Newbie Questions - Oct Trip Planned

[jvmjr]

I know some or probably most of these questions have been answered but I have looked for a couple of hours now and must leave for a funeral. Bummer. Anyway 2 adults, son 14 and son 9 are thinking about Universal in Oct. Questions - are the more expensive hotels (on property) worth it? What do you really get with club level? Favorite hotel and why? We are thinking of staying 4 days. That will allow 2 full days at each park. Too much, not enough? Keep in mind we have never been. Not Potter fans, not opposed. Love Marvel (I think I saw that was part of this). Meal plans seem hit or miss. Thoughts? Mid October busy? I think I can look up if it is a busy time but don't know how just yet. If you want to point me in the right direction, that would be fine. I just am out of time today and the wife started in on me about planning. Whoops... Thanks in advance for any and all help. I will try to do more research in a few days but I hope some of you kind souls will guide me as well.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Questions - are the more expensive hotels (on property) worth it? IMO, the Express Pass is the biggest value to the deluxe resorts. FWIW, my DD(12) said she never wanted to stay at a Disney hotel again within minutes of reaching our room at Royal Pacific. The hotel and room were gorgeous and our room had a view of the pool. The boats to the parks are great bonuses!

We are thinking of staying 4 days. That will allow 2 full days at each park. Too much, not enough? Keep in mind we have never been. I like 4 days for a Universal trip. You can take your time, reride things, and experience both your hotel and City Walk. We felt we did the parks justice on this trip in 3 days, but we didn't ride any water rides (and they have 3 good ones).

Meal plans seem hit or miss. Thoughts? I didn't think that the options really met our dining needs, but at one meal, after we ordered, the cashier upgraded me to the meal plan for a penny more than I was paying for my meal. That got us 2 more drinks than we had ordered - we took a bottle of water then and got another the next day.

Mid October busy? Universal tends to follow the same crowd trends Disney does - I think it will be light to moderate all of October.

Have a great time! I think DD and I have decided that Universal is our park of choice. We will always love Disney, but we really feel more relaxed at Universal.

 

[RMulieri]

For us the Deluxe resorts are worth 100% if the cost...All 3 are beautiful, all 3 have a dedicated boat to and from the parks or are WITHIN walking distance.The Express passes you get with it are the BEST an worth it even during slower times a year
.We love Club level BUT, we stay a week and spend a lot of time at the resort.If you are park commandos, and are there open to close type people, you will likely not use it all that much

2 days, 1 for each park is fine..We stay a week and do 4 full days at the parks and tour leisurely and re-ride our favorites.
Meal plans I cant comment on.We never use them since they don't cover many of the resort dining venues and we eat at a lot of them
Mid Octobr is Moderately busy.KEEP IN MIND....Halloween Horror Nights is going on then, and that closes the studios park at 5pm to dayguests ( unless you buy separate admission for it).Overall, the UNI parks close much much earlier than the what you may be used to at Disney.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I know some or probably most of these questions have been answered but I have looked for a couple of hours now and must leave for a funeral. Bummer. Anyway 2 adults, son 14 and son 9 are thinking about Universal in Oct. Questions - are the more expensive hotels (on property) worth it? What do you really get with club level? Favorite hotel and why? We are thinking of staying 4 days. That will allow 2 full days at each park. Too much, not enough? Keep in mind we have never been. Not Potter fans, not opposed. Love Marvel (I think I saw that was part of this). Meal plans seem hit or miss. Thoughts? Mid October busy? I think I can look up if it is a busy time but don't know how just yet. If you want to point me in the right direction, that would be fine. I just am out of time today and the wife started in on me about planning. Whoops... Thanks in advance for any and all help. I will try to do more research in a few days but I hope some of you kind souls will guide me as well.

Two days each park definitely is enough, even for the first time. I personally don't like paying much for rooms as I don't spend a lot of time in them other than to sleep. Would rather use the money doing things. However if I were one that liked a pool day or just a day or two to relax, I would think differently.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

On-site properties are so worth it, you may never visit theme parks the same way again. The express pass is just awesome, many will follow with a full explanation. The short version is, with the exception of a few rides in HP, you don't have to worry about crowds. Mid October is hit and miss with Halloween Horror Nights really starting to get ramped up. Again, stay on site and you don't have to worry.

Club level is always a discussion with many viewpoints. You basically get a continental breakfast, snacks throughout the day, all day drinks, and dessert at night. I stayed at Royal Pacific club, and there was a concierge who set up all of our dining plans as well. Here is an example of what you need to consider - there are not many good inexpensive breakfast options. A danish and a coffee is going to cost you $30 for four people, and the breakfast buffets at the resorts (although delicious!) will run you $60-70 pending your tipping style. The experts here can give you other options, this is just an example. Next, bottled water in the park is gonna run $10+ each time unless you are like my family and share the same bottle (ugh). So, if you eat the continental breakfast and take four bottled waters with you when you head to the park, you are saving $40 - $90. Still not the cost of the upcharge for club level.

However, when you factor the value of Express Pass, you will realize that you can eat breakfast, take a short walk to the parks, ride for 3-4 hours, head back to resort, get more drinks at club room, swim a bit, afternoon snack at club room, go back to parks for a few hours, then hit desserts in the evening. Everything is there, maybe just one good meal outside of club room each day (there are so many good meals everywhere). It could be worth it. It really differs from family to family, if you are a family that eats a light breakfast and heads to the parks for 12 hours, then club is prob not the best option. If you plan on being around your resort and taking advantage of express pass, it is so easy to just swing by club room and load up. Very easy to just stop in, grab and go, and could save money.

All that said, my family will probably not choose club level again. We love the Kitchen (Hard Rock Hotel), we all have our favorite snacks at each park, we love the sit downs at City Walk, we love the poolside bar and grill at Hard Rock. We are foodies and we look forward to our annual stay just to eat, and with so many new options opening each year, it is unrealistic for me to think that we won't hit our favorites and try the new stuff. And I can't afford both. Also, I am not sure about your 14 year old, but the 9 year old will likely get a free breakfast buffet with an adult purchase if you ask at check-in. It has always been offered to us, I have an 11 and 8 year old.

Again, if you do choose to stay on-site, don't look at it as two days each park, take Gringott's between the parks and spend the first day to day and a half and hit the major attractions. Spend some time at CityWalk and your resort. Then, the last two days can be repeating your favorites and looking for those special nuggets of great fun (the shows, the fountain, Diagon Alley, Springfield, so much to list). It really is amazing how much FUN you can have at Universal, but still get some relaxation when you stay on-site.

I mentioned that I stayed at Royal Pacific for club. That was a one-night stay in the first week of a 15 day vacation for us. We stayed at Hard Rock for one night the second week and the day we checked out, we never made it to the parks. We rented a cabana by the pool for the day - it may be the funnest day my family has ever experienced. Granted it was mid-July and packed, and I dare not to search it on You Tube - 20 sunburnt, half crocked dads doing an air guitar competition to You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC...well, that was about noon. So, we are a Hard Rock family through and through!

 

[RMulieri]

For us the Deluxe resorts are worth 100% if the cost...All 3 are beautiful, all 3 have a dedicated boat to and from the parks or are WITHIN walking distance.The Express passes you get with it are the BEST an worth it even during slower times a year
.We love Club level BUT, we stay a week and spend a lot of time at the resort.If you are park commandos, and are there open to close type people, you will likely not use it all that much

2 days, 2 for each park is fine..We stay a week and do 4 full days at the parks and tour leisurely and re-ride our favorites.
Meal plans I cant comment on.We never use them since they don't cover many of the resort dining venues and we eat at a lot of them
Mid Octobr is Moderately busy.KEEP IN MIND....Halloween Horror Nights is going on then, and that closes the studios park at 5pm to dayguests ( unless you buy separate admission for it).Overall, the UNI parks close much much earlier than the what you may be used to at Disney.

 

[macraven]

hell week usually happens mid point in the month of october.
on some of those days, you will be seeing crowds.

 

[jvmjr]

Thank you all so much. I appreciate all the time it took to type some of those replies. Also, thanks for the heads up about the Halloween nights. Now we have to figure that one out too, lol...

 

[macraven]

if you go in october, the onsite room rates for the deluxe hotels are high priced.
if you plan to stay on a friday night, you will be required to book saturday also.

this happens due to the high volume for hhn.

stay onsite during the week, su-th, and rates will be more affordable.