Getting a burn room for Express Pass

DisneyJac

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 14, 2018
We are in Orlando for a couple of weeks in March (first time) and are staying at an Airbnb. I’m wondering if it’s worthwhile to book one night at a Universal Hotel just for the express pass. For my kids and I, paying for the express pass would be about $380 as a one day add on (and we are planning for two universal days). I think the room would be about $410. In my mind, it would be worthwhile if the pass applied both to the day of checkin and the day of checkout. Is that how it works? And if so, how early could I checkin to get the pass and lanyard on our first day?
 
The one night stay at the deluxe hotel would give you 2 days of Express pass (From the day of check in to the end of the following day), but,its first worth checking a crowd calender online to see if the park is busy enough to warrant getting the EP, Spring Break starts in the 2nd week of March so if thats when you're going, book the onsite hotel room.
 
P.S, Im going at the beginning of March, and I had to factor in, crowd levels, when I got paid, the weather, flight and hotel prices, so many things to consider, so do your research, I could probably write a book about how to plan a Universal holiday from the U.K!
 
The one night stay at the deluxe hotel would give you 2 days of Express pass (From the day of check in to the end of the following day), but,its first worth checking a crowd calender online to see if the park is busy enough to warrant getting the EP, Spring Break starts in the 2nd week of March so if thats when you're going, book the onsite hotel room.

It will be the last week of March, although crowd calendars currently say 4/5. Do you know if you can checkin in really early on checkin day just to get the passes?
 


Just FYI, we did this several years ago with the full intention of spending the night in the room. We got through early enough that we decided to go back “home”, aka Disneyworld, & I let them know we would not be using the room. I told them only because I thought they could re-book the room. I certainly wasn’t wanting a refund, just doing the decent thing. Well, there was a cancellation fee!, I don’t remember what it was, maybe $100. But forget that! We then went in the room & tried to make it look lived in! And then went on our merry way “home”!
 
Just FYI, we did this several years ago with the full intention of spending the night in the room. We got through early enough that we decided to go back “home”, aka Disneyworld, & I let them know we would not be using the room. I told them only because I thought they could re-book the room. I certainly wasn’t wanting a refund, just doing the decent thing. Well, there was a cancellation fee!, I don’t remember what it was, maybe $100. But forget that! We then went in the room & tried to make it look lived in! And then went on our merry way “home”!

Omigosh! That’s kinda funny. Would they even know if you didn’t use the room? I can believe they tried to charge a cancellation fee. How early did you check in when you did this?
 
It will be the last week of March, although crowd calendars currently say 4/5. Do you know if you can checkin in really early on checkin day just to get the passes?

You can check in as early as around 6-6.30ish.........

Even if your room isn’t ready you can leave any luggage with bell services and get keys that will work as your EP for everyone registered in the room.

Then you can head off and do Early Entry if you like.........
 


In my mind, it would be worthwhile if the pass applied both to the day of checkin and the day of checkout. Is that how it works? And if so, how early could I checkin to get the pass and lanyard on our first day?

That is indeed how it works. (They don't give a lanyard FYI.) But you can go around 6 and do the checkin process. In case you don't know, all onsite pools are open to onsite guests, so you could even bring some stuff over and act like the guest you are for those two full days and in-between night.
 
Omigosh! That’s kinda funny. Would they even know if you didn’t use the room? I can believe they tried to charge a cancellation fee. How early did you check in when you did this?
Of course they charge a cancellation fee if you cancel the day of your booking. They are lucky it was only $100. They got the use of the Express Pass for the day. And only paid $100 for it. If you have more than one person on your reservation that's a bargain for a day of Express Pass.

Usually you have to cancel 24 hours prior and there's still a fee. Many resorts will charge one night fee. Plus they went in and made the room look like they used it, so now they couldn't even say they didn't use it. It didn't seem they were complaining about the fee. They seemed happy they got a partial refund.
 
Just FYI, we did this several years ago with the full intention of spending the night in the room. We got through early enough that we decided to go back “home”, aka Disneyworld, & I let them know we would not be using the room. I told them only because I thought they could re-book the room. I certainly wasn’t wanting a refund, just doing the decent thing. Well, there was a cancellation fee!, I don’t remember what it was, maybe $100. But forget that! We then went in the room & tried to make it look lived in! And then went on our merry way “home”!

Wait...so you are saying you got full use of the express passes for a day and then you could have just been charged a $100 cancellation fee instead of the room rate at a deluxe?

Or where they going to charge you the room rate and a cancellation fee? I don't see why you had to go in and use the room. I don't see how they could have charged you any more than the one night rate if that is what you signed up for whether or not you used the room.
 
Of course they charge a cancellation fee if you cancel the day of your booking. They are lucky it was only $100. They got the use of the Express Pass for the day. And only paid $100 for it. If you have more than one person on your reservation that's a bargain for a day of Express Pass.

Usually you have to cancel 24 hours prior and there's still a fee. Many resorts will charge one night fee. Plus they went in and made the room look like they used it, so now they couldn't even say they didn't use it. It didn't seem they were complaining about the fee. They seemed happy they got a partial refund.

I read it that they didn’t ask for a refund so the cancellation fee was on top of what they paid for the room.
 
I read it that they didn’t ask for a refund so the cancellation fee was on top of what they paid for the room.
Hmmm. I see why you took it that way. It really wasn't clear. I wasn't sure what the "forget that!" meant. I took it as they didn't mind the $100 fee compared to how much the room would have cost them if they didn't cancel it. Plus the benefit of the Express Pass made the $100 worth it.

The resort can't charge for the room rate AND charge a cancellation fee. Maybe @fairygagamother can clarify. LOL.
 
Wait...so you are saying you got full use of the express passes for a day and then you could have just been charged a $100 cancellation fee instead of the room rate at a deluxe?

Or where they going to charge you the room rate and a cancellation fee? I don't see why you had to go in and use the room. I don't see how they could have charged you any more than the one night rate if that is what you signed up for whether or not you used the room.

Yeah, confusing. I think it was just the $100. Seems they did indeed get the Express Pass for $100 for the day. The resort can't charge them for the room AND cancellation fee. Wouldn't work if you wanted two days worth or EP though.

I hope that this doesn't lead to people booking rooms and then just canceling rooms same day of check-in just to get Express Pass for their entire family for a day. This will just lead to legit guests losing out eventually. I can understand doing a "throwaway" room because you're paying for the room whether you use it or not, but purposely doing this to get $100 group Express Passes for the day would just be wrong. It takes away a room from someone that could really need a room and there is no availability. It can also lead to a cancellation fee policy change... instead of $100 fee within 24 of check-in, they could change the cxl fee to cost of one night's stay. It also makes for more crowded Express Pass lines for those that pay for the benefit.
 
Yeah, confusing. I think it was just the $100. Seems they did indeed get the Express Pass for $100 for the day. The resort can't charge them for the room AND cancellation fee. Wouldn't work if you wanted two days worth or EP though.

I hope that this doesn't lead to people booking rooms and then just canceling rooms same day of check-in just to get Express Pass for their entire family for a day. This will just lead to legit guests losing out eventually. I can understand doing a "throwaway" room because you're paying for the room whether you use it or not, but purposely doing this to get $100 group Express Passes for the day would just be wrong. It takes away a room from someone that could really need a room and there is no availability. It can also lead to a cancellation fee policy change... instead of $100 fee within 24 of check-in, they could change the cxl fee to cost of one night's stay. It also makes for more crowded Express Pass lines for those that pay for the benefit.

I don't understand why she would then say "Forget it" and go out of her way to untidy the room, which leads me to believe she would be charged the room rate for the night.

I also don't see how you would only be charged a cancellation fee if you have already checked in (which you have to do to use the express pass)
 
I don't understand why she would then say "Forget it" and go out of her way to untidy the room, which leads me to believe she would be charged the room rate for the night.

I also don't see how you would only be charged a cancellation fee if you have already checked in (which you have to do to use the express pass)

Many hotels have early departure fees that they charge if you cut your trip short after checking in. That's probably what happened there. They paid for the room plus would be charged $100 for departing early.
 
I don't understand why she would then say "Forget it" and go out of her way to untidy the room, which leads me to believe she would be charged the room rate for the night.

I also don't see how you would only be charged a cancellation fee if you have already checked in (which you have to do to use the express pass)

True. Yeah, I'm lost. What makes it confusing is the $100 fee and saying they went into the room. That means they checked-in. And why mess up the room? Makes no sense.

But the resort can't charge them a cancellation fee if they paid for the room in full. UNLESS the cancellation fee was because they used the Express Pass and got a refund on the room. But then how AND WHY did they get in the room and mess it up if it was "canceled."? But they were entitled to the Express Pass if they paid for the room in full. LOL. Something isn't adding up.
 
Many hotels have early departure fees that they charge if you cut your trip short after checking in. That's probably what happened there. They paid for the room plus would be charged $100 for departing early.
I don't think they can charge for the room in full AND a cancellation fee. It has to be one or the other.
 
Regarding the Early Departure fee, this is what my hotel told me regarding MY upcoming reservation:

With departing early, It depends on the type of reservation that you have booked for what the additional fee would be. For your upcoming reservation, you booked a reservation with a 7 night length of stay discount and staying 9 nights. If you depart from your reservation 3 days early, you would no longer meet the 7 night minimum to qualify for the discounted rate. The rate for the previous nights would then change, we would not charge you for the remaining nights but you would owe the difference for the previous 6 nights. If you depart 1 day early, you would still qualify for the length of stay discount, we would just charge a $50 early departure fee and not charge for the last night. This is if you are out of the room by check out time. If you are in the room past check out you would still get charged for the following night.

Your deposit will only be forfeited if you cancel your reservation inside the cancelation period.
 

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