Is There A Cheaper Way To Do Universal?

[1612]

We only want to do universal for 2 days so can't justify the £600 odd pounds for this. We may go to the London Harry Potter instead for the same money.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by davidh71

This is a timeshare scam company. Best avoided!

See more...

Good Call!

[Holidaylover19]

We did one of those timeshare presentation things our first holiday for Seaworld tickets. I was a kid so got to at least visit their playroom but my poor parents were stuck with really pushy salesmen and we spent most of the day there. And oddly now we're DVC members

As much as I'd love to do Universal again, it's unaffordable with Disney as well so we had to skip it. Honestly, as I've done Disney for a few holidays running I wouldn't mind doing just Universal next time TBH.

[michaelb136]

Originally Posted by WDWMAD

We have just worked out a price to visit Universal Resort for one day, doing both parks, Universal and IOA, and having the Express Passes, including £50 for food and £100 for a taxi it has come to a whopping... drum roll please... £766 for one day at the parks.

Because we want one day only we will be buying 2 Park 1 Day tickets off the Universal USA website for $165 each (not sure how much on the gate?) for 3 totalling $495 (£406), can't find single day on the UK website, only the 14 day one's.

We are going in August so decided if we are going to make the most of it we may need Express Passes, these are optional and may not be purchased, but, they are £70 each on the UK website, totalling £210.

A taxi fare quote online from Grand Floridian to Universal is costing around $52 (£43), so return would be around £100 including tip.

We have allowed around £50 for food, but, may be more I suppose if we are there until park closure.

So grand total of:
Park Tickets: £406
Express Passes: £210
Taxi: £100
Food: £50
Total: £766 (£556 without Express)

We don't want to stop in a Universal Hotel because we have spent a fortune to stop in the Grand Floridian and we get food included, so doing this for the Express Passes isn't really an option and will cost more, ticket wise, to do the parks for two days anyway.

We aren't hiring a car because this is the only day we will be off Disney property and we are using Magical Express for transfers, so pretty pointless really.

I really cannot see a cheaper way of doing this, has anybody been the third week of August who can let us know how busy it is there, this may decide whether we go for Express Passes or not?

See more...

Send me a private message and I can give you the number of a taxi driver we used if you want. He was great, took us to a variety of places and he seemed to keep getting cheaper each time! One day he wasn't working when we needed him so he arranged for a colleague to do the job. It was just a case of contacting him on watsapp. Mears has the run of Disney and they're so over-priced.

[Kirky123]

Have you used UBer before?

If not, both you and your wife need to set up accounts and use one of the free $ codes that you can find online.

Last year when we both set up accounts we got $15 towards your first journey. We travelled from Aviana (past Championsgate) to Discovery Cove and return and neither trip cost us anything.

[macynwa]

Originally Posted by michaelb136

Send me a private message and I can give you the number of a taxi driver we used if you want. He was great, took us to a variety of places and he seemed to keep getting cheaper each time! One day he wasn't working when we needed him so he arranged for a colleague to do the job. It was just a case of contacting him on watsapp. Mears has the run of Disney and they're so over-priced.

See more...

How many of you was traveling? we've got 8 people to get to Universal and back on 2 separate days and looking at the best way to do it as cheap as possible

[Eggnboby]

Remember the old days when you could fit everything into a 2 week holiday? We tried to do Universal/Sea World/beach on one holiday and exclusively Disney planned for the next. Last August for us was Universal etc with one day in MK and one Halloween party. I can't explain how much more excited we felt when entering Disney and vowed would never leave it out again. Was so jealous every time I saw a magic band! Universal (end of August) was very busy. On a quiet day you can easily fit it all in in 2 days. Had to do single riders for everything just to get them done last year. Always worked out cheaper for us to get 14 days than 2 crazy as it sounds! Not sure that would be the case now sadly!

[WDWMAD]

Originally Posted by michaelb136

Send me a private message and I can give you the number of a taxi driver we used if you want. He was great, took us to a variety of places and he seemed to keep getting cheaper each time! One day he wasn't working when we needed him so he arranged for a colleague to do the job. It was just a case of contacting him on watsapp. Mears has the run of Disney and they're so over-priced.

See more...

Thanks Michaelb136 but I think we've decided we are not going now, the closing time of Universal and IOA on the day we were going has changed from 8.30pm to 7pm which has now made it even less value for money. We need to get round both parks in a day and taking the heat and crowds into consideration, we were hoping it would close around 9pm, 1.5 hours less is a big chunk to take off when you are spending that amount of money.

[Redsox]

Use Uber instead of taxi and if you sign up to a new account use promo code "feeling22" to get $22 off your first trip so if 2 people sign up you get each journey for practically nothing.

If you know anybody that has a Universal Annual pass they can get a 15% discount on tickets for friends.

If you are going for just 1 day maybe have a look and see what rides you can't miss and see if express passes are really worth it especially considering you don't get express on the Harry Potter attractions. If you really need to get express have a look at the 1 time per ride express pass it's cheaper than the unlimited.

If you are going after most of the kids are back in school I would judt get there for opening and forget the express passes.