Help me decide my hotel options, please!

[Chippy4]

Myself, DH, 9 year old DD, and 5 year old DS are coming to Orlando the week of Halloween, traveling on Saturdays, so we'll have 7 hotel nights and 6 full days of park touring. Originally, the plan was to be only at WDW, so I have a deposit down on a two bedroom villa at Wyndham Bonnet Creek at a great price (~$100/night). In the last few months, DD has become Harry Potter obsessed and we decided we need to go to Universal for 3 or 4 days on this trip. So now, we'll be at WDW for 2 or 3 days, and Universal for 3 or 4 days, depending on how we decide to split the 6 park days, and I can't decide what to do about lodging.

Option 1: keep the reservation at WBC and just drive to Universal as needed. (We will have a rental car.)

Option 2: keep the reservation at WBC and book one "throwaway" night at Royal Pacific Resort 11/1 - 11/2 so we can have early entry and express passes for two days. Those two days do not have HHN so both parks will be open in the evening. This adds approximately $350 to my lodging cost.

Option 3: cancel the WBC reservation and stay the whole week in a family suite at Cabana Bay, and make the drive to WDW as needed. We wouldn't have express passes but we would have early entry for the 3 or 4 days we plan to be at Universal. This option also adds approximately $350 to my lodging cost.

(Option 4 would be spend 3 days somewhere near Disney and 4 days at Cabana Bay, but because the discount on Universal rooms is better the longer you stay, this would be the most expensive choice.)

Can anyone weigh in on if it's better to have two days of express passes/early entry or four days of just early entry during a slower time in the fall (Touring Plans rates the crowd that week around 3/10)? Or do I need neither and I can save the money and stay with my original plan of Wyndham Bonnet Creek?

 

[damo]

Because you are staying offsite at WDW, you may as well just stay at Universal where at least there are benefits to staying onsite. If you all get seasonal passes, you can come and go as you please. Cabana Bay is nice with the pool and you can still get a good Annual Pass discount during that week but the stay more save more rate is about the same. There aren't any RPR discounts at that time (we're going at the same time). A family suite is about $150/night for that week at CBBR.

 

[Chippy4]

If you all get seasonal passes, you can come and go as you please. Cabana Bay is nice with the pool and you can still get a good Annual Pass discount during that week but the stay more save more rate is about the same.

We have four day park-to-park tickets purchased with a military discount (it was a "buy 1 get 3 free" deal) so we won't be getting seasonal passes anyway.

 

[mjhtvchick]

Myself, DH, 9 year old DD, and 5 year old DS are coming to Orlando the week of Halloween, traveling on Saturdays, so we'll have 7 hotel nights and 6 full days of park touring. Originally, the plan was to be only at WDW, so I have a deposit down on a two bedroom villa at Wyndham Bonnet Creek at a great price (~$100/night). In the last few months, DD has become Harry Potter obsessed and we decided we need to go to Universal for 3 or 4 days on this trip. So now, we'll be at WDW for 2 or 3 days, and Universal for 3 or 4 days, depending on how we decide to split the 6 park days, and I can't decide what to do about lodging.

Option 1: keep the reservation at WBC and just drive to Universal as needed. (We will have a rental car.)

Option 2: keep the reservation at WBC and book one "throwaway" night at Royal Pacific Resort 11/1 - 11/2 so we can have early entry and express passes for two days. Those two days do not have HHN so both parks will be open in the evening. This adds approximately $350 to my lodging cost.

Option 3: cancel the WBC reservation and stay the whole week in a family suite at Cabana Bay, and make the drive to WDW as needed. We wouldn't have express passes but we would have early entry for the 3 or 4 days we plan to be at Universal. This option also adds approximately $350 to my lodging cost.

(Option 4 would be spend 3 days somewhere near Disney and 4 days at Cabana Bay, but because the discount on Universal rooms is better the longer you stay, this would be the most expensive choice.)

Can anyone weigh in on if it's better to have two days of express passes/early entry or four days of just early entry during a slower time in the fall (Touring Plans rates the crowd that week around 3/10)? Or do I need neither and I can save the money and stay with my original plan of Wyndham Bonnet Creek?

Having visited Universal both ways, I can honestly say that I would strongly recommend staying onsite over driving in each day. We stayed offsite and drove over on several days last year and after the third day, we were burned out and agreed we wouldn't do it again. Between the drive itself, the parking garage, security and the walk through Citywalk, it feels like it takes forever to get to the park gates. It also makes leaving for a mid-day break near-impossible.
Next year, we are going back to our favorite vacation plan - staying onsite at Universal (probably RPR) for 4 nights, then renting a vacation home in Kissimmee for 7 nights.

We also debated staying at Sapphire Falls, but decided that we missed the EPs too much when we went without them.

 

[dmaxphil]

Tough decision... We've done Option 2 before but with PBR. We didn't book it as a "throwaway" but actually stayed there in the middle of our WBC stay. We really enjoyed WBC.

In early November, I'm not convinced you would need the express pass. For the big attractions, single rider lines can accomplish the same thing. My 8 and 5 year olds would not have gone on most of the attractions that take express, but your kids may be more adventurous.

Cabana Bay suite options are really nice and I'm guessing your kids will like the pool areas better than WBC or any of the other Universal offerings. IMO, getting to the parks from Cabana Bay is more of a hassle than other onsite options but way better than driving from WBC.

But ... having a 2 BR for $100 per night at WBC is tough to beat. Huge kitchen, not having to make sofas into beds, washer/dryer.

If it were me, I'd probably stay 5-2 (WBC-CB) or 4-3 (WBC-CB) unless you decide express pass is a requirement. Then look at Option 2 or a 5-2 split with WBC and RPR or PBR.

 

[PoohIsHome]

@Chippy4 Have you studied the other rides/attractions at US and IoA to get a feel for what other things your kiddos will do other than Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley?

We've never stayed offsite so I have nothing to add about the parking garage, but we did use valet for a one day visit last December and that worked nicely. If you wanted to keep your WBC stay and make the Uni days as easy as possible, I'd at least do valet and be there at park opening.

 

[Chippy4]

@Chippy4 Have you studied the other rides/attractions at US and IoA to get a feel for what other things your kiddos will do other than Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley?

I've looked a little bit. I do plan for us to tour outside of the Harry Potter areas, too. My youngest is just now 42", so we'll all be able to try most of the rides, and we can child swap the few that he's too short for.

I'm not sure how adventurous we'll be with the big roller coasters. My DD loves the Rock'n'Roller coaster at Hollywood Studios, but she's never tried anything more intense. I dislike roller coasters with long, steep vertical drops; I haven't yet looked to see which coasters would be a no-go for me.

 

[dmaxphil]

I've looked a little bit. I do plan for us to tour outside of the Harry Potter areas, too. My youngest is just now 42", so we'll all be able to try most of the rides, and we can child swap the few that he's too short for.

I'm not sure how adventurous we'll be with the big roller coasters. My DD loves the Rock'n'Roller coaster at Hollywood Studios, but she's never tried anything more intense. I dislike roller coasters with long, steep vertical drops; I haven't yet looked to see which coasters would be a no-go for me.

Ok, if DD likes RnR she'll probably do well on just about everything. Hulk and Rip Ride Rockit can beat you up a little and are no where near as smooth as RnR. Rip Ride is the most intense (IMO) of the coasters at UO/IOA.

 

[glocon]

I would do option 2 and just do the amount of days there that we got ep's. Then the rest at Disney. A trip with ep's is just so different then one without. SO much better.