Sometimes posts just write themselves. This was not one of them! This post covers how we are planning on attacking our Epic Universe visit. Links to the resources we used are included. We get no commercial consideration for these resources. I am not saying that this is a comprehensive or one-size-fits all guide. It works for Grandma and I. I think it will cover most situations regardless of age!

Recap

As mentioned in my last post, Grandma and I are planning a trip with the grandkids. We are going to Walt Disney World this November. The dates were chosen by our oldest Dear Daughter. She will be taking our Grandkids out of school and picked the time based on school and after school activities.

It’s great hosting the family with our DVC membership. We love experiencing the parks through our grandkids eyes. However it can be exhausting. We are just not as capable of keeping up with little ones like we used to. So, Grandma and I decided to treat ourselves a little and have a little quality Grandma and Grandpa time before they arrive. A little pre-Disney warm up at Universal Orlando should be just the ticket!

Universal Orlando

You Can Never Go Back, or so they say. (who are they anyway?) We chose Universal partially for nostalgia. For you see when our kids were still kids, we would make a day trip to Universal during our family Disney Vacation. A day out of the Disney Bubble gave us a different kind of magic. It was, of course, magical in its own way. It was a great change of pace and the family just loved it. Universal is great on its own, but of course the main draw is to experience Epic Universe.

Now we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory. You see we have planning a Disney trip down. It is almost second nature. We know where we want to stay, thanks to our DVC membership. We have found through the years that 2 weeks for WDW and 1 week for DLR is our sweet spot. However, it has been decades since we visited Universal. That means that before we go Grandma and I had some obvious questions to answer:

• How Long to Stay
• Where to Stay
• What kind of Park Tickets
• Express Pass or Not?

These are the same questions facing most visitors. Planning is stressful, but it does not have to be.

How Long?

This is a hard question, actually. We never give much thought into the length of a WDW vacation. We always go for at least 2 weeks. That was about how long our DVC points would give us in a 1 bedroom DVC Villa. Two weeks also gives us multiple park days in each park. Perfect for a relaxing vacation. This trip, however, we were using cash for our stay. The length of the visit just became a bit more important. We were also heading to WDW for 2 weeks afterwards. The goal for Universal is to see how the parks have changed and to experience Epic Universe.

Our usual Universal trip decades ago was for only one day. We would arrive before open and close the parks down. Gave us plenty of time to do everything that we wanted. Sadly that is just not possible anymore. Grandpa needs his afternoon nap! Given that we would need multiple days, we looked at available ticket deals around the net. (more on this in a bit). Seems that a sweet spot was 3 days. This would give us one day at each park including Epic. We would fly into Universal. Spend 3 days at the parks. The following day we check in at Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge. Then pick up the rest of the family at the airport. Easy Peasy! At this point we don’t know if 3 days is enough time. It may not be if you want to ride everything. As my best Roller Coaster days are behind me, it is not possible to ride some attractions. Bummer. So I think 1 day in each park will be enough, at least for this early scouting effort.

Where To Stay?

Ok we have length of stay out of the way. The next big question is one that we are not used to asking. Where are we going to stay? We always stayed on property at Walt Disney World. Being DVC members makes where to stay a very easy question to answer. We are pretty spoiled! To have a similar experience to Disney, Grandma and I decided that we also wanted to stay on property at Universal. There is just something special about being close to the parks. You are immersed in a bubble where you eat, breath, sleep and wake to the magic. You get to suspend reality a bit and live in a world built just for your enjoyment. Now don’t get me wrong. I do not expect the magic to be as all encompassing or intense as Disney! Still, we decided it would be worth while to find out.

Value or Premium

Once the decision was made to stay on property, the next thing is where? Universal has 11 resort hotels divided into 3 main categories:

• Signature Collection — Most expensive
• Prime Value Collection — Next tier down
• Value Inns and Suites. — Least expensive

All Universal hotels give you early entry to the parks as well as free transportation. Being Disney fans we know how important these 2 things are. The Prime Value and Signature Collections offer additional perks. These include priority seating at restaurants, valet parking, 24-hour room service, and water taxi transportation to the parks. In addition, the Legacy Signature Collection resorts also includes an Express Pass Unlimited for each of your party. This is akin to Disney’s Lightening Lane Multipass. You get to skip the lines on almost all rides and ride as often as you wish. All without any reservations. AND ITS INCLUDED WITH YOUR STAY! The resorts that offer this pass are:

• Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
• Hard Rock Hotel
• Loews Royal Pacific Resort

Since we were only budgeting 1 day for each park, the “free” Express Pass Unlimited was real attractive. Granted, you can stay at a lower priced hotel. Then you could buy the express pass on your own and probably save a bit. However, Grandma and I wanted to go first class and splurge a little. We read reviews, looked at countless photos and settled on Loews Royal Pacific. This hotel is the closest to City Walk and Islands of Adventure. Which makes walking to the parks possible. It also has the distinction of being the lowest price resort that offers the Express Pass Unlimited. These 2 factors sold us on it. Plus it looks fantastic. You can find a great rundown of all the resorts and perks at The Orlando Informer and of course Universal Orlando website

Park Tickets

We now have a resort hotel picked out and out dates. What is left is park tickets. This question comes down to the usual Date Based Ticket vs Annual pass decision. We grapple with this at Disney as well. This time, we decided to go with Date Based tickets and forego the Annual pass. Annual passes are great if you go multiple times a year. We just don’t see it as least for now. So Date Based Tickets it is.

But which ones? We had a look at Get Away Today and Undercover Tourist. These are the 2 top discount ticket sites with stellar reputations. What we found was, like Disney, there are many options. From 1 park 1 day, to multiple parks on multiple days. Adults at Kid Prices. Multiday with Epic, etc. Both resellers offer pretty much the same tickets at the price. We used Get Away Today for our Disneyland trip back in February and so went with them. We chose the 2 park 3 day tickets with the park-to-park option. This ticket also comes with a 1 day ticket to Epic Universe. Perfect! We added the park-to-park option. That option is the only way to ride the train between the Harry Potter worlds in Universal Orlando and Universal Islands of Adventure.

Express Pass or No Express Pass

So those of you who have read this blog know my feelings on Disney Lightening Lane offerings. We just say no to LL of all types and just ride standby. After all Standby is the whole point of the Crushing It! Park Strategy. So it may surprise you that we are buying Express Pass Unlimited for Epic Universe. The Express Pass Unlimited for the other 2 parks is already included with the resort. Adding the Epic Universe Express Pass completes the set.

Rational for Express Pass

We are only budgeting 1 day per park. We want to take full advantage of our limited time. Although we have been to Universal parks before, it was so long ago that we are in reality Newbees. At Disney we pretty much have our routines down. We know what to expect and how to handle the crowds. Not so much at Universal. The Express Passes will help offset this gap in experience.

I’m sure if Universal Orlando becomes a permanent feature of our Orlando visits, the Express pass will go the way of Lightening Line at Disney. After gaining experience in the parks, it may just not be needed. We can then use the funds on other expenses like an extra day or two, or some must have souvenirs! We are really looking forward to modifying Crushing It! for Universal Orlando.

Wrapping it All Together

So all the main planning questions are answered. We are going for 3 park days. We are staying on property at Royal Pacific. We are getting 2 park 3 day park to park tickets with Epic Universe. We also have Epic Universe Express Pass Unlimited. Get Away Today made the whole process extremely easy. Everything was bundled into a single package. We did a little comparison shopping at Costco, Undercover Tourist, and Get Away Today. The price for our package was very nearly the same at each site. We went with Get Away Today since we already have an account with them. They were great when we used them for our Disneyland Resort trip. Why mess with success.

What’s Next?

The next step is to make a game plane for each Universal Park. What attractions do we want to experience? Which ones do we need to avoid. Where do we want to eat. This is an ongoing process that will probably not be finished until we actually arrive. Epic Universe is a new park and still evolving. Wait times today have little to no bearing on what we can expect in November. Any plan we make will therefore need to be a living plan with maximum flexibility. Hey that is starting to sound like Crushing It! already.

Until Next Time: