Your Opinions, please

[Mich Mouse]

Hi All,

We'd like to stay two days at Universal for the free express pass this summer. (Don't tell Mickey!)

Which hotel is most conveniently located to the parks?

Are those express passes oversold and not worth it? We will be there the third week of August. Is the express pass guaranteeed with the room ressie?

Which hotel do you reccomend we stay in and is there a AAA discount available at Universal hotels?

Thanks for any information you may provide!

 

[Fan2CSkr]

Hi Mish Mouse!
The Universal on-site hotels are all so convenient. You should make your choice by picking the one that appeals to you most. Each has great boat, walking paths and bus transportation. The walk though really is great. Hard Rock Hotel is officially the closest to the parks but Royal Pacific plays a close second with Portofino Bay the farthest.

Have a look at the comparison chart to compare each.
http://www.universalorlando.com/ht_comparison.html

All three include Unlimited Express for the rides/attractions. They do offer AAA discounts as well as Annual Pass, Florida resident and other special promotions run at different times. The third week in August should offer some terrific rates since after the 18th the rates will be lower. They may not reflect that now so keep checking rates change often.

Have fun picking!

 

[Julma]

We are going in August also (I think the 4th week). We are staying at RPR. We've stayed there before and loved it. I think it is the furthest away from the parks, but still not far, certainly walkable. There are some AAA rates out there. We found the best price from RPR direct. RPR tends to be the less expensive of the three. From what I read, the guest rooms are smaller than the other resorts. There are 4 of us and we stay Club Level, which gives us access to the Club Lounge which gives us an "extra space" to hang out. Join the Loews Club, a free reward program.

The express passes are great. Most times we just walked on a ride. There were a couple of times that we had to wait 10 minutes at most. It is guaranteed if you are staying at one of the Universal Resorts.

We won't tell Mickey. I read a lot of posts comparing WDW to Universal. They are very different. Try to enjoy Universal for what it is. We love them both.

 

[Mich Mouse]

Thank you for your help.

I booked the HRH with a AAA rate of 191.00 for late August.

Is this a good rate?

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Not a bad rate, but I do expect the rates at HRH to go lower as the time comes. If this is just a standard room with garden or obstructed view, keep checking over here as your time nears, and the rates will probably go down. I called about the HRH for our early May visit in February and was quoted 229 per night, then a couple weeks later at 189 per night, then 144 -- then some awesome person posted about 10 days ago they were as low as 129 ... for HRH!

The parks will be empty when you go, and the hotels will be offering steep discounts. For HRH in late August, they should go down to hopefully $149 to 169 per night depending on weekday vs. weekend. Maybe even less.

You'll love the HRH. Don't be surprised if your next vacation to Orlando, the focus will be USO and stealing away to WDW for a day or two (don't tell Spiderman!)

Keep checking in on the rates over here. The regulars always share when there's a good deal going on.

Have a wonderful time!

 

[curlyjbs]

I have $167 AAA rate for RPR 8/23. I've been checking online and the AAA rate isn't available for my dates anymore. Does that mean it's at it's lowest? or can I hope for a change?

Is RPR usually the cheapest of the 3 or should I be checking all of them. We wont be staying in the room so size or ameneties dont matter -- just want FOTL.

~Connie

 

[Mich Mouse]

I think you have to call for the AAA rate. I was not able to find it online, but when I called and asked they happily applied it.

 

[macraven]

RPH is the cheapest of the 3 hotels.

if you booked a rate at hrh with AAA, check the UO website for rates this summer.

if the rate drops, you need to call and have it modified. when you do that since the rate dropped, they will apply the new lower rate to your ressie.

it does not happen automatically. you have to call and request it.

school starts back aug 20 in florida this year.
kids are getting to go back to school all over the country.
you should find lower rates come into play for your time period.

start checking early july and keep checking for the rates to drop.


you can pool hop to all the hotel pools. each has a shower/changing room with towels for your convience.
dive in movies are on one night of the week at the hotels. it's either fri or sat....it has changed so not sure which night it will be at.

i have stayed at hrh many times and really like it there.

hope you enjoy your trip.

be sure to come back and tell us about it when it is over.