FOTL access great benefit for early June?

[madelyn]

Summer trip this year is 4 days on-site at Disney followed by a week stay at Marriott Harbour Lakes. During that week planning to hit Universal, the outlets and Disney water parks. Thinking of getting an on-site Universal room for 1 night mainly for the FOTL access for 2 days. We would have the condo at the same time and might spend the night on-site at the Universal room but would mainly be getting the room for the FOTL access. Would it be worth it? We plan to be at Universal sometime during June 4th through 9th (Mon-Sat) for at least 2, maybe 3 days. Might get a single annual pass for the room, food and merchandise discounts and free parking. The 4 tickets for the rest of the family (including kids 13, 10 and 5) are so far yet undecided. If we like Universal enough, we may consider upgrading everyone to annual passes (cheapest type) and making a return trip within the year. We have been to Universal for 2 days before with the 2 oldest kids but this was over 9 years ago. If we don't get an on-site room, which are typically the best (less crowded) days to visit the Universal Parks?

 

[Metro West]

I don't think you'd need Express in early June since lots of schools are just getting out for the summer. If you were coming in mid-June I would say yes.

If you go during the week you will see the crowds at their lightest.

 

[ChristineOH]

We went in early June last year... a Thursday (June 9?) We had not bought express passes on advice we could buy them in the park if needed. We were at least a half hour before opening to hit HPFJ. (Too short DS and I hit Seuss stuff and FoH.) After HP, we waited in line as a family in a now much longer line for FoH and realized we wouldn't get everything done without express passes. We only had one day for both parks, so we bit the bullet and bought the passes there for something insane like $56 a piece... over $20 more each than had we bought them before our visit. For our family of 5, it would have totally been worth it to get the hotel room, and have the express passes included AND get the early entrance. (We also wasted time buying the passes... another story.)
We had a great day regardless, but next time we are getting a room on site.

 

[mesaboy2]

We went in early June last year... a Thursday (June 9?) We had not bought express passes on advice we could buy them in the park if needed. We were at least a half hour before opening to hit HPFJ. (Too short DS and I hit Seuss stuff and FoH.) After HP, we waited in line as a family in a now much longer line for FoH and realized we wouldn't get everything done without express passes. We only had one day for both parks, so we bit the bullet and bought the passes there for something insane like $56 a piece... over $20 more each than had we bought them before our visit. For our family of 5, it would have totally been worth it to get the hotel room, and have the express passes included AND get the early entrance. (We also wasted time buying the passes... another story.)
We had a great day regardless, but next time we are getting a room on site.

I am sorry to hear of your experience. I am one of several here who consistently advise to not buy Express Passes in advance.

While there is the risk that EP prices will increase before you arrive at the park, that risk is generally outweighed by the fact that once bought, EPs are non-refundable and date-specific. There is also a fair chance that EPs won't be needed at all depending on factors that cannot be seen in advance--actual crowds, weather, etc.

Glad to hear you still had a great time!

 

[momof2lilboys]

I too am wondering about getting a room for one night, we will also have a condo for our stay. We will be there on May 21st and 22nd? I've never been to universal so I just wondered if it would benefit us or not.

 

[madelyn]

Went ahead and booked our room for 1 night @ Hard Rock. 2 Queen beds/Garden View for $207 (total plus resort fee?). This is the APH rate. Already missed out on the cheaper $159 (plus taxes) room @ RPH. The rate @ Hard Rock is $25 more per night and is what my 13 year old son prefers anyhow! Or maybe I should consider paying $84 more and go for the club level room at RPH? Can always cancel if we change our mind about needing the FOTL access but would have to cancel before we actually got to the park for those days. So we are a family of 5 (2 adults/3 kids). That will allow us 5 FOTL passes. My sister and maybe my brother will be with us 1 day at Universal. If my kids prefer to go on some of the rides w/ their aunt and uncle instead of Mom and Dad, will my brother and sister be able to use our FOTL passes to take our kids on the rides instead of Mom and Dad?

 

[jennb529]

My sister and maybe my brother will be with us 1 day at Universal. If my kids prefer to go on some of the rides w/ their aunt and uncle instead of Mom and Dad, will my brother and sister be able to use our FOTL passes to take our kids on the rides instead of Mom and Dad?

From reading other recent posts it appears that the Universal Hotels are now issuing room keys (used for FOTL access) with each party member's picture on it, so you would not be able to loan it to your family member.

 

[macraven]

Went ahead and booked our room for 1 night @ Hard Rock. 2 Queen beds/Garden View for $207 (total plus resort fee?). This is the APH rate. Already missed out on the cheaper $159 (plus taxes) room @ RPH. The rate @ Hard Rock is $25 more per night and is what my 13 year old son prefers anyhow! Or maybe I should consider paying $84 more and go for the club level room at RPH? Can always cancel if we change our mind about needing the FOTL access but would have to cancel before we actually got to the park for those days. So we are a family of 5 (2 adults/3 kids). That will allow us 5 FOTL passes. My sister and maybe my brother will be with us 1 day at Universal. If my kids prefer to go on some of the rides w/ their aunt and uncle instead of Mom and Dad, will my brother and sister be able to use our FOTL passes to take our kids on the rides instead of Mom and Dad?

with the new system in place for onsite hotel guests, you will not be allowed to share your pass with anyone.


not sure if you are talking about canceling the hotel room.
if you are, you need to cancel 5 days out.
or is it 6 days?
the policy is listed on the hotel site at UO on cancellations.

if you are talking about the purchase of the express plus passes, once you buy them, they are yours.
no refunds.

 

[damo]

You need to be careful on Thursdays and Fridays with school groups during May and possibly early June. If you can go early in the week, it will be much less busy.

 

[madelyn]

So it looks like we will have to buy the Express pass option for my sister if she comes with us (and we keep our hotel night reservation). On-line price right now shows it is about $60 for both parks w/tax for 1 person for that date. How much more is it if purchased that day in the park (possibly could not be available in the parks though, right?). And only good for 1 time on each attraction. Another option would be to add my sister to the room and pay the extra adult charge and leave my 5 year old daughter off the room reservation. It doesn't look like there are that many attractions she is able to ride but there would be a few. We have an off-site condo for that week and it is likely only 1 adult will stay in the on-site room w/ the 2 older kids for that night. Or maybe it is worth it to just get 2 rooms and we all stay on-site although then we pay for parking and the extra cost of the room.

 

[damo]

So it looks like we will have to buy the Express pass option for my sister if she comes with us (and we keep our hotel night reservation). On-line price right now shows it is about $60 for both parks w/tax for 1 person for that date. How much more is it if purchased that day in the park (possibly could not be available in the parks though, right?). And only good for 1 time on each attraction. Another option would be to add my sister to the room and pay the extra adult charge and leave my 5 year old daughter off the room reservation. It doesn't look like there are that many attractions she is able to ride but there would be a few. We have an off-site condo for that week and it is likely only 1 adult will stay in the on-site room w/ the 2 older kids for that night. Or maybe it is worth it to just get 2 rooms and we all stay on-site although then we pay for parking and the extra cost of the room.

If you leave your 5 year old off the reservation, she won't be able to get in for early admission. Everyone needs a room key.

Purchasing in park should not be any different than purchasing on line that same day. Sometimes, if predicted attendance rises, they will change the express pass price. However, usually it remains the same.

 

[ChristineOH]

So it looks like we will have to buy the Express pass option for my sister if she comes with us (and we keep our hotel night reservation). On-line price right now shows it is about $60 for both parks w/tax for 1 person for that date. How much more is it if purchased that day in the park (possibly could not be available in the parks though, right?). And only good for 1 time on each attraction. Another option would be to add my sister to the room and pay the extra adult charge and leave my 5 year old daughter off the room reservation. It doesn't look like there are that many attractions she is able to ride but there would be a few. We have an off-site condo for that week and it is likely only 1 adult will stay in the on-site room w/ the 2 older kids for that night. Or maybe it is worth it to just get 2 rooms and we all stay on-site although then we pay for parking and the extra cost of the room.

Like I said before, our express passes cost a little over $20 more a piece purchased in the park vs. online before our trip, but I don't think you can find that info anywhere ahead of time. I don't know if the price difference was due to the time (ie day of vs. weeks before) or in park vs. online.

Keep your daughter on your room reservation! That room key will allow her to ride the few rides she can ride without waiting. There is so much more small kids can't ride at Universal vs. Disney. My 4yo couldn't even ride the river raft ride. So the rides they CAN ride are SO important. Flight of the Hippogrith and Spiderman were his favorites, and we were able to ride FoH three times. He liked the Seuss area, but it's not going to wow a 4 or 5 yo the way it would a 2 or 3 yo.

 

[macraven]

He liked the Seuss area, but it's not going to wow a 4 or 5 yo the way it would a 2 or 3 yo.

um, i'm over 5 and always wowed when i get to the Seuss area.
just sayin..........

 

[madelyn]

I really like the Suess area too! The last time we were at Universal our now 13 year old was almost 5 and he liked it. What to do? Main advantage to on-site would be the early entry for Harry Potter for my sister who only has 1 day to spend at Universal. My family plans to buy annual passes and will have the chance to go 2 to 3 times later in the week and possibly another on-site trip within the year if budget and schedule allows. But if I am going to pay $60 for the Express pass for another person, I'm thinking it might be easier just to get an extra room for that one night. Especially with the limitation that with the purchased pass you can only go on each attraction once. But can one person get 2 rooms using an Annual passholder discount? The room we now have is Gardenview HRH and AP rates for our date only show pool view so I guess our rooms could not be connecting if we kept the garden view. Could they be across the hall? Or maybe it would be better to switch to 2 Water view rooms at RPH. Too bad the kid suites only sleep 5 too.

 

[damo]

I really like the Suess area too! The last time we were at Universal our now 13 year old was almost 5 and he liked it. What to do? Main advantage to on-site would be the early entry for Harry Potter for my sister who only has 1 day to spend at Universal. My family plans to buy annual passes and will have the chance to go 2 to 3 times later in the week and possibly another on-site trip within the year if budget and schedule allows. But if I am going to pay $60 for the Express pass for another person, I'm thinking it might be easier just to get an extra room for that one night. Especially with the limitation that with the purchased pass you can only go on each attraction once. But can one person get 2 rooms using an Annual passholder discount? The room we now have is Gardenview HRH and AP rates for our date only show pool view so I guess our rooms could not be connecting if we kept the garden view. Could they be across the hall? Or maybe it would be better to switch to 2 Water view rooms at RPH. Too bad the kid suites only sleep 5 too.

We haven't had anyone come back from booking two rooms with on AP and report a problem. Someone just came back recently (this week) and said they didn't have any problems.

Sometimes they will let you sleep 6 in the suites a PBH.

 

[madelyn]

Sometimes they will let you sleep 6 in the suites a PBH.[/QUOTE]

But not in the kids suite at RPH? The AP rate for early June for the suite at RPH is $335.30, the suite at PBH is $408.80 and 2 water view rooms at RPH cost $378. So the suite at RPH would be the cheapest if they allowed 6 in there.

 

[damo]

But not in the kids suite at RPH? The AP rate for early June for the suite at RPH is $335.30, the suite at PBH is $408.80 and 2 water view rooms at RPH cost $378. So the suite at RPH would be the cheapest if they allowed 6 in there.

No, that room is too small. I think they allow it at the PBH because there are two bathrooms, so each room is considered a room on its own. At RPH, there is only one bathroom.

 

[madelyn]

No, that room is too small. I think they allow it at the PBH because there are two bathrooms, so each room is considered a room on its own. At RPH, there is only one bathroom.

Ah....that makes sense. 6 people in 1 bathroom is too many. Although the website says the Jurassic Park Kids' suite at RPH is 670 sq feet and says the Kids' Suite at PBH is 650 to 675 sq feet. So not that much difference in size according to the website. Maybe I should just move our stay on-site to the night before. On Sunday night RPH has 2 queen bed std rooms for only $159 AP rate. But I am thinking Sun/Mon at Universal may be more crowded than Mon/Tue? Or will it not make that much of a difference?

 

[trishwal]

Ah....that makes sense. 6 people in 1 bathroom is too many. Although the website says the Jurassic Park Kids' suite at RPH is 670 sq feet and says the Kids' Suite at PBH is 650 to 675 sq feet. So not that much difference in size according to the website. Maybe I should just move our stay on-site to the night before. On Sunday night RPH has 2 queen bed std rooms for only $159 AP rate. But I am thinking Sun/Mon at Universal may be more crowded than Mon/Tue? Or will it not make that much of a difference?

We've got a condo from Sunday-Saturday at Bonnet Creek but have also reserved at RPR for Monday night so that we can visit Universal for Monday and Tuesday of that same week (June 3- 9) and just leave our stuff in the other place. Crazy that FOTL passes would cost about $400 but the room is less than $300 (with taxes and no AP) so that was a done deal, especially to get to go back to the hotel in the middle of the day - FUN!

Tuesday we have lunch reservations at Mythos, but what to do Monday? What's a good counter service lunch? Broomsticks?

 

[pixeegrl]

Ah....that makes sense. 6 people in 1 bathroom is too many. Although the website says the Jurassic Park Kids' suite at RPH is 670 sq feet and says the Kids' Suite at PBH is 650 to 675 sq feet. So not that much difference in size according to the website. Maybe I should just move our stay on-site to the night before. On Sunday night RPH has 2 queen bed std rooms for only $159 AP rate. But I am thinking Sun/Mon at Universal may be more crowded than Mon/Tue? Or will it not make that much of a difference?

With Express Pass it won't really matter