On or off site lodging?

[eeyorethegreat]

I am trying to refine how much more I need to save for Our 2010 trip. We are planning on staying a two nights/three days and going to Universal/IOA especially since Wizarding World should be open by then. Then heading over to WDW. Thus far, I have been saving to stay onsite at Universal but the budget minder in me says just stay off site, go in with a plan and save the cash. SO... my question is it REALLY worth the expense of staying onsite to get the FOTL pass? We will be going Early August and if there is any way I can save on lodging costs I would like to! Seriously the FOTL pass would be our only reason for staying onsite. We are pretty simple and would be happy in just about any clean hotels. Comfort Inn is about as fancy as we get when we travel (excluding WDW we have stayed at Mods and values) so as far as ammenities are concerned we aren't all about that. Just clean and safe and we are good. Are there typically any fabulous deals in the summer to stay on property at Universal? (I am thinking not). Thanks for any input!

 

[patster734]

Many times, when on vacation, I'm the designated driver between the hotel and the parks, so the convenience of walking (or taking the boat) between the Universal hotels and Citywalk/the parks is huge to me. I actually consider it almost as big as the FOTL perk. To compare it to Disney, it's like staying at one of the monorail resorts when going to the Magic Kingdom: No waiting for buses; no messing with traffic; and no limiting myself to non-alcoholic drinks when at Citywalk!

 

[Darcy03231]

On our last trip we stayed off-site and went the 2nd & 3rd week of August. I rented a private pool home as there were 9 of us traveling for 16 days. While US/IOA is certainly doable staying off-site you need to get there for park opening if you want to get the bigger rides in with little to no wait. We found if were were at the turnstiles when the park opened we could get quite a bit done between 9-11 am. Lines really started forming then. By 12-1 lines for the more popular attractions were at least an hour long. By 2 they were 90 min to 2 hours. We found we did best by taking a mid-day break about that time and going back at night. While there were still lines, they were a bit more manageable at an hour or less. I did rent a room for one night while we were there for FOTL access for two days. I got key cards for myself, my two teens and my sisters two teens (mom, sister, BIL and the toddler weren't interested in any of the bigger rides again). The teens loved it! They kept asking why we weren't doing this every day (can you imagine the cost of that trip?).

For our upcoming trip we're taking advantage of the buy 3 get 5 offer and staying on-site for the whole trip. My kids are beside themselves with joy! They hated standing in line for an hour to ride Hulk and Dueling Dragons. If it were me I would definitely budget to stay on-site at least one night, especially as it will be busy the first week in August. Its also nice to be able to go back to the room during the heat of the day and have a swim/rest.

 

[bubba's mom]

... my question is it REALLY worth the expense of staying onsite to get the FOTL pass? We will be going Early August...

1-it will be August...hot and busy.

2-WWOHP will be new and fresh = extra busy.


If I were you, I'd save like crazy and stay onsite. Even if HP wasn't new and opening, it's still busy early August.


You'll be glad you saved to stay onsite.

oh....and, we don't normally spend a lot of time at the hotel either. We sleep and shower there...so, Comfort Inn is usually our speed too. But, after our first stay onsite, DH will not go to UO without staying onsite. (He doesn't have to twist my arm! )

 

[francie57]

We have gone in August for the past several years, usually the third week after the schools in the south are back in and before ours in the northeast go back. Would definitely stay on-site. The FOTL is the reason we do and would never consider staying off-site now. You can get a discount on the room if you are a member of AAA. We book a room only through them for the discount and then buy the tickets at our local AAA office at a good discount. Since our kids are in their 20s we have for the past few years gotten two rooms at the HRH so we have plenty of room and the two bathrooms. They can also go to City Walk at night if they want and not have to worry about being so quiet when they get back.