I need your help...Please

[Smileybug]

Hubby and I really want to take one more family vacation with our adult children. They are 24, 22, 20 and 19. At this point in their lives they are not big Disney fans and really don't care to go. So we have been thinking about Universal and Islands of Adventure. If we do this I need help with everything. Where should we stay? Where do we want to eat? Is the end of Nov. first of Dec. a good time to go? See, I need everything? Please, please help me.

 

[cheetara]

Bare with me I'm no expert and I'm sure Dis / Uni vets will join in. We just came back acouple months ago from Universal for the 1st time. WE HAD A BLAST!! I can not express that enough and everyone here is so wonderful and helpful with our planning.
Your families ages are perfect to go because y'all be able to go on everything together if you wanted. From everything I've read from here and universal site that is a perfect time to go, I believe the christmas decorations are even going up during that time. Where to stay most everyone will tell you stay onsite if you can afford it, it gives you the added benefit of Front of the line passes that are built into your room key. Depending on your budget of course. We couldn't stay onsite this trip and rented a beautiful 4 bdrm rental home 20 minutes away and drove to the parks each day. Yes you have to pay to park, but it's not bad.

Meals you can eat at the parks, or at citywalk or even at the hotels onsite there are so many choices. Again it depends on your budget and where you are staying. With us we had breakfast and dinners at our rental home, had some lite snacks or lunch at the parks when were there. We had our final dinner at Bubba Gumps in CityWalk and it was fabulous. . .

Hope this helps and I'm sure others will chime in too with suggestions. Congrats on the upcoming trip

 

[Smileybug]

Bare with me I'm no expert and I'm sure Dis / Uni vets will join in. We just came back acouple months ago from Universal for the 1st time. WE HAD A BLAST!! I can not express that enough and everyone here is so wonderful and helpful with our planning.
Your families ages are perfect to go because y'all be able to go on everything together if you wanted. From everything I've read from here and universal site that is a perfect time to go, I believe the christmas decorations are even going up during that time. Where to stay most everyone will tell you stay onsite if you can afford it, it gives you the added benefit of Front of the line passes that are built into your room key. Depending on your budget of course. We couldn't stay onsite this trip and rented a beautiful 4 bdrm rental home 20 minutes away and drove to the parks each day. Yes you have to pay to park, but it's not bad.

Meals you can eat at the parks, or at citywalk or even at the hotels onsite there are so many choices. Again it depends on your budget and where you are staying. With us we had breakfast and dinners at our rental home, had some lite snacks or lunch at the parks when were there. We had our final dinner at Bubba Gumps in CityWalk and it was fabulous. . .

Hope this helps and I'm sure others will chime in too with suggestions. Congrats on the upcoming trip

Thank you so much for you response.
I'm really starting to get excited about possibly taking this trip. But I don't know where to start. I've looked at the onsite hotels but it doesn't look like they have a suite large enough for all of us. Do you know if the hotels wil try to give us connecting rooms?

 

[macraven]

try to read the stickies about the parks and pull up some of the older threads on places to stay.

we have had some threads that give a lot of detail.
granted they are not current but the info is still the same.

you will have so much fun on this trip! i wish you all the best.

the onsite hotels do have connecting rooms.

 

[cheetara]

Thank you so much for you response.
I'm really starting to get excited about possibly taking this trip. But I don't know where to start. I've looked at the onsite hotels but it doesn't look like they have a suite large enough for all of us. Do you know if the hotels wil try to give us connecting rooms?

If you call and talk with the reservationist at the hotels you can request that.
I do have a suggestion on the hotels to lookinto if you don't mind. we had originally thought to go with Hawthorn Suites near univeral because they have the free daily breakfast, daily free cocktail hour, free shuttle svc, free wednesday night lite dinner. Also they have suites that have kitchenttes that can accomodate 6, (2 queen beds in separate room, with a queen pull out) but if you get two rooms or a combination it might work. And if you go to orlandoinfo dot com and look at the magic card discounts you can get a even cheaper rate! That's where I found our rental home too.

To eat is not as big a deal as thought, there is something for everyone there at the parks and surrounding the parks on I-drive. I Drive is awesome! Someone on here gave us the tip to eat at CiCi's Pizza Buffet and that was good and filling for our kids, so it would be too for your kids! Not bad priced at $5 + drink for ea person and it's all you can eat.

Planning: not actually much to plan for universal which I was amazed at. I overplanned! I found using a waistpack for holding wallet and tickets and keys to be the best. Put tix into a plastic ziploc baggie so they don't get wet! Especially if you get the online special for universal and do the print at home. Very reasonable at 89.00 ea and it's for 7 days and both parks! A must

Get a couple of the refillable drink cups at the parks for $6.99 ea and get the refills for .69 ea! Yip it was great thing for the kids. The kids would pop the cup into the cargo shorts pocket and onto the rides we went. If you can find them at your local walmart store get the Universal Gift cards for either $25 or $50 dollars. You go to guest services and turn the card in and wha la you have universal dollars for the kids to have for souveniours or what have you. Those were awsome. You are going tohave a great time!! If you can I found a couple books at amazon I can't remember the names but when i do I'll post them for you and kelly monahan also has a book and post here regularly that is great too for information.

 

[Smileybug]

If you call and talk with the reservationist at the hotels you can request that.
I do have a suggestion on the hotels to lookinto if you don't mind. we had originally thought to go with Hawthorn Suites near univeral because they have the free daily breakfast, daily free cocktail hour, free shuttle svc, free wednesday night lite dinner. Also they have suites that have kitchenttes that can accomodate 6, (2 queen beds in separate room, with a queen pull out) but if you get two rooms or a combination it might work. And if you go to orlandoinfo dot com and look at the magic card discounts you can get a even cheaper rate! That's where I found our rental home too.

To eat is not as big a deal as thought, there is something for everyone there at the parks and surrounding the parks on I-drive. I Drive is awesome! Someone on here gave us the tip to eat at CiCi's Pizza Buffet and that was good and filling for our kids, so it would be too for your kids! Not bad priced at $5 + drink for ea person and it's all you can eat.

Planning: not actually much to plan for universal which I was amazed at. I overplanned! I found using a waistpack for holding wallet and tickets and keys to be the best. Put tix into a plastic ziploc baggie so they don't get wet! Especially if you get the online special for universal and do the print at home. Very reasonable at 89.00 ea and it's for 7 days and both parks! A must

Get a couple of the refillable drink cups at the parks for $6.99 ea and get the refills for .69 ea! Yip it was great thing for the kids. The kids would pop the cup into the cargo shorts pocket and onto the rides we went. If you can find them at your local walmart store get the Universal Gift cards for either $25 or $50 dollars. You go to guest services and turn the card in and wha la you have universal dollars for the kids to have for souveniours or what have you. Those were awsome. You are going tohave a great time!! If you can I found a couple books at amazon I can't remember the names but when i do I'll post them for you and kelly monahan also has a book and post here regularly that is great too for information.

I just can't thank you enough for all of your help.

 

[Darcy03231]

We went last summer with a party of 9 and had a great time. I rented a 5 bdrm/3 bath pool home which was about 20-30 min from the parks. We loved having all the extra space, the full kitchen and the private pool. I ended up booking it through www.vacationrentals.com. I also saw a lot of really nice homes on www.vacationhomes.com. I was able to rent the house for two weeks for a fraction of what a hotel would have cost with all of us.

We bought the 5 park Orlando flex passes that gave us unlimited admission for 14 days to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Busch Gardens, Sea World and Wet n' Wild. As I recall we paid about $235/pp (including all taxes). I bought them through www.undercovertourist.com.

Since we were there for so long we didn't have to worry about the front of the line you get when you stay onsite. We saw/did everything at least once (and in the cases of the favorites, more than once).

We did eat in quite a bit. We were there in August and found that we would get up early, have breakfast at the house, go the parks for opening and stay until about 1-2 pm (it was getting very hot and crowded by then). We'd go back to the house, have something to eat, swim/rest/nap, and then go back at night when it wasn't as crowded and it was a bit cooler. Since it was so hot no one really felt like eating a big meal in the parks. We snacked more than we ate. We kept meals at the house simple and used a lot of paper and plastic. I know a lot of people don't like to cook on vacation, but it doesn't bother me. We did a lot of big salads (pasta, potato, tossed) the first day we were there and then just grilled meat for the first few days.

Have a great time.

 

[Smileybug]

Thank you so much for all of your replies. They have realy helped.

 

[macraven]

use this site and receive the orlando magic card.

also check out the hotels/condos/ etc.

use the magic card for the discounts.

the card is free



http://www.orlandomagiccard.com/

 

[Cadillac_Dreamgirl]

Your family will truly enjoy this experience believe me.........

 

[turning40withMickey]

If you can find them at your local walmart store get the Universal Gift cards for either $25 or $50 dollars. You go to guest services and turn the card in and wha la you have universal dollars for the kids to have for souveniours or what have you. Those were awsome. You are going tohave a great time!! If you can I found a couple books at amazon I can't remember the names but when i do I'll post them for you and kelly monahan also has a book and post here regularly that is great too for information.

Hi Smiley! Glad you are getting some veteran help on this site!
This is the first time I have heard of the Universal dollars, cheetara. I will have to look for the universal gift cards (are they like a visa card or a more traditional gift card? ) Are the univeral dollars like disney dollars? They would be perfect for my kids!
I love Universal AND Disney!

 

[Smileybug]

Hi Smiley! Glad you are getting some veteran help on this site!
This is the first time I have heard of the Universal dollars, cheetara. I will have to look for the universal gift cards (are they like a visa card or a more traditional gift card? ) Are the univeral dollars like disney dollars? They would be perfect for my kids!
I love Universal AND Disney!

Hey was40!! I just can't hide from you can I? I think I have been given some really good advice. You were right about asking for help here. Thanks for the sugestion.

 

[cheetara]

Hi Smiley! Glad you are getting some veteran help on this site!
This is the first time I have heard of the Universal dollars, cheetara. I will have to look for the universal gift cards (are they like a visa card or a more traditional gift card? ) Are the univeral dollars like disney dollars? They would be perfect for my kids!
I love Universal AND Disney!

Sorry for the lateness of this LOL. I found the Universal cards at Walmart during the holiday time. No they don't work the traditional way a gift card does. You do have to cash it in at the Universal Guest Services. They attendent take the card and gives you back the equivilant of money back in Universal dollars (think disney dollars that has Uni Characters) It honestly have to say it was easy and not that big of pain to deal with. They were great for the kids to use on souveniors and snacks, etc.

 

[damo]

For the best experience, I recommend staying onsite. There is so much night life with kids that age that you can go hang out at Citywalk and then just wander back to the hotels when you are done. Since you will have unlimited express passes just by staying onsite, you won't have to get up at the break of dawn after partying all night. You can also split things up so much easier and just wander back to the room during the day for a swim, etc. As long as you request the adjoining rooms, you should be fine.

I would recommend the Hard Rock Hotel for kids that age. They would have a blast! We have a 19 year old and a 22 year old and they and their boyfriends/girlfriends absolutely love Hard Rock and staying onsite.

 

[Smileybug]

Sorry for the lateness of this LOL. I found the Universal cards at Walmart during the holiday time. No they don't work the traditional way a gift card does. You do have to cash it in at the Universal Guest Services. They attendent take the card and gives you back the equivilant of money back in Universal dollars (think disney dollars that has Uni Characters) It honestly have to say it was easy and not that big of pain to deal with. They were great for the kids to use on souveniors and snacks, etc.

For the best experience, I recommend staying onsite. There is so much night life with kids that age that you can go hang out at Citywalk and then just wander back to the hotels when you are done. Since you will have unlimited express passes just by staying onsite, you won't have to get up at the break of dawn after partying all night. You can also split things up so much easier and just wander back to the room during the day for a swim, etc. As long as you request the adjoining rooms, you should be fine.

I would recommend the Hard Rock Hotel for kids that age. They would have a blast! We have a 19 year old and a 22 year old and they and their boyfriends/girlfriends absolutely love Hard Rock and staying onsite.

I really do appreciate everyone helping me with this. But after much discussion with everyone we have decided on going back to Disney. But once again I thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

 

[Tizzy_Meliss]

Hubby and I really want to take one more family vacation with our adult children. They are 24, 22, 20 and 19. At this point in their lives they are not big Disney fans and really don't care to go. So we have been thinking about Universal and Islands of Adventure. If we do this I need help with everything. Where should we stay? Where do we want to eat? Is the end of Nov. first of Dec. a good time to go? See, I need everything? Please, please help me.

I am not a seasoned expert like alot of the people here, but I can recommend you read alot of the tips on this board. We took our big family vacation to Universal two years ago and the tips here really helped us out.

We go in November the week of Thanksgiving and check out the day after Thanksgiving. Our children are still in school so we have to allow time to drive back to PA. That week we went was a great time of year, the weather was beautiful. It was cool in the mornings and evenings and comfortable enough to hit the pool mid-day.

We went with 4 children, two teens and two under the age of 9, and stayed in a deluxe room on the club level of The Hard Rock, and that room was plenty big for our party. If I remember correctly you could probably even get a roll away bed in there, but they only allow for 5 guests when you check in so I don't know how that would work out for you.

The Hard Rock is the closest to the parks, the walk is a short one, but there is also a water taxi connecting the onsite hotels and theme parks so you could take that too.

Staying onsite has its rewards, you will wait 10 minutes or less for most rides. In fact we never waited more than the time it took to unload and load us into a ride. Plus if you do the club level you will have access to free continental breakfast, night time snacks, sodas, waters, coffee, tea, chips ect throughout the day, not to mention free drinks at happy hour!

Restaurants and late night clubs are all within walking distance as well. There are lots to choose from so everyone will most likely be satisfied. We are going again in November and none of us can wait! We are so excited!

Stay onsite if you can, you won't be disappointed!!!

 

[Tizzy_Meliss]

Sorry, I had a phone call while I typed this up and just saw that you won't be staying at Universal Studios, good luck with Disney and hope you all have a great time!!

 

[Smileybug]

Sorry, I had a phone call while I typed this up and just saw that you won't be staying at Universal Studios, good luck with Disney and hope you all have a great time!!

Thank you for posting. All help is appreciated. We may not be going this year. But I have family planning their first trip for next summer. So I'm still collecting info and passing it on. But once again thank you for taking the time to post. I hope you have a wonderful day!!