New to Universal, staying at RPR, HELP!!

[MommaluvsDis]

Please give me your "Inside" tips! What about priority seating, FOTL, on-site perks, etc. Please fill me in and bring me up to snuff!

Thanks

 

[Eclpz314]

Momma, FOTL is absolutely wonderful!! Your room key is what gets scanned (most of the time) at the express line for each attraction. You do need your park ticket at the US or IOA gate, but after that your key saves you tons of time in line! RPR is about a 10 min. walk along a beautiful path running along the waterway. The boat is only about a 5 min. ride to the dock at City Walk. RPR is very tropical looking outside with live orchids all over inside. The minute one of the bellmen say "welcome to paradise", you'll feel like you're somewhere far away! We liked it so much last year that we're going back this July........about the same time as you? We'll be there from July 19-28th.

 

[themepark]

Staying onsite at Universal is a wonderful experience. Everyone in your party needs their room key at all times. Your room key gets you FOTL access at USF and IOA. That perk alone is invaluable. Yes, you can use it to get priority seating at restaurants in the parks and at Citywalk. In many cases, it will lessen your wait time. You can also visit the HRH and PBH pools. Oh and if you authorize it at check-in, you can use your room key to charge purchases anywhere in the parks or at Citywalk to your room.

The convenience of staying onsite cannot be beat. We park our car at RPR at check-in and never see it again until time to check out. You walk or ride the water taxi everywhere. I always convince myself that Universal is my own little world and there is nothing else around us in Orlando. You might be thinking that's crazy...but really it isn't hard to picture once you are there and have so much to do and see within walking distance.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

We're doing the Disney Cruise July 17-24 and from there going to spend 2 nights at HIFS for free on our Priority Club points. The 24th after getting off the ship will be spent at Typhoon Lagoon with 25th being spent at Epcot. The morning of the 26th we'll transfer to RPR for the next 2 nights, flying out on the 28th. I got an E card rate of $193 for 4 adults and one child (16). I know we'll be a little crowded but we don't plan on being there much! I also signed up for my Loew's card and called my number in to get the perks. I'm going to call in the morning to see if they'll match the Gold status on my Priority Club Card.

My friend going with us wants to eat at Emerils. Have you ever tried that? Where do you go for breakfast each morning?

Our main reason for transferring to RPR WAS the FOTL access. My HIFS room was at the E card rate of $103 but by the time we all bought FOTL Express Plus passes at $37.20 each it was actually cheaper by $174 to stay at RPR!

 

[Eclpz314]

RPR has a couple of nice restaurants onsite. I haven't been to Jakes and Tchoup Chop, but we did do a breakfast buffet at Islands which was good. You can also purchase breakfast stuff in the Orchid Lounge--3rd floor (lobby level) of Tower 3. I agree with Themepark---FOTL access w/room key is what talked us into going back again this year! If you have a spare minute to walk around outside, take time to look at the carvings on the wall of Tower 3 walkway behind the pool. Also, there are carved statues here and there all over in the plantings....really fun to see! It would be fun to run into your family there and say a quick hi! We'll be there until about 4pm on the 28th.

 

[highlander447]

Tchoup is great at city walk u get ps because of your room key but it can still be a wait as theres a lot of those keys