Universal Orlando Hotel Strategy in the Epic Universe Era

I'm in the planning stages of a Universal Orlando vacation. This used to be pretty straightforward in terms of lodging and express passes for staying on site. Now? It appears to be a little tricky.

7 nights. 2 adults, 3 teens. Holiday week. 5-day park ticket. Express passes are a must.

Initially I figured we'd stay at Hard Rock, and just get express passes for a day at Epic. But it's not so simple, because you have to pick a specific day, and it's my understanding they will sell out weeks in advance. So if the weather ends up being bad on the day you choose you're SOL.

Now I could get a suite at Cabana Bay. Buy the express pass out of pocket and all I'm emds up being about 10% cheaper than Hard Rock. I get the flexibility but a lesser location that requires transportation everywhere. Plus only the standard express is available as a multi-day option, not unlimited.

Wild card: We could also stay at Hard Rock and jump to a 2-day Express for Epic, which gives us a 4-day window. But also bumps our cost by $900. Ouch.

Thoughts?

I’ve only purchased an express pass for Epic once (and that was because I was with someone who had it) but this was a July trip and I bought it a week out with no issue. Personally, I really like Hard Rock, it’s my preferred hotel, and have never not stayed at an express hotel. You still get EE at Epic and should utilize it to your advantage. The key is to ride 2 of the big 3 (Ministry, Mariokart, DK) and be in line for the third. Here’s my rope drop strategy:

1. Arrive about an hour before early entry
2. 30 min before opening, check the app and see what rides are scheduled to open for early entry on time, if Ministry is one of them that’s my first stop (the single rider line is inconsistently open)
3. After riding head to Super Nintendo World, check the app, see which ride has the shortest wait (usually Mariokart) and go in the single rider line for that ride (which is usually a near walk on)
4. Get in line in the single rider line for the other attraction
5. Check the app, see what Hiccups wait is, if it’s still less then 30 min go there, if longer go to Stardust and ride both sides then head to Monsters.
6. Hiccups and Werewolf will have shorter lines in the late afternoon, and the Nintendo lines get shorter at Twlight, but make sure you get a night ride on Stardust.

Hard Rock is great isn't it? If nothing else, that lobby smell alone is worth the price of admission! ;-)

I would be surprised if I can snag express passes for EU a week out during a holiday week. Even if we could, it would still mean we're locked in to a specific day. And I'd like to get rerides on our favorites, so I'll definitely keep your strategy in mind, whether it be to max out a single day visit or take a more relaxed approach and come back for a second day that might not involve express pass.

If Universal would allow a 1-day express to be used within a multi-day window this would be a lot easier.

I’ve never asked but I’ve been told that the offical policy when it comes to HHN is that express is never sold out for hotel guests, not sure if that applies to Epic or not, but it might be worth a call to find out.

I'm not going for HHN, but if that's true any time of year that changes things quite a bit. Thanks for the tip!