How much time do you need?

[Smileybug]

Hi,
We haven't been to IOA and US in years. How much time should we give ourselves to enjoy our stay here? Also, how far in advance should we book our hotel? We want to go first part of june. Resort opinions would be greatly appreciated as well. (on site) There will be 6 of us. (All considered to be adults.)
Thank you for your help!!

 

[bubba's mom]

Book your hotel as far in advance as you can...use AAA discount or AP discount (if you have one). Royal Pacific is closest to IOA and the cheapest of the 3, Hard Rock Hotel is next and closest to Universal, and Portofino is most expensive and furthest away. If there are 6 adults, you might want 2 rooms. Since you'll be staying onsite, you can allow 2 days easily to do it all (with your room key as your UEPass) ...one day each park. It's really a matter of how much you want to do there and WHAT you want to do.

 

[Smileybug]

Thank's bubba's mom. I'm a Disney girl at heart. My mostly grown children are insisting on at least one more family trip to Universal. I want them to really enjoy themselves. Don't know how many more "family" trips there will be for us.

 

[Zsa Zsa]

Thank's bubba's mom. I'm a Disney girl at heart. My mostly grown children are insisting on at least one more family trip to Universal. I want them to really enjoy themselves. Don't know how many more "family" trips there will be for us.

I agree with the afore-mentioned advice. We booked a AAA discount on the RPR of $183, then a couple of months prior to our 07/17-23 vacation, the APH rates on PBH made us do a double-take ($189-standard), whereas the APH for the RPH bottomed out at $179 (not enough to buy to APH). The PBH is a much more luxurious hotel, and after having visited there to have dinner at Bice, I would say that the distance is not an issue as I had feared. However, due to my fear of the distance and the extra $100 for the APH (worked out to only an extra ~$30/day), did not go to the PBH. I think the RPH was great, but would have like to stay at the PBH due to the much plusher, much roomier accommodations, with more spas/pools, benies, etc.

Just one of the things I learned which may be useful to someone out there is to hold out for the plusher resort if it's important for you! Either way, the FOTL benefits were priceless, and we didn't really stay in our room long enough for it to make a real difference.

Another thing I learned is that when there is lightening coming (even if there is no rain yet), the water taxis shut down. At Citywalk you usually find out from others or from the captain of the boat. At the resorts you may be waiting for a boat that will never come, and there is no notification out there at the taxi waiting area. So if you are thinking of going there or coming back and the weather looks questionable, you may want to go sooner than later. It took 12 minutes to walk from Citywalk to RPH, and we got stuck in one downpour. Hope this helps!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

With teens, I would suggest you stay at HRH. Although, my DH & I prefer PBH. Our DS(14) doesn't. HRH is more convenient to the parks. You can walk to US much faster, & to IOA in about the same amount of time it would take you to get there from RPR. It really depends on what you're looking for in a resort. All 3 of the resorts are very nice though, & you will need 2 rooms at any of them.

As for how much time you need, I'm not a good judge of that. We just spent 5 nights at HRH & did about 1/2 of what I wanted to. Obviously, we don't do the parks commando style. Have to save something for next trip, after all.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Zsa Zsa,
I hope you enjoyed your trip. We got back today. Have you written a trip report yet? I'm hoping for a Bice review. I'll check for one now.