Tell me about Universal hotels?

[christym]

The next trip we take to Florida, we're considering going to Universal for a couple of days. I am dying to see the World of HP! Our kids will be 5 and 7 when we go next, so I figure it's a decent time to go, even if they are still to small/scared for some rides. Parent swapping would be easier at that point. Anyways, I've never stayed at one of their hotels. What can you tell me about them? Is it worth it or should we just leave Disney property for a day to go over? Where would you stay if you were going to stay for a day or two?

 

[damo]

With kids that young, I would stay at the Royal Pacific. They have a great pool area for youngsters.

 

[AJA]

Def stay at Royal Pacific. There are more young families and more friends to play with at the pool

Staying on site at UN with little ones is so relaxing and easy. You can walk or ride the boat to get to both parks, free express pass (front of the line for most rides) that frees up a lot of time for the pool! The hotels are gorgeous. The price might seem high at first but honestly we are paying about 50% less for RPR next month than we are for our room at Animal Kingdom at Disney. Make sure you check in here for deals on the hotel before you book.

For what it's worth, my daughter is 7 and likes on site at UN better than Disney.

 

[christym]

Interesting about the front of the line passes. I didn't know that. I would guess that saves a ton of time. Thanks for the thoughts on Royal Pacific. I will definitely keep it in mind when we start looking at how to spend our time.

 

[Metro West]

Interesting about the front of the line passes. I didn't know that. I would guess that saves a ton of time. Thanks for the thoughts on Royal Pacific. I will definitely keep it in mind when we start looking at how to spend our time.

Just to clarify...there is no such thing as front of the line passes at Universal Orlando. Some posters on the DIS refer to unlimited Express access as FOTL although I don't know why since you would still have to wait in the Express line. The only way to get true "front of the line" is to do a private VIP tour.

 

[AJA]

Just to clarify...there is no such thing as front of the line passes at Universal Orlando. Some posters on the DIS refer to unlimited Express access as FOTL although I don't know why since you would still have to wait in the Express line. The only way to get true "front of the line" is to do a private VIP tour.

When we went in Sept it was def "front of the line" lol. The regular lines were like 5 mins so express pass was almost always walk on.

I was not confused by the wording when planning our trip here on Dis....I don't think others are either.

 

[damo]

When we went in Sept it was def "front of the line" lol. The regular lines were like 5 mins so express pass was almost always walk on.

I was not confused by the wording when planning our trip here on Dis....I don't think others are either.

Maybe not recently, but we've definitely had people come back to the boards and complain that it wasn't really front of the line as they were led to believe.

 

[macraven]

Maybe not recently, but we've definitely had people come back to the boards and complain that it wasn't really front of the line as they were led to believe.

i've been around long enough on the Dis to remember that.

i understand AJA was aware of the lingo but some newbies did come read the threads here and made it an issue.

they felt mislead so the mods generally will correct fotl terminolgy and point out express line usage.