Dockside Inn and Suites Thread..... FAQ and more.....

[wdwrule]

Just got back from Surfside & had a great stay. Love the family suites - family of 4 but so nice to have a separate bedroom from the teens! Buses are amazing - so many more than Disney, usually one waiting for you even at park closing w/ no lines, drop-off & pick-up from Surfside first which was also great. And for anyone wondering, gate w/ direct access to I-Drive by foot open 7am-7pm so after than just cut through the parking garage and there's an exit on the far side of the garage & Twistee Treats ice cream is right there to the left along w/ Subway, DQ, Waffle House in addition to KFC & Walgreen's right across the street. There's also a crosswalk at the far side of the parking garage to get across I-Drive if you don't want to brave the walkway at the main intersection by Walgreens. All in all, would stay here again when we come back as we upgraded to APs although we will also do at least one night at Hard Rock, hopefully w/ AP discount to get 2 days of express pass. Will say, this time of year is great time to go, Sat was busy but during the week, waits weren't bad at all. Any questions let me know

When we stayed a night at Dockside we were floored too that there was zero wait for a bus at park closing unlike Disney!!

 

[sam5disney]

We will be checking in to Surfside on Wednesday and are very excited. But I have a question in regards to parking there. A friend will be driving us to the resort and will be staying with us for only the first night, so we will only be parking a vehicle for 1 of the 5 days. How do we only get billed for 1 day(not 5) of parking? Do you use your room key to get in and out of the resort parking lot, do you get a parking ticket? Not sure how it works.

Get in/out w/ room key - they asked us at check-in if we had a car & how many nights & charged our credit card right then. Room was already paid for. Assume your room key is only activated for the number of days you have the car but not sure on that part. Front desk if very helpful so would just ask at check-in.

 

[buckeev]

OK Ladies-n-Ghouls…Flights are booked, car reserved….Taking #1 Son to HHN for an “non-budgeted-for” Orlando trip 26th-29th…just the two of us- no “Evil Step Sisters!”…..Seriously contemplating 1 or 2 nights at either Dockside or Surfside. We’re kinda spoiled with the HRH & RPR perks- especially the EZ walking distance and boat proximity…and of course…Express. (Might do 1 night at one of them to double down on the EPS.) Actually, not even sure what my question is here!!! Well, which Resort? (No wrong answer, I know.)! Oh yeah…I may have mentioned this a while back, but the MAIN reason he wants to go is for the HHN PIZZA FRIES!!! (World’s most expensive Pizza Fries!!!) Also…anybody else crazy enough to battle the “final week” crowds?
(I’m also gonna post this on the World Famous SAN Thread.

 

[Flossbolna]

We stayed at Dockside in September and really liked it for what it is: a very well done budget hotel. One thing that we appreciated very much: the food court was open (just pizza and grab and go) until one hour after the end of HHN. So 3 am some nights.

 

[Rachel77]

I'm so excited for our trip this January - and for finally getting back to Universal - I haven't been in 15 years! Question on the transportation. We won't be coming in until late and have a 9PM reservation at CityWalk. I read the shuttle bus only runs until 2 hours after park close - does that mean CityWalk too with the hours? Looking at the date (January 7), it looks like the parks are only open until 7PM, but Citywalk is open until midnight. I'm not sure if it would be better for us to drive over - or will the shuttles still be running after our dinner - or the walk not that bad to do from Citywalk to Dockside?

 

[Grumpy Nenny]

Rachel77, I don't know about the bus schedule after the parks close and how it pertains to CityWalk but I can tell you that walking from CityWalk to Dockside is not an option. CityWalk is on the other side of I4 from Dockside. I would call the guest contact center to find out if the bus would be running until CityWalk closes.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Busses run until a couple hours after City Walk closes

 

[Kristin0713]

I just read a review that said Dockside is so much more crowded than Surfside. Wondering if we should have chosen Surfside. I'm guessing this will only be a problem in the morning when we all want Starbucks...but should i look into switching?? We're going mid-December.

 

[LaDonna]

Stayed back in September and just booked another week for Presidents week coming up. Since no Ap rates for that week -yet?- we had planned to stay offsite to save even more money but my mother-in-law decided she wanted to come with us and she loves the ease of just hopping on the bus and going back to the room when she wants to
(I love the layout better than Cabana bay but will miss the lazy river there)
I just remember when we first got in our room I thought oh what a yucky view at the top of the parking garage and then later that night it was much better

 

[mich7088]

We are staying here next month! Looking forward to it...

 

[Tink3815]

Does this resort have a toasters in the public areas of the food courts that can be used by anyone to make toast? I see the suites have microwaves, do they also have toasters?

Thanks

 

[Artax]

Anyone know if the 2 br suites have a coffee maker and if so what type? Wondering what type of coffee to bring or if we need to bring our travel coffee maker.

 

[Kristin0713]

Anyone know if the 2 br suites have a coffee maker and if so what type? Wondering what type of coffee to bring or if we need to bring our travel coffee maker.

There was a very small coffee maker, maybe one cup at a time. I think they had complementary single serve coffee pods. I just went to Starbucks everyday.

 

[schumigirl]

We have some images of the Fitness Centre in the 2nd post of this thread.

Again, thanks to @sandam1 for them

 

[cristen72]

Is there any type of refillable mug at Dockside?

 

[SCSabresfan]

Is there any type of refillable mug at Dockside?

Yes there is. I don't remember how much it costs but there is a discount for multiple day purchases.
It is smaller than the freestyle cups you can purchase in the parks, but the park version will not work at the hotel and vise versa.

 

[mommajen08]

Just got back from a 5 night stay at Dockside. The only other Universal Resort experience I've had was at Cabana Bay 6 years ago. Was pleasantly surprised with Dockside. Even as the most affordable Universal option, it does not disappoint! For reference, we had 4 days of park tickets and are a family of 4 with 14 and 18 year old daughters. The regular room was perfect for us as we spent most of our time at the park.

We arrived at Dockside at 9:30 am on a Saturday. Perfect time to check in as there was almost no one in the lobby. As expected, our room was not ready, so we checked our bags and went to have brunch before hanging at the pool. We were told not to expect our room until 4, but received a text at noon that our room was ready. Was thankful for early access to our room as it gave us time to refresh before heading over to Disney Springs ($25 each way via Uber).

The buses were plentiful our entire stay, but at the hotel and at CityWalk. We really didn't have any issues "sharing" the buses with Surfside. Our buses to CityWalk were always empty when we got on, so there must have been separate buses to the parks from each resort. Heading back to the resort, the buses do stop at Surfside first, but it only takes a minute to cross the street over to Dockside.

The pools were fantastic. We used the pool at Tower 1 all week. Despite it being a 10/10 spring break crowd level, the pool never felt crowded. We were always able to get chairs for our entire family. It did get crazier later in the week as a cheer competition was starting up, but was never uncomfortably crowded.

Dining was very similar to Cabana Bay. From what I can remember, the set up and options were similar. There's something for everyone. And again, never had trouble finding a place to sit to eat. The only downside is the organization of the food lines. It could be hard to tell where you needed to wait for certain items. And could take a while to get everything you wanted if each member of the family wanted something different. But even that is still manageable. The only thing that bothered me about dining was how loud the area was. Everything seemed to echo. The decor is very soothing, but the noise level created a more stressful atmosphere.

Our only challenge all week was the cleaning of our rooms. Two days in a row we came back to no clean towels, no empty trash and unmade beds. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but we were told to expect service daily. We did call to report this and it was handled right away both times, so I can say management definitely is working to keep customers happy.

All in all, I highly recommend Dockside if you are looking for an affordable option and don't mind not having express passes. If you don't plan to spend a ton of time at the hotel, this is a great option that still offers Universal's great bus service and early park admission.

 

[surfcruiser]

Great post, thank you. We're going week after next for the first time. Coffee is available with the refillable mugs? Not having a coffee maker in the room, this suddenly becomes important lol.

 

[JoyW]

This info may be elsewhere in this thread, but I didn’t see it, so wanted to share. We are at Dockside now, and they have a length of stay option for the refillable resort mugs for $19.99. Everything I had seen said there wasn’t that option here, so it may be a fairly recent change. Hope this helps someone! Joy

 

[sah95]

This info may be elsewhere in this thread, but I didn’t see it, so wanted to share. We are at Dockside now, and they have a length of stay option for the refillable resort mugs for $19.99. Everything I had seen said there wasn’t that option here, so it may be a fairly recent change. Hope this helps someone! Joy

Thank you so much for this information! I hope it will still be this way in Feb 2023.