Disney resort or Universal resort? [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

AlexandNessa

01-26-2007, 12:47 PM

Many of us here have stayed at both Disney and Loews hotels @ Universal. Most all of us here will tell you that if you're going to Universal, you owe it to yourself to stay onsite at one of the Loews hotels for the Universal portion of your vacation. The reason: unlimited express on almost all rides, just by showing your hotel key. It practically eliminates the need for any sort of silly touring plan.

The hotels are all on par with Disney Deluxes. The RPR rooms may be a bit on the small side, and none of them have balconies (except a small # at the PBH, which are difficult to come by), but they are all exceptional hotels which, unlike Disney, actually reward you for your stays. In a short time, we achieved Platinum status and are now comped a suite whenever we make a ressie.

We love Universal hotels for the simple matter that you can walk everywhere within the Universal complex. It may be a bit of a hike between the PBH and RPR if you're walking, but it's certainly doable and a very pretty walk. No waiting for Disney busses for an hour or having to drive anywhere once you're onsite.

Here is a link that shows pictures of each resort; just click on the resort you want to see pictures of:

http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/Universal/main.htm

If you have any specific questions, there are lots of us who are here to help.

P.S. I did my undergrad at Fairfield U, and babysat for several Westport families during my college years. :)

PlutoLuvr

01-26-2007, 02:08 PM

I've stayed on WDW property numerous times and USO property numerous times. Hands-down, USO gets my vote.

The one that helps us decide each and every time is the nightlife at USO. We like to eat well and have a few cocktails in the evenings. The nightlife at USO, IMO, is MUCH better than the nightlife over at WDW.

So we ask ourselves, "Where do we want to eat/drink at night, USO or WDW?" I mean, we can drive ourselves to either park (WDW or USO) no matter where we stay.

And we're not "clubbers" or anything. We just like a couple glasses of wine with dinner or a martini or hurricane after dinner. I don't want to be concerned about driving or taxis.

The last time we stayed on site at WDW, we spent a small fortune in taxis getting over to CityWalk because DTD just didn't do it for us.

Have fun with whatever you decide!!

keishashadow

01-26-2007, 02:19 PM

the mouse owns me, my DVC lodgings are already paid for...

however, in order to visit Universal, i am again paying OOP (as it were) for Universal since my family wouldn't consider touring w/o FOTL privledges;) have to say i agree with them, FOTL is priceless imo.

not sure if you book directly thru WDTC or own/rent points from a member; why not consider a split stay...cheaper weekdays @ DVC/BW; then a long weekend @ Loews...the best of both worlds.:banana:

JohnnyB2

01-26-2007, 04:56 PM

Kimberle

01-26-2007, 07:25 PM

Stayed at both. Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, and Royal Pacific. We loved all the resorts. When going to WDW, stay at WDW, while going to US, stay at US.

The Royal Pacific was ssssoooooo nice. The pool huge, no problem getting a chair. They have coolers (w/glasses) of cold water out all day for all to enjoy. You can bring floats and pool toys. What was so nice, you can actually go into a resturant and eat when you want! You don't need reservations 6 months out! *LOL* (except for Emerils). We had a great view of Island of Adventure and the pool area. Of course, some of the rooms do overlook the freeways.

app2msm

01-27-2007, 10:16 AM

I've be going to Disney for 20 yrs. From the value to DVC resorts you can't go wrong. The value is great. My children are very young so Disney is the place. If the kids are happy then we are happy.

goofy!

01-27-2007, 10:21 AM

I've be going to Disney for 20 yrs. From the value to DVC resorts you can't go wrong. The value is great. My children are very young so Disney is the place. If the kids are happy then we are happy.

Have you ever stayed in a Universal resort?

DiscoverUSF

01-27-2007, 01:19 PM

For us, Universal's got it hands down. We've stayed at both RPR & PBH. However, the only onsite Dis Resort was the Coronado, so we can't compare it to the Grand Floridian.

The problem we found at Disney was it was SO big, we had to either walk an extremely long distance to get anywhere or we had to wait for a golf cart to come around and pick us up. (We had very nice connecting rooms, but I think they were on the far end of the property border to the outside world).

Another issue, was the dining establishments which were basically buffett style. We would have likes to enjoy a full service meal at least once or twice.

I was still a very nice place. Whenever, we go back to Disney, we will try a different place though...But Universal's PBH is the place to be.

Girlsontour

01-27-2007, 02:10 PM

Depending on the length of time you have,start with Disney,which is always fun,but can get a little hectic.Then stay at USO for 2or3 days with having the FOTL access you can see the parks, and have time to unwind.
:cool1:

I'll second that - we always do 10 days at Disney (CSR) and then end our holiday with 4 days at HRH...i couldn't do it the other way around due to FOTL. It totally spoils you and i certainly couldn't line up again (well at least not for another year!!)

chobie

01-27-2007, 03:10 PM

I would do both. But if you had to choose one or the other and you want to spend a couple days at US/IOA, then stay at US. As the others have said, the front of the line privilege, the night life of city walk, being able to walk everywhere and the pools are worth it. You can pool hop at Universal and though we did not make it to the RPR pool, both the HR pool and PBH pool were a wonderful way to relax.

jguner

01-29-2007, 12:59 PM

I have stayed at both and i refuse to pay what Disney charges for a Deluxe resort when it isn't even Deluxe in my opinion. I feel that the Universal hotels are deluxe and worth the extra $$$ and the perks are great. Better perks than Disney.

SharonLowe

01-29-2007, 04:19 PM

Done both - AKL CL is our choice at WDW; stayed at RPR CL when I took DD down for a girl's weekend at Universal and the other parks. Loved the CL at RPR (and got a great AAA rate); join Loew's First program and on check-in, you can request an upgraded room if available. Plus, you get some other benefits. Stay at more Loew's and you can move up to Gold then Platinum. The CL at RPR has great food and beverage offerings, including bottles of water, which they no longer do at the WDW CLs. The FOTL access is worth it too as is the convenience of the water taxi/walk back to the resort. You can buy FOTL access passes, but you have to buy one for each person and also for each day. Plus, they are only good one time on each ride. If you add up the cost of the passes, staying onsite is a really great deal.

kbroer

02-06-2007, 03:08 PM

Okay - I am obviously not the original poster but we are wrestling with this issue as well. We are die-hard Disney fans but I am trying to talk the fam into something a little different this time. I see many posters talking about splitting their stay. My question is - how to convince my husband this wouldn't be a huge hassle. We would be flying in and not renting a car. We would want to utilize Disney's Magical Express. If we switch to a Universal hotel mid-way through the trip then how would we transport everything over there and also how would we get back to our hotel. I know the options - just wondering which is the best one? Thanks for your expert advice.

robvia

02-06-2007, 03:44 PM

Disney's magical express has many wrapped around their finger, and that's exactly how they want it. You have to throw all that aside and start over.

You research limo services and ignore the magical express. If you can rent the car, then do it. The convience factor makes up for the extra cost (gas, parking, rental car fee). Otherwise, you take a limo service for each leg of the trip. There's Mears, Happy Limo, and a few others people recommend. You'd probably be fine with a limo service, that's how you get back to the airport at the end.

Ok, so a limo service or renting the car costs extra money, yes, that's true. But now you can spend 2 or 3 nights onsite at Universal and "feel" like part of the action. Especially when you put this part of the trip at the end so you won't have to wait in line.

rpbert1

02-06-2007, 05:25 PM

We stayed at both last July, ist week at Universal and 2 weeks at POFQ.
While we had a great holiday we wished we where back at the RPR when we where at POFQ.
Disney was good you buy the mugs for free refills at resort and buses to the parks[ but we drove as it was better for us] but the EMH was crowded, with long queues, and way to late for our DD, so was really of no benefit and the fastpass was not much better, we usually hit the parks in the afternoon , and no fastpasses available, so you need to be there in the morning early, otherwise any fastpasses you get , could keep you in the park to mid or late afternoon to get using them.
We are going this July and staying at RPR for the whole holiday, benefits ,i can go to the parks at anytime and not worry about having to queue for an hour at each ride i want on, i can walk back to hotel and have a swim then go back to parks ,or to Citywalk for food and drinks, plus it is not much more than i would be paying for POFQ, but staying in a much superior resort. Disney do not allow any inflatiables in the pool at Universal they do and there is a lot more entertainment and games for DD to join in at the pool.
If i want to visit Disney i can drive the 20 mins to the park and queue just like we had to when staying at Disney.

tardin1964

02-07-2007, 04:00 PM

Wow...first time posting to a Universal Thread:)

Is there any time of year when the FOTL privledge doesn't work well because the hotels are full to capacity...like during Christmas...etc?

PlutoLuvr

02-07-2007, 05:16 PM

Tardin, I've found that times where the parks are "slow" and, for some reason, the hotels are booked, the FOTL takes longer than the regular lines.

One example specifically I recall of this was back in September a few years back. Florida was being hit with hurricane after hurricane in September (including Orlando.) Folks from all over the state were evacuating to what would hopefully be safer than their homes, and a lot of folks evacuated to the USO resorts. The resorts themselves were booked solid and sold out, but the parks were quite empty -- as they usually are during the end of September.

I remember the lines for Spiderman in particular. DH & I walked into the EP line; others walked into the regular line. The EP line was fuller than what I would have expected at that time of year -- we always go in September -- yet, the folks I saw go in the regular line ended up far ahead of us. I also noticed it with Jaws. By the end of our weekend, we were just getting in the non-EP line and getting on the rides in a minute or two.

A friend of ours is CEO of World Market, and he takes his employees to USO once a year -- awsome boss! -- and his group sells out the HRH. He's noticed the same thing, too. If it's a dead time of year, but the hotels are sold out for some reason, the FOTL lines might be longer than the non-FOTL lines.

Kata

02-07-2007, 08:57 PM

I would do a split stay. I am doing this for the 2nd time in 12/07. I am doing RPR 1st because I got a better rate with WDW the 2nd week. I know that it is going to be hard to give up FOTL but the discounts I got for WDW made the trip more affordable.Last time I did WDW 1st and took the Magical Express (Disney's Transportation) from the airport and then I had a Limo Service take me from my WDW resort to RPR. I was able to get a 30 min grocery stop on the way to RPR. I then used a limo service to get to the airport when I left. I think the roundtrip cost was around $100.00 but I was the only one in the car. It will be nice to have a limo pick me up from the airport instead of being part of large crowds waiting in line for the Disney buses. It will also be great to have that grocery stop at the beginning of my vacation. Have fun what ever you decide!!!!!!
:)

tardin1964

02-08-2007, 07:54 AM

PlutoLuvr, thanks for the insight.

I would like to do a few days at Universal our next trip to WDW. We would go during the first part of November so the crowds should be moderate.

I was just wondering if FOTL ever gets too busy to the point where it dosen't feel like it helps much.

tarheelmjfan

02-08-2007, 07:02 PM

I'm with those who suggest a split stay. BWV is a great resort, & you can't beat the location for touring WDW. However, you can beat it for touring UO. :p As others have suggested, I would switch to a Universal resort at the end of your stay. We like to stay at least 5 nights, but we're "lazy tourists". ;) 3 nights are perfect for most people.

Our opinion on the UO resorts:

Portofino Bay Hotel - My DH & I prefer this one. In our opinion, only the Grand Floridian compares to it at WDW. We think it's nicer than their other resorts. Naturally, that is subject to personal preference at WDW.

Hard Rock Hotel - This is where we usually stay. Our DS thinks it's the greatest hotel anywhere, & my DH & I like it too mostly because of it's convenience to the parks & CW. It usually comes down to being the resort that we all agree on.

Royal Pacific Resort - This is where personal preference comes into play most on this forum. Our family has stayed there once, & didn't think it was even close to being in the same league as the other 2. We saw it as more of a moderate hotel where the other 2 are deluxe. We did have an incredible view from our room though. Then there's those on here who are very devoted to RPR, & won't stay anywhere else. That's one thing that's so great about the UO resorts. They're all completely different, & you are sure to like one of them. :D

Oh yeah! For those who think Disney's the only way to go........ You need to expand your horizons. There's a wonderful world outside Disney's that you're missing out on. ;)

CJN

02-10-2007, 02:18 AM

If we switch to a Universal hotel mid-way through the trip then how would we transport everything over there and also how would we get back to our hotel. I know the options - just wondering which is the best one? Thanks for your expert advice.

We just did exactly this only in our case we started out at PBH and ended up at Dolphin (I would've preferred the other way around but, hey, the boss paid for Dolphin so I wasn't going to argue :). Anyway, we used a towncar service for a three-way trip and it worked great. I'm sure Magical Express is a wonderful thing but so is a private towncar. Our driver met us at baggage claim, we had the option of a grocery stop, then headed straight to the PBH. It was so quick and easy, as was the transfer over to Dolphin and, finally, back to MCO. If you still want to use Magical Express then you can just get a quote for the hotel-to-hotel leg of the trip.

It cost us $165 plus tip because we had a wheelchair which required a van. IIRC, a three-way trip for a towncar was around $135. We weighed that amount against renting a car, paying for parking, etc., and just decided to leave the driving to someone else.

macraven

02-12-2007, 09:56 PM

i have been going to both parks since 1993 yearly. sometimes twice a year.

i start out with disney and try to hit it during value season. i find that what i pay there is an overcharge for what i get out of it. usually stay 10 nights at disney for most trips.

then i move over to universal and stay on site. hrh and pbh are the greatest. last year i stayed at rph for the first time.

i would say that hrh and pbh are superb to what i get at disney. just my personal taste. i get more for my money at the loews hotels.

i have to make UO the end of my vacation as i get totally spoiled by them.
once i am there, i really am on vacation. since UO is a smaller park than disney, 5 nights are good for us. i could do it all in 4 nights staying there.
more relaxed and no busses to mess with.

if you do a split stay, start with disney and end with universal. it's the only we i go for my trips.

universal offers more discounts than disney does.
you can use your AAA, AP, or MC for discounts in the park and merch stores besides the room.

you can get a lot of mummy dust at UO

SydSim

02-18-2007, 06:42 PM

I have stayed at RPR and Pop, Port Orleans, Poly and AKL. I love them all. Splitting the stay is the ideal way to do it. US/IOA would be a shorter stay (probably two nights) and the rest of your time at Disney. For little ones, there is plenty to do at Universal - and RPR pool would be quite awesome for them as well.

d4est

02-18-2007, 07:20 PM

Do both! We have done just Universal and just Disney. This time we are doing a split. Starting with Disney & ending with Universal. Animal Kingdom Lodge & then the Hard Rock Hotel--with peaceful, relaxing FOTL touring. We totally want the last few days to be relaxing so we are going club for the first time ever. Cannot wait!

We are using magical express to get to AKL, then a taxi to HRH & then to MCO.

Lizziejane

02-26-2007, 06:19 PM

macraven

02-27-2007, 12:23 PM

We recently stayed at the BWV and HH.

Problems with the split stay for us: we got really used to the larger room at BWV and the balcony. Felt a little "trapped" in our rooms when we moved to the HH when we'd had enough of the parks and pool. There's nothing like sipping a drink on the balcony and watching the world go by on the BW! The BWV seemed to have a better variety of casual eating places - perhaps we missed something at the HH, but other than Bolio's (or whatever it's called), we couldn't seem to find a place to pick up a sandwich.

The unbeatable advantage of the split stay is FOTL pass. Worked even better than we could have imagined! We were there Saturday through Monday. Even on the weekend, when there were a lot of locals (I'm assuming - teenage to young 20 year-olds), we never got held up more than a few minutes. On Monday, the park was dead and we quite literally never waited more than 10 seconds!

when you say the HH, do you mean a hilton hotel or one of the loews on site? i'm guessing you might have stayed at hrh so if i am wrong, give me a heads up.

the largest rooms of the on site hotels are at pbh.
i have stayed at all selection of rooms at hrh and feel the suites and deluxe rooms have sufficient room for us. don't know if you stayed in a standard room or not on your split stay. if you stayed standard, i can understand the trapped in feeling based on comparison to the bwv. not sure but i thought from what i remember bwv's can be 1 or 2 bedroom quarters.
if so, that is a lot of room. people that stay at them really love them !

once i am on my vacation, i rarely spend much time in my room. at disney, only in my room to sleep and shower. when at UO on site, spend more time in my room and the hotel. with the hotels on site, i have no down time to get to them. walk out the hotel and within 5 minutes at the park.

split stays can run into your park time so many don't do that switching.

when i leave disney, it is early.
i check into the UO hotel by 7:30 am and at the parks there before opening time. this way i don't lose my park time ......
sometimes i get lucky and get a room assigned when i check in early, other times i store the luggage and move to the room when i return from the parks.

Lizziejane

02-27-2007, 10:14 PM

Sorry, yes I meant the Hard Rock!

macraven

02-28-2007, 07:04 PM

Sorry, yes I meant the Hard Rock!

if you get a standard room at hrh, i think the size of it is 340 sq ft.
that would be smaller than the one bedrooms with a balcony at bwv.

but for us, it is do-able. i get an upgrade most of the time and have the larger deluxe or suites at loews. but, i can remember getting standard rooms.

Ub_Iwerks

03-04-2007, 09:49 AM

Wow...first time posting to a Universal Thread:)

Is there any time of year when the FOTL privledge doesn't work well because the hotels are full to capacity...like during Christmas...etc?

We were at Universal right after Christmas this year, and I'd say that's the time of year that FOTL works the best. We also did Disney and the FOTL lines were even shorter than the Disney fastpass lines. We also loved the RPR resort, even more than the Disney deluxes. I do like the Disney parks better overall, but the RPR was such a nice resort we were very happy to just hang out there. Everything is also much more compact at US. It was so easy to walk from the resort to the all the CityWalk restaurants and to the parks. The only down side was our RPR room was a bit too small. Next time I'll look into getting a suite.

macraven

03-04-2007, 03:41 PM

Wow...first time posting to a Universal Thread:)

Is there any time of year when the FOTL privledge doesn't work well because the hotels are full to capacity...like during Christmas...etc?

i over looked your question before.
i think we all have had different experiences one time or another using fotl when staying on site at universal.
i have not been at the holiday time but have been in 3rd week of june when everyone is on vacation there..........whew!

i found the fotl saved us from becoming frustrated in the heat and lines.
we had no restrictions doing repeats after we got off a ride by using the fotl lane again.
for our family, the fotl moved quite well on a weekend that was packed.

for the past poster that mentioned town service cost. the last 2 years the company i used cost $112. for a 3 legged trip. mco to wdw, wdw to hrh, hrh to mco....
i guess it depends on the company you use.

Motherfletcher

03-05-2007, 06:01 AM

We have used FOTL on New Year's Day and found it a Godsend! As an engineer I have to do the math. PBH has 1000 rooms HRH has 650. RPR has 750. At a high average of 3.5/room you have 8400 from the resorts and maybe 2000 have purchased the express passes. On the busiest days that would be at most a quarter of the people in the parks in the FOTL lines which would get you to the attraction 3 times faster.

We have stayed at both with WL, AKL and Poly our favorites at WDW. We have stayed at all 3 in Universal. We have split stays between the 2 and internal at both. My kids love HRH but if you remind them of our AKL stays they like those too. My wife thinks the Villa Suite at PBH is the best hotel room we have ever received. On one split stay my mother in law chose WL as her favorite over PBH deluxe joining rooms. Our last stay was last month at AKL and it wasn't that memorable. My favorite (and it changes) is PBH. Without FOTL I'd likely switch to WL. We can go to WL or AKL and not even visit the parks and I'm going to try that in August at PBH.