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Hotel overview
Location
On-site at Universal Orlando Resort™Property information
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Hotel details
Hotel advisories
General policies & fine print
General Information:
Room taxes are included in vacation price. Minimum night stay restrictions may apply. Reservation changes may not be permitted unless authorized by the hotel.
Please note:
Dockside Inn and Suites does not provide the benefit of Universal Express Unlimited™ passes.
Benefits (restrictions may apply):
-Early Park Admission to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ and Universal’s Volcano Bay™ one hour before the theme park opens. (Valid theme park admission required.)
-Complimentary transportation to all three theme parks and Universal CityWalk™
-Resort-Wide charging privileges with room key
-Complimentary delivery of merchandise purchased throughout the resort to your hotel
-Complimentary club-to-club access to select Universal CityWalk™ venues (age restrictions apply)
Ratings & reviews
TripAdvisor traveler rating
3054 reviews-
Good base
Just returned from Endless summer after a 2 week holiday. We had 2 rooms booked, with the second one being a 2 bed apartment type room. The rooms are airy and bright with basic amenities for room only. The tv was great after a long day at the parks, so you can sit and chill with a movie and a beer. The hotel is in a good location to access international drive where there are some good restaurants, "I highly recommend the Black Angus Steakhouse Buffalo wings" There is also a Wallgreens 6 or 7 minute walk from the hotel to get some groceries and beers for your room fridge. A must after a long hot day, and your wallet/purse will thank you too. The free shuttle bus to the parks was brilliant and came very regularly going and returning. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do Volcano Bay as it's only open 3 or 4 days per week at this time of year, so check that itinerary if you intend to go to avoid disappointment. The I trolley is a great way to travel up and down international drive, ask the desk about tickets for a variety of day passes, if over 65 it's only 25 cents per ride too.
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Great family hotel option if going to Universal
It’s hard to fault this hotel for what it does ! So it’s important to note the context , it’s a purpose built hotel to cater for families going to the fun parks !! Pier 8 restaurant slightly flatters to deceive , we ate there , the night we arrived! And note , didn’t eat there again . It looks good but , stood there ! I will admit the breakfast offering looked a lot better, but we never tried the breakfast , early starts !! But would definitely stay @ the hotel again if doing Universal . Shuttle busses were great too.
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Great hotel close to Universal
This is a great hotel, that is well run. There were a few niggles but for a value resort it was extremely good. We booked a suite, with a pool view and were on the 10th floor. The room had two queen beds, a kitchenette, dining space and sinks in the main space. Off this space was a bathroom/toilet and a queen bed in a separate room. We had stopped in a similar room in Surfside last year but this Dockside suite seemed a bit bigger. Checking in was extremely slow and this is my one gripe. It took us 5 minutes to check in at Surfside last year and about an hour at Dockside this year. The checking in wasn’t well organised, one long queue that zigzagged and then went straight across the lobby to the bar. This was the same most days, except 2 days. It would help if people who had already booked could queue separately and leave those that hadn’t in a separate queue. It felt like the employees were deliberately slowing the checking in because rooms weren’t ready. The housekeeping was mainly very good. We had asked for daily housekeeping and 10 of the 12 days it was cleaned by mid afternoon. The beds were made and the bedding was replaced 3 times during our stay. Plenty of towels and replaced every other day. The bathrooms was kept cleaned and replenished. Bins were emptied every day except 2. I would recommend taking some wipes to clean the kitchen surface and table, which wasn’t cleaned whilst we were there. There is plenty of storage and a full sized fridge, a mini coffee maker (with coffee etc, plastic plates, bowls, cutlery and cups provided), mini sink and microwave in the kitchenette. The hotel was clean, well maintained, plenty of lifts and pass key entry to most areas. There are 6 laundrettes in total, with plenty of washers and dryers. These are card operated at 3 dollars each but you can pay by coins. The 2 swimming pools are lovely, big with a zero entry beach style side, well kept gardens, lots of sun beds, with a choice of sun or shade, music playing, plenty of towels and clean. Each has a bar by the side of the pool and there was a bar and Starbucks by reception. The pools are well managed and the lifeguards are attentive and their safety protocols looked top notch. The cafeteria style food hall was mainly very good, clean and reasonably priced. We have food intolerances and found the catering staff were very accommodating to our needs. The salad and fruit bars, along with grab and go options ( such as yogurts and cheese) really helped. Sometimes the pricing wasn’t completely transparent and the checkout staff charged us differently for the same items. Bring your own teabags. Also, there is an IHOP and Walgreen across the road. For those who want more choice, Universal Citywalk is just a quick bus ride away. Parking charges were 19 dollars plus tax a day, but the car spaces were big, well tended and there was the option to have covered or uncovered car parking. The shuttle buses to Universal were frequent, the most we waited was 5 minutes and it took 5 minutes to arrive at the park entrance bus terminal for security. Over all, this is a great hotel and I am sure the management will sort out the few niggles. We would stop again.
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Dockside Inn below expectations
We checked in early to sit by pool while waiting for room. Was told we would have a room in a particular tower and parked accordingly (it’s a large hotel). However we didn’t get a text until our room was ready about 4 hours later while at a theme park for Halloween Horror Nights. The room was in the other tower on the complete opposite side of parking. Called hotel to express concern about having to go to room in other tower and having to carry all luggage from the car to the complete opposite side. The parks were closing very late, so this would have to be done at a very late hour. No accommodation was offered. Got back around 2am, hauled our luggage from one end of the hotel to the other. The room was at the absolute farthest end from where the car was. Then the room key didn’t end up working!! We had to go back to the lobby which was quite the walk from this new room in order to get new keys issued. Due to this extra delay, we requested late check out. We were only given one extra hour complimentary. Again, no extra accommodation offered despite their multiple mistakes. Hallways going to room were filled with other guests’ trash! Room was quite noisy the entire night, making it challenging to sleep. Note the room was much smaller than expected when expecting to accommodate 5 people
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Amazing value for money!
The hotel was fantastic. We were there during hurricane Milton, the staff stayed on site and ensured we were all looked after. I want to give a special shout out to Chef Josh, we both have celiac disease so require gluten free diets with no cross contamination and he catered for us absolutely beautifully. We were so grateful to him, nothing was ever an issue and he treated us with so much kindness I left the hotel in tears on our last night because of his words . He is an absolute credit to the hotel and to the chef team, and I hope he is remunerated for the role he fills very handsomely! Thank you Josh for making our stay seamless.