My Staycation at Terra Luna

My staycation at Terra Luna

Three new hotels have been brought into the Universal Orlando Resort lineup. This includes Helios, Stella Nova, and Terra Luna. These were added as the hotel offerings for Epic Universe. At the beginning of August, I had the chance to stay at the Terra Luna. This is at value hotel pricing and is another solid option to this category. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to use the best perk of the Terra Luna, which is the Epic Universe access.

For the first few hours we wanted to really enjoy the hotel. No Epic Universe so we felt like we didn’t have to rush anything. We ended up walking around the hotel, played some ping pong, took a nap, and got the Mac & Cheese that had been recommended to us since it opened. Spoiler alert, this Mac & Cheese was not amazing. We watched the Jaguars preseason football game in the lobby bar and then we finally decided that the sun was going down enough to go to a theme park.

No Epic Universe but we did use the proximity to go to Islands of Adventure at night. I haven’t been there in a few months, and I really wanted to ride the water rides. Dudley Do Right was delayed and the Popeye ride closed earlier than we thought. We did do Kong, Jurassic Park, Cat in the Hat, and Seuss Trolley. Not the most thrilling of nights but it was fun doing the attractions that were walk ons.

The next morning, I wanted to ride Hagrid. I figured if I could be in the park for early park admission I could get on it… I was very wrong; I got into the line at 8:03 and the express pass line was further than the standby line. This was all I needed to see; I turned around as quickly as possible. The next best attraction was the Velocicoaster and I hoped this could be a walk on, and it turned out it was, so I didn’t completely mess up my park opening. After Velocicoaster I went on Forbidden Journey to try and be ready for the official park opening. At nine, I went to Toon Lagoon. Just for Dudley to still be down, and Popeye opens at 10 instead of 9. This felt like Seaworld closing and opening rides at different times of the night. All theme parks do it, but I think Universal is starting to be a lot worse at it. I walked past the ride I really wanted to go on and had to go through Marvel Superhero Island where they all were 5-minute waits. I rode Doom and the Hulk and left the park. A productive park opening.

After that, I went back to the hotel and got in the pool. It was refreshing. It wasn’t crowded, and I had a really good time. For a few hours, then it was time to go. That ADD knows how to kick in when you are relaxing.

Overall, the hotel and the price point was very nice. To really give it a full rating, I would need to stay here during an Epic Universe trip. This I feel is a bit similar to Cabana Bay. I used to not like that hotel as much before I had a Volcano Bay trip. Now, I love it. The access to Volcano Bay was incredible. If I could have rope dropped Epic or closed it down and just had a short walk to my hotel, I think I would be having huge feelings for this hotel. Right now, it is similar to Dockside or Surfside without the amazing suites those two hotels have. The food court was very similar, the lobby wasn’t anything amazing, and the pool area was similar as well. The time we spent at the pool was incredible with how empty it was. This hotel is one that I would stay at for an Epic Universe trip if I can’t get Helios. If your main focus is to go to the other Universal parks, I would stay at Dockside or Surfside for the cheap rates.