Another vote for the Annual Pass rate. It isn’t always available, may be limited to certain categories, and limited days of your stay. But for less than 5 consecutive nights it is almost always the best deal at every hotel level.
If your stay is 3 plus nights always check the savvy traveler rate as it is usually available for most categories and dates.
Then there is a split stay booking using each one for certain nights (as in the AP rate is only available for a couple of the nights and you use savvy traveler for the remaining) but since it is two separate reservations you “could” end up having to change rooms.
The length of stay can greatly affect the price on site at Universal. If you are staying 7 nights (and take advantage of Savvy traveler) your rate will be much lower than 1-2 nights.
Prices on the exact same room can also change regularly. That’s what we always book Room Only directly. So we can rebook and cancel if we see a better rate pop up.