Five awesome hotel pools in four days
By Mandy Michelle Carter
I decided to do a little pool hopping during a recent stay at Universal Orlando. You read that correctly – hotel pool hopping is allowed at these beautiful hotels. Universal encourages guests at Premier, Preferred and Prime Value resorts to visit each other’s pools. Planning a few days as pool days, you can make the most of your pricey hotel room when visiting Orlando theme parks.
Staying at Sapphire Falls and want to try out the lazy river at Cabana Bay Beach Resort? No problem – your family can pool hop.
Do you want to spend a day lounging in luxury at Portofino Bay Resort, but are you staying at Aventura Hotel? Yep, you can pool hop.
I highly recommend using the beautiful walking paths to the resorts from the parks because bus transportation directly from one hotel to another is not offered. Just make sure to take your room key card so that you can present it at the concierge desk of the hotel you are visiting because you will need it to get a visitor amenity card that gives you pool access. Otherwise, you will not be admitted.
My kids loved getting to experience five pools. And these hotel pools are not basic; they are large, themed and have unique water features. The tropical oasis with a two-sided zero-entry lagoon-style pool at Sapphire Falls was our first pool the night we arrived. After a long day at Universal theme parks, floating down the lazy river at Cabana Bay with a poolside movie was the perfect end to a hot, busy day. We did a mid-day cool-off at Loews Royal Pacific Resort’s Bali Sea interactive water play area before returning to the hotel for a nap. And the day we checked out, we spent the morning at Portofino Bay Resort, where we enjoyed poolside lunch in the comfy beach chairs before ending our Universal vacation with a poolside party at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Universal Orlando is currently offering a great Florida resident deal on theme park tickets this summer (buy one day, two park tickets, get two days free), which we took advantage of. Still, it would have been a memorable trip with just our pool-hopping adventure.
Mandy Michelle Carter … Just a SWFL mom living the dream. She loves to inspire parents to spend authentic time with your kids and to chase your own dreams unapologetically! Found on Instagram @mandymcarter and her family blog at Acupful.com.
