Brief Cabana bay and universal trip report

shack69 · 29 Aug 19, 08:07 PM

We have just got back from a week at Cabana Bay. We traveled with Tui from Manchester on the dream liner. The flight was good and the food was reasonable. As Tui use Sanford the lines at immigration were good and we had our bags in about 20 minutes. As we were using the bus transfer we did have to wait for the rest of the people on the plane to clear immigration etc , but still I would say it was only about an hour. Our coach was dropping off at Endless Summer and Cabana Bay and the journey took about an hour. We found check in easy , we were allocated a room on the ground floor but asked to be moved an ended up on Level 4. We had a family suite with internal corridors. The room was a decent size with the kitchenette as you enter , then a sitting areas with a sofa, a couple of chairs and tables. Then behind the sliding screen was 2 double beds with a TV on the wall and a thermostat. At the end of the room were the floor to ceiling windows plus a small hanging area and safe. The washing area is directly opposite the beds and there is no door, but the toilet is separate and also the bath/shower room had an additional sink. We did notice that the pluming could be noisy and on a night you could hear other rooms pluming.
The resort itself has plenty to do including pools (slide, lazy river), bowling, arcade, souvenirs shops, bars, starbucks and food court. The food court had lots of different offerings and we found the food quality to be good.
We purchases a couple of souvenir mugs for $18.49 plus tax each for the full duration of your stay which give you access to all coke freestyle machines at Cabana bay plus coffee , hot tea and even Iceeys. So for us this was great value as it worked out to about $2.50 a day.
The location of Cabana Bay to Volcano Bay can not be beaten with in only been a couple of minutes walk to the dedicated entrance for CB guests. We took towels from the pool as you have to rent towels in VB unlike at Disney. PLus you get early entry 8-9 which is great as the temperatures are not too high plus getting on the slides is quick. Also because of the location we were able to do VB on an evening as it got dark and found the queues to the rides to be none existent apart from the coaster. Again with it been a short walk we never bothered with showers in VB and just went back to the room to freshen up.

To get to the main parks you can walk (we never did), catch the bus and it takes about 5 minutes to the bus drop off at city walks. I have to say I was impressed with the buses and apart from one day we never waited more then 5 minutes. Sometimes they use Meers coaches to ensure they cover capacity. We did notice one day that the coach turned up and there was a family with a wheel chair and the driver radio for one of the other buses , and before we had even left that bus was pulling in. We did use the boat back to saphire falls and then walked across the road a couple of times, but if you missed one it could be a 20 min wait for the next one.
Security into the parks was done either before boarding a boat or on the way into city walks. This was quick even at busy times as they use bag scanners and arches.

We had a couple of meals at City walks with NBC Sports Grill & Brew serving up a realy nice meal. But we also ate off site at the Olive Garden on I drive which was good as normal. As we had no car we used Lfyt to get there and with the current sign up offers it only cost about $4 each way. The other place we tried was Millers Ale house on Kirkman road, this took about 15 minutes to walk to from City walks which was not bad, but we had to cross Kirkman as the bridge is still not complete. But on the way back we crossed over and walked down Vineland road and cut (little cut in the trees into the car park) into Portofino and used the water taxi back.

All in all we found staying at Universal a good experience and would look at doing it again.

Vinniecat · 29 Aug 19, 09:09 PM

Thanks for the report I think we might have a wander over there it sounds great. What did you eat at NBC sports bar and grill? Just wondering where to eat we are at the hard rock at the moment.

Floridafour · 29 Aug 19, 09:16 PM

Helpful report thank you. We love Cabana Bay and is sounds great that there is such good access to VB which I look forward to taking advantage of on our next trip 🙂

Floridaagogo · 29 Aug 19, 10:19 PM

We did a week in cabana bay in June and loved it !

shack69 · 30 Aug 19, 11:14 AM

I had the Bang Bang chicken and my wife had pulled pork. Both were good size portions. The Bang Bang chicken had lots of flavour but was not spicy hot. There is a menu over on Touring plans LINK.

Vinniecat · 31 Aug 19, 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by shack69

I had the Bang Bang chicken and my wife had pulled pork. Both were good size portions. The Bang Bang chicken had lots of flavour but was not spicy hot. There is a menu over on Touring plans LINK.

Sounds good, might try it for our last night.

29 Aug 19, 08:07 PM	#1
	29 Aug 19, 08:07 PM shack69 Imagineer
shack69 Imagineer Join Date: Sep 11	Brief Cabana bay and universal trip report We have just got back from a week at Cabana Bay. We traveled with Tui from Manchester on the dream liner. The flight was good and the food was reasonable. As Tui use Sanford the lines at immigration were good and we had our bags in about 20 minutes. As we were using the bus transfer we did have to wait for the rest of the people on the plane to clear immigration etc , but still I would say it was only about an hour. Our coach was dropping off at Endless Summer and Cabana Bay and the journey took about an hour. We found check in easy , we were allocated a room on the ground floor but asked to be moved an ended up on Level 4. We had a family suite with internal corridors. The room was a decent size with the kitchenette as you enter , then a sitting areas with a sofa, a couple of chairs and tables. Then behind the sliding screen was 2 double beds with a TV on the wall and a thermostat. At the end of the room were the floor to ceiling windows plus a small hanging area and safe. The washing area is directly opposite the beds and there is no door, but the toilet is separate and also the bath/shower room had an additional sink. We did notice that the pluming could be noisy and on a night you could hear other rooms pluming. The resort itself has plenty to do including pools (slide, lazy river), bowling, arcade, souvenirs shops, bars, starbucks and food court. The food court had lots of different offerings and we found the food quality to be good. We purchases a couple of souvenir mugs for $18.49 plus tax each for the full duration of your stay which give you access to all coke freestyle machines at Cabana bay plus coffee , hot tea and even Iceeys. So for us this was great value as it worked out to about $2.50 a day. The location of Cabana Bay to Volcano Bay can not be beaten with in only been a couple of minutes walk to the dedicated entrance for CB guests. We took towels from the pool as you have to rent towels in VB unlike at Disney. PLus you get early entry 8-9 which is great as the temperatures are not too high plus getting on the slides is quick. Also because of the location we were able to do VB on an evening as it got dark and found the queues to the rides to be none existent apart from the coaster. Again with it been a short walk we never bothered with showers in VB and just went back to the room to freshen up. To get to the main parks you can walk (we never did), catch the bus and it takes about 5 minutes to the bus drop off at city walks. I have to say I was impressed with the buses and apart from one day we never waited more then 5 minutes. Sometimes they use Meers coaches to ensure they cover capacity. We did notice one day that the coach turned up and there was a family with a wheel chair and the driver radio for one of the other buses , and before we had even left that bus was pulling in. We did use the boat back to saphire falls and then walked across the road a couple of times, but if you missed one it could be a 20 min wait for the next one. Security into the parks was done either before boarding a boat or on the way into city walks. This was quick even at busy times as they use bag scanners and arches. We had a couple of meals at City walks with NBC Sports Grill & Brew serving up a realy nice meal. But we also ate off site at the Olive Garden on I drive which was good as normal. As we had no car we used Lfyt to get there and with the current sign up offers it only cost about $4 each way. The other place we tried was Millers Ale house on Kirkman road, this took about 15 minutes to walk to from City walks which was not bad, but we had to cross Kirkman as the bridge is still not complete. But on the way back we crossed over and walked down Vineland road and cut (little cut in the trees into the car park) into Portofino and used the water taxi back. All in all we found staying at Universal a good experience and would look at doing it again.

30 Aug 19, 11:14 AM	#5
	30 Aug 19, 11:14 AM shack69 Imagineer Thread Starter
shack69 Thread Starter Imagineer Join Date: Sep 11	I had the Bang Bang chicken and my wife had pulled pork. Both were good size portions. The Bang Bang chicken had lots of flavour but was not spicy hot. There is a menu over on Touring plans LINK.