The hotel was clean, with friendly service. Check in and check out was straight forward. The person who checked us in told us that there were long lines for the shuttle service that they offer, and indicated that we should get down early, so we woke up extra early to get the tickets, only to be the only ones in the lobby waiting for the tickets....
the shuttles were prompt and efficient though. There is no dinner service in this hotel, but there are pizzerias who do delivery to the rooms if you need it...
the in room tea and coffee were great, however, it was never replenished...at least there was an all day, all night coffee service in the lobby, however, the coffee was lukewarm at best, and they ran out of hot water at times.
breakfast was ok, the bread appeared to be a bit stale on one morning. The fresh fruit and yogurt options were good.
overall, it was a good stay, the hotel is really near to universal and the shuttle service was great. the rooms are clean and we didn't have any noise disturbing our sleep. there was parking available for guests as well.

I had a bit of trouble with check-in, as I had booked through the Universal Vacations website and of course they didn't pass on my reservation to the hotel. Lucky for me, the famous Doris was working on the evening of my arrival. All I did was show her my confirmation paperwork and she assigned me a room with no questions asked. Her reputation is absolutely true! I also recommend printing two copies of all confirmation papers in case you have to give a copy to the front desk but you need the code for another part of your package deal.

I had a great king bed room facing the parking lot so I could remember where I had parked the day before. The room was really nice and clean with a flat-screen television. It was a little strange to have a sliding door separating the toilet and shower from the room but I was traveling alone so it didn't really matter to me. It gave more room to the open layout of the room, which I liked. My floor was quiet, except for one night when some idiot decided to have a loud conversation in the hallway which prompted another guest to ask him to be quiet. A loud argument ensued but luckily it didn't last long. I don't know why people think there is any privacy in a hotel hallway.

The location was excellent as I was able to get anywhere I wanted to, in a decent amount of time. Very quick drive to International Drive for dinner and Sea World for the rest of my stay. On my first day at Universal, I had early access to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Since the free shuttle wasn't running yet, I decided to walk it. As a Bostonian, the 1.25 miles was doable, but definitely tiresome by the end of the day. I was going to take a cab back but decided to grab dinner on the walk instead. There is a nice plaza on the other side of the street with a bunch of restaurants. For my second day at Universal Studios, I was able to take the free shuttle bus and thus have a leisurely breakfast. Just a note that you need to book the shuttle seats so make sure and stop by on your way out the day before, as they're only available in the morning. I thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast cinnamon buns which I didn't know were a specialty of the HIE chain. Very yummy! I only got to try the automatic pancake maker once, but it was good. Towards the weekend, the breakfast area got really crowded so I started getting up earlier. I purposely chose the second week of December to avoid the crowds, but towards the end people were already arriving for the holidays. This is a great hotel and I would not hesitate to come back here. I don't know what it was like before the renovations, but I would say they did a good job. Great place to stay for a Universal vacation!

With less than a month's notice, we booked a room based on a good rate during what must be Orlando's busiest week of the year, the last one. There are not many surprises in a Holiday Inn Express. It was clean and bright, and the staff was courteous and efficient. It would have been nice to have a balcony, but the rate didn't lead us to expect one.Breakfast was a predictable madhouse (though the staff did an amazing job of resupplying and cleaning), and hardly worth it. But there was a kind of cool pancake machine. The location was pretty convenient, near shopping and has shuttles to amusement parks. Btw, when we first drove in our GPS turned us onto Major Blvd from S Kinkman right where there is another Holiday Inn. This hotel is actually closer to Vineland.

This hotel although is not really very accessible, but it is near some restaurants and convenient stores, and also is part of the iRide Trolley route. It also has free shuttle service to the nearby themeparks. Got a double room and it is very spacious. Breakfast is okay if your expectations is not high, afterall, its complimentary and is like a grab and go style.