. Also, I don't know why I've never snapped a single picture of anywhere at Cabana Bay before, as many times as we have stayed there. But somehow I haven't. Sorry for the lack of pictures.
Anyway, enough of that tangent. Universal's Cabana Bay Resort and Universal's Aventura (not to be confused with Ace Ventura) are the two included in the Prime Value category. So what does Prime Value get you? It gets you closer to the parks! These resorts ARE in walking distance to the theme parks/ City Walk and are inside of the Universal bubble. Shuttle buses are available also. Both of these resorts have a private walkway/entrance for Universal's Volcano Bay Waterpark. So if you are planning on spending time at this waterpark (which is a separate ticket price), staying at one of these two resorts may be a great option for you.
Standard room for both of these have a starting price of $140/night. CB also has really awesome Family Suites that sleep six. My favorite part of the CB Family Suite is the bathroom set up. The toilet is in its own water closet by itself. There is a tub/shower in another separate room with a sink. Then the main vanity is in between the two separate rooms. The Kid's Suites at Aventura will only sleep five. There are 2-bedroom Suites at CB that will sleep a total of eight. These are actual legit 2-bedroom suits with a dedicated living room. They also have two full bathrooms!!! Family suites will run you about $50-$90 more per night over the standard room. The cost of the eight person 2-bedroom Suite at CB will be an extra $200ish on top of that (so about $250 more over the standard room).
The theming of these two resorts is drastically different. Which one you like will be strictly personal preference. CB is a retro 1950s themed resort. It's a fun and vibrant atmosphere. Rooms are colorful with fun details such as having retro designed toiletry packaging. Aventura Hotel is the complete opposite with a modern, sophisticated palate and dark wood floors. There's not a lot of color at this hotel. Aventura is also a rounded, well oval, shaped building, so the rooms will be funky shapes/sizes.
The pools at CB are one of the top features of this resort. There are two pools and a massive lazy river. The fun theming of the resort carries over to the pools. Aventura has one pool. The cool thing about this pool is that it has underwater speakers. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but it's actually really pretty cool. Hard Rock Hotel is the other resort that has underwater speakers.
Preferred Resort
That's not a typo. This is "resort" singular. Lowes Sapphire Falls (SF) is the one and only resort in this category. You get the same perks of Value and Prime Value, but with the added transportation option of having a water taxi in addition to the bus and walking trail. It's also walking distance to Volcano Bay. I don't have much to say on this resort, as it's the only one where we have never stayed. I'm not quite sure I get the point of this category. Like, it's more expensive than Value, but you don't get the perks of Premier Resorts (more on that later)? To be fair to Universal, we also don't stay at Disney's Moderate Resorts. However, people who stay at this resort love it for its upscale feel and overall beauty. It actually has a huge fan base following, with people who stay at this resort over and over again. It does have the largest pool on property. Since we have never stayed here, I do not have any pictures.
Standard rooms here start at $210/ night in the off season and will sleep four. Moving up to this category will give you the option of having sit down, full service dining options instead of quick service only. Room service also becomes an option at this category. I see on their website that they do wedding packages here, so it must be a beautiful resort.
Sapphire Falls (SF) does also have luxury suites. Kid suites have one king bed in the main room and two twin beds in a separate. King suites have a king bed in a separate bedroom and a sleeper sofa in the living room (will sleep a total of 4). You can book connecting rooms with the King suite and a standard room to give you a total of sleeping 8 (or sleep 6 and have a dedicated living room) with two bathrooms. I like this option.
Now, let's pause here for a minute. These above mentioned suites are affordable in terms of value of being in a suite vs a standard room. During the slowest seasons, I see rates all less than $470 per night. If you are thinking that $470 per night is a lot of money, your jaw is about to drop right now (mine sure did). SF offers additional, high end suites. The Presidential Suite will run you a minimum of $1,775 per night (or at least that's the cheapest I could find it on their website). That's great and all if you are bringing extended family and need to sleep 12 people or so, right? Well, you can't do that in this suite. Maximum occupancy in only 2 (yes two) people. You do have the option of adding an adjoining standard room to bring that up to six. But that will start you at $2,050 per night. In between the King Suite and the Presidential Suite are the Hospitality Suites and the Sapphire Suites. The Sapphire Suite will at least sleep four with the pull out sofa bed. The Hospitality Suite will only sleep two, or for an extra fee, can sleep three with an additional rollaway bed. Our budget simply can't handle $2,050 per night plus taxes and fees. Keep in mind too that these rates do not, that I'm aware of, include Unlimited Express Passes like the Premier resorts do. If you've ever stayed in the Presidential suite, PLEASE let me know (and send pictures!!!)
Premier Resorts
This category is the top tier at Universal Orlando. This is also the category where we have the most experience with stays. Check out our Premier Resort Full Guide for more info. Resorts included in this category are Lowes Portofino Bay Hotel (PBH), Hard Rock Hotel (HRH), and my all time favorite, Lowes Royal Pacific Resort (RP).
There are two big perks to staying at this level of resort. For one, they are the closest to the parks and City Walk. It's a very short walk from both HRH and RP. The walk from PBH is bit further, but still completely walkable. However, the number one reason we, and many other people stay at these resorts, is because you get FREE Unlimited Express Pass (EP) for everyone in your room included when staying at a Premier Resort!!! This is Universal's skip the line system. Since this is the unlimited version that's included, you can ride the same rides over and over again while skipping the lines. If you were to just add Unlimited EP onto your day and pay for it out of pocket (say you're staying at a value resort but want to skip the lines), it starts at $125 per person per day and can get as high as $379 per per person per day (according to their website) to add Unlimited EP for the day! Getting this included for free is definitely worth the extra cost in nightly room rate if you're really wanting to ride all of the attractions, especially during busier times when UEP might cost you around $269 per person. The use of EP will start the day you check in (even if your room isn't ready yet) and it will be good through park closing the day you check out. Essentially, one night will get you two days of free EPs.
For the extra cost, the rooms are nothing fancy, and still don't have balconies (except a very select few at PBR). Standard Queen rooms will sleep four and standard King rooms will sleep two (or three with a rollaway bed for an extra fee). Starting price for RP is around $405/night, HRH around $450/night, and PBR around $485 per night. They usually have pretty good discounts for Annual Passholders and Florida residents throughout the year. I do like the added touches of the rooms. For example, at HRH, the wall mirror in the rooms has height markers of different musicians for you to see their heights compared to yours. At this level of resort, you do have the option of booking a Club Level room. The room itself will be the same, but you will have access to a private lounge where you will find free food and drinks. These resorts also have exorbitantly prices suites like Sapphire Falls, but cost even more. I'm not going to go into details about this because 99.9% of people reading this (including us) will never be able to afford them.
Restaurant options are also top notch. Some of our favorite restaurants in all of Universal are at the resorts. We LOVE Jake's All American at RP (we usually eat there more than once every trip). HRH has The Palm. Ok, so I know this is a chain restaurant, and we try to avoid chains when on vacation (this is a smaller chain with locations in only a select few spots). We have one in Charlotte. But it is amazing food. It's important to note that this is a high end restaurant and our meal for four people was over $700, most of which was the Kiddo's $200 lobster!!! If you want to splurge, definitely check them out.
The pools are wonderful at these Premier Resorts and all have a sand area to play in. HRH is all about the music. The theming carries on into the pools, which are equipped with under water speakers. The all have a main pools with zero entry. The food at the poolside bars is actually really good.
Extras are endless at Premier Resorts. Portofino Bay has a spa if you want a little pampering. They also have nightly live music. HRH host a monthly rock concert (this is 21 and up as your ticket includes alcohol). At HRH, you can also rent a guitar or a real turntable to enjoy in your room. At RP, you can enjoy a Luau without having to go all of the way to Hawaii.
Premier Resorts are our favorite because of the Free Unlimited EP. We're mostly there to ride the rides, so it makes sense for us. However, we have always had great experiences at all of the other resorts as well. There are no bad resorts at Universal.
I hope this helps to give you a starting point when trying to plan your Universal Orlando Vacation. For help booking a room and park tickets check out Jillian with Destination Dreaming Travels. She's a FREE travel agent waiting to help you book your most magical vacation ever.
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