Cabana Bay Beach Resort 2014

[BrerGnat]

Same could be said for Disney - but people still want to be inside the "magic". At the price and with early entry, and being on site - I think it's a value. Besides, if you vacation at the right time of year - express pass isn't even necessary. Much like Disney, crowds can be mitigated by either getting in early or staying late.

Looks pretty nice to me...

Yeah, I forgot about the early entry. That is a good benefit. But, being "onsite" at Universal is significantly less important than it is at WDW, at least to me. I've been to Universal a number of times and never felt compelled to stay onsite.

[John]

I don't know... If anything, their night time offerings make it more compelling for me to stay onsite.

Having stayed offsite at Disney many times, I didn't feel I was really missing much unless I was comparing to the Epcot or monorail resorts.

The convenience of being able to walk to dining, shopping and parks is huge in my opinion. Its for that reason I love Disneyland. Its all right there.

[NJGIRL]

But, being "onsite" at Universal is significantly less important than it is at WDW, at least to me. I've been to Universal a number of times and never felt compelled to stay onsite.

I feel the complete opposite. We have stopped staying onsite at Disney and always stay onsite at Universal. We never feel that we are missing out not staying on property at Disney. I feel that Universal hotels are much nicer and the express pass that you get is a great perk. I really don't see much of a reason to stay on site at Disney for the price you have to pay. There are really no perks for us. We don't care for Disney buses (taking 30 mins to get to a park 5 mins away) and always rent a car. We love the fact that at Universal we have a short walk to everything. We can walk from the RP to the Studio in less time than a bus ride from a Disney hotel to a Disney park. And as John mentioned you don't have to be inside of a park to have dinner at City Walk, just a short walk from your hotel.

As far as the new Universal hotel, for the price, being walking distance and having a lazy river.....I think it will do fine.

I think I am even glad they are not offering the express pass. Offering it to too many guests will make it less effective. Right now they only offer it to hotel guests at three hotels and it is not watered down.

[DizneyFreak2002]

I feel the complete opposite. We have stopped staying onsite at Disney and always stay onsite at Universal. I feel that Universal hotels are much nicer and the express pass that you get is a great perk. I really don't see much of a reason to stay on site at Disney for the price you have to pay. There are really no perks for us.

As far as the new Universal hotel, for the price, being walking distance and having a lazy river.....I think it will do fine.

I think I am even glad they are not offering the express pass. Offering it to too many guests will make it less effective. Right now they only offer it to hotel guests at three hotels and it is still effective.

I think it really comes down to the perk of free express pass being available to those willing to pay more for a hotel room... They offer it on a "value resort" then the other resorts may lose guests, and Cabana Bay will be bursting at the seams... I think Cabana Bay will do very will on price alone... And if people know they can get into Potter 1 hour earlier, and have a shorter walk from resort to park to get there, they will overlook the express pass...

Honestly, the dedicated walkway from the Cabana Bay Beach Resort to IOA would be enough for me...

[NJGIRL]

I think it really comes down to the perk of free express pass being available to those willing to pay more for a hotel room... They offer it on a "value resort" then the other resorts may lose guests, and Cabana Bay will be bursting at the seams... I think Cabana Bay will do very will on price alone... And if people know they can get into Potter 1 hour earlier, and have a shorter walk from resort to park to get there, they will overlook the express pass...

Honestly, the dedicated walkway from the Cabana Bay Beach Resort to IOA would be enough for me...

I agree with you on the reasons why they shouldn't offer the pass with the value hotel......but for us the walkway would not be enough, but combine the short walking distance, the cheap price, and the lazy river, I think that they will fill the hotel without the express pass.

One thing, I know I am repeating myself, but Universal Hotels are top notch. The rooms are of high quality, the restaurants are good, and something that is never mentioned, the pools are great. The three hotels that they currently have are not cheap, but I feel that if I am going to spend a big chunck of money Universal gives me more for my money.

[PirateLover]

I LOVE the design aesthetic. I could definitely see us staying there. As for the express pass, if you play your day correctly, I honestly don't find it all that necessary. The last time we were at Universal, we stayed off site. The main reason we stayed off site was because none of the other resorts appealed to us enough for the prices. It was a weekend at the end of June, just after Wizarding World opened, so there were plenty of crowds. Nevertheless, we were able to do everything we wanted to (some multiple times) over two days, with hardly any waits, aside from the HP attractions. Now, with the new Transformers attraction and HP part 2 coming soon, I think that will become more challenging to do; but, as John said, going off season should alleviate that issue. I think the potential pluses of this resort that DizneyFreak laid out (should they all come true) are enough to make up for no express pass.

[PirateLover]

Just saw that city council approved the pedestrian bridge.

[frozman]

To me I think the $70 more it costs to stay at Royal Pacific (for the time period that I looked at) would make me want to stay there over Cabana Beach solely for the reason of the express pass. One thing to consider though, maybe they could offer one time express passes to guests of that resort (the ones that anyone can purchase for $40), therefore the incentive is still there to stay at the more expensive properties.
I must say though I liked one of the descriptions I saw for Cabana Beach, it described as a sweeping motor court that families enjoyed after a long days drive, that would bring back memories of growing up.