TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Stayed 4 nights over Spring Break with husband and 12-year-old son. Then spent 2 night at Portofino Bay which I will review separately. For the lower cost leg of the trip the choice was between Cabana Bay, (which we have stayed at before and loved for the family suites, great pools and walk to Volcano Bay) and one of the Endless Summer Resorts (which is the cheapest and also has family suites). Stella Nova won out over Cabana Bay for cost and over Endless Summer for hot tub. Walk to Epic Universe gave it an advantage over both. Pool: Huge. Heated. Large hot tub. Huge pool deck with ample chairs and umbrellas. Room: As the hotel is brand new it of course was pristine. Also comfortable. But basic. Our room was on the 8th floor so we had a great view of Epic Universe which is beautiful at night, especially watching Stardust Racers. Interesting note on room categories: There are only 2-Standard and preferred. But Standard faces Epic and preferred faces the pool. So if you have a high floor I think Standard is superior view. Location: Perfect for Epic Universe. 10-minute walk on dedicated path. For other parks it's a 15-20-minute shuttle ride. Shuttles are much more frequent than Disney. Service: For the price, service was excellent. They asked us if we wanted a high floor and granted it. Food: Good quality, good variety and somewhat reasonably priced. Overall comment is value hotels at Universal offer far superior amenities than Disney. And Walt Disney World for sure does not have any value hotels walking distance to any park.

I made a reservation through Hotels.com for May 3rd to 15th, 12 days, with the promise of a $300 meal credit offer for reservations of 5 nights or more. But when I went to check the credit at the hotel, they informed me that my reservation was made at a different rate, and that I would not be entitled to the meal credit. I consider this offer misleading, and I felt cheated. I booked the hotel to celebrate my birthday, but unfortunately I already received a terrible gift from this Universal hotel.

This hotel is disappointing. For it to be a newer hotel, it’s not up to par. There were crumbs on the surfaces when we first checked in. They only clean your room every other day. That means you have to request extra towels because they don’t automatically leave you enough knowing that you won’t be serviced again. Also, the water pressure is nonexistent. The bus situation is atrocious. They don’t have enough buses on rotation. I should not have to wait 35 mins+ for a bus to get back from City Walk. You’ll see all the other hotels have two to three bus rotations before your one Stella Nova bus appears. It makes no sense to stay here. Walking distance to Epic is not worth it when the hotels have more frequent shuttle service. Also, it’s very far from the other parks. It’s just not time efficient at all to stay here.

Hotel was clean and all staff we interacted with were exceptionally helpful. My kids liked the pool. It is a great place to stay if you want to focus on Epic Universe; 10m walk or 2min bus ride. IOA/US is about a 15-18min bus ride.

Had to delete and rewrite this as I realised my original from 2 weeks ago had given 2 stars by mistake- sorry! Really enjoyed staying here, can’t think of any faults at all. Great value (if you get a good deal) good quality food, pool, staff etc. for context we’ve stayed at Hard Rock, Cabana Bay, Royal Pacific and Portofino, all are good but this place is great for the value. We were on the ninth floor with a view of the pool and further away to Sea World rollercoasters. The room was cleaned well and regularly, was spacious and comfortable. We stayed for ten nights and would definitely recommend when looking for a comfort value option. The food in the restaurant at breakfast was very impressive. The late night boxed pizza in the coffee shop seemed expensive.