I stayed at Universal Orlando's cheapest hotel for $105 a night. It was an absolute steal, and I'd book it again in a heartbeat.

Universal Orlando's resort hotels fall into four different groups based on prices and perks. Ordered from most to least expensive, the categories are premier, preferred, prime value, and value.

I stayed at a Universal hotel for the first time during my honeymoon almost 20 years ago, when my partner and I checked into the Loews Royal Pacific Resort, a premier-level property.

I've since booked rooms at Loews Portofino Bay, Loews Sapphire Falls, and Cabana Bay Beach Resort.

While planning a Mother's Day getaway with my two daughters, ages 12 and 8, I knew we'd stay at one of the resort hotels. However, I wanted to explore one I'd never been to before.

Both Dockside Inn and Suites and Surfside Inn and Suites are relatively new, with Surfside opening in 2019 and Dockside opening in 2020.

When it came time to choose whether I wanted to stay at Dockside or Surfside, I didn't have a strong preference. After all, the two value properties are directly across from each other at Universal's Endless Summer Resort.

Since Dockside's rates were slightly lower during our travel dates, I made a reservation there.

One thing to note is that the value hotels are set apart from the other Universal properties, which are within walking distance of the parks.

Trekking to the theme parks from Dockside or Surfside would take upwards of 35 minutes, so we relied on the hotel's complimentary buses to get around instead.

When I booked our room in early April, the rate was $123 a night (we used our annual-passholder discount to bring the price down from $140 a night).

But right before our trip, I noticed that the price had dropped to $105 a night for passholders. I called Universal to ask for the lower rate, and they generously refunded the difference. Our four-night stay ended up costing a total of about $475.

When I walked into the Dockside lobby for the first time, I noticed the colossal driftwood statues and soft ocean-patterned rugs.

Even though we didn't visit during a peak time, the hotel's common areas were always busy during the day.

Dockside's standard rooms fit up to four adults, so there was plenty of space for our party of one adult and two children.

The hotel also offers two-bedroom suites, which fit up to six people and come with extra amenities.

We tucked our suitcases in little nooks under each bed and kept our clothes in the three small drawers below the TV.

There were also hangers in the closet next to the door and hooks on the full-size mirror by the entryway. Still, guests with a lot of clothes might find it challenging to fit everything in the room.

Our room also had a mini fridge inside of the large cabinet by the drawers. However, it's important to note that even though Dockside's two-bedroom suites come with microwaves, standard rooms do not.

The bathroom's layout — a full shower and toilet partitioned off from the sink area — was nice and allowed more than one person to use the space at a time.

The shower had a sliding glass door and a retractable line for drying wet clothes. And because it wasn't in the same room as the sink, we had some privacy while we got ready.

I also really appreciated that Dockside's staff cleaned our room each day.

Requiring a room key to control the light switch was a cool, energy-saving feature. That being said, it was a bit of a pain to hunt down a key whenever we needed to turn on the lights.

Dockside has two pools (along with a children's area), and we could see one of them from our window.

During our stay, we only visited the pool in Tower 2. It has a zero-entry area but lacks the waterslides and lazy rivers I've seen at Cabana Bay and other prime-value hotels. Unfortunately, we didn't make it over to Tower 1 to check out the other pool.

Guests at Universal's value hotels don't have access to other resorts' pools, a perk offered to those staying at properties in the prime-value category and above.

Since we only used Dockside's pool one day, swimming at other resorts wasn't a big concern for us.

My daughters and I ate a delicious, inexpensive breakfast at Pier 8 Market on our first morning. One night, we also stopped in to pick up grab-and-go snacks.

The food court's setup reminded me of Cabana Bay's Bayliner Diner, and the prices were in the same range too. As a bonus, our Universal passes scored us discounts on the items we bought from Pier 8 Market.

Other options for food and drinks at Dockside include the Sunset Lounge, the Oasis Beach Bar, and the Wave Maker's Pool Bar.

Other Universal hotels offer multiple ways for guests to get to and from the parks, including water taxis, buses, and walking paths. Unfortunately, there's no water-taxi route from the Endless Summer Resort, and the walk to the parks is much too far.

Complimentary shuttles run from Dockside to Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of Adventure, Universal's Volcano Bay, and Universal CityWalk.

The buses were supposed to stop at the value properties every 10 to 15 minutes, but we rarely had to wait at all. Most of the time, we just walked up and got right on.

Once we boarded the bus, it took about five to seven minutes to reach the transportation hub at CityWalk. The whole process was pretty speedy and efficient.

When we stayed at Cabana Bay, it took us 20 minutes to walk back from the parks, so I appreciated the shuttle service at Dockside.

Like all of Universal's hotels, Dockside offers early admission to some parks, meaning guests can gain entry up to one hour before opening time. So on our last day, we headed to Volcano Bay an hour before doors opened to the general public.

If you're staying at a premier-level hotel, you get a free Universal Express Unlimited pass during your trip, which allows you to skip lines at popular attractions. It's a fantastic perk, especially when the parks are crowded.

However, since we weren't too concerned about long lines in May, we didn't think it was worth upgrading to a premier-level room for more money.

Universal may classify Dockside as a value property, but its newest on-site hotel has many modern amenities and impressive features. I was blown away when I compared Dockside to other hotel rooms in the same price range.

The seamless transportation options and early admission to parks allowed me to get the most out of my time at Universal, and I'd recommend a room at Dockside to anyone visiting the theme parks.