ENDLESS SUMMER RESORT.

We just returned from a 5 night stay in a regular room and had a great time.

Pros:
  • The decor of the whole resort was a big positive for me. I loved the blues used in the rooms - the ceiling was painted a very pale blue, the curtains were blue and white, and there was lots of aqua too. Very pretty with a bright and summery feel! The common areas were beautiful too. The pool even had pale blue chairs with white trim.
  • Beds and pillows were comfy - slept well.
  • No noise from other rooms - I'm sure this could change depending on who is next to you.
  • Lots of square feet in the bedroom (but bathroom is a bit small).
  • Loved having a Starbucks in the lobby - went there every day.
  • Staff was great! Check in was a breeze and room was ready at 9:30 am! They gave me a choice of locations, and they were very helpful when I had to check out a day earlier than planned.
  • Everything was incredibly clean.
  • Housekeeping did a great job with our room and left extra toiletries twice.
  • Huge full length dressing mirror.
  • Transportation was so easy. There was almost always a bus waiting each time we walked up. The two times there was no bus waiting, we only waited about 5 minutes before a bus arrived.
  • Walking distance to local restaurants and shops.
  • Value! For the price point I was very happy with the resort. We paid about $74/night plus $15/night for parking. I booked a long time ago and got a nice rate. If you have a large family the 2 room suite would be a great value.
Cons:
  • Towels were small and rough. The towels for the pool were larger, but still low quality.
  • Bathroom sink is not closed off and the light for it is paired with the foyer light. The light switch turns on both lights, so if you use the sink at night, the light might bother others if they are trying to sleep. Also there is only one switch and it is at the front door.
  • Pool music was too loud and lots of pop and dance music. I would prefer music that matched the beach theme.
  • Closet is small and is only covered by a curtain.
  • No magnified make up mirror.

We didn't try the onsite restaurant but it looked pretty. Menu didn't appeal to me. We ate at the parks and also went to Hash House a Go Go, Keke's, and Coco Thai. Coco Thai is right next to the parking garage so we walked there, but drove to the other two. All good - especially Hash House and their bacon waffles with chicken.

By the way, the Universal parks were very clean. We went to Disney for one night before Universal and I have to say it wasn't as clean as I'm used to. Bathrooms and common areas needed attention. I was surprised.
Volcano Bay was lots of fun and a very beautiful park too.

Would I recommend Surfside? Absolutely. If you go in realizing it is a Value property I think you will like it. If you want more luxury, then there are many other choices that would make you happier.

Just got back from 1 night and I agree with everything! We plan to return to this hotel as the price can't be beat. I knew the reviews going in and read a ton on Trip Advisor. I also agree with the assessment of the parks. Clean bathrooms and common areas. We went to WDW for 5 night immediately following and found ourselves saying "it's not as clean as Universal".
 


Here right now and wanted to show you how BIG the fridge is. It is quite large, you can see in my photo a full 64 ounce milk fits well, tons of waters and soda. Also have a room at Royal Pacific and it is easily twice that size! also, we ordered TONS of groceries from amazon prime NOW. They shipped for free, delivered straight to the lobby, where we were waiting to accept them. Prices are the same as groceries back home too! I will post a picture of how groceries are stored in the two bedroom suite here.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    81.4 KB · Views: 107


I obviously haven't been to this hotel, but I have to disagree with your last paragraph. Kind of reads like you went in with the idea that Disney is better and looked for things to support your opinion. I have been to Universal many times and found nothing but clean parks and happy, enthusiastic TMs.
This is such an unfortunate comment. A poster should be allowed to express their opinion be it positive or negative. Just because it was slightly negative doesn't mean they were trying to say Disney is better than Universal.
 
This is such an unfortunate comment. A poster should be allowed to express their opinion be it positive or negative. Just because it was slightly negative doesn't mean they were trying to say Disney is better than Universal.

I never said the poster couldn't express an opinion. But I'm allowed to express my opinion too.
 
I never said the poster couldn't express an opinion. But I'm allowed to express my opinion too.
I didn't say you said they couldn't but saying their comment reads like they were looking for Disney to be better is super dismissive.
 
That's my OPINION. The great thing about opinions is we all get to have our own. Like you can say my comment was dismissive and I can disagree with you.
Agreed! I just feel like there is too much pitting Universal against Disney. Too often I see on the Universal Boards comments saying that Uni is way better than Disney and in the Disney boards I see people saying Disney is better, when in reality neither is better than the other as they are both amazing and DIFFERENT parks. I feel like every opinion should be considered valid even if its a negative one because there are good and bad experiences at both Uni and Disney. So if someone says they didn't have the best experience at Universal it should be welcomed along with the praises. Sorry if I misunderstood. I read your comment as more of "There's no way someone could have a bad experience at Universal; this person must be uber into Disney" which you probably didn't mean it that way :)
 
Silly question, but will the shuttle bus take me back to the hotel in the morning?
I need to go to airport by 9:30am, but I have 1 free day to my ticket, so I'm thinking to enjoy the early admission 8-9am then go back to the hotel and grab my bag.
 
Silly question, but will the shuttle bus take me back to the hotel in the morning?
I need to go to airport by 9:30am, but I have 1 free day to my ticket, so I'm thinking to enjoy the early admission 8-9am then go back to the hotel and grab my bag.

Yes, the bus will loop from the hotel to the park and back again all day.
 
Agreed! I just feel like there is too much pitting Universal against Disney. Too often I see on the Universal Boards comments saying that Uni is way better than Disney and in the Disney boards I see people saying Disney is better, when in reality neither is better than the other as they are both amazing and DIFFERENT parks. I feel like every opinion should be considered valid even if its a negative one because there are good and bad experiences at both Uni and Disney. So if someone says they didn't have the best experience at Universal it should be welcomed along with the praises. Sorry if I misunderstood. I read your comment as more of "There's no way someone could have a bad experience at Universal; this person must be uber into Disney" which you probably didn't mean it that way :)

No worries guys, I can see both sides. My post wasn't meant to denigrate Universal, however I can understand how it may be read that way. My family and I love all things Orlando and we have had great experiences in all the theme parks throughout the years. While we do prefer Disney, we have had some great experiences and memories at Universal. We made a special trip to Universal for the opening of IOA many years ago.
 
Just returned from 4 nights at Endless Summer and thought I’d chime in with my impressions.

The Good:
  • The price point can’t be beat, especially given that it includes the early entry perk.
  • The bus service to the park was super convenient. I think one time I had to wait about 30 seconds for a bus, but otherwise there was always a bus waiting!
  • The hotel was clean, bright, and airy, with fun theming all around.
The Bad:
  • The food court was absolute chaos. Unlike every other similar food court that I’ve seen, where you go to the pizza station for pizza, the burger station for a burger, etc..., here people just sort of cluster in random locations and if you are lucky enough to catch the attention of one of the 1-2 people manning the entirety of the food court you can order something. (Seriously, what’s the point of having themed stations if you’re not going to staff them separately?) More than once I simply walked out because it seemed hopeless.
  • The hotel seemed understaffed in general in terms of guest-facing positions. For example, both times that I needed to access luggage services, there was a sign on the desk saying that they weren’t available and instructing guests to go to the front desk instead.
  • I could hear EVERYTHING going on in the room next door, and in fact I could hear the ice being made in the ice machine, which was located against the far side of that room. The walls seemed to be paper-thin.
  • There was a pair of elevators near to my room, but one of them was out of service the entirety of my trip, and the other was used at all hours of the day and night by housekeeping to transport huge carts of supplies. (Apparently they don’t have a service elevator in this hotel?) After a number of occasions where I approached the elevators but wasn’t able to access them because housekeeping took priority, I eventually ended up taking an alternate, less convenient, route to my room. Yes, I know that this is a small issue in the grand scheme of things, but it’s awfully strange that there’s no service elevator, and it’s even stranger to me that team members aren’t instructed to give guests priority for the elevators.

All in all, I’m glad I gave Endless Summer a try, but it won’t be at the top of my list for future visits.
 
We just returned from a seven night stay, Oct. 20th to Oct. 27. Thought I would throw in my 2 cents.
The hotel is beautiful. The theming is spot on. We had a room, not a suite, and it was new and fresh. Everything about the room was bright and clean. Having said that, make no mistake, this is a value room and could not be classified any other way. As others have said, the walls are paper thin. We could hear people in the rooms on both sides of us. The entry doors have a gap under them about a half inch which allows the noise from the hallways to enter the rooms. This was especially annoying on the nights they had HHN as people were coming down the halls very late in the evening and they can be loud.
We found the food court to be fine, no issues there. The food was actually very good considering it is a food court. I agree with snoopboop that there was very few people available to help serve but I thought that was because we seemed to be there at non busy times. They were always polite to us thought so that's a check mark in their court.
We were mid way between two sets of elevators. Each set has two elevators to use so not a lot. Most of the week there was always one of the elevators at both locations out of service. I mentioned that to staff several times and always got an answer about needing parts, they will be in soon. Don't know when soon was but when we left they were still out. Its hard when you only have one working and people are coming and going with loads of luggage.
I had an issue with a dryer not working, it didn't heat up. It's $3 a load so not cheap. When I reported it to guest services they didn't seem to care and never offered to refund the $3 which I found a bit odd but I let that go. It took three days before they put up a sign on that dryer saying it wasn't working so I wonder how many others lost their money as well.
The location is very good. We were able to use the ITrolly, which we loved. Used it to go to both outlets and to diner one night. It is easy to use and a bargain. We also used the Walgreens cross the street to pick up odds and ends, a few munchies, and saved money by not paying double the price at the resort.
The buses to the parks were never a problem. It was seven minutes each way and they ran constantly.
Over all I might use this resort again. The price is right and I love that it is on I Drive, close to lots of things that are not Universal. I would just go in with a mind to the problems and work with it.
 
We just returned home after a 6 night stay in a suite at Endless Summer (November 30-December 6). Overall it was pretty nice, but definately room for improvement. It was myself, my husband and three teenagers.

The room towels are awful, like every review I have read. There are no fans in the bathroom. So you hear everything everyone is doing in there, and then you get to share the smell too. There was only one luggage rack in the room, they could easily add one for every bed. They need more towel racks too, there is only one next to the sink. For a room with 6 guests, there is nowhere to put hang your towels up after a shower except the curtain rod in the tub.

The walls are thin. Our second night I could hear some kind of equipment maybe on the roof humming on and off. It was awful. Tossed and turned listening to that, then someone's toddler on the other side of my wall started crying at 2 am. So at 3 am a blearyeyed me went down to the front desk to complain. I wasn't ready to suffer through that noise for the 4 remaining nights we had. I was offered a room change later in the day and some breakfast vouchers. They moved us down the hall to the opposite street side with the new construction. Oh well, at least they weren't working till 7 am! The pool is WEAK. I have never seen a large baby pool meant for everyone before. 3.5 feet deep is pathetic. Barely deep enough to cool off.

The cafe downstairs was ok. The breakfast platter was a lot of food for $10, pancakes for $10 is kind of spendy even with a side of bacon. Tasty, though. We did not eat any other meals down there. There were only 2 workers manning the three food counters but we didn't go down till after 9 so it wasn't a problem for us. My girls had Starbucks one time. I am too cheap to indulge in overpriced coffee so we didn't make that a habit.

I read a few reviews where people claimed the beds were full size and not queen. I meant to measure to see what they really were (because they actually seemed between a full and a queen, if that is even possible!) but I forgot. Very comfortable mattress.

I would book this hotel again. I wonder if they are doing anything different with the other two new properties being finished next door? I have never had a hotel room without a vent in the bathroom so I am really surprised that anyone would design a new building that way. I guess thin walls happen at plenty of hotels, so that's not too surprising. The shuttle service was great, never waited more than 10 minutes to take off after walking down to catch one, either direction.
 
I spent part of my last trip there, from Nov 22nd to Nov 27th.

The process of check in took a few minutes until I was called up, but it was prime check-in hours (around noon), and the two girls working on the front desk were both very polite. I paid my booking as soon as I checked in, as it was a room only reservation, and I did so in cash. They then gave me the map of the hotel, my room keys and whatnot. What I'd booked was a pool view standard room, and they happened to give me a pool view SUITE room, at no extra charge. It was a beautiful place, albeit a bit too big for little ol' me, who was travelling solo.

I found the room to be lovely, spacious, with the coffee pot, small fridge and a very nice table with a bench and two separate chairs. Of course, it could've just looked huge to me because, like I've said, I was there on my own with three whole beds all to myself.

I also liked the separate bathroom/vanity mirror area, with two sinks and a lot of counter space, plenty of towels (I didn't mind their quality much), and the water pressure in the shower was just amazing after my 14+ hour flights!

Waiting for the shuttles was never any long at all, with the addendum that I happened to be staying in Building 1, which is the one to that side of the hotel, so I had even less of a walk than I would've anticipated.

I didn't visit the food areas, actually, but I did spend one afternoon at the pool and it wasn't very deep, but it was still a nice temperature. There were plenty of towels available around it.

I would definitely stay here again, all in all, my experience was great. Check-out was quick, too, and then I was off on my way to All Star Sports for a significant downgrade in amenities! (no hate!)

The one thing I remember finding annoying would be the lack of exits available to visit the Walgreens across the street. I'm from a city where we walk most places, and it was a bit confusing that one had to go out through the entire parking lot to get onto the street. But that might've been nitpicking? One of the hotel staff told me it was to prevent stealing of some sort.

Can't testify as to the noisiness -- I was usually out like a light around 8 or 9 pm, then back up at it around 5 am.
 
I have a question for anyone who has stayed at this hotel - knowing it is a budget hotel, at what price per night would you start looking for different options? What is the most you would want to pay per night for this hotel? I think we would possibly use the early entry maybe once during our trip, so that;s not a big draw for us. I'm trying to weigh my options. :)
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top