Has anyone stayed off site in Orlando and then switched to a deluxe hotel to get Express Pass?

Hi All,
I was planning on staying off site in Orlando on a Saturday and switching to Portofinio on Sunday, so we could use the express pass both days. Has anyone done this and how much hassle was it? Thanks, Judy

No hassle at all. We do it from a WDW hotel - pack an overnight bag, check in to UOR around 7am, easy peasy.

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Thanks

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Wait what???
How does this work?
Can someone fill me in? We are planning our first trip for two days and I need all the pointers!

If you stay at a deluxe hotel at Universal (Portofino Bay, Hard Rock, or Royal Pacific) then you get express pass for everyone on the reservation for all days of your stay, including check in and check out day. So if you stay one night, you get Express pass included for both days, for the price of the hotel room. Tickets aren’t included, you still have to buy those.

We’ve done exactly this, actually had a timeshare week we were using, then “checked in” to the RPR at 6 am to get over to HP for early opening. If you have a car, just park in hotel lot, then let them know when you get to the desk that you parked. I think we had to display the pass before going to the parks. Then with your passes and hotel keys in hand, head to the parks! We were lucky and they had a room ready for us, but I wouldn’t expect that. It was great to be walking distance from the parks, we came back and napped/used the pool in the afternoon, went to CityWalk for a nice dinner, then back to the parks. The next morning, we were up and in the parks early and had a nice breakfast at the 3 broomsticks, did more HP stuff, did a bunch of rides, then went back to RPR to pack up and check out, which I think we did by phone, threw our bag in the car, and went back to the parks for more fun. The 2 days of express pass meant that we could fit everything in really easily in 2 days. In fact, we went back to the timeshare resort for our afternoon break and came back in the evening to re-do our favorites in both parks. I highly recommend this…in fact, it’s what I’m planning our trip around when we take the whole extended family in 2021! Two days of Express Pass makes Universal so doable in 2 days!

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Not sure if this counts as we are actually staying in the hotel as our only booked accommodation that night, but we are doing:

2 nights AoA
2 nights Universal HIE
1 night RPR (for EPs)
4 nights PC

We will be doing IoA and USF the two days either side of the RPR stay, checking in at 8.30AM. The two days prior to those are KSC+HHN, VB+HHN.

Certainly seemed the sensible way to do things. The RPR is expensive, that one night is double our two at the HIE, but worth it for the EPs!

We have a throwaway day booked because a) cheaper than 2 days of express b) our toddler needs a separate space to sleep and the suites at UO are $$$$$

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About how long did the check in process take? Staying off property first then checking in at Portofino and want to be at parks at opening.

I did this in November and it took longer than I expected (computer problems). I think about 30 minutes to check in and the travel time to get to the parks.

Has anyone done this while based at a Universal hotel? Be checked in to two universal hotels at the same time?

Is your question asking about having literally two reservations at the same time (which I wouldn’t understand) or doing a split stay and switching hotels during your stay? My last trip was a split stay. We did our first three nights at Royal Pacific and switched to Cabana Bay for our last night. It was really easy. We checked out of RPR and left our luggage with luggage services the morning of our second to last day. By the time we went to Cabana Bay that night, our luggage had been transferred over by RPR and was waiting for us upon arrival. My understanding is that deluxe resorts will transfer luggage to non-deluxe, but not the other way around.

I am with a party of five. I come Sunday morning and the rest come Sunday evening. Due to all the people involved we need either a kids suite or two rooms.

To get express passes on all four days, it is currently ($120) cheaper to book two nights at Aventura and a throwaway reservation at Royal Pacific, and then on the third day switch to a suite at Royal Pacific, then spend the first two nights at Royal Pacific.

I am trying to balance saving money, reducing room transfers, and having easy access to volcano bay.

Okay, I get it. That makes sense. That is not a scenario I would have thought of! Also, just so you know, if you don’t already, you CAN put 5 people in a regular room at Royal Pacific. I have done it with my family of 5, but we basically only sleep in the room.

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If we tried to put all five people in one room it would be very stressful. We bring our food and eat breakfast and dinner in the room. At the end of the day people want space and two rooms are the way to do it.

Last year three out of the five shared a room and we could have used more room.

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That makes total sense! At any point in there, was I able to answer your actual question? I lost track!

Not yet. I want to know if anyone has ever tried to have reservations at two different universal hotels at the same time, one to stay at and one for express passes. For various reasons I can’t split the party into two hotels.

I’m sorry I went off on a tangent. I don’t have any personal experience with that, but hopefully someone can chime in.

I had simultaneous reservations at 2 Universal hotels during the trip planning stages but changed nights around before we were actually there. When we checked in at RPR the day we checked out from Cabana Bay it didn’t seem like information was shared from one reservation to the other (the Cabana Bay reservation was directly through the Universal site for the seasonal passholder rate, while the RPR reservation was through booking.com) but I could be wrong. The only hiccup I can maybe imagine is that your room key is also your early admission pass but as long as you just use the one with express pass it should be fine.

If you have more than one adult in the party I might put the simultaneous reservations under different adults.

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I’m so sorry if you’ve already been on your trip, I just saw this reply! It took 10-15 minutes, but only because they offered us an up(down?)grade. She knew I was just using the room for the passes, I guess I’m obvious. So she asked if we’d be interested in the parlor only of a suite (no beds except a sofabed). Perfect! We had a great place to rest in the afternoon of day 1, a nice coffeemaker with lots of pods, and it cost much less! I never expect to get that offer again, but it sure was nice!

We dropped our little day bags at bell services, another 5 minutes, then we were out the door and on the footpath to the parks.

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