Trying to come sooner than October

[DisneyLoverUSA]

We have a 6 day adults only trip planned for October.

But I got an email from Universal today showing their Mardi Gras specials for rooms and tickets for a pretty low price in "partner" hotels.

One of the cheap ones I found for 4 nights mid-Feb is this one:


Best Western Plus Orlando Gateway

3.0 Star

Location: Within 1 Mile of Universal Orlando® Resort | Map

Room Type: 2 DOUBLE BEDS/NONSMOKING
Stay 2 Nights, Get $25 Food & Beverage Credit! (Travel Dates: 12/26/11-3/31/12)

$25 Food/Beverage Credit!

$745.38 (THIS PRICE ALSO INCLUDES 3 day one park tickets and early entry into IOA)

Price for all travelers includes

Hotel and

Certain Taxes & Services

Just wondering if any of you are familiar with that hotel? It says 1 mile from Universal so I don't even know what part of town that is or if it is a shady/sketchy area or a good neighborhood.

If I can get my DH to agree to this than we can come for a 4 day weekend in Feb and not have to wait all the way until October.

We will still come back in October because we plan on doing DHS, IOA, Discovery Cove and Sea World a few days. So this Feb trip wouldn't take away from that trip. =)

Cross your fingers for me I am telling him about it later tonight.

But have any of you ever stayed at this resort? The room description says the rooms have a fridge and microwave.

 

[macraven]

i haven't stayed there but i'm sure others will come along and help you with what knowledge they have.

all i can do is lend a hand, post here and have your question brought to the top of the page in this forum.
others might have overlooked your question after you posted it.


why don't you also put a new thread in the other uo forum about the hotels?
it might help get you more responses.


it sounds like a good deal.
you are getting a food/bev credit at the hotel and that is a good thing.


look thru the trip report section and see if there were any peeps that stayed at this hotel.

 

[macraven]

i found some reports on Best Western Gateway from older trippies.

i will put them in here once i check them out.


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2540119&highlight=best+western+gateway

looks like BWG is near wet and wild.



portion of a trip report:
itsrachelhere
Earning My Ears

Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 8

Is it really that mcuh better staying at the resort hotels? I have just got back from Orlando and stayed in the Best Western Gateway Hotel for a really reasonable rate of £40 a night via expedia (I tjink that works out around $64?) That was for a room with two double beds. Really nice hotel with a pool and jacuzi, tennis court, restaurant and cafe. We were only in Orlando for four full days and in that time we saw everything we wanted to see at IoA, Universal,Seaworld and Aquatica. The hotel is opposite wet and wild so we could easily have done that too if we had an extra day. i can see why you would want to stay on site for the experience, but if you are concerned about cost I am sure you could stay off site and do all you want to do .


if you need a shuttle from mco to BWG:



ROUND TRIP MEET & GREET TRANSFER –ORLANDO INT'L AIRPORT


Provided by Quick Transportation
Description: Round trip transportation via taxi sedan/van between Orlando International Airport and your Orlando Area Hotel.

**Please note transfers do not include Sanford Orlando Airport.

Transportation Schedule:
From Orlando International Airport: Upon receipt of your official travel itinerary, please call 888-784-2522 or 407-354-2456 to arrange pick-up from Orlando International Airport.
From Orlando Area Hotel: You can arrange your pick-up time with Quick Transportation when making your initial reservation.

Length of Transfer: Varies by hotel; approximately 30 minutes each way.

Documentation Instructions: You will not receive coupons/vouchers with this purchase. To redeem your transfer upon arrival at the Orlando International Airport, simply present your photo ID and official travel itinerary to the Quick Transportation representative at the bottom of the escalator at Baggage Claim to receive your transfer boarding passes. To redeem transfer from your Orlando Area Hotel you must present a valid photo ID with your official travel itinerary at the time of pick-up from your hotel.

Child Policy: Children ages four through eleven pay child rate, children ages three and under are free of charge.

Additional Information: Valid hotels for this transfer include; Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Royal Pacific Resort, Best Western Orlando Gateway, CoCo Key Hotel and Water Resort, Country Inn & Suites, Crowne Plaza Universal, DoubleTree Hotel at the Entrance to Universal, DoubleTree Resort Orlando-International Drive, EconoLodge, Embassy Suites Jamaican Court, Fairfield Inn & Suites near Universal Orlando, Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando International Drive, Four Points by Sheraton Studio City, Hampton Inn S. of Universal, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations Club at SeaWorld, Holiday Inn & Suites at the Entrance to Universal, Holiday Inn Express & Suites,Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites I-Drive Resort Area, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Hyatt Place, JW Marriott Orlando, LaQuinta Inn & Suites, Monumental Movieland, Point Orlando Resort, Quality Inn Plaza, Quality Inn International Drive, Ritz Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, Rodeway Inn International, Westin Imagine Orlando, Westgate Lakes Resort, and Wingate by Wyndham.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2503152&highlight=best+western+gateway&page=2



from trippie:
Our first trip to USF, Sat. 11/21 to TDay
We are Disney veterans and have been many times since 2001 and our last trip was June this year. This was our first time trip to Universal now that the kids are 9 and 12 and love the big rides.

Day 0: Friday Nov 20th. I took the day off so I could get everything ready. We normally try to get to Orlando the night before so we can get 100% of our time at the parks on the first day. I got Subway sandwiches for the trip down so we would only have to stop for gas because we were going to start late. My son got off the bus at 3pm, did some last minute checks and then went to pick up my wife and daughter at the middle school. We left Newnan, GA at 3:45pm, straight across Hwy 16 to I-75 about 30 miles north of Macon, GA. Traffic was pretty light and our planning allowed us to get to the Best Western Universal by 11pm. We got one of the last rooms for the night.

Day 1: Satuday Nov 21st. Up at 6:30am to get ready to head to the Hard Rock Hotel Club level for 5 nights. We had the continental breakfast at the Best Western and it was pretty good and better than the HRH club level breakfast offerings. The Best Western had scrambled eggs and a waffle maker along with the assorted cereals, bagels, bread, and donuts. If I was staying off site this seemed like a good place to stay.

 

[bumbershoot]

If you could then turn your February tickets into APs, it would make the October trip even better! Especially if you got an AP rate on an onsite hotel.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

Thanks for the responses. I found an off-site hotel Quality Suites Lake Buena Vista That has a bedroom, living room and full kitchen for $90 a night with a group discount code I have. BUT, BIG BUT...The dates we were planning on going, Feb 16th - Feb 21st...I didn't realize it is President's Day weekend and the Touring Plans website shows WDW crowds at 9 out of 10. I can only imagine that US and IOA will be slammed too. The next date my DH gets off work after that would be March 8th and that weekend shows 9 out of 10 crowds as well. I suppose that is from Spring Breakers. So our only option now is if he will agree to go NEXT TIME he gets off work, in 2 weeks, Jan 26th. I am not sure I can get him to agree to go that soon. =(

 

[macraven]

well......can't help you with that.......


i lost the touch of bribing my spouse years ago........



i hope you can sway him to your way of thinking.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

Just wanted to post an update for those of you who responded and tried to help me with my dilemma. We ARE coming in less than 2 weeks. I talked him into going ahead and coming and we will be there from Jan 26th to Feb 1st!!

I already bought the US/IOA 2 day 1 park tickets and printed them off at home. I am buying our Sea World tickets next Wednesday (2 days for the price of 1) and we will buy our Hollywood Studios tickets at the gate. No discounts by buying them in advance.

 

[macraven]

Just wanted to post an update for those of you who responded and tried to help me with my dilemma. We ARE coming in less than 2 weeks. I talked him into going ahead and coming and we will be there from Jan 26th to Feb 1st!!

I already bought the US/IOA 2 day 1 park tickets and printed them off at home. I am buying our Sea World tickets next Wednesday (2 days for the price of 1) and we will buy our Hollywood Studios tickets at the gate. No discounts by buying them in advance.

universal hollywood is in CA.are you going west after the next trip?
if you do, give us a trippie.
i want to do that park so badly...........

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

universal hollywood is in CA.are you going west after the next trip?
if you do, give us a trippie.
i want to do that park so badly...........

We're going to Hollywood Studios (Disney) in Orlando. Not in California!! Maybe someday I can make it out West.

 

[Badge]

universal hollywood is in CA.are you going west after the next trip?
if you do, give us a trippie.
i want to do that park so badly...........

Don't want to hijack the thread, but I did want to comment on Universal Hollywood.

It is not really worth a trip out there to see it. I really consider it a "local" park. The hours are really, really short almost year long (they don't even stay open till midnight on New Years Eve!)

We went once about 5 years ago and it was a disappointment. They have nearly all of the same rides/shows except for the backlot tour and the park is really, really small.

I would only go back to Hollywood if it was part of a trip out in the area, and not because I just want to see Universal Hollywood and thats all. This summer we have a trip planned were we are going to Disneyland for Carsland and Universal Hollywood for Transformers.

Anyways, if you never get the chance to visit it, its not like your missing much. Universal Orlando is so much better than Hollywood.

Back on topic! Enjoy your trip! It is always fun when a sudden trip just happens. Like another person said though...you might want to see how much it would cost to upgrade your park tickets that you have purchased to AP's. Then you could come back and visit again in Oct. because sometimes the offsite hotels offer some nice rates during Halloween Horror Nights time.