I am a huge massive major Universal fan. And...
I would skip Uni this trip. Because I would be too busy running around the grand villa squealing every hour or so.
But then I'm weird with stuff like that LOL. I actually don't *want* to ever stay in such a fancy room, 1 because I wouldn't want to leave it even for the WDW parks or the pool etc etc, and 2 because I would be sad to maybe never have that room again. (not a fan of "once in a lifetime" trips...I would rather not go ever than do something just one time in my life)
we are ending our trip at Universal and want to stay onsite at Universal to get the extra park benefits there.
As you figured out, unless you are married to having packages delivered to your room (which a one night stay doesn't even allow for), it's the *in park* benefits you want with the stay, and you don't have to actually sleep there to get those benefits with a room reservation.
I'm not a Universal expert - doesn't the purchased Express pass limit you to one time per ride vs. the onsite is unlimited? If so, there could be an advantage to the onsite stay at Universal.
Thankfully a couple years ago they started selling the unlimited option as well.
This seems to always get reported here that you can't buy what you get at the hotels but you can.
It used to be the case.
Thankfully a while back they started selling the unlimited option as a standalone.
You are so right, it's astonishing how much cheaper it is to book one night at the Royal Pacific than to buy four Unlimited Express Passes for two days. Totally worth it!
Yep. Always worth doing that math! Get there early, check in (even leaving to go back to Bay Lake and then coming back the next day you should only have to pay for one night of parking at the hotel), get room keys for early entrance and run over to the express pass kiosk to get those, then take the water taxi, jitney, or your feet over to the parks!
A lot of people split their park time with Universal but stay on Disney property.
And much of the time that's not the best way to do it, especially with more than two people, especially with more than one day at Uni, especially if they are interested in express pass. The in-park benefits of onsite at Uni outweigh the in-park benefits of onsite at WDW. And as Marie is showing us, even just getting the room for a night, but not necessarily staying there (b/c you have an amazing deal on an amazing room), can still be worth it.