Secret to saving money at Universal Studios, Orlando , Florida
Universal Studios is among the worlds most famous theme parks with over 8 million people visiting the park last year. If you are a Harry Porter fan, this is a dream destination. The peak time to visit Universal studios is when the schools are closed for spring break or Easter and during the christmas holidays. Most families plan their visit around the school breaks, and if you are one among them , then the park can be a pretty crowded place and the wait time for the key attractions could be as long as four hours. Travel during the peak time will not be an enjoyable experience and your dream holiday can turn out to be a nightmare. So how do you save money and have an pleasant experience at the park. Read on to learn the secret to saving money at Universal Studios, Orlando.
While the park is magical at any time of the year, they are especially pretty over Christmas and New year. We planned our visit during the last week of December and the elaborate displays and parades over the festive period makes Christmas one of the best times to visit Universal studios. Weather wise it is a great time too, as it is pleasantly warm and unlikely to rain.
Amazing world of Harry Porter
Because of the excessively long wait times during the peak period, it is highly recommended to get an Express pass – which gives you expedited access to all the attractions and allows you to cut through the long lines and head directly to the ride, but Universal will charge you extra money for this privilege. During the peak period express unlimited pass for both parks (Islands of Adventure and Universal studios) will cost you $89.99 per person per day.
Now that is a ton of money over the base price of the theme park tickets. So what do you do ? How can you save money?
Manage your stay- Combine hotel stay with a Universal property.
Yes! It may seen counterintuitive to stay in an expensive hotel to save money, but allow me to present the maths behind this. Three Universal hotels namely Loews Portofino Bay hotel, Loews Royal Pacific resort and Hard Rock hotel offer unlimited Express pass for their guests. Apart from this they offer free shuttle or water taxi transport to the theme park, early access to the much desired Harry Porter attractions and bunch of other privileges. Early access is huge benefit as it allows guests to enter the theme park an hour earlier than the public access. So for a three day visit to Universal Studios combine one day at a Universal property with two days at a non universal hotel. Lets do the math.
Hard Rock Hotel is the cheapest of the three hotels and a quick search on TripAdvisor for dates during the April 2018 spring break threw up the below rates for Hard Rock hotel and a non Universal property.
So Staying one night at Universal hotel will give me express pass for a day . right?
No. All the three Universal hotels offering unlimited express pass allow you to check in at 8 am in the morning and give you express pass for all the members of your family – valid till close of park hours on the second day. So if you stay at the property for one day, you will get express pass and early access privileges for two days.
So for a family of four spending three days at two parks in Universal Orlando, let us look at the math.
Hotel Stay – Day I at Hard Rock Hotel – $ 374
Hotel Stay – Day 2 and 3 at external location – $202 ( price for Doubletree hotel)
Total cost for three days – $ 574
Keep in mind that this family of four gets two full days of unlimited express pass, early access and free shuttle to the park property.
Now let us look at the costs for the same family of four staying at a cheaper non Universal hotel ( same Doubletree property) and purchases express pass for two days.
Hotel costs for three days – $ 303 (@$101 per night)
Express pass for two days – $ 719.92 (@$89.99 per person per day)
Total cost – $ 1022.92
Half the cost for an expensive property for one day and unlimited express pass and early access for two days. That seems compelling! Right? So go ahead , pay that couple of hundred bucks more for one day and save a bunch of money.
Actually Hard Rock hotel allows unto five people to stay in a room , so for a family of five the benefits are even higher.
We stayed at the Loews Portofino hotel which was slightly more expensive, but you get the point. We saved a lot of time on our holiday with this trick and also saved a lot of money. Not only did we save dollars for a three day vacation but got to experience a beautiful hotel – Lowes Portofono for two full days. Lots of great restaurants, pools, shopping arcades, and water taxies leaving every ten minutes to Universal theme park.
Five minutes walk from our room brought us to the water taxi boarding points, so we did not have to get up hours in advance, drive for half an hour, find parking slots and then walk for ten minutes to get to the park. We used early access on Day II and were able to complete both the Harry porter rides in less than an hour and half. Keep in mind these rides are over 3–4 hours wait for the general admission during this peak time.
Even though we checked out on second day we were able to use all the amenities at the hotel and collected our luggage at 9 pm in the night after we were done for the day.
Other handy tips for your Universal orlando visit:
Bring a backpack – Food options within the park are limited and expensive. Carry sandwiches, nuts or trail mix so that you don’t have to eat out all the meals
Get to the park early – at least 30 minutes or more before the park opens. Trust me – this will make a huge difference to your wait times.
Get a park to park ticket – If you plan to ride the Hogwarts Express to visit both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, you will need a park to park ticket.Hogsmeade (home of the Forbidden Journey ride) is in the Islands of Adventure park, and Diagon Alley (home of Gringotts Bank) is in Universal Studios. There are ticket booths at the train stations in both parks, but you’ll save money and time if you purchase your tickets for both parks ahead of time.
Unlimited refill cups – Buy you can drink Coca Cola freestyle cups. You get unlimited refills of more than 100 drinks from Coke and for a family of four that works out to just a little more than a bottle of water. The refill jars have an embedded chip which activates the dispenser during the period for which the purchase has been made. We walked more than 4 miles every day and you will need a lot of fluid to keep yourself hydrated.
Now with this money saving secret, go ahead and plan your family’s dream Universal trip. Your kids will remember this vacation for a long long time.
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