Hotel selection help APH

nohomama

Earning My Ears
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
We are traveling from 2/21-2/29 due to it being the lowest crowd prediction for February (though it isn't our school break week). Never been to UO, 2 people traveling.
APH Rates for hotels vary and not sure which hotel is best and if more money is worth it. All hotels have highest rate for 2/21-22, next highest 2/28 and least for 23-27.
Aventura and Cabana Bay both $1,161 total ($119-149 /night)
Sapphire $1,442 total ($149-184 /night)
HRH $2,724 ($284-344 /night)

I am willing to pay more if it "worth" it but not sure how to figure that out. Are these good rates overall (less then Disney by far but used to Magic Express so now have airport ride expense)? I know that the Express Unlimited rates vary from $100-140 during that time and if we got it for 3 day for 2 people it would be about $700, which is a lot less then the additional cost for HRH. We could spend one night at HRH for express unlimited for two days (that one night extra cost is only about $130).

Also, I think that Seasonal Annual Passes are $305 from UO web site (2/22 concert limits one park). Should I buy that from UO or get something from Undercover Tourist and upgrade there (what are the pros and cons)? We will be spending probably two days at Disney and I think it is cheaper to stay at UO and get car service x4 trips direct to parks rather then move there and have x2 car trips. UT has a deal for multi-park and would get 2 day (probably one park) WDW tickets. Will spend every other day at UO.
Thanks for this and any other suggestions.
 
If you have 7 full days for Orlando parks and plan to do 2 of the days for DW, book one night at a premier hotel at UO and you will get two days of free express passes

Spending 5 days at UO with 3 w/o the ep should not be an issue

Not sure what park time you will have for arrival and check out days for your trip so only dealt with 7 days above

Instead of doing the parks on partial stay days you could go to DTD or City Walk or hang at the hotel pools or explore the other hotels and eat there

If it were me, I would do a one night stay at a premier hotel to get two days of free ep
for two straight days
Then on day 3 hit Disney from open to close

Pick any of the lower priced hotels to relocate to for calling home for the rest of your stay

Many enjoy CBay

Buy park tickets from the place that has the lower prices
Check the UO site in case they have specials on their tickets
(ie buy 3 days get 2 free)
 
Our first trip to Universal was three years ago at CB for 4 nights. We got up early every day to hit the parks for EE and stayed until 1 or 2, where it got too crowded. We ate lunch, then went back to the room for a couple hours and then back to the parks at night. We were able to easily do everything we wanted, but we were pretty worn out by the end. We often walked to SF to catch the ferry, and it was a bit of a hike. We really liked the boat and really didn't care much for the buses, but often buses won over walking home from SF.

We bought APs for that trip and returned at Thanksgiving for 3 nights, but this time we stayed at RPR for the EP. We got more done in one fewer day and did not have to get up for EE every day. A much more relaxing trip. Same with our 4 night trip to PBH last Thanksgiving.

So you're probably thinking this means I'm recommending HRH. But I'm actually going to suggest SF instead. When we walked through the hotel twice to get the boat and it looked very nice. We were going to stay there on our second trip, but then I got a good APH rate at RPR. The kids liked the lazy river at CB, but I think they would have been happy at the SF pool too. But I think the thing I liked most about the deluxe hotels was have the boat take me to the parks. Ok, the EPs were first, but the boats really make the trip special.

Since there are only two of you, the math for the deluxe hotel really doesn't work in your favor like it does for us (family of 4), especially for such a long stay. If you go to the parks early, you can still do everything without rushing. And if the crowd levels are lower that week, you might not miss the EPs at all. You still have the option of a throw-away room as macraven suggested for 2 days of EPs.
 
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HRH prices are down to $269-334 per night during our stay. Decided to make a one night reservation thus far.

Wondering what the benefits of SF are, it is more than Aventura and Cabana but doesn't have the unlimited express. thanks
 


We are traveling from 2/21-2/29 due to it being the lowest crowd prediction for February (though it isn't our school break week). Never been to UO, 2 people traveling.
APH Rates for hotels vary and not sure which hotel is best and if more money is worth it. All hotels have highest rate for 2/21-22, next highest 2/28 and least for 23-27.
Aventura and Cabana Bay both $1,161 total ($119-149 /night)
Sapphire $1,442 total ($149-184 /night)
HRH $2,724 ($284-344 /night)

I am willing to pay more if it "worth" it but not sure how to figure that out. Are these good rates overall (less then Disney by far but used to Magic Express so now have airport ride expense)? I know that the Express Unlimited rates vary from $100-140 during that time and if we got it for 3 day for 2 people it would be about $700, which is a lot less then the additional cost for HRH. We could spend one night at HRH for express unlimited for two days (that one night extra cost is only about $130).

Also, I think that Seasonal Annual Passes are $305 from UO web site (2/22 concert limits one park). Should I buy that from UO or get something from Undercover Tourist and upgrade there (what are the pros and cons)? We will be spending probably two days at Disney and I think it is cheaper to stay at UO and get car service x4 trips direct to parks rather then move there and have x2 car trips. UT has a deal for multi-park and would get 2 day (probably one park) WDW tickets. Will spend every other day at UO.
Thanks for this and any other suggestions.

Purchase AP directly through Universal, I’ve always done that whether it was park tickets or AP or any other events, I’m loyal to Universal, same with hotels I book right through them usually unless I send emails to a couple of contacts I know at a couple different places.

Sapphire is really a beautiful place, the on-site restaurants are some really good choices, the pool is wonderful also, the other nice benefit is that the boat is just steps away to get right to Citywalk and the parks, we really like the escape factor you get when staying at the resorts with the boats, we might come down for a week and never get in a vehicle because we are so content with many of the restaurants available throughout the Universal Orlando Resort, and we like that, we find the theming to be great enough to contribute to that escape/I’m on vacation feeling!

Not having EP is hard to get used to when you are accustomed to having it, but the amount of days you have and only being 2 of you I’d think you could navigate the parks really well.

That said, we do like HRH, but we truly were impressed with SF when we stayed there in September and they have some of the best TM’s in the business looking over that place, and we will go back at some point, possibly for HHN this year as we haven’t decided which resort for that trip yet!!!!!
 
Thanks for the responses. So after looking more, it seems that the advantage of SF over Aventura is that we can take the boat to the park and go through a security check/entrance for hotel guests rather then the main entrance. I am assuming this will save time in terms of shorter line and also quicker travel time to attractions. Is this so? Any other advantages?
 
Thanks for the responses. So after looking more, it seems that the advantage of SF over Aventura is that we can take the boat to the park and go through a security check/entrance for hotel guests rather then the main entrance. I am assuming this will save time in terms of shorter line and also quicker travel time to attractions. Is this so? Any other advantages?

Yes, SF has the boat to take you to the parks (for which you will clear a security check at the boat dock when boarding as opposed to at Citywalk with all regular guests that are using the Parking Garage).

But Aventura is literally next door to SF and you could easily just walk next door to SF and use their boats if you don't feel like using the buses from Aventura.
 



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