Whatever you think food is going to cost, double it. The most shocking price was the $20 mac n cheese with a few shrimp on top at Volcano Bay. Volcano Bay is a Universal water park that is feet away from Cabana Bay. We planned our next Volcano Bay outing around leaving before getting extremely hungry. Since Cabana Bay and Volcano Bay are basically connected it was easy to do.
Check in took almost 2 hours and we did not make it to the park check in day because it took so long.
Only one pillow per person.
Had two days the maid did not come.
I suggest keeping drinks in your room, the cafeteria is a quite a walk away and inconvenient for a quick drink.
No nice sitting chair for in the room, only a couple of plastic seats.
Make sure to remember there will be an additional $18 a day charge for parking if you drove.
All that being said I still recommend Cabana bay, the price, location and convenience of the shuttle to City Walk/Universal Parks can’t be beat. The pool and sandy court yard areas are well done and while it does a good impression of the beach it isn’t. If you’re driving and have a week vacation I suggest just a couple of days here and the rest of the days at the beach. Universal runs a buy a 3 day ticket get 2 days free. It may seem like you are saving money but they get it back in food prices and you really don’t need 5 days to do universal.
Best for 2-3 nights. 5 nights too long.