Universal Orlando today revealed the name of the budget-priced hotel complex it is building on the site of the former Wet 'n Wild water park — Universal's Endless Summer Resort.
Two hotels will comprise the resort, which spans Universal Blvd.: Surfside Inn and Suites and Dockside Inn and Suites. Surfside will be the first to open, in 2019, while Dockside will follow the next year, in 2020. That makes three annual hotel debuts in a row for Universal, following this summer's opening of the Aventura Hotel.
Universal's Endless Summer Resort will offer a total of 4,000 rooms, including 1,450 two-bedroom suites. These will be Universal's lowest-priced hotel rooms, with rates starting as low as $73 per night for the traditional rooms and $111 a night for the suites. The suites will sleep up to six visitors and will include a kitchenette and dining area in addition to the bathroom with a separate shower and vanity.
This will be Universal's first official "Value" designated resort. You can put the three original Universal Orlando hotels — Portofino Bay, Hard Rock, and Royal Pacific — into the top tier at the resort, as they include the complimentary Universal Express Unlimited line-skipping benefit. That leaves the remaining three hotels — the Sapphire Falls, Cabana Bay, and upcoming Aventura — for a middle tier.
TweetComment of the day, right there.
Looks like Yacht and Beach Club at a fraction of the price. I'm surprised they're already releasing pricing info, though that $111/night price for the suites is eye-poppingly cheap. I'm curious what additional features these hotels will have (restaurants, pools, arcades, spas, etc...) and if there will be any differentiation between the 2, or will they simply be mirror images of each other.
I had thought Cabana Bay was already considered "Value" with Sapphire Falls and Aventura as "Moderate" since the later two have boat/canal access. I had been reading that they were explicitly prohibiting guests from walking across the street between Cabana Bay and Sapphire Falls to make that distinction. Guests wanting to walk between the 2 resorts had to walk the long way around along Hollywood Way.
Now if we can just get UO to set a date for F&F. I've been pretty confident until recently that it was going to be open before Memorial Day, meaning our upcoming trip on Father's Day Weekend would be after the initial rush, but the lack of buzz about USF's newest attraction is starting to worry me that it might not actually be ready when we're there in a couple of months.
We stayed at Sapphire Falls and walked across the road, it’s stupid to walk all the way round and so many people just walked to the middle of the road grass verge and then to the other side, why don’t UO just put in a foot bridge and stop being so silly is beyond me.
@JK - I thought the reason was because they didn't want guests staying at the "Value"-level Cabana Bay taking advantage of the "Moderate" perks of Sapphire Falls. They deliberately didn't put crosswalks or pedestrian bridges between the 2 resorts to maintain the distinction between Value and Moderate. Non-Cabana Bay guests are supposed to take the shuttle to Volcano Bay or take the long walk around Hollywood Way.
Perhaps when these 2 new resorts come on line, Cabana Bay will become a "Moderate" resort, and they will install a crosswalk or pedestrian bridge to Sapphire Falls, giving guests easier access to the boats and table service restaurants.
Universal is plotting a Mt Olympus style takeover of I-Drive.
-For those not familiar with happened to the Wisconsin Dells watch this video-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9PXsX7-USU&ab_channel=JillCataldo
Any idea what the transportation to the parks and City Walk will be? I assume buses, but always hoping for something a notch up (I mean, who wants to sit in a bus when you can take something more imaginative on your Universal or Disney vacation?).
My guess would be most likely buses or cable gondola's.
@the_man...is this a bad thing? Mt. Olympus was in a fortunate position to control the area around them and Universal is exorcising that same luxury. Capitalism at its finest!!
I live in Wisconsin and have been to the Wisconsin Dells (WI Dells is self labeled as the Water Park Capital) numerous times but not in a few years. Mt. Olympus is a nice place and has some cool themeing which IMHO was an upgrade to the previous water/theme park it took over.
When I saw most of the hotels and motels on the strip be taken over by Mt. Olympus I thought this was encouraging because some (not all) seemed run down / roach motel type and their onsite hotel (Hotel Rome) was pretty nice. I had family stay at one of the small motels before the take over and quality was horrible. However after the take over I only notice exterior paint changes. I'm guessing updates were done inside as well but not to the level of themeing as Hotel Rome.
If Universal continues buying properties on I-Drive and continues upgrading them and maintains standards, I'm good with that. If they slap a coat of paint on and charge and arm and a leg because it's "Universal", that's not acceptable. I would guess they would upgrade and keep standards.
Apologies I didn't explain my original point well.
Universal is not going to buy and rebrand a bunch of small franchise / independent hotels. Orlando is a huge international destination...that works for Mt Olympus because they are mainly appealing to working class/middle incomes who are not traveling outside their region.
What I meant was that Universal is building all these rooms at such a low price point literally right next to these franchise/indepndent hotels with the intention of driving them out of business, so they can buy the land and develop it themselves into more Universal hotels, parking, shopping, entertainment, and attractions.
We saw something similar happen on 192 when Disney built the All Star and Pop Century resorts, a lot of those places became either roach motels or places where working poor live during really bad recessions. Disney didn't do it with the intention of buying the land as they have plenty of it and don't need to...but there's no question it did happen where Disney took a huge part of that value market share. The reason I think Universal is going to end up buying the land is because they do not have plenty of it.
To answer Barry Z's question no I don't think there is inherently anything wrong with that...however I do think the way Universal approached the Skyplex thing when they were lobbying like crazy to get it shot down and sent out flyers to all residents in Orange County asking them to opposite was a b*tch move. Basically they were trying to use the government to say only they should be allowed to be successful in that area because they are Universal
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
"Surfside Inn and Suites and Dockside Inn and Suites" but which one is Wet and which one is Wild?