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Universal Orlando- where to stay
Posted on 6/21/21 at 7:27 pm
Posted on 6/21/21 at 7:27 pm
We are going the Saturday-Wed before Thanksgiving. Wife promised our 8 yr old daughter we would take her if she finished all the Harry Potter books. So now e we are going.
My sister and her family will be joining us. She has teenagers.
What hotel is best? Thinking starting on property so we can get fast pass and early entry.
My sister and her family will be joining us. She has teenagers.
What hotel is best? Thinking starting on property so we can get fast pass and early entry.
10
Posted on 6/21/21 at 7:39 pm to Shotgun Willie
We stayed at the cheaper hotel which offered early entry but not the fast pass. The difference in price for the fast pass made me wish we just used it for the nicer closer hotels that offer the fast pass for free. Everyone I know who stayed at the Hard Rock loved it.
Posted on 6/21/21 at 7:41 pm to sportsaddit68
We’ll be staying at the Hyatt Regency Orlando on I Drive when we go at New Years. Great pool area and near the park.
Posted on 6/21/21 at 8:04 pm to Shotgun Willie
quote:
What hotel is best? Thinking starting on property so we can get fast pass and early entry.
Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, and Portofino Bay are all on property and the Express Pass is included with your stay. Portofino Bay is the nicest (and most expensive) of the three, but is also the furthest away from the parks. It’s also more of a convention hotel. Hard Rock is right next to the Studios and City Walk, while Royal Pacific is closest to Islands of Adventure (5-10 minute walk). Royal Pacific will probably be the cheapest of those three, but is still very nice.
Cabana Bay, Sapphire Falls, and Aventura are also on property and will be cheaper than the first three, but none of them include the Express Pass with your stay,
Posted on 6/21/21 at 8:09 pm to Shotgun Willie
I can’t recommend the Hard Rock Hotel enough. We just got back. You get express passes and early park entry for the day you check in and out plus every day in between. So if you stay 4 nights you get 5 days worth of park perks. The express passes cost a fortune bought separately so having them included made hard rock well worth the price. It’s the closest resort to the park. (5 min walk ) and they offer a water taxi that brings you to the park if you don’t even feel like doing that. It’s so close that you could head back to your room for lunch and then back to the park bc the park food is extremely expensive. They have a huge pool with a really cool water slide that your little one would love.
Posted on 6/22/21 at 10:32 am to Shotgun Willie
We’re going in a month and staying at Cabana Bay. Im expecting it to be cheesy, but that’s where my son’s kicking camp is based out of. I’ll make the best of it.
Posted on 6/22/21 at 11:01 am to Shotgun Willie
The last time we went, it was cheaper to stay at Royal Pacific and get the free express passes than it was to stay at Cabana Bay and pay for the express passes. We chose the nicer hotel and free passes.
Posted on 6/22/21 at 11:09 am to sahikojones
Makes sense. This isn’t as much a family vacation as my son’s camp trip. Wife may have to hit the parks by herself, seems like a waste of money for me.
We leave Cabana Bay and head to a house we rented on Seaside. The fees on that Seaside house, for the three of us for three days, were $900+. Just the fees on the rental. Seems unreal, but nope.
We leave Cabana Bay and head to a house we rented on Seaside. The fees on that Seaside house, for the three of us for three days, were $900+. Just the fees on the rental. Seems unreal, but nope.
Posted on 6/22/21 at 7:17 pm to Gaston
Hard Rock is booked up already. Went ahead and booked Portofino and will try to switch to Hard Rock if people cancel.
Posted on 6/23/21 at 8:19 am to Shotgun Willie
Portofino is a little nicer than hard rock from what I hear and they also offer the water taxi service. Y’all will have a blast.
Posted on 6/23/21 at 1:28 pm to Shotgun Willie
Wife and I stayed at Hilton Orlando about month ago and was great, but if we would of had our kids with us I can promise we would have stayed closer to the properties.
Posted on 6/23/21 at 1:42 pm to Gaston
quote:
We’re going in a month and staying at Cabana Bay. Im expecting it to be cheesy, but that’s where my son’s kicking camp is based out of. I’ll make the best of it.
we stayed there in May. We liked it and i would recommend it. The pool areas are nice. If you want you can walk to the parks or catch the bus. we ended up only getting fast passes one day. Plenty of restaurants you can drive to near by instead of eating there.
Posted on 6/23/21 at 2:28 pm to Shotgun Willie
We've stayed at the Aventura and were extremely pleased. Would definitely stay there again.
Posted on 6/24/21 at 1:07 pm to Shotgun Willie
Just got back from a split stay last night. We started off Saturday at Sapphire Falls for the first night as HardRock was sold out. It was a resort day that was spent at the pool. Really nice hotel and great pool area. The only negative was people leaving their trash EVERYWHERE! There's plenty of trash cans, but people couldn't be bothered to throw away their Natural Lite ICE cans away.
We moved over to HardRock the next morning via complimentary van service. HRH is still my favorite because of the pool and proximity to the parks. I couldn't imagine going to Universal without express pass.
We like to be at early park opening to ride Velocacoaster and Hagrid's with a lesser crowd. We then use express pass for everything else and are able to leave the parks by noon for lunch outside of the parks. We pool and drink till 4pm and then clean up for dinner and / or close down the parks at 9pm. The 6-9 window makes most of the rides complete walk-ons as the parks are being deserted by that time. We just spent 4 days there and rode Velocicoaster 6 times and Hagrid's 5 times and never spent more than 30 minutes in line for either ride. The longest that we ever waited for any other ride was only 12 minutes.
Express pass is a must to me.
We moved over to HardRock the next morning via complimentary van service. HRH is still my favorite because of the pool and proximity to the parks. I couldn't imagine going to Universal without express pass.
We like to be at early park opening to ride Velocacoaster and Hagrid's with a lesser crowd. We then use express pass for everything else and are able to leave the parks by noon for lunch outside of the parks. We pool and drink till 4pm and then clean up for dinner and / or close down the parks at 9pm. The 6-9 window makes most of the rides complete walk-ons as the parks are being deserted by that time. We just spent 4 days there and rode Velocicoaster 6 times and Hagrid's 5 times and never spent more than 30 minutes in line for either ride. The longest that we ever waited for any other ride was only 12 minutes.
Express pass is a must to me.
Posted on 6/24/21 at 1:25 pm to TigerScratch
I'll never understand why people can't pick up their shite at a community area at these resorts...blows my mind.
Now, I do agree with staying on the grounds for the early park access, but I don't think the express pass is needed. Unless your kids are really young or you are trying to get that one good family photo, most of them have a single rider line. I've always found they are just as fast as the express pass and you don't have to shell out another 100$/day/ticket
Now, I do agree with staying on the grounds for the early park access, but I don't think the express pass is needed. Unless your kids are really young or you are trying to get that one good family photo, most of them have a single rider line. I've always found they are just as fast as the express pass and you don't have to shell out another 100$/day/ticket
Posted on 6/25/21 at 6:14 am to Tacktheritrix
quote:
I don't think the express pass is needed.
I generally agree but I think you have to be willing to get there early (like over 60-75 minutes before advertised opening) to knock out Hagris and Velocicoaster and be able to either stick around or leave and come back later closer to park close for Diagon Alley
Posted on 6/25/21 at 10:08 am to Shotgun Willie
I've stayed at the Omni resort, it was nice.
Posted on 6/26/21 at 9:17 pm to Tacktheritrix
quote:At Thanksgiving?? I beg to differ.
I don't think the express pass is needed.
Posted on 6/28/21 at 9:44 pm to Shotgun Willie
We stayed at the royal pacific you get free fast pass with your stay and it’s definitely worth it. Longest we stood in line was about 20 minutes and that was for the hill.
Harry Potter rides had 2 hr waits unless you had express pass
Harry Potter rides had 2 hr waits unless you had express pass
This post was edited on 6/28/21 at 9:47 pm
Posted on 6/30/21 at 4:25 am to bulldog95
quote:
Harry Potter rides had 2 hr waits unless you had express pass
Here now, no express passes. Rode all Harry Potter Rides before 9am, longest wait was 30 minutes. I had early park admission due to staying at Endless Summer Resort.
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