Hotel question

I am a WDW girl but my DS almost 13 would like to go to Universal. Trying to decide how long if we stay at a hotel that offers Express Pass and would it be feasible to do 1 night at that hotel and another at a value hotel or an offsite. I think he’d like Volcano Bay also. We would probably go over Spring Break - 1st week in April, so if we had express pass would we still need a touring plan? I know nothing about Universal and haven’t been there in years!
Also does it matter which order I do the more expensive hotel vs the less expensive one? I guess it doesn’t matter as long as I go on the checkin and check out day? We would drive down so we would have a car also. I actually may consider staying off site for the night(s) I don’t need express pass. When we go to FL we are usually off site but I think financially we’d be better off staying in one of the hotels that offers express pass for one nights since we’d be a family of 3 adults and one child (DD8) They are so crazy expensive over spring break though!! Thanks for any advice.

I still like a touring plan because it gives you an idea of what you can get done, walking times between attractions etc.

I don’t know if it really matters which way round you have the hotels, but you may want to consider that a deluxe hotel will move your bags to a value, but not the other way round. I think I would do the deluxe first and use check in and check out days in the parks with express pass, then that night in a value and Volcano Bay with early entry for your 3rd day, because that’s a separate express pass anyway.

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Do you think I should go ahead and join the Universal side of Lines? Or can I wait, it appears that I may not need to do as much research ahead of time as my WDW trips.

I always keep my subscription up. You don’t know what you don’t know, and you can learn a lot no matter how well you know the park and resorts. So I’d probably suggest joining.

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I just joined, but now it looks so confusing, lol. I have no idea about rides, etc. I know so much about Disney! :slight_smile:
Like which plan should I choose - if I have Express Pass and park to park.

I’d just look at the rides and do a personalised one including the ones you want to do. To park hop, same as Disney, you need 2 separate plans.

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I agree with this. But, truthfully, when I tried to use a Touring Plan once we arrived at Universal, I quickly found it useless and abandoned it. I also found that the estimated wait times in the TP app were considerably more inaccurate compared to the Universal App itself.

So I suggest using your TP membership for Universal to just make a plan for each day that shows, approximately, what you can accomplish and what order. But once you arrive in the park, you likely won’t need the plan itself…but you’ll be familiar with the parks a bit more and be able to have some reasonable expectations as to what you can accomplish.

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Yes we don’t use it, it’s good for the show times though.

Thanks to you all! It’s like learning a foreign language. I’d rather go to Disney, but I need to make DS happy sometimes. LOL

We are doing this - same week :slight_smile:
We plan to stay the first night at the nice universal hotel to take advantage of relaxing there on arrival day and express pass for the next day.

Then we will move off site at a local hotel the 2’nd night since there seemed to be no benefit (no luggage transfer service) between universal hotels unless it is delux to delux

Keep in mind that you can get 2 full days of express pass from one night at a deluxe. Your plan only makes use of one day of express pass, which is fine if that’s what you want to do! :blush:

I just went from RP to endless summer and Universal transfered my bags for me, it was super easy

Thanks! Yes just one day for cost reasons

Good to know! When I called and asked about this they told me they did not do that.

They do it from deluxes, but not from value to deluxe. So it depends where you’re staying first.

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Here’s my point, though. Let’s say you stay at the value first. Enjoy the pool on your arrival day, then the next morning, pack up your stuff and get over to the deluxe hotel. Drop off your stuff to be locked in the luggage room, and then head to the parks with a full day of express pass. At regular check-in time, pick up your bags and go to the room. The next morning, use express pass again. If you have to go back to the value hotel for another night, have the deluxe send your bags over or leave them with the front desk again. Yes, it’s a lot of moving from hotel to hotel, but you will also maximize the express pass benefits, which is even better on a budget!

You can check in at 6am to the deluxe if you want to, leave your stuff and use your Express Pass and early entry. But you’re right that staying at the value first would make more sense if you weren’t going to arrive till the afternoon, say.

I meant we are only doing one day of park tickets to keep the overall cost down since doing express pass for the day we will be there was a non-negotiable. The day after our parks (morning after) we are leaving Orlando so won’t be enjoying the property enough to have it make sense to flip the deluxe night. :slight_smile:

Thanks for this tip!!! So excited; maybe I did not ask Universal the question the right way the first time. This will make things SO much simpler for us. :slight_smile:

Oh, I’m so sorry I misunderstood! You are absolutely doing it right, then. Have a wonderful trip!

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