Universal Helios Grand Hotel

My family of 5 travel to Orlando several times a year. We decided to stay at Helios Grand for three nights during the Epic Universe preview. We had been looking forward to this for so long! Unfortunately, this hotel did not meet our expectations and we probably will not stay here again. Here are the pros: *This hotel is directly attached to Epic Universe. You can go thru security right in the hotel and be in the park in minutes. Very convenient! *Everything is brand new! For me, this means the air quality in the rooms is good. *Beds are very comfortable. *The Flora Taverna restaurant is gorgeous and has delicious food for breakfast and dinner. *The pool is large, has great food and can accommodate many guests. *24-hour room service *Staff is pleasant, engaging and welcoming. Now to the many cons…. *The air conditioning in the room cools only the bedroom, not the bathroom or hallway. *Room service messed up our kids’ order pretty badly. Ordered soup and grilled chicken, then they called us back 20 min later to said they had no soup. So we ordered something else, and after 30 more minutes with no food we decided to cancel, but the food was on the way up. They did not give us the chicken we ordered but did give us the side of broccolini that came with the chicken, as well as two bowls of fruit. Confused. *Ordered soup the next day (my daughter’s favorite food) at 4:30 pm and they didn’t have soup because “it’s a very popular item.” *Family bathrooms on first floor don’t have a changing table. Keyword: FAMILY bathroom. *Speaking of family things - the game room only has four games (Mario Kart, basketball, a Jurassic Park shooting game and a VR game) and six claw machines. It’s super boring. *Not enough dining options. The market has very limited choices for snacks and food. I was told at 1:30 pm that they stopped making sandwiches at 11 am (???) and if I wanted one, to take a cold one from the cooler. Why are sandwiches on the menu if I can’t order a hot one? *Laundry rooms are hard to find. They are marked just as every other hotel room is, so if you aren’t looking at every single room as you walk down the hallway you can easily miss it. There are no signs and the hallways are LONG. *We had to wait 25 minutes to be seated for breakfast this morning at 10 am. There were 12 whole tables being waited on in a restaurant that is so big it can accommodate hundreds of customers. *We found the porte cochère to be underwhelming for such a hyped-up hotel. Overall, this hotel is a 6/10 and we would not stay here again for several nights. I’d *maybe* stay for one night just for the convenience of getting into Epic Universe, but for the price, I’d rather stay at a Universal hotel near CityWalk.

Meh…snuck over to enjoy the hotel and property …well not much to enjoy. Be warned the view shown is not more than that…a view. NO walking paths, no exploration. You are off the highway and the pool sits in back below road. You are locked/trapped here. Buses to take but the magic fades as you sit in traffic. No EPIC or theme at pool. Good things…the staff, the cleanliness, the food and cocktails. After you eat tho, nothing to do accept wait to enter the park in the morning. The one park only. Big miss for Loewe’s…no veranda’s either. Strangest thing and lack of theme…truly uninspired design. Totally inspired culinary and mixology. FYI, tiny coffee pot in room…no water. Shame, recommend stay on other side of highway near original parks and activity…day trip for Epic. Thought they were designing something special. Grateful to the staff…kind, anticipate need, and pleasant pros.