The Age old Question- On site or off....

[CatNipRules]

Okay, so we will be visiting Orlando in September. We will be at Universal for the first part of our stay. I have an offsite hotel booked for those days. I'm wondering if it would be better to stay onsite.

I was planning on getting the Express pass for us. For at least one day. There are 3 adults going on the trip. I'm wondering if it would be better to spend a little more money and stay onsite versus the hassle of driving to and from the parks every morning.

WE are Disney pros, but have only been to Universal a few times. We only stayed onsite once and that was years ago. So, any help is much appreciated....

 

[damo]

IMHO, you always have a better time if you stay onsite.

 

[danielocha30]

you don't necessary need the express pass, you are adults and can easily take advantage of single riders line they work perfectly and save the money especially if you are interested in only one day, Universal do sale the passes inside the park if you feel you do need them, but I had never bought or stayed on site in order to get the pass and I travel with kids and many times had used single riders for the popular rides, the probability of all of you riding the same car but not next to each other it's high

 

[Robo56]

Stay onsite. Experience the lovely resorts at Universal. You get unlimited Express for all three of you. Royal Pacific Resort, Hardrock and Portofino all have unlimited Express included.

It's so nice to be able to go to the parks in the morning and then come back and enjoy your resort pool for awhile and then head back to parks in the afternoon. Cost out what you are paying at your offsite hotel then factor in Express pass and you will come out far cheaper staying at one of the Universal Resorts.

There are lots of good choices for meals in the parks, CityWalk and at the resorts.

Take a look at the resort stickies and it will give all the information you need to make a choice.

If you have anymore questions just ask. Someone will jump in and help you.

 

[macraven]

Staying onsite is a time saver

Roll out of bed in the morning and no down time or rush to hit the parks early
From the deluxe hotels, you could be in the parks in less that 15 minutes tops

Easy to do a pool time in the afternoon and return to the parks later

I find it so convenient staying onsite

So nice to take in all that UO has to offer including city walk

 

[schumigirl]

Stay onsite.

We go September and at times some rides the queues can be long.......Unlimited EP from your hotel stay is a lifesaver some days......

The hotels are all lovely, and you would really enjoy your stay in them I believe.

Well worth it..........

 

[dlsanchez]

Onsite for sure! I have a timeshare for a week and I am even staying onsite one of the days of that week to go to Universal. So much more enjoyable than staying offsite.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

Easy answer as stated already by so many - stay onsite at resort that offers EP. We did 8 days last year with 3 adults at RPR - no schedule needed. Wake up when you want, go to the parks when you want, eat when you want, catch Blue Man, relax, hang out at pool or hotel bar(s).

It's vacation! Play like it!

 

[Patch'sD]

I would stay on-site. Also I would look at the annual pass for one of the adults in your party. You would get the AP discount for the Hotel Stay, and since you are looking at Multi-day passes, the AP may get you discounts on the ticket. The Higher priced annual passes will also get you discounts on meals and merchandise. Weigh your plans with the AP passes to see if you can save some money.

 

[wagman67]

Think of this, as well: you are going to spend about $100+/person/day for EPs, so for 1 day, you would spend about $300+.

Now, you can stay offsite and determine later if you want to purchase the EPs. So, you have planned that extra money and that is not a question.

You have to stay somewhere, but you have not said how many days (or which dates) you plan to be at universal, so I am just going to assume 2 days in the middle of the month (don't know why, but it works for my example below).

2 days in the parks equals 1 night stay. If you stay at RPR one night on September 13, it is $284 for 3 adults. With that, you get 2 days of EPs. When you actually start working out the math, you may find that staying at a deluxe hotel, onsite, will save you money...if you want EPs. It also saves you hassle of back and forth to the offsite hotel.

 

[kohlby]

September is a hot time of year. Due to that, combined with you not going often, I'd do onsite. You can likely tour easily without the express pass. If you stayed at CB, you would still get the early hour - which is really nice when it's hot too! If you are planning on doing express anyway, then I'd do one of the hotels that include it.

 

[macraven]

Hhn starts mid sept so weekends would possibly have more crowds in the parks

 

[Planogirl]

I would at the very least stay at the other two resorts if you choose not to stay at a deluxe. You would still have to buy express but you do get early entry and they are quite nice and also convenient.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

Staying onsite is SO pleasant at Universal, from most of the parks you can either take a boat or a very short pretty walk to the City Walk and both theme parks. The resorts are very nice, we have stayed twice at Royal pacific in order to get the express pass, and it is a lovely resort. We walked to the other resorts to look around and while we liked them all, for us Royal Pacific was a theme we loved and was the least expensive that included the express pass. We very much enjoyed going over to City Walk for dinner, there are a variety of restaurants in all price ranges and the atmosphere is fun.

 

[rlduvall]

I would not go to Universal without staying onsite - specifically one of the hotels that has Express Pass. It makes it so much more pleasant and relaxing walking to the parks and enjoying all that City Walk has to offer.

 

[CatNipRules]

First I want to thank everyone for their input. It really helped me make the decision.

Well, I took everything into account and went ahead and decided that the pros outweigh the cons. So, I booked a hotel at Royal Pacific.

 

[macraven]

I think you will be extremely pleased with your decision when you check in

 

[EveDallas]

IMO, onsite at Universal is a whole different animal than onsite at Disney. Disney doesn't really have anything that approximates the express pass at Universal. The express pass is worth its weight in gold, and just booking a room for one night gets you two days of EP.

 

[bumbershoot]

We will be at Universal for the first part of our stay. .....
I was planning on getting the Express pass for us. For at least one day.

I see that you've booked onsite. Not sure how many park days you'll have or how many nights you booked, but remember that you get onsite privileges from the moment you check in until park close the day you check out.

 

[CPanther95]

This question was answered 17 years ago when the Portofino Bay Hotel opened.