I quoted everyone but am going to be lazy and write everything together down here
I don't think I've ever been able to work it out where staying offsite but buying EP was cheaper than just getting an EP hotel. We've only done RPR and liked it (though haven't been since they finished the lobby remodel) but we are low expectations for hotels so it's fancy for us.
I'd check Expedia or the UR portal for Uni tickets too. The UR portal should be the same price as expedia, even if they are running a discount. Sometimes Expedia is on cashback portals. I think ours were a few bucks cheaper or the same cash price on Expedia/UR portal than UCT anyways because Expedia had a promo, and then I used URs to buy them. My experience buying with URs I was able to pick them up at the will call kiosks less than 20 mins later.
Last September adult 2 park, 3 day park to park tickets were exactly the same price as a Seasonal 2 park annual passes. We've just gone with Seasonal because the dates have worked for us, and typically at the time we aren't sure when the next trip will be but since it's the same price for AP vs just tickets, I'll grab the APs just in case and any other trips are just gravy. We've also lucked out that they typically do 10% dining discounts for Seasonal APs in September. We've also been able to get the discounted Halloween Horror Night with them too.
This was the second time we've done this, in Sept 2018 we bought 5 day 3 park to park tickets from UCT because we were going to Volcano Bay, upgraded them, and got $6.50 refunded on each. Last time we did our Sept trip and 2 days in January... I'm even more excited about this time because we did our Sept trip, a day in Nov, and they will cover us if we (most likely) go again this Sept.
Another thing to keep in mind is (from what I've read on the boards) that if Universal is running a promo ticket like a buy 2 days, get 3 free, etc, and you buy it from them or UCT or wherever, it is only valued as essentially a 2 day ticket, or what you would have paid Universal for it. UCT typically has a 2 day plus 1 day free ticket that Uni does not sell, and it
should be valued as a 3 day ticket. But it is YMMV.
@LuckyMamaInDE I wasn't sure when you said you don't have enough UR to cash out to stay on site, you meant cashing out at 1cpp to cover an on site hotel? Uni hotels are on the UR portal as long as there is availability, if that helps. Oh, and you can book an AP rate before you have an AP in hand... depends on how you feel about that and there is the chance they ask at the hotel.