very end of August - do we need universal unlimited ride access?

[DLPdaft]

Hi all,

First-time planning for Orlando, possibly from around 18th august for 2 weeks. I was thinking of booking a universal resort hotel for one night to get the perks for 2 days, but the hotels seem very expensive (£180 for one night ).

So, instead, if I plan to do the universal parks towards the end of our trip (ie very end of August) would I really need the unlimited ride access? We would definitely want to do the Harry Potter attractions at both parks, and none of us have been to Orlando before (well, I have, but it was 20 years ago and we only did one day at Universal ). Its me and 2 teenagers, my OH will be there but he's not a theme park kind of guy so will just go with the flow on our park days.

My other loose plans at the moment are to book a condo for the duration of our trip, and probably buy a 7-day hopper ticket for Disney (and more than likely book one night onsite at the All-stars resort to get us EMH and magic bands etc for 2 days).

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Folks on the Universal Forum may be able to help.

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30

 

[DLPdaft]

thank you , I'll post over there too.

eta - universal experts, help please.

 

[atricks]

One of the best ways to gauge how crowds may be at universal is to look at express pass prices for the days you are going. You can do that at https://tickets.universalorlando.com/Ticket-Store/PurchaseTickets.aspx?ExpressPlus

There are crowd calendars at other sites, but the fact those prices affect Universal's bottom line makes me lean toward using that.

Prices range from 39.99 for ultra slow days to 119.99 for capacity level crowd days.

Looking at August, August 1-24 is on the high side, but not at the max level. (89.99) Then it drops off from 25-31st then picks up around labor day again. It's then low ($55) the rest of September and all of October, with the very notable exception of 10/21/2015, which is the day Marty McFly flies to in the second Back to the Future movie, where it's $100. There hasn't been anything announced yet at the park for that date, but that is mighty suspicious.

 

[macraven]

Hi all,

First-time planning for Orlando, possibly from around 18th august for 2 weeks. I was thinking of booking a universal resort hotel for one night to get the perks for 2 days, but the hotels seem very expensive (£180 for one night ).

So, instead, if I plan to do the universal parks towards the end of our trip (ie very end of August) would I really need the unlimited ride access? We would definitely want to do the Harry Potter attractions at both parks, and none of us have been to Orlando before (well, I have, but it was 20 years ago and we only did one day at Universal ). Its me and 2 teenagers, my OH will be there but he's not a theme park kind of guy so will just go with the flow on our park days.

My other loose plans at the moment are to book a condo for the duration of our trip, and probably buy a 7-day hopper ticket for Disney (and more than likely book one night onsite at the All-stars resort to get us EMH and magic bands etc for 2 days).

if you are doing the motherland and darkside on your two week holiday, do the motherland first.
the last week of august for the darkside parks will have lower crowds.
parks do close earlier than the summer schedule.

if you pull up threads in the main UO forum, look for the ones that mention mid to late august for when others visited.

most of them stated low crowds since the summer rush was then over.

onsite hotel room rates do drop during the last week of august.
that's a double win for youse.

most of the parry hotter rides do not have express lines with the exception of dueling dragons (i refuse to go with the name change...lol, gringotts, FJ.
but, they all have the single rider lines which cuts down time in the standy lines.

the time i went late august was good for me.
low crowds so i could do a lot more in the parks even with the ealier park closing time, cheaper room rates were another bonus for me.

look over some of the older threads in the forums at www.universalorlando.com to get an idea of how much easier it was to manage the rides, parks, eateries etc, once the large crowds left.

 

[macraven]

Hi all,

First-time planning for Orlando, possibly from around 18th august for 2 weeks. I was thinking of booking a universal resort hotel for one night to get the perks for 2 days, but the hotels seem very expensive (£180 for one night ).

.

the pound is greater than the dollar here right now.
you should be able to get more for your buck for the onsite hotel rooms.

join a AAA group and get discounts on rooms and food, and merch discounts.

weekend rates are always higher. fri/sat nights.


if you book a room for 5 days or more, you can get a decent discount.
my october stay is for 13 days. the stay more, save more rate is giving me 30 % off the rack rate.

smsm is a general code that anyone can use for a stay with long stays.

 

[DLPdaft]

thank you very much both for your input - that sounds reassuring and I'll certainly have a look at the links posted .

 

[coastgirl]

We were there 2013 Aug 10-24 and didn't have much trouble with the crowds, we just picked our times and did fine. Around Labour Day (or Labor Day in the US ;-) ) would have a blip I'd expect.

If more than a few days in the parks, it may be worth it to get an Annual Pass for one member of your party. We just got an AP rate at the new budget hotel Cabana Bay, which gives us the early admission but not the express pass. (Also gets you discounts on food and merch, which is useful if you plan to buy a bunch of wands and pygmy puffs and such.)

I was surprised by the heat--I expected it to be a bit cooler by then but we had some killer days that required us to pace ourselves.

Have a great time!

 

[livingthedream]

I was looking at the prices for Express Pass during that time plus some of the crowd calendars, and for the latter part of our trip it is definitely indicating slower crowds. However, our first few days are predicted at moderate, and those are the days we will want to begin our Harry Potter journey.

We understand from talking to others who have visited at that time that while the parks as a whole may be fairly quiet, we can still expect the Wizarding Worlds in both parks to be busier (the million dollar question is "how busy" during that time?). The price of popularity!

So, OP, I don't think either of us will need Express Passes during that time frame. However, I am more interested in whether Early Admission for a couple of days to get the best experience for all-things Harry Potter is something we should consider. Although we will be staying at Vista Cay in a three-bedroom condo off-site, I might be convinced to also reserve one-night at Cabana Bay to take advantage of Early Admission for two days.

I know my crew, and getting up early the first day there (while trying to get used to time change plus the heat and humidity ) will not be popular. Maybe the second full day we are there might be an option to take advantage of Early Admission with not only low crowds but cooler temperatures, but I am still debating which is the best day to do this!! Its hard not to want to see Harry Potter first thing - a delay of one day is the challenge. I need to come up with something that all my boys (ages 55, 24 and 22) will want to do - maybe a water park?

Good luck with your planning!

 

[DLPdaft]

I was looking at the prices for Express Pass during that time plus some of the crowd calendars, and for the latter part of our trip it is definitely indicating slower crowds. However, our first few days are predicted at moderate, and those are the days we will want to begin our Harry Potter journey.

We understand from talking to others who have visited at that time that while the parks as a whole may be fairly quiet, we can still expect the Wizarding Worlds in both parks to be busier (the million dollar question is "how busy" during that time?). The price of popularity!

So, OP, I don't think either of us will need Express Passes during that time frame.
However, I am more interested in whether Early Admission for a couple of days to get the best experience for all-things Harry Potter is something we should consider. Although we will be staying at Vista Cay in a three-bedroom condo off-site, I might be convinced to also reserve one-night at Cabana Bay to take advantage of Early Admission for two days.

I hadn't thought of this option - hmmm that might be totally do-able for us, I can certainly persuade my teen girls to get up early 2 days running if it means getting to do the Harry Potter stuff more easily. I would just leave OH to sleep lol .

I know my crew, and getting up early the first day there (while trying to get used to time change plus the heat and humidity ) will not be popular. Maybe the second full day we are there might be an option to take advantage of Early Admission with not only low crowds but cooler temperatures, but I am still debating which is the best day to do this!! Its hard not to want to see Harry Potter first thing - a delay of one day is the challenge. I need to come up with something that all my boys (ages 55, 24 and 22) will want to do - maybe a water park?

Good luck with your planning!

and to you - now I've started looking into it, the more I need to look into it, it seems!