Staying offsite first nite?

[kkaisu]

We may be driving in to Florida from Iowa and if so will be arriving in Orlando rather late. I thought we would save some money by staying the first night somewhere cheap, then the next morning "early" check into HRH and get our tickets to the parks. This way we can take advantage of the entire first day with express passes.

My question is does it matter what time we go to HRH to get our cards for the park? I am sure we will want to start early. I have read will they will hold your luggage for you but will they give us passes to the park? I will be an APH(for the discount) and the rest will be some form of multiday tickets.


Thanks

 

[damo]

You can go as early as you want. Check in and leave your luggage for later. You will be given your room keys right away to use.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

You can go to the HRH as early as you want and will be given your room keys to use in the parks. They will give you a phone number to call, assuming that your room isn't ready at check-in. When you call they will tell you whether or not your room is ready and what your room number is.

T&B

 

[themepark]

Both times we have visited Universal we have stayed offsite the first night we arrived and checked into RPR in the morning. Once our room was ready but the other time it wasn't. No problem though as they gave us our keys for FOTL access!

I wanted to suggest you try to book your room for your first night through priceline. I have paid $25 for a room at a Fairfield Inn about 5 minutes away from RPR. It's clean and fine for one night and in fact goes for around $70+ a night. You can bid higher if you want something nicer but the 2 star hotel fits us fine for one night plus many of them have free breakfast in the morning so you can fill up before hitting the parks that day.

 

[kkaisu]

Thanks for all the answers. I was thinking about Priceline - I used it once in Miami Beach pre-cruise and got a good deal. We have no pblm with a two star for one night - the HRH will just look all the better!!

 

[damo]

Hotwire has some really good prices too. You can get the Universal resorts sometimes. Check out the site www.betterbidding.com to get information on exactly what resort you are getting for the amenities that come up.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

We stayed at the Sleep Inn on Major Blvd. for our first night. As usual, I woke up pretty early the next morning. After I got ready, DH and DS were still sound asleep, so I drove across the street to HRH, checked us in at 7:20 AM (room not ready, however) and went back to the Sleep Inn to wake up the family and load up the car. We parked at the HRH, left our luggage in the car (all important stuff on our persons) and off to the parks we went. No need to "open the park" with FOTL, so we just enjoyed IOA at a leisurely pace until we were able to get into our room.