Is It Worth Staying On Property At Universal Studios Orlando?

Staying on Property. Universal Orlando’s Best Keep Secret!

This spring, my kids and I got an itch to travel.  Since 2 of us had Universal Orlando Annual Passes and the other two had not been in 5 ½ years, this seemed like a solid plan. The problem?  This travel needed to take place during the dreaded Spring Break season! Ugh!

Unlike Walt Disney World, Universal does not issue park reservations.  No, they are operating on a first come, first serve basis. With limited capacity, the idea of traveling to Florida only to be turned away at the gate did not sit well with me.

Additionally, the idea of standing in line for extended periods of time did not appeal to me either. We hate long lines with a passion.

IF we could make it into the park, we could pay for daily Unlimited Universal Express passes. 

Unlimited Universal Express Passes are a pass that get you into a special line.  For lack of a better term,  it “Fastpasses” you to the front of the line. Unlike Disney’s Fastpass program, this feature is only available to certain customers.

Excited, I looked at the cost, only to sadly discover that these tickets would run us $149 PER DAY, PER PERSON for our dates!  That equals nearly $600 a day, or $1800 for the duration of our trip!

Suddenly this great deal of a trip was not seeming so great.

Enter the idea of staying on property!

Did you know that if you book a stay at a Universal Resort Hotel, you will have early access into the parks?  It is true! While we were there, this meant getting into the park as early as 7 am.

Even if you stay in the most affordable hotels, like Dockside Bay or Cabana Bay, you will be the first to jump in line for some of the more popular rides.

Did you know that if you stay at one of the Premier Hotels, you not only get early admission, but you ALSO get FREE unlimited passes for your entire party?

The premier hotels include Loews Sapphire Hotel, Loews Portfino Bay Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel.

Here is how we ended up navigating this vacation.  We booked at Universal’s Hard Rock Hotel for two nights. This gave us early entry and unlimited express passes for 3 days!  We enjoyed these perks on check-in day, the full day we were booked there AND check out day.

Why this made sense.

With my annual pass, we were able to utilize my hotel discount. This took our room rate for 4 down to $289 a night for 2 nights. After taxes and fees, our hotel room ran us less than $700.  With that money, we secured a hotel room for 2 nights, early park admission for 3 days AND unlimited Express Passes for 3 days.  Assuming our hotel room elsewhere was a mere $100 a night, I can safely say that we lumped $2000 worth of costs into the $700 spent on our room. Over 66% savings is not bad at all!

Additionally, we learned that because we were on property, Universal guaranteed our admission. We could sleep in and still get into the park. We could go back to our room, take a nap, and return to the park, worry-free about the park capacity level. Talk about lowering my stress-level!

How We Maximized Our Stay

We arrived at Hard Rock Hotel at 7 am on the day of check in. We were issued Express Passes/Early Admission Passes. We checked our luggage in the lobby, parked in the resort parking and headed over to Universal Orlando to enjoy the Mardi Gras Festival that I discuss here.

Later that day we went back to move our items and eat a late lunch at The Kitchen, a quality Hard Rock sit-down restaurant establishment.

At room check-in we were given new passes.  In addition to being express/early admission passes, they enabled us to open our room, charge resort purchases, and use the parking facilities.

On check out day, we had the option to leave our baggage at the concierge desk in the lobby and play all day at the parks.  We headed out at closing and made our way to our Disney property hotel.

The Verdict

I will never visit Universal using any other means!  Ok, never say never.  If it’s really low crowds and I’m over on Disney property, sure.

I saved TONS of money while having a premier experience at Hard Rock Hotel! It is a short walk/boat ride to the parks. It is GORGEOUS. And it would have literally cost me 2k to have a lower quality experience staying elsewhere.

We are ruined. We loved it!