Adding 1 day at Universal to a WDW trip??

[Hidden_Mickey]

Hi,

We plan to be at WDW from Oct 19-27. We will have the DDP so I have planned ADR's for each day and got 8 day base tickets, with the water park option. Our days are planned out and packed to the gills, with some down time. Now DH says he wants to spend a day at Universal. I have to admit I'm not interested this trip. I'm a big chicken when it comes to coasters. Disney coasters are perfect for me. Scary ones, not so much. If we go, we will have to sacrifice a second day at EPCOT - I was planning on doing DQ and finishing up what we didn't do our first day at EPCOT - or sacrificing our day at AK, but we haven't done EE and I don't want to miss it. I'm thinking of ditching the DDP and getting park hoppers and planning for time at Universal on our next trip, but not for this one. Kids are 7 and 10. Would they like Universal? Are they tall enough for the big coasters? Should we make room for it this trip? Is it worth it for a one day pass when we will not be staying on site at Universal? Is it worth missing EE and exploring WS, which we totally missed last time? TIA!

 

[Tink3Belle]

You sound like me we are going in 3 weeks and my 5 year old loves Spiderman. So I have to do a day at Universary craming 2 parks into one day. I also have a 2 & 3 year old so we won't be doing the big stuff but there seems like plenty to do for the younger ones. You can always deceide once you get there if you are willing to sacrifice Epcot, Day 2. It's an expensive day but I think it will be a nice change of pace and he will really enjoy the superhers and scooby doo.

 

[RVGal]

If it is something that you already you feel you don't want to explore on this trip then DON'T. From the sound of your post, you already have the plans in your head for what you want out of this trip. If you give up some of those plans to do anything else, let's be honest, you won't be happy. If you aren't happy, you won't have fun.

Universal is a wonderful place that has lots of stuff to offer and your kids are at a great age to plan a trip with Universal as a major part of it. Plan it and you will love it. Short-change the plans you've already made for this trip and you'll find reasons to hate it.

JMHO.

 

[Metro West]

If it is something that you already you feel you don't want to explore on this trip then DON'T. From the sound of your post, you already have the plans in your head for what you want out of this trip. If you give up some of those plans to do anything else, let's be honest, you won't be happy. If you aren't happy, you won't have fun.

Universal is a wonderful place that has lots of stuff to offer and your kids are at a great age to plan a trip with Universal as a major part of it. Plan it and you will love it. Short-change the plans you've already made for this trip and you'll find reasons to hate it.

I have to agree with this post. If you're not interested in seeing what Universal has to offer, then make it the main point of your next trip. Universal should never be crammed into a single day. There is too much to do and see at both parks that you aren't going to give the Studios and IOA much of a chance.

I would suggest to maybe stay onsite for a night or two at Universal and really take your time to enjoy everything. You certainly don't have to plan as much so you should be more relaxed.

I think your kids would love Universal...if you had more time but it doesn't sound like that's going to be much of an option this time.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Universal should never be crammed into a single day. There is too much to do and see at both parks that you aren't going to give the Studios and IOA much of a chance.

I totally agree. A common misconception on the DIS (usually spread by people who have never been to Universal) is that Universal is nothing but coasters and thrill rides. As far as thrill rides go, IOA has plenty but the Studios has only the one indoor coaster. There really is a lot to do at each park and you definitely need more than a day to experience it all.

 

[stwyatt]

we made the "mistake" of adding uo to our vacation when our ds was 5. we've not been back to wdw since as uo is all he wants to do now--he's 12. when he was 5 he could not do all the big coasters, but still was able to do so much that it was more fun for him than wdw. it wasn't that he didn't like wdw--it was that he liked uo that much more

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

I totally agree. A common misconception on the DIS (usually spread by people who have never been to Universal) is that Universal is nothing but coasters and thrill rides. As far as thrill rides go, IOA has plenty but the Studios has only the one indoor coaster. There really is a lot to do at each park and you definitely need more than a day to experience it all.

I tottaly agree with you.
I go to USF / IOA and WDW since my kids were small and there were always a lot of things to do and play in all parks.
Now they are 10/13 and always ask to go 2 days to USF, another 2 to IOA, but they don't care if we go only 1 day to each Disney park ...

 

[mikkiwikki]

we made the "mistake" of adding uo to our vacation when our ds was 5. we've not been back to wdw since as uo is all he wants to do now--he's 12. when he was 5 he could not do all the big coasters, but still was able to do so much that it was more fun for him than wdw. it wasn't that he didn't like wdw--it was that he liked uo that much more

Interesting - I found very little for kids to do at this age.
WDW is definitely a favorite for our kids. And SpiderMan - me and my hubby have an iron constitution, and my hubby almost yaked on that ride.

There is NO WAY Im sending my son or daughter on that ride.
That leaves Pecker land and Suessville for our 4/7 yos

Not really worth 86 bucks a head IMHO...

 

[Spidey7]

Universal is not a "coaster" park, and the few coasters they have there are not "super coasters" I wouldn't even really consider them "big" maybe medium, but not "big" like the 250ft plus tall rides at some of the 6-Flags.

It really is more similar to Disney than to 6-Flags, which is almost 100% coasters and thrill rides. Universal is theme rides, like Disney's POTC.

Jurassic Park boat ride, you ride through the animatronic dinos, Spiderman, great very unique 3-D ride where you ride amongst superheros coming out at you in 3-D. Men In Black very cool interactive ride where you shoot aliens popping out at you everywhere in NYC. Jaws another boat ride where the shark attacks your boat. The Mummy hybrid coaster/theme ride, starts out with very cool animatronics, ala POTC, but much darker and scarier, then turns into a indoor coaster at the end.

Also, keep in mind all the coaster at U are steel and very smooth. If that helps. But U rides are very original.

 

[tinaluis]

I have to agree with the others on this one. You will hate US/IOA if you're trying to cram everything into a day and taking time away from a "crammed" vacation to WDW.

As far as there being enough to do for kids, my DDs (now 11, 9 and 6) have been visiting US/IOA since they were very little. We always find enough for them to do and we spend several relaxing days there each trip. By that I mean that all three of them don't go on every ride/experience, but they're sufficiently entertained until it's time to go to the next ride/experience. Surprisingly, it's my youngest who's the biggest daredevil, with the oldest riding about 70% of the time too. My middle DD doesn't want anything to do with most rides, but she still loves to go to US/IOA. They've been passholders almost since birth our trips to Orlando are spent between WDW and US/IOA equally.

 

[Cindy B]

Interesting - I found very little for kids to do at this age.
WDW is definitely a favorite for our kids. And SpiderMan - me and my hubby have an iron constitution, and my hubby almost yaked on that ride.

There is NO WAY Im sending my son or daughter on that ride.
That leaves Pecker land and Suessville for our 4/7 yos

Not really worth 86 bucks a head IMHO...

My 4 year old (at the time) loved Spiderman! She also loved the Jurassic park ride, Popeye raft, the kid Jurassic coaster, the Jurassic playland, Jurasic discovery center the Magneto teacup-ish ride, Cat in the Hat, Caroussel, the flying unicorn. At four years old (and she was tall enough) went on everything that she could. --I think the only things she couldn't at the time was Dr. Doom, Dueling Dragons and Dudley.


At four years old in Universal she went on: Hanna Barbera, (now Jimmy Neutron), MIB--she loved MIB!, ET, Curious George playland, Curious George Feievel area, Twister, Earthquake, etc. She wasn't too fond of King Kong-- but at 6 loved the Mummy! She liked the Pet show, the Monsters show, ghostbusters, and even the Terminator show. She wasn't too keen on the monsters make up show. The Wild West show (now Fear Factor) was a bit too loud for her.

As you can tell, that is almost the entire park. There are tons to do with younger kids if you let them broaden thier horizons.

If you think, well I hated that ride, I won't let my kids on it, you aren't giving them a chance IMO.

 

[stwyatt]

our 5yr old was really scared the first time he rode spiderman. we figured out that it was the "bad guys" in the ride that scared him. we told him that spiderman was there to save us from the bad guys and to yell for him when he got scared. it was a great time watching him get into the ride by yelling for spiderman to help. we probably rode the ride 10x in a roll before he was ready to move on

 

[CTrumble]

Personally, I'd ditch a few days at Disney. Eight days of Disney is not necessary. There is so much to do that you can't do everything you want even if you stay a couple weeks.

Get a room at Universal for 2 nights to get front of the line passes at Universal parks....HAVE FUN!

THEN

Go to Disney for the remainder of your trip. You don't have to do everything, take your time and enjoy.

It's your husbands vacation too.