Cabana Bay Beach Resort

[Nick]

Surprised so many here prefer the Courtyard suites. I prefer Tower myself.. especially the proximity to the lazy river, the pool with underwater music, and the Hideaway Bar & Grill.

Obviously i'm the one who was asking and haven't stayed yet, but for me I looked at the rooms a bit and I prefer the window by the door rather than over by the bed for one thing and secondly, I know a lot of people mentioned the Courtyard suites are closer to the pool or this/that. What really made me pick the room in the end though is that i'm a smoker

Having a door that goes straight to the outside is very preferable to a door that empties into an indoor hallway. At least for this type of a trip where i'm just going with some friends for a few days so we're gonna have a good time with it.

 

[UNIrd]

Obviously i'm the one who was asking and haven't stayed yet, but for me I looked at the rooms a bit and I prefer the window by the door rather than over by the bed for one thing and secondly, I know a lot of people mentioned the Courtyard suites are closer to the pool or this/that. What really made me pick the room in the end though is that i'm a smoker

Having a door that goes straight to the outside is very preferable to a door that empties into an indoor hallway. At least for this type of a trip where i'm just going with some friends for a few days so we're gonna have a good time with it.

Oh, then that changes everything. Enjoy the courtyard.

Also, one plus of Courtyard vs Tower is that those hallways can feel endless! Here's to hoping the newly built towers have some kind of eatery and amenities of their own. It would suck for them to have to make a trek all the way to the food court from there.

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

Also, one plus of Courtyard vs Tower is that those hallways can feel endless! Here's to hoping the newly built towers have some kind of eatery and amenities of their own. It would suck for them to have to make a trek all the way to the food court from there.

I totally agree, we were at the new tower end of the building during out trip in August and it felt like forever to walk those halls back to the main building. We actually started cutting through the parking lot to get to the busses and it cut our walk down significantly.

 

[Scott W.]

I totally agree, we were at the new tower end of the building during out trip in August and it felt like forever to walk those halls back to the main building. We actually started cutting through the parking lot to get to the busses and it cut our walk down significantly.

I don't think pictures do this hotel justice of just how big it is. It's the same with Volcano Bay.

 

[Nick]

Really enjoying my stay here so far. After walking through the Towers, i'm very glad you guys convinced me to get a courtyard room. I'm in Thunderbird on the backside, so I can see the Hollywood Way entrance to UOR and things like JP River Adventure, Dudley and Dr. Doom off in the distance.

Upon entry I was very impressed with the room. I sort of assessed the size of the room and it doesn't seem to be too much bigger than a regular Pop Century room, but the space is used sooooooooo much better that it SEEMS much bigger. The way the bathroom is laid out especially. Also the divide between the queens and the pullout is very nice. Pop has a 5th pulldown bed, but it's right next to the queens, so there's no privacy and the bathroom layout is worse there too.

Here's some quick pics:

Krakatau from the Lazy River pool:

 

[Scott W.]

Really enjoying my stay here so far. After walking through the Towers, i'm very glad you guys convinced me to get a courtyard room. I'm in Thunderbird on the backside, so I can see the Hollywood Way entrance to UOR and things like JP River Adventure, Dudley and Dr. Doom off in the distance.

Upon entry I was very impressed with the room. I sort of assessed the size of the room and it doesn't seem to be too much bigger than a regular Pop Century room, but the space is used sooooooooo much better that it SEEMS much bigger. The way the bathroom is laid out especially. Also the divide between the queens and the pullout is very nice. Pop has a 5th pulldown bed, but it's right next to the queens, so there's no privacy and the bathroom layout is worse there too.

Here's some quick pics:

Krakatau from the Lazy River pool:

Glad you're enjoying your stay!

 

[Mad Dog]

Really enjoying my stay here so far. After walking through the Towers, i'm very glad you guys convinced me to get a courtyard room. I'm in Thunderbird on the backside, so I can see the Hollywood Way entrance to UOR and things like JP River Adventure, Dudley and Dr. Doom off in the distance.

Upon entry I was very impressed with the room. I sort of assessed the size of the room and it doesn't seem to be too much bigger than a regular Pop Century room, but the space is used sooooooooo much better that it SEEMS much bigger. The way the bathroom is laid out especially. Also the divide between the queens and the pullout is very nice. Pop has a 5th pulldown bed, but it's right next to the queens, so there's no privacy and the bathroom layout is worse there too.

Here's some quick pics:

Krakatau from the Lazy River pool:

Cabana Bay is a pleasant surprise. It was way better than my expectations. It looks especially great in the evening with all of that 1950-60's neon. They nailed the theme vibe perfectly.

 

[JunoSynth]

If you enjoy burgers their Cabana Bay Burgers are pretty good. Breakfast is pretty decent too.

 

[Nick]

So my quick stay is already over. Everything with Cabana Bay was great. Enjoyed some time out by the pool today and spent the night celebrating Halloween with low crowds at HHN (as usual for the day). I could've left at 10 and felt accomplished having finished every house AND had dinner in only 4.5 hours with no express. I spent the last hour there watching Academy of Villains and about 45 minutes of watching Chance non-stop (no hyperbole). She was on fire tonight.

Back to my overall hotel experience though. I took the boat back to Sapphire as my feet were pretty much shot by this point. This was the only negative of the stay. It was a great, relaxing boat ride, but getting over to CBBR was the issue. From what I discovered the day before, Sapphire connects in to the GardenWalk via their pool area (albeit not advertised). The issue here is that Universal's pool areas close at 10 so I couldn't get to the walk way because once you go outside, you are immediately gated. I didn't like that about Sapphire, I think there should be a part of the outside area around the pool that isn't gated so people can just walk around like all the other hotels. I actually got locked into an area between the guest room elevators and the pool gate as both doors were locked!

So how did I get back over? I crossed the street. Ya know, that one with the fence that's supposed to stop people. Well, I was gonna do it anyway at this point, but I wanted to ask just to see what the Loews manager that was there would say. Guess what he told me to do? He told me to "Cross the street but be careful because there's no crosswalk". So they obviously don't care if people cross.

 

[WAJAS]

So my quick stay is already over. Everything with Cabana Bay was great. Enjoyed some time out by the pool today and spent the night celebrating Halloween with low crowds at HHN (as usual for the day). I could've left at 10 and felt accomplished having finished every house AND had dinner in only 4.5 hours with no express. I spent the last hour there watching Academy of Villains and about 45 minutes of watching Chance non-stop (no hyperbole). She was on fire tonight.

Back to my overall hotel experience though. I took the boat back to Sapphire as my feet were pretty much shot by this point. This was the only negative of the stay. It was a great, relaxing boat ride, but getting over to CBBR was the issue. From what I discovered the day before, Sapphire connects in to the GardenWalk via their pool area (albeit not advertised). The issue here is that Universal's pool areas close at 10 so I couldn't get to the walk way because once you go outside, you are immediately gated. I didn't like that about Sapphire, I think there should be a part of the outside area around the pool that isn't gated so people can just walk around like all the other hotels. I actually got locked into an area between the guest room elevators and the pool gate as both doors were locked!

So how did I get back over? I crossed the street. Ya know, that one with the fence that's supposed to stop people. Well, I was gonna do it anyway at this point, but I wanted to ask just to see what the Loews manager that was there would say. Guess what he told me to do? He told me to "Cross the street but be careful because there's no crosswalk". So they obviously don't care if people cross.

There's another way to get to the Garden Walk from the boat dock. When you exit the boat dock take a left and follow the path until you reach the convention center road. Take another left and follow the sidewalk there until you reach the Garden Walk where it crosses the convention center road.

 

[Nick]

There's another way to get to the Garden Walk from the boat dock. When you exit the boat dock take a left and follow the path until you reach the convention center road. Take another left and follow the sidewalk there until you reach the Garden Walk where it crosses the convention center road.

That would've been so much easier considering I took a boat to get there. I wish there were signs around Sapphire that direct people wanting to use the Garden Walk. I'm sure it'll come, but for now it's a little annoying as you have to sort of figure it out for yourself.

 

[amityboattours]

A note on the new resort buses - We've done 2 days of back and forth on them and I am already SO over the safety/info video that plays onboard. I actually dreaded it starting on the way back tonight.
Also, after this plays, there is a choice of just 2 annoying instrumental songs that play repeatedly. One sounds like a cover/rip-off of 'Another Girl, Another Planet' and the other sounds like 'Use Somebody'. Again, these are going to really grate after a few days stay.

 

[UNIrd]

New resort buses? Safety/info video? Did I miss something?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

New resort buses? Safety/info video? Did I miss something?

This week new UOR resort busses debuted. They're better ADA compliant, run by Mears, and other things

 

[Teebin]

Well this ain't good. And some of you are worried about parking?

 

[Nick]

Well this ain't good. And some of you are worried about parking?

HHN just ended... Universal is in a proverbial slow period for a few weeks. Parking IS a problem when the place is at 100% occupancy. The towers will not help that (which is why they've expanded parking garages at the resort).

 

[Mad Dog]

The issue with CBBR is that so many locals use it, for one reason or another,probably mostly cost. Therefore it has a higher percentage of guests with cars than the deluxe resorts. My guess is that this was a circumstance that Universal underestimated in their original plans. CBBR, especially on the weekends, is generally 100% or close to 100% filled.

 

[wizwit]

The issue with CBBR is that so many locals use it, for one reason or another,probably mostly cost. Therefore it has a higher percentage of guests with cars than the deluxe resorts. My guess is that this was a circumstance that Universal underestimated in their original plans. CBBR, especially on the weekends, is generally 100% or close to 100% filled.

Makes sense. Locals who want to spend the day at the Parks and the night at City Walk but who don't want to drive home.

 

[Scott W.]

Makes sense. Locals who want to spend the day at the Parks and the night at City Walk but who don't want to drive home.

If they want to drink, it could be just as cheap to get a room and drive home the day after instead of paying for a taxi.

 

[WAJAS]

This week new UOR resort busses debuted. They're better ADA compliant, run by Mears, and other things

and here are the two that have debuted so far...