Universal Endless Summer Resort – Dockside Inn and Suites features value family suites and on-site perks to the theme parks at Universal Orlando. The hotel is among the cheapest of Universal’s offerings and is across the street from its sister hotel, Surfside Inn and Suites. In this post, we’ll review Dockside Inn’s rooms, amenities, on-site perks and value.

Epic Universe isn’t the only thing Universal Orlando has invested in over the last few years. A slew of hotels have opened up, many of which fit into the the value or moderate categories. The Endless Summer Resort, featuring Dockside and Surfside, began operation around 2020 (one pre-pandemic and one post) and have only grown in popularity as the resort has expanded.

You don’t have to look far to see why either side of Endless Summer Resort is popular – price and family suite rooms. Art of Animation at Disney World has thrived thanks to their family suites, fitting an obvious market for families vacationing. Endless Summer Resort has smartly filled that value and larger room void and does so at a lower cost than Art of Animation.

Universal lists these rooms as 2-bedroom suites and that’s a bit of misnomer. The main room is also the living space, with 2 queen sized beds mixed in with a table and kitchenette. This is mainly picking nits but don’t book this expecting two separate bedrooms behind closed doors.

With that out of the way, the room looks nice. The wood floors give a clean aesthetic and there are just enough touches of theme here to satisfy my tastes. That includes the headboards and surfboard.

Here’s the living space that’s attached to those 2 beds. The room doesn’t have many bells and whistles but is practical and spacious, coming in at 440 square feet. One downside here is that there isn’t a great place to hang out in the family suite – the table isn’t comfortable and there’s no other furniture outside of the beds.

This is the bedroom behind a door. Again, utilitarian but with a clean look. All of the bedding in the hotel was comfortable and we appreciated the modern amenities like plenty of plug-ins alongside the bed.

These rooms are in towers so you could end up with an interesting view!

The room smartly had two sinks outside of the bathroom. This space is a little tighter than other spots in the hotel but still manageable.

The toilet and shower were nice enough, fitting in with the no frills but practical room.

Dockside Inn’s family suites worked well. These are modern hotel rooms with just a touch of theme and enough space to fit 4 or 5 adults. A family of 6 could also make this work but I think the room might get constricting after a while. There are also standard hotel rooms if you have a smaller group but I’d recommend one of the other on-site hotels if that’s the case. Universal went with a safe play in the aesthetic but it works here.

Like most prices in the world, Dockside Inn’s are rising. When the hotel debuted in 2020, family suites for under $200 was the norm. With discounts offered, a $100 family suite was attainable! Now the hotel has settled into a zone where weekdays are close to $200 and weekends can be in the $300 range. That’s a big jump but is still generally less than large room accommodations at Disney World. Not that they need to be compared. Perhaps you’re looking for a family suite in both places! At Universal, there just aren’t many other options that offer family suites and on-site perks.

Those perks center around an hour of early park admission, which is extremely advantageous. Not all of the rides will be open for that hour but some of the big ones will be and you’ll want to beat the crowds. That’s the main benefit of staying on-site at Universal and ultimately why we recommend doing just that.

The other on-site hotel offering is complimentary transportation. You’ll need that because Endless Summer Resort is not all that close to the parks. The hotel rests a little over a mile from CityWalk, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Bus transportation was consistent and quick when we stayed here. Getting to Epic Universe is a slightly longer ride. This is the worst location of any Universal Orlando hotel but when the bus rides are consistent and only last 10 or 15 minutes then I don’t find that to be a huge drawback.

Hotel amenities include two large pools, one at each tower. There aren’t terribly interesting especially compared to the other Universal Orlando hotel pools. But they’ll do the trick on a hot day. Beach chairs surround the pools and there’s a bar by each of them.

Other amenities include a large fitness room, arcades, poolside games and a Universal Studios Store in the lobby. Everything is very functional but won’t wow anybody.

That sentiment extends to the lobby, which includes a Starbucks. Once outside of the room, Dockside Inn’s theme falls apart. There are trees in the back of the lobby that are attempting to tie everything together but they don’t look great all while trying to pull a lot of weight.

That’s not to say the lobby looks bad. It’s a nice, modern hotel lobby. But if you come in expecting the same larger than life size theme that is offered at Disney’s value resorts then you’ll be disappointed.

A bar (Sunset Lounge) hangs off of the lobby and is just around the corner from Pier 8 Market, the hotel’s massive counter-service restaurant. Turns out that the ginormous size is needed because that place can get very crowded! We ate here once or twice and thought it was decent. There will likely be a review at some point.

Pier 8 Market’s size is replicated throughout Dockside Inn. This place is huge and has a strangely confusing layout. That also means crowds are everywhere. Hotel employees did their best to handle it but the lobby constantly had lines and was never quiet. This isn’t necessarily a knock on the hotel, Dockside is meant to function this way. But if you want a quieter experience then looking elsewhere is advised, that includes the smaller Surfside Inn across the street.

All in all, Universal Orlando’s Endless Summer Resort – Dockside Inn & Suites (I haven’t made fun of the 9 word title yet and I won’t start now!) set out to offer value family suites and that is truly the hotel’s main purpose. The amenities are nice enough, as is the aesthetic, but there isn’t much about the hotel that stands out. Crowds and the size of the hotel knock it down a little bit in our eyes. That said, if you’re looking for a bigger room and find this for around $200 then it’s a hard deal to pass up!

Overall Rating – 7/10

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