1st Universal Trip...Need advice plz! Hotels, FL Res Tickets...

[dolphinslady]

I have read so many posts my head is spinning! We are a family of four with our girls being 9. We've decided to try IOA/USF for a year so I believe we will do the annual passes...Should we purchase them directly or is there a better deal somewhere?

We would like to stay onsite the first time since it's vacation and a reward for their awesome report cards, but I am seeing mixed reviews about which hotel to choose. HRH seems like the 'coolest' for the girls with the sound underwater and all...They also love water slides, pools, etc. Florida girls. Really need suggestions on this too.

AND...if we do purchase annual passes would we qualify for a discounted rate at the hotels?

We do not drink alcohol so I don't think the club upgrade would benefit us?

Filled with questions and I just want to book this! We wanted to go this month but it's twice as much as next, figures.

Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful and helpful posts. Will surely help when we go!

;-)
Cheryl

 

[Melanie230]

We bought annual passes this year too! Just buy them from the US website. No deals out there. Yes you get a discount at the hotels onsite. When you are on the reservation page, you will see promo code at the bottom....just put in APH there and it will show you the APH rate if it is available. We don't do the Club upgrade because it is usually more money than we would spend on food and drinks outside of the hotel. You are going to love US/IOA! It is a blast!

 

[damo]

I think the Florida resident rates for the hotels tend to be lower than the annual pass rates.

 

[Bluer101]

I think the Florida resident rates for the hotels tend to be lower than the annual pass rates.

Actually the FL rate and AP rates are normally the same when booking farther in advance, a few months out.

We end up checking them both, sometimes one is available over the other when it gets closer to travel time.

 

[Bluer101]

I have read so many posts my head is spinning! We are a family of four with our girls being 9. We've decided to try IOA/USF for a year so I believe we will do the annual passes...Should we purchase them directly or is there a better deal somewhere?

We would like to stay onsite the first time since it's vacation and a reward for their awesome report cards, but I am seeing mixed reviews about which hotel to choose. HRH seems like the 'coolest' for the girls with the sound underwater and all...They also love water slides, pools, etc. Florida girls. Really need suggestions on this too.

AND...if we do purchase annual passes would we qualify for a discounted rate at the hotels?

We do not drink alcohol so I don't think the club upgrade would benefit us?

Filled with questions and I just want to book this! We wanted to go this month but it's twice as much as next, figures.

Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful and helpful posts. Will surely help when we go!

;-)
Cheryl

Coming from another Floridian and spending lots of time at the parks and hotels we choose RPR. One it normally cheaper and we prefer the atmosphere. You also need to keep in mind you are allowed to resort hop to the other pools and restaurants. So no need to choose it by pools.

As for AP the cheapest is online at Universals website.

 

[macraven]

I have read so many posts my head is spinning! We are a family of four with our girls being 9. We've decided to try IOA/USF for a year so I believe we will do the annual passes...Should we purchase them directly or is there a better deal somewhere?

We would like to stay onsite the first time since it's vacation and a reward for their awesome report cards, but I am seeing mixed reviews about which hotel to choose. HRH seems like the 'coolest' for the girls with the sound underwater and all...They also love water slides, pools, etc. Florida girls. Really need suggestions on this too.

AND...if we do purchase annual passes would we qualify for a discounted rate at the hotels?

We do not drink alcohol so I don't think the club upgrade would benefit us?

Filled with questions and I just want to book this! We wanted to go this month but it's twice as much as next, figures.

Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful and helpful posts. Will surely help when we go!

;-)
Cheryl

as usual, damo stole my thunder.
and with bluer close behind...........




go with the floridian rates.
homies outside of florida drool over those good rates.......

i have stayed at hrh over 20 times.
about that under water music, well, it's not necessarily a drawing card for me and my boys.
the music is going on all the time at the pool.

if you stay onsite, you can pool hop.
you can swim, sit around the pool, eat, get wait service at any of the 3 hotel's pools if you are a guest at one of them.

you show your hotel key card at the pool and receive free towels. no need to bring any from your hotel.

if you have charging rights at your hotel, you can charge anything at the other 2 poolside.
last year i stayed at rph and went to the pools at pbh.
charged back to my hotel anything the wait staff brought to me at pbh pool.

i didn't get in the water, just hung around on the chairs.

i like the entertainment and games the staff does at rph better than at hrh.
don't buy pool "toys" to take in the pool. use the ones that are available for the guests.

there are more food selections at rph than at hrh.
you are closer to city walk from rph for food.
there are snack shops on the first floor stores going to the boat dock at rph.
i always got my ice cream breakfast before heading to the parks in the morning at one of those shops.

there is no slide at rph.
there are slides at hrh an pbh.

choose the hotel for its amenities.
if the hotel you pick doesn't have water items you want, hop to one of the other two hotels for their pool.
pbh has 3 pools.

 

[edamethyst]

depending on how long you are staying you might get better rates with the Stay More Play More discount. We are staying 7 days and we got our room about $40 a nite cheaper doing the Stay More Plan More than if we had used our annual pass discount rate. Not sure if all the hotels use it but the HRH does and that is our favorite.

 

[damo]

depending on how long you are staying you might get better rates with the Stay More Play More discount. We are staying 7 days and we got our room about $40 a nite cheaper doing the Stay More Plan More than if we had used our annual pass discount rate. Not sure if all the hotels use it but the HRH does and that is our favorite.

If you are staying for an extended period of time the stay more play more rate is often better than the aph rate. However, for short stays, it usually isn't.

 

[dolphinslady]

Thanks for the replies...We got Portofino for a really good FL res rate...but I'm curious...The Hyatt and the Hilton have great rates as well so should we maybe only stay at Portofino for a night or two and then move? DH is not too thrilled about that, but we will still be paying 169.xx a night at PBH...

Anyway, excited, haven't been there in years and our girls have never been there...although they really aren't big roller coaster fans.

Thanks!
Cheryl