I love staying in on resort hotels at both Universal and Disney, despite that fact that the cost is ridiculously high, relative to hotels in the general vicinity (but it’s a theme park so what do you expect?) JN and I usually do not stay in them for this reason. In fact other a few times we don’t stay in hotels at all as JN lives less than an hour away from Orlando. But when I can I do like staying on the resort as it not only makes it for more convenient access to the parks but also the theming and amenities of the resort hotels are often top notch. The rooms themselves not always but personally the rooms themselves don’t really make or break a hotel for me, as long as they have all the necessities (plus a few more as I am paying a lot). JN would disagree with me here as he a lot hinges on the room itself for him but perhaps he can elaborate some other time.
I have unfortunately not stayed in many Disney Resorts. I have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and have been inside of the Grand Floridian to eat at the Grand Floridian Café. So I can’t really say much about Disney’s resorts as Riverside was only in the moderate price range and did not stay at the Grand Floridian (and probably won’t anytime soon unless I one of my get-rich-quick schemes finally pay off). But I have stayed at all three hotels at Universal. Luckily that is because my family enjoys going to Halloween Horror Nights and Universal in general so I don’t have to fork over a couple paychecks just for two to three nights.
In case you don’t know the three hotels at Universal are Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Loews Royal Pacific Resort, and the Hard Rock Hotel. Loews is a hotel chain, as is, Hard Rock, of course. My favorite hotel at Universal is the Portofino. It is themed after an Italian seaside town and I will say in this aspect they did very well. I have been to Italy and I will say other than looking a little flat and painted in some places (it is still a theme park hotel, not actually thing) it captured the Italian feel very well. It looked and felt like I was an Italian town with an abnormal number of American tourists, from the outside.
Portofino Bay Hotel Exterior from fodors
From the inside it was still themed really well but started to lose some of it initial magic. Once you go to the hallways and the rooms it begins to feel like more like a hotel, but a very nice hotel. But fortunately the first thing you see is the exterior bay which is actually the back. The visually main exterior is the back of the hotel with looks like an Italian town on a bay. To get to the hotel you drive around the bay and can see main exterior as you approach. It is very impressive in my opinion. Once you enter it still feels as if you are in a theme park resort but does fell a bit enclosed for a resort lobby. There are multiple pools here but the main one is definitely awesome. While it is not the greatest or biggest pool in general, it is definitely comparatively nice. The entrance is like a wave pool entrance giving it a beach-y feel. On the far end there is a fortress like structure with a small water slide. What makes me remember this pool fondly was the fact that it wasn’t very crowded (at least at the time I went) and I was able to chill under the arch of the structure with my family peacefully. The Portofino is definitely the best theme park I have stayed at (although that may change if I stay at any of the Deluxe Disney resorts).
One of Portofino’s pools from orlandoinformer The Pacific is anther great resort. Actually it may be better than Portofino in a pseudo-objective sense. Meaning it is bigger and has more amenities. But it does not live up to it theme in my opinion. The interior looked more like a ski lodge than anything and the exterior look like a moderately themed resort hotel. Definitely all the work went into the resort aspect of the place not the theming, which is something some people prefer and is completely fine. Personally I prefer hotel theming over amenities at a theme park as I am only usually there for a few days. Don’t get me wrong the theming isn’t horrible, it is actually pretty good, but it just does not capture an essence like Portofino does. But if theming isn’t you bag and you are looking for the nicest resort, Royal Pacific is definitely the one. It is also the further away from the parks so you might want to take the ferry to CityWalk unless you want a good long walk.
Royal Pacific entrace from vslive
Hard Rock Hotel on the other hand is right next to the parks. In fact you are only a few yards away from some parts of Studios (and the old Hard Rock Hotel) when you are in the parking lot. But convenience to the parks is just about the one advantage of this hotel. I don’t know how Hard Rock Hotel’s are in general but it honestly felt like a really nice hotel with a few pieces of rock and roll memorabilia placed about. I have honestly seen more memorabilia in most of the Hard Rock Cafés I’ve been in than I saw in the entire hotel (and I walk around through all the floors of the hotel). I read that the nicer rooms and suites are themed after notable bands, and it would have been neat if I got to stay in a Led Zeppelin or Queen room but overall the hotel is rather lackluster as both a super-nice resort and in its theming. If you have the money to and it is between an offsite hotel and this one always go with the Hard Rock but if you want a resort experience at Universal I would definitely suggest trying one of the other two first.
Hard Rock Hotel from travelape
-JS
Disney World Showcase 