Universal Orlando
Cabana Bay Beach Resort: Is This Universal's Best Value Hotel for Families?
July 6, 2026 · 9 min read · By Jordan Roberson
We booked one night at Cabana Bay expecting a fine budget hotel to crash in between park days. We ended up genuinely impressed. Here is our full breakdown of the food, the room, the noise, the pools, and what it actually costs.
Cabana Bay is Universal Orlando's largest resort and it sits in the prime value tier. That means a lower nightly rate than the deluxe resorts, but no Express Pass included, which is the first thing people bring up when we mention staying here.
The theming is 1950s beach resort throughout: retro signage, a vintage woodie wagon parked out front, palm trees, and a pastel color scheme. It looks like a postcard, and we were taking pictures before we even got out of the car!
Bayliner Diner is the main food hall at Cabana Bay, set up cafeteria style so everyone can grab something different. We ended up with a Cuban sandwich, pizza for the kids, and a lineup of international dishes we were not expecting at a value resort.
Breakfast for our group came out to about $40 and up depending on family size, and Annual Pass holders get an additional 15% off on top of that. You can also charge it to your room instead of digging for a card at every station.
One thing we had never seen at a hotel before: paper plates available at the self serve stations. Small detail, but have you ever tried holding a real plate while wrangling a toddler? Then you know exactly why it matters.
Try the milkshake bar! We got ube ice cream mixed with cookies and cream on our server's recommendation, and it was so good we went back for it the next morning.
The family suite includes two queen beds plus a separate living area with a pull out sofa. That layout meant we could stay up after the kids fell asleep instead of tiptoeing around in the dark trying not to wake anyone. It is the main reason we would book Cabana Bay again.
Current nightly rates at Cabana Bay generally fall between $150 and $350 depending on room type and season. Standard rooms typically start around $120 to $160 per night, while the larger family suites, which sleep up to six, usually run between $200 and $400 per night.
If you want to upgrade, book the family suite with a Volcano Bay view. It is the only room type at Cabana Bay with a fully separated bedroom, so it actually feels like a suite instead of a bigger standard room. We had the pool view this trip and loved it, but the Volcano Bay view lit up at night is calling our name for next time!
Our room was close to the elevator and main hallway, and we could hear people coming and going most of the night. Worth knowing if you are a light sleeper, because we are and it woke us up more than once.
The property is split across multiple towers, and there is a walking path to the parks and CityWalk, but it took us close to 40 minutes round trip, longer than we expected. We would take the resort bus next time, especially with kids in tow.
The arcade upstairs from Bayliner Diner is the biggest hotel arcade we have ever walked into, and it connects directly to the bowling alley!
Cabana Bay also has one of the only full service Starbucks locations at any Universal resort. Most of the other hotels hand you a limited menu, so keep that in mind if your morning depends on a real order.
The gym is themed around the resort's retro era, with memorabilia on the walls and old training footage playing on a loop. It is a full sized gym with free weights, which we were not expecting at this price point.
There is also a quiet upstairs lounge near the arcade with comfortable seating and charging stations. We passed through twice and it was nearly empty both times, which felt like finding a secret room.
Cabana Bay has two pool areas on opposite sides of the property. One side has a water slide, the other has a beach style entry and a lazy river. Both areas have bathrooms and a changing area.
The zero entry design and the life jackets available at the pool made the biggest difference for us. None of our kids are strong swimmers yet, and watching them ease into the water together without anyone panicking made that pool time actually relaxing for once!
We were only there one night, but the resort has enough packed into it that it did not feel like just a stopover before the parks. We usually pair a Cabana Bay stay with park focused trips like our Orlando Informer Meetup weekends, since it puts us close to the action with a resort we actually want to come back to at the end of the day.
Cabana Bay does not include Express Pass and you will likely hear some hallway noise. But the family suite layout, the food options, the arcade, and the pools make it the best value hotel we have stayed at on Universal property, and we would book it again without thinking twice! 5 out of 5 for families on a budget.
We filmed our entire stay, from check in to the pool, if you want to see the family suite and the food for yourself before booking.
Photos only capture so much of this place. Here is a clip from our stay, straight from our Instagram, if you want to feel the vibe for yourself before you book.
Want to see how a night at Cabana Bay fits into a full trip budget? We broke down every dollar in our family travel budget guide. And if you still have questions about the parks themselves, our Universal Orlando family guide covers that.
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