They do also have a movie theater so that equates to City Walk. And Live bands. but so does City Walk.
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Oh yeah, it does have bowling but if you’re staying at Cabana Bay you get bowling there.
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I know there is bowling at Cabana Bay…but I don’t think there is at Citywalk anymore, is there? Or am I just misremembering?
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I have stayed at all of the classic Universal hotels (except Dockside but I’ve done Surfside and I feel like that’s almost the same thing). I liked Cabana Bay. If your kids are young enuf to not care about a couch bed they’ll be fine in the family suite. the split bathroom is nice. The pools are fantastic, there is bowling and if you plan to visit VB there is a back entrance right there. We did walk to Citywalk/parks from there too and it’s not a terrible walk but it is the longest of the walks from the walkable resorts. I prefer it to Surfside because of the thin walls at Surfside where I could hear a baby crying all night. But Surfside does have the better suite design for bedding cuz mom and dad get the door and their own complete room. But no split bathroom. And those thin walls and bus to everywhere (but the buses are fast and always there).
Citywalk is fun for the reasons I stated above if you’re willing to pay for mini-golf or an escape room which are both high quality.
If you are planning to visit the classic parks and want the universal unlimited express passes in those parks Royal Pacific is out of the box cheaper than the other premier resorts (Hard Rock and Portofino) but sometimes you can get really good deals at the others that make them cheaper and I prefer both HRH and Portofino to RPR. Their pools actually have slides and the rooms and bathrooms are bigger. Hard Rock is my overall fave cuz it’s the shortest walk and has the best pool slide. But Portofino would be my favorite for the design elements and the HUGE rooms and bathroom. I mean HUGE.
Aventura, as an adult, is fantastic because you can walk across the front entrance to Sapphire Falls which has an excellent pool and the boat to the Citywalk. But the pool there itself is nice and all but not as good as Cabana Bays or Sapphire Falls or the Premier Resorts. There is only a food court and a roof top bar (which I love as an adult but I wouldn’t prioritize this resort for family over Cabana Bay if I wanted a hotel day).
Sapphire Falls has that fantastic pool, Strong Water Tavern which is great and the boat to Citywalk but our room was not clean, we had checkin issues when we stayed here as in our room was not ready when it was supposed to be, etc. So it’s not my favorite because it’s the only one I’ve ever had those kinds of issues with. But that’s a one off too, I haven’t been back to see if that is a consistent problem.
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Right Cabana Bay has bowling, no bowling in Citywalk
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Understood! Not sure if this will help, but I like visuals.
Below shows the location of Aventura Hotel (shape of a fidget spinner). Cabana Bay is the huge resort to the left. The red line is the walk to the water taxi (5 minutes). Security check is at the dock. The blue line is the walking path to Volcano Bay. (If the pool area is open, that’s the quickest way there)
Below in red is the water taxi drop off/loading area. The yellow is bus drop off/round security hub/walkway to CityWalk. Green arrow is USF entrance and blue arrow is IOA entrance.
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Thank you all so much!
I cannot even believe I’m saying this but I’m looking at one day at USF as well now 
I think if we do that it will need to be a value hotel. My kids can still share a pull out bed so we can squeeze into the cheapest room.
Would renting a car help me with park/CityWalk access? Could we drive to another hotel to use their pool? It feels so foreign to me to legitimately pool hop!
They would arrive Friday evening and the kids and I would fly home Wednesday. So we have Sat-Wed for the trip but DH has to fly home Monday morning. So I think we want to do VB and Epic over Sat/Sun and then maybe USF on Tuesday?
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I wouldn’t rent a car for park/city walk access. You’re gonna have the same long walk from garages or bus stop. Even if you’re staying in Endless Summer. Their buses are better than Disneys. If you stay in Endless Summer you cannot use the other hotel pools.
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Ok fantastic Intel, thank you!
Any other tips for someone who doesn’t know what I don’t know?
Also if you rent a car you’ll have to pay parking at the resort & to get into the parking garages. UO transportation is awesome!
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Express passes. Get them, your life will be changed! Worth every penny. Makes Disney’s system seem to complicated. Could you do 1 night at a deluxe?
We are going to UOR in January, and are doing a split stay, 2 nights at Terra Luna for Epic (and will buy express outright) and then 2 nights at Portifino for 2.5 days of express at the original 2 parks.
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We could do one night in a deluxe but apparently that doesn’t help for Epic. And they are SO expensive with DS6 who won’t ride everything…
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This is where I am at right now. Seems very optimistic. Every review I have read has issues with downtime causing crazy waits.
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In the video I’m watching at 9:45am Mine Cart has a 35 minute wait.
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The one night in the deluxe is for express passes to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. 1 night would cost you about $300 plus tax (booked with the AP rate, you don’t actually need one to book or to stay there). I’m spoiled, I know, but I cannot imagine doing those parks (or Epic to be honest) without express.
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I am planning on booking an AP rate! They are so low!
I’m thinking in April we could allocate more time and do an EP hotel for the HP stuff.
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Sounds like a good plan.
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I feel like it would have been cheaper for my whole family to go to Vegas and see the BSB at this point!
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Probably!
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