How many days and when- ohhh the possibilities and a ?

[Bethany10]

Long time lurker, but I rarely post as while I have been dreaming of a disney trip since before I had kids, its never been feasible for us. With the purchase of our first house last May, we have set our sites on an Orlando trip in late May, 2018.

All along I assumed we'd stay at Disney and take a one day detour to Universal (in the middle of the Disney trip). But as I've been mulling this over, and really looking at all Universal has to offer, I'm not wondering if it wouldn't be better for us to try and stay on site and use the Universal version of fast passes to really see the park THEN move to Disney.

We want to go May 23 (a Wednesday) leaving the day after memorial day, (the 29th). Players are myself (I'm just here for the food and anything Star Wars related at DHS), DH (coaster freak, non disney enthusiast) DD 12 at the time of the trip (coaster freak, and HUGE Harry Potter fan) and DS 9 at the time of the trip, (some coasters, but prefers the kiddy rides with mom).

Would it be inconvenient/expensive/worth the hassle to start the trip at Universal, knowing that we'd have to pay to get ourselves there from the airport and then again from universal to disney?

How many days at Universal? If we started there, I'd want to try and set our flight time to be early enough we would have the late afternoon to at least get into WWOHP and see Diagon alley then try to hit the park when it opens the next day to ride the rides. Then set up the transfer to Disney property for later in the day, like around 3 or 4. Is this realistic? How crazy would it be to rent a car to accomplish this?

Any advice and or tips would be most welcome. I've read many a trip report here, and feel I've virtually visited the parks many times.

 

[bchbetha]

Why not do Disney first? Get your airport transport then just Uber or Lyft the rest of the time. 3 days is my preference.

 

[elaine amj]

I think 3 days is pretty ideal. With only 7 days in Orlando though, u are better sticking to just 2 days. Maybe target to stay in Universal until park close (instead of leaving at 3/4pm)?

Keep in mind that (depending when u go), Universal's hours are pretty short. I was very surprised at how early everything closed.

Hogsmeade is great in the evenings and Forbidden Journey often has short lines in the last 1-2 hours of the evening (IOA closed at 7/8 when we went). Diagon Alley is great at night (we would take one of the last trains out of Hogsmeade to get to DA). And we found Gringotts to be a walk on two nights in a row (during spring break) at the very end of the night. We strolled in a couple of mins before park close and had the whole bank area to ourselves!

With the ages of your kids, I would also consider Universal's water rides. They are really good - especially the Bilge Rat Barges. We rode them over and over and over again. We would dress for it and then hit the onsite resort pool immediately after. After a swim, we'd shower and head back to the parks.

 

[wagman67]

You may want to look over the economics of the trip before deciding which to go to first...is WDW or UOR more expensive over the holiday weekend? Another consideration is Volcano Bay opens May 25th...are you interested in that? I am just guessing, but I bet you find it more expensive to do Universal first, then Disney.

I am going to give you another bit of advice, by way of my personal experience: finishing your trip at UOR will be much easier and relaxing. Why do I say that? Things onsite at UOR are much closer together than at Disney, so you will have plenty of time given that you want to stay onsite and use Express Passes (which I will talk about in a minute). That is not a knock on Disney, it is just a fact that few would disagree with...at least those that have done both.

You can hardly compare Disney's fast passes (so I won't) with Universal's Express Passes...first, there are two flavors of EPs: normal and Unlimited, and it is the Unlimited version you get with an onsite stay at a deluxe hotel (Royal Pacific, Hard Rock and Portofino Bay) versus staying onsite at Cabana Bay or Sapphire Falls (neither include EPs). With Unlimited EP, you go through a different queue and have shorter to sometimes no wait for the rides. The 3 main Harry Potter rides (FB, Gringotts and HE) do not utilize EPs. You will also have Early Entry to get to the HP stuff.

I will be at UOR starting on May 23rd, myself, but not doing Disney.

 

[SpaceMtnGirl]

You may want to look over the economics of the trip before deciding which to go to first...is WDW or UOR more expensive over the holiday weekend? Another consideration is Volcano Bay opens May 25th...are you interested in that? I am just guessing, but I bet you find it more expensive to do Universal first, then Disney.

I am going to give you another bit of advice, by way of my personal experience: finishing your trip at UOR will be much easier and relaxing. Why do I say that? Things onsite at UOR are much closer together than at Disney, so you will have plenty of time given that you want to stay onsite and use Express Passes (which I will talk about in a minute). That is not a knock on Disney, it is just a fact that few would disagree with...at least those that have done both.

You can hardly compare Disney's fast passes (so I won't) with Universal's Express Passes...first, there are two flavors of EPs: normal and Unlimited, and it is the Unlimited version you get with an onsite stay at a deluxe hotel (Royal Pacific, Hard Rock and Portofino Bay) versus staying onsite at Cabana Bay or Sapphire Falls (neither include EPs). With Unlimited EP, you go through a different queue and have shorter to sometimes no wait for the rides. The 3 main Harry Potter rides (FB, Gringotts and HE) do not utilize EPs. You will also have Early Entry to get to the HP stuff.

I will be at UOR starting on May 23rd, myself, but not doing Disney.

What ride is "HE"? Thanks!!

 

[Annchristine65]

What ride is "HE"? Thanks!!

HE is Hogwarts Express the train ride that goes back and forth between Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. You need Park to park tickets to ride the train.

 

[angryduck71]

I will be there same time (longer trip though May 23-June 2). I'm doing Disney first, then Universal. My son loves Universal more (he's 10 -- loved it more since age 8). We're doing 1 day Discovery Cove, 1 day Typhoon Lagoon at Disney, 3 Disney park days, 5 Universal park days.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am going to give you another bit of advice, by way of my personal experience: finishing your trip at UOR will be much easier and relaxing. Why do I say that? Things onsite at UOR are much closer together than at Disney, so you will have plenty of time given that you want to stay onsite and use Express Passes (which I will talk about in a minute). That is not a knock on Disney, it is just a fact that few would disagree with...at least those that have done both.

YES.

And while wagman doesn't want to compare FP to EP, I just gotta say that if you stay at one of the 3 onsite Uni hotels that give you the unlimited EP, you will NOT want to go to the clunky FP system on the same trip. Far better to go Disney then Uni when you have FPs and EPs in mind.

On the other hand, if your first trip to Disney and Universal has you staying at Old Key West and then Royal Pacific, you're going to cry over the lack of space. Silly us. . OKW is the biggest space of the villas, and RPR has the smallest standard rooms. Whoopsie. But now we just keep that in mind and it doesn't bother us.