Cost of Express Pass in March??/Worth stay at Universal?

[Julylady]

We are planning a 9 day visit to Orlando in March, 2011 with 8 adults (Age 16-75). Our original plan was to stay the first two nights at a Universal hotel to get the "front of the line" passes and then move to a vacation home for the next 7 nights.

We would need 3 rooms at Universal. In crunching the numbers this morning, I am thinking that it might actually be less expensive for us to stay the entire time in the vacation home and just purchase the "express passes" for Universal.

Some in the group are also questioning the "hassle" of first staying in a hotel and then moving to a house. They think we will lose a lot of vacation time during the "move." Others like the idea of being able to come and go from the hotel while at Universal. HELP!!!

Questions?
1. Does anyone remember if March is considered a "peak time" for the express pass? How much extra will be be per day?

2. Does anyone remember what the least expensive rooms at Universal cost per night in March?

3. Has anyone done this and have advice????

THANKS

Donna

 

[mjohnson96]

1. March is the start of Spring Break, so usually this is a busy time of the year starting the middle of the month and the express passes can be in the higher price groups of over $50.

We have never even tried to go in March, I'm from Florida and used to work at WDW years ago and this was usually a busy time.

If you are going the first 2 weeks of March you should be okay with crowds and pricing but after that Spring Break will kick in through April and it can get pricey and hetic.

 

[xApril]

Parks weren't too busy the first 3 weeks or so in March this year. Near the end of the month, there were cheerleading things going on, along with Bay Hill so that hiked up the crowds, along with some of the local spring breakers (me included), but it didn't really get too busy until April, but even then it didn't seem that bad to me.

I'd imagine that'll be different with Harry being open though.

 

[Julylady]

Thanks for the input. I decided last night to go ahead and change the vacation home rental to all nine nights. We can decide when we arrive at Universal whether to purchase the Express Passes or not. By my calculations we will save about $300 this way. Not too shabby!

 

[Metro West]

Thanks for the input. I decided last night to go ahead and change the vacation home rental to all nine nights. We can decide when we arrive at Universal whether to purchase the Express Passes or not. By my calculations we will save about $300 this way. Not too shabby!

 

[kathy884]

I think you made a good decision. I personally always prefer, if possible, to stay at one place the whole time. To me the moving is a hassle and seems to limit what we can do on that day. And in my opinion, the larger a group you have, the bigger hassle moving is. I know that we'll be doing a seven night stay at a condo in March of 2011