Express pass, stay onsite? Crowded? June 22nd/23rd-NEED HELP!

[3redheads]

We are visiting Disney and Universal from June 19-25th. We allocated the 23rd for Universal/IOA day.

We are a family of four. Here are our options, please help:

1) show up an hour earlier than opening to be front of the line. Do not use the Express Pass system. Take our chances. Cost for 4 people: $485.72 two parks, one day

2)Don't take a chance and order Express Pass at Universal site. Tickets plus Express Pass for 4 is: $681 (2 parks, one day)

3)Book room for 22nd, checking out 23rd for Loews Pacific Resort: total
is $330 (we have timeshare already booked near Disney) This will allow Express system. Total of hotel and tickets: $827

4) Sames as above, but do the Park to Park for 2 days and spend the night of the 22nd at one park and the day of the 23rd at another. With staying onsite, total $929

Have I thoroughly confused everyone? I would rather spend the money on other things, but don't want to ruin the experience by waiting in line.

Please give your thoughts. Thanks so much.

 

[nytimez]

Go with #3. Hotel Express Pass is totally worth it. Plus. they're good hotels.

Is that a good rate for 6/22 -- anyone know? $330 seems high to me.

 

[tinydancer09]

Go with #3. Hotel Express Pass is totally worth it. Plus. they're good hotels.

Is that a good rate for 6/22 -- anyone know? $330 seems high to me.

Depends are these 4 people adults. Assuming so with no discounts for AAA or anything I got $319 RPR

2 adults 2 kids I got $269 at RPR

Now, if you have AAA I think you get a pretty hefty discount. RPR is going to be your cheapest option for hotel. this is just coming off the website though. If you book a package for 1day 2parks lets see...

4 adults: $837 total with tickets. $360 for hotel but thats with taxes added in.
2A/2C: 789.01 with tickets. $303 for room with taxes.

It also depends if the kid is 10-17 or under 10.

Someone on here may know of more dicounts but for sommer I think youve miss your window. They were doing 20% a week ago.

 

[2tink4u]

I also have timeshare and looked at these options.....
We bought the VIP tickets where we skip the lines as much as we want. Just not on RPR and FJ and PF.
All the rest we have FOLA. Which will be great.
Head in early spend the am at WWoHP and then start riding rides without lines..... Can't beat it.

 

[Badge]

I have no idea where you found the room for $330. Right on the Universal website without anytype of discounts, you can stay at Royal for $302 AFTER taxes.

I would go with the last option. The hotel rooms are really nice and it will be so much easier to spend the night there and wake up in the morning to get Early Entry into HP.

Get to Universal sometime in the early morning and check in. You will not get your room until 4pm...Universal seems really strict about this and we have never gotten our room early! However, they will give you room keys so you can head to the parks and enjoy the Express line. Head to the Studios and enjoy your day there. Then, in the evening I would head over the IOA and check out HP at dusk. It looks so amazing at night!

Then, take the boat ride back to your hotel and get your room. They will call you at 4 to let you know the room is ready, but no need to rush back and grab the room. Enjoy your day at the parks and worry about getting into your room when you get back.

The next morning, wake up really early and check out of the hotel! Take your bags to the car and hurry over to IOA. Its best to check out before you leave so you do not have to come back to the hotel to check out before 11am.

IOA opens at 8am which means hotel guests can get in at 7am! Go and explore HP again for awhile and when you are finished, you can go and explore the rest of IOA while everybody is just making it to the park and heading to HP.

This will give you enough time to do and see everything since you have express passes. You will even be able to ride your favorites more than once! It will also make for a more relaxing trip since you will not feel like you have to race all over the place to hit all the rides in both parks in one day!

 

[3redheads]

Thank you for the replies! We stayed at the Royal Pacific 5 years ago and loved the convenience of being onsite, but our concern is do we really need the Express pass.

As far as the room cost, my daughter is 18 and considered an adult. Son is 13.
Here is the breakdown of the cost:

Do you all think it will be so busy that the Express pass is a necessity? Also, is there a disadvantage to waiting until getting there before we purchase it.

I'm leaning towards staying onsite, not sure what the husband will say about the extra cost.

If only we could win the lottery

 

[Metro West]

Do you all think it will be so busy that the Express pass is a necessity? Also, is there a disadvantage to waiting until getting there before we purchase it.

Yes...it will be busy enough for the EPs so if you can swing it, stay onsite. As far as waiting to purchase the EP, there are two. One...the price could change between now and then and two...they could be sold out. This is the first year I've ever heard EPs being so popular but I guess people are coming around to the fact that summertime is super busy.

 

[Badge]

Like Metro said, the parks will be very busy. Having the express pass will really help out. If you did not have express, there is no way you could do/see everything at both parks in just two days becuase of the crowds.

If you can swing it, stay on-site, but book it sooner than later. The room type we picked at Royal sold out awhile back and in fact, there are no longer any basic rooms for out trip on June 15-22 at Royal. Rooms tpyes really started to sell out this year, so the sooner you secure the room, the better!

As far as waiting to buy the express pass, just like the room, do not wait. I think I read on here that one day has already sold out in June. If you wait to long, they may sell out and then you will be out of luck. They do not have a ton of express passes to sell, so they could (and seem to be) selling quickly this year.

Hope you have a good trip no matter what you decide to do!

 

[Badge]

Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to mention something else.

I just priced the 22-23 with the APH discount. The room will be 274.50 with that discount. So, you will save $56 off the price of the room. Now, the price of the AP is $219.99. The diffence in cost between the 2 day park to park ticket and the AP is about $100, but then you can remove the $56 since you are saving it from the hotel room.

My thinking is this. If you like to purchase items while in the parks, or plan on being in the Orlando area again within a year, it might be worth it for ONE adult to get the AP. This way you can get the APH discount on the room and all the savings on the food and items you buy. For example, you could get 15% off the other tickets when you buy them at the front gate. You also save 10% on almost everything else, food, gifts, etc.

 

[3redheads]

You all are just fabulous!

So many choices. I'm going to crunch some numbers and make a decision.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tinydancer09]

Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to mention something else.

I just priced the 22-23 with the APH discount. The room will be 274.50 with that discount. So, you will save $56 off the price of the room. Now, the price of the AP is $219.99. The diffence in cost between the 2 day park to park ticket and the AP is about $100, but then you can remove the $56 since you are saving it from the hotel room.

My thinking is this. If you like to purchase items while in the parks, or plan on being in the Orlando area again within a year, it might be worth it for ONE adult to get the AP. This way you can get the APH discount on the room and all the savings on the food and items you buy. For example, you could get 15% off the other tickets when you buy them at the front gate. You also save 10% on almost everything else, food, gifts, etc.

stole my thunder

10% single day tickets and 15% off mutiday. did you make sure the APH discount cant be applied to that date? its summer so I wasnt sure. other than that I agree 100%

 

[3redheads]

Well, we decided.

We bought the Express passes. While the hotel was only $100 more, we'd really like to spend that money elsewhere.

Thank you so much for you advice! Now I'm hoping for cool weather.

 

[Badge]

Well I am glad you figured it all out! Going down June 15-22, so I am hoping for that as well, but I don't think we are going to get it!

 

[glocon]

#4 sounds like a no brainer to me. Only and extra $100 for a family of 4 to spend a day at Universal? With fotl priveleges? How could you not?

 

[3redheads]

#4 sounds like a no brainer to me. Only and extra $100 for a family of 4 to spend a day at Universal? With fotl priveleges? How could you not?

Luckily, I caught my order before it was processed and deleted the Express pass and just now booked Royal Pacific. For $100, we can take a break during the day. Less rushing around!

Thanks again to all of you!