sts free water taxi or shuttle bus service to the Universal Orlando theme parks. Another benefit is that the guest room key works as an Express Pass, allowing the guest to bypass the Stand-by line at participating attractions. Theme park guests who are not staying at the Universal official hotels are able to purchase Express Passes at an additional cost.[5] Loews Portofino Bay Hotel[edit] Main article: Loews Portofino Bay Hotel

CityWalk features shopping, nightclubs, dining venues, an AMC Movie Theater, and a Blue Man Group show. There are many night clubs at CityWalk including Groove, Latin Quarter (open Thursday through Saturday), Red Coconut Club, and Bob Marley-A Tribute to Freedom (both a night club and restaurant). Some notable locations are Hard Rock Cafe, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, NASCAR Sports Grill, Emeril's, NBA City, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and Pastamore. Casual dining places include: Moe's Southwest Grill, Burger King Whopper Bar, Panda express, Fusion Bistro Sushi & Sake Bar.
Resorts[edit]

The resort features three official on-site hotels: Loews Royal Pacific Hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel, and Loews Portofino Bay Hotel & Spa. All three hotels are located in close proximity to the Universal Orlando theme parks. The hotels offer guests free water taxi or shuttle bus service to the Universal Orlando theme parks. Another benefit is that the guest room key works as an Express Pass, allowing the guest to bypass the Stand-by line at participating attractions. Theme park guests who are not staying at the Universal official hotels are able to purchase Express Passes at an additional cost.[5]
Loews Portofino Bay Hotel[edit]
Main article: Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
Hotel guests use rooms featuring Italian furnishings, a Mandara Spa and fitness center, three themed swimming pools, and dining including the BiCE Ristorante, Trattoria del Porto, Mama Della's Ristorante, and more. The resort is also the only of three onsite hotels to have villas.[citation needed]
Hard Rock Hotel Orlando[edit]
Hotel guests use a white sand beach pool, rock n’ roll memorabilia, the legendary Palm Restaurant, The Kitchen, and more. The hotel offers Kid Suites and several other standard amenities such as a fitness center and some conference space.[citation needed]
Loews Royal Pacific Resort[edit]
Hotel guests use one of the largest lagoon style pools in the Greater Orlando area, accommodations with "modern conveniences", a fitness center, a conference and business center, and a variety of restaurants such as Emeril's Tchoup Choup, Islands Dining Room, Jake's American Bar and more. The resort also offers a white sand beach and a luau, occurring select nights of the week.[citation needed]
Loews Cabana Bay Beach Resort[edit]
Announced in July, 2012, a new on-site hotel to open in 2014.[6] Cabana Bay Beach Resort will feature a "hip, vintage look" and offer rooms for guests, made up of 900 suite style rooms that sleep 6 and 900 traditional style rooms that sleep 4. The hotel will be built on a 37-acre site within Universal Orlando and adjacent to Universal's Islands of Adventure – just off Hollywood Way and Turkey Lake Road. Construction is already underway.
Events[edit]

Halloween Horror Nights[edit]

ersal Souvenir Cup. For additional costs, visitors may add park-to-park Meal Deal Access allowing he or she to enjoy meals at both parks.[citation needed] Blue Man Group[edit] Main article: Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre

Other Services[edit]

Universal's Express Pass[edit]


Revenge of the Mummy features a line for Universal Express Pass
Main article: Express Pass
Many attractions in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure allow guests to utilize Express Pass. This pass admits users to a separate line for the attraction, which is given priority status when boarding. Express Pass is not a virtual queuing service. Instead, passholders may enter the "Universal Express" line whenever they wish. This pass is not included with park admission.
Universal Meal Deal[edit]
The Universal Meal Deal is somewhat of a ticketed Meal Plan for park visitors. It allows visitors of either theme park to eat all day long (as many meals as the visitor wishes to enjoy) from Lunch through dinner at select restaurants These include Mel's Drive-In, and Louie's Italian Restaurant at Universal Studios Florida and Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous, Comic Strip Cafe, and The Burger Digs at Universal's Islands of Adventure Although the selection food is limited, drinks are not included. Beverages can be purchased through a Universal Souvenir Cup. For additional costs, visitors may add park-to-park Meal Deal Access allowing he or she to enjoy meals at both parks.[citation needed]
Blue Man Group[edit]
Main article: Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre


Walkway entrance to the Theatre from CityWalk, shown prior to the construction of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster.
On November 9, 2006, Universal Orlando announced that Blue Man Group would occupy soundstage 18 in a new, unnamed theatre, which in May 2007 was named the Sharp Aquos Theatre.[12] Construction began shortly after the announcement. The theatre is contained within Sound Stage 18, which was occupied by Nickelodeon Studios from 1990–2005.[citation needed] The sound stage was home to shows such as Slime Time Live, Figure It Out, and Double Dare 2000. In 2005, the sound stage was used for Where Evil Hides, a haunted house for Universal's Halloween Horror Nights: Tales of Terror event.[13] The theatre is located between the Hard Rock Cafe and the main entrance to Universal Studios Florida.[14]
The 1,000-seat theatre features a 30-foot-tall (9.1 m) Blue Man facade, and is accessible both from the Universal CityWalk as well as the Universal Studios theme park.[15] In preparation for the rezoning of the building into CityWalk, a walkway was constructed between the Universal Studios theme park and the resort's Hard Rock Cafe allowing guests to enter the theatre without paying admission to the theme park, while the former Nickelodeon Studios entrance at the theme park was turned into an attended exit from the theme park to the theatre's entrance.
The theatre's seating diagram is organized into five diffe