If you are planning a visit to Universal Epic Universe and you want to stay at a Universal Orlando Resort hotel, this is the post for you. The Universal Orlando Resort currently has 10 hotels, with the 11th, Universal Helios Grand, opening on May 22, 2025 alongside the Universal Epic Universe park. For those looking for early theme park access, free transportation to the parks, park views and more affordable options, you can look at Universal Stella Nova & Terra Luna.

Stella Nova and Terra Luna are considered prime value hotels, one of three categories by the Universal Orlando Resort. Prime Value hotels offer a more budget friendly price tag for a majority of the hotel exclusive offerings. But, Prime Value hotels do not offer the Unlimited Universal Express that you can get at other locations.

Layout, theming and vibes

On the inside, Stella Nova is focused on lots of space photography with black, white and blue as the primary design choices. Whereas Terra Luna is more colorful, using wood grains and warm colors. The layout of the bottom floor of both hotels is also different.

In my personal opinion, Terra Luna is laid out a bit better. The Terra Luna common areas seem to just flow better, and the warmer colors offer a calmer and more inviting look. This may just be personal preference, but having stayed at both hotels, it felt that Terra Luna was better at managing crowds and the flow of hotel guests.

Pros & Cons

Universal Stella Nova

Pros: Stella Nova offers direct walking access to Universal Epic Universe via a sidewalk path. The walk to the park entrance should take under 10 minutes on average. While we cannot yet fully walk to the park with the continual construction and park testing, you can walk close and get an estimated amount of time. This hotel also has the potential for fireworks viewing from the pool area. While Universal Orlando has not officially confirmed nightly fireworks, there has been testing. The pool alignment leads us to believe that fireworks viewing is possible from some of the pool deck. Stella Nova also has a kids water play area, whereas Terra Luna does not.

Cons: Some may consider this a perk, but for families with kids the separated smaller lounge areas may make it difficult. Stella Nova has more separated seating areas than Terra Luna. This may work well to give groups “their own space,” but in our experience it also meant looking into each area to find your group. With a handful of kids, this could make rounding up the group more difficult.

Universal Terra Luna

Pros: The layout of Terra Luna, as we specified before, has the advantage of a layout that just seems to work better. There is a priority on surrounding the pool, with the hotel literally curving around it. This makes the common areas feel more connected. The pool and hot tub are also right next to each other. This could be seen as a negative for those looking to get away, but for the primary target of families it is nice to be within a very close viewing distance of the pool at all times.

Cons: Unlike Stella Nova, the Terra Luna hotel does not have a dedicated walkway to Universal Epic Universe. While it is possible to walk there, the distance would be significantly longer than from Stella Nova. In the future this may change, but for now Stella Nova is the better option for those walking to walk to Universal Epic Universe. Terra Luna also does not have a dedicated splash pad. Kids will need to be in the main pool to enjoy playing in water.

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If you are interested in a room tour or a more in-depth review of the hotels, you can checkout my article: https://eyntk.info/universal-terra-luna-or-stella-nova-which-epic-universe-hotel-should-you-visit/

I'm planning a trip to Epic Universe and considering staying at one of Universal's Signature Grade resorts. Are there any exclusive perks, like early park entry, express passes, or transportation benefits?

Location: The best part of Helios is hands-down the location. You’re just a 1–2 minute walk into Epic Universe, which is amazing after a long park day. Helios guests enter the park through a separate entrance on the opposite side of most other guests. This has pros and cons—while you're super close to Dark Universe and Ministry of Magic portals, the main gift shops and Nintendo World are actually closer to the other entrance. Also during Early Park Admission, all hotel guests can enter, but guests from the other hotels are better positioned to reach Nintendo first so actually puts you at a disadvantage as those rides have opened first during early entry.

Important tip if you're using Uber or Lyft: The roads around Helios are so new that GPS often can’t find the hotel. I scheduled a pickup and the app kept canceling the rides after drivers arrived—because it couldn’t register the location properly. Drivers can find you if you message them directly, so I highly recommend skipping scheduled rides and instead requesting a regular ride, then coordinating directly with the driver. Definitely build in extra time for pickups.

Room: I stayed in a 2-Queen Park View and the view alone was worth it—truly stunning. If you're planning to spend any time in your room, I highly recommend upgrading for the view. I have a future stay booked in a Club Level room (which aren’t all park view btw) and I definitely think I will just go with regular park view room instead

Pool: The pool is gorgeous with great service. The bar had some really tasty drinks (I didn’t try the food, but it looked solid). They also had fun activities like scavenger hunts, hula hoop contests, and even movies in the pool at night—great for kids or childlike adults like me.

Dining: Flora Taverna had wonderful service. I ate both breakfast and lunch there. It’s brand new, and the kitchen was still finding its rhythm, so wait times were noticeable. Prices were on the higher side, but everything I tried was delicious. Bar Helios is worth visiting just for the view. I had a drink and a small bite there—pricey, yes, but the quality and staff were excellent.

Club Lounge: I didn’t stay Club this time but got a peek inside. Honestly, it looked underwhelming, especially compared to the park-view rooms. I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend time in the lounge if I had club access.

Just booked a 7 day stay at Stella Nova in late summer 2025. Only about $150 per night. That's almost endless summer prices, for a new hotel next to epic universe. What's the catch here?