I wasn’t sure where to post this, so I’m going with this forum, but a moderator should feel free to move it. I thought it might help to see a point-by-point comparison between these two hotels, since I hear see a lot of Disney veterans wondering about Universal hotels.In July, we stayed for 3 nights at Royal Pacific Resort (RPR), followed by 5 nights at the Yacht Club (YC), then some other stuff even later.
Price: For us, YC was cheaper per night than RPR. When we were there, Yacht Club had a discounted “summer savings” rate (that was open to everyone – not something special to us), and if we had stayed longer at RPR, I think we could have had a small discount there for staying 4+ nights. YC (before tax) came to $296.80 per night. RPR (before tax) was $369 for a weekend night, $344 for the two weeknights. Tax was 12.5% at both, I think. Both places we were paying for a standard 2 Queen room. I’ve heard multiple stories of RPR being cheaper than YC for others, though, so maybe we just were there at a weird time.
Advantage YC (but your situation may be very different)
Parking/transportation from airport: YC had free self-parking. RPR charged us. If you don’t have a car, YC would have free transportation from the airport, while you have to arrange travel at RPR.
Advantage: YC
Lobby: Both hotels had very nice lobby areas. Themes were very different so you might prefer one or the other; I somewhat preferred the Pacific island theme of RPR. The RPR lobby was quite confusing at first, and there was no one to help us figure out where to even check in, so we wandered the long way around on arrival. Once you have your bearings, it’s OK, but still kind of a confusing layout. YC had someone who greeted us immediately and it was easy to find our way around.
Tie.
Checkin/Front Desk/Checkout: Disney has the whole magic bands – straight to your room deal, which was really nice and convenient. However, I still had to go down to the front desk later to get some information about the overall resort. RPR I ended up in a line, but it was short. Then there was a different (short) line for the express pass, and another line (again, very short) when I had theme park ticket questions. YC I never had any line any time I went to the front desk or the concierge desk, though maybe I just got lucky. There was nothing wrong with RPR, but the convenience of just going straight to our room could not be beat.
Advantage: YC
Rooms: The YC room felt much larger and after returning we looked it up: YC rooms are 380 square feet, RPR are 335. We could definitely feel the difference! The YC room gave us plenty of space to spread out, and we didn’t feel crowded at all. We had a balcony at YC which was nice, though we only used it a little bit. Our RPR room was one of the “wedge” shaped rooms in the tower, and felt awkward to us – we actually did not care for the room itself that much. It also had a (very nice) shower, but no bathtub, and one of our kids is still in the “bath only” stage. I had not requested an accessible room (and the overall room did not seem to be HA); maybe other rooms have a bath. The other in-room amenities were similar – don’t remember any significant differences.
Advantage: YC
Convenience to parks/other places: RPR was very convenient to the two Universal parks. The walk was not bad (especially to IoA), and the boat was convenient and with one exception had very little wait. Citywalk was not far. We did not try the shuttle service to other places (like Wet and Wild or Sea World) so I can’t say much about that. YC was also very convenient to two parks – a walk to Epcot and a boat ride to DHS. It was not far (boat or longer walk) to the Boardwalk area (or to Swan/Dolphin). YC of course had the Disney shuttles to other parks. Basically, both hotels felt as though they were very convenient to a lot of nearby stuff, including a couple of parks (in RPR’s case, this was all the parks).
Tie.
Food: I’ll divide this into three parts.
Onsite quick-serve: neither hotel was very good here. YC had the Beach Club Marketplace, but that was a longish walk, and the actual served food was pretty limited, though there were a few hot items and there was quite a bit you could buy from the freezer/refrigerator case. YC also had Beaches and Cream, which was good for ice cream. RPR didn’t have an equivalent refrigerator/freezer area (that I ever saw) or a quick serve place like at Beach Club Marketplace, but they did have the Orchid Court café where it was easy to get breakfast items in the morning (much better than what could be found at YC). Both had pool bars/restaurants.
Tie.
Onsite other dining: There are basically 3 (4 if you count Beaches and Cream) restaurants at YC, including a high-end steakhouse, a general dining restaurant, and a seafood buffet. RPR has two main places (3 if you count Orchid Court): a general dining restaurant and Emeril’s restaurant. I think the preference will depend on what you like. We loved the Cape May Buffet at YC, but Emeril’s Tchoup Tchoup did not have a menu that appealed to us, while I know some others have really loved Tchoup Tchoup. Both have room service.
Tie.
Nearby dining: YC is not far from Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin, or the World Showcase part of Epcot (though this requires park entry). RPR is not far from Citywalk (no park entry needed) and has a shuttle to the restaurants at other Universal hotels. We ate at several Epcot restaurants (that we really liked), and two Citywalk restaurants that we also really liked. The Disney restaurants generally are more crowded and need reservations, while the Universal ones were much easier to get into, and are somewhat cheaper.
Advantage: RPR, unless you have an Epcot entry and advance reservations
Pool: To be fair, we did not swim at RPR, though we did take a look at the pool. The RPR pool is very nice overall. However, the YC pool area is probably the nicest I’ve ever seen at a hotel – the slide is great, the sandy bottom pool is cool. There’s a beach area, and a lazy river, hot tubs for adults or for anyone, etc. I think the RPR pool had private areas you could reserve, so if you were going to spend the day or a long time at the pool, maybe it would win out for you. Also, I thought I heard that you could pool hop between the pools at Universal (though not sure the hassle would be worth it). For us, though, the YC pool was great and was a highlight of the hotel.
Advantage: YC.
Fitness Center: Both hotels had a complimentary fitness center. I know fitness centers aren’t what most people care about on vacation. Both fitness centers were decent – not quite up to the small neighborhood one at home, but more than the typical hotel fitness center. Each had multiple cardio and weight machines along with free weights. For what I was wanting, they were essentially the same, though I think maybe the RPR one was a little nicer overall. The only noticeable difference was the hours: YC was 24 hours, while RPR was 5 a.m.-10 p.m. For most, those hours are fine, but I’m one of the few who prefers late night, so closing at 10 was annoying for me. For those that like to run outdoors, the area around the YC was very conducive to jogging – I didn’t see as much around RPR (the trails to the parks had security partway that would slow you), but there might have been other areas I didn’t see.
Small advantage: YC (only because of the 24 hours).
Other onsite stuff: Both places had stores, an arcade, a variety of other scheduled activities, including movies at night, etc. YC had things like boats you could rent on the lake, though I didn’t notice if RPR had something comparable. Honestly, we spent little time at any of this, other than stopping in some stores. The stores at RPR were more small/individual/unique, while YC had more of a single larger Disney store (plus another one on the Beach Club side).
Tie.
Employees: The friendliness of employees has always been one of the big selling points at Disney, and those at YC did not disappoint this time, either. But, those at RPR were just as friendly and helpful as the Disney ones. This was true throughout Universal (and was different than our one previous trip, many years ago) – the employees on the whole were just as good as those at Disney.
Tie.
Other bonuses: RPR has the complimentary express pass. Oddly, we were in the parks 3 days, but the first one we arrived in the afternoon right after a huge rainstorm that cleared out US – there were basically no lines anywhere, and the EP did almost nothing for us. The second day mainly at US I think the EP saved us a lot of time in the afternoon and evening. Our third day manly at IoA we did not find the EP that helpful, since the order we did the rides had us hitting all of them at times when there were no real waits in either line. Still, this was a huge benefit to being at RPR. The only benefit close to this at Disney was the complimentary magic bands and earlier FP+ reservation window, but that’s a small advantage compared to the free EP.
Big advantage: RPR
Bottom line: A lot will depend on what aspects you value more. If RPR didn’t have the free Express Pass, it would have been no contest in favor of YC for us. We came away liking YC more than RPR, and the fact that it was cheaper for us just added to the preference. But, the express pass meant that we were very glad that we stayed at RPR while at Universal, even though we didn’t get as much use out of it. I would certainly choose to split my stay if spending 2 or more days at Universal – although we liked YC more overall, RPR was still very nice, and much more convenient for visiting Universal parks.
Price: For us, YC was cheaper per night than RPR. When we were there, Yacht Club had a discounted “summer savings” rate (that was open to everyone – not something special to us), and if we had stayed longer at RPR, I think we could have had a small discount there for staying 4+ nights. YC (before tax) came to $296.80 per night. RPR (before tax) was $369 for a weekend night, $344 for the two weeknights. Tax was 12.5% at both, I think. Both places we were paying for a standard 2 Queen room. I’ve heard multiple stories of RPR being cheaper than YC for others, though, so maybe we just were there at a weird time.
Advantage YC (but your situation may be very different)
Parking/transportation from airport: YC had free self-parking. RPR charged us. If you don’t have a car, YC would have free transportation from the airport, while you have to arrange travel at RPR.
Advantage: YC
Lobby: Both hotels had very nice lobby areas. Themes were very different so you might prefer one or the other; I somewhat preferred the Pacific island theme of RPR. The RPR lobby was quite confusing at first, and there was no one to help us figure out where to even check in, so we wandered the long way around on arrival. Once you have your bearings, it’s OK, but still kind of a confusing layout. YC had someone who greeted us immediately and it was easy to find our way around.
Tie.
Checkin/Front Desk/Checkout: Disney has the whole magic bands – straight to your room deal, which was really nice and convenient. However, I still had to go down to the front desk later to get some information about the overall resort. RPR I ended up in a line, but it was short. Then there was a different (short) line for the express pass, and another line (again, very short) when I had theme park ticket questions. YC I never had any line any time I went to the front desk or the concierge desk, though maybe I just got lucky. There was nothing wrong with RPR, but the convenience of just going straight to our room could not be beat.
Advantage: YC
Rooms: The YC room felt much larger and after returning we looked it up: YC rooms are 380 square feet, RPR are 335. We could definitely feel the difference! The YC room gave us plenty of space to spread out, and we didn’t feel crowded at all. We had a balcony at YC which was nice, though we only used it a little bit. Our RPR room was one of the “wedge” shaped rooms in the tower, and felt awkward to us – we actually did not care for the room itself that much. It also had a (very nice) shower, but no bathtub, and one of our kids is still in the “bath only” stage. I had not requested an accessible room (and the overall room did not seem to be HA); maybe other rooms have a bath. The other in-room amenities were similar – don’t remember any significant differences.
Advantage: YC
Convenience to parks/other places: RPR was very convenient to the two Universal parks. The walk was not bad (especially to IoA), and the boat was convenient and with one exception had very little wait. Citywalk was not far. We did not try the shuttle service to other places (like Wet and Wild or Sea World) so I can’t say much about that. YC was also very convenient to two parks – a walk to Epcot and a boat ride to DHS. It was not far (boat or longer walk) to the Boardwalk area (or to Swan/Dolphin). YC of course had the Disney shuttles to other parks. Basically, both hotels felt as though they were very convenient to a lot of nearby stuff, including a couple of parks (in RPR’s case, this was all the parks).
Tie.
Food: I’ll divide this into three parts.
Onsite quick-serve: neither hotel was very good here. YC had the Beach Club Marketplace, but that was a longish walk, and the actual served food was pretty limited, though there were a few hot items and there was quite a bit you could buy from the freezer/refrigerator case. YC also had Beaches and Cream, which was good for ice cream. RPR didn’t have an equivalent refrigerator/freezer area (that I ever saw) or a quick serve place like at Beach Club Marketplace, but they did have the Orchid Court café where it was easy to get breakfast items in the morning (much better than what could be found at YC). Both had pool bars/restaurants.
Tie.
Onsite other dining: There are basically 3 (4 if you count Beaches and Cream) restaurants at YC, including a high-end steakhouse, a general dining restaurant, and a seafood buffet. RPR has two main places (3 if you count Orchid Court): a general dining restaurant and Emeril’s restaurant. I think the preference will depend on what you like. We loved the Cape May Buffet at YC, but Emeril’s Tchoup Tchoup did not have a menu that appealed to us, while I know some others have really loved Tchoup Tchoup. Both have room service.
Tie.
Nearby dining: YC is not far from Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin, or the World Showcase part of Epcot (though this requires park entry). RPR is not far from Citywalk (no park entry needed) and has a shuttle to the restaurants at other Universal hotels. We ate at several Epcot restaurants (that we really liked), and two Citywalk restaurants that we also really liked. The Disney restaurants generally are more crowded and need reservations, while the Universal ones were much easier to get into, and are somewhat cheaper.
Advantage: RPR, unless you have an Epcot entry and advance reservations
Pool: To be fair, we did not swim at RPR, though we did take a look at the pool. The RPR pool is very nice overall. However, the YC pool area is probably the nicest I’ve ever seen at a hotel – the slide is great, the sandy bottom pool is cool. There’s a beach area, and a lazy river, hot tubs for adults or for anyone, etc. I think the RPR pool had private areas you could reserve, so if you were going to spend the day or a long time at the pool, maybe it would win out for you. Also, I thought I heard that you could pool hop between the pools at Universal (though not sure the hassle would be worth it). For us, though, the YC pool was great and was a highlight of the hotel.
Advantage: YC.
Fitness Center: Both hotels had a complimentary fitness center. I know fitness centers aren’t what most people care about on vacation. Both fitness centers were decent – not quite up to the small neighborhood one at home, but more than the typical hotel fitness center. Each had multiple cardio and weight machines along with free weights. For what I was wanting, they were essentially the same, though I think maybe the RPR one was a little nicer overall. The only noticeable difference was the hours: YC was 24 hours, while RPR was 5 a.m.-10 p.m. For most, those hours are fine, but I’m one of the few who prefers late night, so closing at 10 was annoying for me. For those that like to run outdoors, the area around the YC was very conducive to jogging – I didn’t see as much around RPR (the trails to the parks had security partway that would slow you), but there might have been other areas I didn’t see.
Small advantage: YC (only because of the 24 hours).
Other onsite stuff: Both places had stores, an arcade, a variety of other scheduled activities, including movies at night, etc. YC had things like boats you could rent on the lake, though I didn’t notice if RPR had something comparable. Honestly, we spent little time at any of this, other than stopping in some stores. The stores at RPR were more small/individual/unique, while YC had more of a single larger Disney store (plus another one on the Beach Club side).
Tie.
Employees: The friendliness of employees has always been one of the big selling points at Disney, and those at YC did not disappoint this time, either. But, those at RPR were just as friendly and helpful as the Disney ones. This was true throughout Universal (and was different than our one previous trip, many years ago) – the employees on the whole were just as good as those at Disney.
Tie.
Other bonuses: RPR has the complimentary express pass. Oddly, we were in the parks 3 days, but the first one we arrived in the afternoon right after a huge rainstorm that cleared out US – there were basically no lines anywhere, and the EP did almost nothing for us. The second day mainly at US I think the EP saved us a lot of time in the afternoon and evening. Our third day manly at IoA we did not find the EP that helpful, since the order we did the rides had us hitting all of them at times when there were no real waits in either line. Still, this was a huge benefit to being at RPR. The only benefit close to this at Disney was the complimentary magic bands and earlier FP+ reservation window, but that’s a small advantage compared to the free EP.
Big advantage: RPR
Bottom line: A lot will depend on what aspects you value more. If RPR didn’t have the free Express Pass, it would have been no contest in favor of YC for us. We came away liking YC more than RPR, and the fact that it was cheaper for us just added to the preference. But, the express pass meant that we were very glad that we stayed at RPR while at Universal, even though we didn’t get as much use out of it. I would certainly choose to split my stay if spending 2 or more days at Universal – although we liked YC more overall, RPR was still very nice, and much more convenient for visiting Universal parks.
