1st time Trip - How many days?

[chimoe]

Hello,

We are getting ready to book a trip last week of May for the Memorial day weekend. We have been to WDW but never Universal. We have a 1yr old and a 3yr old .

We are going to book at the Portofino hotel - which gives us the Express Pass Unlimited.

With that in mind, how many days is required at minimum.

We were thinking a 3night/4day trip, but after doing some basic research, it sounds like we may be able to get by with a 2night/3day trip. arrival/depart day at 1 park and 1 full day at the other park.

On our arrival day, we would get to the park @ 2PM, and departure day we would finish park at 4pm ish.

The savings would be about $800 to move to a 2night vs 3night trip. I don't want to skimp out but on other hand if we have the Express Pass unlimited, and 2 full park days, that might be more than enough?

 

[DisneyMom93]

In my opinion 2 full days is more than enough. Especially since your kids can’t ride a lot of the rides. And since you have EP.

The first time we went we had EP and did 3 full days. One day at each park and then park hop last day. First two days we went on the rides multiple times each. Third day was pretty much just a bonus day to park hop and go back and do all the rides our kids loved over and over at each park.

The only rides they couldn’t ride were Hulk, Rip Rocket, and Doom. They spent a looooong time in the water play buildings (Curious George?) and we still had plenty of time. And I think the parks closed at 7pm.

 

[DisneyMom93]

I just realized you said Memorial Day weekend. Oops. I’m sorry, but I have no idea if the parks will be crazy busy for the holiday, so my reply may not apply. We did Thursday-Sunday but it wasn’t a holiday.

 

[chicagoshannon]

2 days I'd say, especially with the express pass.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I love 3 days - we usually stay at one of the hotels with the express pass. We like to sleep in a bit, go to the parks, play in the hotel pools, eat in sit down restaurants and just relax.
We get the park to park tickets too.

It's been alot of years since we've gone with kids your ages but even if your kids can't do everything, you can so you can take turns watching the kids while the other adult rides the attractions the kids aren't big enough for. That often took us quite a bit of time even with express pass.

I wanted to add that we prefer to stay for 3 nights and do 3 days in the parks - we usually leave in the morning after the 3rd night since we tend to drive.

Sometimes we go to the outlets on International Drive before we head home as well. I like that outlet mall there.

 

[Sue M]

It depends on what kind of trip you want. For me I wouldn’t do less than 3 park days. 4 better. I’m not a park commando! And your going on a holiday weekend. It’s also hot and with little ones you’ll maybe want to get out of the mid day heat and enjoy a cool down by the pool or nap. More days gives you time to enjoy Portofino Bay. It’s a beautiful resort.
Like WDW you can do ride swap. And you’ll want to spend time in both Harry Potter areas to take it all in, the theming is amazing.

 

[chimoe]

Thanks for input.

I think we might go with 2night/3 day.

So 2 1/2 days at 1 park and a 1 full day at another park.

Still a bit torn. Would the size of the Universal parks be similar to the size of WDW Hollywood studios?

 

[macraven]

Since you plan to go for the memorial weekend, you will run into crowds

Giving yourself the extra day will be a good thing

Have a great vacation!

 

[skylock]

$800 sounds like a lot for one extra day.

Tickets should still be the same price. Only one more night in the hotel. I guess food for the extra day.

Is your hotel $800 a night?

I have not done disney in 5 years now so I can not help with the caparison in size of the parks. I would put the level at medium. Not vast, but certainly not what I would consider small either. In fact for me. I would say perfect size.

 

[EmJ]

I’m planning a trip with a young child as well (5 years old), and personally, I’d do the three night trip as well. My son is a pretty hardy soul, but expecting him to be go go go in a theme park from 8 am until 8 pm is asking too much. We are planning four full days onsite at US, with the intent to be in the park only from 8:00-2:00, and then going back to the resort to nap, swim, and chill.

Also, I just took a peek at ticket prices. There is a special promotion running right now, so that a 2-day, 1-park-per-day ticket costs exactly the same as a 2-day-and-get-3-days-free, 1-park-per-day ticket — $215 for an adult. https://www.universalorlando.com/web-store/en/us/park-tickets/index.html?flr=0&days=1 Maybe that would help bring the cost down a little?

 

[chimoe]

$800 sounds like a lot for one extra day.

Tickets should still be the same price. Only one more night in the hotel. I guess food for the extra day.

Is your hotel $800 a night?

I have not done disney in 5 years now so I can not help with the caparison in size of the parks. I would put the level at medium. Not vast, but certainly not what I would consider small either. In fact for me. I would say perfect size.

We are staying at the Portofino club level which is $629/night but there was also less of dining plan cost when we removed a day from trip.

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

I would do 4 nights, yes you can run through the parks and rides quick with EP but Universal Orlando has so much more to do and offer than just that. I’d take the time to just explore more. With 4 nights you’ll get a better rate also, unless you’re getting an AP discount or something but the SMSM rates apply at 4 nights and better yet at 7 nights.

Plug your dates in with a 4th night if you can plan the extra night anyway.

I just looked at a 4 night AP rate it was $484 per night over that last weekend.

 

[Sue M]

We are staying at the Portofino club level which is $629/night but there was also less of dining plan cost when we removed a day from trip.

I think getting the dining plan with club level is over kill. You’ll have breakfast, and can make a dinner with CL offerings. I’d rather save on food and add another day.
Our first CL stay at wdw we had the dining plan, and I regretted it. We eat breakfast in lounge. Have a late lunch in the parks, then enjoy the lounge offerings at dinner.

 

[bobbie68]

Hi I think at least 3 days but 4 if you want to relax and take it slower with little ones.
I agree that it will be hot and crowded.

If you would like to save some money than the 3 days will be good.

The club level at PBH is awesome. The best I have been to.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[SA mom]

One cool think about Universal is that pool hopping is allowed. You may want an extra day or two to enjoy your resort as well as some of the others. It is so much more convenient to hop from one resort to the other at Universal. Everything is much closer together.

 

[AntimonyER]

We went for 3 days near thanksgiving, getting to the park at rope drop each day, and staying till near close the first two nights, and 5pm the last one, and we still missed out on quite a bit. Of course it was crowd level 10/10 the days we were there, and even with express some waits were over 30 minutes (Hulk was 45, WITH express). And we have much older kids (12, 10, 8) so we rode most of the rides.