Helios Grand Hotel Park View Room Review: Staying Inside Epic Universe

In this post I’m sharing a detailed review of my stay at the Helios Grand Hotel, the luxury hotel inside Orlando’s newly opened Epic Universe.

I stayed in a park view room (a room overlooking the whole park). Choosing the park view made the trip quite a bit more expensive (about ₩1.2 million KRW per night… 💸), but resting while watching the park change from day to night was truly relaxing. Staying at the hotel made the whole park experience even more special.

Epic Universe seen from our room~

The fiery arrows that light up every night

What is the Helios Grand Hotel?

Opened: May 2025 (together with Epic Universe)

Pros

• Located inside the park, so you can walk straight into the park
• Park view rooms let you watch the theme park change from day to night

Who it’s for

• People who put park access first
• People looking for a hotel that makes it easy to take a break and go back into the park

Check-in

Official check-in time is 4 p.m. I arrived around 11:30 a.m., but the room wasn’t ready yet, so early check-in wasn’t possible. They said they’d send a message when the room was ready, so in the meantime I ate and shopped at CityWalk. The room-ready message arrived around 2:50 p.m., and I came back to the hotel around 4:00 to check in.

At check-in I asked the manager whether I could choose the design on my key card, and they showed me all the designs and let me pick. There were more than 20 designs, and I chose the Harry Potter key ✨ The check-in staff asked about the reason for my trip (a graduation celebration) and gave me a nicely decorated celebration button, which made me happy. (If you’d like a button, ask for one at check-in!)

The park view room — convenience and atmosphere

The artwork by the lobby elevators changes from day to night!

The whole interior is elegantly designed around the sun, moon, stars and mythology. True to the hotel’s name, the room also uses the “sun” as a motif and feels bright and stylish.

The room’s main functions are controlled by a tablet. Lights, curtains (blinds) and so on can be adjusted easily from the tablet, which was convenient.

A microwave isn’t provided by default, but they’ll bring one to your room if you ask. I asked, went out, and when I came back it was already set up. It was super handy for heating up instant rice during the trip.

Laundry facilities

The laundry rooms are on the 3rd, 5th and 7th floors.

• Tap your room key at the laundry room door to get in
• Wash/dry: $4.75 each
• Detergent: $2.5 (from a vending machine)

You can pay by installing the “CSCPay Mobile” app or by tapping a credit card. The app shows “available machines / time remaining,” so it’s handy to check before you go.

The outdoor pool

The way to the pool

The outdoor pool has plenty of sun loungers, so it was nice for lounging around. During park hours (late afternoon), there were especially few people, so it felt relaxed.

Depth: about 0.8 m at the shallow end and about 1.2 m at the deep end (with a step between them)

Feature: Underwater speakers are installed in the pool, so you can hear the music clearly even underwater. I floated on my back listening to music and completely unwound.

Underwater speakers!!!

Bar

Next to the pool there’s a bar selling drinks and cocktails, so you can grab something to drink.

Hot tub

There’s a small hot tub next to the pool, which is nice for loosening up.

I don’t recommend the rooftop bar (Bar Helios)

There’s a bar on the hotel’s top floor (10th floor). For me personally, this was the worst experience of the stay. (Bad service 😠, low satisfaction for the drinks and price 🤨, etc.) There’s a lot to say about it, so I wrote a detailed review in a separate post.

🔗 My Worst Experience at Bar Helios… An Honest Review, Including Being Treated Unfairly

If you’re curious, check out the link above.

Park access & convenience

Inside the ground-floor lobby there’s an entrance that connects directly to the park. Before going through, you pass a ticket and bag check. We waited on the path between the hotel and the park until the park opened, and were able to enter 10 minutes before opening. The park entrance path is close to the Harry Potter area and Stardust Racers, so it’s ideal for rope drop.

Overall

It’s pricey, but considering the park access + the comfort of a new hotel + the special view, I was very satisfied with my choice.

✔ If you want to make the most of the theme park ✔ If you want to enjoy the park’s day and night atmospheres from your room → I highly recommend it!

That wraps up my review of staying in a park view room at the Helios Grand Hotel~

I hope my blog helps make your trip a little more magical 💫 If you have any questions or want to know more, feel free to reach out through the contact page. Thanks for reading ❤