1st Time to Universal - Advice/thoughts

[mhowens]

Hi all! We are regular (2-3 times per year) Disney guests but are ready to change it up. We always visit in late July for a few days when DH has a convention in Orlando. We currently have 3 nights (Fri-Mon) at SF with 1 day 2 park tickets with paid EP (not unlimited) for Saturday. I arrive on Friday am and DH's conference goes until about 2:00 pm. We had planned to use Friday to explore the resorts and City Walk. Sunday we intend to relax and probably do some pool hopping. We leave very early Monday. Okay...on to the question. Wondering if I should upgrade to RP for Friday night to get Unlimited EP included and then move to SF or Aventura for Sat and Sun. It would be a price difference of $138.71 to do 1 night at RP and 2 nights at SF and a savings of $24.29 to do 1 night at RP and 2 nights at Aventura. I guess my big question is, is Unlimited EP worth the upgrade to deluxe for a 1 day park to park visit on a Saturday in July. Hope this makes sense. I appreciate any input. BTW, it is just 2 adults.

 

[hhoope01]

Whether is it "worth it" is a subjective answer. For some yes, for others maybe no. I'll say for me, I love the freedom having unlimited EPs provide and for me, that benefit is worth quite a bit. With that said, in your case of only spending 1 day at the parks, I'm going to guess that even if you and/or your family love a specific ride, hitting it multiple times will be less important than trying to hit as many of the major rides across both parks once. That means your multi-park single-use EP would be sufficient.

So the real question is the hassle of changing rooms worth the $24.29 savings you'd have if you stay in the RP/Av combo. Also, I'm not a big fan of pool hopping as it takes time to get from one resort to the others and you really only have a day to enjoy the pools. If you spend most of that day traveling between the hotels, you don't have as much actual pool enjoyment time. But there are some who really like it and make use of the pool hopping benefit. Though my understanding that the pool at Aventura is probably the most basic of all the Premier, Preferred, and Prime value hotels. So I'd understand wanting to hit the pools at the other hotels. I'd recommend walking over to CB and using their pools. In my opinion, the pools there are better than all the other on-site hotels.

 

[mhowens]

Thank you hhoope01! I had the same thought about not having enough time to hit rides multiple times. I think we may just stick with regular EP and SF. I will keep an eye on discounts and change to a deluxe if a better rate comes out.

 

[gharter]

I think it depends on how busy the parks will be. For us, its worth every penny to stay at a deluxe resort and get the "free express pass". You have it for the day you check in and day you leave (so 2 days). You can do a whole lot of rides in 2 days with the pass even if its really busy.