Universal Stella Nova Resort, May 2025

We’d watched all the videos, and done a little research about where was best to stay for Epic Universe. We’re not millionaires, so with a last minute trip on a budget planned, we opted for one of Universals newest hotels – The Stella Nova Resort.

We’d managed to get a great deal on a stay at Stella Nova, which we were really happy about. A week here was costing us around £580. Considering we’d not long paid £300 plus for one night at Legoland Windsor, bed and breakfast only, this felt like an absolute bargain.

Stella Nova is regarded as one of Universals ‘Prime Value’ hotels, the middle tier of hotels. But it’s shiny and new, and spotlessly clean. Was it any good?

We’d booked a standard room. We weren’t after anything fancy. Back in December we went slightly fancy when we had a week at Universals Cabana Bay with a Volcano View room, so we were under no aspirations of such a glorious view this time. On check in, the receptionist asked why we were there and we said it was because of the Epic previews, so she gave us a room with a view of the park. Okay, it was mainly the car park, but you could kind of see Epic Universe out of the side of the window, but we could still see it! So happy days.

The room itself was pretty much standard just as we’d seen in Cabana Bay, but the décor was cleaner and fresher. The headboard wall had a space themed backdrop picture and the windows were like portholes looking out. The rooms featured 2 king-size beds, small table, cupboard with storage space, a decent size flat screen TV, coffee maker, mini fridge, cupboard with hanging rail, safe, bathroom with shower and toilet and separate area with washbasin, mirror and hairdryer.

Rooms are fairly spacious and comfortable. You do get some noise though walls and floors, but we didn’t experience anything as bad as we had at PortAventura’s Hotel Gold River last year. It was fairly quiet and had air-con that worked, which, while it was 100 degrees outside was a blessing.

The Stella Nova Resort features:

A gift shop that was primarily Epic Universe related merchandise and trinkets.

Hot and cold food, snacks and drinks. Here you can pick up a meal type option to sit and enjoy, including burgers, salads, pizzas, deserts and sides. Breakfast menus and Kids menus are available too. If you’re having a lazy day, you can order pizza to your room too.

There’s a quick serve market next door for bottled drinks and alcohol, fruit, snacks, plus hot and cold snacks. We came here for sausage and egg muffins in the morning, which were nice but a bit expensive. They also have cereal, pastries and essentials along with a Starbucks counter. The only let down here was milk. We always take cereal for the kids and grab a large milk that will last a few days. We’ve done this at Cabana Bay and Hard Rock previously for around $7, but Stella Nova only had individual ‘fancy’ bottles of milk that were like $5 each and barely gave us 2 bowls of cereal. Yes, you can just go to a Walgreens or another shop if you’ve got the time to get to one, but on this trip, we didn’t.

Down in the reception area, you’ll also find the Nova Bar, serving beer, wines, cocktails and spirits.

The pool bar and dining area of Stella Nova Resort. We had a few ‘pool days’ so spend a few dollars at the bar on those hot Orlando mornings and afternoons. The bar serves a selection of cocktails, wines and draft beers. I tried a few options including the Golden Road Mango Cart ale but always ended up back at the Voodoo Ranger IPA or Crooked Can Highstepper. Beers were around $12 each. Jo tried a few of the Cocktails ($16 each), which were all named after constellations.

We didn’t try any of the food but it was chips and dips, wings, burgers, sandwiches and salads, along with kids options and sweets.

The pool area was lovely. It was fairly quiet at the time we were there, though there were a few busy days. The main pool was always warm, with plenty of sun loungers around and a hot tub on the far side. There were some floats and balls in the pool for the kids to play with which made for some fun game time and on one night they were showing movies on a projector. It was still way too light to see the screen properly, but it was Godzilla vs King Kong so Elliott really wanted to stay and watch

Aside from the above, Stella Nova had a trip planning desk, arcade games room and a fitness centre. We didn’t venture in to the gym. Far too much walking around theme parks to want to do more exercise before or after!

As with other Universal Hotels, a stay at the Stella Nova Resort gives you Early Park Admission to the parks, an hour earlier than regular park guests. EPA is valid for hotel guests at Epic Universe and usually Islands of Adventure over at the original 2 parks, though I believe it can be Universal Studios too. You do get early access at Volcano Bay which I think is half hour early.

You also get access to the Universal Bus Service, which ferries guests to and from Stella Nova over to CityWalk and Epic. Though if its a nice day, you can actually walk to Epic Universe from Stella Nova, it has a dedicated path which takes around 10 minutes and can be quicker than waiting for the bus. The bus has air-con though! There is no path to Epic from it’s sister hotel the Terra Luna resort, which gives Stella Nova the advantage if you ask me.

It’s a nice hotel. The multicoloured tiles on the outside make the building really shine in the sunlight, and at night the spotlights amongst the tiles make it look like a starlit sky. The pool area is great and the facilities are just what you need for a theme park break. The rooms were well appointed (check me out – fancy words) and all felt comfortable to be in. For an extra treat, take the lift to level 3, the corridor to the right has a starlit ceiling which the kids loved to see.

The whole hotel is brand new so its all sparkly and clean, and I hope they can keep it this way. We went back to Cabana bay last year and it was looking a little tired so I hope they don’t let this one fall the same way. There a lot of clean, white surfaces and walls that will quickly go shabby if left the same. Don’t get me wrong, Cabana Bay is still nice, but didn’t feel as special as it did on our first trip in 2012.

All in all, it was a great base for our Epic Universe holiday and was good value for money. Clean, new and close to the park. We enjoyed our time at Stella Nova Resort and would definitely think about revisiting the hotel on our next trip!

See all the hotel has to offer on the official Universal Stella Nova website.