Couple of questions

[arabella]

Originally Posted by Simmo55

Hi,

I am at the beginning of planning a trip for 2020 and I have a couple of questions.

1. Do any of the Universal Hotels have free parking if we were to hire a car?

2. Does anyone know if you book a flight and Universal hotel package through British Airways you still receive the 'Universal Express Unlimited' ticket which allows you to skip the queues?

Many thanks,

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1. depends who you book with, Virgin has parking in the price for all but the endless summer ($14 a night) so you won'd get a separate parking bill on check out. otherwise you will have to pay from $14 to $20ish a night of stay. i stayed at the cabana bay booked with virgin with no additional parking charges to pay. also stayed at the renaissance at sea world booked with virgin and again did not have to pay the $20 a day parking fee. sorry have never booked with BA

2. front of line passes etc are in the price for the more expensive hotels e.g. hard rock, portofino, royal pacific, regardless of who you book with as it is one of their "perks"

we booked 1 night at the hard rock got front of line passes for the day of checked in and the day we checked out.

[Potterer]

The Universal Express pass is your hotel room key card. So just the 3 hotels mentioned have it. The other onsite hotels allow you early entry but not Express.

The Express or FOLP (Front of line pass) just gets you into a much much shorted queue and is totally worth it IMO.

Most people wear a lanyard that has both the key card and your Universal ticket in (don't forget you need a park ticket) there are bar codes on each. When you enter the park they scan the ticket and you provide a finger print.

When you join the Express line they will scan the hotel key card bar code and take your photo which compares it to the last photo of the last express line you were in, making sure someone hasn't nicked your hotel room key.

Any more questions, just ask. We are quite a friendly bunch us Dibbers.

[Juliemack]

Originally Posted by arabella

1. depends who you book with, Virgin has parking in the price for all but the endless summer ($14 a night) so you won'd get a separate parking bill on check out. otherwise you will have to pay from $14 to $20ish a night of stay. i stayed at the cabana bay booked with virgin with no additional parking charges to pay. also stayed at the renaissance at sea world booked with virgin and again did not have to pay the $20 a day parking fee. sorry have never booked with BA

2. front of line passes etc are in the price for the more expensive hotels e.g. hard rock, portofino, royal pacific, regardless of who you book with as it is one of their "perks"

we booked 1 night at the hard rock got front of line passes for the day of checked in and the day we checked out.

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You don't get free parking with Virgin any more, that went quite a few years ago.

[Fraser789]

If you book through Virgin and stay at Cabana Bay you get free parking because it's their "favourites" hotel. We did it in 2017 and this September again.

[bigshaz]

And do not let valet park your car or you will be charged valet rate per day even if you don’t move it for the whole of your stay😊

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Simmo55

1. Do any of the Universal Hotels have free parking if we were to hire a car?

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I'm afraid all of the Universal hotel charge for overnight parking. None of them have free parking.

However, see the discussion about booking a package with Virgin in other posts in this thread.

Originally Posted by Simmo55

2. Does anyone know if you book a flight and Universal hotel package through British Airways you still receive the 'Universal Express Unlimited' ticket which allows you to skip the queues?

See more...

Yes, it doesn't matter who you book with you'll still get the Express passes if staying at either Portofino Bay, Hard Rock, or Royal Pacific hotels.

Originally Posted by arabella

2. front of line passes etc are in the price for the more expensive hotels e.g. hard rock, portofino, royal pacific, regardless of who you book with as it is one of their "perks"

See more...

Originally Posted by Potterer

The Express or FOLP (Front of line pass) just gets you into a much much shorted queue and is totally worth it IMO.

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Just to clarify for the OP. The passes you get are called "Universal Express Unlimited" passes. They are not called FOLP or Front of Line passes and haven't been for ages.

The Universal Express passes do not get you directly to the front of the line - instead they allow you to join a different, shorter "express" queue.