Questions from another Universal newbie

[anneboleyn]

Hi everyone! My DD13 and I are planning on going to Universal next year - August 9-13, 2021. I have been going to Disney World for years and if planning Disney trips were an Olympic sport, I would be a gold medalist...but I am a little clueless with Universal lol. So if anyone could take the time to answer a few questions, I would be very appreciative!

1. This will be the first time we have gone to Orlando in a month other than September, and I am a little scared of the crowds. So I am thinking of staying at Hard Rock Hotel for two nights (Monday and Tuesday) to get the Express Passes and then moving to Cabana Bay for Wednesday and Thursday. Would the EP’s you get from staying at Hard Rock be valid on Wednesday even though we will be checking in to a different hotel?

2. We leave for a Disney Cruise on the 13th...will the Superstar Shuttle take us to MCO even if we don’t have a flight going out that day? I am not sure if I am overthinking this or not lol

Thanks in advance for your help everyone!

 

[Iralyn]

In answer to your first question, yes, you would get Express passes from early morning Monday to end of day Wednesday if you were staying overnight on Monday and Tuesday.

 

[anneboleyn]

In answer to your first question, yes, you would get Express passes from early morning Monday to end of day Wednesday if you were staying overnight on Monday and Tuesday.

Okay, great...thanks so much for responding! That definitely makes me like the idea of Hard Rock a little more...I would be fine staying at Cabana Bay the whole time because I love a lazy river but I imagine the crowds in August make EP’s worth their weight in gold!

 

[Chumpieboy]

Question 2 - are you paying for the shuttle ? If so, they will take you to the airport or wherever you want. The driver/company won't know or care if you have a real flight or not.

 

[nkereina]

1. This will be the first time we have gone to Orlando in a month other than September, and I am a little scared of the crowds. So I am thinking of staying at Hard Rock Hotel for two nights (Monday and Tuesday) to get the Express Passes and then moving to Cabana Bay for Wednesday and Thursday. Would the EP’s you get from staying at Hard Rock be valid on Wednesday even though we will be checking in to a different hotel?

As PP confirmed, yes. Since you will be at Universal for several days, I would highly recommend pricing out annual passes. Generally, if you're considering a 3 day park to park ticket or longer, its cheaper or a negligible difference in price to obtain an annual pass which comes with a few other discounts as well as AP rates on the Universal hotels. Those AP rates may be cheap enough where you could stay at HRH for the duration of your trip. Also consider Royal Pacific Resort, which is usually cheaper than Hard Rock and still comes with unlimited express pass. You can always pool hop to Cabana Bay if that was one of the reasons for moving.

2. We leave for a Disney Cruise on the 13th...will the Superstar Shuttle take us to MCO even if we don’t have a flight going out that day? I am not sure if I am overthinking this or not lol

I'm not familiar with Superstar Shuttle, but I assume that's just a shuttle service you're paying for? In that case, I agree with PP that they won't know or care whether you have a flight. We have ridden Disney's Magical Express to the airport without an outgoing flight. It really doesn't matter.

 

[gotomu212]

Hi everyone! My DD13 and I are planning on going to Universal next year - August 9-13, 2021. I have been going to Disney World for years and if planning Disney trips were an Olympic sport, I would be a gold medalist...but I am a little clueless with Universal lol. So if anyone could take the time to answer a few questions, I would be very appreciative!

1. This will be the first time we have gone to Orlando in a month other than September, and I am a little scared of the crowds. So I am thinking of staying at Hard Rock Hotel for two nights (Monday and Tuesday) to get the Express Passes and then moving to Cabana Bay for Wednesday and Thursday. Would the EP’s you get from staying at Hard Rock be valid on Wednesday even though we will be checking in to a different hotel?

2. We leave for a Disney Cruise on the 13th...will the Superstar Shuttle take us to MCO even if we don’t have a flight going out that day? I am not sure if I am overthinking this or not lol

Thanks in advance for your help everyone!

Is the only reason you are going back to MCO to take the DCL bus to port? If so, I’d recommend just taking a shuttle (or even uber) directly from Universal to port. It will be cheaper, you can do it on your schedule instead of getting to the airport and then queuing for buses, and all you really miss out on are a few Disney cartoons (and we download them before our trip and watch them in our shuttle).
just throwing it out there.

 

[anneboleyn]

Question 2 - are you paying for the shuttle ? If so, they will take you to the airport or wherever you want. The driver/company won't know or care if you have a real flight or not.

lol that makes me feel better! And you have a good point...if I am paying, why would they care? Thanks for pointing that out!

As PP confirmed, yes. Since you will be at Universal for several days, I would highly recommend pricing out annual passes. Generally, if you're considering a 3 day park to park ticket or longer, its cheaper or a negligible difference in price to obtain an annual pass which comes with a few other discounts as well as AP rates on the Universal hotels. Those AP rates may be cheap enough where you could stay at HRH for the duration of your trip. Also consider Royal Pacific Resort, which is usually cheaper than Hard Rock and still comes with unlimited express pass. You can always pool hop to Cabana Bay if that was one of the reasons for moving.

Thank you for this information! I never considered AP’s (because I am used to Disney AP’s which are pricey) but I will definitely do the math and see if that would be more worth our while! And yes, the lazy river at Cabana Bay was mostly why I wanted to stay there...I love me a lazy river lol. But if I can just pool hop there, that would be great!

Is the only reason you are going back to MCO to take the DCL bus to port? If so, I’d recommend just taking a shuttle (or even uber) directly from Universal to port. It will be cheaper, you can do it on your schedule instead of getting to the airport and then queuing for buses, and all you really miss out on are a few Disney cartoons (and we download them before our trip and watch them in our shuttle). just throwing it out there.

Correct, we were just going back to MCO to ride the DCL shuttle to Port Canaveral. But if it would cheaper to Uber from Universal to PC than to take the Superstar Shuttle to MCO, I would definitely do that instead! Thank you for your input!!

Thanks again, everyone!! I am off to do some math to see what would be the best options

 

[nkereina]

But if it would cheaper to Uber from Universal to PC than to take the Superstar Shuttle to MCO, I would definitely do that instead!

Another option is Tony Hinds - if you google him, you'll find his web site. Him and the drivers who work for him drive private 12 passenger vans and we have used him to go from Universal to Port Canaveral before. They also include a free 30 minute grocery or liquor store stop if there's things you wanted to pick up for the cruise. His pricing tends to be on par with other private transport, so I'm not sure how that compares to Superstar Shuttle. UberX will be the cheapest option, but keep in mind that its possible the car you get may be small so consider how many people and how much luggage you have. If you'd need something bigger like UberXL, Tony Hinds or another shuttle will likely be similar in price to that.