DoubleTree vs. Royal Pacific - Which should I choose?

[brocklesnar69]

I am strongly thinking about going in Sept 2008. I already bought the 7 days park hopper tickets. Overall, how is September? Is that a major refub month? Besides the heat, is it a good time to go? Crowds?

I have got my mind set on and I am trying to decide between staying at:

Doubletree Hotel. And just walking to and from the parks every day.
Is it do able? Is it an outragious walk? How is it staying here versus the Royal Pacific? Do the shuttles run from Universal opening time to closing time? (So I dont have to leave the park early just to catch a shuttle)

Price wise I lean towards this Hotel, but closeness wise and all the "Extras" wise, I am leaning toward Royal Pacific.

OR

The Royal Pacific Hotel. I guess its a lot closer. And I wouldnt mind the Express Line thing, and the Deluxe feel of a nice Hotel. But I am unsure if I wanna fork over an extra $600 just to stay closer.

After all, I dont want to spend more money if its unnessecery or if the extra money will only give me "few" extras versus the cheaper hotel.

Its going to be a really hard decision. Any advice would be greatly appriciated!

 

[Melanie230]

Spend the $600. You won't regret it. The walk from the Doubletree to the parks is about a mile. My friend stayed there and liked the hotel but she said she regretted not staying onsite. The FOTL pass is worth the extra $$ by far. You can walk to US/IOA in 7 minutes or ride the boat taxi and get out right at the gates. The hotels really have a lot of fun activities in the evenings. I will never go to US/IOA unless we can stay onsite. We stayed at RPR for our first visit to US/IOA last year and are headed back next month to stay at HRH! Have fun!

 

[NashvilleTrio]

My advise would be to stay on-site at the RPH. We had our first on-site visit last August and stayed at the RPH. We returned in Jan to HRH and heading back in Jul for the PBH. You're going to love staying on-site.

The Express Line, Priority Seating at City Walk Restaurants, Transportation to parks and Package Deliveryto your room make the RPH a great choice.

We were faced with the same decision last fall. $88/night at Doubletree or $149/night at RPH. We're glad we went with the RPH.

Disney is completely different that Universal so it is hard to compare, but I do know that when we're at Universal we're not in "commando" mode. We acutally take time to enjoy the pool, sleep in late, go shopping at night, etc. You won't be in a rush since the parks are a 10 minute walk/ride and the Express Line can't be under estimated.

Go for it! You'll love it.

 

[MamaKate]

If money is an issue, I'd definately go with Doubletree unless you can find a discount for RPR for your stay. If you can get the price difference down a little, then it will definately be worth a stay at RPR just for the atmosphere. But for $600 for September, I'd stay off-site. How many days are you going???

Since your going in September, there will not be any crowds during the weekdays & there is no need for FOTL.

We've had 6 trips to USO in the past 5 years & we've stayed on-site for 4 of them. The 2 trips we stayed off-site were not any less enjoyable and we still got to do and see everything we wanted. We even went during President's weekend this year staying off-site and as long as you get there early, the parks are always empty until around 11-12 in the afternoon.

Although we do love staying on-site, I say save the money unless you can get a good discount for on-site.

 

[brocklesnar69]

I bought the 7 day $86 tickets. So I will be staying for a total of 8 days and 7 nights.

What is the package delivery thing? And what is priority seating?


And from the MCO Orlando airport to Universal (Then from Universal to Disney), which should I get: Towncar vs Taxi? Which is cheaper (2 people)? Which is better? What do you think the price would be for 2 adults going one way?

I heard that the towncar stops at local stores...

One of my family members has AAA. How much of a discount would that get me for Royal Pacific?

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We're in the camp with those who wouldn't go to UO & not stay onsite. Then again, the resort is a big part of our vacation. For a stay as long as you're planning, $600 isn't bad. However, as others have suggested, keep checking for a AAA rate to see if you can get that down. You won't really need FOTL with a stay that long. To us, staying onsite is about much more than that though. Have you considered staying offsite for 1/2 the nights, then moving onsite for the other 1/2 to save some money. I'm assuming you planned to spend all 7 nights in either the Doubletree or RPR. Sorry, if I misunderstood.

I'm clueless about transportation. We can drive to UO from home in less than 1 1/2 hrs.

 

[Melanie230]

The package delivery is when you go shopping at US/IOA or Citywalk the store will deliver your packages to your room.

The Priority Seating is for restuarant seating. You walk in a restuarant and you get priority over non on site guests.

 

[brocklesnar69]

I am definatly staying all 8 days in either on site/off site.

I think expedia has a really good deal for Sept '07 where it cuts the price from $209 to $167. Im hopeing it does the same for '08. If it does, I'll probably stay at RPR. But in '08 if it goes back up to $209 or higher, I'll probably stay at DoubleTree.

I cant look into the '08 prices yet, so Im trying to get an idea from the '07 prices.

 

[rodkenrich]

The room key card at the on-site resorts is like "gold" in you hands.