Aventura is one of Universal Resorts ‘Prime Value’ hotels. Built in 2018, this is a fairly new hotel which is very sleek, modern and is quite hi-tech too. We visited here at the end of August 2019. This was our second time visiting Orlando but our first time staying at a Universal Hotel.
First Impressions
First impressions of the hotel were great, it was huge and very spacious too. Upon checking in we were given a map of universal and told the park opening times, a perk of staying at a Universal hotel is you get early park admission which is great!
We then went into the lift up to our rooms, the lift buttons were touch screen (fancy, I know) with a constant video playing of all of Universals parks. In the corridors there was patterned carpet of Pink, Blue and Green so you could easily locate which side of the hotel your room was. Already it seemed that it was a very advanced and quite a technology driven hotel!
First image sourced from universal orlando.com
Our Room
The room was really spacious, simple, modern and uncluttered! It had two large queen beds, floor to ceiling windows which made the room feel even more spacious, a mini fridge, a safe, coffee amenities, lots of storage including drawers, cupboards and a wardrobe, A bathroom which had separate vanity area to the toilet and shower, the vanity area was separated from the room by a glass room divider. All of the controls in the room including the lighting, T.V and air-con were controlled by an iPad in the room which made everything SO much easier! You could also log into your own Youtube and Netflix on the T.V via the iPad which is a great addition to have. Our view from the room was of downtown Orlando and the car park, so not the best view but then again we didn’t go to Orlando to look out of the hotel room so that wasn’t an issue for us at all.
Location
Aventura was the neighbouring hotel to Cabanna Bay which offers different amenaties if you wanted to check that out and also has it’s own bowling alley there. As this was a Universal hotel, there was a bus that went to Cabanna Bay, then to Aventura and then to Universal’s City Walk every 10 minutes so there was worry about how we would get to or from the parks. The best part of Aventura’s location is that there was a gate at the end of pool area in the hotel which only Aventura guests could gain access to and from with their keycard and this gate led to the entrance of Universal’s water park, Volcano Bay! So we were so close to the water park we went quite a few times compared to the first year we visited Orlando when we only went to Volcano Bay once.
Transport
As mentioned earlier, Universal provide a bus that goes to their hotels and then takes guests to Universal City Walk where there is tonnes of eateries, shops and activities and there is also the two parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. So if you’re staying at a Universal hotel, you won’t need to worry about transport to the parks. They also offer a free bus from City Walk to Volcano Bay for anyone at City Walk, whether you’re staying on site or not. Universal also provide boat taxis that go from certain hotels to City Walk. We used this a few times as the boat went to Loews Sapphire Falls Resort and this hotel was a five minute walk from Aventura so we used this transport a few times as it was a different experience to the bus – and we got to have a nosey in a different hotel too!
There is a walking path available from all hotels to the parks / City Walk however we didn’t use the pathway as it was a long walk and in the Orlando heat, it was a no from us!
Images sourced from universalorlando.com
Hotel Amenities
The hotel featured a pool with a Bar(Bar Sol), an indoor bar in the lobby area(barVentura), a Rooftop Bar(Bar 17 Bistro), a Games Room which included VR, Laundry Services, a Universal store, a Ticket Centre and a Fitness Centre which was free to use. There was also a Starbucks and a grab-and-go food court called Urban Pantry which offered different foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Urban Pantry offered four different stations including a Pizza Station, Burger Station, Asian Station and the Roast Kitchen.
Aventura offer a souvenir mug for 1 day, 3 days or the length of your stay, we got one for the length of our stay which cost $18 and allowed us to use the Coca-Cola Freestyle for as many times we wanted whenever we wanted, this was definitely worth it as to buy a bottle of Coke at the shop in the lobby it was about $4 or $5 so it was worth it and saved us money in the long run.
First 3 images sourced from universalorlando.com
Overall Thoughts
The main pros of this hotel was the early admittance to the parks, the transport available to City Walk, the range of food on offer at the hotel itself and on-site Starbucks and the access to Volcano Bay was really handy too! The most noticeable cons of this hotel were more about the location than the hotel itself as because we weren’t close to International Drive, we had to pay for quite a few Uber’s back and forth to go to places on international Drive.
Overall, I absolutely LOVED this hotel and would stay there again 100%, considering the hotel was only a year old when we stayed there, I didn’t feel like there was any issues at all, it was probably the best hotel experience I’ve ever had! I have zero complaints at all.
We love Universal, and Orlando in general to be honest, so if you do too or it’s on your bucket list to go, I would recommend this hotel. As Adventura is one of Universal’s prime value hotels it means you can still get the great Universal experience but without the price tag of the more expensive hotels!
I hope you enjoyed this review and maybe it helped you out a little bit too if you’re thinking of visiting Orlando or staying at this hotel in particular!
Has anyone else stayed here?
Flying With Fashion 