Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort in Orlando, FL

As a foreign tourist doing the usual Disney, Universal and Kennedy Space Stations, the choice can be confusion where to stay as you have no idea. Our choice to stay in a hotel affiliated with each site worked best. Caban Bay was excellent as noted. A 50s themed hotel, there are two wings really, the main 'open' style like a motel where your rooms open onto a balcony, and the presumed newer enclosed contemporary style wing which is all enclosed. We stayed in the 'older' wing which worked out very well although there are rooms which look onto a carpark, and those that open onto the pool (sound better but they blower vac the pool area at 6am!). Check in busy at times, but worked well and they have people there dedicated to your universal tickets to help sort these on arrival. There are often Universal characters like Minions and and so on in the foyer which the kids liked. The room itself is a bit small for our family of 5 (2 doubles and one foldout) and the robe for the cases was barely big enough for one. It is what it is and we weren't there to spend time in the rooms which was quiet enough, good AC, cleaned well and with a microwave and fridge. Its a bit tight as said for a larger family but book two rooms if an issue I suppose! The older motel like area we stayed in had a laundry on ground floor for each wing which is very helpful for travelling families - driers, washers and detergent all at minor price is great. The pools were heated and despite being cold, my kids jumped in and the one in the older wing had a slide, the newer wing pool you can go in had a lazy river. The grounds are clean and well kept. The hotel has a lot to support you, large universal gift shop, Starbucks, bowling alley and computer arcade are all nice. The diner was good for meals all day. It has several different cafes within the area that caters for most. Costs were acceptable and food reasonable. There is no convenience store like area to buy things like bottled water/hygeine products or other supplies that I saw. The dining area is nicely themed with two large projectors putting out 50s footage all the time. Overall the grounds are very good and you could have an ice restorty holiday. getting to universal is easy as free buses leave regularly and come back to this site. Being at the hotel lets you in an hour earlier but our experience is by the time you rock up at 8am, there were already a bucket load of people and Hagrid's HP ride had a 3 hour wait by 815!! The water park was sadly closed in winter we did not know. In the reception is an Avis rental company which was really easy to deal with. They dont seem to pick up the phone if you are ringing overseas, so just book from your countries Avis website and specify their address. Driving to Kennedy from the hotel was very very easy and I normally drive on the other side of the road where I live so no stresses. I would not want to commute from Disney hotel to this park as it would take 30-40 minutes and traffic can take a while. If you get sick of food in the hotel, get a 5-10minute taxi to international drive and there are a lot of restaurants which was great, we went there a few nights (from chain restaurants like Applebees to a nice Thai one Cocos we went to). It also has a lot of cheaper gift shops too. As said a few times, staying close to your fun parks location is very helpful and I am glad we did a Universal hotel, and Disney hotel separately. To summarise, very happy we stayed here and would do so again.

Pros: family suites are good size; having toilet and tub in separate rooms was a plus; food in diner tasted good with decent portions; ample parking Cons: despite 3 text messages morning, noon and night confirming from staff like Kayla and Isabelle that our room would be serviced & cleaned, it never happened. Was told room is cleaned every other day and did not happen despite also complaining to front desk who said my room was listed as high priority for service; I see now why there are so many huge containers of towels and sheets left in the hallways as housekeeping is non existent in this hotel- it’s grab your own towels and small garbage bags as you walk through

Hotel is cute, close to the parks, but needs some attention on customer service timeliness and finishing touches. The furniture in our room was falling apart and torn. Electric outlet covers not screwed in and at children’s reach level. Light bulb in the closet did not work. Took them 2 days to come replace it. People are nice, but the service needs some adjustment to better tend to the customers.

The hotel was dirty. Stained carpets and specs of blood on curtains. My disabled mother used a bench to help shower ing. That the hotel had supplied, whilst using it the legs collapsed causing her to injure her side and back. This was reported to the reception desk, a manager and the head of security. The head of security admitted that the bench was faulty. We were promised a phone call from the risk management team. After emails and phone calls they haven’t followed this up. Very disappointing and unacceptable. Clearly the management of the hotel doesn’t care or take a serious complaint seriously enough.

I prepaid for my entire stay a month in advance. I checked in for my stay and they charged me for the full amount a second time. This put a hold on all the vacation spending money I had. It is very easy to make a mistake and debit someone's account and take all their funds but impossible for them to put the funds back timely. They offered $200 room credit and 4 free meal vouchers. This in no way makes up for a ruined vacation with the grandkids. Don't ever pay in advance and better yet, find somewhere else to stay.