Not able to do this on a budget!

[inkedupmomma]

Maybe it is just me, but Universal is pricey as heck! Maybe if you do it as a long vacation it isn't, but to do a day or 2 it is going to cost me over 1k

My dd is suddenly into Harry Potter much more than ever before and my DS 5 is absolutely i love with super heroes!

If you have any tricks, or secrets, please share with me! As of right now, I just can't see spending that much money not including food or souvies for just 2 days!

 

[damo]

Doing any theme park for just a couple of days is really pricey!!!

Can you give us the dates that you wish to go? There are some really inexpensive (well under $100/night) rooms that are within walking distance of the parks. Two day tickets don't come with much discount, they are what they are. You can easily eat offsite to keep things cheap too.

 

[inkedupmomma]

probably September 22/23 but could do just 22

 

[quadaunt]

Yep, the theme parks offer cheaper and cheaper tickets the longer you stay. However, they're no dummies as with that marketing ploy we guests end end up spending more in the long run the longer we stay.

You can get slightly discounted tickets via Undercover Tourist (www.undercovertourist.com) or AAA (www.aaa.com) if you have a AAA membership. For my arrival day I bid and won a great room rate of $40 for a nice hotel very near to US / IOA. I did stay the two subsequent nights onsite at Universal for the Early Entry into WWoHP benefit. I sprang for one AP for myself to get the AP discount on our room. After figuring in discounts for room, food, and merchandise it made sense for me to purchase the one AP. With an AP you also get a 15% discount on any other tickets you purchase.

ETA: Just checked the Universal AP site and see that they are offering a special $139 room rate for Universal onsite resorts for your dates. Something to think about ...

 

[damo]

probably September 22/23 but could do just 22

You can stay at the Hyatt Place Universal which is right outside the gates for $80/night. It is a beautiful, newly opened hotel with free parking and includes breakfast.

Crowds will be very low during that time, so there is no need to stay at an onsite hotel if you don't want to spend the money to do so.

 

[TheRatPack]

It's over 1000.00 for our family of 7 to go as well, and that's staying at Disney and just visiting Universal for a day or two. We're still on the fence about buying the Costco tickets....just don't know if it's worth 1000.00 or not. I mean the kids get to go to Disney every year, and MNSSHP... that's a blessing in itself so it's hard to add on another 1000.00.

 

[IdesOmarch]

Last I looked the 4 day ticket was only about $150. That is cheaper than Disney, where 4 days is, going off memory, I'm thinking close to double this. It is a lot cheaper to do more days at Universal. But you are right to the extent that no vacation to a major theme park is going to be really cheap. Its just the nature of the beast. And you really should plan for more days than less, you end up getting a lot more for your money. I'm saying 4 days instead of 1 for example.

 

[reelmom]

Ohhhhh...inkedupmomma, I'm gonna tell everybody on the Disney side that you are flirting with dark side.

I agree that it is expensive to only go for a day or two but how can you tell your two cutie patooties no.

 

[inkedupmomma]

it's only cheating if you don't do two weeks at Disney previous to it! Shhh.. don't tell!

 

[macraven]

Yep, the theme parks offer cheaper and cheaper tickets the longer you stay. However, they're no dummies as with that marketing ploy we guests end end up spending more in the long run the longer we stay.

You can get slightly discounted tickets via Undercover Tourist (www.undercovertourist.com) or AAA (www.aaa.com) if you have a AAA membership. For my arrival day I bid and won a great room rate of $40 for a nice hotel very near to US / IOA. I did stay the two subsequent nights onsite at Universal for the Early Entry into WWoHP benefit. I sprang for one AP for myself to get the AP discount on our room. After figuring in discounts for room, food, and merchandise it made sense for me to purchase the one AP. With an AP you also get a 15% discount on tickets for any regular tickets you purchase.

ETA: Just checked the Universal AP site and see that they are offering a special $139 room rate for Universal onsite resorts for your dates. Something to think about ...

mevermind

 

[quadaunt]

mevermind

Okay, okay, I edited my post to make it clearer. My fingers get ahead of my brain sometimes.

 

[damo]

Actually, you only get 15% off multi-day tickets.

 

[bumbershoot]

Have you been there before? If not, I know very well that it's hard to commit all that money to something completely unknown. Heck, I took baby-steps into Disney...did a one day trip to Disneyland two years in a row while visiting my brother in San Diego, and finally went for a week. Which led to many more trips, to a first WDW visit that was 13 days long. And then I tagged the complete-unknown Universal onto it, making a 17 day trip!

But Universal was great, I promise. My son is right in between your kids, he's 7 now, and he loved it all. I mean, he didn't go on any of the big rides, even the ones he could, but he still loved it. Rode Flight of the Hippogriff a few times with DH, then one morning when DH slept in, DS and I rode it 14 times in a row. Loved the rest of the place, too.


If you want to stay onsite, look for the discounts. I've priced out several vacations and cannot get the package deals to actually BE a deal yet. The Loews Hotels site should give you the lowest rate for your dates, though you should also fill in APH to the discount code box, just to see if there's an Annual Pass rate that's good enough for one of you to upgrade to the AP. (which as mentioned above then leads to 15% off gate price tickets, which is better than the prepurchase price on Universal's site, and might be better than a discount place like UnderCoverTourist or Maple Leaf Tickets, etc)

That's exactly what we're doing during our upcoming trip. Which is, by the way, from 9/22-9/25. First figured I'd do the "stay more pay less" type of deal, but then AP rates showed up and they were good. We stayed at Royal Pacific last time, and the rate someone else told you about is really good for that hotel!

In case you don't know, staying onsite gives you Express Pass plus for everyone in the room, through your stay. Could stay one night, but you'd get the EP for the day of check-in and check-out.

It is hard, though, to get it under 1K. We can't do it and we're just the 3 of us. Though I'm cheating b/c I just budget per day for food, not x for WDW and Y for Universal. Your trip report name intrigued me and I skimmed some of it, and know you're doing Deluxe Dining...so of course the way you're thinking of food for WDW is different than a daily budget.

Best of luck making this decision!!!!

 

[gracy_hm]

Are you flying in? If so from where I found a great price if you are. Let me know I'll look at price.

 

[torinsmom]

Are you staying onsite or something? 2 day(1 park per day) tickets would be $444 for 2 adults and 2 kids under 10. You could stay at one of the offsite hotels close by for under $100/night. If you need to stay 2 nights, that would still be under $650 for two nights. You could get one even cheaper if you use Priceline. I got the Holiday Inn Maingate to Universal for $45/night during summer. You could probably get a 3.5-4 star for $30-$35 that time of year.

I guess there's no way to know if you will return to Universal next year, but for us, it was cheaper to get APs, since we will return next year. We are hooked on doing both WDW and Universal now

 

[quadaunt]

Actually, you only get 15% off multi-day tickets.

I didn't know that. Good to know.

 

[quadaunt]

Maybe it is just me, but Universal is pricey as heck!

You may be right:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/news/universal/Universal_Orlando_dubbed_priciest_theme_park_in_the_nation.htm

 

[SnapesGirl]

I went to Universal and Disney with my mom in April for $600 each for 1 week! It is possible to do it on a budget. We booked through Hotwire.com and got the flight, hotel, rental car, and park tickets for $600 (tax included!).

Last year my aunt used BookIt.com and also got a great deal. If you are willing to stay off Disney/Universal property, you can find some decent 2 stars hotels for around $25 a night!

 

[cesariofamily]

We also are doing 2 nights 2.5 days at Universal. We are going because of Harry Potter. I think Universal is great but normally I'd rather spend more days at Disney because every day you stay the tickets get cheaper and cheaper. Our 3 day non hoppers are $130 per person, I could have added 3 more days to our Disney tickets for less than that for a family of five. Plus we are staying 2 nights on Universal Property. It was a real budget buster. We stay the other 6 nights at our timeshare which costs us the same every year. We really want to see Harry and we are paying for it. Both Dis/Uni understand it is better to keep the prices high for a few days and then drastically reduce the price to get your $$$ on food, merch etc. I will agree that our little extra trip to Universal will be a budget buster, however we want to go so we are paying up. Also we live in Pittsburgh so it costs $$$ for a family of five to fly so we don't get to Orlando very often. So it makes sense to us to have an expensive side trip than to pay to fly to Orlando twice.

 

[Tink2Day]

Any one day ticket to any park is expensive.

Just look at the cost of the MNSSHP or the MVMCP. It's not as 'exclusive' as promoted and it's pricey for the amount of time