First Trip to Universal...Asking Advice on Where to Stay and How to Get There!

[Cuchman]

Hello Fellow Orlando Lovers,
My family (me, DW, DD16, DS14, DD 12) have our next Orlando adventure planned for the very end of our summer and I am looking for some advice.
Some background:
This will be our FIRST time breaking the oh-so-comfortable Disney mold and going to Universal. We have planned 3+ days at Universal parks on the front end of our trip, and then have our more standard 6+days at Disney. Overall, this is really a long trip for us. We fly in on 8/27, start at Universal and we're driving over to WDW on the 31.
Ok, so for the things I have questions about.
First***...I'm not totally clear on where to stay at Universal. I am leaning toward Cabana Bay but I'm considering options. I might want a deluxe resort for the Express Passes....but, do you folks think it is worth it? It looks like the time we're going is fairly low crowds...and we are definitely early risers and will be taking advantage of the early opening times for hotel guests.
I know that the Express Passes don't work for the Harry Potter stuff (which will be our main goal/focus) so I'm factoring that in.
The second *** question is about tickets....it looks like the annual power passes are a better deal for us than 4 or even 3 day park to park passes. Am I missing something there? I mean, we're not there during blackout dates.....seems too short for annual passes to be a good value but I think they are.
Third*** my initial transportation plan has been to rent a car from the airport and keep it till we get to wdw....then ditch it and use Disney transportation till the flight home (including magical express)....but now I'm wondering if that's the best plan. With the daily fee for parking at Universal....might there be a better option? Shuttle from the airport to Universal then a taxi to WDW, maybe? Or maybe a one day rental from airport to resort and then another one day to get to Disney? We pretty much never rent a car for our Disney trips, so extra lost here. Advice and options are appreciated!!

Any other general advice for first time Universal visitors? As a rule, my family will TRY roller coasters....but they tend not to be the favorites. I'm a little worried they might be intimidated out of trying some of the wildest stuff, but we'll see.
Thanks, all, looking forward to ideas and discussion.
Cuchman

 

[macraven]

to the darkside


you could take a cab to the universal resorts instead of a car.
it could run you about $25-30 for the ride.
parking at cabana bay is $10 a night and $20 at the deluxe.
rent the car when you are ready to leave the darkside for the motherland portion of your trip

or, since you will be onsite for the 27-28-29-30 and check out on the 31st, you would have parking fees for 4 nights,no charge for parking on the 31st when you leave.
the charges begin at midnight for parking.
if you can handle the cost for car parking, it might not be an issue for you.

there are private car service companies that could do a round trip ride for you for about $100.
pick up at the airport and drop off at the darkside hotel.
pick up at that hotel and drop you off at the motherland resort,
take the ME back to the airport when it's time to return home.
free grocery stop with many of the private car service companies.
(i use car service and not cabs.)


crowds do die down the last week of august.

when you stay at the deluxe hotels, you get the perks of early entry and unlimited usage of all express lines in the park for the day you check in and the day you check out.
you might want to stay at one of the deluxe hotels and get 3 days of free express line usage then.
check out on the 28th, and move to cabana bay for the last two nights.
cabana bay and the deluxe hotels allow early entry every morning.

another option would be start at cabana bay for two nights then move up to a deluxe for the last two nights.
your ending period at the darkside would be that weekend.

it is easier to move up to a deluxe from the value resort.
you might be disappointed if you reversed it and start with the deluxe and moved down.

weekends can tend to draw the locals in more, especially if the weather is great.

play around with the numbers and see what the costs will be.

stay onsite and explore the pools at all the uo resorts.
pool hopping is encouraged.
check out city walk for fun and good food.

i would go with tickets with UT or MapleLeaf for the discounts.

for a 4 day stay, have one adult buy the annual pass to get the perks of the discounts.
10% off of food and merch in the parks, hotels and some of city walk.

if you have AAA, that is valid also for discounts for food and merch.

read some of the threads in both darkside forums.
you can get a general idea of how other newbies planned out the start of the trip.
read up on some of the trip reports as that might answer some of your questions you posed here,

i always suggest to go to www.universalorlando.com and get the layout of the parks.
eateries, first aid, restrooms locations.
rides and show descriptions also.

i'm sure others will come along and add their thoughts on things that might help you.

more questions, just ask!

 

[macraven]

check the park ticket prices at the discount places such as UT, etc.
if the price is the same as a power pass would be, go with the power pass for the park admissions.

only one adult in the group needs the power pass for discounts.

 

[Cuchman]

Wow, thanks mcraven! That's great info.
Is there a specific car service you could recommend? That sounds like a great option.
I agree about the potential disappointment stepping down from deluxe....I am already expecting some when we step down from probably a suite at Cabana Bay to a single room at Carribean Beach! Interested to see how the kids feel about that
I did just book a good rate at cabana Bay for our dates...sale from CheapTickets.com ending today that was 20% off. It was $119 a night for a family suite. I wouldn't have booked it if they didn't have an easy cancellation policy...but they do, so if I change my mind about the hotel, I can cancel.
Thanks again for your help! Getting excited.

 

[macraven]

i use Tony Hinds for my 3 leg transportation needs in orlando.
if you need his contact info, i would be glad to give it to you.
i switched to him some years ago and have no desire to use anyone else.

he does allow a free 30 minute grocery stop before you go to the hotel.


Ed Korgan is another private car service company.

Murray Hill has also been dependable.

 

[AMannequin]

i use Tony Hinds for my 3 leg transportation needs in orlando.
if you need his contact info, i would be glad to give it to you.
i switched to him some years ago and have no desire to use anyone else.

he does allow a free 30 minute grocery stop before you go to the hotel.


Ed Korgan is another private car service company.

Murray Hill has also been dependable.

I wasn't the original poster but I've seen you recommend Tony Hinds before and wanted to try contact him for our trip this May! Do you have an email for him as the one on his website seems to not be working. Thanks

 

[macraven]

Tony Hinds
cell:
407 406 9093

email:
aobh607@gmail.com





3:55pm
came back to add that he changed from the yahoo address to the gmail as he was having trouble on that older email address.
don't know if he changed the website to reflect the gmail address.
he did this change last year.

 

[johde]

With the current ticket pricing, the Power Pass is a better deal than the 3 day park to park tickets if you're willing to do some legwork. You could buy a discounted 2 day ticket then upgrade it to the Power Pass once you get to Universal. But, Universal hasn't raised the prices of the Annual Passes yet this year. If they would raise the price of the power pass between now and then that could change.