And also like Disneyland. The dry parks are next to each other. So, getting back and forth is easy. We took the train a couple of times just for ice cream.
Also, I don’t know if you need to love HP to enjoy the theming. Does anyone love Avatar?
I’d say 4 days just for the dry parks, but then daughter loved loved loved doing the wand locations. So a normal family could probably do 3 for the dry parks.
I haven’t been to Discovery Cove, but it does look very interesting.
UOR resorts do sometimes show up on Hotwire, but much rarer than Disney deals (when there are any) and in general they are not deeply discounted deals at all. Maybe a few extra dollars shaved off.
Also sometimes on Priceline Express, but they haven’t had ANY real deals this year at all, so that site is kinda DOA right now.
Probably worth checking once in awhile, but you just want to make sure the discount is something well more than 11% off the non-hidden deal price or it is not worth it. (I tend to want the hidden deal discount to be 20% or above or it is not worth the non-refundableness to me.)
My Hotwire matcher has a UOR tab on it to help you identify resorts.
When we booked our trip last year to stay at Surfside, the CHEAPEST deal I could find anywhere was booking directly from UOR’s website, which I was surprised by.
Nice!
I run UOR searches at regular intervals, but nowhere near as often as Disney areas since there just weren’t enough deals for me to expend cycles on it.
So, I’m sure I’ve missed some good ones at Hotwire - But it does seem like the best UOR resort deals do come from directly from them!
If you do end up staying at Cabana Bay, look into an AP discount. If one person in your party gets an AP, you qualify for the discount for all rooms booked by that person. And an AP is not much more than a 4-day ticket, especially if you don’t care about blockout days for the seasonal AP.
Finding the AP discount is the biggest challenge. It’s not listed prominently and it is not always available. You have to keep checking and it usually comes out about 3 months in advance or so. Book a room at the regular rate and then when the discount comes out, book new rooms and cancel the rack rate rooms.
In the post below, I included a link directly to where you can book the AP rate. It may or may not still be there, but give it a try.
Thank you.
I am hopeful to work on this later tonight.
I just took a peek and it looks like they do have discounts, but not the AP discount for May just yet. Like I said, book a room for now and then come back later to see if you can get the AP discount. Everything is refundable and easy to do online, IIRC. Right now AP rates go through February 18th.
I usually keep a bookmark with the dates I want with the URL set to look for the APH rates, and then i start checking about 4 months out.
The url for the first week of May is
https://res.windsurfercrs.com/ibe/index.aspx?hgID=705&hotelID=14843&langID=1&currID=1&dt1=8156&nights=4&rooms=1&adults=2&child1=1&promo=aph
You can adjust the URL for your specific wishes. I tend to keep the number or people in the room low when is search so I don’t remove viable options due to arbitrary reasons.
Keep in mind for Deluxe hotels, more than 2 adults in a room will incur a $45 charge for each extra adult. The other hotels have lower costs for extra adults.
Just running through here - haven’t gone back to do what I need to for other things yet -
but is this what you mean?
Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort (universalorlando.com)
And then I go back every other day or so and see if there is an icon/square that offers an AP rate?
That link is cool! I hope it scores me a deal!
this is qwerty and my name is messed up right now - hopefully I will get it fixed up…
anyway - does May 14-May 22 seem “late” for May? We have often gone the first week on May, but the leader of our homeschool association doesn’t have a confirmation yet for our graduation venue. It could end up being 5/6 or 5/13.
Why don’t you get your techy teenage kids to fix it!
The parks generally get busier as you approach Memorial Day.
@ryan1 - I know you have stayed at Champions Gate before, as have I. But have you ever stayed there when visiting Universal? If so, can you comment on the commute?
Anyone else is of course welcome to help.
Thank you.
Sounds good to me.
Thankfully, Memorial Day is super late this year - the latest it can be, I believe.
I’d rather go for Mothers Day… but
I didn’t read all the previous responses, but if you book certain hotels you get the express pass for free. That is what we did, b/c we were Thanksgiving week, and it was wonderful. We stayed at Portofino. I highly regret that we didn’t’ have time to really enjoy the pools, as they looked lovely. It’s my understanding that you can pool hop at UOR, unlike Disney, so if you’re staying in one resort you have access to any of the resort pools–but, this was pre pandemic and I don’t know if it’s still true.
oh thank you - that is good to know.
I am hopeful we can do a night or two at Cabana Bay… but not sure.
Commute is annoying. We just did it in May for our UOR trip. It generally was 45+ minutes, on average. Some days a little faster, others were more like 55 minutes.
I really suggest looking for something closer if you can…although you won’t save as much doing so.
Thank you.
I reached out to some homes in Storey Lake (I think that was the name - my screens are closed now).
I did like a lot about Champions Gate, but it is a longer drive.
Have you ever stayed in Windsor Hills and done Uni? That seems like a hefty commute too?