First time at Universal On-site Hotels

[amar831]

Hey Everyone,

As a celebration of both my Birthday and some major weight loss, I decided to treat myself to a UOR Vacation and settled on the following itinerary:

9/25-9/28 @ Surfside Inn & Suites
9/28-9/30 @ Loews Royal Pacific
9/30-10/4 @ Dockside Inn & Suites

If anyone could help with some of these questions, it would be greatly appreciated.
-Will Universal transfer my luggage between their on-site resorts, or will I need to arrange the transfer myself?
-Online, the resort shuttle schedule says they run until 2AM. Is this also true on HHN Nights that run until 2AM or will they run a bit later?
-This might be harder to answer. Due to my gastric sleeve surgery, the amount I am able to eat has been restricted greatly. Does anyone have any experience with this and how accommodating Universal is towards my dietary restrictions (e.g., half portions, ordering from kids menu, to-go containers)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Mad Dog]

If the past practice is still in effect, only the Deluxe Universal/Lowes hotels (Royal Pacific in this case), and Sapphire, will transfer your luggage for you.

 

[amar831]

If the past practice is still in effect, only the Deluxe Universal/Lowes hotels (Royal Pacific in this case), and Sapphire, will transfer your luggage for you.

Awesome, thanks! I'm fine with doing it myself between Surfside and Royal Pacific, since I would want to grab those Express Passes ASAP.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Hey Everyone,

As a celebration of both my Birthday and some major weight loss, I decided to treat myself to a UOR Vacation and settled on the following itinerary:

9/25-9/28 @ Surfside Inn & Suites
9/28-9/30 @ Loews Royal Pacific
9/30-10/4 @ Dockside Inn & Suites

If anyone could help with some of these questions, it would be greatly appreciated.
-Will Universal transfer my luggage between their on-site resorts, or will I need to arrange the transfer myself?
-Online, the resort shuttle schedule says they run until 2AM. Is this also true on HHN Nights that run until 2AM or will they run a bit later?
-This might be harder to answer. Due to my gastric sleeve surgery, the amount I am able to eat has been restricted greatly. Does anyone have any experience with this and how accommodating Universal is towards my dietary restrictions (e.g., half portions, ordering from kids menu, to-go containers)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hey, congrats on the weight loss! I know how hard that can be from my own experience, it's an amazing achievement.

To answer your questions:

1. I'm not sure about inter resort luggage transportation. MadDog seems to have heard about it only for the high end resorts.
2. They run later during HHN, I've seen till around 3am when they sweep CityWalk.
3. I've never seen any issues with ordering from the kids menu. If you're at a sit down location my suggestion would be to talk to your server about your options.

 

[amar831]

Hey, congrats on the weight loss! I know how hard that can be from my own experience, it's an amazing achievement.

To answer your questions:

1. I'm not sure about inter resort luggage transportation. MadDog seems to have heard about it only for the high end resorts.
2. They run later during HHN, I've seen till around 3am when they sweep CityWalk.
3. I've never seen any issues with ordering from the kids menu. If you're at a sit down location my suggestion would be to talk to your server about your options.

Thank you! I really appreciate it! It's been a hell of a journey, but I'm very excited about being able to ride everything without worrying if I'll fit into any restraints. It's the main reason I'm aiming for a few nights at RP with the Weekday pricing

Great news with the shuttles, really didn't want to deal with taking Ubers out every night. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed for the FFP!

I guess with the dining its gonna be a lot more figuring it out as I go. I've also considered taking empty tupperware for any leftovers I might have, but not sure if they'll let me into the parks with that.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Congrats on the weight loss and your celebration! Sounds like you've earned it!

I can confirm my boyfriend and I took a bus past 2 am during HHN, I think they sent a bus back to get one more larger group so, at least it seems, they'll make sure everyone gets a ride.

 

[tielo]

Congratulations with the weight loss and have a lot of fun at Universal.
Regarding food or other inquiries you could also call guest services, they are super nice (as long as the Grinch isn't working there) and they will help you.
Universal Orlando

 

[amar831]

Congratulations with the weight loss and have a lot of fun at Universal.
Regarding food or other inquiries you could also call guest services, they are super nice (as long as the Grinch isn't working there) and they will help you.
Universal Orlando

Thank you! I guess it won't hurt to give them a call before heading over just to have a better idea of what to expect. Thanks for the tip!

 

[tielo]

Thank you! I guess it won't hurt to give them a call before heading over just to have a better idea of what to expect. Thanks for the tip!

You are welcome, and please let us know how things went for you. Also, when you find that some of the services doesn't meet your need, visit customer services in the parks. They love to get good feedback to improve their product.

 

[Frank Drackman]

congrats on the weight loss!

We once met up with a family at UOR during HHN. We drove up from SFL, they flew in. We stayed at different deluxe hotels. We had picked up some groceries for them (they sort of won the trip and were worried on $$), anyhow, the point is, we had no problem getting a courtesy van to move them and their groceries from one deluxe to another (we have had them run us to restaurants between the hotels as well).

 

[Mad Dog]

congrats on the weight loss!

We once met up with a family at UOR during HHN. We drove up from SFL, they flew in. We stayed at different deluxe hotels. We had picked up some groceries for them (they sort of won the trip and were worried on $$), anyhow, the point is, we had no problem getting a courtesy van to move them and their groceries from one deluxe to another (we have had them run us to restaurants between the hotels as well).

yes, that works well when staying at the deluxe hotels & Sapphire since they have bell service, which will move the luggage etc.

 

[Nanceliz319]

Awesome on the weight loss! Have a great time! Looking forward to the trip review!

 

[amar831]

Just got back from my Universal vacation and had an absolute blast. With HHN cancelled, we made a few changes to the trip dates and hotel bookings and ended up at the Hilton Garden Inn from 9/29-10/1 and we moved to the Royal Pacific from 10/1-10/4. Our first day in the parks was on 9/30 and we decided to head over to Volcano Bay. We were still able to get in for early entry since we had a Cabana Rental, but it was very cold and cloudy for most of the day. Very little to no lines on just about everything, and we were able to go on Krakatau about 4 times. It is a beautiful park, but it was a little confusing to navigate at first. Having the cabana to retreat to and order food and drinks from also made for a very relaxing day. We didn't order too much to eat since we had fruits and pastries in the cabana when we arrived, but we did order the fried chicken sliders and the few bites I did have were pretty darn good.

Wednesday night we were able to try out the Hollywood Drive In mini golf for the first time, really loved the design and the layout of it. Alot of the restaurants in Citywalk were closed that night though, and we almost stopped in at NBC for dinner to catch game 1 of the Finals, but they told us they'd be turning off the TVs at 10:15 and just ended up going to the Ale House to watch it.

The rest of the trip we just made our way through each of the dry parks. We had an absolute blast taking advantage of the express passes even on the emptier Thursday and Friday. It was the first time in 8 years that I didn't need a modified seat on any rides throughout the resort, and I even got to ride the sidecar on Hagrid's a few times.

I'm glad my two buddies always had an appetite because we made it a point to try as many interesting food options as we could. The twisted frank-n-coils with blood and guts, funnel cake and fried chicken, and all of the tots at green eggs and ham were delicious. Overall, I'd have to say the quality of food in the parks has increased exponentially. The night of 10/1, we stopped in at Bigfire and it was the absolute best dining experience we had the whole week. The oven baked bread and roasted mussels were absolutely to die for, and the short rib pasta was delectable. On 10/2 we wanted to stop in at Toothsomes but it was a 2 hour wait and we opted for the Hard Rock Cafe instead. They were testing out a new family style menu which was pretty cheap for the amount of food we received, I think it was $30 dollars for 5 burger sliders, 5 pulled pork sliders, cheese fires, and onion rings and it was pretty good as well. Saturday, we just stopped in at Panda Express after a very long day at the parks.

Overall it was a great trip. It's crazy for me to think that last year I was at Universal for a week and a half and avoided the parks during the day because I knew I wouldn't fit on the rides. I want to thank everyone for the kind words and tips. They are greatly appreciated!