Universal Orlando’s Stella Nova Resort is a hotel across the street from Epic Universe. Termed as a Prime Value Resort, this hotel opened in early 2025 along with its sister resort Terra Luna. Stella Nova is themed to outer space and the vastness of the galaxy, in case you needed something to contemplate while on a theme park vacation! In this post, we’ll review the hotel’s rooms, amenities, on-site perks and location.

Universal Orlando added a number of hotels to go along with the Epic Universe opening. Grand Helios offered the prime location, a fitting backdrop to Celestial Park. On the more budget friendly side is where Stella Nova and Terra Luna landed. While there is bus service to Epic Universe (as well as the other Universal Parks) from them, these hotels are close by. Stella Nova is the closest of the two, less than a 10 minute walk away from the front gates.

That makes Stella Nova an excellent place to stay if your trip is Epic Universe centric. Taking the bus to the rest of Universal Orlando is a longer ride, typically between 10 and 15 minutes over to CityWalk. That’s a decent tradeoff in our opinion but that’s because we think Epic Universe is the biggest draw in the Universal bubble right now.

Still, it’s worth considering whether Stella Nova’s location is an asset or disadvantage to your Universal Orlando trip. The bus service at the resort isn’t bad and 10 to 15 minutes is pretty typical in terms of Walt Disney World busses. But relative to other Universal Orlando hotels, this one is a longer trek to the non-Epic action. The other downside is that the area around Epic Universe is not built out at all. There’s really nothing outside of the park that’s Universal related.

All of that aside, we still prefer the location here to the Surfside and Dockside hotels. I love being able to walk to a theme park, especially one with as long of lines as Epic Universe. There’s a “control your own destiny” feel to it. I don’t know how much that matters to others, but I think it’s one of the best perks of staying at Stella Nova.

Speaking of perks, Stella Nova offers the same on-site perks that other value Universal Orlando hotels have. The main perk is 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 it gives guests a huge head start, especially at Epic Universe and Islands of Adventure. The perk is a big enough one for us to recommend staying at one of the on-site hotels over anywhere else.

Whether that hotel should be Stella Nova comes down to a variety of factors. We’ve already covered location, let’s move to the rooms. The hotels outer space theme is continued in the rooms, although not heavily decorated.

The mural over the beds and rug underneath them, which is reminiscent of the hotel’s facade, are the biggest space nods. They are pops of color in an otherwise very modern and sleek hotel room. The beds, walls and headboard go heavy on grays and whites but they do look pretty sleek.

Stella Nova’s other quirk came in the building’s curve and oval windows. That gave the rooms a unique shape and a different texture. Lacking sharp lines was the most futuristic architectural piece in the hotel and the best theme in the room. You might not think much of it, especially in photos, but I liked the design.

Our view out the window included a look at Epic Universe (on the left side of the photo) as well as a look at the buildings next door. It might be a stretch to call this a theme park view room but we did enjoy watching Stardust Racers zip around the track and light up at night.

There was quite a bit of space in between the beds and the dresser, chair and TV. Fitting 4 people in here wouldn’t be too snug, at least for a couple of nights. The chair wasn’t bad for working, although the tiny table wasn’t the best desk. This portion of the room, cool window design not withstanding, felt like a very typical hotel. Not bad, but nothing overly interesting.

The bathroom included a walk-in shower and toilet, both of which were very standard. I like the gray and blue design but the theme was dropped once you’re outside of the main part of the room. The sink is outside of the toilet and shower.

Across from the sink was a fairly large closet and a coffee maker, all pretty conventional offerings.

We ended up liking these rooms quite a bit. With just a few more touches, this could be a fantastic theme. As it is, there’s some nice touches, especially in the curved design, inside of a modern and nice hotel room. The bedding was comfortable and the room was clean, so we had no big complaints and we definitely preferred these rooms to Dockside Inn.

Stella Nova is also much smaller than Dockside. That’s largely a positive as the hotel doesn’t typically feel overly crowded. We never had to wait for an extra bus to come or look hard for a place to sit. Some of that is thanks to us being there at a quieter time but Stella Nova stays away from the Endless Summer or All Star Sports overcrowded feel.

The only downside of the lower occupancy is that the hotel’s amenities were average. Nothing about the lobby felt grand, as the best features were a continuation of the curved, futuristic design and some space wallpaper. Like the room, everything looked good! It just looked like a hotel and didn’t commit to the full theme. There were a few sitting areas throughout the lobby and large windows to let natural light in.

The hotel bar sat on the back wall and looked crisp with the white walls and exciting light fixture.

The hotel included a Universal Studios Store. I did not like the design here but the shop included quite a few things, in case you missed buying it at the parks or CityWalk.

Opposite of that was the Market, known on Earth as a Starbucks. They also had snacks and some cold case drink options. If you continue past that spot, you’ll find the counter-service restaurant named Cosmos Cafe. Here’s the menu for it. We didn’t dine here but did sit in the area while drinking coffee, it was a nice enough spot!

Moving outside, the hotel’s pool is very large! It looks nice but there is nothing that really sets it apart, outside of the colorful hotel being the backdrop.

A hot tub, lots of lounge seating and a pool bar are attached.

For those that need a little more activity than walking 20,000 steps in a theme park, there is an exercise room and arcade. The fitness center was large and had a view of the pool. The arcade had pop-a-shot, one of my greatest talents, so it was alright by me.

If you haven’t caught on, our biggest nit to pick with Stella Nova is that it feels ordinary. Everything is very nice and the hotel definitely feels new and well kept. But there’s not much that stands out once you look beyond the room and the outside design. That still makes for a pleasant stay, and one we’d definitely do again, but it does make the hotel feel a little less special.

In a way, the inside amenities feel like the antithesis of Stella Nova’s bright and shining outward design. I get the clean spaceship look they were going for once in the lobby but there’s just a little bit missing here. For what it’s worth, I love the colorful building from the outside.

Prices at Stella Nova really vary, getting as low as $120 or $130 during certain weeknights in the year and as high as $300 during peak weekends. The better gauge is how this hotel compares to other value resorts at Universal Orlando. From my searching, the hotel is never the cheapest offering but usually within $20-$30 of being the cheapest. We’d definitely pay the extra (if it was within $30) to stay here over the Endless Summer Resorts. Cabana Bay, on the other hand, is a very strong hotel with equal pricing. We like the location at Stella Nova or Terra Luna better but everything else falls in Cabana Bay’s favor.

Whether you should pick this spot as a value resort or Cabana Bay comes down to where you’re spending most of your theme park days. If it’s an Epic Universe-centric trip then I’d recommend Stella Nova over just about anywhere. Otherwise, Cabana Bay is probably the right answer when it comes to value options at Universal Orlando.

As a whole, we liked Universal Stella Nova. The rooms looked great and were very modern and the outside of the hotel is a spectacle. There were some missed opportunities in theme and amenities but the hotel offers a very good price in a prime location and we’ll happily stay there again.

Overall Rating – 8/10

Have you stayed at Stella Nova? Let us know your thoughts, along with any questions you have, in the comments below. Looking for discounted tickets to Universal Orlando? Check out this site! Here are all of our travel guides to Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disney Resort. If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!