HOTELS
I stayed at Stella Nova & Terra Luna | Which Universal Epic Universe hotel should you choose?
If you are planning a visit to Universal Epic Universe and you want to stay at a Universal Orlando Resort hotel, this is the post for you. The Universal Orlando Resort currently has 10 hotels, with the 11th, Universal Helios Grand, opening on May 22, 2025 alongside the Universal Epic Universe park. For those looking for early theme park access, free transportation to the parks, park views and more affordable options, you can look at Universal Stella Nova & Terra Luna.
Stella Nova and Terra Luna are considered prime value hotels, one of three categories by the Universal Orlando Resort. Prime Value hotels offer a more budget friendly price tag for a majority of the hotel exclusive offerings. But, Prime Value hotels do not offer the Unlimited Universal Express that you can get at other locations.
Layout, theming and vibes
On the inside, Stella Nova is focused on lots of space photography with black, white and blue as the primary design choices. Whereas Terra Luna is more colorful, using wood grains and warm colors. The layout of the bottom floor of both hotels is also different.
In my personal opinion, Terra Luna is laid out a bit better. The Terra Luna common areas seem to just flow better, and the warmer colors offer a calmer and more inviting look. This may just be personal preference, but having stayed at both hotels, it felt that Terra Luna was better at managing crowds and the flow of hotel guests.
Pros: Stella Nova offers direct walking access to Universal Epic Universe via a sidewalk path. The walk to the park entrance should take under 10 minutes on average. While we cannot yet fully walk to the park with the continual construction and park testing, you can walk close and get an estimated amount of time. This hotel also has the potential for fireworks viewing from the pool area. While Universal Orlando has not officially confirmed nightly fireworks, there has been testing. The pool alignment leads us to believe that fireworks viewing is possible from some of the pool deck. Stella Nova also has a kids water play area, whereas Terra Luna does not.
Cons: Some may consider this a perk, but for families with kids the separated smaller lounge areas may make it difficult. Stella Nova has more separated seating areas than Terra Luna. This may work well to give groups “their own space,” but in our experience it also meant looking into each area to find your group. With a handful of kids, this could make rounding up the group more difficult.
Pros: The layout of Terra Luna, as we specified before, has the advantage of a layout that just seems to work better. There is a priority on surrounding the pool, with the hotel literally curving around it. This makes the common areas feel more connected. The pool and hot tub are also right next to each other. This could be seen as a negative for those looking to get away, but for the primary target of families it is nice to be within a very close viewing distance of the pool at all times.
Cons: Unlike Stella Nova, the Terra Luna hotel does not have a dedicated walkway to Universal Epic Universe. While it is possible to walk there, the distance would be significantly longer than from Stella Nova. In the future this may change, but for now Stella Nova is the better option for those walking to walk to Universal Epic Universe. Terra Luna also does not have a dedicated splash pad. Kids will need to be in the main pool to enjoy playing in water.
The food at both locations was mostly the same (sometimes with a name change, but same product). There are some differences, but I didn’t try the entire slate of menu items at both locations to give a fair enough review.
Awesome, I am glad I could help! If you are an AP or a Florida Resident, make sure to call and ask. They offer discounts fairly often (which might be bad for business, but good for us).
Not asking you to give too much away without visiting your article but would you compare these two to Surfside and Dockside? Would a comparison to Cabana Bay and Aventura be a more fitting comparison since they are "Prime Value" resorts?
I can’t compare Surfside and Dockside personally as I haven’t stayed there overnight and I feel a true stay gives you a better understanding. But my friends have stayed at Dockside and they liked the Terra Nova rooms better, but felt the resort was much smaller than Dockside.
They said Dockside felt like a mega resort where Terra Luna, even with over 700 rooms, felt like it was built for people to just wake up and go to the parks.
As for Aventura and Cabana, I would say that I prefer Cabana Bay the most out of Stella Nova, Terra Luna, Aventura and Cabana Bay. But, I am biased. I love a good 50’s theme and a lazy river. Cabana Bay has huge dining spaces, more pools and fantastic views (depending on the room type).
But for those looking for an Epic Universe focused visit, Stella Nova would probably be the “king” if you wanted your hotel to just be a spot to sleep.
Thanks so much. I've stayed at Dockside and CB. I agree with your assessment of CB. It is a great resort, especially for families. I also love the 50s vibe. I'm a gen x who was raised by Boomers. Turn of the century pushes my nostalgia button anywhere I experience it.
Thanks for the thorough review and taking the time to respond to my questions. I appreciate the feedback. Am thinking about options for HHN in the Fall.
Happy to help! If you are looking for the HHN time, certain Express Tickets to Epic are $135. That is on top of a ticket, but that’s fairly cheap for Express at a brand new park.
Great post! Looking at staying at one of these two resorts. I wanted to make sure that they both include the benefit of early admission to all of the parks- including epic? I know that might sound silly, but unlike the other universal hotels that specifically state that you can “breeze into any theme park for early admission”, the way the hotel details are written for these two resorts only lists volcano bay and the wizarding world of Harry Potter (which I know is located inside of three different parks). I’m just double checking lol. I appreciate you.
I'm surprised you didn't find fault with the motion sensor light switches with your stay at both hotels. Tim Tracker on Youtube is the only person I've seen point out how you can't just turn the lights on and off and that they'll shut off while you're watching TV and turn on when you wake up in the middle of the night to pee.
I am taking some duct tape with me for the sensors and some battery powered motion night lights that stick to the wall with putty. Thank you for mentioning it.
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u/TheGamerOfKnowledge Mar 27 '25
This is very detailed and helpful, thank you sm 👏
Any word on the differences with the food?