Split stay between Universal hotels and Express Pass

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We'll be down in Orlando (actually WDW) for a wedding May 2022. We plan to go to both WDW and USO.

For USO it would be 3 days worth and we were thinking of staying onsite and wanted to try out Express Pass being included in our hotel stay. We have preliminarily looked at it for the most part Royal Pacific (for 1 night) and one of the Endless Summer resorts. The rest of our hotel stays would be either Disney Springs, one of the Disney Owned properties (especially with room blocks for the wedding) or just outside Disney property so I'm only looking on advice for the USO hotel and park portion of our trip. We will have a rental car (already booked at this point) for the entirety of our vacation so luggage storage and transit between hotels isn't a concern.

We would likely be checking into a Universal hotel on our arrival day but not planning on going to the parks. We could burn one of our three park days on arrival days at Universal if we have to (we did do that back in 2017 due to Irma) but didn't want that burn day to be one where we would have Express Pass access unless that was the only way to do it. If we went with not doing a park day on arrival day we would start with one of the Endless Summer resort then move over to Royal Pacific but I'm just not sure on if that's the best order.

• How does it work for check in and check out when you're going from one Universal hotel to the other?

• How do we best utilize the Express Pass that would come with Royal Pacific in terms of what day should we check into that resort so we can have Express Pass for that day and the next day (which would be checkout day)?

We've been to Universal enough just haven't stayed on site. We are familiar with Express Pass and as I understand it your room key is your pass when you stay on site.

Thanks for any insight y'all have!

 

[Kit Jackson]

I have a question and I hope you do not find it rude or offensive. If you are only going to be at Universal for three days, why are you switching hotels?

You want to make the park days the days you are staying in Royal Pacific, so you have the ExpressPass. You want to make the day you stay at Endless Summer your resort/nonpark day.

 

[macraven]

My answer would be determined by what days of the week is for UO

I try to make Tuesday or Wednesday my check in days

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I have a question and I hope you do not find it rude or offensive. If you are only going to be at Universal for three days, why are you switching hotels?

You want to make the park days the days you are staying in Royal Pacific, so you have the ExpressPass. You want to make the day you stay at Endless Summer your resort/nonpark day.

Not a rude or offensive question at all

It's cost really. Right now the trip is planned for arriving on Wednesday May 4th and leaving Sunday May 15th. We were really just trying to be able to experience a higher resort that comes with a nice perk (that being Express Pass). Royal Pacific is around $344/ night prior to tax during the week and $366/ night prior to tax for the weekend for the days I checked versus one of the Endless Summer resorts was I believe $126/night prior to tax (can't remember what the weekend rate was but not too too much higher).

We are perfectly happy with just staying at Endless Summer resorts for those Universal days but have been considering a split stay with Universal since our 2017 trip and liked the idea of the upper end resort and getting EP included. In the past we've just stayed at one hotel and switched back and forth between WDW and USO (like one day at WDW the next day at USO and so on). I totally get your question though as it would seem like it could be a lot of hassle but that's also why I was asking how the check in and check out process goes when going from one Universal hotel to another so we have an idea if it would be worth it.

May 13th and 14th are used up for the wedding and wedding activities and since those are all at WDW we were trying to stay closer to there for that time being. May 15th would be departure day.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My answer would be determined by what days of the week is for UO

I try to make Tuesday or Wednesday my check in days

Check in/arrival day right now is set for Wednesday May 4th. Subject to change but that's so far what we've made our rental car reservation for. We'll be flying SWA and are unable to book tickets yet but we typically do the early morning flight out (should be the non-stop option).

 

[georgina]

I think I get what you're saying - checking into Endless Summer on the 4th, no parks. So park days would be 5, 6, and 7, leaving on the 7th? So ideally your RP night would be the 5th so you get 2 full days of EP, but that would involve two hotel changes instead of 1. Checkout is easy, usually just text that I am leaving. You still have to wait in line to check in at the next hotel, but early in the morning should be better time-wise. I have seen a few reports of online checkin now available, but have to go to the desk to get the key for EP. You can get your room key and head to a park even if your room is not ready.

I'm doing something similar in October, decided I would just make the EP resort my last night even though I need to be at the airport at 3:30 to fly home. So I am offsite the first 2 nights, will go to Volcano Bay one day and a park after, and will do what I can single rider the days I don't have the EP.

 

[macraven]

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
Check in should be smooth with little waits for first two days
Friday brings in more peeps to the hotels

and Friday would have more in the parks

Onsite hotel prices for M-Th have lower rates than Friday and Saturday

if you cover the rides and shows with the ep first two dayyou’ll only have one day for line waits (Friday)
The ep is valid for check in and check out day so staying at a premier hotel first would work fine.
Two days of the EP and you’ll catch it all at the parks

Your third park day hit rides or shows for repeats

Are you planning on the park hopper tickets or doing one park per day?

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Sorry if this is a silly question but how is the free EP linked to your ticket for the days you’re staying Deluxe?

 

[macraven]

It has nothing related to your tickets
It is a hotel perk for staying at one of the 3 premier hotels

You show your hotel room key when using the express lines

 

[butterscotchcollins]

It has nothing related to your tickets
It is a hotel perk for staying at one of the 3 premier hotels

You show your hotel room key when using the express lines

Oooohhh ok thank you!

 

[henry72]

Sorry if this is a silly question but how is the free EP linked to your ticket for the days you’re staying Deluxe?

EP isn't linked to your ticket. It is linked to your room key which you show to use the EP lines.

 

[nkereina]

checking into Endless Summer on the 4th, no parks. So park days would be 5, 6, and 7, leaving on the 7th?

Assuming this is correct, what time do you leave on Saturday the 7th? As PP mentioned, weekend days are the busiest both for check-in and in the parks. EP has the most value for your Friday and Saturday park days because of this, but if you're not getting a full day in the parks on the 7th, then it may seem like a waste. If you're leaving around 3pm or later, I'd probably do the RPR stay as the last hotel. If you're leaving earlier than that, then it might be worth switching the order to get more time and doing the parks on the 4th instead, if you can get there early. If you go that route, you'll at least have finished most/all of the parks before your EP runs out, so if you see higher crowds on Friday/Saturday, its not as much of a concern.

 

[Gatrcruzer]

I agree that you get more bang for your buck with the EPs on Fridays and Saturdays, BUT the departure time on Saturday makes a big difference. I might consider doing your EP for the 5th and 6th if you are not able to get a full day in on Saturday; my impression is that you are staying in Orlando and moving over to WDW and then the wedding, so maybe time isn't a factor and you can stay all day on Saturday? My suggestion is Endless Summer on the nights of the 4th and 5th, then check in to RP early on the 6th and have your passes for the 6th and 7th, then switch over to your Disney/wedding hotel on the night of the 7th. You can do whatever is easily available on the 5th, and save the long line rides for when you have an EP.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
Check in should be smooth with little waits for first two days
Friday brings in more peeps to the hotels

and Friday would have more in the parks

Onsite hotel prices for M-Th have lower rates than Friday and Saturday

if you cover the rides and shows with the ep first two dayyou’ll only have one day for line waits (Friday)
The ep is valid for check in and check out day so staying at a premier hotel first would work fine.
Two days of the EP and you’ll catch it all at the parks

Your third park day hit rides or shows for repeats

Are you planning on the park hopper tickets or doing one park per day?

We have previous tickets from 2017 when people didn't end up going with us so those went unused. Those tickets are 3 days park to park. Typically we do reserve the 3rd day at Universal (at least we did this in 2011 and in 2017) for repeat riding and kinda taking it slow but that's been without EP.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think I get what you're saying - checking into Endless Summer on the 4th, no parks. So park days would be 5, 6, and 7, leaving on the 7th? So ideally your RP night would be the 5th so you get 2 full days of EP, but that would involve two hotel changes instead of 1. Checkout is easy, usually just text that I am leaving. You still have to wait in line to check in at the next hotel, but early in the morning should be better time-wise. I have seen a few reports of online checkin now available, but have to go to the desk to get the key for EP. You can get your room key and head to a park even if your room is not ready.

I'm doing something similar in October, decided I would just make the EP resort my last night even though I need to be at the airport at 3:30 to fly home. So I am offsite the first 2 nights, will go to Volcano Bay one day and a park after, and will do what I can single rider the days I don't have the EP.

Yes you got it Thanks for the information about check in and check out, it's what I was looking for.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I agree that you get more bang for your buck with the EPs on Fridays and Saturdays, BUT the departure time on Saturday makes a big difference. I might consider doing your EP for the 5th and 6th if you are not able to get a full day in on Saturday; my impression is that you are staying in Orlando and moving over to WDW and then the wedding, so maybe time isn't a factor and you can stay all day on Saturday? My suggestion is Endless Summer on the nights of the 4th and 5th, then check in to RP early on the 6th and have your passes for the 6th and 7th, then switch over to your Disney/wedding hotel on the night of the 7th. You can do whatever is easily available on the 5th, and save the long line rides for when you have an EP.

You're correct, time isn't a factor. It doesn't matter to us if we check in late to the next hotel for the WDW portion of the trip, it would likely be after Universal closes for the evening to maximize park time at this point but we'll see.

 

[cfoxga]

It's cost really. Right now the trip is planned for arriving on Wednesday May 4th and leaving Sunday May 15th. We were really just trying to be able to experience a higher resort that comes with a nice perk (that being Express Pass). Royal Pacific is around $344/ night prior to tax during the week and $366/ night prior to tax for the weekend for the days I checked versus one of the Endless Summer resorts was I believe $126/night prior to tax (can't remember what the weekend rate was but not too too much higher).

It looks like the prices are for the Savvy Traveler rate, which is only 10% off the standard rate. If you upgrade one ticket to an Annual Pass, then you are eligible for the APH rates. Those are typically around 40%, so I would expect the price to drop by another $100 per night.

Not sure if you can upgrade those older tickets, but in general Universal gives you face value of the tickets and you pay the difference for the AP. Seasonal APs are quite cheap at $350, so the upgrade cost is usually not much compared to the room discounts. That might make it easier to justify staying in the deluxe resort for the whole trip, or at least save you some money if you switch...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It looks like the prices are for the Savvy Traveler rate, which is only 10% off the standard rate. If you upgrade one ticket to an Annual Pass, then you are eligible for the APH rates. Those are typically around 40%, so I would expect the price to drop by another $100 per night.

Not sure if you can upgrade those older tickets, but in general Universal gives you face value of the tickets and you pay the difference for the AP. Seasonal APs are quite cheap at $350, so the upgrade cost is usually not much compared to the room discounts. That might make it easier to justify staying in the deluxe resort for the whole trip, or at least save you some money if you switch...

Oh that's an idea. I'll def. mention that to my husband!

The tickets were actually purchased in February of 2016 wonder if that will be an issue?

 

[macraven]

I still have tickets from 2005 that are still valid
But would need to go thru guest services to have them used as coding has changed
They would not scan since system has changed since then

I bought them for my sons who later decided they did not want to go
I have the preferred ap so I just hang onto those tickets just in case on if the sons wants to go with me.

 

[macraven]

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August 15, 2021