Split Stay Question

[Goldy115]

Hello everyone!
We will be moving our son into college in southern Florida in late July, and on our way home we will be stopping in Orlando for two days only. We have been to WDW three times, but we have never been to Universal. My wife and daughter aren’t terribly excited to go to Universal, but agreed to go for a day (although they did enjoy Universal Studios Hollywood when we went several years ago).
We will be driving from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando, and since we will arrive too late for rope drop, I thought we would visit Disney Springs first, and/or get a reservation at a restaurant at one of the resorts. When the room is ready, we will travel to Universal and check into our hotel.
At Universal, I wanted to stay at Loews Royal Pacific for one night, so that we can get the Universal Express passes. The second night we would stay at one of the Endless Summer resorts.
My question is should I do this, or stay in Endless Summer first, and go to Royal Pacific on our park day?
We are going on a Thursday and a Friday, and the price for the Royal Pacific goes up $30 or so on Friday. Still, if it would be easier to enter/leave the park, it will be worth it.
Second question, related: would it be easier to stay at Cabana Bay instead of Endless Summer?
Thank you in advance for any advice you can share!

 

[Nabas]

Express Pass is included for both your check-in and check-out days, which means a one-night stay gets you 2 days of Express Pass.

However, you have to first go to the hotel and check-in in order to pick-up your Express Pass. We've done this as early as 7:30 AM.

We have stayed at both Endless Summer and Cabana Bay. If you are just using this as a place to sleep, then go with whichever is less expensive.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Are you going to take a mid day break at the hotel? If so, RPR during the park day makes more sense; it's easier to get back and forth (quicker using the boats/pathway & also a quieter security area). However, that also assumes your room is ready at the time you want a break...

The question for me would be what the plan is on either Thursday evening, or Saturday morning. Are you planning to swim / enjoy the resort on either Thursday, Saturday, both, neither? RPR or CBBR win the "resort enjoyment" category. To be fair I haven't stayed at Endless Summer, but it is clearly more basic & less themed, hence cheaper. From RPR or CBBR you can enjoy their pools and/or pool hop to other resorts; you cannot pool hop from Endless Summer.

If you're planning to stay in the parks all day Friday & head out early on Saturday, I would probably opt for the cheaper hotel that day and RPR on Thursday when you will enjoy the resort in the evening. Either way you can enjoy CityWalk on Thursday evening also - and ride the boats over to the resorts if you like (Portofino is gorgeous & it's a pleasant ride over and back).

 

[AJA]

For the value hotel, if you know your wife and daughter will want to use the pool then definitely stay at Cabana Bay. Even though its a value category Cabana Bay feels like a resort, just a do it yourself resort (as in they do not have Bell service to your room). Where as Endless Summer is more of a regular hotel feel.

 

[Sue M]

I’d do 2 day tickets and go both days. Having express pass you don’t have to worry about rope drop.
We have driven from Ft Lauderdale to Orlando more times than I can count. My parents lived in Broward County. 3 hr drive on Turnpike! We’ve left at 6:00am and gotten to Universal or WDW by 9:30 with rest stop on Turnpike. Go to hotel to check in. Sometimes room is ready sometimes not. But you will have access to Express Pass right away at check in.

Yes staying at Cabana Bay or Aventura would be easier than Endless Summer. You will be on Universal main property and can walk to the parks along a very pretty garden path. Consider Sapphire Falls too. But if RP is only $30 more for the second night I’d just stay both nights there.

Since you haven’t been to universal some advice, do some research. Orlando Informer website has tons of info about Universal.

 

[mlggator22]

Removing, this and moving it.

 

[Goldy115]

Express Pass is included for both your check-in and check-out days, which means a one-night stay gets you 2 days of Express Pass.

However, you have to first go to the hotel and check-in in order to pick-up your Express Pass. We've done this as early as 7:30 AM.

We have stayed at both Endless Summer and Cabana Bay. If you are just using this as a place to sleep, then go with whichever is less expensive.

Thank you!
May I ask another question? I see on Priceline.com that there are currently rooms at the RPR for $527; however, water view rooms and above clearly have the words "includes free universal express unlimited" for $20 more. Am I correct in thinking that the $527 rooms would also include the express pass, even though it's not clearly mentioned? Isn't the room key the express pass?

 

[Goldy115]

Are you going to take a mid day break at the hotel? If so, RPR during the park day makes more sense; it's easier to get back and forth (quicker using the boats/pathway & also a quieter security area). However, that also assumes your room is ready at the time you want a break...

The question for me would be what the plan is on either Thursday evening, or Saturday morning. Are you planning to swim / enjoy the resort on either Thursday, Saturday, both, neither? RPR or CBBR win the "resort enjoyment" category. To be fair I haven't stayed at Endless Summer, but it is clearly more basic & less themed, hence cheaper. From RPR or CBBR you can enjoy their pools and/or pool hop to other resorts; you cannot pool hop from Endless Summer.

If you're planning to stay in the parks all day Friday & head out early on Saturday, I would probably opt for the cheaper hotel that day and RPR on Thursday when you will enjoy the resort in the evening. Either way you can enjoy CityWalk on Thursday evening also - and ride the boats over to the resorts if you like (Portofino is gorgeous & it's a pleasant ride over and back).

Thank you!
We will be leaving for home on Saturday morning, so I think we will do RPR first on Thursday, and Endless Summer on Friday. We will need to move the car sometime that day, but we will need a break in the afternoon anyway. I also like how you can keep your car at the premier resorts until 12 am the day you check out. That and the express pass are great perks!

 

[macraven]

when you stay at one of the 3 premier hotels, ep is a free perk for those hotel guests

 

[Goldy115]

I’d do 2 day tickets and go both days. Having express pass you don’t have to worry about rope drop.
We have driven from Ft Lauderdale to Orlando more times than I can count. My parents lived in Broward County. 3 hr drive on Turnpike! We’ve left at 6:00am and gotten to Universal or WDW by 9:30 with rest stop on Turnpike. Go to hotel to check in. Sometimes room is ready sometimes not. But you will have access to Express Pass right away at check in.

Yes staying at Cabana Bay or Aventura would be easier than Endless Summer. You will be on Universal main property and can walk to the parks along a very pretty garden path. Consider Sapphire Falls too. But if RP is only $30 more for the second night I’d just stay both nights there.

Since you haven’t been to universal some advice, do some research. Orlando Informer website has tons of info about Universal.

Thank you!
I have been reading the Unofficial Guide, watching AllEars, the Pugh Two, and of course the DisUnplugged Universal shows for research.
I would LOVE to do both days at Universal, but sadly I was outvoted!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Thank you!
May I ask another question? I see on Priceline.com that there are currently rooms at the RPR for $527; however, water view rooms and above clearly have the words "includes free universal express unlimited" for $20 more. Am I correct in thinking that the $527 rooms would also include the express pass, even though it's not clearly mentioned? Isn't the room key the express pass?

Yes, any room at RPR includes the EP, regardless of how you book - it is indeed your room keys.

 

[mlggator22]

whoops, I posted on here (above) thinking it was the thread I started. Sorry about that. I will repost on my thread.

 

[nurseberta]

so if i’m understanding you correctly you are doing one day US/IOA and one day Volcano Bay? I highly recommend staying at the same resort/ moving a car is not fun and while you have only 2 days of park attendance it’s not how I would choose to spend my time. if you want your family to like USO I would stay at one of the three deluxe level hotels with free express passes. RPR, HRH, or Portofino as the service is just better in my opinion, and that makes for an enjoyable stay. for longer stays being at cabana with a split stay is decent and is fun to have easy access to VB but it’s not worth it to sacrifice the other perks of the higher end hotels. I would even consider club level to really sell them on how great USO is. RPR/HRH are amazingly close to get to and from the dry parks so with such a short stay my priority would be to save time whenever you can for max enjoyment. cabana is a nice value hotel but it’s not deluxe

 

[Sue M]

Thank you!
I have been reading the Unofficial Guide, watching AllEars, the Pugh Two, and of course the DisUnplugged Universal shows for research.
I would LOVE to do both days at Universal, but sadly I was outvoted!

They’ll be sorry once they see how much fun it is! Then they’ll be wishing they had that other day!

 

[Goldy115]

so if i’m understanding you correctly you are doing one day US/IOA and one day Volcano Bay? I highly recommend staying at the same resort/ moving a car is not fun and while you have only 2 days of park attendance it’s not how I would choose to spend my time. if you want your family to like USO I would stay at one of the three deluxe level hotels with free express passes. RPR, HRH, or Portofino as the service is just better in my opinion, and that makes for an enjoyable stay. for longer stays being at cabana with a split stay is decent and is fun to have easy access to VB but it’s not worth it to sacrifice the other perks of the higher end hotels. I would even consider club level to really sell them on how great USO is. RPR/HRH are amazingly close to get to and from the dry parks so with such a short stay my priority would be to save time whenever you can for max enjoyment. cabana is a nice value hotel but it’s not deluxe

Thank you for the reply!
We are just doing the one day in the US/IOA; I would like to do Volcano Bay, but not on this trip. We are staying at RPR for Thursday and using the Express passes for a park day on Friday. I wish we could do two park days, but I was outvoted. Hopefully the others in the family will like it enough to plan a longer stay in the future!