With the changes in life during a pandemic — especially for travel to theme parks destinations — it’s best to roll with the punches, and possibly try new things!
On a recent trip to Orlando and with no park-hopping available at Walt Disney World, we opted to skip another night in Lake Buena Vista and decided to do something brand new to our entire traveling party – spend a night onsite at Universal Orlando Resort!
We spent a day and a half in the parks and one amazing night at Cabana Bay Beach Resort … and (spoiler alert!) we’ll definitely be back again! Here’s what to expect when you book a stay at Cabana Bay!
About Cabana Bay
Cabana Bay Beach Resort is a sprawling complex right next to Volcano Bay on property at the Universal Orlando Resort. Inspired by roadside motels of yesteryear, Cabana Bay features more than six different styles of resort rooms – all themed in the whimsical and bright mid-century modern style – across six different buildings. It also boasts two pool complexes – complete with lazy rivers and slides – and a spacious lobby that houses a bowling alley, large gift shop, cocktail lounge and extensive arcade.
The Room
For our stay – we opted for two connecting Volcano-view rooms and were assigned rooms in the Bayside Tower! The Bayside Tower is a walk from the lobby, but if your stay includes a visit to Volcano Bay … well, it couldn’t be more perfect – the entrance to Volcano Bay is right around the corner from the lobby of the Bayside Tower!
These Volcano-View rooms featured two incredibly comfy queen-sized beds, a small table and two chairs, a dresser that housed a small fridge and a well-appointed bathroom that worked just fine for three women sharing a room.
The highlight? The high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Volcano Bay! While the park was closed for the season during our visit, it was still fun to look out the window and see the park at night — along with other distant sights on this side of theme park Orlando.
The Food
During our very short stay, we only had the opportunity to visit the Bayliner Diner — the resort’s main dining location. Bayliner Diner is reminiscent of a travel plaza food court, offering different stalls serving hot food (burgers, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, home cooking) as well as cooler cases full of pre-made offerings like salads and sandwiches. You can even find all the requisite ingredients and supplies to make some s’mores over one of the outdoor fire-pits!
Our recommendation? The GRILLED CHEESE. This sandwich was such a crispy bit of melty goodness, it’s one of the main reasons we’re headed back in April! Bayliner Diner also offers supplies to take back to your room – cases of water, six packs of beer, party-sized bags of Doritos (OK, those are actually meant to be consumed by one of the pools, but you know what we mean).
Also on offer at Cabana Bay in the lobby is a Starbucks, a adorable lobby bar called the Swizzle Lounge (during our November visit, it was only open during the evening hours on the weekends), and a couple of pool bars and grills that have ever-changing hours due to the pandemic.
The Review
So, while a visit to Universal Orlando Resort was a first-time experience for only a couple of our traveling party – a stay at an on-site resort was completely new to all of us. What did we think?
We LOVED it! While completely different from a stay at Walt Disney World, our stay at Cabana Bay was fun combination of relaxing and exciting.
We arrived on property via an Uber and immediately had our temperatures checked and were given wristbands for the day. Our room wasn’t ready yet, but we were still in the Early Admission period for hotel guests, so we stowed our luggage at Bell Services, grabbed our rooms keys to show we were on-site guests and went outside to catch the shuttle bus.
Universal advertises that these buses run every five minutes, and they aren’t lying – we never had to wait for a bus and buses would depart almost as soon as we sat down! It was a nice treat after the lengthy experience of Disney transportation.
Cabana Bay also utilizes a text service for guest services — with exception of Bell Services/bag storage — you need something, you simply text the number that contacts you when your room is ready!
The rooms were beautiful and spacious — while not as equipped as the deluxe studio we had just left at Disney’s Beach Club Villas, we felt the room at Cabana Bay gave us more room to spread out and relax … and the 16-foot ceilings didn’t hurt either.
Only one pool (the high dive pool) was open during our stay, which was on a weekday, but it was incredibly refreshing and lively after a very full day in the parks.
The Verdict?
So — after a whirlwind stay at Cabana Bay, would we visit again?
The answer …
YES!
We currently have a poolside interior-entry Family Suite booked for April for two nights, and can’t wait to soak up the rays and check out Volcano Bay for the first time!
The Room: Volcano-View Room, Two Queens
The Rate: $114/night plus tax (UO Annual Passholder Rate)
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