express confusion

[memakwed]

I thought I understood how things work but I am now confused after going onto the universal website. I would love for someone to explain where my thougth went wrong and put me on the right path.

Totally new to Universal a disney fan to the core.

I am thinking of doing Universal at the end of June with my DH and DS. I have been reading stickies to get as much info as possible but haven't got to all yet. Did all of the FAQ and started reading about resorts and the new resort.

HEre's what I thougth I learned:
If you stay onsite at the 3 that are open you get unlimited express and early entry. I was thinking RPR. The whole point of onsite is to be close and express. new resort won't be open or have the express so not an issue in the decision process.
I wanted to see hotel prices. I found $260 a night at RPR but it has unlimited express.
Next I went to see the cost of tickets on the universal site. First off I couldn;t figure out how to buy a child's ticket. I could only put adult tickets in my cart. my DS is 9. I don't even know if he is a child or adult but thought because they showed the option for a child's ticket he must be and he is still a child in disney's eyes.
How would I add his tickets?
Also, I thougth the bonus of being onsite is getting unlimited express but I could add this to my ticket. What's the point of staying onsite if I can buy the option, other than to be close to the park? I thougth you could only buy a limited express- not sure I used the right term- but the only once a ride express and I saw that option as an addon. I don't get it. But if someone could help I'd appreciate it. If i find it too difficult to manage we'll just go to disney that I can do with my eyes closed.

 

[Maleficent's Dad]

Not sure about the child's ticket, but for unlimited express, you simply show your room key at each attraction.

 

[memakwed]

Thanks for the response. Why would I stay onsite if I can purchase unlimited express with tickets?

 

[shoney]

I'll try to break it down, someone can correct me if I don't have something right.

Stay on site:
Buy a admission tickets from any place (such as costco, universal site, undercovertourist, etc)
Receive a card that entitles you to unlimited express

Stay off site:
Buy an admission ticket from any place and you have the option to add regular express. These can be purchased on universals site or get them while you are there) This gives you 1 express pass per ride.

-or-

Buy an unlimited express pass that includes admission from the universal site.

https://www.universalorlando.com/Theme-Park-Tickets/Universal-Express/Express-Passes.aspx

 

[kkendle]

I thought I understood how things work but I am now confused after going onto the universal website. I would love for someone to explain where my thougth went wrong and put me on the right path.

Totally new to Universal a disney fan to the core.

I am thinking of doing Universal at the end of June with my DH and DS. I have been reading stickies to get as much info as possible but haven't got to all yet. Did all of the FAQ and started reading about resorts and the new resort.

HEre's what I thougth I learned:
If you stay onsite at the 3 that are open you get unlimited express and early entry. I was thinking RPR. The whole point of onsite is to be close and express. new resort won't be open or have the express so not an issue in the decision process.
I wanted to see hotel prices. I found $260 a night at RPR but it has unlimited express.
Next I went to see the cost of tickets on the universal site. First off I couldn;t figure out how to buy a child's ticket. I could only put adult tickets in my cart. my DS is 9. I don't even know if he is a child or adult but thought because they showed the option for a child's ticket he must be and he is still a child in disney's eyes.
How would I add his tickets?
Also, I thougth the bonus of being onsite is getting unlimited express but I could add this to my ticket. What's the point of staying onsite if I can buy the option, other than to be close to the park? I thougth you could only buy a limited express- not sure I used the right term- but the only once a ride express and I saw that option as an addon. I don't get it. But if someone could help I'd appreciate it. If i find it too difficult to manage we'll just go to disney that I can do with my eyes closed.

If you are just pricing or even buying tickets on the Universal website, the website doesn't know you are staying onsite so gives you the option of adding express. It is kind of like looking at the hotel prices....it will give you the rack rate for the room, or you can add a AAA discount code and see what the AAA price is, or if you add the passholder code, you can see what the price is for being a passholder.

If you stay onsite...it is the room stay that will give you the unlimited express perks...that will be added to your tickets once you check into the hotel. Used to be you just showed your room key for express but apparently now you get a special ticket made for express. You still have to have theme park tickets however.

Not sure if this helped....Kelly

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks for the response. Why would I stay onsite if I can purchase unlimited express with tickets?

Did you see the price per person per day of those tickets? Definitely check the cost if normal tickets plus hotel, vs offsite hotel and the unlimited EP tickets, but from what I've seen it's not an option I would take. At least for when we stay.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm on my phone so the site might not be exactly the same, but when I go to the tickets page and look for Step 1, that is where I tell them who is in my party. Then Step 2 has me choose the tickets.

It is really easy for my eye to be drawn to the right side first, but that is step two.

 

[memakwed]

Thanks I'll look again at the site and try not to be drawn to my right. I did put in our info though first but will try again. After doing it a couple of tries I got frustrated.

Thank you for the info and that I'm not misunderstanding, I thougth for sure I didn't know what I was doing. Being able to just buy unlimited express vs. staying onsite for unlimited express is interesting and I will really look at price differences. Other than looking at the RPR rate I haven't priced off site ect

 

[damo]

It is often much cheaper to stay onsite than to buy two days of unlimited express. With one night onsite, you get two full days of early admission and unlimited express.

Also, Forbidden Journey does not take express passes. Going for early admission is the best option for the Wizarding World.

Here's a bit of a price rundown for you: one night onsite as you said: $260, two adult and one child admission two days park to park: $150, $150, $137....totalling...about $700

stay offsite end of June in a close hotel: $150, unlimited express including park to park admission for two days end of June: $905...totalling $1055 and that doesn't include early admission

On the Universal website on the left hand side it asks you how many adults and children you want tickets for (above Spiderman). It states that children are 3-9. On the right hand side you choose your type of tickets. It will then price out the tickets for you. https://www.universalorlando.com/ticket-store-a/PurchaseTickets.aspx?ParkTickets

I linked to the undercover tourist site on my initial quote.

 

[bumbershoot]

OK now I'm on my computer instead of my phone.


First, I like checking the hotels on this site. Gives me all the onsite hotels in one glance. The newest hotel, one that opens next year I think, Cabana Bay, will give the early entry, but will *not* include the unlimited express pass, by the way.


When I just went to the Universal Orlando page I see a small thing on the right of the homepage where you enter in who you are bringing. That takes me to the page I saw on my phone, where that info is now on the left, and the ticket stuff is on the right. The ticket stuff is broken down in cost *per day*, which is a great way for them to show the savings as you buy a longer ticket, but it makes it slightly tricky to see the full cost right in front of your eyes!

I put in 1 adult and 1 child for a 2 day, and I see: "Adult Per Day | $70.00
Child Per Day | $65.00
Total Cost | $269.98"

Click add to cart and that button changes to "added". Up at the top of the page (or at the bottom!) now is where you can click Next to see your cart. Skip all the extra stuff (is that where the unlimited EP info was throwing you?) and click Next again.

Now you should be able to see (in my example):


2 Day : Park to Park
1 Adult X $139.99 each
$139.99
1 Child X $129.99 each
$129.99


If you end up buying through Universal online, I highly recommend the "will call kiosk" option.


But I also like undercovertourist like damo talked about, and I'm glad it was mentioned!

 

[macraven]

for what you would pay to stay offsite and buy a couple of the unlimited express passes, you could stay onsite for one night for about the same costs.


by staying onsite one night, you would get the hotel perks (early entry and unlimited usage of the express lines) that day you check out, for the parks until they close that night.

 

[memakwed]

Yes I got the site ticket issue taken care of last evening to camparison shop a bit. While the idea presented of staying for 1 night and getting 2 days of EE sounds good and most people can seem to do the park in 2 days due to my health we figure a 3 day plan would be best for touring. Now we have to factor in arrival and departure day means no parks for me(health) an then 3 days at the park turns into a 4 night stay. Bouncing from htoel to hotel is nto an option for me either, it's too exhausting and time consuming. That's when I need to sit down and see which price option is better. I totally see the benifits to staying onsite. We always stay onsite at disney that is why my instinct is to stay onsite here but since this is a bonus trip budget counts and if in the long run I can save money offsite and still get unlimited express by purchasing that might be what to do. Long gone are the days of a quick trip where I can do whatever for however long I would like. Disney is now a 14 day trip in itself so I an do it at the pace I need. I really aprreciate the info. from everyone.

 

[macraven]

Yes I got the site ticket issue taken care of last evening to camparison shop a bit. While the idea presented of staying for 1 night and getting 2 days of EE sounds good and most people can seem to do the park in 2 days due to my health we figure a 3 day plan would be best for touring. Now we have to factor in arrival and departure day means no parks for me(health) an then 3 days at the park turns into a 4 night stay. Bouncing from htoel to hotel is nto an option for me either, it's too exhausting and time consuming. That's when I need to sit down and see which price option is better. I totally see the benifits to staying onsite. We always stay onsite at disney that is why my instinct is to stay onsite here but since this is a bonus trip budget counts and if in the long run I can save money offsite and still get unlimited express by purchasing that might be what to do. Long gone are the days of a quick trip where I can do whatever for however long I would like. Disney is now a 14 day trip in itself so I an do it at the pace I need. I really aprreciate the info. from everyone.

i totally understand.
for short stays and moving onsite to offsite, can be too much of a hassle.
that will wear you out and waste park time.
since the UO portion is on a budget, you'll need to work the numbers out.

i do both motherland and darkside onsite.
my stays are under 3 weeks and i split the days between the resorts.

i try to time it when i can get the better rates at the darkside resorts as i am there longer. (11 days this year)
for the motherland, i wish for pin codes to ease the pain of their costs.


the one plus i can tell you about the darkside resorts and parks is there is less walking than being at the motherland.
the parks are about a 5 minute walk from each other.
the hotels are conveniently close to the parks and city walk.

depending on the dates of your vacation plans, you could have a cheaper rph rate than what you posted earlier.

weekend rates will be higher than weekdays, just like at disney.

i hope you have a wonderful vacation where ever you decide to stay.