Planning a trip for August 2006

[disneylizzy]

Hi all. I have 4 teenagers and am planning a trip for August. We spent 2 days at US/IOA in 2002 and that was offsite. This time I think I have narrowed the hotel down to the Hard Rock. I think they will all love it. I'm thinking a 2 queen bed deluxe room for the five of us and I am also thinking that with 3 boys that eat a lot it might be worth it to do the club level.

Tickets - 4 days for US/IOA.(?)

Possibly Discovery Cove and that would mean one day there and one day at Sea World.

I am really getting excited about this trip. I will definitely miss WDW and especially the chance to see Expedition Everest, but I think my kids need a break from the mouse. (We went 2X in 2005!)

So, if anyone has any words of wisdom, I would welcome them. I've learned a lot already on this board.

 

[PatMcDuck]

Booking with a AAA discount seems to be the way to go now. I will be at Hard Rock in Aug with teens as well. We do the club level. So nice for breakfast and snacks.

 

[robvia]

When in August are you going?
The reason I ask is the first two weeks of August are packed, as the summer season is still going. And it's very hot in the afternoon. The good news about this, is the parks stay open until 10pm, and there are fireworks. So what you do, is visit a park early in the morning, go back to the room and rest, then visit another park at night.
At the 3rd week of August, the fireworks stop and the park hours are cut back to 9pm, then 8pm.

DC takes an entire day, and then you'll want to visit SWF the next day. So visit DC on the 2nd day of the trip. Then you'll have two more days to visit SWF if you want.

I would suggest renting the car so you can drive back and forth, even if it means paying the parking fees and gas. The HRH has a shuttle that runs to SWF, but it doesn't leave until about 9am, so your early morning advantage would be gone. You could hire a limo to drive you back and forth for those visits if you don't want to rent the car.

Club level will be worth it with that many people. Just go early, and try not to go in pajamas.

 

[Miffy2003]

I am hoping to book RPR or HRH for 3 nights after the middle of August - probably nights of 19th, 20th 21st.

Am I kidding myself to hope I could get a rate of around $200 a night for these times? I am completely au fait with the WDW discounts but am new to the Universal ones so any opinions are welcome

I am happy to buy an AP and have AAA to help secure an attractive rate

When historically do August AAA / APH rates get published roughly?

Many many thanks

Karen

 

[Loudbmw]

In 2005 we stayed at the Royal Pacific starting 8/28 for 4 nights. Started with the AAA rate of $159 (standard view) which I booked on 4/27/05.

Annual pass rates (I bought only 1 AP & 3 Power Passes) came out on 5/31 which were $129/night.

Then on 7/9/05 they offered 4th night free! (3 @ $129 + 1 free) - WOW!

I know your dates are earlier but many schools are back in session on your dates which is good.

Don't be afraid to book and rebook as prices drop.

I always called 1-800-Be-A-Star to book but checked prices weekly on their website.

Hope this helps.

Lou

loudbmw at msn.com

 

[JohnnySharp2]

From mid August the parks are much quieter as most of the schools have returned by then.

 

[disneylizzy]

We are planning on arriving Aug 18 - we're prepared for the heat - it's the only time I can get all 4 of them together.

I guess I'll just book HRH and keep my fingers crossed for great discounts.

We will definitely be renting a car.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We are planning on arriving Aug 18 - we're prepared for the heat - it's the only time I can get all 4 of them together.

The heat can be a problem, wouldn't like to have both high temperatures and high crowds I must admit...with the weather though you do adjust after a couple of days.

 

[robvia]

Most kids wll be back in School on August 18th and the hours will probably be cut back to 8pm. If you look at the hours for this year here
http://themeparks.universalstudios....o_park_hours.html&year=2005&month=8&year=2005
you'll see that in the first week, they stayed open until 10pm, which means they had fireworks. In the 2nd week, they cut back to 9pm, no fireworks. In the 3rd, they cut back to 8pm. I'd guess it will be the same for your visit. Crowds should be light.

Yes, it will be hot, but staying at the HRH makes it easy to walk back and forth, only a 5 minute walk. What you do, is visit a park early each morning, arriving the gate at 08:15am. Stay a few hours, then go back to the hotel around 1pm to swim and nap. You'll know when it's time to leave the park because you'll be dripping with sweat. At about 5pm, you can come back to a park of your choice or drive to SWF for the night time. It will still be hot, but the sun will be going down and things will cool off. 3 hours in the morning, and 3 hours at night is plenty of time, the attractions don't take as long as Disney.

Glad to see you will rent the car, that will make things easy in terms of getting to DC early, and going back and forth.