Premier hotel vs prime value with express pass or both?

[buzlite]

We are a couple booking our trip for the last week of October. We will arrive Wednesday and check out Saturday. No park day on Wednesday since we will probably arrive late. Saturday will be a full park day before we head over to Disney.
I am trying to figure out the best way to 1)avoid changing hotels multiple times
2)get unlimited express passes
3)save money.

Option 1) stay 1 night at marriot at the airport and 2 nights are rpr.
Option 2) stay 2 nights at a value/prime value and last night at rpr. We would get 2 days of express pass with 1 night.
Option 3) 3 nights of value plus express pass for 2 days.

What would you do?

 

[ladyderks]

Will you be going to the park Wednesday?

 

[Dawn Peterson]

We are a couple booking our trip for the last week of October. We will arrive Wednesday and check out Saturday. Saturday will be a full park day before we head over to Disney.
I am trying to figure out the best way to 1)avoid changing hotels multiple times
2)get unlimited express passes
3)save money.

Option 1) stay 1 night at marriot at the airport and 2 nights are rpr.
Option 2) stay 2 nights at a value/prime value and last night at rpr. We would get 2 days of express pass with 1 night.
Option 3) 3 nights of value plus express pass for 2 days.

What would you do?

option 2. On the Wednesday and Thursday you can probably get by without express passes and then you would have them on the Friday and Saturday when you need them. One night at premier vs 2 days express passes is usually the better deal. I also like the premier Hotels.

 

[buzlite]

Will you be going to the park Wednesday?

Nope!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Option 2. We went that week last year and it was surprisingly quiet in the parks on the Tues, Wed, Thurs. To be fair, Thurs absolutely hardcore stormed. But Wed was amazingly quiet so I imagine Thurs would have been reasonable regardless of the weather. Last year, that Friday was also busy since Orlando area schools had that day off - not sure if that's the case this year too.

 

[namelessoracle]

Nope!

Looking at the date you discussed, a Universal value will be cheaper than the hotel at Orlando airport.

Universal Value, 2 nights of Deluxe will be best bet.

Depending on what you pay for tickets and how much the deluxes you have another option. Premier Annual Pass gives free express after 4pm. May end up cheaper to do that and go down to a budget. Also be aware Horror Nights is a separate Express pass if you want to do that. And its not included with deluxe.

 

[buzlite]

Option 2. We went that week last year and it was surprisingly quiet in the parks on the Tues, Wed, Thurs. To be fair, Thurs absolutely hardcore stormed. But Wed was amazingly quiet so I imagine Thurs would have been reasonable regardless of the weather. Last year, that Friday was also busy since Orlando area schools had that day off - not sure if that's the case this year too.

Thank you!! That's some amazingly helpful information. I checked and they have it off this year on Friday as well so I guess that parks will be quite busy that day.
I was also looking at the group VIP tour. Mostly because our favourite rides are Hagrids and Velicoaster which don't have EP.
It's basically the same price to do 2 days of the unlimited express pass as a one-day VIP tour.
Although 2 days of the express pass are basically the same price as 1 night at a deluxe.
I guess the dealbreaker will be trying to guess how busy that Thursday will be.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

We did one night in Portofino last night for the EP - it was Thursday night. The EP on stormy Thurs was thoroughly useless, but it was glorious on Friday!
As an idea of crowds, on Tuesday 10/26 around lunchtime Hagrids was a 10min wait (posted 35), Gringotts 10min (posted 25), no line for Ollivanders, & by late afternoon we had our own Transformers evac unit, Minions was a walk on, etc. Wed 10/27 we walked into the 3:30 Bourne show at 3:28, no line for Simpsons after... you get the idea.

On Sat 10/30, we did the "take it easy" version to rest up for HHN that night. We headed to IoA around 10am & met the X-men, rode Spiderman, Kong, Jurassic Park River Adventure, and FJ by lunch time - we do the single rider lines on Spiderman & FJ, negligible waits. Hogsmeade was a crush of humanity.

You can check out my trip report if you like, I referenced back to it for these details: https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...ve-then-not-live-and-is-now-finished.3857799/

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We are a couple booking our trip for the last week of October. We will arrive Wednesday and check out Saturday. No park day on Wednesday since we will probably arrive late. Saturday will be a full park day before we head over to Disney.
I am trying to figure out the best way to 1)avoid changing hotels multiple times
2)get unlimited express passes
3)save money.

Option 1) stay 1 night at marriot at the airport and 2 nights are rpr.
Option 2) stay 2 nights at a value/prime value and last night at rpr. We would get 2 days of express pass with 1 night.
Option 3) 3 nights of value plus express pass for 2 days.

What would you do?

My experience is that the US parks open early. It is hard to stay offsite (the night before) and get to US in time for Early Entry/RD. If you are arriving VERY late, then staying at Marriott would be easy upon arrival. If by 'late' you mean more like 7pm, it would be better to get on property that night so you can get to the US parks as early as possible- even if you don't plan to make Early entry/Rope Drop.

If you plan to eat dinner in Orlando, then Citywalk or the US hotel would be fun options that first night.

Probably option 2 is a good option, but you'll have to look up specific rates to check.

It also depends a little what you plan to do on Saturday. You say you plan to do a park day, but you need to check out of your hotel room by 11am and drive to WDW that day. If you are quick checking out, then you'll get good use of Express pas that day. If not, then option 3 might be better/easier. that way, you can really make full use of the Express Passes.