Express pass questions

[Mom3girls]

RPR stands for Royal Pacific Resort. You can check in at the resort as early as 6:30/7am and leave your bags with bell services. Print out your EP ticket at the resort and head to early entry. It takes 6 min to walk to IOA/Citiwalk or about 8min for the boat. So you get two FULL days of EP and early entry for your entire family. Make sure you save some time to explore the resort because I guarantee you will be back

 

[pcstang]

Royal Pacific Resort

 

[cmarsh31]

So, yes, when I first looked at US, I was right there with you on the sticker shock! Eventually, the room rates went from $300 at RPR to $189/night when there was an AP discount. I bought discount (buy 2 get 1 free when Undercover Tourist had them) park tickets first with the plan to upgrade my ticket to an AP (or everyone's if we loved it) when we got there for the room rate (I don't know what happened, but they never asked me for my AP - and I checked both the bill & my credit card statement...so I didn't actually ever upgrade to the AP). The other detail is transportation & parking...a shuttle from the airport wasn't going to save us much $. Got a rental car for $15/day for 4 days and paid the 3 nights of parking. I definitely did my research and got everything as cheaply as possible (while still staying on property with the EP, which, for my family was necessary). I wouldn't say it was cheaper than Disney but it wasn't nearly as bad as I first thought. Didn't end up getting APs. It was a one & done for us.

 

[nighttowll]

OP

Yes, you can do the parks without EP even during busy times; however, you have to be willing to make a few concessions.

1) Be willing to do some planning. Nothing on the level of Disney, but at the least figure out which rides have the longest lines or have not to be missed queues, so you can do those rides first thing in the morning before things get crowded. Know which rides offer single rider lines. Have a general plan of attack and idea of the park layout, so you don't waste time getting lost or debating what to do next.

2) Be willing to back track and walk a little more to get those headliners and must do rides in first thing. Be willing to hold off on window shopping, long breaks, and shows, basically all those non- wait in line activities, until later in the day. Save those for when the crowds pick up.

3) Be willing to get to the park early. If it's an early entry park, I recommend at least 30-45 minutes before regular opening. They will let you in at this time because technically the park will already be open to resort guests. They will just hold you up front, but you can get a jump start on lockers, breakfast, souvenir shopping, stroller rental, bathroom breaks, etc. Then be ready to head off to that parks headliners first thing.

4) Be willing to use the single rider line. This means you might not be riding in the same ride vehicle or sitting together with the rest of your family. I've been fairly lucky with single rider line as a lot of the time they need more than one person to fill up a vehicle, and the group stays relatively together. However, this is not always the case, and you should be prepared to separate.

I think 2 days with an EP is fine; without one, I'd recommend 3 for a first trip. This is because you can't fit as much in since you will have to wait in some lines and may end up missing a few things or wanting to repeat favorites. We did 3 days our first trip, and it was perfect because we really wanted to experience everything, so we could figure out what we did and didn't like. Now that we know what we like, 2 days is fine because we don't want to do everything. Most people don't like everything, and you can do 75% of what the park offers in a day with some planning without an EP.

I've done both EP and non EP days. The only real difference I've seen is that EP days are more relaxed. I can just go with the flow. No plan needed. No backtracking. We just walk around the park, and if we want to do something we stop and do it because we never need to worry about the wait times. I personally like the peace of mine that gives me. On non EP days, I always get everything in I want to see, but the day is more rushed, we walk more, and I don't usually get to repeat rides. I also usually end up waiting in at least a couple of 30 to 40 minute queues. Most lines I'm able to avoid with early morning riding and the use of single rider lines, but there always seem to be a few that despite my planning require a wait. It's usually not a bad wait and not very often, but still annoys me.

 

[nighttowll]

Thanks $385.00 sounds like a lot for 3 days at Universal Parks. I am just trying to figure out how families afford Universal. Family of 5 plus tickets, plus express pass, plus 3 night accommodations = almost what I pay at WDW for 10+ days.
I must be doing something wrong

You're definitely doing something wrong.

I've never spent nearly what I do on Disney at Universal. It's one of the reasons we've started going to Universal and not Disney recently.

1) Food in general is less

2) Souvenirs in general are less

3) Hotels are less when you compare apples to apples. Universal hotels are on the Deluxe Disney tier, however their cost is usually nowhere near Disney deluxe pricing. Factor in AP discounts, and the price difference is massive. Mom3girls reported $169 a night at RPR. That is value level pricing at Disney. Also, you have to factor in that staying in one of the Universal hotels is like staying at the Contemporary where you can walk back and forth, so convenient.

4) My tickets have always been less. Disney almost never discounts their tickets, except for military and YES tickets which aren't available to the average guest. Universal always seems to have a deal going on.

First trip, we paid $180 including tax for 3 day park to park tickets. Disney would have been $350 for the same amount of time.

Last trip, we paid $250 for a 14 day ticket. Disney doesn't even offer that. Closest deal would be almost $500 for a 10 day ticket at Disney.

Right now, there is a 2 day 2 free park to park deal going on, so 4 days for $230. 4 day park hopper Disney is $340.

Season pass is $350 for a preferred pass at Universal. Disney's equivalent season pass is $750.



I think the biggest thing to remember about Universal is to have patience. With Disney, I'm used to booking everything a year out. Universal isn't like that. They don't post their deals until much closer to the date, and the deals sometimes have expiration dates. For instance, my 3 day ticket I bought in January had to be used by May. The 14 day ticket I bought this July had to be used by the end of December. Knowing this, I'm guessing there isn't going to be another really cheap ticket promotion offered for this winter. I'm thinking depending on anticipated spring break crowds, the next good deal will be offered sometime this winter for the spring/ summer timeframe as that is the pattern I have noticed these last few years.

Also, I've noticed that AP rates aren't usually posted way in advance either. I'll check for an upcoming trip get disappointed because there aren't any listed, and then check back closer to going to find them all of a sudden available. It's sort of a balancing act trying to wait for rates and deals to be offered, but not wait so long that stuff gets sold out. My advice is if you don't like the price, keep checking back for a better deal. You can always pay full price or slightly discounted on UT or ML last minute; so wait for a deal. There's a good chance one will come up. In regards to the hotel, don't settle for paying what you initially book it at. You can make changes to the hotel up to about a week before you go, so just keep checking back for better deals. I've seen a number of reviews on here by people who have scored massive discounts from what they initially booked by watching the rates as it got closer to the trip. Univesal tends to discount more the closer they get if they feel crowds will be lower than normal. That doesn't mean only during offseason, just lower than expected.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hmm, that is not a bad price. I think I am doing something wrong for sure. What is RPR again?

Where are you looking?

And you're not adding EP onto your tickets when calculating the hotel costs, are you?

 

[ELSA711]

Where are you looking?

And you're not adding EP onto your tickets when calculating the hotel costs, are you?

I am looking in June for 2 nights. My price per night is coming up at like 377-449 without tickets.
I can get a corporate discount on tickets but even that was high. I am wondering if its cheaper to buy tickets and express pass than to stay onsite but just like with WDW, I want that experience of onsite
Hotels look very nice

 

[mya1k9]

Thanks $385.00 sounds like a lot for 3 days at Universal Parks. I am just trying to figure out how families afford Universal. Family of 5 plus tickets, plus express pass, plus 3 night accommodations = almost what I pay at WDW for 10+ days.
I must be doing something wrong

 

[mya1k9]

I was thinking the same thing

 

[nighttowll]

I am looking in June for 2 nights. My price per night is coming up at like 377-449 without tickets.
I can get a corporate discount on tickets but even that was high. I am wondering if its cheaper to buy tickets and express pass than to stay onsite but just like with WDW, I want that experience of onsite
Hotels look very nice

EP will run close to $100 per person per day. When it's half that, you don't really need it. The hotel is almost always the cheaper option. One night provides passes for the max occupancy of the room, usually 4 people for 2 days.

EP at $100 per person times 4 people over two days = $800 + cost of off property lodging
Room rate = $450 total

You also have to factor in that you have to stay somewhere, so you will be paying something for a room anyway.

Let's say you get a decent off property hotel at $100 night, add in the EPs and you are looking at almost $900 for 4 people at 2 days. Now let's factor in you stay on property but don't get an AP and book the most expensive room at $450. You'd have spent $100 on lodging anyway, so only $350 went toward the EP cost, divided by 2 days is $175 a day, divided by the number of people in the room, let's say 4, gives you EP tickets for $43 a person.

Now, let's say you do buy an AP pass and book the cheapest deluxe room at $200 a night. The EP cost drops down to $25 a person if you factor in $100 for lodging.

The rates you listed are pretty accurate for summer, but still much lower than Disney Deluxe hotels. I also noticed they haven't put out the AP rates yet. It is just too far out. I still think you will find much better deals waiting until it gets closer to June. The AP rate should knock those hotel prices down to the $180 to $280 range.