Which universal hotel

[keely21]

Planning on staying in one overnight just for the express passes but which one? Which one is closest to the parks and which one has the best pool? Hard Rock, Royal Pacific or portofino Bay?

[Dendycat]

Have only stayed in RPR. Believe that HRH is marginally the closest with RPR second and PBH being the furthest out.
I believe that PBH is supposed to have the best pool (could be subjective). RPR doesn’t have a water slide so my kids would consider it the worst (but they liked the splash pad when they visited 3 years ago).

[Claudette]

Everybody seems to say HRH is nearest, personally I think Royal Pacific is, but there is nothing it really. Portofino Bay is further.

I have previously stayed at RPR and Portofino. If I were going for one night, I would not worry about it too much and book whichever of the three is the cheapest.

[sha9]

I would book the cheapest but RPR is the only one we’ve stayed at and it’s lovely.

[Joshie1]

We stay at RPR as it is the cheapest. It is a lovely hotel. If you are only staying for one night, you may not even get to use the pool as if there is a storm in the area, they close the pools. I don't think that would sway my decision for a one night stay.
If there is any one of the 3 of them nearer the parks, there is only a matter of 5 minutes in the difference.

[Softy]

Hard rock is nearest to Universal Studios. Royal Pacific is nearest to IOA.

[Donz1979]

Only stayed Royal Pacific one night, however booked again 2 nights this year, beautiful hotel.

[BebeYorkshire]

I didn't really like Hard Rock. It had some cool memorabilia but other than that it felt a bit cold. The room was fine though and bed was comfy. I really didn't like the strong scent that they pumped through the common areas, it gave me a really sore throat.

Royal Pacific on the other hand was beautiful. I much preferred the decor and the feel of the hotel overall. It was equally as comfortable room wise, though it felt bigger than the one at Hard Rock.

Distance from the parks wise, its about the same.

It comes down to personal preference really but I don't quite understand why Hard Rock tends to be more expensive.

[ScoopsAhoy]

We love hard rock and always stay there.
Hotel is great, love the music round the pool and the staff are always great..but with the works we didn’t want to risk it incase it went over (supposed to finish in July I think) so booked RPR.

[Bozza]

We've stayed at all three for stays of up to a week when doing the Universal parks, and they're all lovely - money spent on hotels goes a lot further at Universal than it does at Disney.

As others have said - all three are close to the parks, so proximity shouldn't form part of your decision.

For a classic "one night for two days Express" stay, it probably comes down to price and choosing whichever is the cheapest for your stay. It is generally the Royal Pacific, but not always. I was looking at some dates a few days ago where Portofino Bay was the cheapest of the three.

We did a few days at Universal last week, and it was the first time we've ever done so without having Express (we were on a non-parks holiday in a villa, but bought Universal annual passes on an impulse) and having Express really does spoil you - we'll not be making the same mistake again - and will always stay in these hotels for future visits!