I assume you’re going this year then? In that case I think you will have to settle with buying Express Pass separately (which is quite expensive and may not be in your budget). If you can get Cabana Bay, that is an excellent Universal Resort. It gets rave reviews as a good value.
For Disney I think it sounds like the Holiday Inn would be a good option for you. With a car and early entry, there’s not much more an on-site hotel could get you unless you really just like a particular hotel.
Yes that is correct. Express Pass is included in the price of the hotel. The price of express pass and of the hotel rooms can vary, and depending on how many people are in your room, it can pay for itself.
Is the Express pass provided on the checkin date or checkout date if I book for one night?
Both check in and check out days will get express if you book for 1 night. It’s a great deal!
Room key acts as the pass so we can enter the park only after 3 pm and will not have the key the next day. It seems to me it is useless on the day of checkin and check out
You can get your room key/express pass as early as 6am on check in day, and it is good until the parks close on check out day. You get 2 full days of use.
Just to clarify, you won’t get your room as early as 6am but you can check in and they will give you your room keys - one per person as you all need them for the express pass. And you don’t give them back.
Even if you can only get a premier hotel for one night and you have to rearrange the days within your trip, e.g. swap Disney and Universal, it would be worthwhile. Even if you stay at Cabana Bay for the rest of the Universal part of the vacation. Note, I do love Cabana Bay. Sometimes people get one night at a premier hotel and don’t even move in. I’m too cheap to do that, and I like the hotels. But, many do.
Should I go and collect the express pass in person in the morning?
Yes, that’s what @Wahoohokie was saying. Get there early, check in and get your room keys, leave your bags at bell services and get to the parks!
I see they don’t provide early entry. Only the Holiday Inn in Disney Springs seems to provide .
There are a lot of Holiday Inns in the area and it is confusing which one provides Early Entry, so definitely triple check that you’re booking the right one.
The one on the Lake Buena Vista has free parking and food credit but does not provide early entry. Is 30 mins early entry worth to switch?
For attractions with LL and ILL, are they not available to ride without LL or ILL? For Epcot which opens at 11 am, does tle LL opens up at 7 am?
How much is parking? I’d say probably not worth it unless you are early risers and want to make use of that time.
Standby is available for all attractions except Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, which has a free virtual queue that you can join at 7am or 1pm. So there is an option to ride every ride without paying for LL or ILL.
You can always get your first LL at 7am for every park, but the return window will be for the earliest available slot after park opening. So for Epcot with an 11am opening, the very first LL reservation issued would be for a 11am-12pm return window. (important to note that they are issued sequentially and run through return times pretty quick, so you may not get the first return window)
For EPCOT, can we book second LL at 9 am and again at 11 am?
No - not 9am, and only 11am if you are using your first LL at that time.
You can book a second LL as soon as you tap into your first LL OR 2 hours after the park with your first LL opens. So if your first LL is at Epcot and has an 11am return window, you can tap in right at 11am (in theory) and immediately get a new LL (or whenever your return window is).
If your return window is later, you can get your second LL reservation 2 hours after that park opens, which would be 1pm. You can then get another LL reservation when you tap into your first LL ride.
If I get a LL for 12 :30pm am, can I again book a LL at 1 pm before using the 12:30 pm LL? In other words, can I have an active LL when I book a new LL?
Check out the pinned thread at the top of this forum for the Genie+ questions. They are answered in there.
Yes, you can (and probably should) get a LL at 1pm, then use the 12:30pm LL immediately after and get another LL. You can have multiple LLs at a time.