How many days and what order to do universal/disney

[HairyChest]

i just want to give back to these boards as so many people have helped me plan my vacations based on their knowledge.

Ive been to universal 3 times and disney 6 and wanted to give some tips based on my stays about how many days and nights to do universal and disney and in what order.

Ive stayed at various hotels all on property and in different orders so here are my thoughts.

7 or 8 nights at disney followed by 2 or 3 nights at universal

The reason is magical express is such a wonderful part of the expirience when you fly into orlando, theyhandle yourluggage so you dont have to go pick it up. However leaving with magical express you have to be by the front lobby 3 hours prior to yourdeparturewhich i think is too much and want to enjoy the hotel/parks longer so using a cab to go from universal to the airport makes it at your own pace. Also its harder to go home from disney then to go to universal from disney

As for hotel choices, here are the best in order, i leave spaces to emphasize the difference in luxury and magic is between the resorts:

Grand floridian
Polynesian
Wilderness lodge

Port or leans riverside royal rooms
Portorleans riverside
Art of animation

Grand floridian and polynesian are close for 1st, wilderness lodge is next. Definitly try to at least get wilderness lodge if $$ is a concern it makes a hugggedifference in the vacation to have a deluxeresort .

As for universal, definitly do the portofino bay even if you like the tropical theme of the royal pacific, as i thought i would and was dissapointed. The grounds are nice but the room is small and not tropical (i just ststayed in the new refurbished room, felt likea generic vegas room) and i love the polynesian so i was suprised how un hawaiian and islandy the royal pacific felt. Wasnt to detailed whereas the portofino transported me to italy, , made me feel pampered, was detailed , better pool, and the walk to the parks actually felt shorter then the royal pacific for some reason.

As for the parks, you can do everything in universal with park hoppers in a day and a half but to enjoy the vacation and hotel definitly do 2 nights, 3 if you never been and want extra hotel time.

Id rank portofino bay vs the disney resorts slightly higher then the wilderness lodge.

 

[angryduck71]

I enjoyed looking at this! I have stayed at the Polynesian -- but it was SOOOOOOO many many years ago. And, I've stayed at Port Orleans. Recently, however, I've been lucky enough to stay at Shades of Green (although, they've been taking more and more "advantages" away from the folks staying there). Shades has the biggest rooms on Disney, but there's virtually no theme to it really.

I have only stayed at Hard Rock one night. Loved it. It was smaller than I was used to at Shades, but it was so cool (I'm a big music fan). In a few days, we're staying at RPR. My boyfriend and I debated it or Portofino, but my 8 year old son said, "hey, I don't care about the hotel room. We're hardly going to be IN the room. I judge hotels by two things: the food and the pool. Since we can go to the other hotels for those things, get the cheapest and the one closet to the parks and the one that has the front of the line passes. End of discussion." I had to laugh. And, we went with his decision.

I totally agree to go to Universal last. I agree with your time too -- but for families with smaller kids, and having done a trip just like that -- I have to say, just forget doing it all. Do one trip for Disney and one trip for Universal. Your kids will be too worn out to do it all. Mine ended up sick during part of it when he was 5 at least. And, this time, he said he JUST wanted to do Universal. Last time, he said JUST Disney. I even had some free tickets to the water parks at Disney this time and he said he'd rather stay on Universal property. I had to say, I agreed with the hassle of getting between the two, etc. This time, we're staying 6 nights at Universal. We will most likely see more than all, but we wanted to laze by the pool every afternoon too.

As far as transportation, Tony Hind will pick you up and help you with luggage to and from Universal… and make a grocery stop!

 

[macraven]

no matter the size of the rooms at rpr, angry duck, you will enjoy it.
i have never been disappointed there, exceptional staff, great food, fantastic location.

i always do what you did.
hit the motherland first and then switch to the darkside resorts.
this is where i can finally relax and make it a real vacation.
not having to be on the go all the time, your 6 nights onsite will go by quickly.

hooray for Tony Hinds !
i always recommend him.

 

[angryduck71]

I haven't used Tony yet, but from this board, recommended him to a friend of mine and he just raved. Very excited for our trip -- coming up Saturday!!!! HairyChest -- I believe I read another trip report of yours too a few months ago. Love your info!!!!