If you are thinking about visiting Universal Orlando's new Epic Universe theme park, where should you stay?
Universal and its partner Loews Hotels have opened three new hotels on the resort's South Campus, surrounding Epic Universe. Two of them - Stella Nova Resort and Terra Luna Resort - are what Universal calls its "Prime Value" hotels, the same class as Universal Aventura Hotel on its main campus. The third - Universal Helios Grand Hotel - is a "Signature Collection" hotel, in the class that includes the Universal Orlando's original three hotels - Portofino Bay, Royal Pacific, and Hard Rock - as well as Sapphire Falls.
All three hotels offer Early Park Admission to Epic, which gets you one hour of access to Super Nintendo World and Celestial Park. You also can charge purchases across the resort to your room and have purchases inside the parks delivered to your hotel when you stay on site at Universal.
Yet having stayed in or toured all three hotels, I want to help make this decision a bit easier by eliminating one of the three options straight away.
Skip the Terra Luna Hotel. The twin of Stella Nova lies in a less convenient location, across Kirkman Blvd. from Epic Universe. The elevated traffic circle blocks the view of the park from Terra Luna, which faces the Orange County Convention Center on the other side. There is no walking access at the moment to Epic Universe from Terra Luna, and it's a longer bus ride. Meanwhile, there is a sidewalk connecting Stella to the Epic entrance as well as the option of a quick bus ride across Epic Blvd. for those who do not choose to walk.
While the rooms at Terra Luna and Stella Nova are essentially the same, I found a huge difference in their on-site restaurants. The Omega Cafe at Terra Luna was mid, at best, while the food I ate at Stella Nova's Cosmos Cafe was among the best I have had anywhere this year. I enjoyed an amazing salmon fried rice, pulled pork sandwich, and eggs Benedict at the Cosmos, which I would recommend to anyone for a meal before or after visiting Epic Universe, even if you are not staying at the hotel.
With the rates at Stella Nova being almost the same as at Terra Luna - maybe about $10-20 more per night - it's just not worth the inconvenience to pick Terra Nova, unless that is the only place where you can get a room near Epic Universe. So that narrows our choice to Universal Stella Nova Resort vs. Universal Helios Grand Hotel.
And that choice is going to come down to price. Rates at Stella Nova run around $200-300 a night for most summer nights, while you can expect to pay about $700-800 to stay at Helios Grand.
Helios Grand is located at the edge of Epic Universe, with a dedicated entry from the hotel straight into Celestial Park. Half its rooms overlook the park, providing outstanding views throughout the day and night. For what it is worth, all the rooms at Stella Nova enjoy a theme park view. The view of Epic is more distant from Stella's north-facing rooms and includes mostly backstage views if you do not stay on a high floor. Meanwhile, Stella's south facing rooms also look out at a theme park. It's just that the park is SeaWorld Orlando.
The rooms at Helios have substantially elevated appointments compared with those at Stella, but I did not find the quality of find enough to justify the price difference. You are paying for convenience and elevated ambiance here.
Is that ambiance and convenience worth $500 more a night? That all comes down to the value to assign to that kind of money. Personally, I would be well satisfied with a stay at the Stella Nova when visiting Epic Universe. But I also must admit that a splurge on a night at the Helios would tempt me if I enjoyed a windfall that I wanted to spend on a "treat yourself" experience.
Of course, you get all the same in-park benefits for visiting Epic Universe whenever you stay at one of Universal's other eight other hotels on the main campus. But those stand a longer bus ride away from Epic, so staying near to Universal's newest park might be a better choice if Epic is the main priority on your next Universal Orlando visit.
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Only the original three hotels include the Universal Express Unlimited perk. There has been speculation that Universal might add this benefit at Helios, but no confirmation yet. Anyway, Universal Express is completely unnecessary at Epic at the moment. And if you want the Express benefit at the other two parks, I would rather stay at one of the original three hotels, which are in walking (or water taxi) distance of them, rather than at Helios, which is a long bus ride away.
I stayed at Stella Nova and it was a nice hotel, I liked the room. The pool is very very boring. Was a 10-15 minute walk to the Epic bus loop, so convenient.
I would probably stay at Helios with a good AP rate. I've seen it significantly Cheaper than the big 3 with AP rates.
I would never expect Helios to get Express Passes especially before an expansion, not enough there to add that many free EP's. The big 3 at the OG campus only have that perk because of an early agreement with Universal to help entice guests to stay there. They do not need to make that agreement anymore.
For the Fun of it - I checked out some dates in October..
Yikes - The Helios is $754.75 per night the First weekend in October for a Small Two bed basic room.
4 * $754.75 = $3,019.. I hope that is Franc's or Peseta's or something. Plus a Parking Overnight Fee....
It would so damn nice to stay right at the Park but No way can we spend that. It's Not like I run a Hedge fund in NYC....
The early admission would be Nice.....
Therefore when we visit Orlando Area we stay at the Sheraton Vistana resort..
(*AD Maybe I get a free room if that see this fantastic post.)
And the exact same dates are $193 per night for a Full 2 bedroom 2 bathroom suite with a Kitchen and balcony.... And they have 7 pools...
AT that point it is an easy choice.
Maybe the Prices will drop in a Year or so at Helios..Fingers crossed...
We stayed at Stella Nova during opening week last year for less than $200 per night, with the thinking that the rates would rise once Epic opened. I was pleased to find out you can get a room within walking distance to Epic and early access privileges for a comparable price to what we paid when the park was still a construction site. I thought it was a good deal then and an even better deal for our upcoming trip.
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Thank you for the incredible write-ups for each of the lands and hotels! They have each been fantastic reads.
Regarding the price difference, as a Signature hotel doesn't Helios Grand also include Fast Passes for guests? Do any attractions at Epic even have Fast Pass access yet? Fast Pass and the easy walk to the parks and City Walk has always drawn me to Royal Pacific the few times I've visited.