2023 Early planning - First real Universal Stay

[lions1995]

Looks like there will be 5 of use going (my wife and I and 3 late teens). We would like to do two days at Universal before heading to Disney for the rest of the week.

My plans at the time are to check in to a Universal Resort (thinking Endless Summer resort) on Friday June 2nd and go to the Parks Saturday and Sunday with Park to Park tickets. I think that resort stay will allow for early entry at both parks. I have looked at doing one of the resorts that offers Express Pass, but that seems to really bump up the price. Two of the teens are paying their own way, so trying to keep cost down.

Any suggestions are tricks from frequent visitors? I really prefer having the early Entry ability and I did not see any partner hotels that offer like Disney does.

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[georgina]

Looks like there will be 5 of use going (my wife and I and 3 late teens). We would like to do two days at Universal before heading to Disney for the rest of the week.

My plans at the time are to check in to a Universal Resort (thinking Endless Summer resort) on Friday June 2nd and go to the Parks Saturday and Sunday with Park to Park tickets. I think that resort stay will allow for early entry at both parks. I have looked at doing one of the resorts that offers Express Pass, but that seems to really bump up the price. Two of the teens are paying their own way, so trying to keep cost down.

Any suggestions are tricks from frequent visitors? I really prefer having the early Entry ability and I did not see any partner hotels that offer like Disney does.

​

Universal does not always have early entry at both parks; it might only be one park both days of your trip. If you look at June 4 and 5th 2022 it is just at IOA. That is fine though, IOA has the rides everyone wants to ride first (Hagrid's and Velocicoaster). I often stay at Cabana Bay without EP, it is doable. There are a lot of rides that have single rider if the lines are too long, if you would consider that. I was there in May, Single rider at Gringotts was basically a walk on, as is SR for Men in Black.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you can do Sun / Mon, that would help with crowds & lines.

Otherwise, use Early Entry & plan to close out the parks, with or without a mid-day break.

If you are looking at doing a hotel break, you might consider bumping up to Cabana Bay for the nicer pool area.

The single rider lines are your friends.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If you're going to be on Universal property without a park day I would suggest taking the bus (if you're staying at Endless Summer) to CityWalk to explore a bit there. You have to go through CityWalk to get to the parks but if you've never been before it may help you get at least a little bit of the lay of the land. Have a lunch or dinner in CityWalk (check for places if they need reservations and make those if you want a better shot of getting in).

We just stayed at Endless Summer Surfside and our first day we did not do parks. We parked in their garage and they did actually have a room ready for us. After we brought our stuff up we went back down and hopped on their bus and was in CityWalk before we knew it. We had a lunch reservation for Toothsome (which is a place that does fill up and walk ups are either super long wait or not available) and then we actually took the walking path over to Royal Pacific (as we would be staying there one night a few days later) just to sorta explore then we took the boat from Royal Pacific back to CityWalk and walked around a bit and then took a bus back to Endless Summer.

The Surfside location does get picked up first and they do share (if they have room on the bus) with Dockside. Most of the time they picked up from Surfside went across the street and picked up from Dockside but there was at least twice that the bus was full enough where the bypassed Dockside. Surfside complex is slightly smaller than Dockside but the rooms are the same.

CityWalk by the way is Universal's version of Disney Springs but it is located right where all the action is whereas Disney Springs is separated from that. There is security at CityWalk that itself that serves as the security for the parks so once you go through that you don't have security again. Exception is if you're coming from Royal Pacific and I think Hard Rock and probably Portofino Bay, basically they have security on the pathway (sorta like International Gateway). I know for sure Royal Pacific because we used that one.

All of Universal's hotels allow for Early Entry, but as a PP mentioned Early Entry may only be available for one of the parks at a time. We were there inside the parks themselves May 5th-7th and only IOA (Islands of Adventure) was open, come this weekend both will be open but it's Memorial Day weekend.

One thing you may keep an eye on is ticket deals from Universal. You're doing 2 days which I would say is fine but for someone who hasn't been before if you end up with a ticket deal that allows you more days without paying any more for it or much more for it it might be worth it for a partial usage on your check in day. Previously Universal had a buy 2 days get 2 free deal. Right now they are running a deal but I forget what it is, it wouldn't be valid for your June 2023 stay but just giving that as an example to keep an eye out.

 

[lions1995]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I was giving this more thought last night. Plan B would be to just stay at a close by hotel Friday night checking in around 8PM. Then book the following night at Loews Royal Pacific Resort. I think this would give me Unlimited Express Pass for Saturday and Sunday. I would guess I would need to check into the hotel to get my Express Pass enabled? If that is the case, I would not be using early entry that day, but I am suspect the Express Pass would more than make up for that.

 

[georgina]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I was giving this more thought last night. Plan B would be to just stay at a close by hotel Friday night checking in around 8PM. Then book the following night at Loews Royal Pacific Resort. I think this would give me Unlimited Express Pass for Saturday and Sunday. I would guess I would need to check into the hotel to get my Express Pass enabled? If that is the case, I would not be using early entry that day, but I am suspect the Express Pass would more than make up for that.

Yes, one night stay will give you EP for 2 days. You can check in as early as you want Saturday morning, you could make it to early entry if you are up for it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

would guess I would need to check into the hotel to get my Express Pass enabled? If that is the case, I would not be using early entry that day, but I am suspect the Express Pass would more than make up for that.

You could if you got up early. My husband got up and left Endless Summer a tad before 6am, drove the short distance to Royal Pacific checked us in, got our hotel key cards which are your Express Passes, drove back and then once I was ready we headed out for Early Entry. If you actually check into Royal Pacific getting those Express Passes you should be eligible for Early Entry too for being counted as onsite guests.

We did 1 night at Royal Pacific in order to get Express Passes for 2 days.

One thing is if you do this Plan B you may talk with the front desk about parking assuming you have your own car/rental car. You'll be charged parking at Royal Pacific for your night but if you drove to CityWalk and parked at the garage for that Saturday's park day you'd also be charged for parking there, hotel guests don't get free parking at CityWalk. My thought was you could drive from your offsite hotel with all your family and park at Royal Pacific then walk over (about a 10min walk to CityWalk which puts you right near the entrance of Islands of Adventure) or take a bus or boat to CityWalk to start your day but the hotel front desk at Royal Pacific may have different advice. Regardless this would mean leaving your other hotel early enough to account for the transit time of all of this.

 

[lions1995]

My thought was you could drive from your offsite hotel with all your family and park at Royal Pacific then walk over (about a 10min walk to CityWalk which puts you right near the entrance of Islands of Adventure) or take a bus or boat to CityWalk to start your day but the hotel front desk at Royal Pacific may have different advice. Regardless this would mean leaving your other hotel early enough to account for the transit time of all of this.

That was exactly my thought. Not sure I would rush to get early entry on that day, But certainly drive over to RP, park, check in and then walk it to the parks. So that sounds like a feasible plan.

 

[ruthies12]

Your plan B is good but one thing to watch out for is that the rate of the room changes depending on how many nights you are staying with a one night reservation for a Saturday night being the most expensive. So make sure you do a price comparison on what the room will cost for both Friday and Saturday versus the cost of Saturday alone plus the Friday night at another hotel. May come out to be the same price to just do both nights at Royal and not mess with changing hotels.

But I've done trips like that with hotel hopping to get the express passes for 2 days and it really isn't a big hassle, especially if you make sure everyone knows ahead of time and they pack accordingly.

One last suggestion is to look at the cost of upgrading one person to a seasonal pass and get the annual passholder discount on the room, usually saves quite a bit of money. There's a ton of info on these boards on annual passes and the hotel rates, just do a search

 

[Deeanna727]

Your plan B is good but one thing to watch out for is that the rate of the room changes depending on how many nights you are staying with a one night reservation for a Saturday night being the most expensive. So make sure you do a price comparison on what the room will cost for both Friday and Saturday versus the cost of Saturday alone plus the Friday night at another hotel. May come out to be the same price to just do both nights at Royal and not mess with changing hotels.

But I've done trips like that with hotel hopping to get the express passes for 2 days and it really isn't a big hassle, especially if you make sure everyone knows ahead of time and they pack accordingly.

One last suggestion is to look at the cost of upgrading one person to a seasonal pass and get the annual passholder discount on the room, usually saves quite a bit of money. There's a ton of info on these boards on annual passes and the hotel rates, just do a search

@ruthies12 you brought annual pass I been looking into to it for the discount but I was wondering about parking.

When we park at the hotel we are charged but if I get a preferred, it’s free parking at the garage. So I was thinking my husband drops us off at the Royal and he parks in the garage with the free parking. Grab the bus or boat back to resort. Have you tried this?

 

[ruthies12]

@Deeanna727 I've never tried that but I don't see why that wouldn't work.

 

[schumigirl]

@ruthies12 you brought annual pass I been looking into to it for the discount but I was wondering about parking.

When we park at the hotel we are charged but if I get a preferred, it’s free parking at the garage. So I was thinking my husband drops us off at the Royal and he parks in the garage with the free parking. Grab the bus or boat back to resort. Have you tried this?

You can`t leave the car overnight in the parking garage at the parks if that`s what you`re suggesting to try. Maybe I`m reading your post wrong though......

Cars are towed if they`re left overnight.

If it`s just for the day you could do that, just not overnight, they`re wise to folks trying that trick.