Universal Orlando is offering free upgrades to family suites at their Cabana Bay Beach Resort property. It’s for annual passholders, which is something you may want to consider even if you’re only planning one visit to Universal Orlando. More on that a bit later. This is labeled a”Prime Value Property” by Universal, similar to the Value Resorts at Disney World. Families with young children have a unique challenge when it comes to vacation. Heck, it might be an even bigger challenge when one of those children is a teenage daughter. The crux of the challenge? Bathroom space. Ideally, our family looks for rooms with multiple bedrooms and/or bathrooms. Alternatively, connecting rooms is another solution for our family.
Family Suites at Cabana Bay Beach Resort aren’t quite as good as those options, but they could represent a decent value for families. Universal is giving annual passholders a free upgrade to a family suite for stays between now and May 27, 2021 as long as you book by February 5, 2021. The room layout doesn’t provide for multiple bathrooms, but it does offer plenty of bathroom space.
There’s also a pocket door between the living area and the bedroom as well as a pull-out sofa. The sofa means the room technically sleeps six, though that’s a lot of people fighting over one enlarged bathroom. It’s another unique room layout for families at Universal Orlando, though I might lean towards the family suites at Aventura instead. From a scan of the Universal website, the family suite is generally a $50-$80 upgrade per night, so there is some real value for annual passholders on a budget.
Wrapping Up The Magic
This is a decent discount for annual passholders at Universal. It’s the sort of thing I wished they had when our family purchased annual passes for a couple of years. See, the best way to think of Disney World tickets as a deal is when you price out tickets for Universal Orlando. This is especially true around any holidays or other peak travel dates. We quickly found out that if you couldn’t find a cheap hotel stay at one of the premium Universal resorts that includes Express Passes, things got expensive quickly.
If it’s your first time visiting Universal Orlando, you might think that you can get by with Express Passes. Prior to the pandemic, a random Tuesday might find short lines for the popular rides. But, even during our trip during the pandemic late last year the lines were still pretty long. We also quickly found out that annual passes, which include a limited version of Express Passes, were the same price or less than a couple of days in the parks. That means you should do the research on annual passes if you’re considering a trip to Universal Orlando. And, it also means you might be able to score a valuable room discount as well.
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