Early Arrival

[wellesleyprincess]

Less than a week until we're at Universal. Looks like we'll arrive at Cabana Bay around 11 am or 12 noon. What are the chances of our room being ready? If it's not ready, will they hold our luggage while we go to the park? Any chance they do text message updates like Disney?

 

[HM]

They will hold your luggage.

We haven't stayed there, but we checked in during the morning at both HRH and RPH and neither place had a room for us until just around actual check-in time.

 

[Brenda Kim]

No, Yes and Yes.....We arrived at 10 AM, room not ready, the checked our luggage and gave an approximate time when the room would be ready. Then they sent a text when the room was ready. You do have to go back to the front desk to get the keys, alas no magic bands at Universal yet.

 

[purple hippo]

If you arrive early and aren't going to the parks that day, if the room isn't ready early can you still use the pool? I've read you can check in early and so you can take advantage of the EP and early entry....just wonder if the same applies to the pools? Thanks!

 

[bumbershoot]

It's just like Disney; once you do the checkin process, even if you have to wait for your room,you are a full guest of the hotel and can partake in everything guests get.

And on checkout day you have full access to guest privileges, except for your room once checkout time has passed, until midnight.

 

[pcstang]

There is no express when staying at CB.

 

[macraven]

No, Yes and Yes.....We arrived at 10 AM, room not ready, the checked our luggage and gave an approximate time when the room would be ready. Then they sent a text when the room was ready. You do have to go back to the front desk to get the keys, alas no magic bands at Universal yet.

once you check into the UO hotel, you are given hotel room keys for all in your group.

you do not have to return to the front desk to get any other key.

you get the text and your hotel card key is activated so it will open your room door.
this eliminates having to return to the front desk for entering the room.

Loews Hotels do not work with any type of bands.

the hotels are separate from the parks.

it is two different companies so i doubt they will follow the pattern at the motherland

 

[bumbershoot]

There is no express when staying at CB.

Good catch. So if purplehippo is staying at a deluxe, they can expect the EP benefit. If they are staying at CB like the OP, they won't get it.

you do not have to return to the front desk to get any other key.

Agreed. We have been issued our keycards at the time that we do the checkin process, and do not have to get different cards when we get back to the hotel.

 

[Brenda Kim]

once you check into the UO hotel, you are given hotel room keys for all in your group.

you do not have to return to the front desk to get any other key.

you get the text and your hotel card key is activated so it will open your room door.
this eliminates having to return to the front desk for entering the room.

Loews Hotels do not work with any type of bands.

the hotels are separate from the parks.

it is two different companies so i doubt they will follow the pattern at the motherland [/QUO

They did give us keys, however when we got the text that the room was ready they did not state which room was ours. The message stated: " Your room is now ready please retrieve new keys from luggage. Cabana Bay Beach Resort-" So we had to go to the front desk to find out and they gave us new keys there and took the other keys they gave us. Must have been an issue with the computers or something. We are going back this October so hopefully it will work as you stated.

 

[purple hippo]

Thanks everyone! I've read you can check in as Early as 7 am so you can take advantage of the Early Entry to the parks. If everyone staying at the parks have early entry is there still an advantage of getting in early? Still debating whether to pay for a deluxe and stay onsite (and get EP too) or stay off-site and risk the line ups and possibly just add on a 3rd day if too busy. We are going to be there Oct 4-8. At that time of year is it worth spending the money to stay on site or will the parks likely be not as busy and therefore no real need for the express passes? Your thoughts?

 

[Brenda Kim]

We went exactly that time last year an it was busier than I expected. I am sure that might have had to do with Diagon Alley being open for only 3 months. If you want to experience Harry Potter with a small amount of people and no wait for the major attractions, then staying on property is worth it.

We stayed at Cabana Bay, so we did not have the express pass and found that the lines were reasonable for all other rides, except Forbidden Journey and Rockit and Gringots. All others were 15-30 minutes tops, including Hogwarts Express, I think because the trains are so high capacity that the line never gets too long.

Also Universal closes early on Sunday and Thursday, Friday and Saturday for Halloween Horror Nights, which is amazing by the way, this year I believe they are adding Wednesday to Halloween Horror nights as well. So Universal will only be open from 8 AM to 5 PM most of the days of your visit. Islands of Adventure will be open later but make sure you factor that in.

 

[bumbershoot]

Purple, everyone staying onsite has access to early entrance, and yes it is still an advantage. Not everyone wants to be up early!

My family finds unlimited EP to be something we can't so without, even for the times it gets us on the rides just 5 minutes before we would otherwise get on the rides. We don't include "need" in our decision making process.

 

[hpfan100]

We stayed at portofino last July and checked in just after 5 am. They found us a room and we were able to head right to it. We did early entry twice and found it to be totally worth it. We were able to ride Fj with no wait and gringotts with about a 15 minute wait which is grat for July.

 

[purple hippo]

Thanks for your help everyone! I booked at HRH for 3 nights but still cringing at the price (even thought I got a great discount through cheaptickets) because of the US/CAD exchange rate. The rest of the week we are staying off-site on points so it's hard to decide if spending $1000 CAD for 3 nights is worth it for the benefits or if we should just stay off site for "free" and add an extra day at the park if we need it. Our reservation is for Oct 3-6 with plans to go to US/IOA on Sun/Mon with a possible partial day on Tuesday, which is before the long weekend and according to crowd calendars should be low to moderate those days. If line ups (other than FJ and Gringotts) are only 15 minutes or so I can handle that and I wouldn't think spending the money on EP is worth it. It's when they are 45 min + that really kills your day that I think it would be worth it. I also have considered changing the reservation to CBR (so we can still get early access but no EP) for a lot less money, but I understand you can't really walk to it - that you need to drive or take the shuttle and if we drive I'm guessing we need to pay the parking fee? The shuttles (from CBR) would take you early to the park for early admission - right?