Doctorate students on a budget

[apqruil]

Hello! This is my first post, please be kind!

Both my boyfriend and I are on a tight budget but we would Love to vacation here as both of us have never been before. I have done a lot of research here and elsewhere, however our tight budget really gives us a hard time to decide what to do, so we would really appreciate some help! We are not looking for the poor college student experience, we would like as nice an experience as possible for the money.

Our dates: Wed Jan 7th - Mon Jan 12th 2009 from Philly Airport (no car rental)

Where to stay?: the DoubleTree (DT) versus on site at the Royal Pacific.
Why the DoubleTree: 5 nights we found to be about $400. It is supposed to be within walking distance (10min) but I want to verify this as some say yes others no.
Why the Royal Pacific: 5 nights it's more than double the price at $900+. But it is on site, we can pool hop, and get express access. However, is it worth it??

I know a lot of people have said YES! I've read many many opinions as such, but please bear in mind that a $450 difference for us is a big deal! So is being onsite That big of a plus if we do not mind walking from DT? We would love spending afternoons at the pool, and we hear great things about RPR, is it a factor for people when they book? Or is the DT good for swimming in Jan as well? (Or is too cold to even consider swimming at all?.. we're coming from the north so 70F might not be so cold if anyone from the north has an opinion) And also for Jan, are the crowds low enough to not need an express pass at all? We hear it's pretty low crowds but the express pass seems to be a big deal for those who choose RPR.

We do not have AAA, so no discounts there. We hear that if we get an Annual Pass, it's worth it, but I'm not sure how. There are several different annual pass options, and how big of a discount do you really get if you spend up to $100 more? We are about 85% sure we won't be going back here for a while so we feel like the annual pass will go to waste with it only providing something like 15% off on hotels. I signed up for the loews first card but it doesn't give any discounts.

We are also considering buying a meal deal a day and sharing it between us by going through the lines multiple times. It says sharing is not allowed but I can't imagine how they can enforce that. Is this meal deal worth getting, it seems just fast food only. We both eat ALOT.

This a horribly long post but anything would be helpful. Thanks alot in advance!

 

[phamton]

Even though this post does have some questions abut the hotels, the bulk of the post is about trip tips so I'm going to move it to the main forum so you can get some more answers.

I personally don't think you will need to stay on site as the parks won't be busy at that time. If money is tight, you could skip the onsite hotels.It's nice to be able to walk to the parks and to have FOTL but if you need to save money, I'd stay off site and just arrive early each morning.

We are also considering buying a meal deal a day and sharing it between us by going through the lines multiple times. It says sharing is not allowed but I can't imagine how they can enforce that. Is this meal deal worth getting, it seems just fast food only. We both eat ALOT.

Trust me...they do have ways of enforcing the no sharing.The meal deals are so cheap I can't see why you would want to scrimp by not getting two.

If you don't want annual passes you can buy the 7 day passes. The 7 day passes are really cheap right now. There are also a couple of deals for annual passes using a coke code.

 

[damo]

The annual pass rate for the room is $164/night, so that is a little cheaper but the pass is going to cost you considerably more than the 7 day pass. It will give you a meal discount though. I think you can eat cheaper than purchasing the meal deal. There are things such as the volcano nachos and the quesadias that can be split at Mararitaville giving a nice big meal at a good price. The pizza at Sal's Deli at Portofino is another good example of a good but cheap meal.

There are some cheap hotels ... for example the Baymont for about $50 ... that are still within walking distance.

 

[ky07]

The Doubletree as well as they hyatt place and baymont is a short 10 min walk to universal and as far as eating goes you can always find cheap meals at palces such as the cracker barrel ,Golden corral and TGI fridays which are real close to the hotels that are mentioned .
As far as being on a budget I think you could do it pretty easy cause I have a family of four and I usually like your doing research on how much hotel and plane tickets and food and most of the time come home with money.
Hope this helps

 

[macraven]

quite a few have stayed at the double day and said it is walkable to the parks. have you checked out if they have a shuttle to the park?
some of the local off site hotels do have that service.

check out some of the trip reports in that forum to read about staying off site experiences.

i don't stay off site.
not worth it for me.

some regions of the country you can get AAA membership for $40 a year.
that could take up to 35% off the room cost for you.
you can use AAA for on line shopping with a discount, hotel room discounts throughout the united states and many resturants.

the AAA also gives you 10% off food and merch at the parks and some places in city walk.

check it out and work with the numbers if it is a good thing for you.

the meal deal is not to be shared.
it is illegal.
why be a rebel over it?

what ever place you decide to stay, you will have a fine time at universal.