First time vacationing there need serious help

[TnPhaze]

hi. I am going in March. Have tickets to both Disney and universal. I rented a car and a house off site. Should I drive to each Disney park? Should I drive to the TCC and use that transportation? What is the TCC? Help!!

 

[KayaWildfire]

Yes, you should absolutely drive to each Disney park. They each have their own(very large) parking lot. Be advised it costs $25 a day to park. The TTC(the Transportation and Ticket Center) is basically the parking lot for Magic Kingdom. Unlike the other three parks, where you just park and take a tram or walk to the front gate, Magic Kingdom requires you take the monorail or ferry to the park as its across a lake from the parking lot. No need to go to the TTC for the other parks, there isn't transportation there to the other parks anyway.

 

[okw2012]

TCC (ticket and transportation center) is where you park when going to Magic Kingdom by car. Each park has its own parking. Technically, you can take the monorail to EPCOT from the TCC but you don’t want to do that unless you really enjoy the monorail.

 

[TnPhaze]

So the plan is on the 12th to do disney 13th universal ( for my sons 8th bday he really wants to go to universal) with express passes for everybody. Then back to Disney on the 14th and universal one last time on Friday ( no express pass) I’m not sure what park to do first, or maybe two a day for Disney. I hear the avatar stuff is a must. I am traveling with my wife her cousin (33) my son (8) and daughter (3) should I plan a certain way? Thought...

 

[KayaWildfire]

Oops, forgot about the monorail at the TTC.

 

[starry_solo]

How many in your group? You might consider renting a hotel room at USO for a night and you'll get Express pass as part of the room. You'd get it for check in and check out day. So it might be worth it to do. And do universal back to back with Disney on first and last day

 

[kaytieeldr]

So the plan is on the 12th to do disney 13th universal ( for my sons 8th bday he really wants to go to universal) with express passes for everybody. Then back to Disney on the 14th and universal one last time on Friday ( no express pass) I’m not sure what park to do first, or maybe two a day for Disney. I hear the avatar stuff is a must. I am traveling with my wife her cousin (33) my son (8) and daughter (3) should I plan a certain way? Thought...

Honestly, these questions are best asked on the Theme Parks Advice & Strategies forum.

For parking:
You could move your car between parking lots; the $25 covers you all day, keep your receipt!
You could visit one park per day.

 

[sam_gordon]

I like one day = one park. I don't like losing time by moving between parks.

If you're only doing two days at Disney, I suggest picking two parks (look online at what each park has and what you'd like to do). Based SOLELY on the ages given, I'd do MK & HS.

Universal (both parks) can be done (okay 80-90%) in one day with the express passes. Of course, when we did it, our youngest was 12, but it was the day after Christmas.

 

[marmar]

You are going at a very crowded time. Because you won’t be eligible for early booking for fast pass + it will be very difficult to ride popular rides without waiting hour+ in line. Be there about an hour before the park opens to improve your chances. As someone posted earlier, visit Theme Park forum for better answers.

Go to your local used bookstore and get an old “Unofficial Guide”. It will help a lot.you need to have your expectations realistically or you will be angry and miserable.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Go to your local used bookstore and get an old “Unofficial Guide”.

Or borrow one from your library or its network. Read/study/memorize, then decide whether to buy one.

 

[sam_gordon]

You are going at a very crowded time. Because you won’t be eligible for early booking for fast pass + it will be very difficult to ride popular rides without waiting hour+ in line. Be there about an hour before the park opens to improve your chances. As someone posted earlier, visit Theme Park forum for better answers.

Not necessarily.

We were there over Christmas 2017. Staying off site, got tickets online on 12/26. Made FP reservations immediately following for MK for 12/27. So one of the busiest times of the year. We got to the park at ~9am and by 8p, we had accomplished (I sent a text to my mom):
BTMRR
Pluto M&G
PoTC
Small World
Stitch's Escape
Stitch M&G
Monsters
People Mover
CoP
MKRR
Space Mountain
lunch, snacks, shopping.

We also could have done Splash, but got tired.

Now, we kept crossing the park, but it worked for us. I'm not saying you'll definitely get a lot done, but it's possible. Especially if you start planning now.

 

[bumbershoot]

13th universal ( for my sons 8th bday he really wants to go to universal) with express passes for everybody.

Just for fun check out the price of a one night stay at royal pacific, hard rock, or Portofino.

Compare that price to two day tickets with express pass for the one day.

It’s possible you’ll find that compressing the two days at Universal, getting an onsite room there (you don’t have to stay there), and getting unlimited express pass for both checkin and checkout days included with the room, is the same as, and maybe a little better than express pass for all. (Depending on the size of the party of course) If the room is a bit more, remember you get two days of EP, and it’s unlimited.

 

[sam_gordon]

Just for fun check out the price of a one night stay at royal pacific, hard rock, or Portofino.

Compare that price to two day tickets with express pass for the one day.

It’s possible you’ll find that compressing the two days at Universal, getting an onsite room there (you don’t have to stay there), and getting unlimited express pass for both checkin and checkout days included with the room, is the same as, and maybe a little better than express pass for all. (Depending on the size of the party of course) If the room is a bit more, remember you get two days of EP, and it’s unlimited.

We did that in December. We stayed for one night at RP. The $500/night room (with accompanying unlimited pass) was cheaper than the $1000 we would have paid for five of us to have the "standard" (one use per ride) EP.

 

[bumbershoot]

Go to your local used bookstore and get an old “Unofficial Guide”.

Or borrow one from your library or its network. Read/study/memorize, then decide whether to buy one.

Better than getting an old version, use the library to get the newest version. I’ve used two old guidebooks in the last (one for Ireland and one for Disneyland), and in both cases enough had changed that it kinda messed up my planning.


(In case anyone wonders...With Ireland it was cultural stuff, like it was giving me outdated info on how women should act, like only ordering half pints of beer, that wasn’t even the case in ‘95 when I went. For Disneyland the outdated guidebook gave me outdated parade and meet/greet info that I had gotten quite psyched for, and talked about the entrance near PPH that had already closed by our trip staying at that hotel in 2009)