Advice????

[gigi766]

Hi! So Ive been to disneyworld and loved it. This summer i wanted to go to a "less expensive" park so I could split my vacation into a few different destinations. So I thought Universal studios would be a good choice.
Ummmmm.........$700 a day for a family of 3 in july?!?! (w express pass). I am shocked! It is MORE than disney. Then i tried the 5 day vacation package promo they have now. Still expensive.
So....any advice for making this cheaper? I have to do express pass bc its in july. Maybe stay in a non-universal hotel? I really need a nice pool/resort though.
I mean if theres no options, ill just splurge, but i thought i should ask here first.
(2 adults, one child, anytime in july, need express, can do betw 2-5 days, dont need park hopper, can do just 2 parks, dont need a universal hotel)

 

[StageTek]

Do the math with a less expensive hotel AND Express. Might end up being less than the Deluxe hotel that includes Express. Many off site hotels are reasonable and include some great amenities.

 

[greeneyedchick]

Look into staying at one of the Universal Deluxe hotels. They give you free Express passes. It's usually cheaper than buying them separately plus a night at a cheaper hotel. Also look into the cost of buying one annual pass. You can get up to 20% off their hotels as a passholder (If passholder rooms are available). The pass plus the 20% hotel savings may be cheaper than buying individual tickets and paying at full price for the hotel. Also look at Undercover Tourist, Costco, Sam's Club and AAA for deals.

 

[Skywalker3]

Consider just 1 night in a premier hotel to get express passes for 2 days, then the other nights at a value hotel, like Dockside/Surfside. You'll get express for the check in day, and check out day at the premier. Maybe have 1 person get an AP of some kind, to qualify if there are any AP rates available. In June, we're doing arrival night only in Aventura, then checking in bright and early to Royal Pacific for 1 night to get our express/key card, and use it as much as possible those 2 days
Agree with previous poster on tickets, look at other sites for discounts, I'd still consider park to park, since they're so close, and may want variety, plus the hogwarts Express.
Happy planning!! Hope you can make it work!

 

[wdwrule]

Consider pricing out AP versus other deals but I did want to add that Undercover Tourist has a promo going on now selling adult tickets at child’s prices and still buy 2 days get 3 free. Must be purchased by May 19 for travel through December 2024.

 

[RamblingMad]

Try Costco travel too for pricing. Everything is pricy now, and consumers are starting to hit a wall. I wouldn’t be surprised by fall discounts if summer bookings come in lower than expected.

 

[JoyfulHeart]

Universal IS cheaper. If you choose to have a premium stay you will pay a premium price, it doesn't matter where you go.... that's just the truth of it. We went to Disney last year and spent around 7K for 4. We stayed at Wilderness lodge in DVC ( we bought someone else's points) and had six days in park with the Genie. we had one sit down meal every day. A premium stay ( yes, I know you can add a lot more, but you get my idea). Really our hotel without the DVC was an extra $400 a day so you can add another $2400 on if you want. We did Disney the year before at a value. Value resort, no Genie, only 2 sit downs. We paid 5K. We are doing universal for 3 this time for 5 days for $1800. We are at a value resort with no UP. ( we haven't gone yet, so I don't know about food, I would say roughly 1K from what I have seen on menus). My point is, it IS cheaper than Disney, but its still a theme park stay. It's going to cost. You are going in prime season and want some the premium aspects. You have to choose premium or less $$$. Any vacation is that way.

As others have said biggest bang for your buck it to get the premium hotel if you require a UP. I know when we booked almost all premium hotels were already booked. Your UP is your biggest money eater. one day for one person was almost the same price as all 1 set of 5 days worth of tickets. We are going at the end of may/ early June. My In-laws are going with us, so hotel hopping is not an option for us, but it is a good idea if you're trying to save some money.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

So as others have said look into staying on property at one of the hotels with express.

One thing I will say: Universal is not cheaper to some humans.

For my family it’s actually on or about the same.

My friends family is priced out, yet they can still do Disney in an affordable way. My neighbors didn’t buy souvenirs the last time they went because they spent it all on express passes and food.

Bottom line OP is you do what’s best for your family. I also recommend if your place of employment has a discount site getting the tickets AND express from there. You might save between $40 and $100 a person in my previous experience

 

[wagman67]

I start planning our trips to UOR well in advance of our projected stays. I give myself wiggle room on the dates and then I start looking up AP rates for the three Deluxe Onsite hotels. I go ahead and book the cheapest I can find, that I would be willing to pay if I found nothing better. Every day (sometimes multiple times a day) I go back and look at rates. You would be amazed at how often and dramatically those AP rates will change. When I find a better deal, I reserve it and cancel my previous reservation (in that order). I will split nights between the Deluxe hotels if the deal is good enough. I will do this until I am in the no refund date range of my trip.
I will give you a for instance...we leave tomorrow for UOR. We (5 of us) will be onsite, at Hard Rock for 8 days and 7 nights, for $281/night....right at $2,200 after taxes and fees.

We all have Unlimited Express Passes, included, for 8 days. The days that we are there (May 19-26), those passes are listed at $205, $225, $215 ,$205, $205, $205, $240 and $260. Each. After taxes, for 5 people, that is $9,372. That is included with our hotel stay.

3 of the 5 need new APs (we only need the Seasonal this trip), which are $1,357.86 after taxes.

Assuming we eat for $50/day per person, that is another $2000. I know we will spend more, but it is what it is.

So, let's call it $5,500 for 5, for 8 days/7 nights Onsite at the closest Deluxe Hotel. I dare you to beat that (without some kind of special I am not privy to).

Also...done this many times...it is the most relaxing vacation I can think of...no rushing, no FOMO, plenty of downtime and pool time.

 

[JoyfulHeart]

So as others have said look into staying on property at one of the hotels with express.

One thing I will say: Universal is not cheaper to some humans.

For my family it’s actually on or about the same.

My friends family is priced out, yet they can still do Disney in an affordable way. My neighbors didn’t buy souvenirs the last time they went because they spent it all on express passes and food.

Bottom line OP is you do what’s best for your family. I also recommend if your place of employment has a discount site getting the tickets AND express from there. You might save between $40 and $100 a person in my previous experience

I am actually curious about this. Universal is more expensive for you? Since the Hotels are cheaper and the tickets (excluding 1-2 day passes) are cheaper. How is this? Is it not apples to apples? Even the food seems higher at Disney than Universal. I am not saying you are wrong or anything I am just curious. I researched our Disney and now universal trips like crazy so I am wondering what I missed... Maybe we can do Disney much cheaper? I am always up for learning money saving tips!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Generally, Universal trips are cheaper.

However many people add EP (especially adding EP a la cart) and then say they're surprised that Universal isn't super cheap like they've heard. Of course once you add on a super expensive skip the line pass, it's going to be more expensive. You can't reasonably compare tickets plus EP to Disney tickets, even adding in Genie+ & $ILL (although most people also neglect to add those add-on prices into their Disney ticket costs so the comparison becomes even more skewed).

You can compare admission tickets to admission tickets, and APs to APs.
Or you can compare directly by comparing VIP tours at both - care to guess which park is cheaper for that?

 

[titojackson84]

is July a MUST? I’m going solo the last week of August with the buy 3 get 2 deal at dock side. I did disney solo same time last year. Disney was about $500 more. Last week of august was cheaper than most other weeks and almost everything was a walk on. If you plan right, you may not need express pass.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I am actually curious about this. Universal is more expensive for you? Since the Hotels are cheaper and the tickets (excluding 1-2 day passes) are cheaper. How is this? Is it not apples to apples? Even the food seems higher at Disney than Universal. I am not saying you are wrong or anything I am just curious. I researched our Disney and now universal trips like crazy so I am wondering what I missed... Maybe we can do Disney much cheaper? I am always up for learning money saving tips!

So it’s not me it’s my friend.

I think part if the problem is they don’t stay as long at universal.


It is also the time of year. They have done two BGT/SW related package trips in the past 8 months and while it took a little longer to find, the one in April post Easter was cheaper than the one in September.

I think it’s just looking.

On my end, even the one time we stayed on Universal property, we always use one of my parents employee discount sites to save money on universal tickets. I always tell people to check to see if they have that option. Can save you a couple hundred dollars (even for HHN).

EDITED TO ADD: I will never forget the universal edition of the disunplugged (late summer 2021) I listened to before I stayed on property. They had just released HHN information so I wanted to listen. While I forget the exact words, Craig and Ryno (specifically Craig) stressed that people always hear Universal is cheaper but they don’t realize the express pass cost or that you need a separate express for HHN and all of that stuff. It changes based on days and I think that is what throws a lot of people for a loop. So yes for some people it can add up. It can add up anywhere. Just keep that in mind

 

[maverik85]

Planning a premium Universal trip like this will be more than a basic Disney trip when looking at numbers. But keep in mind, if you get Express Pass that is good for almost all of the rides, as much as you want, whenever you want. Very different from Genie+ and ILL where you only get a couple uses and have to go at a specific time to the ride, so you get a lot more value out of them versus Disney's system.
Also, while it is busy in July it can still be manageable without Express. As others said maybe do just a night at an deluxe resort to get 2 days of Express Pass included then you can spend the rest of the trip redoing what rides you want to and going to shows, doing more experiences, etc. Also, many of the rides have a single rider line open when it is busy that can cut waits significantly too (it is hit or miss though). I have gone and had rides like Dudley Do Rights and Spider-Man have 2 hour waits, but be on in under5 minutes with the single rider line.
If you really want the express passes as much as possible with as little cost you could look at changing hotels a couple times. Do a night at the start and end in a deluxe resort with 2-3 days in the middle at Dockside/Surfisde. This would give you Express Pass included for 4 of your days then. One thing to keep in mind if you look at offiste hotels versus something like Dockside or Cabana Bay is cost to get to the park. Cabana Bay is one of their cheaper hotels but has a lot of great amenities and is where we usually stay there and love it.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

Right now 5 days of park passes is about $270 per person. Much, much, much cheaper than DW. 4 nights at the Royal pacific is about $2800, and that will include Unlimited Express pass. That gives you 5 days at the parks, with express pass, and deluxe accommodations for $3700. Not sure there’s any way to do Disney any less expensive, without changing something (standard hotel, or no Genie+). And Express Pass > Genie+ in every way.

The “Buy 2 get 3 free” promotion, combined with the “kids price for everyone” promotion is an amazing value. Not only do you save a bunch of money from the promos, but you can also hack the starting date to lower the cost of your ticket. Just choose the starting date that has the lowest price, and which still allows the end date to support your last day in the park. It made each ticket $35 less for us.

As mentioned above, the kid price promo expires tomorrow!

 

[ClapYourHands]

Universal is less expensive for my family because we get lower-tier APs, and take at least two trips on them. Those tickets are way less than WDW APs, especially when you consider that not everyone lives in FL to take advantage of WDW lower tier passes. For us, we consider the cost per day, not just the total cost when determining value.

Shorter trips at both parks are more expensive per day. Since UO has only two parks, the prices are high for the first two days, and then the prices drop steeply for subsequent days. At WDW, the price per day goes down only after 4 days because they assume most guests want to do the 4 parks.

As others have pointed out, the sticking point for you in terms of price is the express pass. There is absolutely nothing comparable to it at Disney, and if there were, it would be priced way higher than what UO charges. That said, are you SURE you need EP? Because if you are there for 5 days, you can get a lot done without them. Stay at one of the prime value hotels (Cabana Bay or Aventura), and you’ll get early park admission. In July, both parks open an hour early for onsite guests. You can definitely use that time to your advantage to knock out a few things that will have longer lines later. Ride secondary rides as the wait times increase. Then bail and go back to the hotel for pool time. UO allows pool hopping among all but the lowest tier hotels (Dockside and Surfside), so you can go to a different resort each day. Go back to the parks in the late afternoon or early evening to see a show. Spend some time soaking in the atmosphere. Get a wand and do the magic windows in the Harry Potter parts. Meet some characters. Then do more rides as people leave and wait times drop.

We sometimes will book a single night at a premier hotel to get two days of express passes if we want to splurge, but other than that, we just focus on using good strategy. Unfortunately, just like at Disney, the most affordable trip is going to be a basic trip, and you’re going to have to pay a premium for a premium experience.