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Choosing the best Universal Orlando hotel can be tricky. After all, there are 11 different onsite hotels at the Universal Orlando Resort, each with a specific set of amenities and features. Luckily, Green Vacation Deals has created a helpful, easy-to-use Universal Orlando Hotel Finder! And in this blog post, we’ll explain how it works so you can find the ideal place to stay on your next Universal trip.
How It Works
The Hotel Finder lets you filter the different Universal hotels by choosing your preferences in 8 different categories:
- Price Tier
- Price
- Dining Type
- Transportation
- Within Walking Distance
- Standard Room Max Capacity
- Room Type
- Amenities
Simply pick what you want (or leave the category set to -Any- if you don’t have a preference) and click on “Find Hotels”.
The Hotel Finder will tell you which hotels have exactly what you’re looking for!
And once you see those hotels, you can click on “View Hotel Details” to learn more about the hotel, including any fees so you don’t get surprised by hidden costs.
We hope the Hotel Finder tool will help you find the perfect Universal hotel for you.
Hotel Filters
Not sure what some of these categories mean? Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
Price Tier
By Price Tier, we mean the official price category of each hotel. This is the designation assigned to each hotel by Universal. There are three price tiers:
- Signature Collection
- Prime Value
- Value
Price
Price refers to the relative cost of the hotel, ranging from least expensive ($) to most expensive ($$$$).
Dining Type
This refers to what kind of dining you can enjoy onsite at the hotel. It includes:
- Table Service
- Quick Service
- 24 Hour Room Service
- Pizza Delivery
Transportation
Here you’ll find the different ways you can get to the parks from the hotel, all included in the hotel price. Please note that some transportation methods are only for certain parks. For example, the water taxis will take you to and from CityWalk, near the entrances to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, but there are no water taxis to Epic Universe or Volcano Bay.
- Water Taxi
- Shuttle Bus
- Walking Path
- Dedicated Entrance to Epic Universe
Within Walking Distance
Find out which hotels are within walking distance of:
- Epic Universe
- Universal Studios Florida
- Islands of Adventure
- Volcano Bay
- CityWalk
Standard Room Maximum Capacity
Learn the maximum number of people allowed in a standard room at each hotel. For some of the hotels, it depends on whether or not it is a room with 2 queen beds or a room with a king bed.
Room Type
The Universal hotels include guest rooms of various types:
- Standard Rooms
- Suites (sleeps up to 5)
- Family Suites (sleeps up to 6)
- Two-bedroom Suites (sleeps up to 6)
- Themed Kids’ Suites
- Luxury Suites
Amenities
Finally, you can also filter hotels by checking the boxes next to the amenities you want. As the results will only show hotels that have ALL the amenities you choose, you can also play around with which ones you check off to see how the results change.
While some of the amenities are fairly straightforward, we’ll go over a few in more detail.
Club Level
Club Level rooms give you access to personalized concierge service, as well as a private Club Level lounge. At the lounge, you’ll find complimentary continental breakfast, wine and beer offerings in the evening, and more food presentations throughout the day.
Early Park Admission
With Early Park Admission, you can show your room key and enter one of the four parks (Universal determines which parks are available) up to an hour before the official opening time. Please note that you do still need to have tickets for that day, and not all attractions will be running yet. Still, it is a fantastic way to get a head start and avoid the bigger crowds.
Express Pass
Some hotels include free Universal Express Unlimited Pass with your stay. With this, you can enter an Express queue instead of the regular line. It’s an easy way to enjoy shorter lines and more rides on your trip. Please note that you can only use the Pass at participating attractions in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.
Pets Allowed
Some of the Universal hotels allow pets for an extra fee.
Pool Hopping
Pool hopping is allowed for guests of the following hotels:
- Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
- Loews Royal Pacific Resort
- Hard Rock Hotel
- Loews Sapphire Falls Resort
- Universal Aventura Hotel
- Universal Cabana Bay Beach Resort
What that means is that guests can use not only the pool at their own hotel, but the pools at all of the other hotels on that list.
For example, if you’re staying at Aventura Hotel, then you can use the pool at Aventura as well as the pools at Portofino Bay, Royal Pacific Resort, Hard Rock Hotel, Sapphire Falls, and Cabana Bay.
Priority Seating (Dining)
If your hotel includes this perk, then your room key will get you priority seating at select dining venues in Universal CityWalk, Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.