Disney Veteran...Universal newbie

[princessmama]

Okay so I want to bring my family of five and stay on property in July as we will be in Florida already for a family event. The trouble I'm finding is that we want to get the express perks so we would like to stay in the top three hotels but for our family, the Cabana Bay resort seems like a better room fit. Is it wise to buy the express on top of the park tickets or suck it up and stay at one of the other hotels but be cramped. The whole ticket process seems confusing to me. We are looking to stay just two nights and three day park-to-park. So then I'd be looking to buy three day park-to-park WITH Universal Express? It seems so much more expensive. If anyone has any thoughts, please help me out. It feels so foreign to not know the best way to do these things after years and years of having my Disney down pat! Thank you!!

 

[Heidi K]

For only two nights in July, I would choose cramped in a deluxe hotel so you can get the included express passes. You probably won't be in the hotel room very much.

 

[CalKhat]

If your family just sleeps/ showers in the room, but spends most of the day out and about at the parks and resorts I'd book a hotel with express pass. It seems like you would be mostly at the parks anyways. To me, I'd rather have the perk in the park rather than the room in the room. Also you get water taxi service to the parks and can walk to the parks from the top 3 hotels.

Another thing is you can pool hop so you could hop over to Cabana Bay and take a mid afternoon float around the lazy raver there to cool off even if you aren't staying there.

This is just my opinion from what I've gathered reading these boards and is based on ZERO experience at Universal, lol.

Another option if you really want the extra space is just buy the EP pass for one day and do the major EP rides that day at both parks, then the other days do the Wizard areas (they don't take EP in Potterland) and any other rides that don't take EP, and do the shows and explore.

 

[macraven]

You can book one night at the deluxe hotel and get free unlimited usage of the express lines

You get this for the day you check in and the day you check out

Work a plan for your 3 night stay where you stay the first night at a deluxe
Next day check out and move to Cbay the value hotel onsite

This way you are not paying for two days of ep
On check out day have valet store your luggage
When the parks close, get your luggage and check in at Cbay

All onsite hotels have early entry for their guests

 

[princessmama]

Thanks so much! I think I will go with the deluxe hotel. We do want to spend some time at the pool but my kids are walking Harry Potter fanatics so we will definitely take part of the early entry for that. I see the express doesn't work there so maybe it is worth it to look into getting the express for just one day and enjoy the other things. I am so used to putting so much love into planning my Disney time but this time the kids really want to do The Wizarding World! lol

 

[cmarsh31]

I had the same dilemmas - went back and forth between Sapphire Falls and a deluxe. AP rates just came out - it's now cheaper to upgrade one ticket to an AP when we get there and stay at Royal Pacific with the EP for all 3 days of our tickets. We're also mainly just going for HP. My 11 year old DS doesn't like roller coasters at all.

 

[BobDes]

We recently stayed at Portofino Bay and got a great package through our American Express card. We are also DIS people and this was our 1st time at US in the last
15 years. So much has changed and we can't wait to go back!!!

 

[glocon]

Just an fyi- the ep will work at FotH and DC in Hogsmeade.

 

[princessmama]

Okay so we are staying at RPR so we will have the express built in! I'm still thinking about tickets and it looks like I may get them through Undercover Tourist because right now they have the buy two day ticket and get third day free! I think that will cover the parks and lodging!

 

[Lynne G]

Sounds great princess. Then if you decide you want to upgrade to an annual pass, just do so INSIDE the parks. They will bridge. Have an awesome time. The pool area at RPR is really pretty and tropical looking, and it's a quick walk to the parks or a nice boat ride.

 

[princessmama]

Sounds great princess. Then if you decide you want to upgrade to an annual pass, just do so INSIDE the parks. They will bridge. Have an awesome time. The pool area at RPR is really pretty and tropical looking, and it's a quick walk to the parks or a nice boat ride.

So if we park at the resort then we pretty much don't have to drive until we leave? Can you take the boat to City Walk too?

 

[wookiebeck]

That's right. Uni is so well laid out that if you want, you can park at the resort and not use the car your whole trip. The water taxi takes you to a dock in the center of City Walk. From there you can go right into IOA or left into USO or straight into CW.

Or you can get on another water taxi that is going back to Hard Rock or Portofino to explore and pool hop.

 

[uccats97]

I'm in a similar situation only we are a family of 6 and don't fit in the deluxe hotels. We opted for Cabana Bay and bought the 2 day park to park with 3rd day free tickets from UT. We decided that 3 days is plenty of time to see everything without the added cost of express pass. Hopefully the queues will be interesting to us as we've never seen them before. We are Disney AP holders and never wait in lines there so this is all new to us. We leave a week from tomorrow!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Thanks so much! I think I will go with the deluxe hotel. We do want to spend some time at the pool but my kids are walking Harry Potter fanatics so we will definitely take part of the early entry for that. I see the express doesn't work there so maybe it is worth it to look into getting the express for just one day and enjoy the other things. I am so used to putting so much love into planning my Disney time but this time the kids really want to do The Wizarding World! lol

While the EP doesn't work on the two main HP rides, it works on almost everything else in the park, so we use the EP to do other things quickly to free up more time for Harry Potter. I don't think you have mentioned the kids' ages, but if they are old enough, we use the single rider lines to do multiple trips through the Harry Potter rides. We do the full queue once or twice each trip (they are worth seeing), but we use single-rider the rest of the trip.

 

[macraven]

So if we park at the resort then we pretty much don't have to drive until we leave? Can you take the boat to City Walk too?

All the hotel boats dock at city walk

Go to any hotel that has the water taxi at city walk to reach another hotel that uses water taxis

 

[Cuchman]

I'm in a similar situation only we are a family of 6 and don't fit in the deluxe hotels. We opted for Cabana Bay and bought the 2 day park to park with 3rd day free tickets from UT. We decided that 3 days is plenty of time to see everything without the added cost of express pass. Hopefully the queues will be interesting to us as we've never seen them before. We are Disney AP holders and never wait in lines there so this is all new to us. We leave a week from tomorrow!

My fam of five loves the suites at CB. Make sure you are early for early entry and do headliners early...you'll be fine. Plus, universal has many more single rider lines.....we use them a LOT after our first ride together on things.
Have fun!

 

[uccats97]

My fam of five loves the suites at CB. Make sure you are early for early entry and do headliners early...you'll be fine. Plus, universal has many more single rider lines.....we use them a LOT after our first ride together on things.
Have fun!

Thanks for the tips! I feel like such a newbie when it comes to Universal. We went for one day 13 years ago so this is basically our first visit.

 

[Cuchman]

Our first trip was last August, so the newbie feeling is still fresh for us....we loved it so much, we upgraded to annual passes (after the fact, which you can do at Universal) and are going for our THIRD trip this August.
Suites at cabana bay are super well designed and comfortable for larger groups, btw. My fam of 5 was far more comfortable there than squeezing into a room at the hard rock. If you weren't already, you should consider them.