3 day Christmas Trip to Universal Florida $7000- Are These Prices Normal?

[Anonymous]

You don’t need three days at Universal. One day in each park is enough (and then ride the train back and forth on one of the days).

[Anonymous]

It’s the most expensive time of year.
I have 3 kids and I don’t pay for 2 hotel rooms.
At universal we stayed at Hard rock which gave us free fast passes. Two queen beds and rollaway bed in the room.

Idk how much cheaper that would make your trip.

I would say we paid around $6k for a trip to Universal Sat to Wed over spring break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, why do you need two rooms for 4 people? For 3 nights, can't you squeeze into one room? Dh and I did that with our two teenage boys.

What's the cost for staying in one of the resorts where Express Passes are included? Bc those are also closer and easier to get to/from the parks.

Because they want a vacation. We have one kid and always get 2 rooms.

[Anonymous]

OP. I'm a universal fanatic and go often. Like 5x per year.

Your prices seem high. A couple things going on:

Don't buy your express passes. Stay at a premier hotel and they are included.

You don't appear to be booking a package. If do a package, you usually get a discount.

Give me the dates and # of people, with adults/kids, and I will show you some options.

[Anonymous]

Oh and another thing, the trip from DC to Orlando by car isn't that bad, so you can save $1600ish just by driving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I'm a universal fanatic and go often. Like 5x per year.

Your prices seem high. A couple things going on:

Don't buy your express passes. Stay at a premier hotel and they are included.

You don't appear to be booking a package. If do a package, you usually get a discount.

Give me the dates and # of people, with adults/kids, and I will show you some options.

Alright, I ran some numbers while waiting for your response.

You haven't booked yet, and this is problematic for you. Express passes and premier hotels sell out during holidays. I wouldn't, as some have suggested, go without an express pass.

If you go after Xmas, from Dec 27-30, you can get a great deal and benefit from reduced crowds.

Here's what I recommend. Buy an annual pass for each family member. Assuming 4 family members, you can get preferred passes (no block out dates) for about 2500. Then use that pass to get annual pass holder rates for a premier hotel, which comes with free express passes. If you book those dates, you can get premier hotels for 300 per night. You can get club lounge rooms (comes with food and drinks) for around 500 per night. You can get 2 bedroom suites in premier hotels for about 800 per night.

If you use these passes again, subsequent trips to Universal will be a smoking good deal since you'll only pay for hotels, food, and airfare if you think that is necessary. Personally, when we lived in DC, we'd throw our kids in the car at 4am and they wouldn't even fully wake up and realize what was going on until around 10am. And by then we'd be about 6 hours out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I'm a universal fanatic and go often. Like 5x per year.

Your prices seem high. A couple things going on:

Don't buy your express passes. Stay at a premier hotel and they are included.

You don't appear to be booking a package. If do a package, you usually get a discount.

Give me the dates and # of people, with adults/kids, and I will show you some options.

Alright, I ran some numbers while waiting for your response.

You haven't booked yet, and this is problematic for you. Express passes and premier hotels sell out during holidays. I wouldn't, as some have suggested, go without an express pass.

If you go after Xmas, from Dec 27-30, you can get a great deal and benefit from reduced crowds.

Here's what I recommend. Buy an annual pass for each family member. Assuming 4 family members, you can get preferred passes (no block out dates) for about 2500. Then use that pass to get annual pass holder rates for a premier hotel, which comes with free express passes. If you book those dates, you can get premier hotels for 300 per night. You can get club lounge rooms (comes with food and drinks) for around 500 per night. You can get 2 bedroom suites in premier hotels for about 800 per night.

If you use these passes again, subsequent trips to Universal will be a smoking good deal since you'll only pay for hotels, food, and airfare if you think that is necessary. Personally, when we lived in DC, we'd throw our kids in the car at 4am and they wouldn't even fully wake up and realize what was going on until around 10am. And by then we'd be about 6 hours out.

Who in their right mind would spend $2500 on annual passes to Universal, or Disney for that matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t need three days at Universal. One day in each park is enough (and then ride the train back and forth on one of the days).

This is the trick..it's 2 days worth of stuff unless you are going to the water park, and that may not be feasible at Christmas anyway. People do this for WDW too --buying tickets for their arrival/departure days when they are mainly at the airport or packing.

[Anonymous]

People saying they could go to Europe for must less haven't seen prices recently. Travel has gotten much more expensive. Also I would never go to universal without express pass everyday. On peak seasons like Christmas the lines are over 90 minutes for all the rides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I'm a universal fanatic and go often. Like 5x per year.

Your prices seem high. A couple things going on:

Don't buy your express passes. Stay at a premier hotel and they are included.

You don't appear to be booking a package. If do a package, you usually get a discount.

Give me the dates and # of people, with adults/kids, and I will show you some options.

Alright, I ran some numbers while waiting for your response.

You haven't booked yet, and this is problematic for you. Express passes and premier hotels sell out during holidays. I wouldn't, as some have suggested, go without an express pass.

If you go after Xmas, from Dec 27-30, you can get a great deal and benefit from reduced crowds.

Here's what I recommend. Buy an annual pass for each family member. Assuming 4 family members, you can get preferred passes (no block out dates) for about 2500. Then use that pass to get annual pass holder rates for a premier hotel, which comes with free express passes. If you book those dates, you can get premier hotels for 300 per night. You can get club lounge rooms (comes with food and drinks) for around 500 per night. You can get 2 bedroom suites in premier hotels for about 800 per night.

If you use these passes again, subsequent trips to Universal will be a smoking good deal since you'll only pay for hotels, food, and airfare if you think that is necessary. Personally, when we lived in DC, we'd throw our kids in the car at 4am and they wouldn't even fully wake up and realize what was going on until around 10am. And by then we'd be about 6 hours out.

Who in their right mind would spend $2500 on annual passes to Universal, or Disney for that matter?

Someone who is doing all the math.

3 days of universal tix = 1700

3 days of premier hotels without passholder discount= 2900

Or hotel plus express = 3400

3 days of Premier hotel with passholder discount: 900

Once you do all the math, it's cheaper to purchase the annual pass.

[Anonymous]

We haven’tbeen in several years. But where I’d save money is: one hotel room (I have 2 teens and we all share one standard hotel room when we travel), and it was worrh paying a little more for one of the in-park hotels because the express pass was then free/included which adds a lot of value, plus I believe we got early entry to the park one day. I also think 2 days in Universal is plenty, and I’d spend the third day enjoying the hotel pools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I'm a universal fanatic and go often. Like 5x per year.

Your prices seem high. A couple things going on:

Don't buy your express passes. Stay at a premier hotel and they are included.

You don't appear to be booking a package. If do a package, you usually get a discount.

Give me the dates and # of people, with adults/kids, and I will show you some options.

If we do a package on the Universal site December is a black out. I also priced the hotel that includes the express pass and it's $6300, so it's cheaper to buy the express pass separately and stay an Airbnb or the off park near universal hotel.

[Anonymous]

Be an annual pass holder and get their package deal. My friend swore up and down it comes out cheaper. If you stay in their premier hotels like hard rock, express passes are included for free. Unless you are a big Harry Potter fan, skip the park to park which is additional roughly $50 per person. What that allows you is to hop between parks using Hogwarts express. Just get the base dated tickets and spend one day per park. That’s a savings of approximately $600.

Universal just increased their tier pricing last week. The prices have gone up starting December 23 for the holidays.

I know people have preferences where to vacay and if OP is looking at Universal for the holidays then that’s their choice.

Europe is not cheaper during the holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I'm a universal fanatic and go often. Like 5x per year.

Your prices seem high. A couple things going on:

Don't buy your express passes. Stay at a premier hotel and they are included.

You don't appear to be booking a package. If do a package, you usually get a discount.

Give me the dates and # of people, with adults/kids, and I will show you some options.

Alright, I ran some numbers while waiting for your response.

You haven't booked yet, and this is problematic for you. Express passes and premier hotels sell out during holidays. I wouldn't, as some have suggested, go without an express pass.

If you go after Xmas, from Dec 27-30, you can get a great deal and benefit from reduced crowds.

Here's what I recommend. Buy an annual pass for each family member. Assuming 4 family members, you can get preferred passes (no block out dates) for about 2500. Then use that pass to get annual pass holder rates for a premier hotel, which comes with free express passes. If you book those dates, you can get premier hotels for 300 per night. You can get club lounge rooms (comes with food and drinks) for around 500 per night. You can get 2 bedroom suites in premier hotels for about 800 per night.

If you use these passes again, subsequent trips to Universal will be a smoking good deal since you'll only pay for hotels, food, and airfare if you think that is necessary. Personally, when we lived in DC, we'd throw our kids in the car at 4am and they wouldn't even fully wake up and realize what was going on until around 10am. And by then we'd be about 6 hours out.

Who in their right mind would spend $2500 on annual passes to Universal, or Disney for that matter?

Someone who is doing all the math.

3 days of universal tix = 1700

3 days of premier hotels without passholder discount= 2900

Or hotel plus express = 3400

3 days of Premier hotel with passholder discount: 900

Once you do all the math, it's cheaper to purchase the annual pass.

And that, btw, isn't even counting the free parking, 15-20% food and merchandise discount, etc. For most people, most of the time, the annual pass is actually the more economical option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I'm a universal fanatic and go often. Like 5x per year.

Your prices seem high. A couple things going on:

Don't buy your express passes. Stay at a premier hotel and they are included.

You don't appear to be booking a package. If do a package, you usually get a discount.

Give me the dates and # of people, with adults/kids, and I will show you some options.

If we do a package on the Universal site December is a black out. I also priced the hotel that includes the express pass and it's $6300, so it's cheaper to buy the express pass separately and stay an Airbnb or the off park near universal hotel.

If you stay at an offsite hotel, you have to factor in parking, standing in security lines, etc. Have you considered a two bedroom resort property like aventura or cabana?