Universal and Express Passes - Am I going mad?

[Nicolala]

We are in Florida during late July/Early August and know it'll be very busy in the parks. Don't want to spend hours queuing in the heat, so I have been looking on Universal's website to book Express Passes which for 2 parks for 4 of us is working out at £680

However I have read that I could book a Universal Hotel that includes Express Passes for 1 night and that would work out at £340, which is a massive difference!

So we could have a 1 night stay and get 2 days of Express Passes, check in really early and make use of the early opening for guests for a huge saving? Am I missing something? Is there a catch somewhere that I haven't realised?

Any info, help and recommendations would be really appreciated.

Thank you

[floridasgirl]

Nope, not going mad! . Lots of people do it! We stayed at HRH a few years ago in this exact way!

[Floridarules]

Yes- it’s great. Done it several times now 👍

[bella9]

As long as you stay at one of the following: Royal Pacific, HRH, Portofino, you can enjoy the perks which include Front of Line Passes. You'll have to pay parking if you've a car.

[tinkerella123]

Also a bonus is you only for 1 night parking if you at the hotel instead of 2 days parking at park.

[tinkerella123]

Check out travel bag which was the best deal for us.

[Guest]

Plenty of threads on here with advice on how to use this perk - and get the most out of it.

Can get 5 in a room. Pay for a rollaway when check in.

Has to be one of the deluxe hotels mentioned above though.

You get fastpass from start of early entry on day one to close on the next.

Still need tickets on top.

[JoJo88]

Quite possibly the best tip I picked up off the Dibb before our first visit back in 2009. Have done it every time we’ve gone to Universal since

[Nomy]

Yep, done it twice and will be again in a couple of months.

It's also worth mentioning that the hotels genuinely are nice, you also get the free water taxi's to and from Universal from your hotel, and the night time vide around Universal City Walk is such a lovely place to grab a cool beer and/or margarita, and watch the world go by whilst listening to all sorts of music going off all over.

It really is a no brainer if you can afford it.

[fleurbie]

Yes we did this last trip and booked again for this year, we do it mid way through our Disney stay just take an overnight bag,
plus if you use a tesco clubcard and have vouchers you can book through the club card app partners Hotel.com and get up to 3 times there worth off less taxes.
I had £90 this year so £270 towards room 😆