6 Days in Orlando - the split between US and WDW parks

[TheMightyOb]

Good news, we are headed out to Orlando arriving late march 28th and leaving early April 4th. This is our second family trip (1st trip was mid september), and likely the last as the costs are well large.

Anyhoo, I wanted to get some input on my plan of attack here. We missed some things last time and I hope to get them in. I suspect crowds are going to be a bit of a nightmare.

We are staying off site. I noticed that Universal has a buy 2 get third day free, so I will take advantage of that as I have this feeling that my kids might like Harry Potter (Daughters ages 11,14) a lot. Keep in mind, wife and one daughter hate scary thrill rides. They avoid big thunder mountain :/. Below is my plan

Day 0 - Arrive late
Day 1 - Universal
Day 2 - Universal IOA
Day 3 - possibly universal / disney waterpark split
Day 4 - MK
Day 5 - Epcot
Day 6 - AK / Waterpark
Day 7 - Leave

I feel like this works, but would like a few extra opinions.

 

[Baptist]

We just returned from a trip to Orlando with Universal and Disney mix. Here are my observations regarding your plan:

1) If at all possible, stay onsite at Universal. They give you a free fast pass for all rides (except the 2 Harry Potter ones). Plus, you get early admission, which might be very important during spring break.

2) You don't need 3 days at Universal to see everything (especially if you follow #1). There are not that many rides and attractions. For example, the Harry Potter worlds only have one main ride each. Plus, there are extreme roller coasters that your family won't want to ride like Hulk and Rock It.

3) You don't have a trip to Hollywood Studios. I find that a good park worth doing. The animation classes are great that most people don't know about.

Have fun planning!

 

[crazycatlady]

I disagree with pp. We just spent 5 1/2 days at the Universal parks and found plenty to keep us occupied for the whole stay. The simulator type rides (Spiderman, Transformers, etc.) are thrilling, but I wouldn't say they are scary. I think your plan looks good, especially if you were just in Disney. I suspect you already visited DHS and didn't care for it because of the thrill rides?

 

[bumbershoot]

Where are you staying?

I highly recommend staying at Universal at a deluxe hotel to get the included Unlimited Express Pass. It works for every attraction except for Gringott's, Ollivander's Wand Shop show, Hogwart's Express, Forbidden Journey, and, I believe, one ride in the Simpsons area. It even works for shows (other than Ollivander's).

If you are staying onsite at Universal, I would strongly recommend that you do things in the opposite order. Because once you have the Unlimited Express Pass at Universal, you will likely seriously dislike FastPass+ at WDW. (it was the same for plain FP)

In case you're interested in booking onsite at Universal, this is a great site to use: http://uo.loewshotels.com/en/booking/uo?hotel=UEPBH,UEHRH,UERPR

Most from the Universal forum here book room-only there, and many book through the above link, because you can change and cancel it if you want to. You can put codes on it and change it if a better rate shows up later on. Then we buy our tickets from anywhere we want to: I've used www.mapleleaftickets.com and www.undercovertourist.com for tickets. (Nowadays we just have and keep preferred APs.)


The WDW stuff can be answered by others.


Oh, and we have 7 nights coming up at Universal. We're big re-riders, and we love just spending time in Universal parks because they are so wonderful, so while I can't promise we'll spend every single day at a park (some days might be half or quarter days because I'm running the WDW Half and DH and DS have races as well), but we fully expect to spend many of the days in the parks. 3 days is better than 2 in our opinion, that's for sure.

 

[BelleBriarRose]

I'm actually doing a similar trip in May! It's a full week, though. I would say that Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure can probably done in two days total, unless you're traveling with a huge Harry Potter fan who wants to spend all day in that area of the parks, which is totally understandable!

I would also say that Hollywood Studios is worthwhile, even with all the major changes going on there right now. There are still lots of fun shows, Fantasmic is awesome, and to me Rock n Roller Coaster and Toy Story Midway Mania are worth it just by themselves.

That being said, water parks weren't a big priority for us so I skipped them all together. It's really just a matter of what you and your group like to do.

 

[mrsmomo]

Very interested in this thread, we are doing for 5 days and going to try to do universal and 3 of for Disney Parks!!!

 

[TheMightyOb]

I disagree with pp. We just spent 5 1/2 days at the Universal parks and found plenty to keep us occupied for the whole stay. The simulator type rides (Spiderman, Transformers, etc.) are thrilling, but I wouldn't say they are scary. I think your plan looks good, especially if you were just in Disney. I suspect you already visited DHS and didn't care for it because of the thrill rides?

I am a bit torn. I like the rides at DHS, but the kids didnt. A little boy got hurt on the tower of terror (seatbelt cut into his belly) and they refuse to ride it now.

 

[TheMightyOb]

Where are you staying?

Off site - got a crazy good deal on a 3br condo for the week. We need separate rooms for the girls (and our own sanity)

 

[Freezing Maine Mama]

We just did this plan
Day 1- Universal/IOA rope drop for harry potter stuff- had park to park pass, so did both. And then Universal stuff
Day 2- Slept in a bit- IOA and redo of a few things in Universal
Day 3- Mickeys Very Merry Xmas Party (you could do a full day of magic kingdom)
Day 4- Park hopped from DHS to Animal Kingdom (If I would have known about the layout and changes in DHS I would have skipped this and done Epcot)
Day 5- Universal/IOA (If we had the money we would have done another disney day here, but we had a 14 day pass for Universal/IOA)
Day 6- A last trip through Universal/IOA- had a late flight

We stayed offsite, but didn't need express passes. If we got there early a lot of rides were walk on. Esp outside of Harry potter. Younger kids or people less inclined to do thrill rides will appreciate more time in Disney and less in Universal/IOA. I felt that I could have been done with Universal and IOA in two days, but because my kids are all older and love thrill rides we spent more time there. We also were on a budget and had a free park hopper disney ticket and only got the christmas party ticket. The 14 day Universal pass was pretty cheap.

 

[Freezing Maine Mama]

CHECk out the 14 day Universal park to park pass which includes Wet and Wild if you don't HAVE to have a Disney Waterpark. It was only 200 through undercover tourist. It was almost the same price as a two day park to park pass.

 

[nfceagles]

On a 6 day trip with Uni and WDW you are going to have to eliminate things, so I wouldn't second guess dropping DHS.

If at all possible, stay onsite at one of Universal's delux resorts. You may get a better rate if one of you gets an AP and uses it for an APH discount on the room. If you are able to do this, I would move Universal to the end of your trip because it will feel like a real vacation after Disney. Lines at Disney will drive you crazy if you have to do them after 3 days at Uni with an Express Pass.

I might replace the water parks with pool time instead. It will save you a little money and be a little more relaxing for an otherwise very packed trip.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think your plan works. We did a Uni/WDW split in August over a week. The Uni part we did from onsite, and the WDW part we did from offsite. 3 Uni park days, 3 Disney park days, one of which we lost time on from the move, which you won't have to deal with.

It was good, but it did feel really rushed. I'm not sure I would do a split like that again. I think I will either do UOR only or Disney only. Or go for longer. Or at least stay in one place, focus on either UOR or Disney and maybe do one day at the other place.

Our other issue was the weather which was blazing hot and had the storms, so our days got cut short a lot. You won't have that problem in March so that will help a lot.

Anyway, not to be a downer, but just manage expectations that you might feel a bit rushed at times trying to see everything. I think cutting out a Disney park (or two) is a necessity so wise move there.

Anyway, hope you have fun, happy planning!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I've done Universal in a day with the express hotel pass. Both parks, including shows. If you are big re riders you may want 2 to 3 days. There are a number of rides your family won't want to ride at all if they refuse to do Disney rides like Big Thunder and ToT. Depending on if they dislike being tossed around and have issues with seat restraints they might even have issues with HP Forbidden Journey. But walking through that queue is worth it for fans. Depending on when you go, you may not really need the express pass, because the longest lines will likely be for the Harry Potter attractions which don't take express and for the thrill rides your family won't be interested in. during spring break there may be some longer lines.

 

[goodgodmrsmolly]

2) You don't need 3 days at Universal to see everything (especially if you follow #1). There are not that many rides and attractions. For example, the Harry Potter worlds only have one main ride each. Plus, there are extreme roller coasters that your family won't want to ride like Hulk and Rock It.

3) You don't have a trip to Hollywood Studios. I find that a good park worth doing. The animation classes are great that most people don't know about.

I know this is a Disney heavy site but #2 is just plain false. There is just as much or more to do in the 2 universal parks than any 2 Disney parks. There is more than enough to do an Universal for 3 days with small kids. If you do just the main rides at any Disney parks, you only need 1/2 day at each park if you do RD. #3 so goes against #2, if any park is a 1/2 day park, it is HS.

I love going to Disney but man, universal is great too. They have kid specific areas, plenty of rides for kids, and shows for everyone. I just wish this Universal bashing would stop.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Not sure how it is Universal bashing to say that you can do it in 2 days. You can, if you don't reride and you have that express pass especially, when I have had that I have not waited in any lines for anything (using single rider on FJ, haven't been to see Gringotts yet). Not everybody wants to ride everything in both parks anyhow. Nobody said Universal wasn't great, but depending on your touring style it's pretty easy to get through under certain circumstances.

 

[Andtototoo]

If it were me, I'd ditch a waterpark day for SeaWorld, but that's obviously personal preference.

2) You don't need 3 days at Universal to see everything (especially if you follow #1). There are not that many rides and attractions. For example, the Harry Potter worlds only have one main ride each. Plus, there are extreme roller coasters that your family won't want to ride like Hulk and Rock It.

3) You don't have a trip to Hollywood Studios. I find that a good park worth doing. The animation classes are great that most people don't know about.

Have fun planning!

We spent an entire day at Universal and did not get to see all of the rides and attractions. We could have easily spent 2 full days there and wish we had. Only 1 person in our group was "into" Harry Potter, but we easily spent 2 hours in Diagon Alley alone and wish we could have spent more because the theming is so immersive, detailed, and superb.

OTOH, I intend to drop DHS from any future trips we do to WDW (if we do any in the next 5 years, which is in doubt). Aside from the Osborne's Lights, we spent a grand total of 30 minutes in that park (we did TOT and ST and that was it). Fantasmic is not worth a 90+ minute wait.

 

[BrianL]

See, I can't imagine spending more than one day per park at Uni. For me, it's easy to get through (though it is usually the low season when I am there), with plenty of time to spare (for re-rides). That doesn't mean it's not great, it just doesn't have that many attractions. I also agree that this is comparable to the WDW parks with the exception of MK, and maybe Epcot (though only for the World Showcase, not number of attractions).

I'm not sure why people get offended when someone finds that they don't need as much time in a park as someone else does. AK is still a half-day park for me (but they're working on it), and that's okay!

 

[MinnieGi]

We just did a Uni/Disney split trip several weeks ago. We stayed on site at both places. Stayed three nights at Hard Rock for express pass. My DD is a major HP fan and for that I am glad we did 3 days in Uni. Well actually it was more like 2 1/2 days with that 1/2 day being entirely just Diagon Alley. It really was amazing!!!

Our biggest surprise was how small Uni/IOA are! We did whizz through both parks in two days doing everything we wanted with repeats in two days and then had our arrival half day just spent in Diagon Alley. My DD had so much fun using the interactive wand she got in Ollivander's. My DS liked it too, but did not buy him one as he just wasn't really as into HP. He was really looking forward to the Simpson's area but was very disappointed in the area after seeing Diagon Alley and how they COULD have made a Simpson's land really amazing too and it just looked lame. (10 yo) He liked the ride and posed with all the statues and bought a Lard Lad Donut and practically ate the whole thing and the kid is a skinny rail. But after seeing Diagon Alley it just didn't compare. I have to say Hogsmeade and Diagaon Alley are amazing!! Wish they had made a whole theme park of just Harry Potter lands!!!!

Now we had a lot of fun at Uni/IoA and will do it again but felt we definitely only need a few days there. We were also surprised at their very short park hours compared to Disney. Now we really did enjoy how close everything was and spent time at the Hard Rock's pool which DS really enjoyed with the sand area and slide and movie every night.

 

[ArwenMarie]

See, I can't imagine spending more than one day per park at Uni. For me, it's easy to get through (though it is usually the low season when I am there), with plenty of time to spare (for re-rides). That doesn't mean it's not great, it just doesn't have that many attractions. I also agree that this is comparable to the WDW parks with the exception of MK, and maybe Epcot (though only for the World Showcase, not number of attractions).

I'm not sure why people get offended when someone finds that they don't need as much time in a park as someone else does. AK is still a half-day park for me (but they're working on it), and that's okay!

The third day at Uni is nice to go back and do re-rides in both parks but it's not necessary. When we were onsite, we spent four park days there there with pool time etc. From offsite, I would probably be more efficient and allot a day each.

But I agree, I don't think any of the Orlando parks require more than one day other than MK, although you could spend more than one day at any of them. It depends how in depth you want to go in each park.