Clarion Universal

[LostGirl]

Hi Guys

Staying at the above hotel from November 27th. We normally stay at Crowne Plaza but are saving the $s for Xmas shopping!

What is this hotel like? as long as it is clean I am not too bothered. I am a member of the Choice hotels Privelege club in the UK which own Clarion, has anyone had any success getting an upgrade with this card? Cos if you don't ask you don't get :)

Also I know people walk to Universal from this area of I Drive but the road appears to be a freeway with no sidewalks, is there another route? We walk everywhere and think nothing of a half hour trek, any advice on which way to go?

Any replies would be gratefully received - V

[BevS97]

We have stayed there - its' a nice basic hotel - not fancy but nothing at all wrong with it. I would stay there again.
I don't know if your card will help with an upgrade but it can't hurt to ask. We thought the basic rooms were pretty nice.

I can't imagine walking to Universal from there - in the car it's not far at all, but I think it would take more than half an hour - although to be honest, I dont know - we just didn't even consider it.
The road from the edge of Universal property to the parks is pretty long itself - I do seem to think there were some sidewalks or grass verges you could walk on though.

Bev

[dragann]

we walked from the clarion and there is paths for you to walk on

[LostGirl]

Dragann

Thanks a lot for that, I pressume the best route to take is to walk directly along Universal Blvd?

Not long now I can't wait:jump:

Vikki

[dragann]

your welcome but remember to watch the road where you crossover next to wet and wild as it gets very bizzy

[dragann]

your welcome but remember to watch the road where you crossover next to wet and wild as it gets very bizzy and you do walk along Universal Blvd

[LostGirl]

Hi

Just got back today from our trip:( the washing is on and cases un-packed. Just wanted to heads you guys up regarding the above hotel.

We stayed here simply cos it was near to Universal, but if you are planning on Disney days and especially if you have children don't stay here. The hotel itself is lovely we had an upgraded room on the 7th floor (grab yourself a Privelege Card we got a half price up-grade), the room was large and clean and the beds comfy, but it was the shuttle system to the parks which let this place down big time, and I will not stay here again if they continue to use the same company.

To cut a long story short, the shuttle did not turn up to pick us up both days we did Disney, so we had to get the Lynx bus back to I-Drive (thankfully I know the system as it would have been an expensive cab ride). It's not as though we didn't give them time (we waited 30 mins longer than we should have). We complained to the hotel and they called the "owner" of the company, a guy called Mike, who swore blind he was there, now at this point it was his word against ours and I couldn't be ##### to argue, and wouldn't let it ruin my holiday. I let it go, but then the guy had the cheek to start stalking us and every time we walked through the lobby we were pounced on and asked how we were getting back to the airport at the end of our trip, I simply ignored the guy as he just wasn't worth wasting my breath on. The point though is I just wanted to head you up to this situation so as if you are planning to book this hotel and do Disney a lot check that they are not still using Teeta International to run their shuttles, if they are stay away.

It's not all bad the hotel is really nice and Jim on the destination Universal desk is a really cool guy, as was Mark (who drives a big red 4 by 4) the guy who finally did end up running us the the airport!

Cheers - Vikki