Which property shall I pick inside Universal Studios Florida?

I'm SPG Platinum and am planning to call Loews to comp their top level.

Any help appreciated.

LR

It depends. There are 3 different onsite Loews hotels. The least expensive of the 3 is the Royal Pacific. It has a "Pacific Island" theme. The pool there has a "shipwreck" water interactive play area for the kids. It has a nice fitness center that was just recently renovated. I would say that if you have smaller kids, this is the resort most geared for them.

The "middle of the road" hotel is the Hard Rock hotel. Per its name, the theme is Rock and Roll music. I do believe the pool there has a nice slide and they pipe music into it that you can hear when under the water. My kids like this resort the best because the last time we stayed here, we were upgraded to a Kid's suite room which was very large. (Note that this is not a normal Loews First Plat upgrade and my kids were 12 and 13 at the time.)

The Portofino Bay hotel tends to be the most expensive and is billed by Loews (and Universal) as one of the top 50 resorts in the world. The rooms are a little bigger with some more plush items. There are 3 pools at this resort with the largest including a sand beach into the pool. I do believe it has a water slide as well. As the name implies it has an "Italian" theme and has more of a romantic feel to it. My wife really likes this hotel.

I would say that I have stayed more at the Royal Pacific than the other two. This was probably more due to the expense than anything. I stayed only one time at the Portofino and that was when my wife and I went without the kids. There were a few more restaurants there to choose from (though the Royal Pacific now has Emeril's Tchoup Chop restaurant which is a little pricey but the food tastes good. )

You can walk from the hotels to Universal's Citywalk or the parks if you want. The Hard Rock was the first of the onsite hotels and is the closest. The Royal Pacific is the farthest away, but still isn't too far to walk. There are complementary water taxis that run continuously throughout the day that will pick you up the hotel or Citywalk and drop you off at the other. When we stay at the Hard Rock we tend not to use the water taxis as much because we can usually walk more quickly than ride. But when staying at the other 2 we will make much more use of the water taxis.

So the real question is who are you going with and is price an issue? Just yourself and your spouse/significant other? If so, the Portofino Bay hotel, as I mentioned is a little more romantic than the others. If your kids are really into music, the Hard Rock hotel is a neat place to visit. If your kids are younger, I think the Royal Pacific's pool's interactive play area may be what they remember the most. (Mine did when they were a little younger.) And as cost goes, the Royal Pacific tends to be the least expensive. The Hard Rock in the middle, and the Portofino Bay tends to be the most expensive of the three. All three have Club level rooms where you have access to the Club Lounge with breakfast and other snacks throughout the day. While the lounge is nice, it is a bit pricey to get onto the Club level and your Loews Plat status won't help with that. With all the food options in the parks, at the hotels, and Citywalk, it just isn't worth the extra expense for us.

Note that if you can get Loews First Plat, it comes with a few very nice benefits. First, and this may also affect which resort you choose, you can get a suite upgrade at the time you make the reservation. (Note that this is at the time of reservation, NOT at the time you check-in.) The suite is their base King suite that can accomodate 3 adults (though when the kids were younger I have stayed there with my wife and both of them. But they both fit on the pull-out sofa bed when we did that.) A new benefit to Plat is that you will get a $100 credit to your hotel bill for food, beverages and spa treatments. Note that I was at the Royal Pacific just last week. I was told when I checked in that the credit was good for food at any of the restarants in Citywalk or the Parks if you charge them to your room. But when I was checking out, they didn't give me the $100 credit. They told me that only charges made from the hotel restaurants counted (and some of them don't either like the Tchoup Chop restaurant at Royal Pacific.) Since the person that checked me in was incorrect in what she told me, the manager did relent and give me the $100 credit, but it took a little bit of talking before he did that. So ask upfront exactly what charges the $100 can come out of and you should be fine. You will also get free internet access. So you won't have to pay to get your FT fix every night. There are other benefits, but those are the two biggies.

To help with the price, if one person in your party has a Universal Preferred Annual Pass, then you might be able to get a discount on your hotel stay. If you are checking prices online, try the code "APH" and if the rate is available you might be able to save some money. But realize that technically, the "APH" rate is not supposed to come with your Plat benefits as it isn't a publicly available rate. So if you want that suite upgrade or the $100 room credit, then you might have to for go the possibly cheaper APH rate.

I love staying onsite at Universal. The room key FastPass is something that really makes the extra expense worth it. Being able to ride the Hulk rollercoaster with only a 1 minute wait rather than the 1 hr+ everyone else has makes it all worthwhile. And you can ride the Hulk ride over and over and over all day long if you choose and never wait more than a minute or two.

If you have more questions you ask here or PM me.

I stayed at the Royal Pacific and have no complaints. But I also only stayed 1 night to get the front of the line access for the next day. That alone is worth the price of the room.

It was a holiday weekend and we were able to do every single ride in 1 park in 1 day.

Thank you guys for your responses!

Let me open up some details to see what's your expert opinion:

Traveling with:

- Wife that loves roller coasters (like me)
- 3 year-old toddler that sleeps between mom and dad (same bed)
- Wife parents (young enough, in the 50s...) We expect them to stay with the kid when we do the roller coasters or go to Islands of Adventure.

Hotel accomodations:

- SPG Platinum, will try to get Loews Plat
- Total of 4 adults in one room. Price is a concern but not that much if we can get anything with more space (Royal Pacific $219, Hard Rock $249, Portofino $274). Having a suite would be excelent. Two double beds at least.
- Would make the reservation for 2 adults as most charge a huge differential for "registering" extra adults. No problem at the WDW Dolphin (too big to control), would I get problem at Universal properties?

Travel Plan-

Arriving DEC/30 to WDW Dolphin, hopefully spending New Year's eve in MK. Is it worth? Any other recommendation?
- Staying in Orlando until JAN/9, so plenty of time to do WDW and Universal parks.

We are thinking to switch from the WDW Dolphin to an Universal property on JAN/7, giving us 2 nights, 3 days at Universal. We would have stayed at the Dolphin while doing Universal but the Express benefit is a plus as we want to do Islands of Adventure while the kid does Universal Studios with grandpa and grandma.

Does the "Express" benefit works for the check-in date?

If you have 4 adults in one room and you have a suite at the Dolphin, would you move to a Universal property or stay at the dolphin and take a taxi?

Having loews confirm suite upgrade at reservation time is a plus and can help decide this; but think I cannot score a suite UPG, which property would you choose at Unversal when 4 adults share the room?

I would choose the one you recommended for kids so kid and grandparents can just stay in the hotel while we go to the roller coasters... However we are traveling January... Does weather play a role here?

Would you go to wet 'n wild? Or shall I leave this for july?

Thank you for all your help! I'm open to any recommendation!

LR

I'll answer what I can

It's going to be tight in any room, including the Dolphin.

This is the SINGLE busiest day in any of the parks. The MK will most likely close sometime that morning. If you can get in, you will be with around 50,000 of your closest friends You have a better shot at Epcot and if you're at the Swan or Dolphin you can easily walk in and out of the park.

I was there a few years ago on NYE, and quite honestly, did not dare to enter a park that day. We had a nice dinner and watched the fireworks, which were exploding 360 degrees around us, from our room. Traffic was a nightmare, the entire holiday weekend. I did it once and doubt I'll do it again.

Keep in mind that while at a Disney hotel, of which the Dolphin is considered, they guarantee you entry into A park on NYE, not necessarily the one you want to be in.

Given what you'd like to do, plus the benefits of front of the line access, I would go for it. Keep in mind that after the holiday crowds leave the entire area will be nearly empty. No, I"m not kidding. The week after New Years is the slowest of the year. Moving hotels may not be necessary. Or, you may want to do it for 1 night and use the access for 2 days - It's good from check in to end of check out day.

It could. When we were there I didn't pack shorts because it normally doesn't go much over the mid 70s. We hit the mid 80s and I went home with a tan I had to buy shorts.

Last year, I nearly froze MLK weekend. It went down to 34 one night. Luckily I brought gloves from home.

I wouldn't go at all. If you want to hit a water park, the 2 Disney Water Parks are nicer than Wet & Wild. But they're usually closed in Jan because the weather is so variable.

Wait until July when it's 95 with 90% humidity

Thanks Mary!

Just to add... It seems that:

- For $219 I get a 335 sq ft std room at the Royal Pacific
- For $274 I get a 450 sq ft std room at the Portofino
- For $324 I get a 500 sq ft deluxe room at the Hard Rock
- For $414 I can get the 670 Sq Ft kids suite at the Royal Pacific

Some 33% more space for $55, could work (2nd option, Portofino)... I'll wait for some advice...

I wish I could offer you good advice. All those room sizes seem small for 4 adults and a child, except perhaps for the kids suite.

Why don't you look for a room in your house close to that size and determine if you could all live in that size room after you take away space for the bathroom

If you can get your Loews Plat, you might be able to upgrade to the Deluxe room at the Hard Rock. So that might be worth looking into. But the Portofino Bay rooms are very nice. Note that your reservation will have a 3 or 5 day before arrival cancellation clause, your CC will be charged one nights room and taxes when you make the reservation. If you cancel before the cancellation fee hits, then the charge will be reversed. They are pretty good about this. Many times, I've called and changed my reservation dates and even hotels with no problems.

As long as you book a room that officially handles 4 or 5 adults (i.e. 2 double or queen beds), there shouldn't be any extra charges. Plus, every person in the room gets a key with their name on it. So if you want them to have the "Express Pass" keys, they need to be registered and have their own keys. This could be an issue when you want to split up with the grandparents as you mentioned.

One thing I have done in the past when trying to do both parks is to keep our offsite hotel and still make an onsite reservation. We would check-in, but not move out of the other hotel. This would get us two days of Express Pass access, but not the hastle of moving all our stuff around. This worked for us at the time due to my having a Preferred Annual pass, therefore no parking fees. Also, we were on a Marriott 7-night award which came with 7 nights, therefore there wasn't a lot of "savings" by checking out there. And the Univesal onsite hotels used to have some very good off-time rates around $100 or so, even for one night stays. Unfortunately, they have gotten wind of that deal and now they seem to charge a higher rate for one or two night stays. The rate comes down the longer you stay onsite. This may not help you for your upcoming trip, but keep it in mind if in the future you come again.

While I do believe that Wet 'n Wild is open even in Jan and the water is heated, I still agree with Mary. You will be cold, even if you hit on a warmer January day.

I also agree with Mary in that NYE is a horrible day to go to Disney. My wife and I came down a few years ago when Tennessee played in the Capital One bowl game. By the time we tried to get into a park, only Epcot was still open to the public though it did close soon after we made it in. Even though we made it in, we couldn't really do anything it was so crowded. You couldn't hardly walk around there were so many people there. I have been to the parks a few days after New Years and the crowds are much more manageable.

Quick post from the WDW Dolphin...

We finally got two rooms, one for parents-in-law and one for us. Experiencing the standard room (with balcony) size I can say that we could have lived with just one room; but having MIL in different room is much better

As recommended, we are skipping the water parks.

Loews rejected to comp to their top tier level, thus as an SPG Platinum, we decided to stay at the dolphin and drive to Universal. If necessary we will buy their Express option. Grandparents will stay with the little one in MK while we will enjoy Islands of Adventure!

We spent DEC31 in Animal Kingdom. Was really not so crowded. We had dinner at Garden Groove at the Swan (we had reservations, but the restaurant was also accepting walk-ins at 9PM).

We then moved to MK. I have to say that we actually enjoyed it. At first we were afraid of missing the kid so we wrote our phone numbers in his shoes and hands but just after the countdown, the crowds went home and we enjoyed the park almost alone until 2AM! The little one did his first roller coaster (goofy's) 10 times without getting off! It was real fun!

Thank you again for all your feedback!