Family Trip to Disney

[LawFam]

Hello All, new to the group... we planning a trip for Disney next month. We are torn with where to go, where to stay ect...We are a family of three, with a 10 yr old daughter. Looking to stay for 4 days, this is our first time visiting the park and it is a planned surprise for our daughter. We want to go the Disney World one day, Sea World another day and Universal Studios on another day. In doing so where is the best hotel to stay for our trip? Should i get a rental car or Uber or catch shuttle bus every. I hear so many different things about going to park just trying to make the best experience for the family.... any info or advise would be greatly appreciated.....

 

[Spunky946]

That’s a lot of running around and places to go without a break day. Those are all big parks. Plus if you want to see Harry Potter, you need to do both parks, universal and islands of adventure. I’d honestly pick one destination in that time frame, and focus on that. I’d do either Disney world and do 2-3 park days. Focusing on magic kingdom, Hollywood and Epcot or animal kingdom, depending on interests. Or I’d do universal and do a 2 day park to park ticket and stay at one of the hotels that offers the express pass included. Person ally we like to rent a car for the flexibilit.

 

[Meglen]

Planning for next month? Have you checked park passes and hotels in the area? I would pick 1 park. We do 4-6 days at WDW and it feels so fast. I could not imagine doing 1 day at WDW than seaworld than universal. I hope others have some options to help your trip! Best of luck

 

[Marionnette]

Hello All, new to the group... we planning a trip for Disney next month. We are torn with where to go, where to stay ect...We are a family of three, with a 10 yr old daughter. Looking to stay for 4 days, this is our first time visiting the park and it is a planned surprise for our daughter. We want to go the Disney World one day, Sea World another day and Universal Studios on another day. In doing so where is the best hotel to stay for our trip? Should i get a rental car or Uber or catch shuttle bus every. I hear so many different things about going to park just trying to make the best experience for the family.... any info or advise would be greatly appreciated.....

Wow! That is one very loaded post!

My first reaction is that you are attempting to do too much in a very short period of time. Do you realize that Disney World is 4 theme parks? Just visiting the Magic Kingdom could take 2 days to hit most of the highlights. Universal is two parks and if you want to experience all of Harry Potter, you need to do both parks. Sea World can be an entire day all to itself.

It will also cost you more to visit each of those parks than it will to slow down and choose one or two. Both Disney World and Universal offer multi-day tickets with a lower per-day price than single-day passes.

But if you are determined to do all 3 venues, then I suggest splitting your stay between a Disney hotel and a Universal hotel. Staying at a Disney hotel will give you 30 minutes early access to the park ahead of offsite guests. Moving to a Universal hotel for your Universal day(s) will give you a sort of front of the line access for both check in day and check out day. Those advantages can be huge when you're limited on the amount of time you can spend at a park.

Disney offers free transportation to/from the airport to your hotel and within Disney property. Universal doesn't have free ground transportation to/from MCO but Uber/Lyft work well. Or you can book a private car service. I would not rent a car. Both Disney and Universal hotels will charge an overnight parking fee.

And as others have alluded to, Disney has a park reservation system. You actually need to reserve access to a park in advance. You cannot just purchase a ticket and walk up to the gate expecting to get in. You will want to get your ticket soon and book that park reservation right away since you're going next month.

I hope your trip goes well! Some of my best trips were done on the spur of the moment.

 

[Rory607]

That is a lot to fit into a few days, as others have said. Have you been to any of the parks before? If you are going to pick one Disney park I would personally do Magic Kingdom. It is the “classic” Disney experience.

There is so much to do, though. Any chance you could add a few more days and do a bit more time at bothbDisney and Universal?

 

[lanejudy]

Staying at a Disney hotel will give you 30 minutes early access to the park ahead of offsite guests.

This hasn't started yet. It's coming but I'd say unlikely for next month. At this time, the gates of all 4 WDW parks are opening approximately 45 minutes prior to stated opening, for all guests.

Looking to stay for 4 days... We want to go the Disney World one day, Sea World another day and Universal Studios on another day.

OP - Marionnette has a lot of good advice above. Your post makes it sound as though you really don't quite have a handle on what you are planning. I believe all 3 locations you mention are multi-park experiences. Walt Disney World alone consists of 4 separate and distinct major theme parks, as well as 2 waterparks. Universal Orlando is actually 2 major theme parks plus a waterpark. I'm not particularly familiar with SeaWorld but I think there are multiple parks there as well. What you are proposing can be done, but just know it will be tiring and only touch some highlights at each location.

 

[LawFam]

Thanks for ALL of the responses, after looking at them all we decided to only do Disney World, so next what do first, we will have 4 1/2 days. Currently looking at all parks, we are trying to develop a plan for each day, where to go and what to do. We are looking to stay at Swan and Dolphin and let our adventure begin.... any recommendations or advise will be greatly appreciated.....

 

[Meglen]

Thanks for ALL of the responses, after looking at them all we decided to only do Disney World, so next what do first, we will have 4 1/2 days. Currently looking at all parks, we are trying to develop a plan for each day, where to go and what to do. We are looking to stay at Swan and Dolphin and let our adventure begin.... any recommendations or advise will be greatly appreciated.....

With 4 days I would do each park one day unless you get hopper tickets. If that's the case I would do 2 days MK , 1 AK, 1HS and hop to epcot when you have a night open. Look for some disney guides on youtube lots of them out there for covid times. Just make sure you get park passes everything else can fall into place.

 

[OnlyWhnChasd]

@LawFam
With a 10 year old girl, If she loves animals, she would be so excited to go to Animal Kingdom Lodge. If she's into Hawaii, well, you catch my drift. Into movies? Art of animaition. It's going to be fun anyway with any resort. Actually i read through your report with more attention (this is an edit) I just have no idea anymore im confused. Sorry! If youre staying somewhere in disney, take your pick.

 

[Disneymomma18]

I would suggest using a travel agent. It is free of charge to you and could be very helpful since it seems you’re not too familiar with Disney and you’re going in such a short time frame. Good luck! You guys will have a magical time.