Pros: We took our two little ones here for our first family vacation primarily because it’s attached to Volcano Bay. Just a short 2-5 min walk next door. A perk of staying here is your room key allows an hour early entry into the water park. The pool area was nice and they have a lazy river. If you buy floats to use, at the end of your visit you can return them for brand new ones in the package to take home instead of deflating yours.
Cons: The Bayliner Diner is misleading, it’s more of a cafeteria with theme park menu options. If you purchase a reusable souvenir cup, it’s only good at the hotel and not at the theme parks even though they’re all Universal. The hotel it’s self isn’t bad but you can definitely tell it’s older and not just made to look retro. The caulking in our sink area was peeling up, our closet door was broken off the track and we had stains on our sheets and pillows. We had to call room service 3 times to correctly receive the new pillow cases and extra comforter we requested. For the price we paid per night, I would have expected a little better quality toiletries provided instead of the dollar tree V05.
If you’re looking for an affordable stay close to things, this isn’t a bad option. Again, for being Universal, I expected a little more.