Housing near Universal Orlando Resort

04The drive to Universal Studios Florida and Epic Universe

Universal Studios Florida and Universal Epic Universe sit on two different points on the map, so the drive from any of our homes is not always the same to both. Epic Universe opened in 2025 to the south, closer to the tourist corridor. All figures here are typical road-routing times without traffic. Meet. Play. Stay. is about 12 minutes from Universal Studios Florida and about 16 from Epic Universe. Piedmont is about 13 minutes to Universal Studios Florida and about 15 to Epic Universe. Fruit Tree Home is about 13 minutes to Universal Studios Florida and about 14 to Epic Universe.

The rest of the portfolio spreads out from there. Amelia’s Arena Retreat is about 16 minutes to Universal Studios Florida and 15 to Epic Universe. The Clue House runs about 14 minutes to Universal Studios Florida and 18 to Epic Universe. Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando and City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes, both in Washington Shores, run about 16 and 15 minutes to Universal Studios Florida, and both about 15 to Epic Universe. Entertainment Home and Cozy Home, in Pine Hills, are about 14 minutes to Universal Studios Florida and 17 to Epic Universe. Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat is about 17 minutes to Universal Studios Florida and 20 to Epic Universe. Wekiwa Home, farthest west in Hiawassee, is about 19 minutes to Universal Studios Florida and 22 to Epic Universe. WinterPark Home, in Lockhart, is about 26 minutes to both parks.

Both parks carry their own opening and closing traffic on top of the ordinary rush-hour flow on I-4, SR-408 and Kirkman Road. A production call time or a park-opening shift beats the worst of it; a schedule that starts in the late afternoon can meet the build-up heading toward Universal Boulevard. None of the figures above include traffic, so budget extra minutes on the busier routes.

05Where the homes sit around the resort

The map places each home in its true compass direction from Universal Studios Florida, with distance from the centre showing drive time by road rather than miles. The pattern follows the portfolio's own geography: the West Orlando homes, Piedmont, Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando, Meet. Play. Stay., City and Stadium Sanctuary Vibes and Wekiwa Home, route in on SR-408 or Kirkman Road. The Northwest Orlando homes, The Clue House, WinterPark Home, Entertainment Home, Downtown & Stadium Cozy Retreat and Cozy Home, route in on SR-408 or I-4. Malibu Groves itself sits south of Old Winter Garden Road and the Central Florida Fairgrounds, just east of Kirkman Road, which is the road Meet. Play. Stay. uses to reach Universal Boulevard.

Kirkman Road is the spine that ties the west-side cluster to Universal Boulevard, running past the Meet & Play House in Malibu Groves and on past Valencia College's West Campus and the MetroWest office corridor before it reaches the resort. SR-408, the East-West Expressway, is the other route in from downtown and the northwest, and it is a toll road collected by transponder or by plate. Over a multi-week or multi-month project, a SunPass or E-PASS transponder is worth setting up in the first week; tolling by plate works but costs more per trip.

From the Amelia House, downtown, the route to Universal runs west on I-4 or SR-408 through the corridor covered in our downtown area guide. The 25th Street House, just south of downtown in Holden Heights, picks up the same corridor but lands close to the west-side homes' drive time, about 13 minutes.

06The homes closest to the resort

Three of our homes sit closest to the resort by road. Each has its own layout and its own pace, so the right pick depends on your situation: one person on a transfer, a small crew, or a family moving in together for a season.

West Orlando

Malibu Groves

Meet. Play. Stay.

3 bd 2 ba Sleeps 9

9 min downtown · 10 min ORMC · 12 min Universal

Remote Workers & Digital NomadsGroups & Reunions

West Orlando

Washington Shores

Piedmont

4 bd 3 ba Sleeps 14

11 min downtown · 11 min ORMC · 13 min Universal

Travel Nurse & MedicalInsurance & Displacement

South of Downtown

Holden Heights

Fruit Tree Home

3 bd 2 ba Sleeps 10

6 min downtown · 5 min ORMC · 13 min Universal

Travel Nurse & MedicalInsurance & Displacement

The Meet & Play House in Malibu Groves is the newest-built home in the portfolio: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an attached garage and a fenced backyard, with a desk and an office chair in two of the bedrooms and a separate game room holding a pool table and a dart board. It sleeps up to nine and sits about 12 minutes from Universal Studios Florida. The Piedmont House in Washington Shores has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a concrete parking pad that fits several vehicles, useful for a crew that wants a work truck parked at the house rather than on the street. It sleeps up to fourteen and has its own game corner with a foosball table, about 13 minutes from Universal Studios Florida.

The 25th Street House in Holden Heights is smaller and simpler: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full-size washer and dryer, keyless entry and a screened front porch, about 13 minutes from Universal Studios Florida. It carries 142 Airbnb reviews at a 4.83 rating. It suits one or two people on a transfer well and a family of four adequately; the bedrooms run compact, which we say plainly on its own page.

A short assignment of a week or two runs through each home's Airbnb and Vrbo listing rather than a monthly agreement; a stay of a month or longer is booked directly with us on a written agreement instead. Either way, the same house, kitchen and parking come with it.

All three take pets under the same policy as the rest of the portfolio, confirmed in writing when you inquire, and all three come with private parking, so a work vehicle never competes for street space.

07The roles a Universal project brings

A construction crew, a ride or show-technology contractor, and a corporate employee moving in for a multi-month project need different things from a house, and the thirteen homes cover most of it. A crew installing or maintaining a ride needs somewhere to park a truck overnight: Piedmont's parking pad and Meet. Play. Stay.'s attached garage both do that job without the truck sitting on the street overnight. An entertainment performer or a production hand working irregular hours wants a quiet bedroom and a kitchen that works at odd hours, which any of the thirteen homes covers, since every one comes with a full kitchen and its own laundry.

Corporate and creative staff on a multi-month assignment tend to ask about a desk first. Meet. Play. Stay. has one in two of its three bedrooms, and The Clue House, a little further out in Pine Hills, has one as well, along with full-size laundry. Vendor teams supporting an opening or a refurbishment often do not know their exact end date going in; our extensions run month by month, so a stay booked for six weeks can become three months without a move to a different house.

Team members transferring in for a new role at the resort face the same soft-landing problem as any corporate move: a base for a month or two while they choose a neighborhood and sign a lease. A furnished house covers that without a hotel bill stacking up, and because the agreement runs month by month, moving out is as simple as giving notice once the apartment search is done. Our relocation and long-stay page goes through the details.

A larger production or event crew that needs more room can look at The Clue House, six bedrooms and three bathrooms with a desk in one bedroom, or Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando in Washington Shores, four bedrooms with blackout curtains in every bedroom for anyone working nights. Splitting one monthly rate and one written agreement across a crew of several people costs less than several separate hotel rooms over the same weeks.

08Daily life on the west side

For Meet. Play. Stay. in Malibu Groves, the everyday grocery run is the Publix at Metro West Village on South Hiawassee Road or the Publix on South Kirkman Road, both a short drive, and the MetroWest restaurant corridor on South Hiawassee Road covers a lot of ground close to the house: Tacos Don Andres for birria, Habibi Lebanese Grill for shawarma, Mecatos Bakery & Cafe for Colombian coffee and pastries, a sushi spot, and Marco's Pizza, with Teak Neighborhood Grill on Kirkman Road for burgers and a weekend brunch. Piedmont, in Washington Shores, sits farther from that Publix pair; its nearer grocery stops are the Walmart Supercenter on West Princeton Street, Presidente Supermarket on Pine Hills Road, or the compact Publix at The Paramount on Lake Eola downtown. For a sit-down meal near Piedmont, Nikki's Place on South Orange Blossom Trail has served soul food since 1999, less than a mile from Camping World Stadium. From Fruit Tree Home, south of downtown in Holden Heights, the closer grocery option is the Publix on South Orange Avenue. Pharmacies for Meet. Play. Stay. and Piedmont sit along Orange Blossom Trail and West Colonial, at the Walmart, the CVS and the Walgreens. Amelia’s Arena Retreat and Fruit Tree Home, both closer to downtown, are nearer the Publix pharmacy at Lake Eola plus a CVS and a Walgreens within a few blocks.

Lake Lorna Doone Park, a city park just north of Camping World Stadium with a walking loop, outdoor fitness stations and a splash pad, sits a few minutes from the Washington Shores homes, including Piedmont. On a day off from a shoot or a shift, the game room at Piedmont or Meet. Play. Stay. covers the hours at home, and the fenced yard at either gives a crew somewhere to sit outside without leaving the property.

None of this side of Orlando runs on transit. SR-408 and I-4 put you at the resort, downtown or the stadium district within minutes, but you will want a car for groceries, meals and everything in between. Downtown's Publix pharmacy at Lake Eola, with a CVS and a Walgreens a few blocks off, handles the closer errands from the Amelia and 25th Street houses.

09Billing for a Universal project

Whether the party paying is a production company, a staffing agency placing entertainment performers, a vendor supporting an opening, or a relocation coordinator moving in a corporate hire, we write the agreement the way it needs to work on your end. The rate, dates and deposit go in writing, the invoice can be addressed to the company's name, and we provide a W-9 and a certificate of insurance on request; Libema carries a commercial landlord liability policy. Established companies, agencies and insurers can use net-30 terms on a signed agreement or a purchase order. The first booking is paid up front, the same as any new account.

If the schedule slips, and on a construction or refurbishment timeline it often does, extensions run month by month at the same terms. Tell us as soon as a date moves and we will hold the following month where we can. Our corporate housing and contractor crew housing pages cover the paperwork in more detail, and the remote worker housing page covers a solo employee logging in from the desk at Meet. Play. Stay. or The Clue House.

10Booking a stay for a Universal project

Booking follows the same four steps for a solo transfer, a small crew, or a company account. Tell us the dates, the number of people and any must-haves, a desk, a fenced yard, room for a work truck, and we match you to a home from this cluster or elsewhere in the portfolio. The rate, deposit and pet policy come back in writing the same day, ready for you or your coordinator to sign off on.

Once the agreement is signed, arrival is simple: guests let themselves in with keyless entry or a lockbox, and the code or key location arrives a few days before check-in. A one-month notice covers most schedule changes; tell us as soon as a shoot, a build or a rotation looks like running long, and we will work the following month around it.

11What's in the house

Every home comes furnished and ready from the first night, with a stocked kitchen, made-up beds, Wi-Fi and private parking. The exact inclusions vary a little by home and are confirmed in writing when you book.

Exact inclusions vary a little by home and are confirmed in writing when you book.

A washer and dryer is in every home; Fruit Tree Home, The Clue House and two others carry the full-size laundry the amenity list calls out specifically. A desk sits in two homes only, Meet. Play. Stay. and The Clue House, and a game room is only at Piedmont, Meet. Play. Stay. and Entertainment Home. None of the thirteen homes has a pool; they are residential houses. Six homes publish a street address on the site, Fruit Tree Home and Piedmont among them; the other six, Meet. Play. Stay. included, publish the neighborhood and zip code and share the exact address at booking.

For anyone on a shift pattern tied to park hours, blackout curtains matter more than usual; Game Day Getaway-Downtown Orlando has them in every bedroom. Over a longer contract, a full kitchen means groceries from the MetroWest Publix turn into real meals instead of nightly takeout, and the driveway, carport or parking pad at every home gives gear, coolers and a second vehicle somewhere to sit besides the street.

12What guests said

These are real reviews from Meet. Play. Stay.'s own Airbnb listing, quoted verbatim with the reviewer's name and month. Every home page carries its own set, and the full wall of reviews across the portfolio is on our reviews page.