Favorite Universal resort

[averylb625]

What is your favorite resort at Universal Orlando? Mine is Portofino

[UKmouseketeer]

Loews Royal Pacific. The smell of the lobby is soooo good and had a brilliant view of the Hulk!

[averylb625]

Loews Royal Pacific. The smell of the lobby is soooo good and had a brilliant view of the Hulk!

great choice, love the vibe

[averylb625]

Cabana Bay is a close second for me because of the convenience. Perfect view of Volcano Bay

[nicoledesay]

What is your favorite Universal Studios Florida hotel and WHY? Please include such things as niceness/size of room, distance to transportation/parks, breakfast availability, how it compares in price to the others...
Thank you.

[GryffindorMom]

Love Hard Rock followed closely by Royal Pacific.

[NoddingDreamer]

Sapphire Falls! Stayed there plenty of times.

[nicoledesay]

What did you prefer about Royal Pacific and Sapphire Falls?

[MrSlash00R]

Has to be Hard Rock if money is no object - great pool and resort experience, plus you might catch a Velvet Sessions show in the Lobby. If you have kids, they'll have a blast with the pool games - and parents will enjoy the beachy atmosphere.

If you're looking for a more reasonable rate but still really nice resort, its got to be Sapphire Falls! Big spacious lobby, nice rooms and pool area and still within walking distance to the parks and City Walk. I highly recommend it - but remember that it doesn't include Express Pass like RPR, HRH and PBR.

[nicoledesay]

Has to be Hard Rock if money is no object - great pool and resort experience, plus you might catch a Velvet Sessions show in the Lobby. If you have kids, they'll have a blast with the pool games - and parents will enjoy the beachy atmosphere.

If you're looking for a more reasonable rate but still really nice resort, its got to be Sapphire Falls! Big spacious lobby, nice rooms and pool area and still within walking distance to the parks and City Walk. I highly recommend it - but remember that it doesn't include Express Pass like RPR, HRH and PBR.

Can express pass (front of the line) be purchased separately? One thing I was considering was staying at Sapphire Falls if the "fastpass" could be purchased separately.

[MrSlash00R]

Has to be Hard Rock if money is no object - great pool and resort experience, plus you might catch a Velvet Sessions show in the Lobby. If you have kids, they'll have a blast with the pool games - and parents will enjoy the beachy atmosphere.

If you're looking for a more reasonable rate but still really nice resort, its got to be Sapphire Falls! Big spacious lobby, nice rooms and pool area and still within walking distance to the parks and City Walk. I highly recommend it - but remember that it doesn't include Express Pass like RPR, HRH and PBR.

Can express pass (front of the line) be purchased separately? One thing I was considering was staying at Sapphire Falls if the "fastpass" could be purchased separately.

Absolutely - you can purchase Express Pass separately, but its quite expensive for a family of 4+. Check the overall cost of the trip (at Sapphire Falls) when adding Exp Pass, because adding it will get you much closer to the cost of the other Premium resorts (RPR, HRH and PBR) - if its close enough, you might just want to stay at a Premium resort instead. Good luck!

[danlb_2000]

Loews Royal Pacific. The smell of the lobby is soooo good and had a brilliant view of the Hulk!

great choice, love the vibe

We stayed there on our last trip to Universal and really enjoyed it. It's funny how you can walk along the tropical path to the park, and hear the roar from the Hulk coaster! We also stayed at Cabana Bay which is nice if you want to spend a little less money.

[pannm]

Our top two are Sapphire and Royal Pacific.

the setting of Sapphire is 'laid back Caribbean beach resort'. The Room size feel at Sapphire, Royal Pacific and Portofino are all pretty much the same for the standard room. I like the theming at Sapphire because the colors, artwork and design is really a beachy "chill" feel. There are several rooms with great views of the water. Also, almost every room is fairly close to the boat transportation to the parks. It's close to Royal Pacific and an easy walk over there. The walk to and from the park is a bit on the longer side. I love the lobby! Filled with huge windows, open and cheerful. And, dogs are welcome. Our little fluff baby travels with us every time and they treat her like a little princess. When we checked in last time, they gave us a doggie gift pack with a food and water bowl, a few puppy treats from a local dog bakery, she got a name tag and a few other little things. Our dog is very lazy. She sleeps half of the day and all she wants to do is cuddle with her humans or lay in her bed, so she does well with traveling.

We LOVE the pool at Sapphire. It is very large and when we've been there, it has never felt full or super busy. It is very tropical with nice lounge chairs. All of the Loews hotels at Universal have special towels for your lounge chairs. They fit over the top of the chair and go the entire length of the chair. Their pool towels are also much larger than most hotels offer. There is a waterslide at Sapphire. We've gotten pool side service on several occasions. They have yummy, tropical drinks and their NACHOS were SO GOOD...but everything probably tastes better by a tropical pool, right??? There's one hot tub and that can feel full at times but, usually it's not too bad. It gets worse when ever kids feel like jumping in, splashing everyone and not being respectful. But, that happens everywhere! Parents, pay attention to your kids!!! Splashing, jumping and screwing around is for the POOL and it DOES NOT make other vacationers happy when kids are doing it as they are attempting to relax in the hot tub. There's also a bon fire there every night and it's fairly close to the pool area. TIP: pack yourself a S'mores kit! We had S'mores several nights when we were there last time. Even if you don't like S'mores, just roast marshmallows! They had roasting sticks available, just ask! We brought a disposable box and filled it with grahm crackers, chocolates, marshmallows and even tried "mix it up" S'mores using Reeses peanut butter cups, a fudge stripe cookie instead of grahm crackers...you can get so creative! And, it gave us some of our best hotel stay memories!

Royal Pacific has beautiful grounds. Very lush, filled with an asian pacific/tropical feel. It is a bit on the "higher end side" than our other favorite (Sapphire) and has a very relaxed, laid back feel as well. We love their pool as well. It, too, is very large. There's no waterslide at this pool, but they do have a water feature that is different than the other locations. There are two hot tubs at this resort. Both are surrounded by large trees, plants and have a private feel to them. They are "tucked away in paradise". I haven't noticed too much of that at the other resorts (Hard Rock has 1 out in the middle of the pool area next to the kids pool...and 1 that is further back and next to a green area and it SAYS "adults only" on it, but no one ever follows that rule! I've seen kids in that one more often than not!).

We attended a luau (back before COVID) and it was a great experience! Of course, you don't have to be a guest of Royal Pacific to attend the Luau, anyone can get tickets for it. But, it's a lot more fun to go to the Luau when you're staying at the property (in my opinion). The food at the luau was AMAZING. Great show and a wonderful experience. It felt just like going to Hawaii.

It was a tradition of ours to go to Tchop Tchop (Emeril's restaurant AT Royal Pacific). We've been there EVERY Universal trip for many, many years. The hotel was beautiful and so special to us. The food was outstanding and one of the better upscale restaurants we've ever visited AT Universal. Now, it's closed. It will be missed. We loved going there. I was not impressed by the other restaurants there due to their cost for the 'value and portion size' of the food. We'd rather eat a meal elsewhere in City Walk or inside of the parks. AND, I am on the hunt to see if any locations on property offer happy hour for good tasting food (not alcohol, because we aren't big drinkers)...

I can post more pictures and info. when we return...