Our first Universal Trip (planning thread)

[NTEI]

@darkmite2

the spell spots will begin to be busy by 10am

So assuming that we arrive for RD and are let in at 9.45, then spend 15 min in the first Ollivander’s show - are you saying the spell spots will already be busy by the time we come out of Ollivander’s?

I just checked the calendar for the whole month of June and USF opens at 10am every single day, and there isn’t a single day of early park admission for USF. So I fear July will be the same - and we’ll just have to prepare ourselves for a crowded experience in DA?

In case it helps, TP is predicting a CL 5 for USF on the day that we’re going (it’s also predicting an opening time of 9am, but I fear that won’t happen looking at current schedule).

[darkmite2]

@NTEI

I just checked the calendar for the whole month of June and USF opens at 10am every single day,

USF should be open at 9am, but it is rarely ever open for Early Park Admission. There are times when it opens at 10am, but that tends to happen more often when schools are in session.

Either way, I was trying to say that after the first hour DA will be busy. It’s where most people will be going once the gates open and it doesn’t slow down until late in the day.

@NTEI

TP is predicting a CL 5 for USF on the day that we’re going

That’s a pretty good day for summer! With a good plan and a list of “must-do” items you’ll be ok!

[NTEI]

@darkmite2

after the first hour DA will be busy

Ok, great - that sounds promising then, we’ll definitely be in DA as soon as we are allowed in and prioritizing Ollivander’s and spells on this first morning. For attractions we’ll have UXP (and a short list of must-dos) so I’m not worried.

[NTEI]

I need help! The Universal Hotel pricing approach is just wild - and I am SO confused. When I first started planning for this trip, I looked at room prices over a period of maybe two weeks, compared options (primarily between a split stay and a value resort/express pass combo), deliberated on whether I wanted to move around between hotels, and eventually booked what I thought I wanted: a four-night stay in a value resort with express passes.

Then all prices seemed to drop suddenly about a month later, so I rebooked my original value choice (CB) - and also booked an upgrade option (SF) that was now the same price as I had planned to pay for the value.

Then prices for all other resorts went totally haywire too. RPR (which was well over $500 per night when I was planning the trip) dropped to $270/night for our dates. Portofino dropped to $300/night. Even Helios dropped to $340 a night. And every time I found a drop, I started imagining new options. And worked a bit on our touring plans, so that I now have a better idea of how to manage transportation and possible resort moves.

Check in is 83 days away. I am still seeing the prices changes every day, but am going a bit crazy keeping track of them all - and at this point they are all within the range of what I’m comfortable spending, so I think I just need to decide (or at least narrow down to TWO options) - and if there are more price drops on those, just consider them as a bonus.

We have three park days (first USF/IOA for 1.5 days, then Epic for 1.5 days) and are spending our last full day at Volcano Bay (so last night will be CB with any option for the early entry to VB)

SO, what would you choose and why:

• Option 1: 5 night stay at Cabana Bay (with option of spending night 2 at RPR since we’ll book a night there in any case for the two-day UXP): great because we don’t have to move our bulky luggage, but means 20 min walk/bus to any park over three park days.
• Option 2: 4 nights at Sapphire Falls (with same RPR sleepover option), and final night at CB: great because we can take the boat to the parks for the first 1.5 days, but then still need to take the bus to Epic, and need to move resorts once on our VB morning.
• Option 3(a/b): 2 nights at a Signature (RPR or Portofino, the price difference is minimal) + 2 nights at SN + final night at CB: great because of the easy access to parks on all park days, but need to move resorts twice (once on day 3 before heading to Epic for touring, and again on our VB morning).
• Option 4: 2 nights at a Signature (RPR or Portofino) + 2 nights at Helios + final night at CB: great because of the super easy access to parks on all park days, but need to move resorts twice (once on day 3 before heading to Epic for touring, and again on our VB morning).

All options are under the budget in my original planning and within $500 of each other, so cost is not the overriding consideration. But in case you’re curious, options 1 and 3 are both $1150 total, option 2 is $1450, and option 4 is $1600, give or take.

I’m currently leaning towards the split stay options, but feel I might change my mind again tomorrow. Or worse, think of more options. Help!

[darkmite2]

I just want to make sure you know that you don’t have to stay at CBBR to use the hotel guest entrance to VB. That entrance is for all guests staying at any Universal hotel.

I mention this because I would take option 2 but make it a five-night stay. CBBR is literally across the street. It would be a 5 – 10 minute walk to the CBBR entrance to VB from SF.

I don’t want to have to move my luggage if I didn’t need to and SF is a very nice hotel.

I have stayed in a variety of rooms at CBBR, including the Family Suite. They are all incredibly small. I was given the suite as a free upgrade once. If I had requested and paid a premium for that tiny “suite” I’d been upset. For the two of us it was fine, but still “cozy.”

[bebe80]

So to be clear, Option 2 (4 nights Sapphire, 1 night CBBR) costs $300 more than Option 3? (2 night Signature, 2 nights Sapphire, 1 night CBBR)

And, you have already purchased Express Passes separately correct?

[NTEI]

@darkmite2

you don’t have to stay at CBBR to use the hotel guest entrance to VB

Oooh, I did not know this! In fact, for some reason I was under the impression that only CB gets the early entry to Volcano Bay? Of course now that I’m googling it, it appears that all resort guests get early entry there (and that makes much more sense). More than the entrance, I really cared about the extra time at Volcano Bay - my husband has to leave to the airport around 1pm that day, and we want to rope drop and make the most of the time we have together to ride VB attractions before lines build.

Totally understand that this now makes the SF option more attractive - thanks!

@darkmite2

incredibly small

Indeed, I was so unimpressed with the reviews of the family suite at CBBR that I was just looking at the regular two queen rooms for our trip anyway. It’ll be a park-focused trip, and we are used to sharing a room (kids are still young enough to make it doable), so I was not particularly concerned about room size - I was more concerned with access to parks, and overall resort feel.

[NTEI]

@bebe80

Option 2 (4 nights Sapphire, 1 night CBBR) costs $300 more than Option 3? (2 night Signature, 2 nights Sapphire, 1 night CBBR)

Yes, the SF option costs more than a split stay between RPR and Stella Nova (not Sapphire Falls). I was also a bit suprised by that - but RPR had some great price drops, and SN is at rock-bottom pricing of $109/night for those dates! We would prefer the option of walking from SN to Epic rather than taking the bus from the other resort area.

I initially figured that IF we do a split stay we should just splurge on Helios for the location/own park entrance - but then I saw the SN rate and my reading of reviews is that apart from the location Helios isn’t that much more of an impressive hotel than SN? I also thought we’d have an edge at RD using the Helios hotel, but have now read in a couple of places that Helios may actually have a slight disadvantage rope-dropping Berk and Nintendo World (and we’lllikely rope drop Berk for the Toothless M&G). That said, I also have a reservation at Bar Helios to coincide with the fountain show on our last park night, and the thought of just walking from the hotel bar to our room afterwards remains tempting!

@bebe80

And, you have already purchased Express Passes separately correct?

Yes. I’ve purchase a 1-day Epic Express Passes for a our full day there, and we will get UXP for IOA/USF through the Signature Hotel stay (this is why I’ve booked a one-night stay at $270/night at RPR even if we end up spending all nights at CB/SF - it was a great deal for UXP for four people for 2 days!)

[bebe80]

Ah, Stella Nova. That makes sense.

You are right, it’s quite a lot of factors to decide on!

@NTEI

I’ve purchase a 1-day Epic Express Passes for a our full day there, and we will get UXP for IOA/USF through the Signature Hotel stay

Ah, ok.

Whatever option you choose, great job planning and investigating!

[lolabear_la]

The moving back & forth would drive me crazy! But also, we just drive our rental car everywhere, even if having to pay for parking because we just like the convenience of having our own vehicle to be our own master of our transportation fate, so I’m never as concerned with good close access to parks since we’re likely always driving ourselves to the parking lot and walking to/from it.

So for me, I would do Option 2 - and with the added caveat that Larry mentioned to keep SF the whole 5 nights and just be across the street from it.

But if the moving won’t drive you as crazy and if you want ease of access, then Option 3 is very intriguing! And very good job on all the options & maximizing it to your benefit!

[NTEI]

Thanks again to everyone for the feedback, and a quick update. I still haven’t made a final decision, but thanks to @darkmite2’s clarification on access to VB, I’ve eliminated the option of Cabana Bay entirely. Sapphire Falls seems like a preferable choice for a 5-night stay.

Prices haven’t jumped around quite as dramatically in these past two weeks as in the preceding period, but I still got a few nice price drops and will continue to mull over these three choices:

• Option 1 ($1400): 5 nights at Sapphire Falls (with the option of spending night two at RPR since I’ve booked a night there anyway for the two-day UXP benefit). I love this option because the resort looks beautiful and we wouldn’t need to move with our luggage (we’ll have a lot of luggage). It would give us easy boat access to USF/IOA on the 1.5 park days we’ll spend there, and good walking access to VB on day 4 - but it means a 20 min bus ride for our 1.5 park days at Epic.
• Option 2 ($1200): 2 nights at a Signature (RPR or Portofino, the price difference is minimal) + 3 nights at Stella Nova: this would give us great access to the parks we want to visit (boat from RPR/Portofino to the old parks, and walking path from SN to Epic). BUT it would require one resort move with luggage (we’d use ride share) and a bus to Volcano Bay (and we’d likely leave DH’s luggage in a locker or at CBBR bell services, as he needs to head to the airrport around midday on day 4).
• Option 3 ($1450): 2 nights at a Signature (RPR or Portofino) + 2 nights at Helios + final night at CBBR: this sounds to me like it would give us three amazing and very different UOR resort experiences with SUPER easy access to all parks on all park days - BUT it means moving resorts twice (once on day 3 before heading to Epic for touring, and again on our VB morning).

I’m leaning towards Option 1 as I think it’ll be the most relaxed to just stay in the same resort - and since we have Express passes for all parks (UXP for old parks and 1-day Epic Express Pass) none of our must-dos depend on a super competitive rope drop strategy. DH is leaning towards Option 2 and thinks because he thinks that the resort change is no big deal as long as we pack well.

The good news it that I’d honestly be happy with any of these options, so will keep checking prices and see if that sways me any more towards one or the other. 69 days to go!

[darkmite2]

I voted for option #1 originally and still do!

A 20 minute bus ride isn’t the fastest option, but the overall ease of the trip makes it worth. If it helps, remember it takes 20 minutes to get to/from most hotels at WDW!

[bebe80]

Definitely option #1!

[Jeff_AZ]

@NTEI

Option 1 ($1400): 5 nights at Sapphire Falls (with the option of spending night two at RPR since I’ve booked a night there anyway for the two-day UXP benefit).

I like this as well!

If I didn’t have to purchase two rooms for my party of 6, I would probably do something like this as well.

I definitely prefer staying put to moving resorts. I will do a split stay of 5 nights or more at one of the options, or if I’m changing from UOR to Disney. I have done 2 nights in a pinch, but 1 night is worthless.

But in your case if you still have your room at Sapphire, spending a night at RPR would be kinda fun.

[NTEI]

28 days to go until our UOR trip!

We’ve finally reached a decision on resorts, and have gone with the split stay, with 2 nights at PFB and 3 nights at Helios, primarily because the trip has gotten a bit longer than initially planned (5 nights instead of 4, with half days of park time on arrival and departure day). Seems Disney math and UOR math are quite similar in that regard

I was excited to hear that Hogwart’s Always has returned (for most nights in June, which hopefully means it’ll also be on most nights in July - the UOR calendar seems not have updated that far ahead, though if it does ends on 1 July, at least we can still catch it on the evening of 30 June).

I was disappointed to see that Hagrid’s will no longer be included in UXP from 1 July onwards. I understand why, and think it’s a fair decision if its inclusion in XP has had a strongly negative impact on the standby line. But I had made my touring plans based on the assumption that we could ride it with Express and felt that there really wasn’t much notice given with this announcement. I’ll need to rethink my touring plan a bit, and will also contact UOR to see if they are willing to offer any one-time XPs for guests who booked before the decision was announced.

A final planning consideration that has surfaced recently: I’ve seen in some reddit/insta posts that people are able to enter USF before official park open if they have breakfast vouchers for the Leaky Cauldron. I’d love to take advantage of this and purchase breakfast vouchers for our USF day (especially since the park only opens at 10am every day of our stay, and there is no early admission), but it doesn’t seem possible via the UOR website unless you purchase a whole WWoHP package. It seems some people have managed to buy vouchers at the resorts’ Vacation Planning desks at check in (without buying the whole package). I’m a bit worried that could be too late for us (we’d like to book a breakfast for the first full day of our trip) - so if there are any UOR TAs on here that have more info/are able to book breakfast vouchers as a stand-alone option without the full WWoHP package please let me know!

[drvillarejos]

@NTEI

to see if they are willing to offer any one-time XPs for guests who booked before the decision was announced.

I hope they do for you! What a bummer.

[NTEI]

Travel day is here - we are on the road to Portofino Bay (from Central Florida) as I write this, and sooo excited for our first UOR trip!!

I will definitely to a full trip report afterwards, but have never managed to live report when traveling with family. I’ll try to use this thread for a few quick photos and last-minute questions in the meantime!

[drvillarejos]

SAFE Travels!!! Have an amazing time. I can’t wait to hear about it!!

[Jumping_Fountains]

Yay! Hope you have an amazing time! I really enjoyed Portofino bay

[NTEI]

We made it! Huge rain and thunderstorms as we got into Orlando, but we had planned to take it easy at USF (where there are mainly indoor rides) for arrival afternoon so we were not too worried. It actually felt chilly, which was not on my bingo card for this trip.

Our youngest daughter was out of her mind with excitement to see the Minions land (here seen dragging her sister towards the rides).

Today is WWoHP at USF/IOA (we didn’t even take a peek yesterday) - can’t wait.

Portofino is gorgeous in the morning light.