US/IOA question about staying on site

[kkendle]

Hi...I have been to US/IOA a couple of times...most recently last June, 2011. We are making another trip to Orlando and visiting Disney and US in March. We will be there March 20-26. I am trying to decide if we should stay in a vacation home the entire time like we always have or should we stay onsite at US March 20-22 so we can have the express pass and early entry?

I am thinking that we would have it for 2 days which is fine.....the 21st and the 22nd because we wouldn't arrive until late on the 20th.

This will cost my family around $600 extra to stay onsite as opposed to the house.

What does everyone think? Is it worth it? I looked at the crowd calendar and it says moderate crowd levels for those days but obviously gets real busy on the weekend because of Mardi Gras and spring break etc.

Ugh....I always stress out about stuff like this. Expensive to do all this anyway and $600 more is quite a bit.

Last summer we didn't find that the crowds were so horrible it would have been worth the extra dollars but I have never been at this time before. We were there the beginning of June...like the fist 2 weeks I think.

Thanks for any help or advise!

Kelly

 

[justinjenn]

Kelly,
I am a frugal person and never in the past would have paid the extra.... That being said, OMG.. We stayed onsite in December and the extra money so worth the time we saved by having express passes. (we were there on 22 and 23 Dec and our wait was NEVER more than 10 minutes--usually closer to 5) We were able to do EVERYTHING we wanted and more. We went on several of the rides 2,3,4 times... This alone has already got us wanting to go back again to explore. While we did everything we wanted, we still didn't see everything and I definitely want to spend more time there!!!! (HTH) Jenn

 

[pixeegrl]

If you're not arriving until late the 20th then I would stay somewhere close by the night of the 20th and then check in early onsite the 21st to get your express pass keys. You can leave your luggage at guest services or in your car if you want until your room is ready. You will get two full days of Express and only spend 1 night onsite. You won't regret it, I promise! Will not do it anywhere way!

 

[gschmerl]

I agree with pixeegirl. Cut your cost by just booking one night on site. You will still get your two full days of early entry and express access at half the cost. No need to stay there the 20 since you will get in late.

 

[kkendle]

Thanks for the help....our plane gets in around 10am on the 20th so I was thinking of driving straight to one of the Disney parks for the day. Then I was going to drive to the Universal Hotel so that we could be up early the next day to have the early morning stuff.

I am afraid staying somewhere else will make it super early if we want to get in on the early morning entry stuff.

Maybe the early morning entry isn't necessary. How early can you check in for the day ...even if I am leaving my bags in the van?

I am travelling with 4 kids....older kids, 18, 18, 16, and 14...and we would have to stay 1 night at a hotel offsite that first night, check in early the next day and leave bags in van or whatever, then stay there that night and then pack our bags in the van early the next day to sit in van all day again...then that night check into our other place...which I haven't reserved yet as I am not sure how we are doing all this.

Sounds like a lot of packing etc to me...just wanted to make sure it is worth the extra money and time.

The people that stayed Dec. 22-23....did you check in really early to get early entry...if so what time? Also...were the parks really crowded that day even though you got onto things pretty quickly? I am just wondering what the crowd levels were that day to compare to you getting on in only 5-10 min.

How about the meal deal pass thing? Any opinions? Last summer when we were there I had 2 older kids with me so a total of 7 of us. We would try and eat 1 meal in the park and then something else late when we got back to the house. Even 1 meal for that many people was over $100 so maybe the meal pass for like $23 a person would be worth it.

Thanks so much...Kelly

Kelly

 

[kkendle]

I know I just posted a bunch more questions...but I decided to stay on site for 2 nights and purchase an annual pass for myself...that gave a pretty good discount off of the room and didn't cost much more than the 2 day ticket I was going to get anyway.

Now I won't have to worry about finding a 1 night hotel stay for the night before.

Thanks!!

Kelly