Please help - universal studios WWYD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You only need two days at Universal. It'll get boring after that.

You can save money by staying at Cabana Bay in one of the rooms with a kitchenette. We loved ours! We ate breakfast in so we could sleep a bit later and still have time to eat before getting to the parks when they open.

We drove so we brought food with us and then I did stop by the grocery to buy smores fixings rather than pay the hotel prices for marshmallows and graham crackers. We roasted marshmallows at the fire pit.

The Trader Joes is not far and, of course, there's Publix and a nearby Whole Foods.

We stayed at Cabana Bay twice and loved all the pools and the lazy river. NOTE: They have added a hotel there but not increased the number of pools so it does get crowded!

I've stayed at another Universal hotel and like Cabana Bay the best. One drawback is that the check in is frequently slooooow.

I should have added that we bought the Express pass. This still seemed a better buy at the time (and cheaper) than staying in a hotel that offered Express Passes. Those hotels have pools that are not as fun.

[Anonymous]

We recently went to Universal and had a great time, but it was surprisingly more expensive than Disney. We did Portofino for the Express passes. We also bought the 2park park to park pass to enjoy the Hogwarts train between. We had a great time but I was very shocked at the price. We just hit the bullet and paid it. We didn’t want the upheaval of relocating rooms. You really only need 2 full days to do both parks with the Express passes. But, also you should bookend that with travel days.

[Anonymous]

Two days is more than enough at Universal if you have the express passes. We went for a day and a half and it was fine and my kids wanted to do all the ride (I think they did the Jurassic Park roller coaster 5 times). I would stay at one of the express pass hotels but shorten your trip for sure!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not good at this kind of vacation planning. We are on a budget, single income for now but spouse would like to splurge for express passes late October trip. Difference is $1k+. it’s not a huge sum for some I know.

Crowd calendar was different on 2 different sites and even then switched from 6-7 to 4-5 rating to back. Not sure what to believe.

Total with airfare, airport hotel stay due to late arrival and tickets plus 4 night stay at Portofino is about $4k which DH twisted my arm to get but can be canceled. We haven’t spent that on an any vacay. Not counting food and other expenses. All this is for the HP fan whose birthday will be during the trip.

I know people mix and match hotels for the passes. That would mean we would switch hotels twice or thrice - from airport hotel 1 to universal hotel 2 to hotel 3 for express and if we were going strictly by crowd calendar then back to universal hotel 2.

Yeah am a little tightly wound buy Please tell me I am right and we need to re-do this (I would cancel this trip entirely but DH is a softie with our kid).
TIA

What days of the week are you going?
How old are your kids?

We did Universal on a long weekend where DCPS had off for a Thur and Fri. We flew down Wed after school, Thur park was mostly empty. Friday there was an uptick in crowds due to Halloween special event.

We had the express pass from staying at the hotel - but really was not materially different. We did all we wanted and then some. We also really enjoyed the hotel pool.

[Anonymous]

Royal pacific is usually cheaper than portofino and I like it better. It’s a great hotel with a relaxed Hawaiian vibe and a great pool. Maybe switch to a cheaper hotel for the last night? Not sure how much that will save you. If you’re worried about budget I would also park stuff that you can eat easily for breakfast or snacks.

[Anonymous]

Check for annual pass rates. The price of an annual pass (just need one per room) isn’t much more than a multi day ticket and can save a lot at the hotels. We went for a week and had a blast and didn’t get bored. It was great to re-ride our favorites with little wait - we were at an express pass hotel and as far as I’m concerned it’s the only way to go. We filled the rest of the time at the pools, the mini golf at CityWalk, the water park, etc.

This is the link to check for annual pass hotel rates:
https://res.windsurfercrs.com/ibe/default.aspx?hgID=641&langID=1&checkin=1/22/2018&nights=1&rooms=1&adults=2&children=0&promo=aph&iata=&group=&hotels=&ada=

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check for annual pass rates. The price of an annual pass (just need one per room) isn’t much more than a multi day ticket and can save a lot at the hotels. We went for a week and had a blast and didn’t get bored. It was great to re-ride our favorites with little wait - we were at an express pass hotel and as far as I’m concerned it’s the only way to go. We filled the rest of the time at the pools, the mini golf at CityWalk, the water park, etc.

This is the link to check for annual pass hotel rates:
https://res.windsurfercrs.com/ibe/default.aspx?hgID=641&langID=1&checkin=1/22/2018&nights=1&rooms=1&adults=2&children=0&promo=aph&iata=&group=&hotels=&ada=

Oops the link didn’t paste properly. I use the link I find on the AP rate thread at the disboards website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not good at this kind of vacation planning. We are on a budget, single income for now but spouse would like to splurge for express passes late October trip. Difference is $1k+. it’s not a huge sum for some I know.

Crowd calendar was different on 2 different sites and even then switched from 6-7 to 4-5 rating to back. Not sure what to believe.

Total with airfare, airport hotel stay due to late arrival and tickets plus 4 night stay at Portofino is about $4k which DH twisted my arm to get but can be canceled. We haven’t spent that on an any vacay. Not counting food and other expenses. All this is for the HP fan whose birthday will be during the trip.

I know people mix and match hotels for the passes. That would mean we would switch hotels twice or thrice - from airport hotel 1 to universal hotel 2 to hotel 3 for express and if we were going strictly by crowd calendar then back to universal hotel 2.

Yeah am a little tightly wound buy Please tell me I am right and we need to re-do this (I would cancel this trip entirely but DH is a softie with our kid).
TIA

What days of the week are you going?
How old are your kids?

We did Universal on a long weekend where DCPS had off for a Thur and Fri. We flew down Wed after school, Thur park was mostly empty. Friday there was an uptick in crowds due to Halloween special event.

We had the express pass from staying at the hotel - but really was not materially different. We did all we wanted and then some. We also really enjoyed the hotel pool.

We did something similar when our school district had a four-day weekend. Flew down Thur morning, did Fri and Sat in the parks, and flew home on Sunday. Two days was enough to see everything. We had park to park tickets so we could do both parks each day. We stayed at Cabana Bay and didn't buy the express pass, and generally had no issues getting on rides in a reasonable amount of time. We didn't go to Volcano Bay; the pools at Cabana Bay were enough.

[Anonymous]

OP. Thank you so much for all the comments.

1) Currently 28th Night is airport hotel (due to late arrival), then uber to/checking in to Portofino on 29th and Checking out on the 2nd (4 nights). How would you do it differently?

2) The reason we have 5 days is due to the buy days, get free days deal (also hopper tix for hogwarts). Will it really be that boring? I have no clue how to plan the park days. I do better when I have a plan in hand (I have anxiety) but have very limited time due to parents care.
Which days should I do which parks and where do I get a plan for the day?

3) 10 yr old is vegan, 8 yr old is lactose intolerant and a little gluten sensitive. I will have to carry food for lunch and then research dinner places. Can't do grocery as no car.

PP with the details about the Spring trip - How sweet of you to take the time. To the other PP, no we won't go in debt over this and retirement/529 won't suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We recently went to Universal and had a great time, but it was surprisingly more expensive than Disney. We did Portofino for the Express passes. We also bought the 2park park to park pass to enjoy the Hogwarts train between. We had a great time but I was very shocked at the price. We just hit the bullet and paid it. We didn’t want the upheaval of relocating rooms. You really only need 2 full days to do both parks with the Express passes. But, also you should bookend that with travel days.

I assure you Disney would have been as much or more if you stayed at their most expensive hotel and paid for premium ride access (genie+ and IAS) and park hopping, which is the equivalent of what you did at Universal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How busy is it likely to be the Friday of Thanksgiving week?
It’s our first time going and we’re just doing a day.

VERY! It’s a peak day.

[Anonymous]

5 days is waaaay too long. 1 day each of the two parks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is my spring break report fwiw. I say express pass all the way.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1124996.page

NP here - Thanks for this! We’ve done Disney world, Disneyland and universal Hollywood. Your review is getting me geared up to try universal Orlando and I cracked up at the tik tok

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5 days is waaaay too long. 1 day each of the two parks.

OP has 3 park tickets. Volcano Bay is not that bad. Also OP has said the remaining days are free. Lots of shows and rides can be repeated. I am not sure why several PPs are dissuading OP from staying there 4-5 days when tickets are free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thank you so much for all the comments.

1) Currently 28th Night is airport hotel (due to late arrival), then uber to/checking in to Portofino on 29th and Checking out on the 2nd (4 nights). How would you do it differently?

2) The reason we have 5 days is due to the buy days, get free days deal (also hopper tix for hogwarts). Will it really be that boring? I have no clue how to plan the park days. I do better when I have a plan in hand (I have anxiety) but have very limited time due to parents care.
Which days should I do which parks and where do I get a plan for the day?

3) 10 yr old is vegan, 8 yr old is lactose intolerant and a little gluten sensitive. I will have to carry food for lunch and then research dinner places. Can't do grocery as no car.

PP with the details about the Spring trip - How sweet of you to take the time. To the other PP, no we won't go in debt over this and retirement/529 won't suffer.

Volcano Bay is closed 31st and 1st and since 2nd is your travel day I would do Volcano Bay on 30th. Can't use express passes though. It could be crowded. Unless you want to get wet on travel day. Even if you've paid for 3 parks and do have 5 days maybe skip it?

Not sure how I would do it coz going to Volcano Bay on the first 2 days of your first US trip doesn't sound great.