Dh suggested Univ...and I know nothing about it. Come help me!!

[Jenny-momof3]

We're annual passholders to Disney so I know the ins and outs of planning a Disney trip! But DH threw me for a loop the other day and suggested a spring break trip to Universal. I'm completely for it...but know NOTHING about the parks/resorts/meal plans, etc.


So here's some general info on us.. we have 4 kids.....they will be 16,12,6 and 1 at the time of the trip. 2 girls then 2 boys. We would be going during our spring break....March 28. We love roller coasters but I know my boys will be too little to ride. Is there a babyswap like Disney has? We would like to stay onsite to get the front of the line pass.

Is there enough to do at these parks to fill 5/6 days? We hit the Disney parks hard from morning to night with little rest inbetween. We are definitely the family that likes to go go go on vacation!

Any advice to help us plan our trip? TIA!

 

[damo]

Hi Jenny-momof4 (you didn't plan that name very well did ya?!?!!!) lol

The great thing about Universal is the lack of planning necessary. Your kids are of great ages to love Universal/IOA. There is enough to do 5/6 days but not if you want to spend every hour at the parks. We love to do the parks in the morning. Then do the pools (you can pool hop at the resorts) in the afternoon and then going back to the park later in the day. This will probably work well with a 1 year old. The parks are within walking distance from the hotels so it makes it very easy to do.

There is babyswap at all the rides and with your unlimited express you may find yourself doing rides over and over again, so that babyswap comes in handy.

My advice is to thoroughly browse the website www.universalorlando.com

Also read all the stickies at the top of this forum and the Universal Hotels forum. Also check out the Universal trip report forums.

This will create lots of questions for you to pose here.

 

[gottolovedisney]

We're annual passholders to Disney so I know the ins and outs of planning a Disney trip! But DH threw me for a loop the other day and suggested a spring break trip to Universal. I'm completely for it...but know NOTHING about the parks/resorts/meal plans, etc.


So here's some general info on us.. we have 4 kids.....they will be 16,12,6 and 1 at the time of the trip. 2 girls then 2 boys. We would be going during our spring break....March 28. We love roller coasters but I know my boys will be too little to ride. Is there a babyswap like Disney has? We would like to stay onsite to get the front of the line pass.

Is there enough to do at these parks to fill 5/6 days? We hit the Disney parks hard from morning to night with little rest inbetween. We are definitely the family that likes to go go go on vacation!

Any advice to help us plan our trip? TIA!

How about doing one day for Sea World???
If you are onsite and have FOTL passes, don't think you would need to be at the park for so many days- maybe Sea world would be a fun way to spend a day.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

Thanks for the info to get started. And you're right....I didn't think my screen name through very well.

Seaworld is an idea too. Kinda pricey for 1 day since we have to buy 5 tickets....but I know there are different offers from time to time.

Off to get started reseraching this trip.

 

[princesslondon]

I have to say, being HUGE Disney fans also, we tried SeaWorld one day and LOVED it!! We had so much fun there. Theres a few good rides but some really awesome shows you and the kids would love. We usually only do a 3-4 day Universal trip, one of those days at SeaWorld because we feel like we have done it all fairly quickly at Universal. However, we have not been since HP opened so that might add on some extra stuff to do.

 

[Mtnman44]

Try to stay at one of the on property Universal Hotels as you will get unlimited front of the line use. This, combined with the easy access to the parks, will give you perhaps the most enjoyable and pleasant theme park experience you've ever had. At least it was for us!

 

[indimom]

We're annual passholders to Disney so I know the ins and outs of planning a Disney trip! But DH threw me for a loop the other day and suggested a spring break trip to Universal. I'm completely for it...but know NOTHING about the parks/resorts/meal plans, etc.


So here's some general info on us.. we have 4 kids.....they will be 16,12,6 and 1 at the time of the trip. 2 girls then 2 boys. We would be going during our spring break....March 28. We love roller coasters but I know my boys will be too little to ride. Is there a babyswap like Disney has? We would like to stay onsite to get the front of the line pass.

Is there enough to do at these parks to fill 5/6 days? We hit the Disney parks hard from morning to night with little rest inbetween. We are definitely the family that likes to go go go on vacation!

Any advice to help us plan our trip? TIA!

We spent 7 days at Universal in December 2008. Had a great time. We only stayed on site the last 3 days of our trip and were completely spoiled by FOTL. Our kids thoroughly enjoyed the pool also. Really nice (and we got lucky and had good weather in Dec.) We intend to stay on-site for about 4 days on our next visit, we think there is plenty to do...

In addition to baby swap, just thought I'd mention there are really fantastic kids play areas in both parks. One is Curious George themed and has a huge water play area and ball launching zone (for lack of a better description). One is Fievel themed and has a short water ride. And Jurrasic Park has a very spread out, jungle style play area. Oh, and another in Dr. Suess that we never had a chance to really tour. But it also looked fun.
There are fun shows and practically no lines for the characters (at least compared to Disney), so you'll have quite a few options for the little ones.
We never tried the meal plan so I can't give any advice on that, but we did enjoy a character meal at Confisco Grill and loved Mythos, if you like sit-down dining. Both were very nice and the characters were a lot of fun!