Add A Day or 2 At Universal

[have2getaway]

I have posted this on the Universal forum, but thought I would reach out for input here as well. We are planning a return Disney trip next January, 2019, and plan to stay again at the Polynesian. It will be me, DH, and our triplet boys who are 8. On our trip last year, we thought the boys were still a bit young for Universal and, since they had never been to Disney, we wanted to focus on that. We paid a lot of money for the deluxe dining, resort and park hopper tickets, and doing Universal for a day would have added $700-$800. This time, I started out excited to try both, but am finding I have reservations again, but for different reasons. Our Disney trip felt so easy and relaxed and we had pretty much paid for everything up front. We really want a repeat of that experience, and we’re looking forward to doing things we didn’t do on our last trip—like enjoy our resort more, visit the Boardwalk, etc. If we try to add a day or two at Universal, it will be hard to repeat that relaxed experience. We will be paying for a dining plan we won’t use for 1-2 days. Also, we are not the split stay type. We prefer to get where we are going and stay there, and, I don’t know, it’s starting to feel like we are just trying to cram too much into one trip. Does anyone else struggle with this? Just looking for thoughts and suggestions? For those who did both in a week, which is how long we will be there, did you find it was too much?

What have others done in this predicament and what worked for you? Has anyone ever done a combined Polynesian/Royal Pacific stay? Has anyone ever paid for a room at Disney to use Magical Express while simultaneously paying for a resort at Universal? Is that just crazy? I hate wasting money, and to me that’s a big waste of money, but I really don’t want to give up Magical Express.

 

[wdw&sonny]

I think I replied to your post on the USF site too. But, here is a slightly different response.
We have done WDW trips, USF trips and combined both, as well.
From a cost standpoint, logistics, planning etc., separating the trips is better.
When we combined the 2, we got a "throwaway" room at USF (Royal Pacific). The cost of the room for 1 night was cheaper than buying the express passes (for 5 people). The room for one night gave us the Xpress pass for 2 days; enough to do the USF parks. We also then spent an afternoon at RPR to use the pool. We never checked out of our WDW resort.

My advice is to separate the trips, spend more time at HP lands, add in Volcano Bay...

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We have done 2 WDW/Uni split stays with 4 or 5 nights at WDW and 3 at Uni (which is more than we needed). My DS was 7 the first time we went to Uni and it really wasn't very enjoyable quite honestly. He wasn't into thrill rides and he hadn't read or watched the Harry Potter movies yet (we went mostly because we took my sister on that first Uni trip and she wanted to see the Harry Potter attractions). We did the WDW/Uni split again this past August when DS was almost 10 and he had read and watched all the Harry Potter movies (he still won't do the big thril rides at Uni and neither will I), so it was more enjoyable (we also went to Volcano Bay which was a ton of fun).

Yes, buying Uni tickets in addition to buying WDW tickets costs a lot. And if you are only spending a week in the area, going to Uni takes a big chunk of time out of a WDW trip that you are hoping will be somewhat relaxing. It wouldn't make any financial sense to me to book a room at Uni while simultaneously booking a room at WDW just for ME. It would cost less to drop that WDW room and just book a private transfer. Are your kids big Harry Potter or Marvel fans? If not, I would probably skip Uni altogether on this trip and save it for another time. Or, if they are fans, I would either do a clean Uni/WDW split (2 to 3 nights Uni) the rest at WDW or just visit Uni for a day and stay at WDW the whole time.

If it stresses you out just thinking about it, I would just stick with WDW!

 

[OneinThree]

I agree in not trying to cram too much into a single trip. When I started visiting WDW, there were only 2 parks (Epcot had just opened) and there was no Universal. Now, you sort of have to prioritize and maybe choose to forego some things you enjoyed on a previous trip to see the others. I would NOT miss Universal which, IMO, is currently a better park than any of the WDW ones.

 

[tarak]

I think I replied to your post on the USF site too. But, here is a slightly different response.
We have done WDW trips, USF trips and combined both, as well.
From a cost standpoint, logistics, planning etc., separating the trips is better.
When we combined the 2, we got a "throwaway" room at USF (Royal Pacific). The cost of the room for 1 night was cheaper than buying the express passes (for 5 people). The room for one night gave us the Xpress pass for 2 days; enough to do the USF parks. We also then spent an afternoon at RPR to use the pool. We never checked out of our WDW resort.

My advice is to separate the trips, spend more time at HP lands, add in Volcano Bay...

I would separate them, as well. We have a week planned at WDW for this June. We could add a few days at Universal, but we’d be rushing things. The first time we went to Universal, we spent two nights. I wish we’d had more time. Rather than cram two vacations into one, we decided to alternate. Disney this year and Universal next year. We likely won’t apend a whole week at Universal, but there are plenty of other things we can do besides Disney - take the younger kids to Legoland for a day, see the Kennedy Space Center, etc. It helps to break up the cost, too.

 

[rwdavis2]

We always do Universal at the beginning or end and stay at the Hardrock to get the free express pass. Not having to stand in lines makes it more relaxing for us. I've never felt like a Universal visit was any more frantic than a WDW one. 2 days will be plenty of time to do both parks.

As others have said, we have taken several Universal only trips in the past. It can be done over a long weekend and still not be rushed.

 

[Shellyred8]

I would lean towards doing separate vacations for Disney vs. all of the other parks. If you do a non-Disney trip, you could do a few days at Universal and then a couple of nights at the Legoland hotel. If your boys are at all into Legos, they will go crazy for this hotel!!

Have a great trip!

 

[rwdavis2]

Even if we did a Universal only trip we usually made a drive down to Disney Springs.

 

[gharter]

If you are only going to be at Universal for 1 day, I would stay at Disney and drive back and forth. If 2 days or more, staying on grounds has wonderful perks and is well worth it. Be sure to stay at one of the resorts with Epress Passes, not all of them include this. They can be priceless depending on how busy the parks are.
We have done both parks as a single vacation and separate vacations. Both worked well. It really depends on how long you want/can stay. In a single trip, we start at Universal, and end at Disney.

 

[have2getaway]

I think I replied to your post on the USF site too. But, here is a slightly different response.
We have done WDW trips, USF trips and combined both, as well.
From a cost standpoint, logistics, planning etc., separating the trips is better.
When we combined the 2, we got a "throwaway" room at USF (Royal Pacific). The cost of the room for 1 night was cheaper than buying the express passes (for 5 people). The room for one night gave us the Xpress pass for 2 days; enough to do the USF parks. We also then spent an afternoon at RPR to use the pool. We never checked out of our WDW resort.

My advice is to separate the trips, spend more time at HP lands, add in Volcano Bay...

Do you wish you had stayed at the Royal Pacific resort on that trip?

I am trying to convince DH that we should make a separate trip for just Universal, but he’s not 100 % sure they will want to be at Universal that long, which is why he is reluctant. I’m starting to feel convinced it financially makes sense to either start out at Universal or plan a separate trip altogether. I don’t like having to deal with the drive time from one to the other. I think he’s anxious to just try it out for a Day first. The cost of airfare is a big part of that. We live in upstate NY, and while it is drivable, driving that distance just doesn’t appeal to us. Airfare is a minimum $1,0000 added on to our trip, usually more.