This week’s episode of The Case For with Chris Cox was a discussion of the value of Universal Orlando’s “Deluxe” hotels – specifically the three which include Express Passes:
Hard Rock
Royal Pacific
Portofino Bay
Pedantic note: Universal includes these three hotels in the category they refer to as their “Signature Collection” hotels, but that bucket also includes Helios and Sapphire Falls, which do not offer Express Passes as a benefit. To be consistent, I will use the term “Deluxe” the way Jim, Len, and Chris did – i.e., just the three hotels with EP.
Now to the polls!
Overall, are the UOR Deluxe hotels a good value with Express Pass?
Yes
It used to be but not without Epic EP
Never was
Other
0voters
If you chose to stay at a UOR Deluxe hotel, which of these factors would most impact your decision?
(Select up to two)
Luxury accommodations / rooms
Express Passes to IoA / USF
Proximity to parks
Pools / recreation
Restaurants
Spa / other amenities
Other
0voters
What is the highest price point (for a standard room) you would consider staying at a UOR Deluxe hotel?
$300
$400
$500
$600
$700
$800
$900
$1000+
I would not choose to stay there at any price point
0voters
Which of the three UOR Deluxe hotels is your favorite?
I have neither stayed at a Deluxe resort at UOR, or have I ever had (nor needed) Express Pass for the parks. We have always been able to get through everything we’ve wanted without it, and usually have plenty of day leftover. (Granted, we usually do multi-day trips to UOR.)
We have stayed at the value resorts (Surfside and Dockside), which has been fine/good enough. I just can’t see spending the kind of money that the Deluxe resorts charge, considering I don’t think that Citywalk and the parks is enough at USO to justify it.
My favorite resort is the cheapest. I got home last night after a 3 night Stella Luna/1 night Hard Rock club level stay. With three adults in a room, I will always upgrade to club level if it is around )100-150 a night. We will save more than that between waters, coffees, and breakfast. Add on snacks, light dinner, and desserts- $50 a person is most likely a low estimate of value.
We arrived at Hard Rock at 9:30am. Our room was ready. The room was $595.55 (passholder rate-extra adult charge) plus tax-$670.01 final charge. Unlimited express cost (2 park) would have been $245 per person (x3) per day.
You just never know. This is the first time I found HRH with the cheapest rate. I cancelled/ rebooked for the last time one week before my stay.
This was also a 65th birthday present to myself, so I most likely would have been ok with my higher/earlier booked rates.
Our first UOR trip starts in 69 days, so my votes are forward looking rather than based on experience!
We only have three full park days and are not sure if/when we are coming back, so we wanted Express Pass. Booking one night at a Deluxe (which comes with UXP) was significantly cheaper than buying two-day Express Passes for 4 people, whether you use the room or not (I also priced it out against 3-day one-use Express Passes that include Epic, and the Deluxe room + 1-day Epic Express Passes was a better deal).
The lowest rate I’ve found so far for our dates is $270/night at RPR, which even with tax on top comes out to $38.50 per person/day for UXP for two days (and it’s dropped a few times, so I’ll continue to check and rebook if the price drops any further). So for someone who wants Express Pass, it’s clearly a good value when you’re getting that perk for less than you would pay for Deluxe Pass. I voted for $500 per night on the third question, but clearly this is also relative to the price of the Express Pass.
I’ll be curious to see which hotel gets voted as a favorite! For our stay I’m still torn between doing 5-nights at Sapphire Falls (with a 1 night “ghost stay” at a Deluxe - but we would likely go sleep in the room with a day bag just to check out the resort) and a split stay (2 nights RPR or Portofino and 3 nights at an Epic resort) - there was only a $30 difference between the 2 nights at RPR and Portofino, so I’ve booked both and will need to decide soon!
The rates were significantly lower for Helios than what I had booked – $315 vs $385 per room per night!
But I Disney (Universal?) Mathed myself into upgrading to Park View rooms for essentially no additional charge from what I had booked at the old price.
I’m actually very pleased with that because I would have been kicking myself to have gone all that way and paid all that money just to have a view of a parking lot or something. I was hoping I’d luck into a park view one way or another.
And if it makes you feel any better, I did something very similar when my prices dropped - I had been pricing out 5 nights at Cabana Bay, and upgraded to Sapphire Falls when it got down to the same rate as Cabana Bay
Definitely worth it in this case! The park view rooms are so much fun. On one of our nights, we were too tired to make it to park close, so it was great to still be able to watch the fountain show from inside the room!
For DH and me, we aren’t really ride people, so staying at one of the resorts that give express passes doesn’t really do much for us. After my trip to Epic, I’m not totally sure I want to go back for any length of time. I’d rather just stay at the cabins at FW and drive over.
I went with $700 but only because our last trip was over Christmas break and we had 4 adults in the room (Me, DH and our two daughters who were then 18 and 20). Express Passes were so expensive that week that the room was essentially free. And it was so crowded that we definitely needed EPs!
I haven’t been yet, so my votes may change. I did book a signature and only about a month or two out, so my research when doing so was fast and furious! The included express passes to the original parks were a sweetener for me and not really dispositive. I can’t really rate their value as a perk THAT highly for me personally as we travel as a party of two and don’t do the biggest thrill rides. I initially planned to pick the category down of hotels and get a multiday express pass that includes epic. This probably was still the smarter play as I did end up buying standalone epic ep. And since I’m not an annual pass holder the “deluxe” rates are very pricey, especially looking just a few months out. But I found a rate through Amex fine resorts that was reasonable and has included breakfast x2 every day and a $100 dining/bev credit. So I pivoted to what I hope will be something of a bit more resort-y experience! If we ever go again though I think I’ll be better equipped to weigh the trade-offs associated with the hotel offerings after having been there before!
We stayed at a Value hotel and got a room at Portofino for one night for EP. It was cheaper for our family to do that than to actually buy EP alone. It was a holiday weekend. We struggled to find our way around the grounds, finding our room required help and when we got to the bus stop, we were the only ones there and wondered if we were in the right place. There were no signs. So, we probably would not choose to stay there for any length of time. Beautiful and fun transportation but not our style.
IMHO - They can be, but you need four people staying in the room to get the value of the UXP added. I don’t have four so I can’t justify it. Plus, as an AP I go enough that I don’t need UXP to do all the attractions.
For our family of 5, it was a great deal to stay at a Deluxe with EP included for all of us. It was worth it for the re-rides of our favorites and just made it easier overall since it was our first time at UOR. At RPR it did not feel quite as “deluxe” as a Disney deluxe since the room was noticably smaller. With a full room, every inch matters! I did think the grounds and public areas felt deluxe.
