Questions

[jnjusoioa]

Hi Everyone, we moved to Naples at the end of October, I am planning my first trip up to Universal on the 29th, I think it is about a 3 and a half hour drive, I am just wondering what time you feel I should leave? I have to rent a car and I am thinking it might be best to rent it the night before and get an early start, my main goal is to ride Hagrid's, I have rode all the other HP rides, however concerned about the parks reaching capacity and I know it is a busy time of year, I picked a Tuesday in the hopes that it might not be quite as busy, however was curious as to what others thought. Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[bchbetha]

Can you afford to stay overnight the night before either onsite or nearby (onsite= priority access on crowded days plus early entry)? It’s absolutely be the best option- start the day fresh vs waking up at 5:30am. Parks are exhausting enough without the early wake up call. We do a lot of amusement park road trips and have fine tuned our strategy- we stay both the night before and the night after. Too many late nights driving home.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Are you an Annual Pass Holder ? Check the AP rates vs Florida resident rates.
Surprised to find some great discounts for my trip 12/23 - 12/28 including standard room at Hard Rock to get Express Passes.

 

[schumigirl]

Hi Everyone, we moved to Naples at the end of October, I am planning my first trip up to Universal on the 29th, I think it is about a 3 and a half hour drive, I am just wondering what time you feel I should leave? I have to rent a car and I am thinking it might be best to rent it the night before and get an early start, my main goal is to ride Hagrid's, I have rode all the other HP rides, however concerned about the parks reaching capacity and I know it is a busy time of year, I picked a Tuesday in the hopes that it might not be quite as busy, however was curious as to what others thought. Thank you in advance for your advice.

Congratulations on the move....hope you`re enjoying living in Naples now.

If you can, absolutely stay overnight to take advantage of EE. It will be so busy that whole week. I can`t remember if you have an AP or not, but might be worth getting one if you don`t if there are AP rooms available for your dates.

 

[jnjusoioa]

Thank you so much for all the great advice. That was my thought was trying to get up there the night before. I am not an AP holder yet but plan on doing that, hoping I will have enough money shortly. I can't stay onsite but I am looking at the DoubleTree and hoping I can make that work. Any advice is greatly appreciated so feel free to let me know what works best.

 

[jnjusoioa]

Thank you so much Carole!! We are enjoying Naples, my brother got a job down here and after this past year it was just a no brainer, we were like yep lets go. Naples is beautiful, however my love is Universal and Disney so hoping to get there more often. Also hoping to be able to meet you and your lovely family at some point as we had planned before the world went crazy. Hope you are all doing well.

 

[schumigirl]

Thank you so much Carole!! We are enjoying Naples, my brother got a job down here and after this past year it was just a no brainer, we were like yep lets go. Naples is beautiful, however my love is Universal and Disney so hoping to get there more often. Also hoping to be able to meet you and your lovely family at some point as we had planned before the world went crazy. Hope you are all doing well.

I am so happy to hear it`s all going well! Naples does look so beautiful, and yes, you absolutely should take advantage of being close and visit as often as you can.

Oh yes, we would loved to have met up with you when we were supposed to.....and yes, the world did go crazy. Planning back then seemed so easy.....but, we`ll manage it one time for sure, hopefully sooner rather than later

Doubletree always gets good reviews and easily walkable, plenty of people do make that walk.

Also consider Drury Inn on Turkey Lake/Sand Lake Rd too.....it consistently gets excellent reviews and they seem to offer a lot for the price. No idea on comparison between that and Doubletree. I don`t think you`d go wrong with either.

We`re all doing wonderful thanks.....just getting on with it and looking forward to Christmas even though it`ll be a little different this time around......

Keep us updated my friend.....and good luck with your choice.......

 

[bchbetha]

What’s the price difference between Doubletree and Endless Summer? With the parks hitting capacity lately I’d feel better knowing I had priority access.

 

[jnjusoioa]

That is great to hear Carole, glad you are all doing well. Yes Christmas will be a bit different this year. I am glad that I will be able to make the trip and see some of the Christmas stuff at Universal and mainly the HP stuff. Keeping my fingers crossed that Hagrid's is up and running and not too long of a wait as I would love to be able to ride a few other rides.
I will have to check out the hotel you said about, I did book the Doubletree and just feel better that I will be closer and won't have to worry about making the drive up.
Yes hopefully we will get to meet up sooner rather then later, I am trying to have some hope with the vaccine in the works and hoping it will help with things and not cause more upheaval.
Take good care friend and I will keep you updated.