Probably a stupid question about tickets

[chik1987]

We are planning a 1 day universal/island of adventure day before we leave on a disney cruise October 2nd. We are flying down Saturday 9/30 and hoping to do the parks on 10/1.

We plan on staying at the Hardrock Hotel to take advantage of the early entry and express passes. We plan on booking our 2 nights there in the next week or so.

My question is this:

Is there any problem with waiting until we are down there to buy the actual park tickets? I'm worried about having only one day spending $600 on tickets for the 4 of us and not being able to go because of weather or anything else that can come up last minute.

I was wanting to wait until the Saturday we get down there to buy tickets for the next day to avoid as many unforeseeable events as possible.

Is there any issue with this? Will it screw anything else up?

 

[perditax]

We are planning a 1 day universal/island of adventure day before we leave on a disney cruise October 2nd. We are flying down Saturday 9/30 and hoping to do the parks on 10/1.

We plan on staying at the Hardrock Hotel to take advantage of the early entry and express passes. We plan on booking our 2 nights there in the next week or so.

My question is this:

Is there any problem with waiting until we are down there to buy the actual park tickets? I'm worried about having only one day spending $600 on tickets for the 4 of us and not being able to go because of weather or anything else that can come up last minute.

I was wanting to wait until the Saturday we get down there to buy tickets for the next day to avoid as many unforeseeable events as possible.

Is there any issue with this? Will it screw anything else up?

I guess there's some chance there might be a ticket price increase by then, but more regular posters will know better than I do.

Tickets are cheaper online than at the gate.

I can't think of anything else that could go wrong other than possibly spending a little more money.

 

[schumigirl]

Of course you can buy your tickets at the gate. No issues there. I assume you are buying park to park tickets for your one day.

However, if you are planning on doing both parks in one day you should be aware that Halloween Horror Nights will be on those dates.

Studios will close at 5pm to guests not participating in the event.

IOA will be open later, so plan to start your day in the Studios, then around mid afternoon move over to IOA which will be open to either 7 or 8pm usually. If you have park to park tickets you will be able to go on the Hogwarts Express.

Crowds start to build up late afternoon in the Studios for HHN.

 

[damo]

It won't cost you any more (unless ticket prices go up) for a single day ticket at the gate. They are the same price on the website.

However, if you are going to wait to buy a ticket, I suggest you buy it at the hotel where lines will be much shorter.

 

[perditax]

It won't cost you any more (unless ticket prices go up) for a single day ticket at the gate. They are the same price on the website.

However, if you are going to wait to buy a ticket, I suggest you buy it at the hotel where lines will be much shorter.

I thought there was a whole thing where UO tickets are $20 cheaper online than at the gate? Maybe I misunderstood somewhere along the way.

 

[chik1987]

Of course you can buy your tickets at the gate. No issues there. I assume you are buying park to park tickets for your one day.

However, if you are planning on doing both parks in one day you should be aware that Halloween Horror Nights will be on those dates.

Studios will close at 5pm to guests not participating in the event.

IOA will be open later, so plan to start your day in the Studios, then around mid afternoon move over to IOA which will be open to either 7 or 8pm usually. If you have park to park tickets you will be able to go on the Hogwarts Express.

Crowds start to build up late afternoon in the Studios for HHN.

Yea I read about HHN. We are making plans around it like you suggested. The kiddos aren't into the big coasters so I'm hoping to be able to get through the rest of the rides with the express pass at least once each and I would be more than happy with that. Yes we will be buying park to park tickets so we can do the Hogwarts Express. The Harry Potter stuff is 90% of the reason we are even trying to do this all in one day lol. Our family might have addiction issues.

 

[chik1987]

It won't cost you any more (unless ticket prices go up) for a single day ticket at the gate. They are the same price on the website.

However, if you are going to wait to buy a ticket, I suggest you buy it at the hotel where lines will be much shorter.

Thanks! I wasn't aware you could buy them at the hotel. That would save us some time. I figured we would go online on our laptop and buy them once at the hotel if they were cheaper but if they are the same price as getting them at the hotel that seems like a much easier plan.

 

[wagman67]

I thought there was a whole thing where UO tickets are $20 cheaper online than at the gate? Maybe I misunderstood somewhere along the way.

Single day is the same. Multiple day tickets are discounted online.

 

[macraven]

If you are sure you will book Saturday and Sunday at hrh, don't wait until this summer to do so

I have gone yearly in early October for a two week stay on site
I usually arrive Saturday or Sunday, depends when the 1st is

The deluxe hotels will require a Friday and Saturday booking and not partial weekend at a certain time point

Last year it was late May where you could only book a Saturday night if you included the Friday night

The reason for this is hhn event which will fill up the hotels

Many only want a one night weekend stay and not a full hhn weekend

You can easily book Saturday this far out for hrh


You could buy the park tickets online and pick them up at the kiosk or hotel ticket desk 24 hours later

 

[chik1987]

If you are sure you will book Saturday and Sunday at hrh, don't wait until this summer to do so

I have gone yearly in early October for a two week stay on site
I usually arrive Saturday or Sunday, depends when the 1st is

The deluxe hotels will require a Friday and Saturday booking and not partial weekend at a certain time point

Last year it was late May where you could only book a Saturday night if you included the Friday night

The reason for this is hhn event which will fill up the hotels

Many only want a one night weekend stay and not a full hhn weekend

You can easily book Saturday this far out for hrh


You could buy the park tickets online and pick them up at the kiosk or hotel ticket desk 24 hours later

Thank you I didn't know this. We will get our 2 nights booked today! Thanks so much everyone!

 

[macraven]

Usually around July we will have threads from unhappy homies because they could not just book the October Friday night stay without the Saturday included

Same with those only wanting Saturday as the start date of stay


Deluxe does this to keep the weekend rooms full
Hhn brings in the crowds for filling hotels on the weekends

And rates can rise later this year for weekends as rooms fill up for attending hhn

 

[chik1987]

Usually around July we will have threads from unhappy homies because they could not just book the October Friday night stay without the Saturday included

Same with those only wanting Saturday as the start date of stay


Deluxe does this to keep the weekend rooms full
Hhn brings in the crowds for filling hotels on the weekends

And rates can rise later this year for weekends as rooms fill up for attending hhn

Yea they have already gone up about $50 per night since I first looked at them which surprised me a little since we are still 8 months out. We will get them booked asap. It wouldn't be the end of the world if this part of our trip didn't work out (we are going to FL because we are getting married on a disney cruise that leaves on that following Monday) but we REALLY are looking forward to seeing Harry Potter world since our travels probably won't get us back down to FL again for a while.

 

[macraven]

I booked last October 19 2016 for October 1 2017 for 13 nights at rpr

Rate was $187 maybe plus tax per night

Now it has smsm rate at $193.27 plus tax for a standard room
For my dates

Using the code smsm today for a 3 night stay, the rate is $264 plus tax per night for the same standard room
Water views have a higher price

If you book a 5 night stay or more, smsm allows a 35% discount

Less nights book are lower discounts

And I have the plat status with YouFirst and get the king suite as an upgrade and pay the standard room cost

Looking at the site today that ks for my dates is more than club

If you are sure of your dates, book early as rates are much lower 11 months out


I hope you get a great rate
Put in smsm as the code and see if that gives you a better price per night


Rates are always high for the hotels in special time periods
Spring break, summer season, hhn time period, Christmas/ New Years, etc

 

[macraven]

It wouldn't be the end of the world if this part of our trip didn't work out (we are going to FL because we are getting married on a disney cruise that leaves on that following Monday) .

Wow
How did I miss this!!

Congratulations on the wedding and hope it will be the best day of your life!!

So put that on your booking you arrive as a Miss and leaving Orlando as a Mrs

The hotel can help you celebrate it

 

[chik1987]

I booked last October 19 2016 for October 1 2017 for 13 nights at rpr

Rate was $187 maybe plus tax per night

Now it has smsm rate at $193.27 plus tax for a standard room
For my dates

Using the code smsm today for a 3 night stay, the rate is $264 plus tax per night for the same standard room
Water views have a higher price

If you book a 5 night stay or more, smsm allows a 35% discount

Less nights book are lower discounts

And I have the plat status with YouFirst and get the king suite as an upgrade and pay the standard room cost

Looking at the site today that ks for my dates is more than club

If you are sure of your dates, book early as rates are much lower 11 months out


I hope you get a great rate
Put in smsm as the code and see if that gives you a better price per night


Rates are always high for the hotels in special time periods
Spring break, summer season, hhn time period, Christmas/ New Years, etc

Boo it said it didn't have any rooms available for that promotion. Its showing $339/night for the 4 of us in a standard room. I added in an extra day to see about the stay more discount and it only took it down to $320 per night so even then we wouldn't save that much. I don't mind the cost too much when we figure in the unlimited express passes (which we would probably buy anyway considering we are trying to do everything in one day) is $340 for the 4 of us per day. That takes the actual room rate down to about $340 for 2 days. We usually pay around $150 a night for normal other hotels we stay at so its about on par with what we are wanting. So overall I am happy with the price and everything and I'm super excited to go.

 

[chik1987]

Wow
How did I miss this!!

Congratulations on the wedding and hope it will be the best day of your life!!

So put that on your booking you arrive as a Miss and leaving Orlando as a Mrs

The hotel can help you celebrate it

Thanks! I'll have to mention it on the booking. I'm sure my fiance would get a kick out of them celebrating for us. We are doing the Universal portion of the trip with a 2 other couple friends of ours and are (secretly to them) renting a limo to drive us all to the port Monday morning. Disney has been amazing about us planning our wedding and I expect it to be completely magical.

 

[macraven]

Well that price stinks..

Check out all 3 of the deluxe hotels and see if prices are better than the one you want


I stay with rpr as the location and eateries work well for me

Used to stay at hrh but they dropped out of YouFirst program which I use for their benefits

 

[macraven]

Keep checking the promo rates and maybe it will become available

 

[chik1987]

Well that price stinks..

Check out all 3 of the deluxe hotels and see if prices are better than the one you want


I stay with rpr as the location and eateries work well for me

Used to stay at hrh but they dropped out of YouFirst program which I use for their benefits

Yea I checked out all of them and they are all around the same price. Yea the price is a little high but i'm not too worried about it. I knew it was going to be slightly higher because universal, like disney, want you to stay more than just a day or two so hotels and ticket prices are higher for just a couple days.