Newbie questions about hotel and benefits

[LynneyPooh]

Good afternoon! We'll be newbies to US this summer. While I know the ins and outs of WDW, US is a whole new world to me. I've figured out that we want the 2Day P2P with 3rd day free. Also because the Transformers ride opens june 20, the week we've already booked went from a standard week to a peak week. I'm now thinking EP's will be necessary. Doing the math, booking a hotel room to get the unlimited express pass is our best bet. Now to the question:

When I book my room for the 1st night (for example, arrival on Tues), how early on Tues can we enter the park? Do we have to wait until check-in time, or can we use early entrance? How can we use being a hotel guest to our best advantage?

Also if I book a room, this will cover our parking fee, is this correct?

Any suggestions? (BTW we're actually camping at WDW and driving into US each day. )
TIA!

 

[tchrchgo]

Good afternoon! We'll be newbies to US this summer. While I know the ins and outs of WDW, US is a whole new world to me. I've figured out that we want the 2Day P2P with 3rd day free. Also because the Transformers ride opens june 20, the week we've already booked went from a standard week to a peak week. I'm now thinking EP's will be necessary. Doing the math, booking a hotel room to get the unlimited express pass is our best bet. Now to the question:

When I book my room for the 1st night (for example, arrival on Tues), how early on Tues can we enter the park? Do we have to wait until check-in time, or can we use early entrance? How can we use being a hotel guest to our best advantage?

Also if I book a room, this will cover our parking fee, is this correct?

Any suggestions? (BTW we're actually camping at WDW and driving into US each day. )
TIA!

Parking is not free for hotel guests. It's something like $19 a day for self parking and $24 a day for valet.

You can check in as early as 5 or 6 am, you just couldn't get into your room till later. When you check in, they will give you a plastic hotel card that you scan at a kiosk (at the hotel or the park), and you scan the plastic card and the kiosk takes your photo and provides you with a paper express pass that they scan at each express pass entry lane at the rides. You can check in around 6 am and then go for early entry for hp.

 

[Metro West]

Moving to the Resorts board.

 

[mjohnson96]

You can get there as early as you want, sometimes they might even have a room open but because of the week your going I doubt they will be ready until closer to check in time.

Usually recommend at least an hour before early entry starts to get checked in, get your pictures taken for the EP and then get over to the gates. If you are staying at RPR or HRH I suggest walking instead of taking a boat, this usually tends to be faster for us since during early entry my parents have waited for 1 or 2 boats to load before they could go. At PBH we didn't have that problem so we just went on the boat.

You do have to pay for parking, but it is nighty. So your 1 night of hotel will cover 2 days of unlimited express passes and 2 days of parking. I don't know if you are going to go back to the camp ground but if you stay the pools are very nice and you can go to any of the 3 hotel pools if you stay onsite. They usually also have movies at night so we enjoy coming back from the park and hanging out at the pool watching a movie before bed.

We love staying onsite, and build this into our travel budget each year.

 

[bumbershoot]

Directly from the Loews website's FAQs for the onsite hotels:

Q: I realize check-in does not begin until 4:00 PM, but I wanted to use the Universal ExpressSM Unlimited pass to skip the regular lines before that.

A: Please arrive as early as you like the day of check-in and our front desk agent will be happy to pre-register you and assist you with your Universal ExpressSM Unlimited pass. The bellman will hold your luggage while you enjoy the parks.

It might end up better to just pay for the hotel parking, because they charge at midnight. If I stayed for one night, my parking all day checki-in day as well as all day (until just before midnight) on check-out day is covered with ONE parking charge. You could even consider not going back to the campground that night, just b/c you would have that nice room waiting for you. : )

 

[LynneyPooh]

Thanks! I've had a hard time navigating the universal web site to get these answers for some reason. Whenever I go to FAQ it just "spins". Our biggest decision really is whether or not we need the EP. I'm thinking that being at US/IOA this particular week would be like being at Six Flags Over Ga on a Saturday. Lots of time waiting in a line, and not being able to get a lot done. DD is a huge Harry Potter fan, and batted her eyes at DH and guess who is now planning another trip to Flordia this year .
(Our trip in Jan was suppose to be our last one for a couple of years)

 

[Goofey's Girl]

Hi hope no one minds me adding on to this thread. I am stopping one night at the HRH.
I understand the express passes we can get for the two days but don't quite now how far these can be utilised on the second day.
Is there a time they run out on the second day or can you be there till park closes?
Similarly on the second day could we use the express in the morning and actually leave the the parks and then return in the evening and still use them?
I believe we can use them to get into dining quickly on the first night. We are going to try Margaritaville on the first night but wondered if we could get quick entry on the second day as well. I am guessing not.
Also and lastly, apologies for number of questions. Am I right in thinking we will only be able to use the pool on our arrival day not the next day we check out.?
Thank you very much for any help. So looking forward to our trip.

 

[Bluer101]

Hi hope no one minds me adding on to this thread. I am stopping one night at the HRH.
I understand the express passes we can get for the two days but don't quite now how far these can be utilised on the second day.
Is there a time they run out on the second day or can you be there till park closes?
Similarly on the second day could we use the express in the morning and actually leave the the parks and then return in the evening and still use them?
I believe we can use them to get into dining quickly on the first night. We are going to try Margaritaville on the first night but wondered if we could get quick entry on the second day as well. I am guessing not.
Also and lastly, apologies for number of questions. Am I right in thinking we will only be able to use the pool on our arrival day not the next day we check out.?
Thank you very much for any help. So looking forward to our trip.

You get 2 full days of unlimited express pass with one might stay. Also the pass is still good the checkout day all the way till park closing. You can leave and come back with no issues.

As for dining you will show your room key where accepted to be put on a priority list. This is not like express pass but similar.

You can use the pool for both full days even though you have already checked out of the room. You keep you hotel keys and express passes. Everyone in the room will be issued there own room key which you will take to a express pass kiosk in the lobby. There you will have your picture taken and card spit out. The express pass will have dates on it to tell when it's valid also with you hotel key. Also the hotel key will have your full name and child's age.

 

[Goofey's Girl]

Bluer101

Thank you so much, that really will make our two days such fun. Thanks for being so thorough with your reply.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi hope no one minds me adding on to this thread. I am stopping one night at the HRH.
I understand the express passes we can get for the two days but don't quite now how far these can be utilised on the second day.
Is there a time they run out on the second day or can you be there till park closes?
Similarly on the second day could we use the express in the morning and actually leave the the parks and then return in the evening and still use them?

You can absolutely swim on checkout day.


And in case you like having official webpages for the EP....

http://www.loewshotels.com/en/Hard-Rock-Hotel/index/faqs

Q: What days is the FREE Universal ExpressSM Unlimited pass that serve as Express Access to skip the regular lines valid throughout my stay?

A: Your Universal ExpressSM Unlimited pass is valid for Express Access (at participating attractions) from the time issued by the front desk until the Universal Orlando theme parks close, the day of your departure.

 

[Goofey's Girl]

Thank you so much. I like print outs of things.