Talk to me about switching hotels to get the EP

[EmJ]

I've seen several posters mention staying at lower-cost hotels for the bulk of their stay, but switching to one of the preferred hotels for 1-2 nights to get the EP. Logistically, how does this work? I've seen that the EP is available on the day of check-in, but if check-in isn't until 3:00 or 4:00, that wouldn't give us a room key until late in the day. Would they hold our luggage and issue a temporary pass or something?

 

[TommyJK]

You can check-in starting at around 6:30am. You will get your actual room keys (which are your EPs) even through the room isn't ready and you can head straight to the parks. You can store your luggage with baggage services and then they will text you when the room is ready.

 

[EmJ]

You can check-in starting at around 6:30am. You will get your actual room keys (which are your EPs) even through the room isn't ready and you can head straight to the parks. You can store your luggage with baggage services and then they will text you when the room is ready.

Awesome, thank you!

 

[Robo56]

Watch the prices at all the Resorts for time you are staying. Lock in your room dates and as the prices drop you can get your prices adjusted down to lower price.

When you factor in how much the EP would be for everyone in your family for the duration of your stay. Staying in the one of the deluxe Resorts with Unlimited Express is a bargain.

There are 2 kinds of Express. Express Pass which allows one express ride per ride or the Unlimited Express Pass which is included with your stay at the Deluxe Resorts PBH, HRH and RPR that includes unlimited rides per ride.

As noted above on check in you can store your luggage with baggage services. They will issue everyone in your family a room key which is your Unlimited Express Pass. Go hit the parks and they will text you with your room number when it’s ready.

Your Unlimited Express is good the day you check in and good the day you check out until the parks close.

 

[EmJ]

Watch the prices at all the Resorts for time you are staying. Lock in your room dates and as the prices drop you can get your prices adjusted down to lower price.

When you factor in how much the EP would be for everyone in your family for the duration of your stay. Staying in the one of the deluxe Resorts with Unlimited Express is a bargain.

There are 2 kinds of Express. Express Pass which allows one express ride per ride or the Unlimited Express Pass which is included with your stay at the Deluxe Resorts PBH, HRH and RPR that includes unlimited rides per ride.

As noted above on check in you can store your luggage with baggage services. They will issue everyone in your family a room key which is your Unlimited Express Pass. Go hit the parks and they will text you with your room number when it’s ready.

Your Unlimited Express is good the day you check in and good the day you check out until the parks close.

Thanks! How do you request or receive the lower room rates as prices drop?

To be honest, I'm trying to figure out how much value the EP will have for us. Our family is me, my husband, and our five-year-old son. Many of the rides we will visit are child-oriented: Woody Woodpecker KidZone and Seuss Landing, and then the smaller rides at other areas, like Flight of the Hippogriff and Twirl 'n' Hurl. My husband and I will take turns using the Single Rider line on some of the more aggressive rides, like Gringotts and Forbidden Journey.

I see the EP having potential value on Spiderman, MIB, and Transformers, which my son might like, or Jurassic Park, which does not have a Single Rider line as far as I can tell. The other unknown is that we are traveling the very first week of March, which UT shows as only a 5 or 6 on crowd levels. For these reasons, I'm hesitant to book five nights at one of the exclusive hotels, just to get a benefit I can't tell whether or not we need. I'm kind of thinking Sapphire Falls for three nights, and RPR for two nights, but I need to price out whether that saves us anything.

 

[Robo56]

Go online to the Universal website and check the cost of the rooms during your dates. Then lock-in your actual dates you area going to be there. Make reservation with deposit.

Keep checking back and if the price of the room drops just call and ask them to give you the better price on the dates you have locked in.

The only problem occurs if you have to actually change your dates. Then you would have to be change your reservation and you would be locked into whatever those prices are at the time you change your reservation and then call back and get prices adjusted for those dates if they fall.

Sapphire Falls is a beautiful Resort staying there and having a couple nights at RPR, HRH or PBH would be great.

I would cost out what works for your wallet.

 

[nkereina]

You can check-in starting at around 6:30am. You will get your actual room keys (which are your EPs) even through the room isn't ready and you can head straight to the parks. You can store your luggage with baggage services and then they will text you when the room is ready.

This is correct, although I have had a few stays where I never received my room ready text and had to return to the front desk to inquire. I've also always had to return to the front desk to have my key card re-keyed before going to my room. Room charging privileges also will not be activated until your room is ready.

 

[skylock]

We have always gotten a text saying our room is ready, but you have to go to the desk anyway to have your keys assigned to your room so no big deal either way.

 

[Robo56]

We have always gotten a text saying our room is ready, but you have to go to the desk anyway to have your keys assigned to your room so no big deal either way.

I have not had to go back to desk after receiving text my room is ready. I just go to my assigned room and my room card works fine.

 

[nkereina]

I have not had to go back to desk after receiving text my room is ready. I just go to my assigned room and my room card works fine.

That is how its supposed to work, but its never worked for us. We've had the TMs tell us "you might need to come back" because they seem to know its hit or miss too. Same for the room text with us. Its not a big deal, but just a head's up.

 

[jenmsmith]

Piggybacking in this, I have a four night stay booked at Cabana Bay. We plan on staying the whole four nights in that room. However, I also booked a one night stay during that time frame when I saw a great rate show up for Royal Pacific so we could have unlimited express pass for two days. Will there be an issue having overlapping reservations in my name?

 

[WDWjunkie119]

jenmsmith we did this exact same thing last year. Stayed CB the whole trip but had one night in the middle at RP for the Express Passes. Both rooms were in my name and I had no problems whatsoever.

 

[macraven]

Piggybacking in this, I have a four night stay booked at Cabana Bay. We plan on staying the whole four nights in that room. However, I also booked a one night stay during that time frame when I saw a great rate show up for Royal Pacific so we could have unlimited express pass for two days. Will there be an issue having overlapping reservations in my name?

You won’t have any problems having the throw away room

 

[EmJ]

jenmsmith we did this exact same thing last year. Stayed CB the whole trip but had one night in the middle at RP for the Express Passes. Both rooms were in my name and I had no problems whatsoever.

This is interesting!!! So how did this work? You just walked over to “check in”, got the room key, and then just went back to CB?

 

[jenmsmith]

jenmsmith we did this exact same thing last year. Stayed CB the whole trip but had one night in the middle at RP for the Express Passes. Both rooms were in my name and I had no problems whatsoever.

You won’t have any problems having the throw away room

Thank you!

 

[nkereina]

This is interesting!!! So how did this work? You just walked over to “check in”, got the room key, and then just went back to CB?

Yes, that's how it works. The room is technically yours so you could stay there just for the night if you wanted or use it as a place to rest during the day, since its a closer walk to the parks. But it doesn't matter if you even set foot in the room, as long as you've checked in and have that room key, you have EP. You can check in as early as 6am.

 

[EmJ]

Yes, that's how it works. The room is technically yours so you could stay there just for the night if you wanted or use it as a place to rest during the day, since its a closer walk to the parks. But it doesn't matter if you even set foot in the room, as long as you've checked in and have that room key, you have EP. You can check in as early as 6am.

This is genius. Do a lot of people do this? It seems like a cheap way to get two days worth of passes. Just for my family of three, we are looking at $300 in passes just for one day. If we could book a room for that amount, we’ve doubled our EP fun.

 

[billlaurie]

We did this as well a few years ago with no issues. We did, however, actually sleep in the RPR room that night and ate at Jakes. It was like a vacation within the vacation!

jenmsmith we did this exact same thing last year. Stayed CB the whole trip but had one night in the middle at RP for the Express Passes. Both rooms were in my name and I had no problems whatsoever.

 

[nkereina]

This is genius. Do a lot of people do this? It seems like a cheap way to get two days worth of passes. Just for my family of three, we are looking at $300 in passes just for one day. If we could book a room for that amount, we’ve doubled our EP fun.

Its common practice among people who post here, but probably not in the "real world" of Universal visitors. Most people don't consider it because it seems counterintuitive to get a hotel room you won't use. But it can make financial sense. When calculating the cost, keep in mind that if your third person is over the age of 18, they do impose an extra person charge for the night so that should be factored into any cost considerations. But even still, its usually cheaper than buying two days worth of unlimited EP for each person. If you have an AP, there are often great AP rates on the rooms as well.

 

[ThisIsMyName]

We are doing the first 2 nights at Cabana Bay (Sat/Sun) and then 2 nights at Royal Pacific (Mon/Tues). My DS loves the 50s and we want to go to Volcano Bay for a day anyway. It will be nice to be closer to that park and use early entry there. I thought RP was way out of my budget but I kept checking rates and the price for a Mon/Tues night stay there dropped a ton so jumped on doing that and getting the express passes for Mon-Wed. It was easy to adjust my CB reservation shorter.