Cabana Bay family suite room tour

Take a look inside a Cabana Bay family suite at Universal Orlando:

If you are planning a trip to Universal, I highly recommend staying at one of their hotels. There are many reasons why (early theme park access and convenience, to start!). But they also have really nice hotels with fun themeing. And these are often at a more affordable price than Disney’s hotels.

Cabana Bay Beach Resort is a perfect example. They have standard rooms and family suites which sleep up to 6, so you could compare them to Art of Animation in that regard. I’ve now stayed in a family suite twice, and it’s a nicely sized room at a decent price.

It’s a good choice if you have a family with kids. But we also found it great for adults! The first time I stayed it was just two of us for a girls trip, but the extra space was still nice. For 3 adults it was even better. I don’t know that I would do more than 4 adults though – unlike Art of Animation, it only has one bathroom.

Both times that I stayed in the Cabana Bay family suite I booked the “Family Suite exterior entry.” This will mean you’re either in the Castaway, Thunderbird, or Starlight buildings. I prefer this location because it’s closer to the walking path to the theme parks!

And both times I was put in the the Castaway building. The first time we stayed in 2024 we had a parking lot view. The second time was a pool view. Either is fine, really. There is a lot of foot traffic so we had the curtain closed most of the time anyway. It was close to the lobby, too.

The room basics

The Cabana Bay family suites can sleep up to 6 people. There are two queen beds and a pull-out sofa bed, which sleeps 2. There is a sliding door between the bedroom and the living room/kitchenette area (though the bathroom is only accessible from the bedroom).

When you first enter you walk into the kitchenette, with the living room area off to the side. If you continue on you’ll get to the bedroom, bathroom, and a fairly large closet.

Kitchenette

This area is small, but it’s nice to have! It has a microwave, mini-fridge, and sink here. You also have your standard hotel amenities, like a coffee maker, and some disposable dishes and utensils.

This area also has a counter with two stools. This is a nice addition – it doesn’t take up too much space, but gives another option if you want to have a meal, or work on your laptop, or whatever.

Living area

There is a living room area right next to the kitchenette, which is what makes this room more of a “suite” over a standard hotel room. There’s a couch that doubles as another bed, and two armchairs. A TV is placed on top of the dresser.

There are several small tables as well, which you can move around for some flexibility. That funky-looking table in the center? It does separate into two smaller tables that you can move around if you’d like!

In the exterior suite, your window is in this room. Like any motel, it looks directly out to the walkway so it gets a lot of foot traffic passing by.

The first time I stayed here we didn’t use the pull-out sofa since it was just two of us, but when we had three adults Jenn slept on the sofa. I can’t speak to the comfort of it myself, but it didn’t look all that great.

A few disadvantages here, but the biggest thing we noticed was that when the sofa was pulled out, you couldn’t access any of the drawers because they were blocked. The room did not have a ton of storage, so Jenn lived out of her suitcase. That seems like a weird design flaw. It’s also not super convenient to fold up the sofa after every night. If they switched to a murphy bed sofa, (like many of the ones at Disney), that would probably help to solve this problem.

The bedroom

There is a sliding door between the bedroom and living room area if you want privacy at night. Of course, if someone is sleeping on the couch and needs to use the bathroom at night, they’ll have to open that door!

The bedroom is a decent size and has the two queen beds. They are pretty comfortable, if nothing special. There are 4 individual lights above the beds, which is nice if someone is staying up a bit longer than others. You also have a nightstand in between

Across from the two beds you also have a second TV mounted to the wall. On one side of the TV is the entrance to the bathroom area, and on the other side is a closet.

Let’s talk about the closet and storage! Next to the bed that is closest to the living room you have 2 drawers built into the wall. Then you have a closet with hangers. That’s it, though. The closet is big, but for a family suite that sleeps up to 6 people it definitely felt like a lack of storage space. Another set of drawers or small dresser would be nice (especially when as mentioned earlier, you can’t really access the drawers in the living room if you have the couch pulled out!).

The bathroom

While the Cabana Bay Family suite technically only has 1 bathroom, it is a split bathroom. And not just two separate areas, but three! I think the idea behind this is pretty good, but there are a few drawbacks you should be aware of, too.

There is, at least, two sinks which is nice. The main sink and counter area is open to the bedroom. Then on one side you have a tub/shower combination with a second sink (and a door that closes here). On the other side of the main sink you have the toilet (and a door, of course, but no sink).

I feel like it would be better to put the second sink in the room with the toilet. That’s (hopefully) where you’d use the sink anyway. And you’d still have two “getting ready” areas that way. If someone is showering that’s typically a longer process than using the toilet. So what we found is we still really only had 1 “getting ready” area or mirror in the morning if someone was showering. But perhaps that is more of an issue with 3+ adults? And especially ones who are taking some time to do makeup, skin care, etc.? Maybe this is a better setup for kids, I’m not sure.

I do appreciate that they have the shower/tub combo here! Disney seems to be getting rid of them, and that confuses me. Don’t the young kids still take baths? I like a good bath myself, especially after walking around a theme park all day. So a win for Universal here by having a bathtub!

Themeing

The themeing at Cabana Bay is retro-fun, inspired by the 50s and 60s. While this theme is around the entire resort, I’m happy to say it definitely continues throughout the rooms and the family suite too!

It leans into the bright colors and what I would call a “mod” feel, with oranges and blues being the main color palette. There is some fun artwork on the walls, and the bedspreads and pillows fit the theme perfectly!

But it’s really the little details that put this over the edge for great themeing. On the nightstand you’ll find a retro style alarm clock. And in the bathrooms? Zest soap and Vo5 shampoo and conditioner!

Overall thoughts on the Cabana Bay family suite

I’m a big fan of the Cabana Bay family suite, and I think it’s a great option for many – especially if you want a little more space or a room that sleeps more than 4. The kitchenette is really nice to have too.

The downsides? A few more drawers would definitely help and be an easy fix. A second bathroom would have been a great addition here, like at Art of Animation, but at least you have the split set-up.

I would definitely stay here again. The themeing is fun, the space is nice, and it’s not too far from the parks if you want to walk (or take the bus, or walk to Sapphire Falls and take the boat from there!). I think next time I would try an interior family suite. It would be nice to have the curtains drawn for some sunlight without a bunch of people walking by!