Universal Cabana Bay Beach Resort

Universal Cabana Bay Beach Resort is a 2,200-room tribute to the Florida beach motels of the 1950s and 1960s in neon and period colours, one of Universal Orlando's value hotels, run by Loews, which owns it jointly with Universal. It opened in 2014 around two courtyards: motel-style wings with outdoor walkways on one side, interior-corridor towers on the other. In 2017 two curved, eleven-storey towers, Bayside and Beachside, added 400 rooms at the south end, between the resort and Volcano Bay. The two-storey lobby building in the middle holds the Bayliner Diner food court, a Starbucks, the Swizzle Lounge and, upstairs, Galaxy Bowl.

The Standard Room is 300 sq ft (28 m²), with two queen beds, a small fridge and the vanity set apart from the bath; it sleeps four. The Family Suites are the reason to come: 430 sq ft (40 m²), with two queen beds behind a sliding partition, a living room whose sofa pulls out into a full-size bed, a kitchenette with a mini fridge, a microwave and a sink, and a bathroom divided into compartments so that three people can get ready at once. They sleep six. The newer towers add 20 Two-Bedroom Suites of 772 sq ft (72 m²), which sleep eight and have a second bathroom.

The family case is made outside. The Cabana Courtyard has a zero-entry pool with a sand beach, a water slide off a retro dive tower and a water play area for children; the Lazy River Courtyard has a second pool and the lazy river, with tubes for sale. Add fire pits, poolside games and movies, cabanas to rent, the Game-O-Rama arcade and ten lanes of bowling with a table-service restaurant. With a park ticket, Early Park Admission opens select rides up to an hour early at the parks Universal names for each season, lately Islands of Adventure and Epic Universe rather than Universal Studios Florida. Free buses leave about every 15 minutes for CityWalk, a short walk from the gates of Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, and for Epic Universe.

The trade is scale and extras. The far wings are a long walk from the lobby and the bus stop, no water taxi calls here, and the walk to the park gates takes 22 to 26 minutes. Self-parking is $26 plus tax a night, the tubes and the bowling cost extra, and Universal Express Unlimited is not part of the stay. Volcano Bay, next door with its own path, is closed from 26 October 2026 until on or before 1 April 2027. Book it for a Universal week with children or a family of five or six; skip it for a quiet break for two.