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Old 17 Apr 21, 05:32 PM  
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NM19
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Help with universal stay

I am in early stages of planning for Aug 22. Have a villa booked to focus on Disney, and was thinking of adding 2 nights at Universal AVENTURA at the start. We are four adults , we won't do all the rides but would like to see HP areas as has been added since last visit. We also like resort hopping and good meals.
Now looking at reviews , including Citywalk, Volcano Bay , hotel hopping and dining I am thinking maybe we need longer 4 or 5 nights?
Opinions really needed.
Is this a good hotel , what other hotels would people visit for meals or exploring?
Is it worth seeing Hogwarts at night as well as the day ?
Where do people recommend at Citywalk?
If you had four nights , so arrival evening and then 3 full days leaving for villa following morning , what would you plan?
Thanks for ideas
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Old 17 Apr 21, 05:48 PM  
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Derbydave4
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If you want to do the big rides at Universal I would consider one of the 3 deluxe hotels as you get the unlimited front of the line passes
We normally do three or four nights depending on the price and find that we can do all the rides we want to with time to enjoy the hotel pools in the afternoons and a morning at Volcano Bay
There are loads of restaurants at City Walk to suit most tastes
Our favourites on our last visit were Vivo (Italian) and Big Fire (flame grilled steaks etc) the only one we weren’t impressed by was Bubba Gumps (really poor service)
Both the Harry Potter areas are well worth seeing at night and Hagrids is a brilliant roller coaster in the dark
Haven’t stayed at Adventura but it’s in a great location for Volcano Bay and the roof top bar is awesome You can also walk across to Sapphire Falls and get the boat to the parks
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Old 17 Apr 21, 08:01 PM  
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Softy
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As it’s at the start of your holiday I would say you’d need more than 2 nights. The first day you won’t get there until late afternoon/evening.
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Old 18 Apr 21, 06:53 PM  
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I haven’t stayed at Adventura, as far as I know it is a decent hotel but I would either book a hotel with express pass or extend your villa stay to cover the Universal part of your trip as well. I don’t think the onsite benefits (early entry to a couple of attractions) make an onsite stay at a non express hotel worth it, not when you have a villa assuming you can easily extend.

I have stayed over twenty nights onsite at Universal in total and I have never thought of hotel hopping as a thing (I get it at Disney). I have visited other hotels, but only because I am going there for a meal for example.

We are huge HP fans and our first trip was quite long as we wanted to take it all in at leisure and would keep returning to see the same things. It is hard to really say whether somebody else would be better off doing 2or 3 days versus 4 or 5. But I don’t really think (to quote you) “Citywalk, Volcano Bay, hotel hopping and dining” make it a 4 or 5 night stay, Universal is very compact and I think you would be repeating things with such a length stay, (which is fine if like using you want to do that).

Best dining in the Universal area is The Palm which is situated within the Hard Rock Hotel. Lots of choice in Citywalk, I have read quite a lot of dining reports and I don’t think there are that many universally popular places, for example we enjoyed Bubba Gump and the Chocolate Emporium but others don’t rate them at all. One we thought was only average is Panda Express, but it seems quite popular on the dibb. Cowfish seems to get good feedback and is one of our favourites too.
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Old 18 Apr 21, 08:53 PM  
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clyde106
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Wow, I love a thread where I can just spurt out recommendations!

We stayed for 2 weeks at Aventura and honestly it was perfect for us. The hotel is lovely, they've gone for a minimalist sleek and modern design which I think works really well. There's no in-your-face theming which I think is good for a trip with 4 adults as you might want more of a grownup vibe which is why we booked. Bar17 on the rooftop is a great bar which we went to multiple times after the parks for a drink. You get amazing views up there at night and they do great cocktails and bar snacks/appetisers.

The only thing I would say, for us anyway, is I think it's a good choice to book a room with the upgraded view. We didn't book one of these and when we got to our room we were so disappointed, it was a room on a lower floor that just had a view of AC vents, a multi-storey car park and the motorway. We upgraded to a park view room straight away for around £200 and it was amazing. The views were lovely to wake up to. We liked it so much that we've actually booked another Aventura 14 night stay for 2022.

In terms of Aventura vs. other Universal hotels vs. villas etc., I think Aventura is a good choice. The ability to walk to CityWalk or take a boat from Sapphire Falls is great as the walk along the river is amazing and tranquil. You'd get express pass if you stayed at one of the deluxe hotels but if you're planning on doing more than one day at each Universal park then I wouldn't say its necessary.

We usually go in September when queues are minimal and can definitely get everything done doing one day at each park. August will be busy but you can do everything in a day if you're there open-close. However, as I said we stay for 2 weeks and do probably 3 days at each park and the rest over at WDW. This works great for us as there's just so much to do at Universal. I'm not sure if you've been before but the parks aren't half-day experiences like they used to be. The Hogwarts nighttime show is great if you're a Potter fan (and very good if you're not) and there's a fountain projection lake show at studios that's good too. You could even spend a full day just in the Wizarding World doing Hogsmede and getting the Hogwarts Express over to Diagon Alley.

For CityWalk, our absolute favourite is Cowfish. It's a sushi bar come burger restaurant and the food is always outstanding. We've had both sushi and burgers there and they're always so inventive and so much better than what you'd expect for an on-site restaurant. Bigfire grill is also really good especially for the price. Buba Gump's and Toothsome are also staples for us too but both overpriced for what they are. We also tried NBC Sports Grill for lunch and it was pretty awful actually but I've seen some really good reviews on here since so we're going to give it another try when we go back.

CityWalk has some good quick breakfast and lunch options too. There's a Starbucks and Cinnabon which we consider essential in the mornings. We like to come out of the parks usually for lunch as you then get a bit of a break and the value for money is better in CityWalk (unless you go to Mythos). Panda Express, Bread Box and Red Oven Pizza are all solid options for us for a quick lunch.

In terms of other hotels to visit, we always pay visits to the Polynesian and Animal Kingdom Lodge. Breakfast at Ohana is always great and I just love to walk around the Poly in general. Boma and Jiko at AKL are always excellent and great to try some African inspired dishes.

TL;DR Aventura is great. I'd recommend you stay longer than 2 nights if you can but you can get the best-of/highlights of the parks done in 2 days if not. Let us know what you go for!

Edited at 09:02 PM.
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Old 19 Apr 21, 09:13 AM  
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Aventura is a great hotel. We love it there. We have a teen but for an adult only trip it would be fab.

What you need to consider is how important are the rides. If you just want the ambience of HP areas, some rides and shows then Aventura is a great choice.

If you want to power through the rides then I’d go for a hotel with express pass. Royal Pacific with club level might suit you with breakfast provided as well as time later with snack options and beer and wine. There’s a big difference between Aventura price and that though over a few nights.

Our last universal trip was a week at Aventura, there’s a trip report in my signature full of all my recommendations below.

Food choices are great, I love the food court at Aventura, the wok station is my favourite and just across the road at Sapphire Falls Amatista is a great breakfast choice while the small plates at Strongwater Tavern are really good.

As Claudette said the Palm is stunning but very pricey. At the other end of the budget Sals pizza at Portofino is one of our favourites. The brunch at the kitchen at Hard Rock is great as well.

City walk favourites are Cowfish for sushi, NBC for starter plates, Breadbox for amazing sandwiches.

In park we enjoy Lombards, Mythos and Confisco Grill, I’m not a fan of the quick service places in the park and I wouldn’t eat in Diagon Alley again.

In terms of length of stay, you could do 2 nights and have a great time or you could do longer, all depends on your pace and priorities. I assume you’d go back to universal when at the villa if your tickets were valid?
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Old 19 Apr 21, 10:40 AM  
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I'd say it depends on what you want & whether budget matters? Early entry is neither here nor there, for us, but then we would stay at RPR for those EP's( on a shorter stay). There is nothing that is on your to-do list that you can't do from your villa, unless drinking & car comes into the equation. On the car note, you will have overnight car parking to pay for.
Not sure how long I could spend in Hogsmeade, both HP areas are very busy & IMO Universal's area is a bit tighter.
Not really Hotel Hopping people TBH, if we are having a meal there, I might look around but otherwise it's not really my thing- looking at a foyer & a swimming pool
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Old 30 Apr 21, 07:56 AM  
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NM19
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Thanks all for the really great advice, ill let you know what we decide
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Old 30 Apr 21, 08:35 AM  
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I love staying onsite in Universal. If you have the budget and want to experience it I say go for it. Leave the car in the parking garage at the hotel and just enjoy being absorbed in the atmosphere there. We love to sit at the bar in margaritaville with a few picky bits of food and margaritas or antojitos with some drinks and their guac and chips.

Aventura is a nice new hotel, very modern and just over the road literally from Sapphire Falls (share the same parking garage i want to say) so you have the boat access but not the cost (though if the price difference wasn't too much i'd always opt for Sapphire! ).

We did a 9 night onsite stay at Sapphire a couple of years ago and my parents didn't even go into the universal parks but they LOVED being on site there. Express passes aren't everything, they help yes for sure but if you're going for a few rides and to make the most of seeing what's going on in the parks then they're not essential.

The Dibb really does like to push the EP hotels but I love the non EP ones. They have a great atmosphere and it's lovely just to spend time there. We're planning on resort hopping and trying all the lounges in all the hotels - drinks and nibbles, can't wait!

Like I say, if budget allows and it's what you fancy go for it. If anything from the last year has taught us is that life's too damn short and precarious so if it doesn't cause any cuts or compromises do what you fancy!
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Old 30 Apr 21, 12:58 PM  
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In under a week we should have been spending 10 nights at Sapphire(before moving to Disney) it was a fairly simple choice in that most reviews describe it as RPR standard but without the EP's & on a longer stay the EP side becomes less important.
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