Newbie to Universal... questions about Express Pass

[Beamer97]

We plan on going for the first time August 2020, but planning has started.... my questions...

it looks like for 4 of us... 3 adults, 1 teen it will be almost $2000. for two days with a fast pass... we want to be able to flip flop thru the parks. We will be doing Disney for 8 days.

When should we go to Universal? Middle of the week, break up our disney trip, or at the beginning or end of the Disney portion of the trip?
Is there a cheaper way to do Universal? We had planned on staying at disney and just Ubering over to Universal... or whatever way is best.
Is there a crowd calendar for Universal like there is for Disney?

 

[agavegirl1]

We go to Universal AFTER WDW. The obsessively planned Disney vacation requires actual work and careful attention to detail to some degree. The total relaxation of our Universal trip including express passes and the ability to reserve dining a few days in advance or day of is the way we like to end our vacation.

Will you purchase the Express Pass or receive it as a perk of a one night stay at one of the premium resorts?

 

[Beamer97]

Im really not sure at the moment.... it kinda looks like it may be cheaper to have a hotel at disney and at Universal just to get the free ep...unless im doing something wrong...it comes out to $1700 for two days tickets, and two days of EP

 

[DisTXMom]

If you’re getting EP, go after your WDW trip. As stated above, EP will get you front of the line access and you won’t need to strategize (other than hagrid’s whixh I don’t believe is on EP yet but I could be wrong). This will be very refreshing after the grind of WDW planning. We stayed at Portofino Bay Resort and hot free EP. look at the 3 hotels that give you free EP.

 

[macraven]

Good suggestions from the others for you.

I will only add stay away from Saturdays at UO.
Crowd level usually highest on that day of the week.

 

[macraven]

Im really not sure at the moment.... it kinda looks like it may be cheaper to have a hotel at disney and at Universal just to get the free ep...unless im doing something wrong...it comes out to $1700 for two days tickets, and two days of EP

You could knock that $1700 down some by only staying one night in a premier hotel at UO
Check in early at UO hotel day.
Get the hotel room cards for all in your group and hit the parks before it opens.
Your room will not be ready but valet can hold your luggage until it is assigned to you.
Room check in is by 4 pm but if a room is open earlier, you can use it then.

Check out the next day but spend the entire day at the parks.
Hotel guests at one of the three premier hotels get the free ep for all in their booked party the day you check in to the hotel and the day you check out of the hotel.
Hotel will hold your luggage for you

That's two park days with ep for a one night stay at Universal.

Uber back to your Disney hotel when you are done for the UO park day.

 

[bocaj1431]

We just got through trying to lower the cost of going to universal while staying at DW. I wish I would have known about staying at a UO hotel for use of the express pass because we would have saved money. So, if you can and it saves you money, I would definitely book a day at a UO hotel.

We were able to save money on purchasing park tickets by waiting for a special. We ended up doing the buy two day UO parks and VB and get three days free. So I would wait on purchasing tickets until you find a good deal. I purchased through Undercover Tourist. You can find information about them on the DIS forums. Also, undercover tourist has discounts for DW tickets and combining DW and UO.

Another positive for booking a hotel room for 2 nights is that it will cut down the cost of an Uber. I have read it is approximately $20 from DW to UV. So if you went back and forth for two days the cost would be $80 plus tip vs $40 if you stay at UV.