Choosing a hotel and express pass

[rocky41102]

We're planning a 5 night trip May 20-25. I'm having the hardest time deciding between hotels, mainly because of the express pass. There's five of us, 2 adults and 3 kids, and the lazy river and family suites at Cabana as well as the price would be great for us. However, every time I think I'm settled on Cabana Bay, I start thinking about the express pass. Pricing it out, we could stay at Hard Rock for about $560 more total for a pool view room with annual pass discount. I just can't decide if the express pass is worth it or not. Has anyone been the week before Memorial Day? I would never pay for the express pass once we got there either. So it's go with the higher level hotel now or take a chance that lines wouldn't be too bad.

I've seen crowd calendars that put most days about a 5 out of 10 but I'm not sure what that means. We've been to Disney in September and November (week before thanksgiving) but never Universal so those are my only reference points for crowds.

Any help would be appreciated! I'm making myself crazy with all my research trying to decide!

 

[sparky68]

We're planning a 5 night trip May 20-25. I'm having the hardest time deciding between hotels, mainly because of the express pass. There's five of us, 2 adults and 3 kids, and the lazy river and family suites at Cabana as well as the price would be great for us. However, every time I think I'm settled on Cabana Bay, I start thinking about the express pass. Pricing it out, we could stay at Hard Rock for about $560 more total for a pool view room with annual pass discount. I just can't decide if the express pass is worth it or not. Has anyone been the week before Memorial Day? I would never pay for the express pass once we got there either. So it's go with the higher level hotel now or take a chance that lines wouldn't be too bad.

I've seen crowd calendars that put most days about a 5 out of 10 but I'm not sure what that means. We've been to Disney in September and November (week before thanksgiving) but never Universal so those are my only reference points for crowds.

Any help would be appreciated! I'm making myself crazy with all my research trying to decide!

The kids will LOVE the express pass. You will wonder where it has been all your life. The pool at Hard Rock is nice, and you can always take a boat ride to cabana bay to check out their pool if you want. The extra cost of the room is basically the price of one member of your family to get an express pass per day.
Our first trip to Universal was at a deluxe with express, and we can't go back. I look at sapphire falls, so pretty, but no express pass... Nope, not gonna do it.
With express you can sleep in if you want, no need to rush in the morning now that all the harry potter attractions have express open.

 

[macraven]

I’m using the number you gave us in figuring out your savings

You said it would cost $560 more to stay at hrh for a 5 night stay

Five in your group

Go with hrh and it would save you money

560 divided by 5 would be $112 pp
You could not buy the unlimited ep for 5 peeps for $112 each day

Paying $27 daily for each persons cost for the ep would never happen
The are way more than $27 a day

So if the park is a 5 or 6 crowd level, which is moderate, the hotel ep still
worth it

Potter rides have ep ride lines
Regular line can have waits in a moderate day

Repeating some rides will happen especially if you have the unlimited ep

 

[Robo56]

I would follow macravens advice. I take my grandchildren every year at that time and it has gotten very busy. You will want the Unlimited Express.

 

[gotomu212]

We went the week before a Memorial Day 2 years ago and it was definetely crowded, not insane but full. I’m another who cannot do the parks without EPs at this point.

With 3 kids it’s really nice if you have 1 or 2 that don’t want to do a ride. Splitting up is so much easier if the riders are done in 20 minutes or if a shorter kid has to wait in child swap it’s easier to stomach if they only had a 10 minute wait in the line.

 

[hhoope01]

Only you can really decide if EP for your stay is worth the extra $560. But I will say that if your finances can handle it, your experience with rides and waits will be noticeably different with EP than without.

 

[cadawson]

I suggest also checking AP rates for your dates - particularly at Portofino Bay. If you are buying multi-day tickets, you might consider a season pass to get the AP hotel discount. Portofino seemed to have better AP rates that HRH or RPR for that week.