Disney World or Universal first

[ozliz]

Advice wanted from those who have visited both parks, would you spend time at Disney World or Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure first in your trip? I thought my itinerary would mean I needed to do Universal first but I am wondering if Disney rides will seem to tame after Universal - or - if Universal would seem not as amazing after the Disney magic and attention to detail? I have only ever been to Disneyland not either of the Universal Studios and planning first WDW trip so advice would be appreciated.

 

[macraven]

i do split stays on all my orlando trips.

i do the motherland resorts first.
wdw usually wears me out with rushing for busses, hopping to different parks, having to make an agenda for the day in advance........then i'm really tired when my head hits the pillow at night.
it is a fun vacation but a busy vacation for us.


then i switch to the darkside resorts and have a more relaxing, take my time vacation.
UO is a smaller park made up of 2 parks and very walkable to the resorts onsite.


it works better for me to do disney first then switch to universal.

 

[tajz90]

i do split stays on all my orlando trips. i do the motherland resorts first. wdw usually wears me out with rushing for busses, hopping to different parks, having to make an agenda for the day in advance........then i'm really tired when my head hits the pillow at night. it is a fun vacation but a busy vacation for us. then i switch to the darkside resorts and have a more relaxing, take my time vacation. UO is a smaller park made up of 2 parks and very walkable to the resorts onsite. it works better for me to do disney first then switch to universal.

Same for us!

 

[macraven]

thought of one more thing for the op to consider.....


at the motherland, if you don't have a schedule fast pass under the fast pass experience set up, line waits can be very long.
when i went jan 3rd, we could only get 3 fast passes for one park for the entire day.
even with park hopping, only those 3 scheduled fast passes were allowed.

line waits for us using the disney app wait times did help but we did wait 45 minutes for rides in the regular lines.


once you are checked in with the darkside onsite hotels and have your express pass made, you will not be line waiting for rides and shows as the regular lined peeps are.
one of the hotel perks are all registered guests are given free express passes to be used in the parks for rides and shows.

you will be spoiled by how many rides you can do without waiting.

last friday when we were at the darkside, despicable me had the regular line wait at 65 minutes in the afternoon.
the express line wait was 10 minutes.

after enduring line waits at disney, it was so refreshing to avoid that same situation at universal.

that is another reason to do the motherland first and the darkside last.

 

[Dream 2015]

My question is where are your staying and for how long? A few years ago we split up our days between the worlds of Magic and Darkness. We did two days at Disney then two at Universal then back to Disney. It was nice to switch it up half way through the trip and helped keep us energized and excited. The only negative was that my nephew did point out that Disney goes beyond to make the magic surround you 100% where as the magic at Universal isn't. It was difficult for him to get into the theme of Universal world when he knew a cob web was there because of a spider and not an part of the theming.

 

[glocon]

What macraven said.

And also, it is so sad to leave WDW. I like to do WDW first, so we have something else to look forward to after leaving WDW. Leaving UO is not quite as sad as leaving WDW for us.

For all those reasons, we always do WDW first.

 

[ozliz]

Planning on stayin on site for wdw and near universal for a couple of nights to do both parks properly. I am also having to factor in which place is best for jet lag recovery or if maybe I will do a 4 night cruise first then come back to the parks after jet lag recovery. There are a few other things I might do in the orlando/Florida area for breaks from the parks but how much will depend on how long I can make my trip.

 

[Seeker615]

I agree with the others.

We stayed onsite at Universal for 5 nights and then took one afternoon/evening to go to MK for the Christmas party. Crowds in the beginning were crazy and everything had huge lines. Plus some of the rides seemed like a letdown after all the exciting rides we experienced at Universal. My hubby kept saying "this isn't like Universal"

We did enjoy the party and it was beautiful at Christmas. If we do it again I would go to Disney first.

 

[tweak89]

Advice wanted from those who have visited both parks, would you spend time at Disney World or Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure first in your trip? I thought my itinerary would mean I needed to do Universal first but I am wondering if Disney rides will seem to tame after Universal - or - if Universal would seem not as amazing after the Disney magic and attention to detail? I have only ever been to Disneyland not either of the Universal Studios and planning first WDW trip so advice would be appreciated.

You don't mention the make up of your party, so advice can vary if you have kids or not (and how old they are). This is advice from a couple in their 40's with no kids, so bear that in mind.

Having been to Disneyland, Disneyworld and Disney Paris, the World is the best overall experience of them all. Call it magic, customer service or whatever, it's in a league of it's own in that respect. The other parks may have stronger themes (Cars Land), better rides (Paris' Space Mountain=INCREDIBLE)but the attitude of the cast members is just so different at World. If you are into Pin trading, nothing compares to the World. It seems virtually non-existent at the other two. I think it helps that it's pretty much a self enclosed Disney ecosystem. You will be shocked at how different it is compared to Disneyland.

Since you are not staying onsite at Universal you will be missing out on the single best resort perk of ANY theme park: the Unlimited Express Pass. If you are going at a busy time, your experience at Universal may not be the greatest as far as getting in all the rides/shows. The rides at Universal are not what I would call extreme, but they do skew towards an older demographic. The motion rides at Universal (Potter, Spidey, Transformers etc.) are fantastic and make great use of technology in a way that, while not "magical", is impressive.

So, which to do first?? If it were me going under your conditions, I would do Universal first. Why? Without the unlimited express pass you would be spending the last part of your trip waiting in a lot of lines and likely end on a tiring somewhat down note!! While the parks are smaller and close together, you will have to be pretty creative with your planning to get the most out of the parks in a limited time.

If you were to change your plans around and add an onsite resort stay for Universal, than I would reverse it and do Universal last. With the Express pass you will be riding everything (except Forbidden Journey of course) minimal wait times. Basically dictating your own pace and not have the park dictate it for you.

So that's my two cents!

 

[ozliz]

To answer the other questions: adults only (late 20's early 30's) no kids. Keen to stay on site at universal and considering it now I have read that pool hopping is allowed but will depend on the prices available at the time... I want to swim in HRH pool but would stay at whichever I site was cheapest and still gave express passes. If I split the wdw stay between value and moderate then might be able to stay onsite at universal.

Not confirmed exact month yet, still trying to find the weeks that match up with avoiding busy seasons, work commitments, etc