help for a disney guy giving in on the universal thing

[onelugnut]

I am the DW planner and i think i have DW mostly figured out.

of course wife throws me a curve and in a moment of weakness gave in to a spontaneous trip in January due to some real good air fare.

anyway,

i have 2 days parkhoppers for DW, but am figuring on buying 2 or 3 or 4 days of tix for universal to see that Harry thing.

We booked POR because we are 5 and its the only one we know that will fit us (and we like Bob)

But is that my best option?

should i go for a hotel off resort or maybe at universal since i am spending more time there?

how would i get from POR to Universal? how much is a cab? is it worth it to rent a car instead?

whats my best eating options, I cant believe we arent using the free dining option. its killin me!
but i did get 30% off on the room, so we are staying for a bout $107 per

I know absolutely nothing about universal so all help would be appreciated.

Like whats the best deal on tix to universal? do i need hoppers?
not ruling out seaworld

Thanks much

by the way, traveling 1/12 to 1/18
we are 5 wife and I plus DS12, DD9, DS6

 

[NedsTJ]

Not much help here, but thought I'd post as I'm in a similar situation. My wife and I are taking a 4 night trip in May, staying at BLT as a 1st anniversary trip (we also spent part of our Honeymoon at WDW as well, LOL!). The downside...she's a Harry Potter fan. So of course we can't use ME, we have to rent a car (a first for me in all my years of going to Disney) as at least (only!!) 1 day will be spent going to WWoHP or whatever it is. I admitedly know absolutely nothing about Universal, but have resolved to figure it out (why would we need hoppers for universal? is it one park or 2? I'm sure we can do it in a day, right?? )
Hmm...maybe I'll punt this time and let HER do the planning for the Universal thing. Arg...when I go to Disney I don't want to deal with the "rest of the real world"! LOL!

 

[DanenRox]

I'm NO expert but here's what I'm thinking...
Universal is a 2 day event, at least it used to be before the Harry Potter thing. One day for Universal, one day for Island of Adventure. As early risers, we try to open whatever park we're at, Disney or Universal so we're typically out of the parks by afternoon. Of course, if you're hard core and since the January weather is cool, you could spend the entire day in the parks. I don't think Universal parks are open as late as Disney parks though. 2 day single park passes should do...you won't miss "hopping" at Universal in my opinion.
5 people in a POR room seems tight to me but maybe you're a very close family. If your staying in Disney, not using the meal plan and without a car, you're best bet maybe be Downtown Disney dining....more reasonable than many of the resort/park restaurants... Planet Hollywood comes to mind, Wolfgang's Express etc. And there's boat transportation from POR to DTD. If you decide to get a car, your best rates will come out a week or two before your scheduled dates. Watch the mousesaver.com site too for discount codes. Having a car opens up a whole bunch of dining options and perhaps staying off site. Safe guess is about $150 total for a midsize car for your dates (you've got to watch the sites though). We too are doing a Universal/Disney thing in January. We're spending 3 nights "off-site" before going into WDW. For nearly the same dates, we're spending 3 nights in a 2 bedroom, full kitchen, living room, etc villa right outside of Downtown Disney (Sheraton Vistana Resort)....$101 per night...AAA rate. That would afford the family lots of room and eliminate your reliance on Disney dining. I'd forget the Universal resorts....sooooo expensive....and while they give you the "front of the line" perk, I don't believe it applies to the Harry Potter section (maybe wrong about this though). Can't tell you taxi prices but that info is somewhere on these boards. One final thing...if you end up staying in WDW, it's conceivable that you'll return to Disney after your Universal visit and want to enter the Disney parks at night. So think about what park passes you're buying, think about the Park hours for both Universal and Disney, think realistically how much "go, go, go" you want to do. I'd save SeaWorld for next year....good luck and happy travels!

 

[Mcbruns]

I am the DW planner and i think i have DW mostly figured out.

of course wife throws me a curve and in a moment of weakness gave in to a spontaneous trip in January due to some real good air fare.

anyway,

i have 2 days parkhoppers for DW, but am figuring on buying 2 or 3 or 4 days of tix for universal to see that Harry thing.

We booked POR because we are 5 and its the only one we know that will fit us (and we like Bob)

But is that my best option?

should i go for a hotel off resort or maybe at universal since i am spending more time there?

how would i get from POR to Universal? how much is a cab? is it worth it to rent a car instead?

whats my best eating options, I cant believe we arent using the free dining option. its killin me!
but i did get 30% off on the room, so we are staying for a bout $107 per

I know absolutely nothing about universal so all help would be appreciated.

Like whats the best deal on tix to universal? do i need hoppers?
not ruling out seaworld

Thanks much

by the way, traveling 1/12 to 1/18
we are 5 wife and I plus DS12, DD9, DS6

We also gave in to the U place this year. Saw everything we needed to see in 2 days. And that was the week WWOHP opened. 2 days is plenty. I would stick with the Disney room since you got the discount.

Hit Wizarding World first in the am and you will be fine.

 

[onelugnut]

awesome thats some great info thanks

I feel not so alone on this new adventure now.

no choice on my DW tickets, they are leftovers we are using up.

thats why we can do the U thing this year.

but i appreciate the 2 day thing vote, might just have a day we stay at the resort. Imagine that? never did that in 5 trips so far.
maybe due miniature golf w/kids. (they always wanted to do that)

now, whats the chance of a day in the 80's in january?

PLEASE???

 

[sjanus]

I love spontaneous vacations! That's wonderful that you are trying something different this time. We are also going to be doing the Harry Potter thing for the first time. We are doing 3 days Disney, 2 days Universal, staying in a villa off site. We are going end of November, beginning of December to catch the holiday festivities. We also scheduled a little off time to relax. Not sure where to eat at Universal though, haven't figured that out. Any ideas would be welcomed! We have ADR's scheduled at Disney.

I agree that 2 days of Universal should be plenty of time. Having a day to relax at the resort sounds great! We'll also be going in January, so lets hope for some days in the 80's, even 70's are great that time of year for us Pennsylvania folks.

Sandy

 

[ElizabethB]

If most of your time will be at Universal, get a room on-site there. The Loew's Hotels are great -- and the front of the line access you get by staying on site is . . . priceless, as is the early entry for Potterville.

In August, we spent 6 days at Universal. We spent 4 days at Disney. We never tired of Universal. It was great fun. We loved, loved, loved Portofino Bay Hotel. All the Universal resorts sleep 5. Royal Pacific Resort is the least expensive of the three resorts and is lovely, too -- a deluxe resort for pricing that is similar to rack rate at POR.

As Loew's hotel guests, we got the 7 a.m. boat from the hotel and were at the Islands of Adventure front gate around 7:30 a.m. At 8 a.m. we were admitted. The park opened at 9 a.m. for non-hotel guests. So, we rode the FJ ride at least twice, saw the wand show, drank our butterbeer, etc., before the crowds hit. That was great.

And, we loved FOTL access. I think we did Men in Black something like 20 times in a row.

We thought the dining options were great, too -- lots of good restaurants at the hotels. Plus, they have some kind of dining plan you can purchase (it may only be for kids, I'm not sure), but that is worth considering.

We recently spent one day at Universal as day guests (we were staying on-site at WDW). We arrived around noon. Potterville was so crowded, we simply left and went to other areas of the parks. There were lines not just for the rides, but lines even to get into the stores! So, I cannot overstate the value for us in the early admission we got in August.

So, consider carefully a room at RPR before you squeeze the five of you into POR! You may find RPR, which is a lovely and deluxe resort, a better value overall.

For our next trip, we're considering staying only at PBH and simply driving over to Disney to visit the parks.

A couple of additional thoughts -- we booked our car 3-4 months out using the Costco website. We got an excellent deal. We only ever saw one equivalent deal come out later -- and that was a link on the Southwest website to a deal with Budget.

We had park hoppers at Universal, and we were very glad we had them. If Islands of Adventure seemed to be getting crowded due to Potterville, we just hopped over to Universal.

 

[onelugnut]

wow, this is great info,

i just upped my POR DW ressie to include the free dining
because i cant see how i am gonna feed this troop.
6 days of meals has got to cost more than the 1400 extra i just paid for the up grade and it comes with 6 park hoppers!

but know, what your saying about the universal hotels sounds right.

I am going to price it out with just going to universal.

thanks, and any more info is really appreciated.

anyone got any offsite middle of the two parks suggestions?

 

[dioxide45]

I would seriously consider an off site stay. Somewhere in between US and WDW would be best. a 2BR or larger condo would be ideal for a family of your size. This would give you the best flexibility. You could also dine off site which will save you a lot of money vs. eating in the confines of WDW or even US.

Do you know anyone who is an Interval International member? II recently offered many of it's members "free" weeks. Free meaning they didn't have to give their own week in exchange, however there is a fee to use this, about $250 for 7 nights. Based on availability you can get any size unit at any interval resort through the 16th of January. Inventory is limited now as the offer has been available since August. This would also allow you to buy a few groceries and eat breakfast in the unit and save a little money there. Any of the four Marriott resorts located near SeaWorld would be ideal.

I don't know how important front of the line access will be at US in January. January is a pretty slow time unless you are traveling over the MLK holiday weekend. So while there will be waits that could be avoided with FOTL access, it may not be a huge hindrance if you don't have it.

You will need a car rental regardless as travel to US from WDW won't be easy. So you won't be spending or saving anything there.

 

[tmac]

We just went to Universal in June for the first time. We had always done Disney before. Harry Potter is great! 2 days is definitely enough for Universal. Be sure to check out the singles line. All 5 of us went in the singles line for Spiderman and ended up sitting 2 together, and 3 together. We were in line for only 5 minutes! We stayed offsite and it worked out great for us. We took the kids to Downtown Disney one night and spent the rest of our days hanging out by the pool at the resort. It was really enjoyable since usually when we go to Disney, we are constantly on the go. We got a really good rate at a townhouse in Windsor Hills. We had a few light meals there which saved us a lot of money! Send me a PM if you would like the info on where we stayed. It was great!

 

[DCbride]

How about this plan...

go to POR, do free dining for 2 days

rent a car, stay at Royal Pacific for 1 night, you can use the room key front of line access on both days, see 1 park on each day, drive back to POR return rental
( use 1 table service for breakfast the day going to US and for dinner the day you return to POR)

finish the vacation at POR


And we have had some great PHL to MCO airfare lately- I was so ready to book again in Dec, but having gone a lot in 2010 I didn't. Glad to see you were able to jump on it.

 

[Metro West]

For more responses, please check out the Universal side of the boards.

 

[My3SonsandMaya]

Here is my two cents. We just returned from an October trip, we are a family of 6. We've been to Disney a couple of times have always stayed on site. This time we stayed at Windsor Hills, in a 4 bedroom 4 bath house for cheaper than it would cost at the cheapest disney hotel. Our kids loved Universal. We spent one day at each park. Rent your own car, bring a GPS, it is so easy to get around. I will never stay on site again. Driving our own car was so much better than disney transportation. If your kids love coasters they will absolutely love Universal. Bring a change of clothes for islands of adventure, tons of rides that get you wet there. Pay the extra $10 for valet parking, totally worth it. Have fun!

 

[onelugnut]

o.k. so know i am thinking of canning the MYW package at DW, and going with an offsite cheap hotel

someone correct me if i am wrong on any of this and if the hotel is not good.

I figure being down there in January the hotel is not my major concern,
we probably will not even get to use a fancy pool.

so i picked the double tree hotel at the entrance of universal.

for 6 nights with tickets it comes to 1745.

i still have to get myself to and from airport and meals but the rest is covered right?

 

[madelyn]

We have been to the Universal Studios parks once, about 8 years ago. We spent 2 days there, I believe 1 day in each park but we may have hopped back to the other park for a couple of attractions. It is easy to get from one park to another by walking. Not as involved as park hopping at WDW. For our Universal Days we spent the night at a nearby off-site hotel (Hawthorne Suites). This summer I am contemplating a return visit to Universal Studios for the first time mainly at the request of our 12 year old who wants to see Harry Potter. I wanted to stay on-site (probable dates of trip are in June) but the cost is prohibitive. We will need 2 rooms. Our family of 5 can fit in 1 room at Universal but my sister will likely come with us. So, my current thought is to rent an off-site condo (possibly through Interval International Getaways) or maybe Sheraton Vistana Villages through the Dreams rate or a comparable 2 bedroom condo. I will then rent an on-site Universal room for 1 night, maybe 2 while we keep most of our stuff at the condo. One of the adults may stay on-site with the kids. That would give us 2 day front on the line access for 5 persons. My daughter will be 4 so will not be able to ride most of the major rides at Universal. We will probably spend 3 or 4 days at Universal but spend at least the first day there w/out front of the line access while we scope out the parks and see things that don't have front of the line access. We love the Disney extra magic night hours (especially the late night at MK) so may rent a WDW room for a night or 2 as well. We have WDW park days left over from prior trips as well so plan for maybe 2 days at WDW parks and 2 or more days doing Disney water parks and some days just relaxing at the resort swimming.

 

[Judy in Texas]

I stayed on WDW property week before last and went to WWOHP one day. That was enough. It is very small. Think of Universal Island of Adventure as Magic Kingdom and WWOHP as Adventureland or Frontierland.

I just priced out 6 nights at WDW Pop Century (you did say cheap hotel) which is where I stayed the last two trips. I chose mid-January, added two 4-day park hopper tickets, and the Quick Service Meal Plan. Transportation to and from the airport is free. $1,600. You would need to add two single day Universal tickets plus the Mears bus transportation to and from Pop Century. I didn't research but I understand you can get a ticket/transportation package through Mears. Lots of options and options are good.

 

[tjls]

We, too, are doing Universal for the first time. We're staying at BW in Disney for 7 nights but told the 3 kids we'd take them to Universal for a day. Getting just 1 day park hopper there, I was told could do it in a day and mostly roller coasters there. What's our best means of transportation from BW to Universal and back? Taxi, right? Anyone know how much that should run us?