Trip Planning Help!! (Please)

Originally Posted By familyguy

Hey guys!

So I've never been to Orlando. Based on where I live it's just always been easier (cheaper) to go to Disneyland and so that's where I've gone my whole life. But it's time now that I get out to Orlando....and I'm surprised to say that it's not to go to Disney World (which I've never been to), but to Universal Orlando. We must experience Harry Potter and all that Universal Orlando has to offer!

I'm a Disneyland travel expert, but have no idea where to start with Orlando and Universal.

We'd like to stay close, but would like the hotel to be on the value side, without being a dump.

Does Universal post refurb schedules the way Disney does so that we can plan to go at a time that we're not going to miss any of the big things that we plan to experience?

Is there a fast pass system like Disney does that we should know about? Any park touring advice that you feel would be helpful? We have no clue on how to begin to tackle these parks like we do in California.

Any help you guys can provide would be really helpful! Thanks in advance!

 

Originally Posted By hopemax

First, Universal does have a Fastpass-like system but you can only participate if 1-you pay for it, or 2- you stay in one of their three Deluxe hotels (Portofino, Hard Rock, Royal Pacific). It's called Express Pass.

Since the cost per person per day can be quite high, and because it's good all day on both check-in day, through all of check-out day, it basically pays for itself if you stay in one of those Deluxe hotels. So if you stay one night, you get two whole days use of Express pass.

You can get AP discounts at the hotels. My one on-site stay was with an AP discount at the Royal Pacific which made the room about $180 a night. We stayed 2 nights, and so had use of Express Pass 3 days. The minimum price of Express Pass is like $45 per person per day (goes up the busy the park is expected to be, and the closer to the day you plan to use it. Over Christmas, it was $199). So 2 days of Express Pass would also be $180, but we also had a third day of use and a hotel room to sleep in. If you have a third or fourth person in your room, you can see how staying on-site makes a lot of financial sense if you want to use Express Pass.

Unlike Fastpass, Express Pass is good on all rides where it is accepted, multiple times. No tickets to pick up, no waiting 2 hours before you can pick up another, and no reservations required like WDW.

Express Pass, however, is not good on the two major Harry Potter attractions (Gringotts and Forbidden Journey.)

The Hogwarts Express requires a "Park-to-Park" ticket to use. But it makes visiting both parks on one day, super convenient. A lot more like visiting DL and DCA. A 2 day-park to park ticket is a hair under $200. An AP with blockout dates and no free parking, but hotel discount is $240. The pass with parking and no blockout dates is $335. It you are interested on staying onsite, it may be worth one person getting either one of those levels of APs

However, if you still decide a Deluxe stay is out of your budget. You can still tour Universal if you follow the rule of getting to the park early to accomplish the one thing that really needs to be done first thing (Minion Mayhem). And although it's counter-intuitive, the Harry Potter areas are usually LESS crowded in the afternoon than first thing in the morning.

Staying on site also gives people early entry access to Harry Potter, so when the park opens it's busy, lines are long. So take that time to explore the parks other attractions like Spiderman and Hulk (when not under refurb) in IOA, or Transformers, Mummy, MIB, etc in the Universal side. They do have single rider lines for many attractions, so once you've experienced the full queues and if your family is the type that would rather save time than ride together they can be advantageous.

One thing that takes a little getting used to, is that several attractions don't allow bags and the coasters don't allow anything in pockets. On these rides, lockers are provided for free for a limited amount of time. The locker areas can get crowded but it does make loading much more efficient.

There aren't as many Universal Planning websites as there are Disney. Mostly because it's not always necessary. At Universal, for example, you can still walk into a sit-down restaurant and be seated in less than 20 min. No advanced dining reservations needed.

But if you are familiar with <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://touringplans.com/">http://touringplans.com/</a> they have a Universal Orlando section including a rehab page

<a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://touringplans.com/universal-orlando/closures">http://touringplans.com/univer...closures</a>

If you have more specific questions, I can try to answer them.

 

Originally Posted By RoadTrip

Hopemax has given you excellent advice. The one thing I would add is Orlando is TOTALLY unlike LA. I would argue that the savings from staying offsite in Orlando (whether at WDW or Universal Orlando) is rarely worth it if you factor in parking rates, time, and convenience.

 

Originally Posted By familyguy

Awesome! Thanks for the tips! As we get closer and have more specific questions, I'll ask! For now, all of that is EXTREMELY helpful!