jpakstis
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2018
Can someone verify I'm understanding this correctly? A one day express pass is $64/per person, so for our family of 4, total cost would be $276. I found a one night stay at the "surf hotel" for $104. So with that one night stay, do we get the Express Pass included for one day, both days...? If Express Pass is included for each of us then yes, I'm thinking the throw away room is a better deal than adding on the express pass independently.
We're in a similar boat in that we are planning a one-day trip to Universal. You only get the "free" express pass with a premier hotel stay, not the Endless Summer/surf hotel. Those are the Loews Royal Pacific, Loews Sapphire, and Hard Rock Hotel. Also, there are two types of express passes. The cheaper one is one that allows you to skip the ride once per ride. The unlimited one obviously allows unlimited rides. You get the unlimited rides EP at the premier hotels.
I priced it out when we are staying as a throwaway room (we have already rented DVC points for our entire stay), and it came out to around $381 for the one night at the Loews Royal Pacific. I don't know the specific cost of the Unlimited Express Pass (we are going in April and they are only priced out until December 31st), but at a minimum its $99. We have a family of four, so it might make sense to book the throwaway room. Also keep in mind that the EPs are slightly more expensive if you pick the "two park" option, which we would most certainly do because Universal essentially divides the Harry Potter stuff among the two parks (Diagon Alley in one and Hogsmeade in the other).
Now the big mitigating factor is whether or not we will actually need the EP at all. Ultimately I don't think we will book the throwaway room just in case the crowds are manageable on the day we go.