Ultimate Guide to Universal Resort Transportation

In the nearly 35 years since the resort first opened, Universal Orlando has expanded from a single park to a massive complex featuring two (soon to be three) theme parks, a water park, eight resort hotels, and a world-class shopping and nightlife distract.

In tune with that development, Universal has also built a robust transportation system that could arguably rival Walt Disney World’s in efficiency if not scope.

There are three core components to Universal’s transportation system: The Shuttle Bus, the Water Taxi, and the walkways. Let’s begin with the buses.

Universal Shuttle Bus

Universal’s shuttle bus service links all of the resort’s hotels: Endless Summer Resort (both the Dockside and Surfside Inn and Suites), the Aventura Hotel, the Cabana Bay Beach Resort, the Portofino Bay Hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel, the Royal Pacific Resort, and the Sapphire Falls Resort. Guests who board the shuttle at their respective hotel can be dropped off at either the entrance to Universal CityWalk (which in-turn allows them to enter Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure) or the entrance to Universal’s Volcano Bay water park.

Notably, the shuttles run every 15 minutes from the Endless Summer Resort, the Aventura Hotel, and the Cabana Bay Beach Resort, while they’re only every 30 minutes from the Portofino Bay Hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel, the Royal Pacific Resort, and the Sapphire Falls Resort — from one hour prior to park opening to CityWalk’s closure. Why is there this discrepancy? Well, those four hotels offers up another form of transportation that the other three lack.

Universal Water Taxi

Guests staying at Universal’s Preferred and Premier Tier resort hotels have the option of taking a “water taxi” from a dedicated dock at their respective hotel for a less than 10-minute ride that drops them off directly near the entrances to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, much closer than the aforementioned shuttle buses. In addition, the water taxis run during Early Park Admission hours, an other added benefit for guests of the Premier Tier hotels.

Walking Paths

If you’d like to get more exercise while moving around Universal Orlando, the resort’s infrastructure has two major walking paths connecting it. The first, and more popular, is the Garden Walkway. This lushly landscaped path begins at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort and weaves its way through the Aventura, Royal Pacific and Sapphire Falls resort before ending near Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. The path should take about 20 minutes from Cabana Bay to CityWalk, and obviously shorter from the other hotels along the route.

The second major pathway is a paved walkway that connects the Portofino Bay Resort and Hard Rock Hotel to CityWalk — specifically near the entrance of Universal Studios Florida. These hotels are the furthest from the parks, and in-turn this walking path is arguably much less convenient, especially since — as we mentioned above — guests staying at Portofino Bay and the Hard Rock have access to both the shuttle bus and the water taxi.

Finally, there’s also a series of walking paths that connect the Cabana Bay, Aventura and Sapphire Falls hotels to Volcano Bay.

With the upcoming 2025 scheduled opening of Epic Universe, Universal is going to be vastly growing their transportation infrastructure given the new park’s pretty significant distance from the rest of the resort. However, as we’ve established here, Universal Orlando already has a strong transportation backbone from which to build upon.

Which of Universal’s transportation systems is your favorite to use? Let us know in the comments below.