Disney girl in unfamiliar territory

[dskib]

Hey all! I'm die hard Disney for sure and need absolutely no help planning whatsoever (exception being the DIS of course ) I have all my go-to websites readily on hand.

I'm thinking ahead to 2013 and thought maybe we'd try something new and do a Universal vacation. And I find myself at a total loss. I'm comfortable with the DISboards of course, but can anyone recommend a good all-inclusive site? Sort of like what Allears is to DIsney?

Thanks!! I'm off to scour these boards!!!

Deb

 

[RMulieri]

Here is the best place.There is another site out there, but we aren;t supposed to mention it on the boards.Also pick up the Universal Orlando By Seth Kubersky Guide book.

 

[bcinohio]

We just did US/IOA for 2 days at the end of June. It was our first trip. We stayed at a house near Disney and did 4 days there. We are a Disney family and I thought it was going to be really hard to plan US but it wasn't. I got most of my info from the DIS. I asked a lot of questions and read everything I could find on these boards. It was a great help.

We had a good time and everything went very well. I took a lot of notes.

Good luck and don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions.

 

[Rip]

Hey all! I'm die hard Disney for sure and need absolutely no help planning whatsoever (exception being the DIS of course ) I have all my go-to websites readily on hand.

I'm thinking ahead to 2013 and thought maybe we'd try something new and do a Universal vacation. And I find myself at a total loss. I'm comfortable with the DISboards of course, but can anyone recommend a good all-inclusive site? Sort of like what Allears is to DIsney?

Thanks!! I'm off to scour these boards!!!

Deb

The great thing about Universal is that about all you really need to plan is the dates you'll be there and where you're going to stay. Pretty much everyone here will tell you that if it is in your budget to stay onsite, DO IT. The resorts there are, in most opinions, far superior to Disney's deluxe resorts, cheaper, and soooo much more convenient. The only other thing I can think of is to seriously look into purchasing at least one preferred annual pass because the room/ticket/restaurant/merchandise discounts can very often more than pay for the difference compared with the multi-day passes.

Good luck!

 

[Metro West]

The great thing about Universal is that about all you really need to plan is the dates you'll be there and where you're going to stay. Pretty much everyone here will tell you that if it is in your budget to stay onsite, DO IT. The resorts there are, in most opinions, far superior to Disney's deluxe resorts, cheaper, and soooo much more convenient. The only other thing I can think of is to seriously look into purchasing at least one preferred annual pass because the room/ticket/restaurant/merchandise discounts can very often more than pay for the difference compared with the multi-day passes.

Good luck!

 

[Maytrix]

Only thing I can really add is that depending on the difference in rates and your budget, it may pay to only stay onsite as little as possible. Depends on your arrangements for travel.

For example, if you arrive late in the day, stay offsite and then onsite the next night so you get the express pass for that day and the following day. If cost was substantially different, I'd consider changing hotels every other night - if it was close, I wouldn't bother.

Other tip I can give is do Dragon Challenge first and front row. Do it a few times if you like coasters until there's a wait and then move on. That's our first stop every single day. Then we just make our way around doing what we feel like. We also hit most of the shows - don't wait for them, if there's a show in 30 minutes, go do a ride and come back.

And Horror Makeup show can be worth doing more than once. The hosts and guest they choose can make a difference and every single show can be different. I've seen it at least 30 times and still see it once, twice or even three times each visit. Same with Animal Actors - different animals are involved and they often do different things.

With Express, you can do a ride multiple times with little wait, so don't think you have to keep going around and only riding things once. We do MIB multiple times each time for example.

Some things like Disaster and Twister however are really just a once and done, although I often do them each trip.

 

[Paula08048]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice, I can't wait for my visit to Universal!

 

[tlinus]

The great thing about Universal is that about all you really need to plan is the dates you'll be there and where you're going to stay. Pretty much everyone here will tell you that if it is in your budget to stay onsite, DO IT. The resorts there are, in most opinions, far superior to Disney's deluxe resorts, cheaper, and soooo much more convenient. The only other thing I can think of is to seriously look into purchasing at least one preferred annual pass because the room/ticket/restaurant/merchandise discounts can very often more than pay for the difference compared with the multi-day passes.

Good luck!

Double

Its easy to do US/IOA....we have alot of experts here, so if there is a question you cannot find answered, just ask. We are a friendly lot over here on the darkside