Disneyland 4 days, Universal 1 day

[jtw3549]

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts on my last thread on Disneyland package availability!

We're thinking 4 days at Disneyland and now wanting to add 1 day at Universal Hollywood. Ideas on the best way to accomplish?

My first thought is to fly into LAX on a Sunday, rent a car and drive to Universal, spend the night near park, then do our 1 Universal day. Next day, drive around LA and make our way down to Anaheim, check in to hotel, return rental car (somewhere close hopefully), then do our 4 days at Disneyland. Most likely fly back home out of John Wayne or Long Beach.

Open to ideas! Thanks!

 

[tink2424]

Do the semi-private VIP tour. It is so worth it and you get front of the line access all day. You will have a longer studio tour and be able to get out on the lot. It is so much fun & not too bad on price. ~$300/pp but that includes a continental breakfast & included buffet lunch. It is a great deal!

 

[auralia]

Look into the vip tour at universal. We had the same amount of days and we did 4 Disney and the universal vip. It was about 340$ per person and included vallet parking, breakfast, lunch, tour guide, front of the line access, and we got to use an air conditioned bus with unlimited water bottles available that let us off a couple of places and took us in a sound stage. We got to go to the city hall from back to the future and get off for pictures (which is pretty rare for the tour as it’s usually in use). Def worth the price tag for us for four people since we live on the east coast.

 

[SgtTibbs]

I'm doing essentially the same thing. Three days at DLR and one day at USH with the VIP tour.

It's insane what I need to do for Disney:
Research crowd levels, Plan to avoid early entry days, purchase Geni+, Purchase ILL's as needed, plan dinner reservations months in advance, watch endless YouTube videos on how to manage Geni+/LL's, mobile ordering tips, rope drop strategies, research single rider lines, show times, Fantasmic packages, WOC packages, etc... etc...

For USH: 5-min on the website, book the VIP tour, done.

 

[auralia]

I'm doing essentially the same thing. Three days at DLR and one day at USH with the VIP tour.

It's insane what I need to do for Disney:
Research crowd levels, Plan to avoid early entry days, purchase Geni+, Purchase ILL's as needed, plan dinner reservations months in advance, watch endless YouTube videos on how to manage Geni+/LL's, mobile ordering tips, rope drop strategies, research single rider lines, show times, Fantasmic packages, WOC packages, etc... etc...

For USH: 5-min on the website, book the VIP tour, done.

VIP was so good my kids can’t stop talking about it vs the Disney headache of plan plan plan. And so much cheaper for what a vip experience at Disney is… we were with 2 other groups one of 2 people and one of 3. We also did the 20$ early entry to Mario world which was so worth it we bought the bands and did all the games and final challenge 3xs and ate at toads cafe before the crouds and would have also got a Mario kart ride in that first hour and a half if it had not broken down.. for Mario kart hug the left wall throughout the holding rooms

 

[OlliePop27]

VIP was so good my kids can’t stop talking about it vs the Disney headache of plan plan plan. And so much cheaper for what a vip experience at Disney is… we were with 2 other groups one of 2 people and one of 3. We also did the 20$ early entry to Mario world which was so worth it we bought the bands and did all the games and final challenge 3xs and ate at toads cafe before the crouds and would have also got a Mario kart ride in that first hour and a half if it had not broken down.. for Mario kart hug the left wall throughout the holding rooms

Adding to the chorus, the Universal Hollywood VIP tour was amazing when we did it back in 2016. It's even better now from what I hear with Super Mario.

For car rentals, we often do Disneyland last and drop the car off when we check in. We often find Alamo to be really convenient. There's a location on Katella right next to property. It's a split location with National (the same company). There's other car rentals nearby too, some a bit further east on Katella and an Enterprise at the Convention Center. I've found Alamo to be the easiest and they typically have great prices for airport pickups and Disneyland dropoffs. There used to be an Alamo at Downtown Disney, but I think now there's another at Pixar Place. I've never used this one, so others might chime in.

I've done the car dropoff when staying both onsite and offsite. I usually stay on Harbor right across the street, so I'll drop the family off with the bags, go drop the car off on Katella, then just walk back. It only takes about 10 minutes to the Disneyland crosswalk on Harbor. You could obviously do rideshare too.

Have a great trip!

 

[Pluto468]

I think your idea is perfect. I did that a few years ago. Spent 2 nights in LA, did 1 day at Universal and then moved to a hotel in Anaheim for 5 days at Disneyland.

At Universal I didn't do the VIP tour, but the front gate parking was AMAZING. It cost $50 but was totally worth it. No giant parking structures, walking far to get into the park etc. You're literally right at the gates and they even gave us free water and a snack.

 

[VicgirlBC]

We are visiting late August and have booked 4 day park hopper tickets with Genie+ for Disney and VIP tickets for Universal. When we are visiting USH their hours are a bit later, so we picked a VIP tour at 11:15am and will likely miss the worst of the traffic taking an Uber to USH from DLR.

I think you mentioned looking at a trip for next January through March. We visited this past January (the last week) and found it quite busy. I’m hoping our trip this month will be less so.

Happy planning!

 

[jtw3549]

Big thanks everyone!

Zero-ing on dates and it's looking like the first full week of February for our trip.

 

[sandam1]

We went to Universal/Disneyland in mid-January and this is what we did:

- Flew into Burbank airport from the East Coast. Got Uber ride to Sheraton hotel. Checked in. Did dinner and shopping at City Walk
- Checked out of hotel and headed to Universal via the shuttle bus (you could walk, but the bus was more convenient). Bought early entry for Nintendo-land (this also serves as an Express Pass to the studio tour if you go before noon). Spent the day at the park. Went back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage and took an Uber to Disneyland.
- We were supposed to fly back from Long Beach, but due to weather disruptions, we wound up flying home from LAX.

Admittedly, we go to Universal Orlando a lot, but the crowds at Universal were minimal. We finished the entire lower lot within an hour of the park's official opening time. The only thing that we waited any time for was the Secret Life of Pets and that line is just COOL. I'm glad we didn't waste money on the VIP tour or Express Pass. I'm not sure the early entry was worth it (we're not huge Nintendo fans and I know that we're getting a bigger, better version at Epic Universe next year), but that cost was minimal in the grand scheme of things.

For us, Uber worked just fine and, in the end, was probably cheaper than rental car + parking fees at the hotels and parks. Plus when things went sideways with our flight home, we were able to easily pivot to anothe airport.

 

[jtw3549]

For us, Uber worked just fine and, in the end, was probably cheaper than rental car + parking fees at the hotels and parks. Plus when things went sideways with our flight home, we were able to easily pivot to anothe airport.

Great thoughts on Uber vs. rental car. Definitely will consider this. Thanks!

 

[AndrewC]

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts on my last thread on Disneyland package availability!

We're thinking 4 days at Disneyland and now wanting to add 1 day at Universal Hollywood. Ideas on the best way to accomplish?

My first thought is to fly into LAX on a Sunday, rent a car and drive to Universal, spend the night near park, then do our 1 Universal day. Next day, drive around LA and make our way down to Anaheim, check in to hotel, return rental car (somewhere close hopefully), then do our 4 days at Disneyland. Most likely fly back home out of John Wayne or Long Beach.

Open to ideas! Thanks!

How big is your family and how many bags will you have?

 

[jtw3549]

There are 3 of us. Me, my wife and our 12 year old daughter. We can all roll comfortably with a backpack and 1 rolling suitcase apiece.

 

[cc1013]

We JUST did this type of a trip last week.

We did Disneyland from Saturday to Tuesday. Did park hoppers, genie+ plus my special needs son qualified for DAS. We stayed at the Grand Californian and it was perfect as we could take breaks and head back to the hotel to rest before going back into the parks. We did so many rides, many multiple times and enjoyed the World of Color dessert party.

On Wednesday, we checked out of the Grand Californian, picked up a rental car at the Pixar Place hotel and drove towards Universal. Grabbed a yummy lunch at In-n-Out on the way. We checked into the Hilton Universal and decided to have a relaxing afternoon/evening. Kids swam and then we went to dinner at City Walk. Also grabbed wristbands for Super Nintendo World there.

On Thursday, we focused on Universal Hollywood. We did early entry into Super Nintendo followed by a VIP tour at 10:15am. We first checked into the VIP area to get our passes and then headed into the park. When Super Nintendo World got packed around 9:15am, we headed towards the Harry Potter area. My son got picked for the Ollivander’s wand experience, which was amazing. We did the VIP from about 10:15am-5:45pm (ended with the Waterworld show) and it was amazing. After the tour, we did the few rides that we had not completed that day (Simpsons, Kung Fu Panda and Secret Life of Pets). Then we had a dinner reservation at Toadstool Cafe at 7:15pm. Ate dinner (kids loved it, we thought it was meh at best) and headed to the 8:30pm Hogwarts light show. We did one last ride on Forbidden Journey and then it was time to leave as the park closed at 9pm. All in all, we spent over 13 hours in the park that day. Definitely not what we expected but it was fabulous and we are so happy we did VIP.

Friday morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed to LAX for our flight home. Great trip overall.

 

[AndrewC]

There are 3 of us. Me, my wife and our 12 year old daughter. We can all roll comfortably with a backpack and 1 rolling suitcase apiece.

I probably would plan to stay at the Universal Hilton across the street. Leave the Disney area the night before, maybe book a private car (town car or SUV $175) and then you don’t have to deal with driving in the traffic or anything. A one way rental will have a hefty surcharge to it.

If you stay at the Hilton you can get up at a normal time but still catch like the 9:30 or 9:45am VIP tour (a must, it’s so worthwhile), be in the park all day, and then walk back to the Hilton and stay the night. Have a car pick you up the next morning and fly out of BUR.

 

[twodogs]

I'm doing essentially the same thing. Three days at DLR and one day at USH with the VIP tour.

It's insane what I need to do for Disney:
Research crowd levels, Plan to avoid early entry days, purchase Geni+, Purchase ILL's as needed, plan dinner reservations months in advance, watch endless YouTube videos on how to manage Geni+/LL's, mobile ordering tips, rope drop strategies, research single rider lines, show times, Fantasmic packages, WOC packages, etc... etc...

For USH: 5-min on the website, book the VIP tour, done.

Disneyland will do all of the work for you also, via their VIP tour. The price point is the killer at $500-800/hour for a minimum of 7 hours, for up to 10 people! But the service is available, if you want to spend at that level. The VIP at USH sounds wonderful!!

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