I’m looking at UOR hotel prices for the first time. Ever. There seems to be a wide variation depending on season, as expected. However, I was surprised to see relatively high prices the last week of May. I know its Memorial Day, but I didn’t expect that to play into it at all. So I have some questions…
What kinds of discounts can I look out for or work for? I’m coming from a huge Dis-nerd background, so discounted Disney GCs, etc. are tools I’m familiar with.
If we will be using a disability access pass, is it still worth upgrading to the express pass hotels?
How useful is the water taxi and “close proximity” to Volcano Bay, these are highlighted as perks on the hotel options page.
I’d appreciate any and all advice you have for me. It will be me, DW, DS9, DS7, and DD5 (HOW’D THEY GET SO OLD?!?!). So need a room that can sleep 5. We’ve done UOR before but stayed offsite. This time around, I’m looking at a WDW-UOR-WDW type of thing where I’ll rent a car on property at WDW to use while going to UOR (and also a short visit to GKTW Village). I’m planning a full day each at USF and IOA and a half day at Volcano Bay.
UOR comes out with their AP discounts (which is typically the best and worth the price of an AP for one member of your party) about 2-3 months ahead of time in blocks of 2-3 months. Discounts for March - May will come out in January. The very end of May around Memorial Day in 2023 was actually part of the next round of discount releases, so I had to wait until March to book.
The water taxi is great but walking distance is better if you can stay at HRH or RPH. I stayed at PBH in May and absolutely loved it, but the walk was killer, so we had to take the water taxi, which was generally no more than a 15-20 minute wait.
To get to Volcano Bay, you will need to take an internal bus route, or if you are at Cabana Bay, you can walk using the dedicated entrance (technically you can also use that path if you are sneaky from Aventura or bus over to CBR).
I really liked the look of the 2 bedroom rooms at Cabana Bay. I would recommend booking one as a placeholder now. They sell out before the discounts come out, but they are a great value regardless. Book a Volcano Bay view room. Very spacious.
I have no idea how their disability access pass works, but if it is a sufficient alternative to Express Pass, I would stay at CB rather than pay extra for a premium hotel.
We usually have both Express Pass and the Disability Pass. The Disability pass works like Disney where you can only hold one at a time. We usually get the return time for Hagrid’s (and before it was EP eligible, Velocicoaster) but used EP for everything else.
As the early riser, I get to the park first, go to Hagrid’s for the return time and then go get the wheelchair for DS…and because, well, teenagers……I usually have time to get a drink and breakfast while I wait for the boys to arrive!
Only one comment. It will be hard to find a cheap room that sleeps five. It can be done though depending on if you sleep two and two and bring a blow up. Rather than CBR may I suggest Pop Century or the like. They are half the cost of CBR and the Skyliner is right there like CBR but for a lot less money.
Aventura Hotel has a 575 sq. ft. Kids Suite. It’s a very modern, no theme hotel, but very cool. That room has a King bed, 2 Twins, and a sofa bed in 3 different sections.
From Aventura, you can take the short walk to the neighbor hotel Sapphire Falls to use the Water Taxi to the parks. And it’s a short walk to Volcano Bay. It’s a Prime Value hotel, so similar to Cabana Bay in cost.
We once stayed in the Jurassic World Kid’s suite at RPR. It was pretty cool as well. We got a rollaway but I think the couch may have been a pullout couch.
UT is a good source of discounts. I personally have never found packages to be a good deal but maybe there is a situation where it prices out better than other alternatives. Just be aware of refund policies, etc. UT will give you a refund up to a year later, but they take I think 5% off the top as a processing fee. You can still apply the value to new tickets beyond one year at the ticket office at UOR.
After thinking about this a lot the last few days, I’ve decided to spring for Royal Pacific to get the EPs. Of course, it will depend on whether DW is ok with paying for the upgrade. She may say we have to get by without EPs. We may not really need them anyways. But I’m only planning 2 nights and hoping to do all three parks, probably VB on arrival day to make it less stressful, then use early entry for other two the next two days to maximize our time. EPs would make it a little less stressful I think.
EP’s are nice. We found that in many cases the stand by line were long but not undoable. We always stay at one of those premium resort for this reason. Now along with that consider getting AP’s as they are slightly more expensive than a five day package but the discounts are great. Recently we found a 40% off resort deal for those with AP’s. We love Portofino resort but it is at the top of the price range. Another thing to conider with AP’'s is there renewal price. There is a hefty discount from the original cost.
