Can't decide Off or On????

[julesboston]

Hello,

We are trying to plan a Orlando vacation for March. We have a daughter who will be turning 6 in March.
We went to WDW last April, so we want to see some things we didn't see last year.

Last year, we stayed with all Disney stuff, we visited all the main WDW parks and I really don't think we need to re-visit Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios again at this time. So we thought we would do Universal & Seaworld in addition to going back to Magic Kingdom & Epcot.

Is Universal appropriate for a 6yr old??? I heard the rides were for older kids, so not sure if she will have fun or not....

Also, we can't decide if it is worth staying on Disney property, esp if we plan on spending time at the other parks...??? Does anyone have any advice???

Last year, we rented a car & would probably do it again...

Staying on Disney property almost seems like a hassle, waiting for the transportation and kind of being 'trapped in their world'....

Thanks for any advice

 

[TotoToo]

Is Universal appropriate for a 6yr old??? I heard the rides were for older kids, so not sure if she will have fun or not....

Absolutely! For some reason Universal has a reputation for not being youngster friendly &, of course, the larger roller coasters that are features are not good for the young set. But Universal has a TON of interactive (usually with water - bring dry clothes!) areas that can enthrall kids for a day. Far better than Disney in that area as most of the Disney stuff is a 2-3 minute sit & view ride while Universal offers hands on, get in & play type areas that are far more interesting to the kid crowd.

Also, we can't decide if it is worth staying on Disney property, esp if we plan on spending time at the other parks...??? Does anyone have any advice???

Not worth it at all! Find a nice 2-3 bedroom unit off Disney & you'll pay far less & get far more. The Lake Buena Vista area offers many resorts and great access to all the Parks (Universal, Seaworld & Disney).

Last year, we rented a car & would probably do it again...

Staying on Disney property almost seems like a hassle, waiting for the transportation and kind of being 'trapped in their world'....

You got that right so why would you pay far more to stay there - especially if your trip is largely for Universal (and even if it wasn't why pay extra to be, as you correctly state, trapped in an often frustrating world?)

 

[momto2js]

On this part of the board you are going to find more folks that are "off-property" types. Even if we are doing mostly disney we don't stay at a disney resort. For use it works out that we can stay for 7 days off site for the same price as 4 on property even with most of the discounts they offer.

We would also agree that a car is a must because of the "stuck" problem and the fact that we have on 2 different route compared the transit time and the move the car time and had the bus take at least 45 minutes longer than moving the car.

Our kids enjoyed universal, but we LOVE sea world and Busch Gardens. I would likely buy the 2 park pass with Sea World and make the 1 hour drive to Busch Gardens. It is a great park for kids. But again take dry clothes, and wear shoes for climbing!!! Aquatica is also a great park and I don't think the 3 park pass is all that much more.

 

[kathy884]

I think you'll love Sea World. Such a great park for a six year old // a great park for all ages IMO.

Orlando is so overbuilt (always has been), and there are just so many wonderful values on quality accomodations outside the world, so whenever we are paying with our own money, we stay offsite. Our favorite offsite choice is a condo resort stay (resort feel more so than staying in a house for us and all that great space, -- kitchen, LV, balcony, washer/dryer -- so nice) (We often rent from owners on sites like redweek.com and tug2.net)

I have, though, when other people are paying (four day convention for DH at Contemporary) stayed onsite and driven to other parks outside the world. It was really pretty easy to do. If you are staying onsite Disney, but doing lots offsite, a car I think would be a must and you wouldn't want to do the Disney dining plan.

 

[Pembo]

We stayed at a condo in WH last summer. It was great and driving to the parks was way less of a hassle then the buses. I highly recommend it.

 

[KellyWasHere]

My four year old loved Universal and IoA. She rode Hippogriff's Flight and Woody Woodpecker roller coaster over and over again. She loved The ET ride, we rode that multiple times, and the Shrek 3D movie. There's a great playground in the Barney area (I don't know if you have to see the show to get to it) and a Curious George play area that was water on the outside and air and balls on the inside, where you could collect balls and shoot them through air cannons. My girls loved this. Over at IoA she played in the Jurassic Park play area for a long time, we ate at Thunder Terrace Cafe where she really enjoyed seeing the Jurassic Park ride splash down. Then she rode on all the Dr Seuss rides multiple times. And there are fantastic play areas over there too.

With all that there were still rides we didn't do, the Pteurodon Flyers and Jimmy Neutron. Plus all the water rides. (We were there in December and it was COLD.) We just didn't have the time, and we were there 3 days with relatively short lines.

The two mistakes we made were taking her on Spider-man and the Simpson's Ride. In the latter, Sideshow Bob is trying to wreak havoc and you're on a runaway coaster and there's a giant scary panda, etc, etc. She was fine but only because I distracted her.

She was not fine on Spider-man, it really spooked her. She was crying when she came off of it. But she recovered pretty quickly, I took her on Storm Force Accelatron a couple times in a row and she was right as rain.

Your daughter is 2 years older so maybe she'll be fine on these. Oh, and if she's 42 inches she could ride MIB. I LOVE that ride but DD was an inch too short. She would've loved it.

 

[Kat&Dom]

Welcome to the DISboards!

My son is 5 and he loved it at Universal. I actually prefer Universal over Hollywood Studios - they have some really great rides - I took my son just prior to his 4th birthday and he still talks about some of the rides there.

We also love SeaWorld - it is a great park. Something that you might want to consider depending when your next vacation to Orlando will be is to get the annual pass. I think it is $99 for 1 year or $149 for 2 years as it gets you free parking, 10% off of all the stores, even the pearl diving and food. You can get 10% off the All Day Dining - we did the All Day Dining at SeaWorld and it was a great value. You can go through the lines as often as you want to get a drink, snack or meal and the food quality was very good for a theme park. I think that my son drank his value in bottles of water.

I would definitely rent a car to do everything that you want to do. It is so easy to drive to any of the parks and you can also go shopping at the Outlet Mall and check out the Disney store for deals.

I would also recommend staying off-site in a condo that has kitchen and laundry so that you can heat up leftovers and be able to do laundry. There are so many great options that are so close to all the parks. For instance, Sheraton Vistana Resort is about 5 minutes from Disney, 10-15 minutes from SeaWorld and 15-20 minutes from Universal so it is a great location and they have great units. If you book a 2 bed unit, you will get a master with king bed with en-suite, 2nd bedroom has 2 double beds and full bath attached. Laundry in unit, full kitchen, dining room and living room. It has a great pool and is a very nice resort. I have seen them advertise some great deals here on the DISboards so check out their link.

I have also stayed at Grand Beach resort which is across the road from the Sheraton Vistana and at Cyress Pointe Grand Villas which is down the road.

We have also stayed out in Kissimee which was a 20-25 minute commute to Disney or SeaWorld and 30 minutes to Universal.

There a lots of options. I haven't stayed at Bonnet Creek yet but it is very close to Disney and about 15 minutes from SeaWorld and 20-25 minutes to Universal and lots of people rave about it. Definitely check out off-site because there are some great deals to be had. Have a wonderful trip.