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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello everyone,

I'm planning a 3-night, 3-day trip to Universal Studios in Florida this Christmas, flying out from DCA, and I'm experiencing some sticker shock with the prices. I don't recall it being this expensive in the past, even before the pandemic. I would love to get your opinions on whether these costs seem typical or if I might be overlooking more economical options.

Here's the breakdown:

- Accommodation: Either 2 hotel rooms for $1,800 total or an Airbnb for $1,400.
- Universal Tickets: $1,700 for 3 days.
- Express Passes: An additional $2,400.
- Airfare: $1,900 for regular economy.

This puts my total at $6,800 - $7,200, depending on whether we choose a hotel or Airbnb. Does this range sound about right for a trip like this during the holiday season? I'd appreciate any insights or tips on how to maybe reduce these costs without compromising too much on the experience.

Thanks in advance!

Hotel: That's $300 per room per night, which actually seems fine for Orlando, especially if you're on property. (And check on property if you're not - i think some hotels comp express passes? If so, that means so long as your hotel is less than what, 650/night you come out ahead)
Flights: are insane for some reason this christmas to MCO, in my experience.
Universal tickets average to $150/day, which makes sense -- unfortunately real multi-day discounts only kick in with the 4-5-7 day stays
The express passes are what's insane here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't see how the annual pass is cheaper, it is $900/person without express pass

[Anonymous]

And OP, I'm the universal fanatic and I'll just level with you. I went once Christmas. We have express passes as part of our annual pass (after 4pm with premier pass). We looked around, watched a parade, and left with 45 minutes because it was a total madhouse. I would not recommend going on Xmas, Xmas eve, etc. Just a nope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't see how the annual pass is cheaper, it is $900/person without express pass

That's for premier. It makes more sense for OP to get preferred which is 630pp.

[Anonymous]

Get the preferred annual pass tier.

[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.

Let me phrase this another way: who in their right mind would want to go to US so badly that they would pay $2500 for it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Let me phrase this another way: who in their right mind would want to go to US so badly that they would pay $2500 for it?

Those who can afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get the preferred annual pass tier.

You know. After fully thinking this through, it might make more sense for OP to get a premier annual pass, skip the express pass, and just structure the trip to do most rides after 4pm. That way they get express pass without paying for it or needing a premier hotel. They could sleep in, go to the park around 1 or 2, watch the shows (Bourne identity) and then do the rides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Let me phrase this another way: who in their right mind would want to go to US so badly that they would pay $2500 for it?

People who like theme parks.

[Anonymous]

You are literally going THE most crowded and expensive time of year and you are booking at the last second. There are many less expensive ways to do it, you just aren't choosing those ways.

[Anonymous]

I would try and price out how much it would be if you stay onsite. The price is absolutely correct for the time you are going and what you are including. While I agree that you don’t need 3 day tickets, it is cheaper to do the 3 than just do 2 and you can do a leisurely pace. We typically spend a day focuse on each park then use the 3rd day to bounce back and forth to do the rides we really like again. Have fun!

[Anonymous]

How old are your kids, OP? If not yet high school aged, I’d take them out of school one Friday in late January, Feb or early March (not a holiday weekend) and fly out on a Thurs night and hit the parks Fri, Sat and even half day Sun if you want. All aspects of the trip will be cheaper and the parks will be less crowded. When we went, we stayed at an on site hotel so express passes were included, and we got whatever the park hopper tickets were called and went back and forth so only needed two very full but happy days to do everything we wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids, OP? If not yet high school aged, I’d take them out of school one Friday in late January, Feb or early March (not a holiday weekend) and fly out on a Thurs night and hit the parks Fri, Sat and even half day Sun if you want. All aspects of the trip will be cheaper and the parks will be less crowded. When we went, we stayed at an on site hotel so express passes were included, and we got whatever the park hopper tickets were called and went back and forth so only needed two very full but happy days to do everything we wanted.

This is what we did for our two Orlando trips with kids. They were in elementary and middle school. Missing a couple days in those grades isn’t a big deal. We would usually find a teacher work day, when kids are off and take the kids out for a day or two. Disney and Universal were much cheaper, less crowded and more enjoyable.

To OP, prices for your trip don’t look too bad. The Express Pass is blowing your budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one reason why I travel internationally for my vacations. It's too expensive to travel within the US, prices are insane. Cheaper to go overseas

I came to this realization too. This year I asked my kids, who are in separate colleges and have the same spring break together in years, whether they wanted to go to Disney or Universal. They asked to go to Italy instead. So even they get it.

I was surprised. My youngest had been begging to go to Disney even a year ago when she was still in HS. But she is the one who specifically said Italy.

Btw I got three RT to Rome for $2,400 total and an AirBNB for the week from a super host for $1,000. We will probably go to Florence or something so will incur additional hotel fees but otherwise I am half at what OP describes. For an entire week…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are literally going THE most crowded and expensive time of year and you are booking at the last second. There are many less expensive ways to do it, you just aren't choosing those ways.

Peak season travel, peak season rates. Why are you surprised? And why not choose a better way?