Mary V.
Yelp
If you have children, this is the hotel to book your reservations with. They will be in absolute amazement at their room - what little time they actually do spend in it!
On a recent trip to Universal Studios parks, we booked three skyline view rooms, with one of them being the kids' suite. All rooms were very comfortable with a great view, as promised. Front desk staff is excellent. They were very helpful and accommodating, both with check in, questions we had regarding shuttles to the parks and with storing and handling our luggage.
I phoned in our reservations, since I wanted all three rooms to be on the same floor. After that, I did everything online. You can pre-check in the night before online. Make sure to list every guest (including children) that will be staying in your room(s). When you do physically check in, each guest - including the kids - gets a souvenir key pass to the room with their name on it (all Universal themed characters), and this key pass also allows you to enter the park one hour early in the morning.
We arrived way before actual check in time (which I believe is 4 PM), so the hotel securely tagged and stored our luggage until we returned back to the hotel. We all received text messages when our rooms were ready and easily gained access to our rooms after retrieving our luggage that evening. After an exhausting day at one of the parks, we all just wanted to take a shower and pass out! Prep by the hotel made it super easy to do just that.
The kids' suite was breathtaking. One wall of the room is floor-to-ceiling windows, and the kids' suite room curves around so that you can see the entirety of both main parks. My grandchildren were astounded!! That view and experience made the stay very special for them.
As stated before, when you stay here, you do have one-hour early access to the parks. Do yourself a favor and download the Universal app to check park hours and which of the parks is granting early access. When we stayed, Universal Studios had no early access, but Islands of Adventure did. So, on the day we arrived (after opening), we went to Universal Studios and saved the Islands of Adventure side for when we could get in at 8 AM. Note that even though you're IN the park, not all attractions are operative until 9 AM, though. The Harry Potter section was completely open at 8 AM, which did attract a large crowd.
Starbucks, a Universal Studios store and several other restaurants are located on the first floor. Everyone should find something that works for them, but be aware that prices in these restaurants (along with every other eatery on the Universal compound) are NOT cheap. Prepare to pay between $3 and $5 per bottle of water, so adjust the prices up from there for more substantial items. Starbucks prices, however, were reasonable, and coffee was all any of us wanted, since we had brought breakfast items for the kids with us when we came.
Free shuttle bus to the parks at the front door, or you can walk across the parking lot to the Sapphire Falls Resort and catch the water taxi (which is what we did). Nice way to get to the park! Or, you can walk it along a paved walkway, which takes about 15 minutes from hotel to park entrance.
A really good hotel. Not a five-star like the Waldorf or the Ritz-Carlton, but it was plenty good enough for us, and the kids absolutely loved it. Would not hesitate to book here again if I'm heading to the Universal parks.