9 day trip planning, have some questions.

[-Jody-]

We're planning our 2nd trip to WDW for the end of March 29th - April 8th 2012. We're getting 4 days (base) for Disney and a one day ticket for Wet N' Wild (Sorry, do not like the Disney Water Parks). What we were wondering is, should we add 2 day base tickets to IoA/US? We'll have the extra money but doing that means 7 days of parks with 2 down/off days. Would any of you reccommend it? Take in mind that money is not an issue, we're taking close to $6000 this time but is that too much for one trip? We didn't do US last trip since we went for 7 days and on a tight budget. Things are different this time, more money more time. My wife is almost dead set that she wants to do all the above mentioned, but I'm looking for other opinions.

We have 2 sons, ages 12 and 7 and neither are afraid of anything, even the 7 year old has rode ToT, EE and was just about an inch too short for Rn'R. This time he'll be tall enough and isn't afraid.

So, is 9 full days in Orlando/Kissimmee with 7 days for parks too much? Or should we go ahead with it? There are 2 off days in which we'll just hang at the resort to swim, maybe do some shopping, etc.

Lastly, if we do add US/IoA, we may toss in either Blue Man Group or Cirque for the evening we leave AK since they close earlier. Which of the 2 is worth it?

The whole reason I'm curious is since we had 7 full days last time and only used 5 for parks, we still wanted to be at parks on our 2 down days, lol. So I we figured the only way to remedy this for the next trip, is add more days and more parks.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[-Jody-]

I forgot to mention that I understand some of Disney's parks take up to 2 days to enjoy fully but this time we're going to avoid the things we didn't like and only focus on the stuff we enjoyed our first trip. Examples; The Little Mermaid, all the spinning rides like Dumbo, The Boneyard, Backlot Tour, Turtle Talk...we'll not waste time with. Saving us time to do other stuff instead.

 

[onestepcloser]

If you're the type of people, as you seem to be, that just do not get tired of theme parks, then absolutely -- buy those Universal/IOA tickets! Personally, I'd recommend 2-park 2-day tickets so you can go back and forth between the parks each day.

For the time of year you're going, I would also recommend booking one night at a Universal resort between the two days you'll be wanting to visit the parks (ie, check in saturday morning early, leave bags at front desk, do parks, stay night, do parks again the next day) because you will have total access to the express lines at both parks. Your room keys will act as permanent express passes. If you stayed somewhere else and paid out of pocket for 8 total express passes (4 passes x 2 days) you'll find that you'll actually save money with the hotel room.

As for Blue Man Group v. Cirque, I think I'm probably in the minority here, but if it were me, I'd see BMG. But then, I'm not a Cirque person at all.

Hope this helps!

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

For me, I don't need "down days" on vacation. I can have some down days when I get home on the weekend. When we go in 16 days we will be there for 10 days and we are doing Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, US, IOA, Cirque and Disney Quest. The only day we aren't doing anything is the day we arrive, we are only going to Walmart for breakfast/snack items and the day we leave since our flight leaves at noon. (DH is driving so we will have a car, me and the kids are flying) I can't be in a car with 3 kids for 12 hours sorry. I have to fly. (And DH doesn't fly so he is driving so we will have a car)

Depending on how many kids you have $6,000 isn't a lot of money for 9 days. Ours is costing $7,000 for 5 ppl for 10 days and we even got the QSDP for free. If we would have had to pay for that it would have been $1,600 more.

I just got our US/IOA 2 day one park tickets by Fed Ex today!! So excited!! (I didn't get 2 day 2 park tickets because I don't need to hop from one park to another. Each park is big enough that if you go through the whole park it will take you all day. The park to park hopper option is a waste of money)

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a good trip. Plan something for your down days like a shopping trip to DTD or a trip to the outlet malls. Just hanging around the hotel all day doing nothing when you are on vacation isn't fun. It's a waste of time. IMO.

 

[-Jody-]

For me, I don't need "down days" on vacation. I can have some down days when I get home on the weekend. When we go in 16 days we will be there for 10 days and we are doing Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, US, IOA, Cirque and Disney Quest. The only day we aren't doing anything is the day we arrive, we are only going to Walmart for breakfast/snack items and the day we leave since our flight leaves at noon. (DH is driving so we will have a car, me and the kids are flying) I can't be in a car with 3 kids for 12 hours sorry. I have to fly. (And DH doesn't fly so he is driving so we will have a car)

Depending on how many kids you have $6,000 isn't a lot of money for 9 days. Ours is costing $7,000 for 5 ppl for 10 days and we even got the QSDP for free. If we would have had to pay for that it would have been $1,600 more.

I just got our US/IOA 2 day one park tickets by Fed Ex today!! So excited!! (I didn't get 2 day 2 park tickets because I don't need to hop from one park to another. Each park is big enough that if you go through the whole park it will take you all day. The park to park hopper option is a waste of money)

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a good trip. Plan something for your down days like a shopping trip to DTD or a trip to the outlet malls. Just hanging around the hotel all day doing nothing when you are on vacation isn't fun. It's a waste of time. IMO.

Looking back at my original post, I neglected to say the room is already reserved and paid for. We're taking the $6000 with us. We just haven't bought any tickets or any other reservations for that matter at the moment. Still a work in progress but I know I have a place to stay once I'm there for 9 days, lol.

 

[scrapquitler]

I wouldn't want that many down days during my trip (hanging out at the pool is NOT a fun idea for my family, but that's just us).

I would just add extra days onto the Disney Tickets in your position. For another $50 each you can add four or five more days to your park tickets (to make them 10 days) and have a LOT of options for partial days in the parks. At that extra cost, I wouldn't even feel guilty if I didn't use many of those extra days, but I'd have the option at least, even if it was "lets go tonight to watch Wishes"

IOA/US will cost you about $120 each. For me, not worth the extra cost. Last time we went we bought tickets that were $99 and good for 7 consecutive days...a deal like that and I'd say YES buy the Universal tickets, but for full price, no way. Again, just my opinion.

 

[scrapquitler]

Sorry, forgot to mention that on US website they also have a combo ticket for $174 that includes Wet & Wild, so if you plan to go there anyway and do decide to buy the US/IOA tickets, it might be smart to buy that combo ticket, since it gives you unlimited acess to all three for 14 days.
http://www.universalorlando.com/Theme-Park-Tickets/General-Admission.aspx