disney and universal trip

[drmax]

Hello. 2 adults 2 kids 9 & 10 tentively booked a room at the Pop resort for $107/night, coming in June. We're driving from Indiana. I'm thinking of doing a 3 day park hopper @ Disney and a 2 day hopper @ Universal. I thought the price was right for the Pop resort and convenience sake for Disney. Do you see why I should leave Pop when we are through with Disney and hit Universal? We have our own car, and the prices on Univeral for a stay is well over $200. Please advise. This is our 1st time with kids, to the parks and want to make the best out of this, especially to think of the agonizing 15 hour drive....1 way!
Thx for any suggestions....DM

 

[chris31997]

The only advantage that I could think of would be ealry entrance and avoiding parking fees at Universal. But for me, that would not be enough of a motivation to change hotels.

On a side note, we did almost the samthing. Only we had 1 day at universal. We stayed at Disney the whole time.

 

[drmax]

The only advantage that I could think of would be ealry entrance and avoiding parking fees at Universal. But for me, that would not be enough of a motivation to change hotels.

On a side note, we did almost the samthing. Only we had 1 day at universal. We stayed at Disney the whole time.

Chris, just curious...how far did you drive?
Any other tips would be great.
U stay at Pop?

 

[Belle83]

I wouldn't change hotels, but I would like into Universal's Express Passes. In the summer, they will be expensive but will be worth it.

I wouldn't buy the park hopper option ahead of time. Wait until you get to WDW and you can add it on at the gate if you want it. I think a lot of people buy this but never use it, wasting $50+ per person.

 

[drmax]

I wouldn't change hotels, but I would like into Universal's Express Passes. In the summer, they will be expensive but will be worth it.

I wouldn't buy the park hopper option ahead of time. Wait until you get to WDW and you can add it on at the gate if you want it. I think a lot of people buy this but never use it, wasting $50+ per person.

Oh, ....I'll look at the Express pass and thx for the heads up on the hopper.
It may be, that we'll opt out of this until November or possilbly Jan. Alot of folks have said that June is HOT with long lines. We are not into either. Our 9 & 10 yr old dislike this as well. Sucks to drive that long, pay that much, then be stuck in lines and likely not even get on all the rides. We have a couple weeks to decide.

 

[Kimberle]

Personally, I really like the UR resorts. They are much more "deluxe" than even the WDW deluxe resorts. But, if they don't fit your budget, they don't work for you. When you stay at a UR resort, you get early entry for 2 days, they day you check in and the day you leave. So, you could stay there for just one night and get the perks for 2 days.

The express pass you purchase gives you FOTL once for each participating ride. When you stay on site, you get unlimited FOTL access for participating resorts.

Have a good trip.

 

[goodferry]

I would definitely change hotels, the front of the line access is well worth it, and the price of the pass in the summer for four people will bring you pretty close to the price of a room.

 

[bobbie68]

Hi, we are going this June and doing the same thing. We arrive in Orlando on Fri. and are going to Universal for 2 nights first. I think it is well worth the money to stay there. You get the front of the line access unlimited except for a few rides and early entry to Harry Potter World which is our main reason for going. On Sunday we are moving to Disney's POR resort for the next 5 nights. I agree with waiting to upgrade the park hopper pass for disney when you get there. Personally we did it our first visit and would never go again without it.

Good-luck

 

[RMulieri]

Personally, I really like the UR resorts. They are much more "deluxe" than even the WDW deluxe resorts. But, if they don't fit your budget, they don't work for you. When you stay at a UR resort, you get early entry for 2 days, they day you check in and the day you leave. So, you could stay there for just one night and get the perks for 2 days.

The express pass you purchase gives you FOTL once for each participating ride. When you stay on site, you get unlimited FOTL access for participating resorts.

Have a good trip.

We had the BEST time staying onsite at Unviersal and this next trip we are completely staying at Universal and driving to Disney.Much more delux and cheaper than a deisney deluxe.The Resort guest express pass is fabulous.
IF you stay offsite, be aware that the Express Pass price goes up in price with the projected crowd levels.It is also different from resort guests pass in that it is only good for one ride per attraction( the resort guest option is unlimited)

 

[LeahA]

We used to always do this. We would go for 4-5 nights at Disney and 2-3 nights at Universal. We've stayed at the Royal Pacific and Hard Rock, they are both nice hotels. The FOTL pass was great to have, especially when the park was crowded, and since we went Spring Break it was always crowded.

This year we are not going Spring Break, and we hope to go sometime this summer. We are actually going to stay off site and commute to both Disney and Universal. We haven't seen the Harry Potter section yet and my kids loved the Harry Potter movies.

Decide what is important to you, do you want to pay more for a hotel, or pay less and wait in more lines?

 

[Magalex]

We are staying at WDW on-site CBR because we received a 30% pin code discount. Plus we like the free transportation/parking at the WDW parks. We are driving to Universal. It depends what is most comfortable for individual families. Getting super excited

 

[goofy4tink]

I love staying at one of the US/IoA resorts, and getting FoTL perks as well as early entry. In the summer, I would always recommend buying the Express Pass if not staying at one of the US resorts. BUT.....you may want to figure out how much that will cost the entire family to buy the Express Pass...it could be as low as $26 pp, or as high as $68 pp. It may actually make sense to stay over for one night at US/IoA. I would stay at Pop for 4 nights and then head over to US/IoA for a night...you get two days of park touring that way. And, if you can get over to the US/IoA resort by 6:30/7am, you can get checked in, and head right to the park for early entry!! That's what we did.

So, figure out what the difference will be, costwise, if you stay at Pop the entire time, but have to pay to park both days at US/IoA as well as buy Express Passes for everyone for the two days (which allows you one ride per pass, pp) vs staying at Pop one less night, moving to US/Ioa for a night, pay for parking for one night at that resort, and get Early Entry as well as Express Pass lines for as many times as you wish to ride, as well as shorter lines.

 

[Sue M]

FOTL pass staying at UA resorts is a great perk. Totally worth it IMO. Sad Universal did away with their free Fast Pass system a few years ago for off site guests.

 

[Day-Day]

As stated by others, the FOTL access for one-night stay at a Universal resorts gets two days worth of FOTL access; compare this to the cost of Express Pass for 4 people for 2 days (pricex8).

The resort charges a parking fee so you may only save a little vs staying at Disney and parking at Universal parks. I think we paid one nights parking fee of $15 which was good for both days at the Universal Resort even though we only stayed one night.

Okay, now I see goofy4tink and others already addressed the above; maybe the following hasn't been mentioned already...

Along with early entry, especially for Harry Potter, we liked being able to ride the wet rides at IOA and then returning to our hotel and changing clothes without much delay. The wet rides at IOA are great but riders get soaked.

Universal Resort guests get priority seating at many (or all?) of the City Walk restaurants.

There were four of us in our family on the last visit so it was worth the money to stay a night at a Universal resort (Royal Pacific).

 

[tarin24u]

We've done it our past two trips and we loved it. Stayed at HRH in 2002 and Royal Pacific in 2007. Two advantages: First -UR resorts are beautiful. RP is the least expensive and is really lovely - doesn't even compare to a Disney Value or Mod. HRH is like a Disney Deluxe. Second - front of the line is awesome! Downside - not great food choices at hotels. Citywalk has everything, tho'. No refillable mugs either - huge mistake that I can't believe they haven't changed. This year we are sticking with Disney and just driving over to Universal for a day or two. Check the Express Pass rules - I don't think Harry Potter rides are included. Either way it's worth spending a night or two at UR at least once.

 

[cmpayton]

We are also going in June and bring our 2 kids (12 and 20... maybe one isn't so much a kid)... Anyway, we are staying at one of the hotels across from Universal (not a preferred) for the first 2 nights we are there. each of the hotels I looked at over there were under $100 and claim to be walking distance... but they all offer a shuttle as well