Universal’s Endless Summer Resort: Dockside Inn and Suites

By alantvuong on February 28, 2026

Just a few weeks ago, a friend and I were back in Orlando to do another Disney cruise. Instead of visiting a Disney theme park the day before our cruise, I wanted to check out Universal’s brand new Epic Universe theme park. That means staying right at a Universal resort hotel to make things easier. I booked a value resort and chose Universal’s Endless Summer Resort: Dockside Inn and Suites.

Hotel

Universal’s Endless Summer Resort: Dockside Inn and Suites and Surfside Inn and Suites are a pair of value hotels at Universal Orlando resort. The Dockside hotel is themed to the coastal retreat lifestyle and opened at the end of 2020. There are two towers that total over 2000 rooms.

used Universal’s SuperStar shuttle to the hotel, booked in advance and was $23 USD per person

We arrived at the hotel by 6:30 PM using the pre-booked Universal’s SuperStar shuttle bus. The cost was $23 USD per person and stops at any Universal hotel. The hotel looked very nice for being a value resort and getting inside to the lobby/front desk area was easy with large automatic doors.

front lobby area

It was very crowded and the lines to check in was a bit long. Good thing the line moved fast as there were a bunch of staff at the front desk. There was a slight problem checking and caused a small delay in checking in. The lady gave us both free meal vouchers to make our first ever stay at a Universal stay even better.

we got free meal vouchers

Room

view of room

We got room 1186 which was on the main floor. For a newish hotel, the accessible room did not have an automatic button for the door. The room was very spacious even with 1 large Queen size bed and 1 double bed. There was a desk, chair, coffee maker, TV, mini fridge, and a safe.

another view of room

The bathroom was large and had a great roll in shower. There was a flip up shower bench that I did not use as I bring my own commode. There were a few grab bars and both a fixed and a removable hand held shower head.

roll in shower

The roll under sink was small but I was able to wheel under it without any issues. The toilet was in the one corner and was the right height for my commode to wheel over it.

spacious bathroom

Amenities

The free Wifi worked well throughout the entire property. Parking is an extra charge and there are a few laundry rooms, ice machines, and vending machines located on select floors within the two tower buildings.

arcade room is extra charge

There is also free recreational activities held daily that include the poolside activities, arts & crafts, trivia, and there is also a fitness center and an arcade room. We did not participate in any of these activities except visiting the arcade room as we did not have any extra time.

gift shop

There is a Universal Studios gift shop that has a good selection of Universal, Nintendo, and Harry Potter merchandise, toys, and clothing. There is a Starbucks, Sunset Lounge bar, Oasis Beach bar, and Pier 8 Market: which is a food court with 4 different stations serving different foods. There is also a grab n go section where guests can buy sandwiches and drinks to go.

Pier 8 Market has 4 different food stations and a grab n go section

We used our free meal vouchers the first night and I chose a plate of 10 chicken wings with sweet potatoes fries worth $17. We each got a small cup with our meal that is valid for 1 hour for soda and drinks at the Coke freestyle fountain machines.

used free meal voucher, but 10 wings and sweet potato fries would have cost $17

Pool

Each tower has it’s own gated pool area that needs your room key card to scan in. The metal gated door was a bit heavy and didn’t want to stay open when we went in to look. There is a paved pathway to go on around the whole gated area. There are many pool deck chairs, umbrellas and even a beach area with sand. There is also a wheelchair pool lift on one side of the large pool.

wheelchair pool lift

Some Perks Included

Staying at Universal’s Endless Summer Resort: Dockside Inn and Suites or any Universal hotel does come with a few great perks included. Hotel guests get a 1 hour early admission to any of the 3 main theme parks. We definitely took advantage of this perk and arrived at Epic Universe just over an hour early to official opening time.

free access to their shuttle buses to get to any of the 3 theme parks, water park or CityWalk food and entertainment district

All guests get to use the shuttle buses for free to any of their parks and CityWalk entertainment destination. Shuttles come every 15 minutes or so and most of them are wheelchair accessible with a fold out ramp. This is really handy and saves us from getting an accessible taxi or Uber to the parks.

we did use hotel perk and got in Epic Universe 1 hour early

Other perks include resort wide charging privileges to your room key, resort merchandise delivery purchased to our room. Also up to 5 kids aged 17 and under get to stay free when occupying the parent or guardian’s room using existing bedding.

Final Thoughts

Staying at Universal’s Endless Summer Resort: Dockside Inn and Suites was a great first experience at any Universal hotel. For a value resort, it was very nice, clean and modern looking. The accessibility was great and the included perks are a great bonus. I would definitely stay here again.