Annual Pass Purchase Question & Cabana Bay

[Heathergator]

Hello. My family and I are planning to arrive at Universal this Sunday 12/18. We will be driving in early in the morning staying at Cabana bay for the first time. We have not been to Universal since before the pandemic and want to buy premier annual passes for the trip. I am trying to figure out the best logistics that will allow us to park at Cabana Bay, Check In, Buy annual passes and then get to Islands of Adventure for early access hours (either by virtue of being a resort guest or having the new annual passes). Can anyone please advise the best process for achieving this in the quickest amount of time? Not having stayed at Cabana Bay I don't know if the busses or walking path is faster. Also, can I buy our annual passes inside the hotel or do I need to do that at a ticket gate outside Islands of Adventure? Additionally, if anyone can advise what time you think we should arrive at Cabana Bay in order to do all of this and allow time to be at the gate when it opens at 8:00 am. We have a 2 hour drive to Orlando and don't mind leaving at the crack of dawn. Just want to allow enough time to set us up for a great day. Thanks in advance.

 

[ajsamett]

Ticket services will not be open yet at the hotel, so that's not an option
If you have 2 adults, then I'd say you could tag team it. Have 1 go to CB front desk, check in, and move the car to the parking lot (need your room keys to get into the lot), have adult 2 and party drop bags at luggage services and head to the parks to get in line for guest services. If all goes as planned, adult 2 will be almost done with the line by the time you get there (in my experience, the GS line is either empty or annoyingly long). Maybe have adult 2 take a pic of adult 1 ID in case they are faster in line. I'd say you'll probably be good to get there around 7am

 

[ajsamett]

Another option could be to just get a day ticket for the day and upgrade during a snack break. There are ticket centers throughout the entire park and a guest services in the back as part of the Hogwarts Express. This cuts out a step in your morning. But this only works if you are buying your AP in full

Re, busses vs walking. It's about the same depending on how fast you walk. If the line for busses is really long, might be faster to walk, but their system is really fast

 

[HopperFan]

Hello. My family and I are planning to arrive at Universal this Sunday 12/18. We will be driving in early in the morning staying at Cabana bay for the first time. We have not been to Universal since before the pandemic and want to buy premier annual passes for the trip. I am trying to figure out the best logistics that will allow us to park at Cabana Bay, Check In, Buy annual passes and then get to Islands of Adventure for early access hours (either by virtue of being a resort guest or having the new annual passes). Can anyone please advise the best process for achieving this in the quickest amount of time? Not having stayed at Cabana Bay I don't know if the busses or walking path is faster. Also, can I buy our annual passes inside the hotel or do I need to do that at a ticket gate outside Islands of Adventure? Additionally, if anyone can advise what time you think we should arrive at Cabana Bay in order to do all of this and allow time to be at the gate when it opens at 8:00 am. We have a 2 hour drive to Orlando and don't mind leaving at the crack of dawn. Just want to allow enough time to set us up for a great day. Thanks in advance.

I've never stayed at hotels but I wonder why you aren't buying your passes in advance to have those steps all complete and done.

Universal is a mess as far as their ticket booth processes. EVERYONE has to wait in the same line and it moves so slow. I've made complaints to them in the past about it, that prepaid vouchers should have a different line. We have actually shifted to going the night before when lines are shorter to get our passes activated. My point is GIVE YOURSELF LOTS of time at the ticket booths.

Also have you checked to see what is open for early? We did it last trip and there was only Velocicoaster - if that is your goal well worth it, and Hagrids, sometimes. We were not far back from gate going in and by time we arrived at Hagrids it was a 3 hour wait. Nothing else was open.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Which level passes? Given the blackout dates, you’ll need to be preferred or premier.

If you will be getting premier APs, then there is no need to go to Cabana Bay at all. Use valet parking at City Walk, which is included with premier (payment at pick up and by then you’ll have activated passes). At the parks you’ll get early admission with premier AP, so you can wait to check into Cabana Bay later.

 

[ClapYourHands]

sorry- double post. Not sure how that happened

 

[Heathergator]

Which level passes? Given the blackout dates, you’ll need to be preferred or premier.

If you will be getting premier APs, then there is no need to go to Cabana Bay at all. Use valet parking at City Walk, which is included with premier (payment at pick up and by then you’ll have activated passes). At the parks you’ll get early admission with premier AP, so you can wait to check into Cabana Bay later.

Thank you so much for your reply. We are getting Premier passes, but the Universal website says the free parking feature can't be used until after the first visit. Do you think that is a mistake? I love your suggestion of using the complimentary valet and then driving to Cabana Bay later, but I did not think I could use that feature on the first day of purchase.

 

[macraven]

clap your hands gave you great advise

activate one of your passes at guest services and have who is driving, circle back to pick you up once you activate the premier AP
Then both of you once you park in the lot, you are good to go

 

[ajsamett]

clap your hands gave you great advise

activate one of your passes at guest services and have who is driving, circle back to pick you up once you activate the premier AP
Then both of you once you park in the lot, you are good to go

But wouldn't that require 2 trips through GS to get both passes activated? Which is what has the probability of taking the longest of the possible morning activities

 

[ajsamett]

It might be worth calling the hotel to find out when their ticket center opens on the day you arrive. If it's before rope drop, that would solve all your problems, assuming you are paying in full. They sell/activate APs there

 

[macraven]

agree with above poster

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We just did this and stayed at Cabana Bay. We skipped resort check in on the whole, bought the passes online so we could activate asap. We sucked it up and paid for day one of parking, not worth the insanity of the buses in the morning to save 30.00 on parking.
We went straight to the park, got our passes (showed up an hour before opening and were very close to the first people in line at the ticket booths). All in all the time saved was worth the 30.00 parking fee. The rest of the 2 weeks we just skipped the buses for the most part and drove, unless we were doing lazy days and then we walked or took the bus.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Thank you so much for your reply. We are getting Premier passes, but the Universal website says the free parking feature can't be used until after the first visit. Do you think that is a mistake? I love your suggestion of using the complimentary valet and then driving to Cabana Bay later, but I did not think I could use that feature on the first day of purchase.

Sort of. If you do self-park you enter through the regular garage, and either pay the rate or have the TM scan your activated pass. So if you're parking your own car, you need to have an activated pass when you enter the garage area, which is why they say you get free parking after your first visit.

But valet parking is different. For valet, you show up, hand off your keys and they give you your claim ticket. Payment is when you pick up your car. While self-parking is a flat fee, valet parking is different based on how long you are there. So if you have premier passes, you can valet park, go activate your passes, and then by the time you need to pay, you'll have an activated premier pass which makes valet free. It's a bit of a loophole. It is, however, customary to tip when you use valet, so in practice it's not completely free. But a tip to a nice TM is still better than $27 to park yourself in the garage.