5 full days in Orlando - 4 WDW +1 Universal or 3+2

[GraceLUX]

Hello!
We are two early 20s Disney and HP fans celebrating our anniversary at Orlando. We live in California and have been familiar with Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. We both find Disneyland more immersive and better themed than Universal except for the Harry Potter area.
That's why we originally planned to do four days at WDW and 1 at Universal focusing on the HP lands with express pass. However, we heard that Universal Orlando is much better themed and has better rides than Hollywood. I would appreciate people's feedback on Universal's theming in non-HP lands and how those compare to WDW. Since we have park hopper, would it be better for us to do 3 days at WDW and 2 at Universal? Would three days be enough for WDW since we could spend less time at MK as many of the rides are similar to Disneyland?
Thank you in advance for your suggestions!
Best,
Grace

 

[coasternut22]

This is a difficult decision. I, too, am from California and am familiar with both coast's parks. Universal Orlando is much more themed than Hollywood. In fact, Hollywood isn't really that themed, other than being a collection of movie sets. What you will get in Orlando that isn't HP: Marvel land, Comic land, Suess land, Velocicoaster, Hagrids, Rip Ride Rocket, Mummy (the better version), MIB. If these are worth it to you, I highly suggest two days. This way you don't feel like you've made it all the way there and missed something. This will also give you some breathing room to enjoy the resorts, perhaps be done early and have a nice dinner and relax each night.

With that said, it only gives you three days at WDW. This becomes an issue, because each park is unique, yes even MK. Although they may have some of the same rides as DL, there are things in each park that are different and worth seeing at WDW. If I were in your situation, I would absolutely spend one day in Epcot. Then book an AK day and HS day, and park hop to MK in the evening for each. With G+, you can get AK done by 3pm, then hop to MK to at least see what it is like and compare it to DL. Same with HS. If you aren't interested in Galaxy's Edge, you can easily do HS by 4-5pm with G+ and be at MK later in the evening. This gives you a solid taste of all four parks. This whole 5 day plan is aggressive, but it appears this is what you signed up for.

As far as my suggestions of what is the same as DL and WDW but you should still check out: Haunted Mansion is slightly better in MK, Jungle Cruise is slightly better in MK, Pirates is definitely worse in MK, Splash is debatable as to what is better, Space Mountain is certainly different, but worth a try, ToT and Guardians Mission Breakout are entirely different, but if you feel nostalgia for ToT, HS is far superior to the original ToT at CaAdv. Everything else is pretty much the same.

 

[GraceLUX]

Thank you so much for your suggestions! I have seen posts about hopping from HS after park closing to Epcot at night for nighttime spectacular, or going on Remys/ Frozen during nighttime show when the wait is much lower. Is this a viable option? Thank you!

 

[ajsamett]

Epcot and HS usually close at the same time, so I'm not exactly sure what you are suggesting. If you are staying at a deluxe hotel and can enjoy the evening hours, then that hopping plan probably works. It's pretty easy to hop between those 2 parks, so if you head there in the last few hours, you can probably hit a few rides

 

[katied]

So one question is at Universal, will you have early entry? We have done split stays, but always book a Universal hotel for free express pass and early entry… Hagrids is a long line. Get to the park 30 min before early entry, go straight to Hagrids, and then you finish as the park opens. Otherwise, could be a 90-120 min line. If you have Express pass and early entry, one day at Universal and you can do/see it all. With just express pass, you are still stuck with the Hagrids line since it does not allow express pass.

and, we enjoy so much we normally get there 45 min before opening for early entry, get to be close to first on ride, race back to line while still early entry, and then it’s about 45 min to get a second ride in before the park opens.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

You really need to add two more days so you can spend at least 2 days at UO and 4 days at WDW and have a day to rest around the middle of the week.