Universal just blew my mind.
Surfside
Over my 30+ years visiting the major theme parks that call Central Florida home, I’ve stayed at countless kinds of hotels in the area — including Value, Moderate, and even Deluxe Tier at resorts. Recently, I stayed at a Universal Orlando Resort hotel for the first time, and was shocked
Now, I’ve been visiting the Universal Resort for nearly 30 years as well, but on each of those trips, I was either staying offsite or adding Universal days onto a Disney trip while staying on Disney World property. However, that changed this summer when I stayed at Universal Endless Summer Resort – Surfside Inn.
The Lobby
Endless Summer — made up of Surfside as well as its sister Dockside Resort — is one of Universal’s Value resorts, putting them on par (and up for comparison with) Disney’s Value Resorts: The All-Stars, Art of Animation, and my beloved Pop Century. I have to say, as big a fan as I am of Pop, Universal’s Value offerings are ahead of Disney’s right now.
Endless Summer Surfside Pool
For starters, the hotel itself has overall aesthetics more comparable to Disney’s Moderate Tier hotels than the Mouse House’s Value offerings, even though its prices are on par or sometimes cheaper than the latter.
Theming
The theming continues throughout the resort, with touches that are closer to Disney offerings like the Caribbean Beach Resort than they are to the brash, gigantic characters and sculptures that populate Disney’s Value Resorts.
Surfs Up
This followed through to the food court area, the Beach Break Cafe, which had a cleaner, more upscale vibe than, say, Everything Pop!
Beach Break Cafe seating area
Both my family and I found the food to be overall better as well, though, of course, that’s in the eye of the beholder. That said, offerings like this roast chicken dish…
Citrus Roasted Chicken
… or the Shrimp Po’Boy sandwich was closer to table service restaurant quality and portion size than our most recent meals at Disney Value Resorts.
Yum
And finally, there are the rooms. While the accommodations were overall on par with Disney’s Value resorts…
Endless Summer Surfside Room
… we found the bathroom layout — and large walk-in shower — at Surfside to be superior.
Surfside bathroom
In addition, the fact that the hotel utilizes a traditional tower layout as opposed to the Value Resort’s spread-out, motel-style building design made maneuvering around the hotel and catching transportation to the parks in the morning much easier.
Surfside
I’ve long proclaimed my fandom for Disney’s Pop Century Resort, and it remains one of my favorite places on Walt Disney World property, but a recent stay at Universal’s Endless Summer: Surfside Inn & Suites has me a bit angry about just how far behind Universal Disney’s value hotel experience is. Stay tuned to DFB for more takes on Disney and Universal.
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We’ve been staying at Dockside Inn, the sister hotel, for the past three years and we love it. Already booked our trip for 2026. Disney value hotels can’t come near the real ‘value’ Universal has to offer.
The standard room is larger than Disney’s moderate rooms. The price point is excellent and there are more amenities at Dockside than at Disney values. Transportation is reliable and easy. Busses one after the other. We never wait. The staff is also great – helpful and friendly. I highly recommend these hotels. You will save a fortune and have just as good a time.
I have stayed at Aventura, which is like the moderate Disney resorts. It was nicer because it was entirely in the building rather than the motel outdoor corridors that Disney moderates have. I have also stayed at the Royal Pacific, which is comparable to Disney deluxe resorts. For about the same price as a standard room at the Yacht and Beach club, I got a king suite, which had a separate bedroom and living area. It also came with an express pass. It was very nice. At the time I was an annual pass holder at both Disney and Universal, so I used passholder discounts.
We stayed at Surfside May 2022. It was great–from the theming to the food! We had two teenage boys with us so we booked the suite. There was a separate bedroom (queen bed and with a door!) and a small kitchenette on the right side of the room. It was nice having that little area to eat breakfast or not have to sit on the bed. The rate was very affordable compared to the Disney properties (Boo! big on-property fan). Definitely would stay there again or try Dockside
Conversely, we just did 2 nights at Cabana Bay. We would never stay there again. Our family suite was tiny. It was clean. But the elevators were out of order. Massive sprawling resort. Food was awful. No room cleaning after first night. Cannot say how disappointed we were.
Before theae 3 nights. we did one night at Portofino Bay. Like a night and day difference!
Dockside Inn is better, it puts all Disney value resorts to shame. Heck I think it’s better than most Disney Moderates too. The Universal value resorts are amazing. I’ve already stayed at dockside numerous times, maybe seven times total since it opened. With my annual pass a few years ago I actually got a $72 a night rate. The sweets can be had sometimes for as low as $160. We have a sweet stay coming up next month and it was about $220 a night during a peak weekend.
What is the charge for paking your car overnight when staying at Surfside?
Hi Carren! As of right now it’s $26 per night, plus tax.
We’ve stayed at surface for our last 3 trips (4th coming next week) we save so much staying here we can do more at the parks and stay longer. Try it you won’t be disappointed.