A few questions about split stay (Disney/Universal) summer 2019

[eleda72]

Hello!
So, I am going down to Orlando next summer with my Show Choir and we would spend around 5 days together at Disney.
DD and I will have around 14 days together in Orlando and we might take a few (or more) nights at an UNIVERSAL HOTEL.

Thinking maybe 3 or 4 nights at Universal at the end of our trip and I have a few questions.

1. Would it be a good idea if one of us (or maybe both) bought an AP so we could go over from Disney some of the days we are there + when we stay at UNIVERSAL?

OR.. Would we save some money on Universal Resort, food etc if one of us get an AP?

How many days would you recommend we stay at UNIVERSAL? (Or have park tickets)
We LOVE HARRY POTTER and would like to explore both parks + maybe the water park.
(We would be in Orlando in the beginning of July 2019)

I think many of my choir kids would like to visit Universal also...

Thank you, best from Adèle Marie

 

[TommyJK]

If your going to spend some time at a Universal resort, then I'd pick a minimum of 4 as that's when "Stay more, Save More" discounts start to kick in reducing the price per night of the room.

See here for the breakdown of the Stay More, Save More Discounts: https://www.universalorlando.com/we...special-offers/stay-more-save-more/index.html

And if staying at one of the Deluxe hotels, you get your Express passes for the day of check-in as well as day of check out, so a 4 night stays would get you 5 days of Express Pass.

In terms of APs, it could be advantageous to have those as some rooms could have an AP discount (potentially better than the always available "Stay more, Save More" discount), but they usually don't release the AP discounts for room until a ~4 months ahead of time. This thread always gets updated when a new block have been released: https://www.disboards.com/threads/aph-rates-are-currently-available-updated-07-27-18.3301532/

That being said, strategically what people often do is buy their tickets ahead of time, and then upgrade to AP on-site and do the following:

1. Book a room now at a rate you're happy with.
2. Watch for price changes, and especially once AP rates are available.
3. If a price reduction or AP rate becomes available, change your hotel reservation to the lowest price that comes up.
- With AP discount, you don't actually have to have one at time of booking (or even at time of check-in!). As long as you show your AP before checkout that's the rate they'll keep. Many people will even use their tickets and then upgrade to AP on the last day.

Edit: In terms of number of park days, you'll probably have many opinions on that. Anywhere from "You can do everything in 2 days" to "We spend 5+ days in the parks and never get bored".

For me, I like 3-4 days (if I have express pass). We like to do mid-day breaks from the parks (since its so quick to get to parks and back from onsite hotels). Within those 3-4 days in the parks with express pass we can see and do everything we want multiple times overs, because who wants to go on all of these awesome attractions only once?!?!

Can't comment on Volcano Bay as I've never been.

 

[glocon]

Our last trip we did 4 days at wdw then 3 days at UO. I think I would add one or maybe two more days to each resort. We’ve done both resorts multiple times and like to do disney first.
We’ve also had luck last time getting a great rate at pop on Priceline so would check that again for the Disney portion of the trip.

 

[heidijanesmith]

I have been an AP holder for 4 years and this year I did not renew. I would get the AP and use my pass for discounted room rates, HHN tickets, merchandise and food.

We like to go to US in Sept for HHN. This year there were no AP rates for HRH for our stay. We did great a great rate using the Stay-more-save-more promotion. I did the math and it was cheaper for us to not renew my AP this year.

We usually stay 4 nights and tour 4 days. This is plenty of time for us to explore the parks and HHN.