Trying to be cheaper - choose park-to-park or express pass?

[Mikie]

Hi - I haven't been on the boards in years and my family has only been to WDW, never Universal. We are going to be in Orlando in October and not able to do a "big trip" (i.e. 6+ days of theme parks) but we are going to do at least 2 days in parks.
We are probably doing 1 day at Universal and 1 day at a WDW park (still doing family votes on which specific parks; 3 kids are 13-20, 3 adults, like all types of rides, Harry Potter fans).
I'm trying to pinch pennies to squeeze in more activities overall on this trip, so I really don't see choosing a park-to-park ticket AND express pass.

For our Universal day would you choose:

1 park base ticket - which park?
park-to-park ticket
1 park with Express Pass

Thanks!!

 

[macraven]

If I only had one day to do UO parks, it would be the P2P tickets

since you are a going in October, stay away from weekends and Thursday.

The studios closes at 5 to the public on hhn dates
Only Monday and Tuesday are free from hhn
and parks have regular hours then

 

[Mikie]

Thanks! Luckily Mon and Tues will probably be our park days. Is HHN only in studios or is it in both?

 

[macraven]

Thanks! Luckily Mon and Tues will probably be our park days. Is HHN only in studios or is it in both?

No hhn on Monday and Tuesday

HHN is only in the studio park
But that can make IOA have more crowds in late afternoon until closing

Some will leave Islands if they have P2P tickets around 4 pm to IOA

 

[bchbetha]

Park to park. Can your hotel be a Universal hotel that includes Express Passes?
Ditch Disney as your crew is the perfect age for a really fun, laid back Universal trip.

 

[Mikie]

I get it, but we all really do love Disney and want to see some of the things that are new since last visit. Unfortunately, the ticket pricing and reservation structures at both parks doesn't really allow for us to go to Universal and then decide whether to spend more days there or go to WDW

 

[bchbetha]

It's just so hard to split brands and incur that extra cost for us. Short trips= sticking with a single brand.

 

[cigarboo]

I'm pretty budget conscious, so if I only had time to do 1 day at Universal, I would do just Islands of Adventure, no express pass, no park to park. Islands has the bulk of the top attractions, such as the main Harry Potter section w/Hagrids Motorbike, Jurassic Park w/the new Velocicoaster. Depending on how big of a Harry Potter fan you or your kids are, you may want to do the park to park ticket, to ride the train from Universal/Gringotts. This is presuming you won't be back for a longer trip in the future. If you avoid HHN in October, you can probably manage the day ok by starting the parks early and staying until close as lines loosen up at the end of the evening. You can also make use of single rider lines. Express pass is nice if you are staying on site and it comes with your hotel, but purchasing it is typically cost prohibitive if you are trying to save money, as it often doubles, sometimes triples your cost of admission. On days that the express pass days are cheaper, you probably don't really need it anyways. It doesn't cover Hagrids or Velocicoaster. I just did Universal/IOA during the July 4th week with no fast pass. It was busy, but we didn't mind waiting for the rides without express pass because we knew we would rather spend those vacation dollars doing more parks/other things.

 

[DisneyTarheel]

If you will be using the hotel Express Passes for a 2-day trip in late December, is there any reason to get p2p tickets other than being able to ride Hogwarts Express?

 

[bchbetha]

If you will be using the hotel Express Passes for a 2-day trip in late December, is there any reason to get p2p tickets other than being able to ride Hogwarts Express?

I prefer to have park to park simply because I hate seeing the other park- it’s right there!- and not being able to go there.

 

[mommafett89]

No hhn on Monday and Tuesday

HHN is only in the studio park
But that can make IOA have more crowds in late afternoon until closing

Some will leave Islands if they have P2P tickets around 4 pm to IOA

Oh, I am so thankful I came to this thread. I really have no other option then but to go on the 30th or 31st and those are those HNH days or whatever. So at least now I know which park I need to go to first and such. Thank you!!