How many days at Disney versus Universal

[babesboo99]

We always do both parks Universal we usually do 3 - 5 days and Disney 5 - 7 . We always leave Disney for last since we love Disney.

 

[mrzrich]

You technically only have to stay one night at Universal to get the Express Pass. It is my understanding that it is good day of check own and day of check out.

 

[tarak]

Our last trip, we had 2 days at Universal and 5 at WDW. For us, it wasn't enough time for either, partly because we like to have days where we just hang out at the resorts. Next trip, it will probably be 3 and 7. Depends on how spendy I feel at the time.

 

[geenerbell]

You can easily do everything at Universal in a full day, especially with Express Passes!

I always get to Universal at RD, stay in one park until lunch then switch to the other. After dinner I hit Citywalk and then maybe back into the parks to re-ride my favorite rides.

I agree but don't go thinking Express Pass means walk on.

 

[Skywise]

With a little luck you can get MOST of Universal (both parks) done in 1 day - note that the express passes don't apply to all rides! 2 days is a bit overkill but 1.5 seems "just right". Figure about one major ride per hour so it's more than likely you'll be able to do your "must sees" all in one day.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Would it be possible to add days to your trip? In all honesty, you have barely allocated enough days to do all these parks, especially for first-timers. Until you've experienced Orlando, it's hard to imagine the vastness of WDW and (to a lesser extent) Universal Orlando.
We usually do eight days at Disney (which included visits to the water parks). On our last trip, we spent three days at Universal, because Diagon Alley was new to us. We didn't have express passes, but we three days was barely enough to do everything.
If you can't add days, I would say six days at Disney and one day at Universal (with express passes and park to park tickets, although this will be a very expensive day).

 

[OB1]

I like the idea of 5 & 2. We have done Universal every 2 or 3 years, and spend 1 1/2 days on our trip last year. We could have crammed into 1 day, but we would have missed some attractions. We also stayed on site for the first time, so early entry and express pass helped move us along.

For Disney, I would plan 1 day at each park, then a last day to pick a favorite place to go. Since your kids are older, Disney Springs should be fun. You may find that by afternoon, you are ready for a break at AK or HS. This would be a great time to visit Disney Springs, then return for the night time activities at either of those parks.

 

[Lights]

If it is your first time at Universal, I would say to go 2 days. The Harry Potter areas alone are so interesting that sometimes no matter how hard you try you can't just pull away. I used to do 2 days at Universal while at Disney but the last 2 trips I preferred staying at the Cabana Bay and we love it so much that we do it for 3 park days, just to take it super easy and go again as many times as we want on the attractions we love. Staying onsite is much more convenient, but either way, I would recommend not trying to squeeze everything into one day. The upside of Universal is that you don't have to plan for Fastpasses or make dining reservations, but there's still a lot of fun stuff to do, so enjoy!

 

[Lm3js]

We just returned from WDW and US in peak heat, peak crowds and with kids ages 12 and 7. Besides me, everyone else was first timers. We spent 5 days in WDW parks (1 day for each park + 1 extra day to revisit favorites). We arrived at rope drop every morning and left all but AK at park close (~8:30 am - 10pm). AK was hot and we left just after dinner to go back to the pool. We were able to do almost all of the rides at all parks (for example did EE 3 times, Test Track 3 times, Soarin, Frozen, Mission Space 2x, spaceship earth, ToT, Star Tours, MineTrain, Big Thunder 2x, Pirates 2x, Jungle Cruise, Stitch, Laugh Factory, small world, Kali, Safari, Primevil Whirl, people mover, splash, etc) and most all the shows (saw Nemo, Lion King show, Muppets 3d, Tough to be a bug, Hall of Presidents, Pirate training with Capt Sparrow, met many characters -- we even did the shows, picked a pearl, saw the acrobats, etc in World Showcase...). The last day we park hopped to Epcot and MK and my kids were pretty much done. We had park hoppers for all days, but didn't use them except the last.

We spent 3 days at Universal using Express Pass via Pacific Royal hotel. Also definitely go at Rope Drop and early morning entry to get on Kong and Hulk (we walked right on to both) and only had 15 minute wait on Gringotts and Harry Potter. No wait hardly on any other ride due to express pass. We really didn't spend much time there our 3rd day. We were exhausted, but it was great. I were to do it again, I would probably do the same 5 day at WDW but only do 2 days at US. If you aren't in peak heat and peak crowds, you could probably take WDW down by a day and park hop around depending if you do mid-day breaks or not. We used shows, lunch, dinner and snacks as breaks.

 

[Shoshannah]

WOW! So many great responses. Thanks everyone for giving your input!!!! I really can't add any more days to our vacation since I've already booked our airline tickets and both my daughters will already have to miss so many college classes (I don't want them kicked out).

 

[Shoshannah]

If we bought a one day park to park ticket at Universal and decided to come back the next day, could we easily "upgrade" to a two day or would we have to purchase a whole new one?

 

[aidansmom]

We are considering working US into our upcoming Disney trip and would prefer to stay a couple of nights in a Universal resort to take advantage of the ride access. Our hang up is transportation. We always use Magical Express, as renting a van (we are a family of six) is pretty expensive. I'm really curious what people do for transportation when they split their vacation between US and WDW? I'd so appreciate hearing others' experiences/ advice!

 

[CaterFamily]

Our itinerary 11 day holiday starting on Dec 11th:

1 day at Legoland
6 days at BLT / WDW - 1 day Thrills VIP Tour
1 day at SW - changing to Cabana Bay Resort
2 days at Universal - 1st day is Private VIP tour
1 day just chilling at Cabana Bay

This is completely just a rough itinerary in a spiral notebook kept by my DW.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We are considering working US into our upcoming Disney trip and would prefer to stay a couple of nights in a Universal resort to take advantage of the ride access. Our hang up is transportation. We always use Magical Express, as renting a van (we are a family of six) is pretty expensive. I'm really curious what people do for transportation when they split their vacation between US and WDW? I'd so appreciate hearing others' experiences/ advice!

We will be hiring a car service unless a good deal on a rental comes up. There's a lot of good info on the Univeral forums.

 

[Keyser]

I'd also recommend 5+2. If your daughters were young, I would probably say 6+1 (our 8 year old had to skip many rides and regretted several others), but with the age of your daughters, I think they'll appreciate the 2 days at Universal. You might find you like Universal even better than Disney - the Harry Potter area is, I think, better done than any single area of Disney (though I still prefer Disney, overall).

Let me go against some of the other recommendations and say you do NOT need to stay on-site at Universal. You are going at a "slow" time, and if you plan your day reasonably, you will probably find that you can do everything you most want in 2 days, even without Express Pass. We were recently there at what was supposed to be one of the busiest times (4th of July weekend), and we found that the Express Pass was much less of a benefit than it might seem. We were there 1 full day and 2 half days, and other than 1 of the half days (when it really did help, a lot) it rarely saved us any line. You can't use it on the Harry Potter rides, and many of the others you can get on with very little wait if you do it in the right order.

If you do visit Universal only one day, though, I'd spring for the Express Pass if you can afford it. It would be tough to fit in all the big rides in a day without it.

 

[GaryDis]

We are considering working US into our upcoming Disney trip and would prefer to stay a couple of nights in a Universal resort to take advantage of the ride access. Our hang up is transportation. We always use Magical Express, as renting a van (we are a family of six) is pretty expensive. I'm really curious what people do for transportation when they split their vacation between US and WDW? I'd so appreciate hearing others' experiences/ advice!

There's are separate threads in the Universal forums on transport between MCO and USO and between USO and WDW. We're only two, so our plan is shuttle from MCO to USO, Lyft from USO to WDW, and Magic Express back to MCO. Because of the limitations on Lyft and Uber doing pickups at MCO, a better strategy might be to do WDW first, and then use Lyft/Uber to get to USO and then MCO.

But in your case, with six people, I think you're forced to use Uber XL. I don't know whether Lyft has a similar service. I believe Uber XL is allowed to pick up at MCO, so that would obviate that problem. The Everything Uber/Lyft thread in the Transportation forum would have more details. Another option is a private ride service, with Tony's being mentioned frequently over in the Universal/MCO thread.

 

[Shoshannah]

I'd also recommend 5+2. If your daughters were young, I would probably say 6+1 (our 8 year old had to skip many rides and regretted several others), but with the age of your daughters, I think they'll appreciate the 2 days at Universal. You might find you like Universal even better than Disney - the Harry Potter area is, I think, better done than any single area of Disney (though I still prefer Disney, overall).

Let me go against some of the other recommendations and say you do NOT need to stay on-site at Universal. You are going at a "slow" time, and if you plan your day reasonably, you will probably find that you can do everything you most want in 2 days, even without Express Pass. We were recently there at what was supposed to be one of the busiest times (4th of July weekend), and we found that the Express Pass was much less of a benefit than it might seem. We were there 1 full day and 2 half days, and other than 1 of the half days (when it really did help, a lot) it rarely saved us any line. You can't use it on the Harry Potter rides, and many of the others you can get on with very little wait if you do it in the right order.

If you do visit Universal only one day, though, I'd spring for the Express Pass if you can afford it. It would be tough to fit in all the big rides in a day without it.

Thanks for the great information!

 

[OB1]

WOW! So many great responses. Thanks everyone for giving your input!!!! I really can't add any more days to our vacation since I've already booked our airline tickets and both my daughters will already have to miss so many college classes (I don't want them kicked out).

Just a note - you will not do it all. Do what you can, do the main items that everyone seems to enjoy. You will also find that some smaller attractions become favorites (like the people mover). Even with everyone grown, breaks are good. A break might be Disney Springs, a LONG attraction where you sit down, or a pool break. As some have posted, 7 days full out will be exhausting. Just a few hours in the middle of the day will be very helpful, especially if you plan to stay late.

 

[cc-atl]

I agree with what appears to be the consensus - 2 days Universal, 5 days Disney

 

[SillySallySews]

We spent one day at Universal last summer primarily to see the Harry Potter stuff. One day was plenty to see/do everything Harry Potter related. We probably got there around 10am and left around 10pm, and this was in June so it was pretty crowded. We did not have the express pass. I would probably allow for two Universal days if I wanted to do things outside of Harry Potter, especially if you are not getting express pass. We did walk through the rest of the parks and saw most rides had wait times in excess of an hour. 4-5 days is usually perfect for us at Disney. We spend one night at Epcot, one evening at AK, and one morning at HS. The rest of the time we spend at MK or our resort. We go pretty regularly though and don't feel the need to do every single thing every single time. Have fun!