[b]first time at universal - can't decide how many days, please help!![/b]

[yaytezIOA]

Going to let you guys in on my secret....bid through Priceline's Negotiator. I usually stay near the airport for around 30 dollars a night. Downside is you never know what hotel room you're going to get, or what condition it'll be in.
Upside is that if you book for one night, and like the hotel you can usually book more nights at the same price.
We pick a 2 1/2 star hotel level, and bid around 30 dollars. After fees and taxes it ends up being around 40. The hotel we usually get is a nice one, and has free breakfast. Makes a big difference in budget planning.
If you need more help and want better ideas there are sites that break it down further as far as what level accepts what prices, where they are usually located etc.
Bidding on Travel is one such site.

 

[tamaraten]

True...with only 4 days you may meet yourself coming and going. Is there not a happy medium place that you could stay that would just make a short drive to all your destinations?

I think the consensus for all the wonderful advice is to stay-onsite to get the benefits. There are definitely a lot of good hotels in the area that are not far away, but don't have the FOTL perk of course. That's the dilemma! Also, the getting to the on-site place to check in by 7 a.m. I think would be almost impossible for my kids!

I have not found the place that we are going to stay offsite yet. There are several that I am looking into and I found them on hotels.com. We are looking at budget ones and some of the reviews have been fantastic. The prices have been even better...most around $50 a night! Woo hoo!! I will keep you posted if I find anything that we can't pass up.

Thanks!

 

[tamaraten]

Ok, I messed up the quote thing again! I don't know how to put my sentence in the middle of the other person's quote!

 

[tamaraten]

Going to let you guys in on my secret....bid through Priceline's Negotiator. I usually stay near the airport for around 30 dollars a night. Downside is you never know what hotel room you're going to get, or what condition it'll be in.
Upside is that if you book for one night, and like the hotel you can usually book more nights at the same price.
We pick a 2 1/2 star hotel level, and bid around 30 dollars. After fees and taxes it ends up being around 40. The hotel we usually get is a nice one, and has free breakfast. Makes a big difference in budget planning.
If you need more help and want better ideas there are sites that break it down further as far as what level accepts what prices, where they are usually located etc.
Bidding on Travel is one such site.

So what do you do about Universal? You don't do the stay at an on-site hotel there for the FOTL access?

 

[tamaraten]

Going to let you guys in on my secret....bid through Priceline's Negotiator. I usually stay near the airport for around 30 dollars a night. Downside is you never know what hotel room you're going to get, or what condition it'll be in.
Upside is that if you book for one night, and like the hotel you can usually book more nights at the same price.
We pick a 2 1/2 star hotel level, and bid around 30 dollars. After fees and taxes it ends up being around 40. The hotel we usually get is a nice one, and has free breakfast. Makes a big difference in budget planning.
If you need more help and want better ideas there are sites that break it down further as far as what level accepts what prices, where they are usually located etc.
Bidding on Travel is one such site.

So what do you do about Universal? You don't do the stay at an on-site hotel there for the FOTL access?