Home from vacation and ready to share! The first part of our trip was to Universal Studios in Orlando. I have to disclose from the outset that we are a Disney family. We go at least once a year and are pretty fanatical. So a trip to Universal was really strange for us, and we were constantly comparing the two. I was surprised at what we thought!

The Hotel: We stayed at the cheapest of the three Universal-owned resorts on property, the Royal Pacific. I got a good deal booking directly through their site and it was worth it for two main reasons. First, we were close enough that we could go back and forth to the parks during the day via a quick 10 minute walking trail. Second (and most important), we got Express passes to ride almost all of the rides with very little lines and were able to enter the park an hour early. Aside from those two perks, the hotel was pretty average for its price range. It was themed much like Disney’s Polynesian. The rooms were kind of small, and I didn’t like that we didn’t have a separated bath. But the pool area was very nice with a huge play area for the kids, beach sand, and plenty of lounge chairs. They had refrigerators and internet access in the rooms for a fee, but we didn’t use them. We had groceries delivered by Mr. Grocers (bottled water, cereals, snacks) and it worked out perfectly. We ate in the restaurants a couple of times and the price was a little high considering what we got but not far out of line with other hotel restaurants. I would definitely stay there again but might try one of the others just to see what it is like. [Read more…]