HELP? Getting cold feet about Universal vs WDW Thanksgiving week?

[lazer]

Just adding others we met on our trip: Knight Bus Driver and Shrinking Head from HP, Doc Brown from Back to the Future, Barney, and Curious George.

 

[kathy884]

I'm sure you'll have a great time whatever you do. I delegate Orlando trip planning to my 19 year old who is in college. // Not sure if you want to pick parks or let your son pick. If you've always wanted to do Universal for a few days why not. There are always other chances to come back to WDW, and anything in Orlando is a pretty good time. I've been letting my son do the planning since he was 7, subject to my budget and approval. // I like them all, don't care where we go, and am more into having fun with family than anything else, so anything works.

For my son who is 19, Universal is more of a day park. He likes to do a day if they have new HP stuff to see it, but doesn't care to hit it every trip (Almost always gives it a skip, but has allocated a day on our next trip to see Diagon Alley, Gringotts, and the train). He thinks all the parks in Orlando including IOA and Island of Adventures are world class and worth doing, but his preferences are (1) SeaWorld (2) Disney with the Magic Kingdom being his favorite, but liking all four // Hollywood studios next, then Animal Kingdom, and then Epcot (but all good) and (3) Universal (He can cover everything he wants to do with a one day park to park pass.). He likes Discovery Cove too, but thinks it's overpriced, and almost always has us skip that one because it kind blows the budget that I give him, and he'd rather do a longer trip. lol He by the way really likes Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH with its' 18 coasters too and puts that behind SeaWorld and the MK, but before the other Disney parks in his park preference rankings, tends to go for favorites the most, but does mix things up a little.

Most on this forum, though, like spending more time at the Universal parks than we do, and many advocate three days. Most think onsite there is a real treat. I'm a die hard budget trip offsite visitor who does a little mini trip to the area annually, and just think doing Orlando period is a treat.

I'd personally do WDW and just hit Universal for a day, but that's just based on what my family likes best. And you are talking big dollars doing a few parks vs. just Universal, so look at the budget too. Multiple days at Universal is pretty cheap, but we never want to do more than one day there.

 

[Fiveisaparty]

We loved the fol passes over the summer. I intentionally booked us at uo over thanksgiving and Disney the Saturday after because the passes are so nice! You will have a great time. Lines won't be bad and the HP rides have such an awesome cue hopefully your son will enjoy. The only problem was how crowded the HP shops are!

 

[ELSA711]

So I know this is an old post but my question is relevant to the topic and time of year. We experienced WDW for the first Thanksgiving trip in 2016 and only one day (Wed 11/23) was difficult to navigate MK, crazy busy IMO. We loved that time of year and didn't feel WDW was crazy overall during the holiday.

We are planning another Thanksgiving trip 2017, Arriving Tuesday 11/21 around noon and departing Monday 11/27 around 6am.

My plan was to stay at WDW Tuesday - Saturday. Then move to US on Saturday morning for 2 nights.
My question to the Universal Experts is do I have to change hotels at all in regards to crowd levels at US/IOA just to score the EP during that weekend after Thanksgiving? Is it worth it? I would like to stay firmly planted in WDW ground for our entire stay but the family is adamant that they think we will need EP at US/IOA. Thoughts?

We will have a car and we have APs for both WDW and US. I guess with it being a shorter trip, changing hotels feels like a hassle.

 

[bchbetha]

Change hotels. You'll want EPs.

 

[ELSA711]

Change hotels. You'll want EPs.

Thanks! That is what my gut told me. To be honest, I would much rather stay at US the entire time but the onsite perks of WDW have me brainwashed over the past 6 years.
Guess I'll do a split stay