DVC + cash room at Universal or WDW?

[Golden Rose]

We have a WDW trip coming up very soon. We're staying on our points for 5 nights at AKV and VGF. We have everything booked, ADRs, fastpasses, tickets, rooms. We just found out we may have the time to do 2 more nights in the Orlando area.

Of course, both nights are not available anywhere using points at this late a date. If we decide to do this, we're going to be stuck paying for these two nights with cash. Is there some sort of DVC discount for WDW cash rooms these days? If so, how does one get it, and is it limited to hotels with DVC attached?

We've never done Universal, so we have been considering staying there for those nights and trying out those parks. We know we love WDW and the kids love it, and we can't figure out if trying Universal would be worth it. We won't be doing thrill rides, except possibly through child swap. (DS doesn't like them and DD is too short for them.)

Any advice or suggestions?

 

[YourEveryDayAdam]

You can book a cash room through member services for a 25% discount off of rack rate. If you do it this way, they can link that reservation to your existing points reservation and it will all be one stay...so you won't have to check out of a room and check back in to another room.

The rooms available on Cash Inventory are different from the rooms available on points. So it's worth a call to members services to see if they have rooms on cash available.

 

[DebbieB]

We have a WDW trip coming up very soon. We're staying on our points for 5 nights at AKV and VGF. We have everything booked, ADRs, fastpasses, tickets, rooms. We just found out we may have the time to do 2 more nights in the Orlando area.

Of course, both nights are not available anywhere using points at this late a date. If we decide to do this, we're going to be stuck paying for these two nights with cash. Is there some sort of DVC discount for WDW cash rooms these days? If so, how does one get it, and is it limited to hotels with DVC attached?

We've never done Universal, so we have been considering staying there for those nights and trying out those parks. We know we love WDW and the kids love it, and we can't figure out if trying Universal would be worth it. We won't be doing thrill rides, except possibly through child swap. (DS doesn't like them and DD is too short for them.)

Any advice or suggestions?

DVC cash discounts are only for DVC resorts. Did you call member services? Under 10 days you can call to check for points availability, sometimes they can perform "magic".

 

[com_op_2000]

If you are going to do US/IoA get the rooms at a Universal Resort. The front-of-the-line pass to all rides/attractions at both parks makes that very worthwhile.

 

[hakepb]

If you are going to do US/IoA get the rooms at a Universal Resort. The front-of-the-line pass to all rides/attractions at both parks makes that very worthwhile.

But not their new Cabana Bay "value resort"

 

[Golden Rose]

Yeah, we were thinking that if we were to try Universal, we would get a room at either the Royal Pacific or Portofino Bay. We just aren't sure Universal is worth trying at this stage, with a 3 year old who is too short to ride many things, and a 9 year old with sensory issues who can't handle most thrill rides. The front of the line passes would help with the rides we can do, I'm just not sure what would be appropriate. (I can just picture it, DH and I child-swapping both kids the entire day, so that we can try a few of the headliners...)

I posted over on the Universal thread as well, trying to get a little insight into whether it is worth even considering Universal. IF we do it, we'd definitely stay on their property. The kids might enjoy the interactive play areas and a few of the tamer rides, but I don't know if there are enough of those to fill a couple of days.

 

[bumbershoot]

The front of the line passes would help with the rides we can do, I'm just not sure what would be appropriate. (I can just picture it, DH and I child-swapping both kids the entire day, so that we can try a few of the headliners...)

I saw your post there but didn't respond because I was still thinking.


If you're going to go to Universal, then stay onsite there. Portofino is our fave and Royal is our second fave.


I don't think you would want to do child swap there. I think you would want to send one adult off to do their thing while the other adult hung out with the kids. Then swap in that way. Because a child with sensory issues might not want to be in the lines for the bigger rides; at Uni you swap right before seating, NOT outside the attraction, so the child will see almost the whole line. That might overwhelm the 9 year old (and if he gets nervous and untrusting, he might be scared that you're going to make him go on the ride). And it might drive the 3 year old to tears, WANTING to go on the ride but not being able to.

But listen...the Unlimited Express Pass works for all rides (except for Forbidden Journey, Ollivanders, and Pteranodon Flyers), so if they want to ride the caro-suess-el all day long, they CAN. If they want Red Fish Blue Fish 8 times in a row, they can. My son does like the big rides, but he also enjoys riding Woody's Nuthouse Coaster 15 times in a row. The UEP isn't just good for thrill rides.


If the thrill-seeker won't want anything that he's big enough for, and the 9 year old won't want the smaller rides, then you'll be stuck in the play areas (the soft foam ball play area back behind Curious George waterplay area is terrific, by the way) all day. But if there are other rides that they'll enjoy, it oculd be worth it. I just don't know that using their rider switch will be great for your particular kids.

We've never used it either, because when DS was 6.5 on our first trip and not quite tall enough for everything, no one else wanted the big rides, either. (I go on them with/for him. DH wants to ride them but he's of a size that doesn't work for the big rides yet) And something like Forbidden Journey and Mummy, which I did want to ride even that first trip, the lines were far too spooky for him to walk through just for the heck of it. He STILL won't walk through The Mummy, let alone ride it, and he's nearly 10. Forces me on Dr Doom's Fearfall, but won't go on the Mummy with me. Too spooky and he's secretly worried that mummies actually are real.

 

[Golden Rose]

Thank you so much for that analysis!

I hadn't actually thought about the fact that the front of the line pass actually lets you do the same ride over and over in a row. I've got the kids pretty much trained to think that we ride rides once a day... not sure I want them to get spoiled at Universal!

DS9 absolutely doesn't do well in long crowded queues. DH and I are pretty good at positioning him between us so strangers aren't constantly in his space, but even so, he gets more and more agitated. And then people wonder why our son, who is very tall and looks like he could be a teenager, is melting down. And I do think even some of the queues might scare him, now that I'm looking at them online. (DD3 would probably just shriek, "I'm scared! Protect me, Daddy!" with great drama and glee.)

How, exactly, does Universal's child swap work? You wait in the line until you get to the ride, then one parent rides while the other stands there with the kid/s, then you hand off the kids within view of the ride?

DH and I would really like to try Forbidden Journey, but there is absolutely no way DS could ride it. I'm not sure he could even manage the queue, although he might be interested by it, if he understood that he wasn't going to ride it. DS likes to watch ride videos in advance before he decides if he would consider going on a ride. He wishes he could be brave enough to ride the Jurassic Park ride, because he loves dinosaurs, but the second half of it just looks too scary to him. (Looks scary to me, too, so I don't blame him in the slightest!)

We're really waffling at this point. We haven't told the kids we're considering adding the two days. DH isn't sure he wants to change our plans at the last minute, and DS really doesn't do well with last minute changes. I'm going to let DH make the final decision about whether we add the days, and then I'll make the decision about how to spend them if we add them.

 

[keishashadow]

OP - I suggest you visit the universal boards here, lots of experts who can assist you in planning a trip to 'the dark side'.

we typically do a split stay between WDW & Universal, often working in Discovery Cove & Sea World.

fyi, FJ - there is a single rider line you can walk thru to just 'see' the castle then take the 'chicken exit' before boarding- a TM will be happy to show you where it is.

We took our 3 y.o. GD in January, she was able to enjoy many of the attractions & shows.

You know your children best, suggest you look at some ride-throughs on youtube before you make a decision.

 

[crisi]

Frankly, even if you do thrill rides, with the FOTL pass its easy to do Universal all through in two days.

But there are lots of kid rides and attractions there, it isn't all Hulk Coaster.

 

[Pirate Granny]

How about Lego Land or sea world...or a day at the water parks.

We've been to Universal with adult daughters...we weren't impressed, even with front of the line passes. NOW, since then, I have gone to universal for the day, just to ride forbidden journey, best ride in Orlando! But we were out the door by 3pm getting a cab back to Disney (in line at least 30 minutes before the park opens). Not sure how we will do in 2015 when I take the adult daughters back for the new HP ride!

Perhaps one night stay and two day single park pass, but then we can't ride the hogwarts train between the park....

 

[bumbershoot]

How, exactly, does Universal's child swap work? You wait in the line until you get to the ride, then one parent rides while the other stands there with the kid/s, then you hand off the kids within view of the ride?

There are waiting rooms that you go to. So in Forbidden Journey, just before the Sorting Hat the non-riders turn one way and the rider turns the other. When the rider is done they go through the swap line/door and switch out. The new rider goes out and gets seated.

I've really only SEEN the room for Men In Black. It's up some stairs and is like an office room looking out over the area where people are seated for the ride.

Since the rides my son couldn't go on were rides he was too spooked by, he hasn't actually been swapped. Because he won't go in the lines. And swapping for those rides is useless anyway, because DH can't fit on them. So if I want to ride Mummy, DS and DH just go on Twister b/c they like it for some unknown reason (it's a walkthrough, not a RIDE, and it's about tornadoes, which I find really really scary) and I don't.


If you and DH really REALLY want to go to Universal, then go. But if you're iffy on the whole thing at this point, it might not really be worth it. I think that's why I had a hard time answering your question on the Uni pages, but I LOVE Uni, but sometimes, at certain points in the lives of kids, if there's nothing really really pulling the grownups, it's best to put off Universal. And I hate responding that way, but it's possible it's just not right for you yet.


At WDW we don't re-ride, either, at least not unless the line is really really short...but at Uni it's a little treat we get.

 

[dizplanner]

We first went to Universal when my youngest was 10 and I think she was on the border of being too young to enjoy some of the rides that year. But it become a favorite and we always added two nights at Universal hotels to get the FOTL access.

While others are correct in that there are rides and shows for the younger set, it just doesn't seem like that many to me. I really recommend it for the tween and up age group.

Going back in Dec - after 5.5 years. My daughter (will be 23 then) is looking forward to it.