First Timer in March

[pjeanes]

First time visit will be March 11-16, myself, husband and two kids, 7 and 5. Trying to decide whether to stay at Cabana and buy express pass separate, or stay at Royal. We will be at the park for 4 days. I am a big HP fan, but no one else in the family really is. We will do early morning hours and get there early! I am used to Disney planning, so could really use some advice on which direction we should go for hotel and tickets. Thanks! Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[bchbetha]

If budget allows RPR, go for it. Otherwise, do CB but not buy express passes. You have 4 days and you should play it by ear if you really need them. You might not.

 

[wagman67]

Okay, so the Express Passes for the dates you mention are going to run about $424 for the four of you, per day, and a four day park to park ticket will run you about the same as a 1 year Seasonal Pass, so:

Buy Seasonal Passes, instead of 4 day tickets...you can use the Season Pass to get a discount at the onsite Hotels that include Express Pass with your stay.

I am not sure what 4 days you are going to be in the park, but you can stay at the Portofino for $324/night Mar 11th through Mar 14th...tell them you are an Annual Pass holder when booking.

So, if you want Express Passes, stay at the Portofino the nights you plan to be using the park...which will save you big. If you stayed somewhere else and bought Express Passes, the passes alone cost $100 more/per day...and you still have to rent a room somewhere.

Bonus: you still can visit over the next year (excluding blackout dates) and shop for Pass Holder discount on the hotel.

 

[gsikes]

What Wagman said! The Hard Rock has annual passhold rates of $410 per night for club level for your dates. You can book the APH rate online too. You show your annual pass sometime during your stay if they even ask for it.

 

[gsikes]

And you can just get one annual pass to book the room with, then get the other three from Undercover Tourist. They have some good options if you know you are only going once this year.

 

[pjeanes]

Okay, I am new so please bare with me. You are saying the cheapest route would be to get 4 day park to park tickets, then upgrade one to season pass? Book at Portofino and say I have annual pass to keep rate and get Express pass included? How do I upgrade undercover tourist ticket to season pass? Are season pass and annual pass the same thing?

 

[pjeanes]

Also, who do I book hotel from? I can't find rate of $324 a night!

 

[wagman67]

Just buy Seasonal Passes (good for a year...with blockout dates...check the annual passes for more information), they are $285 plus tax...this is the same cost for an adult 4 day park to park ticket (online, they are $20 cheaper, but upgrading will bump you right back up to the same price).

You can book online and use the code 'APH' to get the Annual Passholder rates...play with the dates to find the best prices at the hotel you would like. The cheapest I found for the first 3 nights of your stay is at the Portofino (usually the most expensive, but sometimes you find better prices because of the APH rate).

You can also call and book the room, just tell them you want the Annual Passholder rate.

You do not have to buy the passes before you book...just have to show one when they ask at the hotel (if they ask).

Note: Always book your room and get your tickets separately...unless it is some extraordinary deal, which rarely happens...because you can always cancel your room and get your deposit back...if you book a full vacation, it will not be cheaper, and you are out everything (if your plans change) unless you buy extra insurance to cancel.

 

[wagman67]

Also, book room as early as you can, at the best rate you can find, then keep checking regularly for lower APH rates at the three hotels that offer Express Passes with stay (Portofino, Hard Rock and Royal Pacific)...if you find a lower rate, you can cancel and book the new rate...you may have to change hotels, but my experience is they are all good and I go with the cheapest rate.

Note: Plan accordingly...for each stretch of 'nights' you stay, you get an extra day of Express Passes...3 nights' stay equals 4 days of EPs...so, get to the hotel as early as you can (I usually stay offsite the days leading up to my stay and head over to the onsite hotel and check-in about 6am...most times they have a room available, if not, you can always have them hold your luggage and take it to your room, while you enjoy the park) and that is your first day...check-out as late as you can on the last day and they will hold your luggage until you return for it, when you are ready to leave...make as full a day as you like in the park.

Note 2: American Express is the preferred card and can save you here and there, with discounts in the park...and if you purchase your passes with an AMEX card, you get access to the AMEX lounge, where you can pick up some free water, granola bars and potato chips...it is small, but on hot days, it is a little oasis, and it is only open about 5 hours a day.

 

[pjeanes]

What website do you suggest checking the prices of the three hotels that offer EP? And can you put the code for annual pass on that website to see discount?

 

[Clockwork]

Okay, I am new so please bare with me. You are saying the cheapest route would be to get 4 day park to park tickets, then upgrade one to season pass? Book at Portofino and say I have annual pass to keep rate and get Express pass included? How do I upgrade undercover tourist ticket to season pass? Are season pass and annual pass the same thing?

To upgrade a undercover tourist ticket just go to the guest service counter at the studios or IOA and ask them to upgrade the ticket, annual and season passes are the same people just call them by both names.

 

[Clockwork]

Also, who do I book hotel from? I can't find rate of $324 a night!

You can book it wherever you find the best rate be it the official Uni site or any other one that you find comfortable booking thru.

 

[Clockwork]

What website do you suggest checking the prices of the three hotels that offer EP? And can you put the code for annual pass on that website to see discount?

The code is APH for the official site. As far as websites go stick with the well known ones and you will be ok. If you don't do any of this and decide to stay at Cabana Bay I wouldn't buy the express pass until I got there, you may find that there's low wait times and you don't need them. But if you do you can purchase them for the days you do.

 

[anricat]

Do they not release APH rates until closer to date of travel? I currently have RPR reserved for June 1-4 via Southwest. It's the same rate as everywhere else, but I'm getting 7k bonus points for booking through SWA so that's good for me. But I've been kicking around buying a seasonal pass to get a discount, but when I search it says that there are no rooms available with the promotion. Or have they all been booked up already?

 

[wagman67]

Do they not release APH rates until closer to date of travel? I currently have RPR reserved for June 1-4 via Southwest. It's the same rate as everywhere else, but I'm getting 7k bonus points for booking through SWA so that's good for me. But I've been kicking around buying a seasonal pass to get a discount, but when I search it says that there are no rooms available with the promotion. Or have they all been booked up already?

Yeah, they do not always have APH available...and knowing when they will be made available is a crap shoot. It looks like they only have the APH rates released through May 26th.

It is definitely something you have to keep checking for daily or weekly. As long as you have time on your side, and patience.

A couple of extra notes:

1. If you are thinking 3 or 4 days in both parks, you might as well go ahead and buy the Seasonal Pass... few bucks more than a 3 day and the same as a 4 day...no brainer.

2. If you are thinking about buying Express Passes for the days in the parks and are not sure whether to stay onsite (at a non EP providing hotel) or offsite. You can look up the cost of EPs on the days you are visiting and add up their cost...if the cost for the EPs and the hotel is more than the cost of staying at an onsite hotel that provides EPs, then choose the onsite hotel. Also remember, it is not a one to one relationship ( 1 EP to 1 night stay)...you can stay three nights, but spend 4 days in the park (so that is a 3 to 4 ratio). So let me give an example, using the original poster, who has a family of four going to the park for four days...March 11-14.

On the days that they are going to the park, they would spend about $1700 on EPs (about $425/day times 4 days)...and let's say they found a dirt cheap $50/night hotel...that's another $150 ($50/night times 3 nights)...so $1850.

If they stay at the cheapest hotel that offers EPs (which is Royal Pacific) without any Annual Passholder discount, it would cost $384/night times three night...which comes to $1152.

Now, none of this includes the park tickets, which will cost the same no matter what, and it does not include the taxes and parking.

And further, if they buy the Annual Passes (same cost as a 4 day ticket) and went with the lowest hotel that offered EPs, with an APH discount (which is Portofino, on those dates) it would cost $324/night times 3 nights...which is $972.

Hope this helps.

 

[anricat]

A Seasonal Pass is $284 and through Tickets at Work, we can get park to park buy 2 get 2 days free tickets (so 4 days) for $258.28 for an adult (including tax). It's not a huge savings, but it's still $25.

 

[macraven]

What website do you suggest checking the prices of the three hotels that offer EP? And can you put the code for annual pass on that website to see discount?

www.universalorlando.com


on the front page of the site, click on hotel.
it will be near the top of the page.

this will take you to the booking site for all 5 hotels.


try your dates and click promotion.
next line put in APH


if ap rates are available, you're good to go.

if you get the message your dates are not available, change your dates around in case there are some open near your time period.

 

[pjeanes]

Okay we are going for sure from 3/11 - 3/15. The lowest APH rate for room I could get started on 3/12 for portofino at $314 a night. What do I do about the Saturday before? Or how do I get the lower rate for the following days?

 

[pjeanes]

Also, how do season passes work? You can use them as park tickets if you go again within the year, as long as they aren't blackout dates?

 

[macraven]

Okay we are going for sure from 3/11 - 3/15. The lowest APH rate for room I could get started on 3/12 for portofino at $314 a night. What do I do about the Saturday before? Or how do I get the lower rate for the following days?

i'm looking at the booking site now.
for dates of 3/11 - 15 the ap rates are as follows

hrh does not participate in the aph rate.
PB at $321.50
RP at $365.05 for a king suite.
do not see standard rooms available, could be sold out?
SF at $157.75
Cbay at $147.75

above are pre tax costs


copied the site for PB:
Bay View 2 Queen Room
Bay View rooms are a spacious 450 square feet and overlook the hotel’s scenic Portofino Bay and picturesque harbor piazza. Features two queen beds, marble accents and elegant furnishings from Italy. Open your window shades and find yourself in the heart of the Italian Riviera! Every morning you can look out your window and watch the sun glittering off the sparkling water and the fleet of colorful fishing boats.
FULL ROOM DESCRIPTIONRATE INFO


Average Rate Per Night:$321.50

it is possible that peeps can cancel rooms, when that happens the room goes back into the pool of availability.

so, keep an eye out for openings at RPR