We have a 7-night stay booked for Thanksgiving week. When I booked, I did so back in January. Standard room at Hard Rock with tax, around $500/night. I really wanted a deluxe queen with sofabed (family of 5) but it would’ve been a $200 per night premium. Pass.
I recall a member here mentioning that room offers will start popping up in May. I keep checking but no matter the new offer, room rates have only gone way up. They seem to be hovering around $670/night (tax included), with the deluxe queen rooms with a sofabed running around $800. Ouch! Right now the best option is Portofino Bay, which is running just a shade under $500/night, but I’m sticking with Hard Rock.
Needless to say I haven’t rebooked. I realize it’s a high demand week, but do they normally run any sort of deals?
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Not for the week leading into Thanksgiving or the that weekend. You can find deals the next week starting after the holiday. The premier hotels rarely deeply discount unless you are doing a four night Sun. - Thurs. stay not during a holiday.
I checked the week after Thanksgiving and HRH + Royal Pacific are holding steady. You can get a room at Portofino for $350/night for a four night stay.
(Four nights is, typically, the starting point for any lodging discount)
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We had a standard double queen room at HRH and had a sleeper for our 5th person (12 year old). It worked fine for us.
We spent nearly all our time in the parks and at the pool.
Plus I believe the HRH standard rooms as a bit bigger than the other two deluxe resorts.
Keep in mind they charge an extra $40 for the sleeper. We only stayed one night there to get two days of UXP so not sure if that’s a daily charge or not.
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Ozzie, I believe Portofino is the largest, Royal Pacific the smallest.
If the upgrade to the slightly larger deluxe room was reasonable, I would do it. But $200 PER NIGHT? No way. Of course now it would be $300/night. Ouch! We spent 8 nights at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside and did fine. Those rooms are smaller than HRH. (314 sq ft vs 375)
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Good point on Portofino. I remembered we were only comparing RP to HRH b/c of the prices when we went…should’ve said I know HRH is bigger than RP!
@projectx33, have you considered getting an annual pass for yourself? I plugged in the sat before thanksgiving to the sat after in the AP site and the rooms are $356 at the hard rock. I don’t see a sleeper sofa but maybe you could request a roll away?
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@AccioVacation
That’s a great idea, thanks for checking on that. We’re currently in a standard room with a roll away.
I dug into this and ran the numbers… surprisingly I’m still slightly better off booking direct and buying regular park tickets. Not by much, but just a little under $200.
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You know you only need one person to have the Power AP (and that person could technically be a child… they’ve never actually asked for my pass at the resort, and I have, in fact, needed to renew at the gate after check in and not had any questions asked) to get the discount, right? The rest can just have regular multi-day tickets.
Also, if you have a Costco membership, look into the packages available on costcotravel.com. I know we got a very good deal on a club level deluxe room (we had 5 with a rollaway and there was plenty of space) there… they have hot breakfast in the lounge!
The room I had last month at HRH would have been very tight with a rollaway… I don’t even know where it could go, because I don’t think the space between the beds was wide enough, and even if it was, you wouldn’t have been able to get out of the one bed on the other side unless you slid ask the way to the foot of it.
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Oh, wait… DUH! No I was factoring in APs for all 5 of us like a moron!
Ok, that changes the math a bit. @AccioVacation does that $356 rate include all taxes and fees?
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I honestly can’t remember. That particular room rate is no longer available but here is the link for the AP rates. You don’t need to plug in your pass number or anything so feel free to play around with it. If I’m stalking rates, I usually check once in the morning and once at night since the available rates are very fluid
https://reservations.universalorlando.com/ibe/default.aspx?hgID=641&nights=1&adults=2&promo=APH&_ga=2.107490561.2082395187.1641262412-1977945855.1640973498
Like @Nikkipoooo has said & I can verify. The do not check or even ask - ever. The front desk clerks don’t care. I’ve gone 10 times in the last two years all booked using AP hotel rates.
So get an AP if you think that’s the better deal OR buy the tickets you’ve priced out & still book the AP hotel rate
Nice, thanks for the link!
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That link will not give you the best rate for APs. It’s the link to the Lowe’s Hotel Group direct booking site.
There can be deals there sometimes, but not as often…
You need to use this to get the AP deal
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And AP rates can vary just by adding or subtracting a day… sometimes it’s very worth it to stay in a cheap Endless Summer or Cabana Bay family suite (or even just a different room category at the same resort) for a late arrival or early departure if that will get you you the sweet AP rate at a Premier.
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