A couple things: you don’t have to have the APs in hand to reserve AP rates at the hotels. You just need to show them before check out (or sometimes not at all-experiences vary) Also, the discounted tickets that you can buy as AP holders are not really a bargain. Undercover Tourist or other ticket vendors (Touring Plans?) have deals too and you can get them ahead of time. And, you can pre-purchase tickets for your first day and then convert to APs anytime before your last day of use. That way, you can get into the parks early and worry about the APs later in the day.
This is my understanding-other UOR folks correct me if I’m wrong on any of this.
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Wow, I never came back to report on how things worked out, or even to say thank you for all the advice! Since there are similar questions posed now, I’ll report as best as I can remember.
We had two hotel reservations that day- one at Dockside for my mother and one at Hard Rock for my family of five. We went to Dockside first and checked my mom in. We arrived about an hour before early entry was scheduled. We picked up all of our passes and her room key, then went to check in at the Hard Rock to get our room keys that would act as Express Passes (my mom had no interest in most of the rides, so she didn’t require express.) We decided not to go to Islands of Adventure for early entry, but instead went to wait for the gates to open at Universal Studios. It seemed like everyone was at IOA for early entry, and Diagon Alley was pretty empty. Hardly any wait for Gringotts, and our morning was really laid back compared to if we had pushed to get to early entry for IOA. The next morning, we did get to IOA for early entry and all the rides were delayed! We still got on Hagrids pretty quickly because we stayed close to it doing spells in Hogsmeade. I do suggest that you eat something before going to Early Entry because food is pretty hard to find until 10:00 in the park- we ended up having churros for breakfast. Breakfast of champions I guess LOL!!!
We have been back to Universal multiple times since this trip so here are my suggestions: If you are arriving at 11:30 pm and only have the one day after to be in the park, I recommend picking up the AP as soon as the vacation planning desk is open and getting to the early entry park as early as you can- an hour before they say the gates will open. You might get stopped at security or the entry gate, but just be patient. You want to be at the front of that line to maximize your time. You don’t need the AP to book the hotel room, but they might ask you for proof of the AP purchase as you are checking in or sometime before checkout. It is my understanding that there are no single day discounted AP tickets, only ticket packages, and the discount is not that great. Many AP holders I’ve talked to have expressed that they’ve found better deals even on the Universal website. I have had to purchase tickets for family members and went through Orlando Informer.
I hope that helps! Have a great time, my family has really come to love UO over the past year that we’ve been pass holders!
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