Do we NEED to stay on sight?

[Fsmith]

Hi All,

We will be at IOA/US May 11-14. Do we need to stay at one of the Universal hotels or will we be fine that time of year staying somewhere else? Thanks. This is a last minute trip, so I am scrammbling.

 

[Metro West]

I think you would be OK staying off site...that's not a very busy time. Onsite perks are nice but unless its a very busy time, you could stay offsite w/o too many problems.

I'm going to move this to the Resorts board for more responses.

 

[damo]

You never NEED to stay onsite. However, I find it much more enjoyable staying onsite. There is no time lost to transportation and long stand by lines.

Fridays in May can be insane with school groups.

 

[RMulieri]

You don't need to ,but it is more than worth it.Iwon't go at anytime of year without staying onsite..I am spoiled now

 

[kimmyann]

We are going to be in Orlando May 11-15. We are going to Universal the 12th & 13th, I was also on the fence about staying onsite & ended up breaking down & booking RPR for the night of the 12th. I did it because I wanted it to be a more relaxed theme park trip (about as relaxed as you can get for a theme park) & not have to worry about having a touring plan. This is our first time to Universal & a pretty short trip for us so I just want to make sure we are able to do everything without stressing about it. Plus, my 10 year old is a HUGE Harry Potter fan so I really wanted her to be able to enjoy that part. Granted, we are staying at 3 different hotels for 4 nights, but I think it will be worth it. I think I did pretty good price wise, the entire trip for lodging is only $450 for 4 nights. Either way I think we would have been fine, I just didn't want to deal with lines & plans. Good luck.

 

[aubriee]

We are going to be in Orlando May 11-15. We are going to Universal the 12th & 13th, I was also on the fence about staying onsite & ended up breaking down & booking RPR for the night of the 12th. I did it because I wanted it to be a more relaxed theme park trip (about as relaxed as you can get for a theme park) & not have to worry about having a touring plan. This is our first time to Universal & a pretty short trip for us so I just want to make sure we are able to do everything without stressing about it. Plus, my 10 year old is a HUGE Harry Potter fan so I really wanted her to be able to enjoy that part. Granted, we are staying at 3 different hotels for 4 nights, but I think it will be worth it. I think I did pretty good price wise, the entire trip for lodging is only $450 for 4 nights. Either way I think we would have been fine, I just didn't want to deal with lines & plans. Good luck.

You'll be there the same time as us. I currently have a one bedroom over at Wyndham Bonnet Creek for May 10th-20th, but the more I thought about the front of the line perk, having a place to go back and rest during the day, and not wanting to drive back and forth from WDW to Universal for three days, the better staying onsite for the Universal part of our trip sounded. Due to booking Bonnet Creek through a third party, I couldn't change the BC ressie without penalties, but staying onsite at Universal is worth it enough for us, that we are still staying at RPR May 12th-14th, and the condo over at BC will just sit empty those two nights/three days. We love staying onsite and it's worth the extra expense to us. We chose to stay in the middle of the trip, because those were nights the room was cheaper with the AP discount.

 

[Bluer101]

It's not about needing to stay onsite but wanting to.

How valuable is your time? Do you want complete relaxation?

We will never stay offsite no matter the time of year, home away from home.

 

[macraven]

i always stay on site.



it makes it a total vacation for me.


totally relaxing with not having to rush anywhere.
hotel perks gives you more time in the park to do things you want to do.



for me, my vacation is more than just doing the parks for the rides.
it is the complete immersion of the darkside experience by staying on site.

it gives me so much flexibility on how i spend my days.
i do the parks, pools, hotel hop, city walk, cinema, eateries.

everything is a short walk away from the hotel in some cases.


if you only plan on 2 park days, staying onsite one night will be a benefit for you.
people are usually tired at the end of a park day.
you don't have to face any traffic congestion returning back to an offsite hotel.
by staying onsite, you can cover both parks without losing commuting time.
you can wake up, get dressed and be at the parks at opening without hassle and stress getting the family in gear.

everyone has priorities.
many feel staying on site is worth the money.

 

[saskdw]

What he said!!

 

[schumigirl]

for me, my vacation is more than just doing the parks for the rides.
it is the complete immersion of the darkside experience by staying on site.

So true.

We never want to come home after our stay at RPR.

 

[glocon]

You don't NEED to, but it makes for a much different trip if you do. There is the immersion in the UO experience, the high quality deluxe resorts, and the unlimited ep.

For our family, we thought that the HRH was every bit as deluxe as AKL and more so than the Beach Club. The perks of staying onsite are greater at UO than at WDW with that unlimited express pass. Just imagine going to a theme park that size and not having to wait in those looooooong lines all day. A VERY different theme park day.

 

[madelyn]

We have only spent 1 night on-site (HRH) and that was 1 night I got (while already having 7 nights at a Marriott condo) mainly for the Express pass for 2 days. I hope we can afford to stay on-site again someday. What is nice about the Universal parks and hotels (compared to Disney on-site) is that it is so quick and easy it is to walk from park to park and to back to the on-site hotels. Yes, you can walk to Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary and you can walk to Hollywood Studios and Epcot from the Boardwalk area resorts but we never made it back in the middle of our park day to take a break like we did at our HRH stay. Yes, we had club level access so maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[Bluer101]

We have only spent 1 night on-site (HRH) and that was 1 night I got (while already having 7 nights at a Marriott condo) mainly for the Express pass for 2 days. I hope we can afford to stay on-site again someday. What is nice about the Universal parks and hotels (compared to Disney on-site) is that it is so quick and easy it is to walk from park to park and to back to the on-site hotels. Yes, you can walk to Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary and you can walk to Hollywood Studios and Epcot from the Boardwalk area resorts but we never made it back in the middle of our park day to take a break like we did at our HRH stay. Yes, we had club level access so maybe that had something to do with it.

Club has nothing to do with it. We sometimes go back to our room a few times a day while staying at RPR. It's too easy and fast to walk or ride the boat back.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Bonnet Creek is an easy, easy drive to USO/IOA. We stayed there last summer and came into Universal 3 days (Legoland 2 days). With me, mom and 2 boys, we wanted the 2 bedroom condo and resort amenities, and Mom and Dad own at Wyndham, so it was a no-brainer for us. the resort is awesome, and my kids were psyched to go back (we stayed there several years ago for a WDW trip).

 

[EnduringWone]

I was wondering about this myself. We are going to Universal in Dec on the 9th, 10th, 11th and SeaWorld on the 12th and 13th and Busch Gardens on the 14th. We have hotel points so our hotel stay for the length--8th to the 15th would be FREE.

When we went in 2006 the second week of December, we walked on rides including Spiderman (which was the only super cool ride we rode, we are NOT rollercoaster people), so I was thinking we did not need to stay on property. I also find it ridiculous to pay 18 to self park and to pay for internet.

But our daughter is a huge HP fan and wants immerse herself in that portion of the park.

Is it really necessary to stay on-site to have an enjoyable time? It is 225 plus tax per night at the Polynesian looking hotel plus tax and internet daily and parking daily...just for a place to sleep and get into a park early? I don't mind that if I am going to actually enjoy the hotel, but we do Disney parks from first thing in the morning until pretty late....we only sleep and shower at the hotel.

But it is only for three days and she is totally worth it and we are getting older, lol.

Thanks in advance.

 

[damo]

I was wondering about this myself. We are going to Universal in Dec on the 9th, 10th, 11th and SeaWorld on the 12th and 13th and Busch Gardens on the 14th. We have hotel points so our hotel stay for the length--8th to the 15th would be FREE.

When we went in 2006 the second week of December, we walked on rides including Spiderman (which was the only super cool ride we rode, we are NOT rollercoaster people), so I was thinking we did not need to stay on property. I also find it ridiculous to pay 18 to self park and to pay for internet.

But our daughter is a huge HP fan and wants immerse herself in that portion of the park.

Is it really necessary to stay on-site to have an enjoyable time? It is 225 plus tax per night at the Polynesian looking hotel plus tax and internet daily and parking daily...just for a place to sleep and get into a park early? I don't mind that if I am going to actually enjoy the hotel, but we do Disney parks from first thing in the morning until pretty late....we only sleep and shower at the hotel.

But it is only for three days and she is totally worth it and we are getting older, lol.

Thanks in advance.

The parks are dead during that time. Even though it is more enjoyable being onsite, you won't have any lines to worry about. With an ap, rooms are probably about $170 at the RPR at that time. You might want to look at getting one.

 

[macraven]

you should be able to enter into parry hotter around 9ish if you are in the entrance line early.

onsite guests will already be in that section of the park but it won't be full.

it can become crowded by 11, depending on the dates.


your trip to the darkside shouldn't encounter hugh crowds at all.
early december doesn't have crowds.


staying onsite has its conveniences.
no commute time needed to plan for.
no need to carry many things into the park for your day there.


for those that stay onsite at the motherland, you will find peeps that want to be onsite for the conveniences of not having to travel from offsite.

staying offsite at disney means you have to get up early, get ready for the day and pack what you need for that time period, drive to the parks, then tram it to the park gate.

same set up for the darkside hotels.


staying onsite at any resort makes your vacation there go smoother.
it gives you more park time than commuting and organizing the event when you stay offsite.

when i am at disney, i stay at disney.
when i am at UOR, i stay at UOR.

 

[EnduringWone]

you should be able to enter into parry hotter around 9ish if you are in the entrance line early.

onsite guests will already be in that section of the park but it won't be full.

it can become crowded by 11, depending on the dates.


your trip to the darkside shouldn't encounter hugh crowds at all.
early december doesn't have crowds.


staying onsite has its conveniences.
no commute time needed to plan for.
no need to carry many things into the park for your day there.


for those that stay onsite at the motherland, you will find peeps that want to be onsite for the conveniences of not having to travel from offsite.

staying offsite at disney means you have to get up early, get ready for the day and pack what you need for that time period, drive to the parks, then tram it to the park gate.

same set up for the darkside hotels.


staying onsite at any resort makes your vacation there go smoother.
it gives you more park time than commuting and organizing the event when you stay offsite.

when i am at disney, i stay at disney.
when i am at UOR, i stay at UOR.

But a stay at a value Disney resort is a hundred dollars less and free parking and I think wifi.

Thank you for your advice and insight. I guess a three day stay will not break the budget and we have to pay for parking whether we stay on-site or off.

 

[EnduringWone]

The parks are dead during that time. Even though it is more enjoyable being onsite, you won't have any lines to worry about. With an ap, rooms are probably about $170 at the RPR at that time. You might want to look at getting one.

We won't be buying APs. We live in South Carolina, the Upstate.

We have never stayed on-site, so why not for three days, right?

Did I mention the free hotel we would be staying at also has free hot breakfast?

So how nice is the Polynesian style hotel at Universal?

Off to look at the hotel thread.

Thank you!!

 

[macraven]

But a stay at a value Disney resort is a hundred dollars less and free parking and I think wifi.

Thank you for your advice and insight. I guess a three day stay will not break the budget and we have to pay for parking whether we stay on-site or off.

you are correct, that is true.
my rate at the motherland value resort is $127 plus tax on the weekend nights. (fall trip)
if staying onsite at rph for 5 nights or more with stay more save more general promotion rate, is $177 plus tax.

depending on the dates you are checking out room rates, could flexuate.
weekdays are cheaper than weekends.

one is looking at $50 more per night at the darkside then.
if you have a car, that is another $18 to cover per night.


my original point was not the money but the convenience for staying onsite.
no down time for commuting, or having to allow extra time for getting into the park.

if a person's priorities are to save money, then offsite dwellings are best.

i know it hurts to pay for a hotel room and not use it for a few nights in order to book nights at an onsite hotel.

maybe you would consider staying one night only onsite and the next two nights offsite.

that way you could have the hotel perks of early entry to ioa and unlimited usage of the express lines for two full days.

the third day, you would not have the hotel benefits.

when you stay onsite, you receive the hotel perks for the day you check in and for the day you check out.

for a one night stay, you receive two days of perks.
you come out ahead by saving some hotel money and still have park perks.

you could move into the offsite hotel once you are done with the parks on day 2.