Universal Orlando Water Taxis

Thank goodness someone thought of these. After a long day of trekking through the parks, riding rides, and generally exhausting yourself this is a great way to get back to your hotel and take a break all at the same time.
The ride is super peaceful and the boats don’t go too fast; I wouldn’t say there’s much danger for those who get motion sick, or sick on boats.
There’s plenty of room for strollers if you have them, so don’t let that discourage you from enjoying the ride.
The captains are all very friendly, and happy with their jobs for the most part. Some of them tell jokes, and are super jovial.
The water taxis are completely free, and they run every 20 minutes from 7 am to 2 am. They take you from your hotel to the City Walk, and vice versa– save those walking legs for the fun stuff!

Very friendly and helpful captain. He helped a lady on a scooter get on first, then everyone else. He told us jokes and entertained us with a short song as well. The ride itself was very beautiful and I love that universal created something like this. It gives people the option to walk or take a free and relaxing water taxi.

From the Portofino Bay Resort, the farthest of the Universal hotels. It was pretty cool seeing the boat arrive from under the bridge towards the dock. Even more impressive viewing the bay and watching the boat from being high above from the room.
~ No fee or toll. It’s a free fun ride, somewhat like the Disney Jungle River Cruise. I was actually waiting to see a robotic elephant or hippo, but didn’t.
~ The boats conveniently runs every 20 minutes.
~ A short ride that drops you off at CityWalk.
~ The captains always seemed nice and happy, except for a couple of them. One being a grumpy old guy, the other a younger ‘I know what I’m doing’ type.
~ The boats were clean, no issue.
~ Day time views were green and relaxing. Night time views were colorful and astounding, so set your phone to video mode.
~ If you choose not to ride the water taxi, you can always walk from resort to any of the theme parks. It’s all within two miles.
On our last day, we forgot to try the Despicable Me Ride. So with 40 minutes before the theme park closes, and a hand full of souvenir bags galore. We took the slow water taxi back to our resort. I dropped off the bags in the room with 20 minutes to spare before closing. Only coming back down from the elevator, the boat had already taken off back to CityWalk. So I ran! I ran along the boat path and made it to Universal Studios with 15 minutes left. That’s how small this place is. Small but convenient to have the water taxis around.

What a great way to get to the parks and Universal City Walk. This was very relaxing and the best way to travel.

This is a very convenient way to get to and from the parks, especially during the hotter months when you don’t want to walk.
The captains we encountered during our many trips back and forth were all friendly and seemed to be happy with their jobs. There was one, I swear who probably worked on Disney’s Jungle Cruise with the corny jokes he told!
When the water taxi picks you up at your hotel, the captains check all bags — which goes by pretty fast. I kind of like that, because when we got to the park, all we had to do was scan our entry ticket and fingerprint and we were on our way!

After a beautiful walk along the water from CityWalk to the Hard Rock Hotel, we took this enjoyable ferry ride back. We did not have to be hotel guests to get on the ride.
Runs every 20 minutes. Absolutely relaxing trip on the water among the vegetation.

The water taxis is a nice option to get back and forth from the hotels to Universal. Water taxis run every 20 mins sometimes even faster. After 8:30pm instead of three water taxis service is reduced so wait may be longer. If there are thunder storms or lighting the water taxis will be closed. If so the nearby Rickshaws are a good option.

Love taking the water taxi! So relaxing and helps you quickly get to where you need to be. The view is nice as well.

I can respect the fact they shut down when lightning is near, but overall, what a great service for hotel guests at Universal.
I stayed at the Portofino and the wait times were about 10 minutes max, as they seem to always have 2 boats criss crossing. The view on the ride is awesome, pleasant and peaceful. A terrific service for families, they go until 2 a.m. No worries about having a d.d. or parking your car. These take you right to City Walk and the 2 parks! Woot!

I love riding on these water taxis. They take you from the park to the on site hotels, and are always running. I really enjoy the relaxing ride on these and think it is a great feature of the park.

If you are staying on Universal Property at the Hard Rock Hotel, The Royal Pacific Resort, or the Portofino Bay Hotel, the water taxis are an excellent way to get back and forth from your hotel to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, or CityWalk. Actually, they just take you to CityWalk and then you have to walk to the desired Park of choice, but both Parks are a very short walking distance from where the boat dock is located at CityWalk.
I would like to specifically point out that if you are staying at Universal’s newest resort which is The Cabana Bay Beach Resort, the water taxies do NOT accommodate this resort. You will have to walk to CityWalk and the Parks or you’ll have to take a shuttle bus.
You don’t have to be staying at one of the resorts/​hotels on property to utilize them either. Anyone can board them at CityWalk and be taken to which ever resort/​hotel you like. This comes in handy if you’d like to have dinner or drinks at one of the hotels. Hubby and I use the taxis all the time to get to the Hard Rock Hotel so we can have a couple of drinks. It’s also cool to see the music memorabilia they have around the hotel.
The people running the boats are so nice and friendly. They’re also very helpful and knowledgeable about Universal and can answer most questions you have.
Sometimes it does take longer to take one of the water taxis than it does to walk to the resort/​hotel, especially at the end of the day when the Parks are closing, but it is a very nice alternative to have, especially considering your feet are probably aching at that point.

A fantastic way to get from your hotel to the park if staying onsite at Universal Orlando! Water taxis are a quick and breezy 10 minute ride from the farthest hotel. You can also travel between hotels. The skilled drivers are friendly and knowledgeable about the parks and surrounding area. It’s the best way to get from place to place when staying at a Loews hotel.

Good way to get around if you not in a hurry.

A great way to get to the parks f you are feeling lazy!

they are very nice, 5 minutes, and romantic. landscape is beautiful and well-​kept. and after walking all day at the park this relaxing ride is a treat.
I also recommend to walk to and from the parks, its 15 – 20 minutes and its a pretty walk as well.

Very relaxing and well mannered drivers. We thoroughly enjoyed each ride we took.

The best perk of staying at one of the resorts on property at Universal Orlando is the water taxi! Instead of fighting with traffic and parking, you get to start your day with a pleasant river cruise. All the drivers were very friendly and helpful. We never had to wait for more than 10 minutes, either heading out or returning at the end of the day. Awesome!

The water taxis are great — fast, convenient, and well run. Even on a slow weekend with just a few boats running, the service was excellent.

These guys do an amazing job!
The 3 Lowes hotels on the Universal Studios property each have there own water taxi, which means that we do not have to stop at the other hotels. You simply get on at your hotel and then you are transported to the Universal City Walk. The funny part is… when you are staying at the Portofino Bay… your water taxi passes the Hard Rock and the people on the dock always look a little mad that your boat did not stop to pick them up. That was my little humor for the day!
Back to the amazing boat captains… these guys are on there own. It is a joy to watch them. They throw the boat in a complete 180 degree turn towards the dock. Open the gate of the boat and jump on to the dock to rope off the front of the boat. They also keep the motor running forward and towards the dock… this allows them to not have to tie off the back of the boat. Once this is done they let everyone off the boat… open the gate for the new people to get on and then every thing in reverse except the 180 degree turn. At Disney they have like 6 people do all of that… so these guys are amazing… I would be so bored doing that 50 times a day!!!
The boat is a convenient perk to staying at a Universal Hotel.

Universal Orlando offers water taxi service that brings guests from a central loading dock at CityWalk to the on-​site hotels (Royal Pacific Resort
; Hard Rock Hotel
; and Portofino Bay Hotel
). The water taxis start 30 minutes before Early Park Admission and continue to run every 15 minutes until 2:00am in the morning, 365 days a year. Each of the three on-​site resorts has a dedicated taxi that goes right from the hotel to CityWalk and back.
Perhaps the best part is that the water taxis are free and open to everyone who comes to Universal. Therefore, even if you are just a day guest, you are more than welcomed to jump on and take a ride over to one of the hotels. This is encouraged by Universal, as they want you to experience their on-​site hotels with the hope that you’ll book your next stay on-​site.
It is only in the very late evening that the captains will begin to ask for room keys, simply to keep off any revelers who may have wandered down to the docks from the CityWalk nightclubs.
Need a reason to go to one of the on-​site hotels? How about Orchid Court Sushi Bar at Royal Pacific
; The Palm at Hard Rock
; or Thirsty Fish at Portofino Bay
.
Insider tip: While the water taxis are a great service, did you know that you can easily walk from the parks and CityWalk over to any one of the on-​site hotels? If you have never done this before, I strongly recommend it. The path runs adjacent to the waterway, is filled with lush landscaping, and is really quite lovely.
It’s about a seven minute walk from Royal Pacific to the CityWalk entrance by Margaritaville; it’s only about a five minute walk from Hard Rock over to the gates at USF; and it’s about a 15 minute walk from Portofino Bay to the gates at USF.
Surprisingly, it actually takes longer to wait for, board, and ride the water taxis from CityWalk to Royal Pacific or Hard Rock than it does just to walk from either hotel to CityWalk.