Switching to cabana bay to save $800

[Shacka1]

Hello!

I have Royal Pacific booked which I’ve had booked for awhile now! We are going the first week in November weekdays only

I found a deal for cabana bay that overall including tickets would save us $800 but In doing that I’d be giving up my express passes

I haven’t been to universal in 15+ years and I don’t know what the crowds are like and if it’s worth giving that up because overall I want my kids to have the best time, that is the most important thing for me

I appreciate anyones input and advice!
Thanks so much

 

[mom2rtk]

How many nights and how many park days? What are your dates? How old are your kids?

 

[Shacka1]

How many nights and how many park days? What are your dates? How old are your kids?

10/31 to 11/04

For cabana it’s the package they have online right now which includes 3 park 5 day park to park total $1484

For royal pacific it’s $1300 just for the room not including 1k plus in tickets but it includes the express passes

Undercover tourist has the cheapest tickets at $983 total for 2 day park to park plus 2 days free

I’m just not sure how much the express pass is needed since I haven’t been there in so long! It will be my kids first time and it’s a surprise trip! I just want it to be perfect

 

[The Gatekeeper]

The express pass is great, but if you rope drop you can get a lot done without one. Check the app for weekday wait times to see if it's tolerable. Cabana Bay is great for proximity to Volcano Bay and the express passes aren't included there, so if your kids love the water, they might prefer easy access to VB over shorter lines at the dry parks. I also really like the food court at CB over the food options at RPR for kids.
If it were me, I would probably go to CB but book one night as a throw away booking at RPR to get express passes for 2 days, do the dry parks with the EPs and spend the rest of the time at Volcano Bay. You'd have to check the prices, but you would probably still save $300 and have almost the same perks as staying at RPR. The kids might like the lazy river at CB better than the pool at RPR too, depending on their age.

 

[georgina]

I love CB and with 5 days of tickets it should not be a problem not having EP. Lines are shorter in the mornings and evenings. Bus service is good, can the kids get up for early entry? That should not be a super busy time, park hours for Nov aren't out yet(!), it may close a bit earlier.

I like TheGatekeeper's idea of possibly booking 1 night at an EP hotel for 2 days of EP, but one night rates are very high right now.

 

[Shacka1]

The express pass is great, but if you rope drop you can get a lot done without one. Check the app for weekday wait times to see if it's tolerable. Cabana Bay is great for proximity to Volcano Bay and the express passes aren't included there, so if your kids love the water, they might prefer easy access to VB over shorter lines at the dry parks. I also really like the food court at CB over the food options at RPR for kids.
If it were me, I would probably go to CB but book one night as a throw away booking at RPR to get express passes for 2 days, do the dry parks with the EPs and spend the rest of the time at Volcano Bay. You'd have to check the prices, but you would probably still save $300 and have almost the same perks as staying at RPR. The kids might like the lazy river at CB better than the pool at RPR too, depending on their age.

I do absolutely love this idea! But one night is $497 unless there’s a way for me to modify my current reservation and keep that $307 rate

 

[Shacka1]

I love CB and with 5 days of tickets it should not be a problem not having EP. Lines are shorter in the mornings and evenings. Bus service is good, can the kids get up for early entry? That should not be a super busy time, park hours for Nov aren't out yet(!), it may close a bit earlier.

I like TheGatekeeper's idea of possibly booking 1 night at an EP hotel for 2 days of EP, but one night rates are very high right now.

Yes very high $497…..my kids are good about getting up early! We’re usually in bed at 8 pm when we do Disney so I’m assuming this will be the same haha

 

[georgina]

You should be fine. End of Halloween season, not yet Jersey week, 5 days of tickets, have fun!

 

[Shacka1]

You should be fine. End of Halloween season, not yet Jersey week, 5 days of tickets, have fun!

Ok I’ve decided to save the money! But I’m going to get one days worth of express passes $246 total and pick whichever park I think needs it the most! I have a lot of research to do!

Thank you so much for both of your help

 

[CAPSLOCK]

That timeframe was quite slow last year. And 2020 also, but not sure that counts...

I personally would not do the 1 day EP. You'd have to pick a day & lock it in (non-refundable). This means:
A) In the event of poor weather, it's money down the drain.
B) If you don't buy it ahead, price tends to go up. If it stays "cheap," generally means the parks are slow enough that it's not really needed.

 

[Shacka1]

That timeframe was quite slow last year. And 2020 also, but not sure that counts...

I personally would not do the 1 day EP. You'd have to pick a day & lock it in (non-refundable). This means:
A) In the event of poor weather, it's money down the drain.
B) If you don't buy it ahead, price tends to go up. If it stays "cheap," generally means the parks are slow enough that it's not really needed.

Oh thank you for mentioning this! I didn’t realize I would have to pick an exact date when booking, good to know! Thank you

 

[namelessoracle]

Hello!

I have Royal Pacific booked which I’ve had booked for awhile now! We are going the first week in November weekdays only

I found a deal for cabana bay that overall including tickets would save us $800 but In doing that I’d be giving up my express passes

I haven’t been to universal in 15+ years and I don’t know what the crowds are like and if it’s worth giving that up because overall I want my kids to have the best time, that is the most important thing for me

I appreciate anyones input and advice!
Thanks so much

The bed quality at Royal Pacific is significantly higher when it comes to comfort if that matters. Also Royal Pacific lets you walk straight to Islands if you care about that.

I agree with the others that you probably dont need express with that length of trip plus first week of November. But its still very nice to have. My suggestion if you are ok with hotel hopping? Keep 1 day of Royal. Grab 1 day of that so you get 2 days of express passes. (day you check in and day you check out)

Looks like Portofino has annual pass rate for that week available also, and so does Cabana Bay. You might be able to turn one of your tickets into an annual pass and actually save you some money. Annual pass rate for Cabana is 60 less. I would really look at having one of your tickets be an annual pass, do 3 nights at Cabana, and 1 night at Portofino sandwiched between for those express passes. May actually end up being better for you price wise. Even if you dont want to do hotel swap, you may save money getting an annual pass with the Passholder hotel rate.

 

[Shacka1]

The bed quality at Royal Pacific is significantly higher when it comes to comfort if that matters. Also Royal Pacific lets you walk straight to Islands if you care about that.

I agree with the others that you probably dont need express with that length of trip plus first week of November. But its still very nice to have. My suggestion if you are ok with hotel hopping? Keep 1 day of Royal. Grab 1 day of that so you get 2 days of express passes. (day you check in and day you check out)

Looks like Portofino has annual pass rate for that week available also, and so does Cabana Bay. You might be able to turn one of your tickets into an annual pass and actually save you some money. Annual pass rate for Cabana is 60 less. I would really look at having one of your tickets be an annual pass, do 3 nights at Cabana, and 1 night at Portofino sandwiched between for those express passes. May actually end up being better for you price wise. Even if you dont want to do hotel swap, you may save money getting an annual pass with the Passholder hotel rate.

This is definitely something I will have to look into in the future! Right now it’s our first time going so I want to make sure it’s something we would want to continue doing.

I currently have RP booked at only $325 a night including tax so that is the cheapest premier if I keep it….

Just out of curiosity how often do they offer the annual pass holder hotel rates? It took me 4 searches for that portofino rate to even show as an option for me

 

[georgina]

This is definitely something I will have to look into in the future! Right now it’s our first time going so I want to make sure it’s something we would want to continue doing.

I currently have RP booked at only $325 a night including tax so that is the cheapest premier if I keep it….

Just out of curiosity how often do they offer the annual pass holder hotel rates? It took me 4 searches for that portofino rate to even show as an option for me

Annual pass rates have been much harder to come by this year, sometimes showing up at the last minute. I finally found one for my August Cabana Bay stay in July, after checking for months. And it was $124/nt for a standard room, in the past would have been $99. Your package deal sounds like a good price.

 

[Shacka1]

Annual pass rates have been much harder to come by this year, sometimes showing up at the last minute. I finally found one for my August Cabana Bay stay in July, after checking for months. And it was $124/nt for a standard room, in the past would have been $99. Your package deal sounds like a good price.

Thank you so much for your help

 

[C&B Young]

We were there in November 2021 around your same timeframe & had Express via staying at Royal Pacific. It was nice to have, but totally not needed. Often the express pass saved us zero time vs. the standby lines.

 

[Shacka1]

We were there in November 2021 around your same timeframe & had Express via staying at Royal Pacific. It was nice to have, but totally not needed. Often the express pass saved us zero time vs. the standby lines.

Thank you this is very helpful! The RP looks like a nicer upscale resort but the kids would probably prefer the cabanas pool, we also love having resort days in between too

 

[sandam1]

I'm going to be at Cabana Bay around the same time (11/2-11/7) and I don't anticipate Express Pass being needed. This is the second time that I've traveled around this time of year and on our last trip, it was a pretty quiet "shoulder" season trip - after the end of HHN and before the holiday stuff gets underway. I would use the extra money that you save on the EPs to say "yes" to some other splurges - extra snacks, Harry Potter wands, miniature golf or bowling, Voodoo donuts, etc.

If your kids are old enough to ride alone, Universal has a bunch of single rider lanes that are a fabulous way to cut down your wait times.

 

[bfrosty]

You should be fine. End of Halloween season, not yet Jersey week, 5 days of tickets, have fun!

What's Jersey Week?