What’s Good and Bad at Universal’s New Theme Park Hotel With Private Entrance, Plus Look Inside Concierge Lounge

Universal’s new theme park hotel is now open and we have the first look at this upscale hotel with its direct theme park access to Epic Universe. I decided to wait a bit after my time at the hotel before sharing this initial look at the property in order to marinate a bit more on what’s good and bad about the property.

Universal Helios Grand Hotel, a Loews Hotel, is the third hotel to open as part of the new hotels surrounding Universal’s new theme park, Epic Universe. This is the most upscale of the new hotels that have opened as part of this property. The hotel and the Epic Universe park are located about a 15-minute drive from the rest of Universal Orlando. Let’s take a look inside at this new hotel, which offers jaw-dropping views of Epic Universe.

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Universal Helios Grand Hotel Offers Close Access to Epic Universe

Universal Helios Grand Hotel is now open to all guests and offers its own theme park entrance to Universal’s new Epic Universe. The hotel blends Mediterranean theming with celestial (tied into the central area of the new theme park) and futuristic design elements.

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The most impressive thing about the new resort is the stunning nature of the views of the theme park from inside the hotel lobby and from half of the hotel rooms. The resort is positioned in a prime location where you get a full, direct view of the theme park. This hotel is not hidden away at all from the park and is almost the centerpiece of the new theme park. You can see the direct view of the hotel building from inside the theme park in the top image.

While the resort views and placement are stunning, I was actually a bit surprised by the lack of theming and high-end design used across the resort public spaces and hotel rooms. I’ll dive into more of this throughout my review below.

When you first enter the lobby, you’re greeted with this view out towards the park and the outdoor patio section where you can watch the park go by.

Entering the hotel is also where I immediately began to wonder more about the theme of the resort. The different themes clash at times in somewhat odd ways when the Mediterranean design and futuristic elements come together. In these photos you can see the spaceship-style floor transition somewhat abruptly into the tile.

You can get information on Universal Orlando theme park offerings at the Vacation Planning Center Desk right in the lobby. When we were visiting this is also where we bought our tickets for our preview of Epic Universe. You can see my full report on the best rides at Epic Universe here.

There’s also a new Mediterranean restaurant here called Flora Taverna that we didn’t end up trying, but heard great things about. The food that we saw coming out looks delicious.

It’s also important to note that we experienced some growing pains using rideshare in this new area at Universal. The entire area around the three new hotels and the park still isn’t mapped on Uber yet so drivers get very lost and confused. This will be fixed soon, I hope, but I could see it still taking awhile. After multiple Ubers cancelled on me, a lovely driver made a huge circle to get in the right entrance to pick me up.

Now let’s get into these amazing views of Epic Universe from the Universal Helios Grand Hotel.

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Amazing Views of Epic Universe

The views looking out from that terrace are beautiful and sweeping. You can step out here when you first arrive. Getting to see this view the night before visiting the theme park was the perfect preview of the day ahead.

We also took in this view from the top at the new restaurant and from a club-level room.

The close access and views of Epic Universe are the big selling point of this hotel. The fact that you can look down and see so much of this park is the perfect way to get ready for a day here.

Here is a look at the park lit up at night which is stunning to see. The views of Epic Universe along with a direct theme park entrance are going to the biggest draw of Universal Helios Grand Hotel. You just can’t beat these impressive views.

Club Level at Helios Grand at Epic Universe

My friend staying at the Helios Grand Hotel, was staying in a Club Level room which meant he had access to the Club Lounge for food. The room he was staying in was also a Park View room that was centrally located in the tower to look directly out over the theme park. This view was genuinely impressive.

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The room itself wasn’t very interesting and featured floral patterns along the headboard with other modern touches. It could have been in a a moderate to upscale new hotel built anywhere in the world. In fact, the room was only slightly (10 sqft) bigger than the room that I was staying in at the Terra Luna Resort, which Universal considers one of their “Prime Value” resorts. Standard rooms at the Helios Grand are 325–340 sq. ft. while standard rooms at the Terra Luna Resort are 315 sq. ft.

The thing that makes the club level different than any other room is the associated club level lounge. The lounge includes complimentary breakfast, evening hors d’oeuvres, and dessert. The hors d’oeuvres were Greek-themed with Mediterranean salad, pita bread, hummus, chicken and pepper skewers, and cheese skewers one night. The next night was burger sliders, pork belly, and bruschetta. Dessert was crème brûlée, chocolates, different flavors of macarons, and more. The club level lounge also has access to complimentary beer and wine, soda, tea, and coffee.

The hors d’oeuvres were filling enough for this to be dinner. The food here actually tasted better than all of the food items we have tried so far inside the actual theme park. The team servicing the lounge was fantastic and helped to make this visit superb.

While many of the club-level rooms offer stunning views of Epic Universe, it is a downside that the lounge itself does not offer the same view. Instead, it looks out across suburban Orlando. It would have been nice for the lounge to have the view so that those who don’t have a view of the theme park could enjoy it from there. I wanted to specifically call this out because I personally would make the assumption that it would have the theme park view.

Bar Helios at Universal Helios Grand Hotel

The other most unique offering at the Helios Grand Hotel is Bar Helios, which is the rooftop bar and lounge at the top of the hotel with views out over the park. This will be a big hit. This is one room where I think they really delivered with the theming of the hotel. They perfectly combined the futuristic and Mediterranean theming to create this kind of philosopher-style main bar room.

Bar Helios offers three areas including a circle bar with 360-degree views (not that you’ll want to look the other direction from the park), a dining area, and the al fresco area with views of Epic Universe. There are indoor and outdoor seating areas. During the preview period, the evenings were kind of chilly on the roof but as we get into the summer, and the temperature goes up, this spot after the sun goes down will be perfect.

The menu here offers comfort food like burger and sliders, salads, seafood, lamb and chicken gyros, and some creative tapas and anti-pasta. The drinks menu was also very fun with different themes.

Helios Grand Hotel Pool Area

Here’s a look out to the Helios Grand Hotel pool area. I didn’t make it out further to look around, but it’s clearly meant to be a nice resort pool area. Some have reported that it feels a bit small for the amount of rooms. From above it kind of feels like the style of a resort area of Las Vegas.

You can see the cabananas that are available for rental and the various chairs across the pool deck.

Private Entrance Into Epic Universe

In addition to the benefit of the views into the theme park from the close proximity, it’s difficult to beat the ease of access to the theme park. Hotel guests get early access to the park and have their own hotel entrance directly across from the elevators. This gate opens even before the official early entry hour for the park so that all guests can get through and be held at a rope before the park officially opens the hour early.

There is only one security checkpoint here so there was a line in the morning, but because the checkpoint opened before the early entry time period there was enough time to process all guests through security. We’ll have to keep watching this to see if this continues as the park moves into full operation.

Is Universal Helios Grand Hotel Worth It?

The placement of the hotel is the most exciting thing about it. The views are stunning as I shared above and all the rooms feel far more connected to the theme park than any other in-park hotel in the United States. Unlike Disney’s Grand Californian, which feels tucked away in one corner overlooking Disney California Adventure, the Helios Grand Hotel is centered on the park with a direct view across all the lands.

The hotel tower itself actually doesn’t stand out as anything that impressive. It feels like an upscale new city hotel that is comparable to some of the other newer hotel towers at Walt Disney World. The rooms themselves don’t feel themed to anything in particular and have bright floral patterns throughout. This wouldn’t be a themed hotel that is a must-stay for me. It also doesn’t compete with the other existing top Universal Orlando hotels. I still prefer the Loews Royal Pacific and Portofino Bay Resorts.

The finishes in the hotel are an interesting mix of upscale, themed Greek, and chain hotel. It’s a very nice hotel, but the room is somewhat similar to the less expensive Terra Luna and Stella Nova hotels nearby. The prices here reflect the proximity to the new theme park more than the quality of the hotel itself.

If I were deciding for my Epic Universe stay right now, I would most likely look at the rates for the Helios Grand vs the Stella Nova hotel. The Stella Nova hotel is a big step down in the feeling of luxury at the property, but the proximity to the park is also fantastic with an easy walk into the theme park just across one street. I would also think about how many days you are really going to spend at Epic Universe vs at Universal Orlando proper. The Epic Universe property is about a 15-minute drive away from the main Universal Orlando resort. You can price it all out with our travel partner. Click here for exclusive Mickey Visit savings on Universal Orlando.

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