Opinions needed on Universal resorts split stay

Jenny412

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 1, 2015
We will be visiting Universal first week of June. Arriving Monday morning and checking out the following Sunday morning. We want to do 2 nights at Hard Rock to take advantage of express passes and 4 nights at Cabana Bay where we will do a day or 2 at Volcano Bay and maybe evenings at the parks. Question is should we do deluxe at the beginning of the week or the end? Of course the price of deluxe is a little higher at the end of the week since it will be a Friday and Saturday night. Price difference isn't of much importance since it only amounts to about $60 dollars. Would you do deluxe first or last? Those that have done split stays with deluxe resorts how did you plan it? Any thoughts and opinions are welcome :)
 
I have not done split stays at UO but if I did, I would do the hotel switch to cover fri/sat


 
I agree with Mac. Do the deluxe at the end of the stay. Having Unlimited Express pass at the beginning is going to spoil you so the 2nd have of the stay without it will be more "painful". Also, the Friday and Saturday are likely to be the busier park days.
 
I see things a little bit different. Monday and Tuesday night would give you Monday-Wednesday of express passes where Friday and Saturday would only give you those 2 days since you said you are leaving Sunday morning. And if you are doing Volcano Bay for a couple of those last days and just the main parks at night then express won’t be that important since the lines aren’t as bad in the evenings. So my vote is do deluxe at the beginning. After 3 full days of express you may want some down time at Cabana Bay which is a great resort for other activities and walking distance to Volcano Bay :)
 


I see things a little bit different. Monday and Tuesday night would give you Monday-Wednesday of express passes where Friday and Saturday would only give you those 2 days since you said you are leaving Sunday morning.

I agree with Laurie D I would do deluxe at beginning also. Your Unlimited Express is good the day you check in and good until park close the day you check out of deluxe. So three days Unlimited EP for two night deluxe stay.
 
I've done it both ways depending on my days. Park hours factor in sometimes, resort rates (I have an AP so it depends when I can get the best AP rate). I have done the deluxe first more often, go gung ho in the parks, then move to CBBR and relax. It is SO wonderful to walk over to CBBR for early entry!
 
For me I’d do delux first since you’ll be super excited and want to ride as many rides as soon as possible. Then after 3 days of EP you’ll know which rides are worth waiting for. I also like doing pool/water parks later in the week since someone inevitably gets a sunburn and riding some of the rides is miserable when you have a harness on burnt shoulders.
 


We have done this several times. We do the deluxe at the beginning. We are going nonstop at the parks, using the express pass. Then we switch to Cabana Bay. We are a family of 5 (three teenagers), and we cram into the deluxe room. It is good to spread out at CBBR just when we are on each others' last nerve in the deluxe room. If (when) we go back to the parks, it is for meals, shows, shopping, favorite rides. It has worked will for us in the past. Fun+convenience+relaxation.
 
I vote to stay Deluxe at the end. Monday to Wednesday typically won't be as busy, and won't miss not having the express passes as much. If you start with the passes, and then don't have them the rest of the week, will make waiting that much harder (for me anyways.)
 
Id agree with end of week for HRH
Just curios did you price out staying at HRH the entire time? I know staying at CB or Avenrtura is better to VB - but the longer you stay the price per night does go down
 
Agree with PPs. It makes more sense to have express pass over the weekend, so I would do deluxe second.
 
Hi

I have done split stays two summers in a row and did both ways. I have to say I personally liked putting the deluxe first hitting the parks then taking the last couple of days for down time. However, with the days you are looking at I think it may be better to put the deluxe at the end with the express passes there. We did Volcano Bay both years from Cabana bay and I will say that it is a little slower during the week. If you are not going to purchase the separate express pass for Volcano Bay any opportunity to go at a slower time will help. I remember the weekend was crazy there. It is so nice to walk over there from Cabana.

The pp's who mentioned you get the extra day on the express pass is a bonus.

Enjoy:thumbsup2
 
Hard decision. It’s true depending on what time you arrive Monday if you went the deluxe route first you’d get EP for part of Monday, then 2 full days of EP for Tues & Wed.
But..... parks are more crowded toward the weekends, and you probably would be better off doing Volcano Bay at the beginning- mid trip rather than weekend.

tony67 has a good point, checking out HRH for longer stay brings the rate down with the STay More Save More rate.
Or maybe consider doing a 3/3 split.
 
We will be visiting Universal first week of June. Arriving Monday morning and checking out the following Sunday morning. We want to do 2 nights at Hard Rock to take advantage of express passes and 4 nights at Cabana Bay where we will do a day or 2 at Volcano Bay and maybe evenings at the parks. Question is should we do deluxe at the beginning of the week or the end? Of course the price of deluxe is a little higher at the end of the week since it will be a Friday and Saturday night. Price difference isn't of much importance since it only amounts to about $60 dollars. Would you do deluxe first or last? Those that have done split stays with deluxe resorts how did you plan it? Any thoughts and opinions are welcome :)

We are looking at the same thing but we are only going to do the first night at express and move to cabana for the rest of the trip. We are passholders so waiting to find a discount for that Monday night at one of the big three. We are already booked for the entire time at cabana and will modify if the discount becomes available. (We are hopeful) We have premier passes so we have express after 4 anyway but it’s our last trip to universal on our passes so we would like to make the most of it for at least a couple days, then spend our time the rest of the week hitting our must rides again as well as relaxing before moving to Disney.
 
We are hoping to stay Hard Rock, first 2 nights, then Cabana Bay for 3. How do we transfer our luggage from one HR to Cabana?
 
I took a black SUV parked outside the hotel with my luggage. While it has previously been free (except for tip) they charged me $10 last time. I have no idea if they will do luggage transfer, I tend to not trust those types of services!
 
The on demand cars can be used to transfer from one hotel to another

Fees involved
 

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