Any Parking Tips For Universal

Just wondering if anyone has any parking hints, tips and tricks for Universal. I am generally a Disney park visitor so I generally stay on site at the Disney resort which over a week or so is worth the room rate alone to not have to spend almost $20 a day on parking. Universal seems to have an even worse policy though and barely any options to save a few $$$ and I also read that the distance from the lot to the entrance if you dont pay for the VIP parking package is ridiculous!

Any help would be great, I am going to spend 3 days total on the Universal property next visit and not having to spend $60+ would be awesome!!

Sorry but if staying onsite with a car you get hit with the charge for every night even with AP It is a bit of a sensitive issue with some but as Lowes point out why should they raise room prices to inc it when many guests don’t take cars. WDW is one of the very few resorts that don’t charge extra most do. We are returning out hire car onsite at uni to save the cost next year. At least it’s per night and not per day like it would be if you were off site.

Sorry just reread your post are you offsite at uni or on. Walk from parking garage is long regardless of vip or not its about 10 mins with walkways. Vip just puts you on the level with the walkways. We did rd and got parked at the same area as vip I know because we paid for vip parking another day and were parked in the next row. Take a bus if you don’t want to pay parking or go after 6pm its cheaper Eating at tchoup gets you reduced hotel valet parking also if offsite.

If I recall correctly @Skubersky had some great tips on where to park at UOR in order to minimize walks, but I can’t remember if it was a Blog post or a Forum message. At any rate, he is the all-knowing UOR guru, so hopefully he can chime in here.

I don’t recall the walk as being too bad, but I run 38 miles a week, so my frame of reference may be different than yours. :wink:

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Oh I am in very good shape, the distance doesn’t bother me physically I just think its a swizz to have to pay almost $20 to park not even so close to the entrance to the park. And from what I hear there transport is a huge downgrade from WDW

Transport at uni is amazing 10 times better than wdw if on site ( for a start a 10 minute walk to the parks or 15 min boat ride direct from your hotel dock isn’t a down grade from an hour on a bus )so I don’t know where you are getting your info from.

If off site the parking garage is A LOT closer to uni entrance than parking at TTC to go to MK (which costs $20 also) and is much more inconvenient esp when the boat isn’t running due to fog or the monorail is on reduced hours due to ongoing maintenance.
Parking prices at WDW are on par with uni but uni garage is much closer and you can walk to the parks. It is also covered so no roasting hot car when you return.

Suggest you read up on some of the posts in the TP Blogs and other websites before making these type of sweeping statements.

the transport at Uni is great.
We paid for the valet parking as it was just easier and not a great deal more than self parking and we rarely needed our car anyway.
The boats are very frequent to the parks and a short trip.
The buses in between resorts run every 20 minutes or so.

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Sorry but there is no secret for avoiding parking fees at Uni’s onsite hotels Keep in mind that you pay for parking at WDW hotels too, it is just hidden in the room fee (which is almost double the price of a similar Uni room) with no way to avoid if you aren’t driving.

You can avoid paying parking at the parks with a Preferred or Premiere annual pass, if you are staying onsite more than 3 days the AP is a good deal for the discounts.

Also remember that no point at Uni (even the worst parking spot) is more than a 20min walk from the parks’ front gate; busses and boats shave off a few minutes from the hotels but are totally optional. Travel time from parking to first attraction is about the same as at DHS or DAK, and about half of MK.

Having staying at both many times, I can’t think of a single way in which WDW transportation is superior to Uni. UOR is 1000x more walkable, and the boats and busses are much quicker at Uni.

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Really appreciate the response Skubersky, I don’t wanna give the publication and free press but I had read that the parking situation at US was poor but I always trust a liners advice above all!!