Just Booked - universal tips !

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We’ve just booked for 29th December - 12th January 2022⭐️

We had planned a family trip for my dads 60th over NYE into jan and I’ve found flights with BA From London Heathrow that I was happy with so I’ve pulled the trigger!

We are doing a big Villa with the whole family for the first part of our trip and I’ve also decided to book 5 nights at universal studios for just me and my boyfriend afterwards!

We are staying at Loews Sapphire Falls hotel which looks fab. I’ve never stayed on site at universal so I’m really excited to try this! Is 5 nights a good amount of time , I’m sure there’s plenty to do however personally I’ve only ever spend a few days at universal.

I have been looking at annual passes as we may go back later in the year. Is this a good option? I am seeing it work out cheaper than a standard ticket even just for the one trip. The seasonal pass is showing at $349.99 at the moment and a normal 2 park ticket works out at £250 anyways through attraction tickets.

If we plan on starting to use these in January 2022 do I need to hold off buying them until nearer the time? There doesn’t seem to be a lot of info on this on their site. If I would need to hold off does anyone know when they release the 2022 options ?

Any on-site universal tips & AP vs normal ticket tips are appreciated!😀

[twogoto]

You can upgrade your UK ticket to an annual pass when you get there and it starts from the first day your entered the parks. We upgraded to the seasonal (lowest cost) ones last time for around $50 each

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Originally Posted by twogoto

You can upgrade your UK ticket to an annual pass when you get there and it starts from the first day your entered the parks. We upgraded to the seasonal (lowest cost) ones last time for around $50 each

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Thanks that’s good to know! I’ll look into it

[twogoto]

We just did it at the kiosk in city walk but I believe you can also do it at the ticket place in the on-site hotels 🙂

[loopylaura]

I would buy the AP before you go direct from the Universal site as it will still be cheaper to do that than to upgrade when you get there. It's around £251ish for the 2 Park Seasonal AP Ticket if this is the one you want.

They are activated from the first day you use them so it shouldn't matter when you buy them but we usually get them just before we go or you can buy them at the desk at the hotel for the same price. We bought my son's when he decided to come with us one year last minute!

Sapphire Falls is our favourite hotel out of all of them. The only ones we haven't tried are Cabana Bay and the 2 new ones. It may not have Express Passes but as we travel out of school holidays we don't find we need them now. Been a few too many times lol... We prefer it to the 3 premium hotels - it has a lovey feel to it.

Also buy the resort refillable cup for length of stay - well worth it for around the hotel and pool. Can't use it in the parks though - need to buy the park one for those.

The boat to the parks is a nice way to travel but we always prefer to walk especially after a meal at city walk

Also as an Annual Passholder we have always been upgraded to a Lagoon View or Pool View...they are nice like that! You will love it!

We had booked to go to Aventura (we always used Sapphire's pool though) but as pool hopping isn't allowed at the minute we changed to Sapphire Falls again and I can't wait!

[tink111]

Originally Posted by loopylaura

I would buy the AP before you go direct from the Universal site as it will still be cheaper to do that than to upgrade when you get there. It's around £251ish for the 2 Park Seasonal AP Ticket if this is the one you want.

They are activated from the first day you use them so it shouldn't matter when you buy them but we usually get them just before we go or you can buy them at the desk at the hotel for the same price. We bought my son's when he decided to come with us one year last minute!

Sapphire Falls is our favourite hotel out of all of them. The only ones we haven't tried are Cabana Bay and the 2 new ones. It may not have Express Passes but as we travel out of school holidays we don't find we need them now. Been a few too many times lol... We prefer it to the 3 premium hotels - it has a lovey feel to it.

Also as an Annual Passholder we have always been upgraded to a Lagoon View or Pool View...they are nice like that! You will love it!

We had booked to go to Aventura (we always used Sapphire's pool though) but as pool hopping isn't allowed at the minute we changed to Sapphire Falls again and I can't wait!

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Thank you for this ! All of that info is super helpful & has made me even more excited to go😃

We booked through BA for our hotel and will be purchasing AP separately... not sure if the hotel would know we were AP to upgrade us! Fingers crossed though as that sounds fab!

As you have been before can you recommend the table service restaurant at the hotel at all? Curious to find the best places to eat as we are there for quite a while and won’t have a car so would rather stay onsite 😃

[loopylaura]

Ah you will love it I promise!

When you check in just ask if it's possible to have a room with a view and that you are Annual Passholders - they are always very accommodating. One year we had a Lagoon View which looked directing onto the Parks - it was amazing.

We actually haven't eaten at Sapphire's Restaurant but the reviews are really good. The coffee shop is really nice and has a good range of coffee/pastries etc and there is a Starbucks over the road at Aventura (2 minute walk). We tend to eat at City Walk - love all the restaurants there - except surprisingly Hard Rock - have had a few bad experiences now and haven't been back for a couple of years. There is loads of choice and you won't be disappointed. My favourite is probably Margaritaville but we usually end up going to each one over the time we are there. We do have a car though so do eat offsite a lot as well.

You should be able to catch a resort bus to he new hotels on I-Drive now so you can then get the I-trolley for some of the offsite restaurants as well. Millers is great, Outback, etc... gosh now getting hungry!

[tink111]

Originally Posted by loopylaura

Ah you will love it I promise!

When you check in just ask if it's possible to have a room with a view and that you are Annual Passholders - they are always very accommodating. One year we had a Lagoon View which looked directing onto the Parks - it was amazing.

We actually haven't eaten at Sapphire's Restaurant but the reviews are really good. The coffee shop is really nice and has a good range of coffee/pastries etc and there is a Starbucks over the road at Aventura (2 minute walk). We tend to eat at City Walk - love all the restaurants there - except surprisingly Hard Rock - have had a few bad experiences now and haven't been back for a couple of years. There is loads of choice and you won't be disappointed. My favourite is probably Margaritaville but we usually end up going to each one over the time we are there. We do have a car though so do eat offsite a lot as well.

You should be able to catch a resort bus to he new hotels on I-Drive now so you can then get the I-trolley for some of the offsite restaurants as well. Millers is great, Outback, etc... gosh now getting hungry!

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Ah thank you for this! Definitely will try my luck with a nice view!

Good to know about hard rock. I’ve heard mixed reviews myself! I can’t wait to try out margaritaville - sounds perfect for us 😊

Thanks for all your helpful info!

[danisleigh]

We have bought annual passes as they had 15 months for the price of 12 recently. We go from 25th December to 7th jan but also have a couple of trips next year so annual passes were great value and as they don’t begin until the first time we use them even if Xmas didn’t go ahead it wouldn’t matter and we would have them ready for when we can travel.
We did a whole week at the hard rock hotel last time which was lovely as usually when we stay onsite at universal we hardly had anytime to just chill by the pool so a longer stay was great for that.

[tink111]

Originally Posted by danisleigh

We have bought annual passes as they had 15 months for the price of 12 recently. We go from 25th December to 7th jan but also have a couple of trips next year so annual passes were great value and as they don’t begin until the first time we use them even if Xmas didn’t go ahead it wouldn’t matter and we would have them ready for when we can travel.
We did a whole week at the hard rock hotel last time which was lovely as usually when we stay onsite at universal we hardly had anytime to just chill by the pool so a longer stay was great for that.

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That’s good to know about the annual passes. I’ve heard they do deals... maybe I’ll wait until they release a new one !
Thanks for the info that’s really useful 😃
Hope your trip goes ahead as planned !