Which Universal hotel to book?
 

Hi all

I have been incredibly lucky that I have recently been given some money from my dad which will pay for a 2 night stay at Universal and park tickets.

We would like to stay at one of the deluxe hotels so that we can take advantage of the Express tickets as well but as we have never stayed at Universal before we don't know which the best option for us would be. We are 2 adults and our plan of action for hitting Universal is something along the lines of this:

- Disney park including a table service meal, then back to AKL to pack some bits, then an Uber to Universal
- Check in to Universal hotel for 2 nights, have a little explore and bed
- Full day at Universal and IOA, taking advantage of the early admission for hotel guests and the Express pass
- Dinner in Citywalk, bed
- Next day would be Volcano Bay in the morning (though we may do VB the first day at Universal for the morning depending how tired we are), back to hotel to change and get ready. Then check out, pop our luggage with bell services and hit the parks again. Back to hotel after park closing to order an Uber back to Disney.

We're leaning to the Hard Rock Cafe because of it's proximity to the theme parks but would anyone go for somewhere else?

Thanks!

I’ve stayed at RPR for one night and HRH twice - once for 2 weeks and the other for 1 night.

We preferred HRH and we’re staying there again next year.
We prefer the feel/vibe of the place. We love how close it is to the parks. It’s such a cool hotel, we can’t wait to get back.

But any of the 3 hotels are fabulous in their own way.

We've done both Hard Rock (one night 2016) and Royal Pacific (2 nights 2018) to get Express Passes.

We'll be booking Royal Pacific again for our summer '20 trip - a little quieter than we found HRH, grounds are beautiful, rooms well appointed, and it's but a five/ten minute walk to Citiwalk (enter at Margaritaville, which is great for a chilled evening, too).

HRH gets my vote, we love it there.

We stayed at RPR and liked it but I was just going for the cheapest for our dates. For 2 adults I would do HRH. Have you been to Universal before? We spent a whole day at VB, if you like water parks I'm not sure I would only want a morning there. You know express passes are valid for 3 days I guess (check in day as well)?

Just looked at your signature and guess you have been before, so you probably know how long you want at each park!

We've been to HRH once (for the benefits of express passes with a 1 night stay), and we have booked HRH for next year again. We love how close it is to the park :)

We have stayed at HRH on a number of occasions for 1 night to 3 nights. I can't recommend it enough and the fact you get express passes is another bonus.

Only spending a single day between both the main parks feels like you won't do it justice to me, and I say that as someone who has stayed in all three hotels you list, generally for 4-5 nights at a time.

Express ride access is great, but I still would want to spend one day to devote to each park to enjoy them them properly and re-ride favourites etc.

Have stayed at HRH and Portofino Bay... we preferred Portofino Bay. We were a group of 6 adults and 4 teenagers and managed comfortably in 2 rooms but it was for only one night :grin: