First and foremost, I have to say that the people were nice. The Vacation Planner was SUPER HELPFUL as we had some questions that needed answered and he was able to help us figure out when we wanted to go to Epic, and get that booked.
My father decided we were doing a cruise, my sister wanted to come see the new Epic park if our cruise would happen to leave out of Canaveral. To start, my father is on 100% disability with the VA, as such, we were able to get discounts on passes for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. When looking into transportation, we had some issues travelling last year with five of us in a Ford Exploder (Explorer) which is a mid-size SUV at best. With our luggage and my father's walker, it was a tight fit. So initially we were looking at a rental vehicle and a hotel, Universal for a few days and then NASA for a day somewhere in there. When we figured out that NASA was not important, and that Cabana Bay also had a discount for VA Disability... it was decided to instead, Uber to this "resort" and we shouldn't need a rental vehicle as there would be shuttles to wherever we needed to go park-wise.
The major benefit to a Universal hotel is that you get in an hour early to the park... BUT, they do not explain how that works. And then is it "such a benefit" that it negates all of the other issues that the hotel has? As I will never stay at a Universal property hotel again, that is for you (the reader) to decide for yourself. First and foremost, this hotel is "the cheap option" obviously you can tell this by the price point alone, but moreso by the nickel & diming once you stay here.
The hotel resort is spread over a massive property with multiple hotel wings. I did not have the time or energy to "explore" other wings or floors, so take what I give you with a grain of salt as to my experience alone. Florida is hot, and muggy... it just is, it's part of being there, especially in the summer. We booked a "handicap" room for my father, and a second room adjoining for my sister and her kids. When we booked, the reservation person told me that if he did not put her in an adjoining handicap room, she would not be near us... as the system was trying to put her in a room on the wing catty-corner to where we were to be at. Nonetheless, she did not "need" that room, so she was moved, and thankfully still within the same wing about 4 rooms away from where we were at. The biggest thought process in this is that if we were to take an Uber or something somewhere and get dropped off needing two separate drop offs because we were a mile away from each other. Nonetheless, that never actually happened, so it did not matter.
Our room, per my step-counter on my watch, was a half mile away from where we got our breakfast at the Bayliner Cafe (a full mile round trip...). There were the main elevator to our floor, and then we passed three elevators before we got to our room. NOWHERE on that walk were there any places to sit down and rest. Mind you after the first day at the first park, I had a blister on either foot the size of a quarter... and it was hard and painful to walk, my father has a walker, thankfully it turns into a seat if he needs to sit... but then there is the fact that the weather is? Yeah, hot and muggy... You would think (logically) that each area near the elevator would have a sitting area for people waiting for the elevator to come get them... there are after all like 7 or 8 floors at least in the Americana wing (where we were at). Who knows, maybe higher floors had sitting and lower floors didn't get any, i do not know for certain.... but it would have been great to have had a place to break up that extremely long walk, ESPECIALLY with luggage on the in or the out! And we were not by any means the last room in the wing... lol!!
Biggest issue with the room is that there were two sets of drapes, one blackout, one semi-translucent to let the light in, but not allow "voyeurs" to see in per se. They were controlled by remote control.... but there was no directions on how to use it. There were three buttons that were unmarked, and an up arrow and a down arrow. One of the arrows closed both, one of them opened both. No clue to this day how you open the blackout and close the other.
Where is the issue? Well, I would make sure that before I climbed into bed (as my father would go to bed super early) that I would close the drapes (both). When I woke up 5 hours later... they [both] would be open... My dad does not understand technology very well, he stayed away from the remote. They were on a damned timer. In the middle of the night at some point while we were asleep, the hotel had it programmed to open our drapes.... Which while thankfully we were on the second floor, means that anyone in the wing across from us, if they happened to look across and down... got WAY more than they were looking for when I got out of bed to close the damn things so I could get dressed in the mornings!!
Something my father mentioned, was that the handicap bars near the toilet were not placed well and it was VERY HARD for him to get himself up off the toilet. For *active* "disabled Vets" (or anyone with a physical handicap) that are able to bounce up and off a toilet with ease, you may not have an issue, but for an elderly man with knee problems and a heart condition... it was horrible.
The place is MASSIVE. Book early, request a room near the lobby. Everything revolves around the lobby. The restaurant, the bus pickups, Uber, the pools... everything. There are many entrances/exits to the hotel wings for each specific pool... which is a plus, but it would be far better (imo) to be located further from one pool and closer to the lobby since that is where everything revolves around.
For instance, our room was a half-mile walk (one way) to get to the restaurant closest to "our wing". For someone who is handicapped (we were in a handicap room, as my father is on 100% disability) it takes FOREVER to get a half-mile at an extremely slow pace, and with no benches or sofas or.... yeah.
Cheap food... as you would expect from a resort. And of course it is expensive to purchase, and it comes "this way" like it or leave it. I do not eat a lot of fried food, or a lot of starchy foods. I wanted a burger, which "comes with fries". I told the lady I did not want fries, she said it comes with fries. I told her I cannot eat the fries, she said it comes with fries. I told her just leave the damned fries off my plate, and she left the fries off the plate muttering under her breath it costs the same either way. I don't believe in wasting food, I don't think I should take the food I am not going to eat and then just throw it away!!! That is a major problem! I then headed to the salad bar to grab my salad which was "my side". Thankfully the person at the checkout "gave me a discount" for not receiving fries... because I was fully prepared to just leave the $16 burger sitting on the counter had he charged me full price. The place needs to have options for people, a cheeseburger by itself, or with a side, multiple sides to choose from, not "just fries, and only combined".
The food at the Bayliner Cafe (a cafeteria style) - Collect via a tray (under the counter, which nobody points out to you, and is not labelled, so you just gotta know they are there...) and you go to different stations to get "main dishes" or "side dishes" or you can buy prepackaged crap like you would at a gas station (prepackaged sandwiches, juices, energy drinks, milk, candy, etc) and pay before finding a seat... was so-so at best and some of it was downright nasty. That said, it is a resort catering to massive amounts of people, so that is as much as can be expected. For the salads there were multiple packets of dressing. However I never found barbecue sauce for people who wanted that as a condiment... and the Tabasco sauce was in tiny 1/2 oz packages which I needed 6 of to cover an omelet. This creates a LOT of waste that was unneeded for a resort catering to a bunch of people. There were Pump canister style condiments for Ketchup, Mustard and Mayo... would have made sense (imo) to have had one for BBQ, and one for Tabasco (or another hot sauce brand, though I love Tabasco, so good choice in my opinion there at least). I feel like a LOT of people use salsa on eggs... but there was no salsa in the mornings for the flavoring of either omelets or scrambled (powdered) eggs. There also was a severe lack of "options"... such as if you got an omelet, you could "build it" with any of the listed ingredients.... but you couldn't get "additional eggs" (some places might offer a 2 egg omelet, a 3 egg omelet or a 4 egg omelet, etc. I was fine with the two egg, but some people might want more and be willing to pay more for it). Bacon was super expensive as a side, and having it "as a side" required a totally separate plate, you could not add it to a plate which seemed asinine as it was creating more dishes that needed to be washed, and more plates that needed to be carried with a higher chance of getting dropped or knocked over. Also, the bacon came as is... there was no Crispy or Moist... it was all the same, no choices.
Omelet was probably the best breakfast item I tried. My father said the croissant was dry (even with meat and cheese on it). I did not go for "the scrambled eggs" because they looked nasty and tasteless. My dad went for them... he said they tasted like the crap the military used to feed him... *powdered eggs*. Our last morning when I went to grab some Tabasco sauce, I saw a girl approaching with her plate full of "powdered eggs" and was like, why is she bringing that? There is no salsa up here (which they should honestly have for either the scrambled eggs OR the omelet)... Well, I didn't ask, and I didn't have to ask, she must have taken a bite... because she put her plate under the ketchup dispenser and LOADED that plate with ketchup all over it to what I could only think was to offset the nastiness of those eggs!! LOL!!
There is one size of "beverage cup" it is tiny... My suggestion? As soon as you get to the hotel, grab an Uber over to a grocery store and stock up on some refreshments... because buying from Universal is a HASSLE! Obviously it is not beneficial if you have a long stay to be eating all of your meals through prepackaged crap, you will need to go to a restaurant at some point, but seeing as there is no "don't bring outside drinks in" type of seating situation... you may as well go buy some 32 oz bottles of pop, water, tea, etc so you do not have to deal with their asinine system----
They have the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines (with a twist). They have them programmed to read RFID chips that they have placed on "the tiny beverage cups" (or the souvenir cups). If you buy the souvenir cup, my guess is that they program "your stay" into the RFID chip so that you are good to get your refills as you need. However, as I did not get the overpriced souvenir cup (I have too many souvenir cups at home, don't need more), I was left with the tiny beverage cup. After purchasing it, you have 90 minutes of refills after it is activated... and you can only fill it once every 2 minutes maximum... of course NOWHERE do they tell you this. Now, I understand, they need to make money, and I am sure plenty of people through the years have succeeded in gaming their system which have probably cost them thousands of dollars. So, generally speaking, I have no issue with what they did... However the execution of it was HORRIBLE. I do not drink pop anymore (for the most part, when I can), I drink unsweetened tea, or carbonated water. First issue I had, was that I did not fill my cup with ice (the beverages come out on average at 38-42 degrees and ice is just going to displace the amount of beverage going in. Likewise if for some reason I do not get to the beverage, the ice will melt and "water-down" the already cool drink before it really has a chance to "get warm"... So as I was saying, I did not fill my cup with ice, I started to fill it with my AHA lemon-lime water... the bubbles rose to the top, so I stopped pressing on the button allowing the carbonation to settle before hitting the button again... the cup was about 2.3 full, and that is where it was going to stay!! Pressing the button gave me a message to place a cup down, but my cup was already down, so I lifted my cup, and put it back down... the machine WOULD NOT allow me to fill it the rest of the way up to the top.
The next time I tried, I figured out that what I need to do... is be wasteful! Just keep filling the cup past when it starts to overfill with the carbonation until you actually see liquid running down the side of the cup, THEN release the button... THAT way, you can actually get a full cup!!!
On a different day... I went back and I wanted to try something... the carbonated water had only two options for flavoring, while the Vitamin Water Zero had 8 options. So thinking back in the day when we used to mix the different flavors... I figured, I would fill my cup 1/2way up with AHA Lemon-lime to get "the bubbles" and the other half up with Vitamin Water Zero Strawberry (or something). Well.... THAT was a mistake... the point of these freestyle machines were that you could leave your cup there and you could mix and match flavors to your hearts desire... at least that is what Coke's intentions were 20 years ago!! Universal (corporate) has something else up their sleeves, take away any fun you might have on your vacation, and screw anyone that wants a beverage! Well... my carbonated AHA was 1/2 the way up, and I released the button, left the cup on the sensor, hit the back arrow, selected the Vitamin Water Zero icon, and received a message that said I needed to put a cuip down on the sensor... (WHAT?!?!?!) I lifted my cup, put it back down on the sensor. hit the icon again.... SAME MESSAGE!!! I said, fine, I will go to a different machine... (I was not walking very well after I got blisters on my feet, my problem for not wearing the best shoes... but still, being forced to walk to another machine because of this asinine product feature?) I get to the next machine, put the cup down and I get a message stating that I cannot have a refill for another 1 minute and 40 seconds.... REFILL? I DIDNT GET THIS REFILL YET!!!! So I threw the cup at the machine and I walked away pissed off. 5-6 minutes got me 1/2 of a cup of sparkling water.... and I will NEVER stay at a Universal property hotel again because of it! Yes, that might seem harsh, but it was absolutely asinine the troubles it gave.
You might ask about water... if you do not have an RFID chip cup, you CAN get regular (non-flavored, non-carbonated water or ice from the machines with no issues).
Now, to be fair, when I brought this issue up to the hotel staff, they "made it right" per se by giving us an offer to "help us out" due to the problems we faced... and that was awesome that they did it (I am not going to tell you what they gave us, because in different situations said solution might differ, also I do not want to push that people should be "taking advantage" of something for "free crap" either). It shows that there are people, humans that work for Universal the corporate entity that actually care about other humans whereas the corporate entity obviously does not. And while I accepted that offer, I feel that the right thing for them to do is to figure out a "better way" to not screw over their customers... otherwise they will not have a business to run.
I went out and bought new shoes (on our last full day at the hotel, but before our cruise) and while I was out I stopped and got some sparkling water... BEST decision ever... not to deal with the hotels asinine beverage policy, which of course they blame on their "food and beverage department" but it is all wrapped up under one packaged label of *Cabana Bay*, so it affects the hotel and the brand one way or another.
When we booked this hotel, one of the benefits that I had been told (specifically that I asked about for my father) was that there was a bus that left the hotel every 15-20 minutes throughout the day that went top the parks. I asked if we would be dropped off "at the entrance to the parks" or..... "by the parking garages"? Because I had once lived in Winter Park during college and had been to City Walk many, many times... and it is a LONG WALK to get to the parks from the garages (even with the rolling walkways). I was specifically told that they would take us "right up to the gates of the parks". Well... anything to book a hotel room right?? That was a complete and utter lie. The resort buses PU/Dropoff area is between the entrance to City Walk, and the Parking Garages... so basically, you are about 700 feet from the parking garages when you get to the top of the escalator... Which meant we had to cross the massive walkways to get into the City Walk area, then go around the lake to get to Islands of Adventure which opened early (because Universal Studios did not).
Also, make sure you have YOUR ROOM KEY with you... NOBODY told us this!!! We had "our passes" and the general thought process of "Early Park Access" is that you would not get "into" the park if you were not from one of the hotels... Everyone is allowed early entrance to "the park" apparently, so they can start doing any shopping they would like to do... you just cant get to "the rides" area without your early access which requires you to show your room key...🙄🙄🙄
I had mine, I gave my dad his, my nephews (who would be actually riding the rides) left their keys in the room, and their mom had hers with her... They went up ahead to go ride the rides, but couldnt get in because they didnt have the passes that we were told we didnt need after we got in... So they came back, found us, I passed out the passes, and they ran up again to find out that is ALSO not what was needed... they needed the room key to PROVE they were staying at a Universal hotel (your dates will be printed on your key [FYI]) so now she hurries up to show HER key which thankfully the guy allows them to go in as "the general public" who has also been let into the park early... is lining up separately in a different line, and as I get up to show my room key (since I actually had mine) they release everyone from the general public line... because it is now 9am... and I am thinking 9am they would now gain entry at the "ticket takers"... NOPE.
Why am I putting this here in the "hotel" review? Because IF you are staying at a Universal property hotel, I would imagine the "reason" is to-- go to the parks... because there is zero reason that I can tell as to why you would stay here if not for that "perk" alone.
Also to note, the Cabana Bay bus slot at the PU/Drop spot... is (at least at the time of my writing this) the LAST slip in the parking lot.... meaning the furthest away at Universal City Walk.
However, at Epic... it is significantly closer, thankfully. It's "Slip 9" which made us think it was going to be far, but it's a slight walk around a curved area and you are to the main drag. Same thing at Epic however, everyone gets let in, and you need your room key to get "past a certain point".
A note on the transportation... the bus drivers were awesome, I was honestly expecting motor coaches, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were low-ride buses that have a couple places for handicapped accessibility strapping. The only thing that they are severely lacking is benches or seats nearby the bus stations so that people can rest or take a break as opposed to waiting in a line with no bus in 95 degree (actual, 105 degree real feel) muggy weather. also, expect that you might be standing up on the rides over they have a person count which exceeds the seat count...
