_Laurie_D
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2017
I appreciated so much all the advice I received on this board while trying to decide whether to give Cabana Bay a try on our Universal trip I felt obliged to do the same now that we are back. Myself, my husband and our 6yr old grandson stayed the last week of November for 4 nights. I really didn’t know what to expect after staying at Hard Rock and Portofino on previous stays. We checked in on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. We had booked a regular poolside tower room. Check in went smooth and the girl who checked us in was very friendly. Parking was fine and we had no issues at all finding a spot. The gates didn’t work with our room card so we did have to push the button for assistance when going in and out. We then went to our room and it was very nice but small. The room had the most amazing view of the volcano even though it wasn’t a “volcano view room.” As I was trying to find places for our luggage I was regretting not booking a suite instead. So I went down and asked if we could upgrade. They upgraded us for just $20 extra a night to the poolside tower suite. Wow what a difference! We absolutely loved the suite. So much more room! Plenty of places for luggage. The standard room and suite were both very clean and both very nice but the suite couldn’t be beat for the extra room it provided. Beds were very comfortable, housekeeping was great and we always came back to clean rooms. In my opinion the hotel itself has it all over the deluxe resorts. It is huge and still looked very new. I read so many trip advisor reviews where people said the hotel and rooms were dirty. I have no idea where they were staying because everything here was immaculate and I’m pretty picky about hotel rooms. I also didn’t notice a problem with smokers at every exit like I had read in some reviews. We absolutely loved the atmosphere here. The pools were great and my grandson loved the bowling alley. The food court was really nice. We had breakfast there twice during our stay and the food was nothing to complain about. There was a laundry room very close to our room which I used once during our stay. The bus service to the parks was excellent and we never had to wait. There was always a bus waiting going to and coming from the parks. The security check was fast and it wasn’t a bad walk going into City Walk from where the bus dropped us off. Sometimes I felt it was even faster then the boats at the deluxes. On our first morning we walked from the hotel to islands of adventure and it took us exactly 15 minutes. It is just about 3/4 of a mile so not bad at all. I had read reviews about the walk being horribly long but it didn’t seem bad to me. Maybe because the weather was cooler at this time of year. It was a really nice scenic garden path that took you straight to the park. No crossing any busy streets. The path went over the highway. At the parks we had no need for express. Last week of November/early December is really a great time to visit. I don’t think we waited in any lines over 5-10 minutes. Most rides were walk ons. We spent the last few days of our trip at Disney and I can’t say the same. The lines there had very long waits. We are Universal season passholders and will be visiting again in June. I would absolutely love to stay at Cabana Bay again but probably won’t because I feel express will be needed in June. If not for the express pass benefit that the deluxes provide I would always stay at Cabana Bay. I would even pay the same price as the deluxes to stay here if it came with express. It’s a shame that it doesn’t. We had a great time and I really can’t find a thing to complain about. If you’re on the fence about staying here I don’t think you will be disappointed