Loews Royal Pacific at Universal Studios
We love a theme park hotel - the benefits they often afford us as a manic family often outweigh the costs, however this is one of the pricey ones it has to be said! So did we think it was worth it and would we do it again?
Universal Globe, Universal Studios, Florida.
Why did we pick this specific hotel?
Ok so there are three deluxe hotels at Universal as it stands - there will be more when the new park of Epic Universe is built. When we travelled to Orlando we aimed to cover the two main theme parks at Universal in two days with one nights stay - so to cover the majority of the parks main attractions with two kids in tow we decided the only way to do it was to stay deluxe as that means you get express passes. The express passes mean you get access to the majority of rides without having to queue for as long, you do not need to book rides you just turn up and join the express line - its suggested the average wait time is halved in comparison to the standard queue line. We stayed in a standard room with 2 Queen beds for one night and it cost us $668, this gave us 4 express passes (express passes do not include park entry - park entry tickets are an additional cost) across two days and a nights stay on a room only basis, during the UK school holidays in August. We booked using booking.com with free cancellation and also got around £20 cash back.
Why this deluxe over the others?
Reviews, reviews - that’s the answer at the time of booking some of the Hard Rock reviews were very poor and talked a lot about a lack of cleanliness in the rooms and poor service. That totally put us off this particular hotel the price was about the same. When we got chatting to people in ride queues they did give examples of some really poor service. If the reviews pick up we would look at it for next time. However you can walk so quickly to the parks but there is transport available.
Loews Portofino Bay - honestly this looks beautiful but the hotel just seemed to be more formal and the rooms weren’t to our taste. They looked very basic in style in comparison to Royal Pacific. The reviews were good as was the location but sometimes you just get a feel something isn’t for you.
Loews Royal Pacific - the reviews were very good, transport links were great to the parks you could walk or get the boat - we did both. Food options - multiple restaurants, Starbucks on site, grab and go food options at TUK TUK Market were good and fresh, pools were spotlessly clean, the hotel was spotless also. Our room overlooked the pool so we had a nice relaxing view. The access to security via the walkway was great as we skipped security at the park entrances. The express passes were good value we thought and we would look for a hotel again that includes them.
Check-in, well it certainly isn’t Disney service!
We got there before park opening to check in and get our express passes. Reception was chaotic with multiple lines and not enough staff, eventually we got checked in but had to remind them for the key cards (these are your room cards and express passes), we had to ask for somewhere to store our luggage (they also had a queue), no directions on how to get to the parks and we were told we would get a text when our room was ready. We are still waiting for the text - we did explain we only had UK mobile numbers but we were told it doesn’t matter. Our room should have been ready at 4pm we arrived back to the hotel after a manic day in the park - link to Universal day one! Stood in another reception queue to be told we had received a text - we hadn’t, then waited about 5 minutes for them to tell us the room number.
The room.
We were allocated room 1514 which was lovely, very clean, bright and modern. The toiletries were nice and were good for one night. The beds were comfy and the linen was clean. We had a good view over the pool. The bathroom was bright, modern and simple, clean towels and good toiletries. Other than sleeping we were in the room for less than 3 hours across the two days as we hammered the parks. The only aspect I wasn’t keen on was the room was carpeted (personal preference) and also as there is no external air the only air in the room was the air con which is a shame as there was no option of fresh air.
Room 1514, Loews Royal Pacific hotel - Pool view.
Check out and storing the bags.
We got up early as we wanted to get to Hagrid’s for park opening. Check-out was relatively efficient and we were able to store the bags securely (again a queue) so we could make full use of the express passes, bag free until collection later that day. Off to Hagrid’s…..
Would we stay again?
It’s expensive and without the express passes we would not stay here again - we would look at Sapphire Falls or Endless Summer to be honest. However, the express passes swing it for us and for that reason alone, we would be back. If reviews improve for the Hard Rock and/or Portofino rooms get a swanky upgrade we would consider staying at either as they also provide express passes.