Cabana Bay Beach Resort is one of Universal Studios’ 8 hotels and has its own unique 1950/60s retro design that is seen throughout the resort complex. The hotel’s theming is colourful, bright, and reminiscent of the iconic 1950s Motels you would have found on California and Florida’s coast…but of course, with far more amenities and things to do than the classic Motels it’s modelled after! Also, Cabana Bay Beach Resort is one of Universal’s more budget friendly hotels, so it is perfect for families looking for a hotel with a lower price point.
From the moment you arrive at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort you are instantly transported through time: classic cars sit alongside the Lobby and the swooping high ceilings and colourful furniture are excellent at capturing the 1950s vision.
After taking in the Lobby and checking into our room, we headed straight towards the first pool: the Cabana Courtyard & Pool. Each pool had its own stand-out feature and at the Cabana Courtyard & Pool you’ll find a dive-tower-themed waterslide along with cabanas for rent, a shaded fire pit and the Atomic Grill pool bar. The pool was surprisingly empty, as most guests were spending the day at Universal Studios theme parks, but this was great for us as it meant we could lounge on seats right next to the pool all day and enjoy plenty of drinks and snacks.
On days we didn’t fancy going to either Walt Disney World or Universal Studios there was plenty to do at the hotel! The other pool, the Lazy River Courtyard & Pool, had its own lazy river and Spa to relax in, a sand beach, the poolside Hideaway Bar and Grill, 2 firepits and a lot of seating. You could also see the top of the Volcano Bay volcano from this pool which was the perfect teaser for our day there! My personal favourite of the two pools was the Lazy River Courtyard & Pool as it was bigger making it less crowded and there was more to do at this pool when spending the day here – though we would often switch between the two pools in one day anyway.
The hotel also had its own bowling alley ‘GalaxyBowl’ that no other Universal Studios hotel has! The hotel played a variety of poolside movies in the evening that kept not just the kids, but us, entertained as well! Dotted around the complex were also fire pits where we could roast Smores from Smore sets sold at the gift shop – this kept the kids entertained for hours and were delicious! The food court was also fantastic for the price and offered a variety of foods whilst playing 1950s themed adverts on the big screens – which was a really nice touch to continue the immersion in the 1950s retro theming.
The rooms themselves were much larger than I had expected! We stayed in a family suite with a kitchenette and found that there was plenty of room for the 5 of us, our suitcases and room to lounge around when we weren’t sleeping! I also noted the clever design of the bathroom that had a separate partition between the toilet/ sink/ shower to allow for multiple people to be using it at once! Between the ‘living room’ / sofa bed area and the main bedroom the partition did fully shut which was fantastic for when some of us wanted to stay up and watch tv or cook and others were sleeping. We stayed in a ‘Volcano view’ room and it truly was just that! This was the incredible view we got to wake up to every morning – very much worth the extra money in our opinion: