Universal Terra Luna Resort — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

To start off, Terra Luna resort was one of the most pleasant experiences of a hotel stay I’ve ever had. Lowe’s resorts, knows how to hit it out of the ballpark in terms of theme, style, and complete service.

I booked my stay in the middle of September to primarily go for Halloween horror nights, and epic universe. During my stay, I was able to use the pool and hot tub, while spending some peaceful time in my room.

All the rooms are at the same at this resort yet they have a beautiful touch to them giving that spaceship like atmosphere. From the time you walk into the resort, seeing the lobby, the rounded minimalistic design of the hallways, to the porthole like windows that represent you looking through a spaceship, thematically this resort was stunning!

Upon check-in, we were able to request the top floor with an epic universe view with no issue. Everyone at the front desk was super informative and incredibly friendly and just wanted to help you out.

Our room was incredibly clean, it felt super new walking into this resort. The vanity sat in the bathroom was a nice touch, while the minimal design of the bathroom kept things simple and easy. The beds were amazing in terms of comfort and made me pass out at the end of the night after a long day at the parks. The television in the room also was a nice touch, displaying YouTube, Netflix, and a few other string platforms right from your TV, giving you access to sign in and easily sign out upon checkout. One awesome feature to point out on the TV is that you can connect your phone to it, allowing you to use your phone as a TV remote instead of having to use the direct remote, which came in handy when I was too exhausted to get up across the room to grab the remote itself!

Our view was beautiful, although that there is construction around the area, we had a decent view of epic universe, seeing at least the top of each portal for each part of the park. The view of the Helios grand Hotel from our room was stunning, and really showed the size of this new park.

One thing to note is that room service happens every other day of your stay, where they fix your bedsheets, take out trash and cleaned up surfaces that may have been stained or dirty. It may be different for every floor but room service happened around 1 PM to 2 PM on the ninth floor.

When it comes to amenities, you have a universal store with merchandise from each land of epic universe and general epic universe merchandise! The pool was stunning with a zero entry axis pool on the left side, with a hot tub on the right end. One of the coolest features of this pool is that it has speakers under the water, allowing you to listen to music as you swim!! I remember Disney’s art of animation resort tried doing this, but their speakers broke and they chose and never replaced them since, giving this resort at Tera Luna, a one up from Disney’s resort!

Breakfast at the café and eatery had some decent food with an amazing breakfast. Prices are a little higher than expected, but for a hotel stay, this is an understandable charge. For eggs, toast, home fries, and bacon you’re looking to spend around $15 for one meal. The portion size was pretty large in my opinion, so I feel like it was worth the money.

Room service at night was surprisingly fast and pleasant. It said there would’ve been a 45 minute wait to have a pizza delivered to my room when it really was only 15 minutes. The pizza was phenomenal as I had a buffalo styled mozzarella topped pizza.

All in all, I do have to rate this resort, a five star! From other reviews, stating that the walls were thin, and the light fixtures were bugging out, I haven’t had any issue in regards to those complaints during my stay. The rooms were quiet, the lights worked properly, and the theming was just amazing.

I just wanna say thank you to the staff who helped me during my visit and took care of my room when it needed tending to.

I will be visiting Terra Luna on my next visit to Universal Orlando, and I recommend the same to whoever’s interested, you will have...

My recent stay at Terra Luna was about what I expected of a hotel for the price range. That statement is a bit underwhelming considering Terra Luna is still a brand new resort and I paid 40% less than rack rates.

It's an Epic Universe hotel, and likely the cheapest, so many with this park as a trip priority might not care. For that reason, I'll get into the pros and cons in detail, but for the TL:DR crowd I offer some up front tips. Three things first before diving in:

• Self parking is $30 a night.

• Epic isn't walkable from this resort (It is from Stella Nova).

• Whatever staffing or festive kinetic energy you might have seen in the lobby from influencer posts is in no way indicative of the current state of this resort. This point needs a disclaimer: The bars are perfect. I had the opportunity to interact with 4 bartenders at two of the resort's bars and they were all world class; all should probably should be tending a 5 star resort. I would visit the lobby and pool bar here even if I were staying at another resort.

My initial reaction: a lack of front desk employees. While a bit early at 1 pm, unsurprisingly there were no fewer than 8 parties awaiting check in when I arrived. For twenty minutes there was a single front desk employee... and I'm not singling out this employee... quite the contrary - she was a trooper - but this is embarrassingly understaffed for a brand new hotel tied to a brand new (supposedly) A-tier theme park. After 20 minutes a second front desk employee came out and an iPad ambassador. The surveyor, while being perfectly nice about it, went through the line and asked an obviously scripted, "did you check in online?" This was Loews way of informing their guests that it is the customers' fault they are waiting, and not Loews fault for inadequate staffing. Pet peeve - check.

First impression tanked. Whatever. I was pleasantly surprised that our room was ready before 4 when other Loews resorts (read: Royal Pacific) keeps me waiting until 5 or 6 (not a fluke - on each visit until I gave up on that hotel). Also happy to be informed that Terra Luna keeps restaurants open until 11 so you can eat after a long day at the park. Unfortunately, I found at 10:45PM that it seemed I misunderstood. Only the commissary is open past 10, my appetite for Monster energy drinks and candy bars was, as usual, nil. The bar however... again: all my stars are for the legends at the bars... hotel gets 2 otherwise.

I reserved the lowest tier room to get a good bottoms up view of this new resort. If you're like me and normally upcharge yourself at resorts, avoid the impulse here. You can pay for a pool view, which gives you the ability to stand by the window and watch people swim... if that's your thing. The standard rooms face Epic; many would consider that view preferred. It is a back stage view but it's likely the better option for most... especially if Epic ever decides to do anything scenically fun... like fireworks for non-vlogging guests or flying dragons or something.

Rooms are clean, there is a small couch, and the furnishing are adequate. Curb your expectations beyond that - the unique aspects of this hotel are designed for photos. The ground floor of this hotel is putrid green, not iridescent brick, and the porthole windows you see from the outside are the windows you get.The hallways look more dated and worn than expected. The lobby design - while unique - makes the space feel small. Still, I was perfectly happy during the day for the price I paid and the view I got.

Then night falls and the lights act up. Somewhere Scrooge is swimming in the pennies saved from automating LED lighting, at the expense of complex sensors, increased maintenance, and decreased customer experience. Sensors all over the room turn off the lights after you turn them on, and turn on the lights (no matter the time of night) when you've turned them off.

While not a terrible option, upon leaving my $30 parking spot my thought - Hard Rock will likely continue to be the only Universal Resort that...

My wife and I recently returned from a stay at Universal's Tera Luna Resort and absolutely loved it! We are frequent travelers to Universal Orlando and have stayed at ALL of their on-site Loews properties many, many times. This was our first visit to Tera Luna and it may just be our new go-to resort for our future visits to Universal Orlando. Below are all of the positives along with just a few suggestions for management to consider:

THE POSITIVES: The resort is absolutely beautiful, clean and wonderfully-themed. Everything is brand new and works! The staff there are terrific and really work hard to make sure you are having a nice time. The Drinks at both the pool bar and at the Luna Bar inside the main lobby are some of the best drinks we have had at any of the properties at Universal Orlando. The food selections are fantastic, and the theming and decor of the seating area inside the Omega Cafe is immersive. The rooms are amazing with modern amenities, a large and wonderful TV, terrific shower, comfortable beds, etc. Perhaps the thing we liked the most is the overall vibe and atmosphere at this resort. It is a bit smaller than the other resorts (and wasn't very crowded at all) which my wife and I enjoyed very much. It seems that most folks who stay there go to Epic Universe during the day, which makes for a nice, relaxing resort experience for anyone who stays back to enjoy the pool, hot tub, bars, etc. Great location, bus service, etc., but you could honestly say that about all of the Universal Resorts. The price point can't be beat!

SMALL THINGS (SUGGESTIONS) FOR MANAGEMENT TO CONSIDER: As much as we absolutely loved our time at the pool every day, the music they play is a bit loud and since there are speakers all over the pool deck (and close to each other) there really is no way to get away from it if you prefer a more relaxing pool experience. I'm not saying turn the music all the way down, just down a notch or two so it isn't as overwhelming. To my surprise, there is no fresh fruit available for purchase at their inside market cafe. Every time my wife and I stay at a Universal resort we like to get snacks for the pool, including some fresh oranges, bananas, etc. When I went in to purchase my orange I was told they don't sell them there. I thought they were kidding until I realized there were serious. Some fresh oranges and other choices would be nice. (I mean it is Florida.) The coffee in their Omega Cafe is really not very good. It is strong and bitter with a "burnt" taste to it. We have actually had this same experience with the coffee at every Universal resort we stayed at, so I don't think this is a resort-specific issue but more of an overall approach to how they brew their coffee. A lighter-blend coffee choice would be nice for those of us who don't like our coffee dark and strong.

Again, those are only very minor things for management to consider and do not take away whatsoever from the amazing job that Universal did in creating the Tera Luna resort. Nice job by everyone involved and we are very much looking forward to...