Disney and Universal Trip: Logistics advice needed

[amyngary]

I am working on a last-minute trip for Thanksgiving. Due to the airfare prices, we are staying longer than usual - 10 days (bummer huh?!)

Anyway, I decided we should spend 2-3 days going to Universal to visit the Harry Potter fun there. Currently, I have a hodgepodge of DVC units booked (I currently have us moving twice, and there are 2 days I don't have covered at all yet), and I'm hoping to settle on only moving once even if we stay on Disney property the entire trip. Here's where I'd like advice (sorry for the long post)....

I'm trying to decide which option regarding exact timing of our Universal jaunt:
1. Stay at a Universal hotel first for 2-3 nights and then head to Disney for remaining nights. PRO: we'd only have to move hotels once (if we can get a DVC unit for the entire remaining nights, which may not be possible anyway). CON: more expensive than options 3&4, and couldn't get free airport transfer to Disney via DME.
2. Go to Disney first, then for the 2-3 nights in the middle that I can't find a DVC unit anyway (11/24-11/27), stay at a Universal hotel. Then move back to Disney. PRO: Universal will be less crowded during the busiest days of the Holiday weekend, so we'd maximize crowd levels while at Disney, and we'd get to use DME both to/from the airport. CON: more expensive than options 3&4.
3. Stay at Disney the entire time (likely still in 2 different hotels) and just rent a car for 2 days to go to Universal. PRO: Cheaper, could use DME to/from airport. CON: wouldn't get early entrance for Universal. But if we only want to do HP, do we even need it?
4. Stay at a cheaper off-property hotel for the first 2-3 nights, rent a car, and drive to Universal. Then transfer to Disney for remaining nights. PRO: Cheaper lodging; Same CON as #3 above.

What would you do? Are there other options I haven't thought of? Are there other Pros/Cons to the above options I haven't thought of?

Thanks!

 

[Upatnoon]

I am working on a last-minute trip for Thanksgiving. Due to the airfare prices, we are staying longer than usual - 10 days (bummer huh?!)

Anyway, I decided we should spend 2-3 days going to Universal to visit the Harry Potter fun there. Currently, I have a hodgepodge of DVC units booked (I currently have us moving twice, and there are 2 days I don't have covered at all yet), and I'm hoping to settle on only moving once even if we stay on Disney property the entire trip. Here's where I'd like advice (sorry for the long post)....

I'm trying to decide which option regarding exact timing of our Universal jaunt:
1. Stay at a Universal hotel first for 2-3 nights and then head to Disney for remaining nights. PRO: we'd only have to move hotels once (if we can get a DVC unit for the entire remaining nights, which may not be possible anyway). CON: more expensive than options 3&4, and couldn't get free airport transfer to Disney via DME.
2. Go to Disney first, then for the 2-3 nights in the middle that I can't find a DVC unit anyway (11/24-11/27), stay at a Universal hotel. Then move back to Disney. PRO: Universal will be less crowded during the busiest days of the Holiday weekend, so we'd maximize crowd levels while at Disney, and we'd get to use DME both to/from the airport. CON: more expensive than options 3&4.
3. Stay at Disney the entire time (likely still in 2 different hotels) and just rent a car for 2 days to go to Universal. PRO: Cheaper, could use DME to/from airport. CON: wouldn't get early entrance for Universal. But if we only want to do HP, do we even need it?
4. Stay at a cheaper off-property hotel for the first 2-3 nights, rent a car, and drive to Universal. Then transfer to Disney for remaining nights. PRO: Cheaper lodging; Same CON as #3 above.

What would you do? Are there other options I haven't thought of? Are there other Pros/Cons to the above options I haven't thought of?

Thanks!

I would stay at a Universal resort if at all possible for the convenience and quality of experience. Since you don't have DVC rooms for No. 2, that would be fine.

 

[2Gma]

I personally like to get "settled in" on vacation so I would try to minimize moving as much as possible.
Since you're going at Thanksgiving, crowds will be heavier so I would suggest staying at Disney or Universal to take advantage perks of Disney EMH's or Early Entry & Express Pass at Universal.
Early entry is for onsite guests is usually one designated park and gives access to Harry Potter areas as well as some other rides.
Express Pass (you can purchase or get free as an onsite guest at certain Universal hotels) is like Fastpass at Disney, except you get to fastpass all the rides that have it. HP areas DO NOT have Express pass but if you are onsite guest you get in early to enjoy it first.

Given your situation:
1. I would try to stay all my days at Disney first if possible. Rent a car or take shuttle, taxi, Uber to Universal for those days.
2. If I had 2 nights of no hotel reservations for Disney I would stay at Universal (either in the beginning or end of my Disney trip) to take advantage of perks above (you're paying for hotel anyway and those perks are huge time saver)

You should be able to use DME even if you stay at Universal for the first couple nights. You can drive back to airport (or take shuttle/taxi) and then transfer to DME at airport as you will have active reservation (at least that's what I know others have done).

 

[amyngary]

Thanks for your input. I've gotten my DVC reservations down to two resorts at least, but since I'm still missing 2 nights in the middle, it will mean moving twice. Therefore, since we have to move in the middle anyway, I'm leaning towards moving to a Universal hotel for those 2 nights. I'm going to wait until the 31-day mark though in case DVC comes through (people tend to cancel right before that 31 day deadline).

Thanks for your help! Sometimes just typing my question helps me figure it out, and I always appreciate DISers perspectives!

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Have you been to Universal before?

 

[amyngary]

Have you been to Universal before?

Yes, we went to see Harry Potter part 1. We loved it, but I didn't love the rest of Universal (most rides were too intense for me, and I have a 5-year old who won't be able to ride much of them either). Much prefer the theming and CMs at Disney, but their HP is very Disney-like, so I can't wait to see the rest of it. I'm surprising the kids with the Universal portion, and I know they will be thrilled to visit Hogwarts again.

 

[gorkt]

We are doing your option 3 this time, but if money really wasn't a huge issue, and you didn't mind moving twice, then I would do option 2 since you don't have a place to stay at this point anyway.

Like you, we aren't super crazy about the other Universal rides, just HP and maybe the Simpsonss area, so we are going to just stay at Disney and Uber to Universal for two days. I found that when we did this three years ago, we didn't really need the express pass to see what we wanted to see.