Ticket question/Hotel question

[higdonk]

Hi. I'm planning for a 2017 orlando trip with some Disney days and 2-3 Universal days. Planned to stay at Bonnet Creek. We have never done Universal before. Can we stay at Bonnet Creek and do Universal? We will have a car. Also which tickets do we want? We will want to do most or all of the Harry Potter stuff. Do we want the Universal Express Unlimited or just the Universal Express? Do we HAVE to stay onsite to get there early? Planning on May 5-14 in Orlando, with May 12-13 at Universal. We are a family of 5, DH and I, DD(13), DD (11), and DS (6). We have done Disney before onsite, and while we love it, we love our space more so are planning on a Bonnet Creek stay with a 3 bedroom suite. Really don't want to have to do a Universal Hotel with only 350 sqft.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Kate

 

[rottiemom]

Hi Kate,

Two years ago we went to Universal while staying offsite. You can totally stay offsite and do Universal. Since you have a car I suggest getting there as early as possible (ala WDW) and make sure that you have park to park tickets so that you can ride the Hogwarts Express. We did both parks in 1 day (it worked for us at the time, however I don't recommend it) but this year we're staying at RPR and immersing ourselves in the full experience (plus the bonus of the express pass that comes along with it). I never thought of the space issue but then we're a family of 3.

Have fun and good luck!

 

[damo]

Sure you can do it and have a ball. I would be nicer to stay onsite with all the perks that come with it but you'll be just fine. You won't have early admission but you can purchase express if you feel you need it. It is advised to get into the parks first and check out the lines before you purchase it, as you may be just fine without it.

You may want to check out the price of a phantom room at Royal Pacific. It might be cheaper to actually get a room than to purchase the unlimited express. You get two full days of express for 2 adults and 3 children with each night in a standard 2 queen room. That would also give you two days of early entry. You would just arrive at the hotel really early from Bonnet Creek and check in to get your room keys and express passes which will give you your early entry and unlimited rides for those rides that take express for that day and the next day.

 

[higdonk]

Thanks for the info! Especially about waiting to find out if there are even long lines before adding on the Express option. Also the Phantom Room idea is a good one. Good tips!

 

[STLstone]

Sure you can do it and have a ball. I would be nicer to stay onsite with all the perks that come with it but you'll be just fine. You won't have early admission but you can purchase express if you feel you need it. It is advised to get into the parks first and check out the lines before you purchase it, as you may be just fine without it.

You may want to check out the price of a phantom room at Royal Pacific. It might be cheaper to actually get a room than to purchase the unlimited express. You get two full days of express for 2 adults and 3 children with each night in a standard 2 queen room. That would also give you two days of early entry. You would just arrive at the hotel really early from Bonnet Creek and check in to get your room keys and express passes which will give you your early entry and unlimited rides for those rides that take express for that day and the next day.

This is something I would not have thought of. Are their kiosks to purchase this inside the park or do you have to go back to the front? Is it the same price as if you bought it ahead of time?

 

[damo]

This is something I would not have thought of. Are their kiosks to purchase this inside the park or do you have to go back to the front? Is it the same price as if you bought it ahead of time?

You can purchase it pretty much at every store.

It is usually the same price. Sometimes, but not often, it will go up if they decide that the demand is way higher than they anticipated.

It is cheaper to bundle than to purchase on its own, so that is something else to consider unless you are getting tickets from a 3rd party dealer.

 

[higdonk]

Ok I am bumping this thread I started last summer back to the top. Turns out we are going to be going to Orlando for a WDW/Universal trip 7/31-8/8. I am thinking of doing Universal for two days between 8/5-8/8. Not sure which two days, if anyone has experience in early August I would appreciate it. I have touring plans and it is predicting crowd level 8 on Saturday 8/5, 7 on Sunday, and 9 or 8 on Monday and Tuesday. So I am thinking we will likely do Sunday/Monday for Universal. We are still planning on staying at WBC.

So given that we are now going in August, do I NEED to do a phantom room and get EE or can we just get there early? Do I need express passes? Advice please. What would you do? I have a 13 year old Harry Potter fanatic and we have never been, so we will be getting Park to Park. We don't do WDW/Universal often. Not sure when/if we will be back.

Thanks,

Kate

 

[damo]

Ok I am bumping this thread I started last summer back to the top. Turns out we are going to be going to Orlando for a WDW/Universal trip 7/31-8/8. I am thinking of doing Universal for two days between 8/5-8/8. Not sure which two days, if anyone has experience in early August I would appreciate it. I have touring plans and it is predicting crowd level 8 on Saturday 8/5, 7 on Sunday, and 9 or 8 on Monday and Tuesday. So I am thinking we will likely do Sunday/Monday for Universal. We are still planning on staying at WBC.

So given that we are now going in August, do I NEED to do a phantom room and get EE or can we just get there early? Do I need express passes? Advice please. What would you do? I have a 13 year old Harry Potter fanatic and we have never been, so we will be getting Park to Park. We don't do WDW/Universal often. Not sure when/if we will be back.

Thanks,

Kate

Early August, I would definitely get express of some sort.

 

[higdonk]

Thanks for the feedback. Any other opinions from experienced summer visitors on whether I can avoid Express passes/phantom room in early August? Getting a phantom room is cheaper than buying express passes seperately. I already priced it out for a Royal Pacific room. My husband thinks an extra $344 for a room we won't even stay in is a bit much so that we don't have to wait in line. I'm not sure, as I think we won't want to tour in the middle of the afternoon and will try to take a break back at WBC and go back in the evening. Any WBC experts make this work? I know it is a 20+ minute drive to universal. Thoughts?

 

[bchbetha]

I see so much value in staying onsite. Instead of driving back to WBC during the day for a break, you could chill at an onsite room. Seems like a smart plan to me. Plus the express passes.

 

[higdonk]

My problem with staying onsite is that we are a family of 5, 2 adults, dd (14), dd (11) and ds (6). We are so not into doing the whole cram 5 people into a 400 square foot room thing. We all like our space. Only way I can see making this work is if we stay at Universal first and then move to WBC for our Disney part of the trip. Or we stay at WBC the whole time and just eat the cost of the "throwaway" room. I am open to suggestions.

 

[bchbetha]

For 1-2 night, I feel like everyone will be ok in small accommodations. Lots of people do it all the time. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages, I think. But, what I was saying was that instead of not even using your throwaways room, at least you could use it for your midfternoon break vs taking he time to go back to to one to WBC for that that. add on the time to park and drive and you'll lose so much of your day.

 

[higdonk]

For 1-2 night, I feel like everyone will be ok in small accommodations. Lots of people do it all the time. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages, I think. But, what I was saying was that instead of not even using your throwaways room, at least you could use it for your midfternoon break vs taking he time to go back to to one to WBC for that that. add on the time to park and drive and you'll lose so much of your day.

Ah I see!! I can't believe I didn't think of that duh! If I am going to pay for a phantom room, I might as well use it for the mid-day break and a landing spot. Makes total sense and actually makes me think that we should book a room. The only problem is if I book it for one night, we wouldn't be able to use it as a break spot the second day due to it being check out day. Still that would be a day we could hit Early Entry and go back and hit our favorites until we can't take the heat anymore

Thanks for the help!!!

ETA: Do you walk from Royal Pacific to the parks or take shuttles? Are they super quick? And how close is the Royal Pacific to Citywalk?

 

[damo]

Ah I see!! I can't believe I didn't think of that duh! If I am going to pay for a phantom room, I might as well use it for the mid-day break and a landing spot. Makes total sense and actually makes me think that we should book a room. The only problem is if I book it for one night, we wouldn't be able to use it as a break spot the second day due to it being check out day. Still that would be a day we could hit Early Entry and go back and hit our favorites until we can't take the heat anymore

Thanks for the help!!!

ETA: Do you walk from Royal Pacific to the parks or take shuttles? Are they super quick? And how close is the Royal Pacific to Citywalk?

7 minute walk from RPR to Citywalk.

 

[Squirlz]

There isn't usually too much of a wait for the boat. Just one time when the boat was full and the Captain told us that another one would be right there. We waited and waited and when a boat finally arrived it was the same guy! We would have walked if he hadn't misled us.

 

[gotomu212]

If it were me this is what I'd do

Day 1 drive over to Universal before park opens, check in for one night, get complimentary express pass for that day and you'll get the next day too.
Get there early for early entry (you can take a quick 5 minute boat ride over or walks about 7-10 minutes).

Enjoy the parks, after park close have dinner on Citywalk, go back to the hotel, let the kids hang out at the pool (universal pools are really cool in my familys opinion). By this point everyone is exhausted and you are literally using the room for 7-8 hours of sleep and everyone crashes and ignores the one night of closeness.

Day 2 wake up, check your luggage with the bell hop, use early entry again, enjoy your express passes. When you're done for the day, take the quick boat ride back to the hotel, grab the luggage, and drive to WBC.

This saves you all the back and forth driving and the value of the unlimited express pass cannot be overstated (we would be able to ride the same ride 3 times in a row walking past the same line of people until I tell my son we gotta stop or someone's going to shiv us. Plus you can fit all the rides in without during the commando run from ride to ride).

 

[bumbershoot]

Getting a phantom room is cheaper than buying express passes seperately. I already priced it out for a Royal Pacific room. My husband thinks an extra $344 for a room we won't even stay in is a bit much so that we don't have to wait in line. I'm not sure, as I think we won't want to tour in the middle of the afternoon and will try to take a break back at WBC and go back in the evening.

I have heard August described as "surface of the sun hot". And very few schools will be back in session at that point. You want to be on nice breezy rides in air conditioned buildings or with the wind in your faces. You don't want to be standing in line for an hour for each ride.

344 extra for 5 people to get UNLIMITED express pass over two days works out to almost nothing for each of you. Your time is valuable. If someone said to each of you "would you pay $34 per day to get minimal lines for almost all rides all day?" that would be amazing! And if they threw in access to an onsite hotel room and all benefits (except for sending purchased items to the room...can't do that with a one-night stay), you would wonder how you won that lottery!

The only problem is if I book it for one night, we wouldn't be able to use it as a break spot the second day due to it being check out day.

Take a small bag of stuff with you for each person. (listen to George Carlin's rant about vacations, and taking smaller trips while on vacations, and even smaller, to know that you're not the only person who has ever done this. ) Whether or not you actually sleep there that night, bring changes of clothes, bathing suits, whatever you might need to help you feel more human each day. That second day, make your rest time at the pool! ANY of the pools on property are OK, because Universal allows pool-hopping. You would need to go back to RPR to get the bag out of Bell Services to get what you needed for the pool, then go to the pool of choice, then just change in the pool bathrooms before heading back.

Do make sure you know the park closing times. They close a bit earlier than WDW does most of the time, so I want you to plan accordingly.


Once you do book that one-night hotel stay, do it room-only (I personally book directly through loewshotels.com), and check back. Prices change, and if you find a lower price, you can call to change it. And don't be afraid to check out HRH and PBH too! They can sometimes go cheaper depending on solar storms (just a way of saying "I don't know why but sometimes it happens").

 

[higdonk]

If it were me this is what I'd do

Day 1 drive over to Universal before park opens, check in for one night, get complimentary express pass for that day and you'll get the next day too.
Get there early for early entry (you can take a quick 5 minute boat ride over or walks about 7-10 minutes).

Enjoy the parks, after park close have dinner on Citywalk, go back to the hotel, let the kids hang out at the pool (universal pools are really cool in my familys opinion). By this point everyone is exhausted and you are literally using the room for 7-8 hours of sleep and everyone crashes and ignores the one night of closeness.

Day 2 wake up, check your luggage with the bell hop, use early entry again, enjoy your express passes. When you're done for the day, take the quick boat ride back to the hotel, grab the luggage, and drive to WBC.

This saves you all the back and forth driving and the value of the unlimited express pass cannot be overstated (we would be able to ride the same ride 3 times in a row walking past the same line of people until I tell my son we gotta stop or someone's going to shiv us. Plus you can fit all the rides in without during the commando run from ride to ride).

This is a good plan. I may pack stuff so we can do this and then make a last minute decision. If we are having a blast and just want to go back to the room to crash then we can do that or if not then head back to WBC.

I have heard August described as "surface of the sun hot". And very few schools will be back in session at that point. You want to be on nice breezy rides in air conditioned buildings or with the wind in your faces. You don't want to be standing in line for an hour for each ride.

344 extra for 5 people to get UNLIMITED express pass over two days works out to almost nothing for each of you. Your time is valuable. If someone said to each of you "would you pay $34 per day to get minimal lines for almost all rides all day?" that would be amazing! And if they threw in access to an onsite hotel room and all benefits (except for sending purchased items to the room...can't do that with a one-night stay), you would wonder how you won that lottery!

Very convincing! DH already told me go ahead and just book it. I basically made the case we would be miserable waiting in line in the August heat, which would seem crazy to do after we will have already spent $1200 for 5 people to have 2-day park-park tickets. Cripes the park tickets for our trip is nearly half the entire vacation budget (we are doing 7 days at WDW as well). It is a bit ridiculous. Oh well. It will be fun.

I wish we could go later in August, but dd (14) will likely be starting high school swim practice on 8/9, and her summer team finishes on 7/30. So we have literally 8 days between one team finishing and one team starting. Kind of crazy.

Thanks for all the awesome advice!!

Kate

 

[KingRichard]

Question about parking?

So I would pay for the first day/night of parking and then second day is free correct?

Would save me on parking and offset the price of doing this.

Do they want you out(parking at a certain time?

Thank you!

 

[bumbershoot]

Question about parking?

So I would pay for the first day/night of parking and then second day is free correct?

Would save me on parking and offset the price of doing this.

Do they want you out(parking at a certain time?

Thank you!

Hotel parking?

They charge at night (midnight). So if you enter the lot Feb 1 you're charged as it turns to Feb 2. If you're out of the lot before midnight changing to Feb 3, you are just charged that one fee.