Adding on 2 days at Universal...???

[lakohls]

So any suggestions?

All of our past trips have been strictly Disney. But kids are getting older, and I really liked Harry Potter myself. So we are thinking of adding on 2 days at either beginning or end of our DVC trip that I just booked for next Spring (sat-thurs nights, depart fri). Of course it overlaps vacation weeks due our school schedule as well.

So our options are book 2 extra nights at Universal the thurs/fri at the beginning or fri/sat at the end. And this decision will likely be impacted by flight availability - which is not yet all available.

Although not yet available online, booking is available through the 800# already. Just called for rates - and although I would love the equivalent of the 2 BR I have at Kidani rates are about $1000/night at Hard Rock up to $1300/night at Royal Pacific (plus taxes)!!! So that is not happening for those 2 nights..

Other option is getting 2 standard connecting rooms to handle the 6 of us for about $359 each at Royal Pacific. Interesting that the RP had best rate for std rooms but highest for the Suites...

So issues to ponder are:
Add on before or after DVC?
Type of rooms to book for the add-on at US?
Handling of the transportation to/from MCO for the portion of trip not at DVC (when we will use Magical Express)?
Flights?

Any suggestions as I keep planning will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

 

[shwn]

I am actually doing a similar thing in November.

We are planning on going for the last weekend of the F&W festival staying at Jambo House on Thursday/Friday/Saturday night. On Sunday we are going to check out and head over to Universal for 1 night and go to the Islands of Adventure on Monday. On Monday night, we are flying home out of MCO.

We are taking ME from MCO to Jambo on Thursday (no car), but to get to Universal, we are picking up a rental car from Budget or Dollar (I forget which) from Downtown Disney (I think its in the Wyndham hotel). And then we are going to drive back to Jambo, pick up our stuff and then drive over to Universal. I got a one way rental, so on Monday night, we are going to drive straight to MCO. It was a good deal, the total with taxes was just under $50 (booked on Budget/Dollar's website).

We are also staying at the Hyatt Place Universal. Don't know if thats an option for you, but they have great rates (ours was $84/night using AAA- booked on Hyatt.com). I have stayed at Hyatt Place many times (just not this one) and they are great for the money and have free breakfast. All rooms have two doubles or a king and a sitting area. They also have a small kitchenette with a mini-fridge. Also that hotel is within walking distance to the main gate (I think its a longer walk) and have a free shuttle as well.

Hope that helps!

 

[HayGan]

We almost always add on time at Universal but we only stay one night and here is why - FoTL for Universal guests. You get the FoTL access for both your check-in day and your check-out day. The first day we check-in to the Universal hotel early (we prefer the Royal Pacific) and do US that day. Then the next day we get up early and do IoA for the early admission to WWoHP. We only pay for one night at US but get 2 days use out of the pass. We find that we get to do everything we want several times with FoTL so we only need one day in each park This will only work if you have an early flight into MCO on your arrival day & you do this at the begining of your trip or a late flight on the day of departure and do US/IOA at the end.

We typically like to go at the end of our trip as we are exhausted at the end of the WDW portion of the trip and there isn't as much walking in US/IOA.

As for rooms, there are 4 of us and we have always been fine in the standard rooms at both HRH and RP.

As for transportation you could use Mears or you could rent a mini-van/SUV for your trip (would likely be cheaper than renting at one location and returning to a different one if you decided to use Alamo & Car Care Ctr.) We LOVE having a vehicle at our disposal for our entire trip. Makes it so much easier to do so many things and you don't have to rely on Disney transport for everything!

 

[aymekae]

We added on two days at Universal post-cruise last December. DH didn't want to go to WDW (how could he? we've only been once!) but said okay to Universal when I told him Blue Man Group is there.

We didn't like US. We liked IOA even less. The FOTL pass made it all a little less painful. I personally loved Harry Potter, and that was really the highlight of my trip. We went to it early morning, my DH hates Harry Potter AND roller coasters so I was all by myself, but still enjoyed every second of it. We ended up leaving the park after I rode each of the 3 rides, then came back a few hours later to eat at The Three Broomsticks, which was also a highlight (the food and the theming were amazing). In hindsight, we should have gotten me a 1 day, 1 park ticket to pop in to Harry Potter by myself while my DH waited in CityWalk, and that would have been good enough. Hindsight's 20/20, as they say. Oh, Blue Man Group was amazing as well, and well worth going to.

As soon as we got back, they announced they were expanding Universal Studios in Hollywood with Harry Potter (which is only a 1 1/2 hr. drive from here) and I really wished we would have either flown straight home after the cruise (or stopped by WDW for a few days instead!)

FWIW, I just wanted to give another perspective. Oh, and definitely stay only one night, just plan to check in early in Day 1 to get your FOTL pass. While I really enjoyed the RPR, it was just really expensive to stay there.

 

[BestDadEver]

I could be wrong but from what I remember (this is ten years ago) I took a cab from city walk to all star resort and it wasent a very long drive .

So maybe rent a car and stay dvc rooms and drive . Island of adventure is my favorite them park to date . Dueling dragons is my favorite roller coaster of all time and the hulk has to be in the top ten . There is also the best flume ride I ever been on, I couldn't belive how fast it was , it had an extra dip in the big drop at the end that made it so fast .

I haven't done the harry potter ride cause it wasent there back then , but my niece and father loved that ride .

 

[BestDadEver]

What is RPR FOTL

 

[mrebuck]

What is RPR FOTL

RPR= Royal Pacific Resort
FOTL= Front of the Line access at the Universal parks. When you stay onsite, you have automatic access to a fast-pass type line - without the need for a fast pass. You just show them your resort card to enter the line. It is awesome.

We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel two summers ago. We stayed in a Kids Suite and loved the space. It was comparable to a one bedroom DVC unit without the kitchen. It had plenty of space for our family of 4 and was fairly reasonably priced. The Hard Rock Hotel is a short walk to both parks too - it was great. I am a true blue DVC and Disney lover, but I'd stay there again in a heartbeat. I'd definitely recommend it.

 

[cvjw]

We do this all the time. We prefer to stay at Universal on the front end of the trip because our family of 4 stays in a regular room at Universal (which is very crowded), and then we move to Disney and spread out in our much larger DVC villa. We have stayed at all of the Universal resorts, once at RPR (our least favorite), and many times at Portofino and Hard Rock. We love staying at Portofino the best, but usually end up at Hard Rock simply because it is so easy to walk to both parks from the Hard Rock.

 

[stormer]

We visit both every summer. We always do Universal first. I agree with the PP, we like starting out in the regualr hotel room and then moving to our DVC room. We can catch up on laundry when we get to Disney this way. We always prefer to do this order because we like to end our trip with Disney magic! Also, totally worth staying onsite at Universal to get FOTL. We wouldn't go any other way. Hard Rock is our favorite. Royal Pacific was Ok, but the kids missed having a pool slide. Also we love to eat in the Kitchen at the Hard Rock.

 

[parlay]

We almost always add on time at Universal but we only stay one night and here is why - FoTL for Universal guests. You get the FoTL access for both your check-in day and your check-out day. The first day we check-in to the Universal hotel early (we prefer the Royal Pacific) and do US that day. Then the next day we get up early and do IoA for the early admission to WWoHP. We only pay for one night at US but get 2 days use out of the pass. We find that we get to do everything we want several times with FoTL so we only need one day in each park

We have done the same thing. The cost of the room for that one night more than pays for itself in FOTL benefits for the 2 days. If you consider that you can purchase the FOTL benefit for something like $50/day/per person but it is included as a perk if you stay onsite - it just makes sense to stay at least one night at universal.

 

[runmommyrun]

We did Island of Adventure on our 2011 WDW trip. We had a rental and it took 15-20 minutes to get there from BLT. VERY easy drive from WDW.

We bought tickets to US/IoA through Costco. A very good deal. BUT.... in order to get through IoA (or US) in a day, you had to do the add on... and that cost us about $50/person per park. (It is the equivalent of the Fastpass that you buy when you get to the park). So it got expensive quickly.

I did not enjoy IoA as much as I had hoped. Harry Potter was fabulous (and one of my kids is a fanatic). But Harry Potter is small... it won't fill an entire day. IoA is a dramatically different feel than WDW. I imagine my kids enjoying it more with friends (and without mom & dad) in the future. But there were a few good rides. I still say Spiderman is the best ride I've taken in Orlando.

If you have a rental car, it is VERY easy getting from MCO to WDW to US. Even if you don't, I've taken enough cabs in the Orlando area that I can't imagine it costing more than $30-40 to get from WDW to the US area.

Enjoy. I love trying the different resorts and parks. US/IoA are just very different than WDW. I was a bit underprepared for that difference. But we still had fun. It just cost us more to get the "Fastpass" of US/IoA. Happy travels!

 

[ilovezach33]

So any suggestions?

All of our past trips have been strictly Disney. But kids are getting older, and I really liked Harry Potter myself. So we are thinking of adding on 2 days at either beginning or end of our DVC trip that I just booked for next Spring (sat-thurs nights, depart fri). Of course it overlaps vacation weeks due our school schedule as well.

So our options are book 2 extra nights at Universal the thurs/fri at the beginning or fri/sat at the end. And this decision will likely be impacted by flight availability - which is not yet all available.

Although not yet available online, booking is available through the 800# already. Just called for rates - and although I would love the equivalent of the 2 BR I have at Kidani rates are about $1000/night at Hard Rock up to $1300/night at Royal Pacific (plus taxes)!!! So that is not happening for those 2 nights..

Other option is getting 2 standard connecting rooms to handle the 6 of us for about $359 each at Royal Pacific. Interesting that the RP had best rate for std rooms but highest for the Suites...

So issues to ponder are:
Add on before or after DVC?
Type of rooms to book for the add-on at US?
Handling of the transportation to/from MCO for the portion of trip not at DVC (when we will use Magical Express)?
Flights?

Any suggestions as I keep planning will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

I would say after, but that is just a matter of preference.
Have you considered renting a vacation home? You can get a 3 bedroom with private pool for a little more than $100/day.

 

[bumbershoot]

So issues to ponder are:
Add on before or after DVC?
Type of rooms to book for the add-on at US?
Handling of the transportation to/from MCO for the portion of trip not at DVC (when we will use Magical Express)?
Flights?

Any suggestions as I keep planning will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

If you go before (or during) your WDW stay, you won't mind the size of the normal hotel rooms, but you will almost certainly despise the sad and clunky FastPass. While "FOTL" isn't a thing truly offered at Universal (it can FEEL like front of the line, but the reality is, there can be people in front of you), Express Pass Plus is; the version that comes with the hotel is unlimited. This means that you can use the Express Pass for, say, Spiderman 25 times in a row if you would like to. With the Express Pass that you buy, if staying offsite, you can ride each ride ONE time and one time only.

If you go at the end of WDW, you'll have nothing but love for Express Pass, but, especially at RPR, you'll think "omg the rooms are the size of a postage stamp". We'd been at OKW for over a week when we got to RPR the first time. Painful! Last two times we've had to go to Portofino, to get the bigger rooms, LOL.


Use this site to book your Universal room. Know that if lower rates come out later, you can change your reservation to that lower rate. You can put the code "APH" into the code field, and check if AP rates are available. AP rates come and go. So right now, figure out the price difference for one or two people to upgrade from tickets to a Preferred or Premium AP, so you can easily do the math to see if APH is worth the increase in upgrade costs. If it's worth it, book it.

We have always had a rental car for our Orlando trips, so I know nothing about hiring drivers. If you wanted to get a rental car, know that they charge to park at the hotels. We just work it into our budget. They charge at midnight, so on your last day, you can still park after checkout, as long as you're out of there before midnight.



Universal is wonderful, IMO! During our first Orlando trip we spent about 10 days total at the WDW parks, and spent 4 nights at Universal (two half days and two full days at their parks). Loved it so much but hadn't budgeted for an AP, so when we went back to Orlando 9 months later we had to buy new tickets. Another 10ish days at WDW parks (we had a year of WDW AP), another 4 or 5 days at Universal, and this time, upgraded to APs. Just 5 months later we did a DisneyLAND trip then flew out to Universal for JUST Universal (no WDW). We love it!

Just walking into IOA, with the breathtaking beauty of the Port of Entry, makes me awestruck. I haven't seen anything like it at WDW, or really at DLR (and we loooooove DLR). We're not even "big ride" people, or at least not yet. DS isn't quite tall or brave enough for everything, I'm not brave enough, and DH needs to lose some more pounds so he can act on his bravery! But we've enjoyed the heck out of the Universal parks, without going on many of the BIG rides at all.

 

[cc_nike]

Stay on site for sure. The express pass for Onsite Hotel guest is unlimited. The one you buy is only good for 1 ride at each participating ride per day. So staying on site is the only way to visit Universal.

 

[gracelrm]

Agreed - onsite is the only way to go. We stayed at the RPH two nights before our trip to a resort in the Keys. We only went to the park one day as all we really wanted to do was Harry Potter and a handful of other rides. Tropical Storm Debbie was stalled out over Orlando for both days we were there and so when we went to the park - we went in the afternoon (once the rain let up for a bit) and didn't even utilize the early entry to HP. We probably arrived at 1:30 p.m. and left about 8:30 p.m. and felt we did everything we wanted to do. The crowds weren't bad the day we were there (most likely due to all the rain). After leaving there, we went to our 2 BR villa in the Keys. I'm glad we in close quarters to start the trip - as the longer we were gone, the more necessary it was to have a little more space. By the way, we did like RPH - it was our 2nd stay there and would stay there again if we decide to return.

 

[lakohls]

So it seems that we will plan to stay on site for fotl and to get to spread out out our DVC home after. With 4 kids do 2 days because the Easter break week will certainly be more crowded.

Bumbershoot - thanks for the link - will keep watching there. Sounds like Hard Rock my be more centrally located for walking (cvjw) and have a pool slide too (stormer).

I'll have to look into a car rental... Do you really think a full week rental can be economical?

Originally had been trying to get DH to drive down and take the auto train back and really make a 12 day total trip. He took a good look at my proposed schedule and very nicely said no way too long. So we are back to flying and dealing with transportation between places while in town. That is the real reason we have never tried anything besides Disney - it was so easy to just stay onsite and fill our days with Disney & use all their transportation. But this trip I am determined to expand our horizons a little.

Thanks again everyone

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

I always like to add at the END of our vacation, because we get so spoiled doing FOTL, it's hard going back to where there's Long waits!! You guys hear the new value US resort isn't going to have FOTL priveleges?

 

[Anal Annie]

We're going over to Universal for the first time next month. I booked directly on the Lowe's website back in Feb. to be sure to be able to get a standard room at the HRH. I didn't want to pay any more than necessary and didn't need an upgraded room. Now there are no more std. rooms left. We're going smack in the middle of our trip. I figured best to go during the week than on the weekend because of crowds. There's only 3 of us so I am planning to just grab a taxi to go between because I don't want to have to pay for parking at the HRH. I priced car rental & I think in the end it would cost us more than a taxi plus it would eat up time picking up in the morning & returning the 2nd evening. I purchased our tix at Costco a couple of months ago. I had been looking at tix online & even through UT a 2-day pass (that had to be used within 14 days) was going to run something like $138 pp but Costco had a 3-day pass that doesn't expire until Dec. 2015 for $145 pp!! We're planning to use 2 days this summer and save the 3rd day to use on a future trip.

I hate the thought of leaving our BWV unit empty & burning points for 1 night BUT since we don't rent a car & use DME it didn't make sense to do it at the beginning or the end of the trip. This will break it up for us and I'll just pack a small duffle for the 1 night with a change of clothes each and our bathing suits. I am hoping by utilizing the FOTL access we'll have time to enjoy the resort and pool. I am stressing just a little bit about it because I've read that Universal doesn't allow any bags on their rides and we ALWAYS carry at least a small string backpack for our cell phones, money, ponchos, snacks, camera etc.

 

[dizzneebabe]

We made a two day side trip in March 2011 (Spring Break), while staying at BWV. We booked one room for ONE night at RPR for 2 days worth of FOTL access. We had a rental car and drove "home" rather than cramming 5 of us into a hotel room and moving all of our luggage. It worked out great!

The walkway from RPR is very centrally located at City Walk...it brings you to Margaritaville, so turn left for US, turn right for IOA.

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

I figured best to go during the week than on the weekend because of crowds.

Honestly, for future reference, it doesn't matter when you have FOTL. We've been on 4th of July and still never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride. It's the best thing ever! BTW, a good way to hold your key is punch a hole in it, and wear it around your wrist on one of those key-bracelets (like they put the mini Food & Wine cards on), it makes it so easy to zip through the lines!