Honeymoon, 2 Universal Days or...

[KyCoKe16]

I know I’ve been posting a lot and I apologize! My DF and I had a Disney honeymoon planned and we are trying very hard to throw together another plan last minute (our wedding is two weeks from Monday) as I’m a teacher and don’t have the luxury of pushing things back much. Anyway, we’ve gone from 10 days at Disney to now, 2 nights in a yet-to-be-named beach resort and a Marineland dolphin swim, to flying to Rapid City, SD for 4 nights, to 4 nights in Orlando before driving back home to KY.

Here is my dilemma: We are currently booked at Cabana Bay for our Orlando nights. We had planned on doing 1 day park to park with the Express Pass (assuming we can even hop and use an EP), a day at Sea World, and a day at Busch Gardens. But now that we’ve scheduled the dolphin swim at Marineland, we are debating whether or not we want to completely cut out the Sea World/Busch Gardens portion and instead do two days at Universal and one down day to shop/take it easy.

I’ve not been to Universal since 1991 and at that point I only rode the now defunct King Kong ride and ET. Obviously a lot has changed since then. I have never been to Busch Gardens, but I did visit Sea World with my kids in 2018. My DF has never been to Universal but has been to Sea World and Busch Gardens multiple times. We both love rides, but I admittedly get a bit sick on some simulated rides (the old Body Wars used to really get me and Smugglers Run made me queasy). My DF is worried that I will feel sick on a lot of the newer Universal rides and that we may not have enough to do to fill two entire days.

I’m pretty torn on whether or not to do multiple days at Universal or do the 1 day and then Sea World and BG, so any advice would be helpful!

 

[schumigirl]

First of all Congratulations on your honeymoon!

I’m sorry you’ve got this dilemma.....

For me, since you haven’t been to Universal since 1991.......wow, will you see some changes. And some amazing changes.

Doing a couple of days at Universal will be perfect and ideal as you’re staying there......then you can do all you want to without upping and heading offsite for the day.

Don’t worry......it’s not all simulator rides.......there’s plenty to do if you don‘t like them, I’m not overly fond of them and completely avoid Simpsons and Transformers now as they knock me funny.

You can fill two days without even trying. The Potter areas alone can pass many hours, even if you’re not really a Potter fan, both areas are amazing. They will take your breath away.

And being onsite, you can if you have time have some resort time too........

Have a check of the website and look at all the rides you’d enjoy.

 

[KyCoKe16]

First of all Congratulations on your honeymoon!

I’m sorry you’ve got this dilemma.....

For me, since you haven’t been to Universal since 1991.......wow, will you see some changes. And some amazing changes.

Doing a couple of days at Universal will be perfect and ideal as you’re staying there......then you can do all you want to without upping and heading offsite for the day.

Don’t worry......it’s not all simulator rides.......there’s plenty to do if you don‘t like them, I’m not overly fond of them and completely avoid Simpsons and Transformers now as they knock me funny.

You can fill two days without even trying. The Potter areas alone can pass many hours, even if you’re not really a Potter fan, both areas are amazing. They will take your breath away.

And being onsite, you can if you have time have some resort time too........

Have a check of the website and look at all the rides you’d enjoy.

Thank you for your input! I’m not a HP fan. Would you recommend watching the movies before going? I’ve never read the books or seen any of the movies.

ETA: I’m glad to hear it’s not all simulators and which ones you avoid!

 

[schumigirl]

Thank you for your input! I’m not a HP fan. Would you recommend watching the movies before going? I’ve never read the books or seen any of the movies.

ETA: I’m glad to hear it’s not all simulators and which ones you avoid!

You could watch them, it would give you a better understanding of some of the theming, but you genuinely can enjoy both areas of Potter without being a fan or seeing the movies.

We aren’t the biggest Potter fans, read all the books and seen all the movies. We do actually love those areas of the park and spend a lot of time in them, but not as fan oriented as some people are, you will see die hard fans in robes and scarves, yes even in heat of over 100F............but we still love the rest of the parks just as much.

Some will disparage the parks, but they are so much fun to be in and around.......we go often and for a long time each visit, and we never get bored with them. There are some amazing rides and lots of little things to see around the parks without riding anything!

Yes, we are completely addicted to UOR!!!

 

[KyCoKe16]

You could watch them, it would give you a better understanding of some of the theming, but you genuinely can enjoy both areas of Potter without being a fan or seeing the movies.

We aren’t the biggest Potter fans, read all the books and seen all the movies. We do actually love those areas of the park and spend a lot of time in them, but not as fan oriented as some people are, you will see die hard fans in robes and scarves, yes even in heat of over 100F............but we still love the rest of the parks just as much.

Some will disparage the parks, but they are so much fun to be in and around.......we go often and for a long time each visit, and we never get bored with them. There are some amazing rides and lots of little things to see around the parks without riding anything!

Yes, we are completely addicted to UOR!!!

That is good to know! You are definitely making me more excited to go! I know Disney so well and had our trip planned down to the very last detail, so this is a very different experience. But exciting to try new things!

 

[bchbetha]

Just checking that you know Cabana Bay doesn’t come with Express Passes, right?

 

[RamblingMad]

I’d watch the potter movies before going. You’ll appreciate the themes and rides more.

If you get motion sickness on simulation rides, I’d avoid the Simpsons ride.

 

[KyCoKe16]

Just checking that you know Cabana Bay doesn’t come with Express Passes, right?

Yes. We were just going to purchase the express pass if we only go one day. If we go two days then we won’t get the express pass. I looked in to upgrading the hotel and getting an AP, but it would be more expensive by about $300 if we did it that way. From the videos I watched, I didn’t see enough that I liked about RPR or HR to justify upgrading. I loved PBR, but I see that it isn’t available.

 

[bchbetha]

Typically EP for one day in the summer will be like $130/ person, so average $260/ day. How much are the deluxe hotels? Just double check the numbers. All of those hotels are fabulous and if you go deluxe you’ll really be doing your honeymoon up right.