Is going to US/IOA worth THIS?

[GoofItUp]

We are going to Disney Mar 7-14 (spring break) next year. We were going to tack on 2 nights at US/IOA after we leave Disney, but I'm not sure it's worth these extra costs!

Airfare (difference in leaving Sat vs Wed) $120 x 4 = $480
2 nights at RPR $280 (est) x 2 = $560
1 night at airport hotel = $75 (?)
tickets for 2 adults, 2 kids for 2 park days = $520 (?)
transportation from WDW to US/IOA to airport = $100 (?)
Food = $250

TOTAL = $1985

I'm hoping some of my estimates are high, but I'm afraid they're not. If this is the cost, it looks like we'll be coming on home and not spending an extra couple of days at US/IOA.

 

[damo]

We are going to Disney Mar 7-14 (spring break) next year. We were going to tack on 2 nights at US/IOA after we leave Disney, but I'm not sure it's worth these extra costs!

Airfare (difference in leaving Sat vs Wed) $120 x 4 = $480
2 nights at RPR $280 (est) x 2 = $560
1 night at airport hotel = $125 (?)
tickets for 2 adults, 2 kids for 2 park days = $350 (?)
transportation from WDW to US/IOA to airport = $200 (?)
Food = $250

TOTAL = $1965

I'm hoping some of my estimates are high, but I'm afraid they're not. If this is the cost, it looks like we'll be coming on home and not spending an extra couple of days at US/IOA.

Lots of these are high. You can get a night at a hotel near the airport for way under $125. Transportation from WDW to US/IOA to airport is under $100. Tickets are underestimated. A two day two park ticket is $136 for each adult and $126 for kids. You should be able to get a room for less than $280/night at Universal.

 

[bumbershoot]

2 nights at RPR $280 (est) x 2 = $560
1 night at airport hotel = $125 (?)

Why do you need 3 nights?

 

[GoofItUp]

Lots of these are high. You can get a night at a hotel near the airport for way under $125. Transportation from WDW to US/IOA to airport is under $100. Tickets are underestimated. A two day two park ticket is $136 for each adult and $126 for kids. You should be able to get a room for less than $280/night at Universal.

Thanks -- am adjusting the numbers now, but I think it's going to make it slightly worse! I'm assuming you do have to have a ticket for a 3 year old, right?

Also, when I've called the rooms at RPH were the cheapest and were close to $300/night if I'm remembering correctly. And I'm not expecting there will be discounts since it's spring break.

Why do you need 3 nights?

I was thinking we would check out of WDW Wednesday morning, spend Wed, Thurs, & Fri at Universal, and fly out Sat morning. Friday & Saturday flights cost the same.

 

[damo]

Thanks -- am adjusting the numbers now, but I think it's going to make it slightly worse! I'm assuming you do have to have a ticket for a 3 year old, right?

Also, when I've called the rooms at RPH were the cheapest and were close to $300/night if I'm remembering correctly. And I'm not expecting there will be discounts since it's spring break.



I was thinking we would check out of WDW Wednesday morning, spend Wed, Thurs, & Fri at Universal, and fly out Sat morning. Friday & Saturday flights cost the same.

There are no discounts out for March rooms yet. Spring break is really the month of April. Easter falls in April. There should still be some good prices in early March.

Remember that there are plenty of other hotels that are within walking distance of Universal. You can purchase a package through the Universal website and still get early entry. You won't get express pass access though.

 

[Kellydelly]

Why not shave a couple days off your Disney portion and use it for Universal ?

 

[Planogirl]

Or at least take one night off your Disney portion?

It would be worth it to us, that is assuming that we could afford it.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was thinking we would check out of WDW Wednesday morning, spend Wed, Thurs, & Fri at Universal, and fly out Sat morning. Friday & Saturday flights cost the same.

Ooh, 3 days at Universal, now that's sounding better.

 

[canadiankim]

I think I would consider doing US & IOA before Disney, that way you might miss the higher price of Spring Break. Also, I would look at staying somewhere other than at the on-site hotels. I don't think spending nearly $2000 for 2/3 days is worth it but cutting corners and staying offsite would be better and going to both US & IOA is definatley worth it.

Happy planning.

 

[GoofItUp]

Thanks for the responses. We are going to WDW on Wed and have other family joining us on Friday. We are suppose to all move to US/IOA on the following Wed. My niece is in a cheer competition at WDW over the weekend, so moving the pieces around might be tricky.

I'm going to continue to weigh it out, but 2 of the biggest costs currently are tickets and airfare. Hopefully airfare will come down which would help, but if we really trimmed things down I don't know if it would get under $1500. That's still pretty steep for 3 days IMO. Thinking, thinking, thinking...

 

[Zim]

Why not just do one night at RPR? Our last two trips we've done the week at Disney and the last two days, one night at HRH. You have to check out of Disney pretty early anyway - when you get to Universal, they'll store your luggage and you are off to the park. Then set yourself up for a LATE flight out that night or get a room near the airport for that last night... I think you'll find the hotels near the airport with little amenities are pretty reasonable.

I LOVE Universal, but I'd be hard-pressed to explain $2K for 2 extra days at parks. Do you have AAA? We use that when we book at HRH and always get a reasonable rate on the non-view or blocked-view rooms.

 

[damo]

Why not just do one night at RPR? Our last two trips we've done the week at Disney and the last two days, one night at HRH. You have to check out of Disney pretty early anyway - when you get to Universal, they'll store your luggage and you are off to the park. Then set yourself up for a LATE flight out that night or get a room near the airport for that last night... I think you'll find the hotels near the airport with little amenities are pretty reasonable.

I LOVE Universal, but I'd be hard-pressed to explain $2K for 2 extra days at parks. Do you have AAA? We use that when we book at HRH and always get a reasonable rate on the non-view or blocked-view rooms.

We do that sometimes but I think the room is a minor part of the price. It might be worth it to stay near the airport that second night too. Once you add on for flights and tickets, that extra night really isn't much extra.

 

[Zim]

We do that sometimes but I think the room is a minor part of the price. It might be worth it to stay near the airport that second night too. Once you add on for flights and tickets, that extra night really isn't much extra.

Yes, but I was thinking along the lines of one night there meaning a late night Thursday flight which might be cheaper than a Friday or Saturday flight. It makes the end of the trip a little more chaotic, but might drop the airfare in addition to dropping one or two nights accommodations from her list of costs, since there isn't much you can do to avoid ticket or transportation costs.

 

[damo]

Yes, but I was thinking along the lines of one night there meaning a late night Thursday flight which might be cheaper than a Friday or Saturday flight. It makes the end of the trip a little more chaotic, but might drop the airfare in addition to dropping one or two nights accommodations from her list of costs, since there isn't much you can do to avoid ticket or transportation costs.

Yup. We are doing exactly that on our next trip. The people who are staying with us have the early morning flight and are staying near the airport. The late flights and very early flights were cheapest.

 

[GoofItUp]

Yes, but I was thinking along the lines of one night there meaning a late night Thursday flight which might be cheaper than a Friday or Saturday flight. It makes the end of the trip a little more chaotic, but might drop the airfare in addition to dropping one or two nights accommodations from her list of costs, since there isn't much you can do to avoid ticket or transportation costs.

The airfare is cheaper on Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday are all the same price.

 

[julsmom]

We were just there for our first trip to IoA (millionth at Disney). I was in awe at the high price of adding IoA. We only did it bc of Harry Potter. Honestly I would say it is not worth that much extra. Also, did you account for souvenirs and spending money?

ETA: The crowds in certain areas were so insane that I even wanted to leave early.

 

[Planogirl]

We were just there for our first trip to IoA (millionth at Disney). I was in awe at the high price of adding IoA. We only did it bc of Harry Potter. Honestly I would say it is not worth that much extra. Also, did you account for souvenirs and spending money?

ETA: The crowds in certain areas were so insane that I even wanted to leave early.

That's because you're going to see WDW and adding Universal. We go to see Universal and add WDW and I go on about the high price of the Disney part.

 

[julsmom]

Lol! That could be very true!

 

[NotUrsula]

We were in the same situation back at the beginning of the summer. I did the math very carefully, and what we ended up doing was purchasing one annual pass for one of the adults in the party (DH got it because he occasionally also visits Orlando for business, which I pretty much never do.) That cut the hotel rate by more than half, and also let us get a significant discount on our other 3 tickets, plus food discounts in the parks and hotels as well. In the end it was still a pricey two days, but doing it that way saved us about $400 all told.

We went for WWOHP, too (we had been AP holders at Universal for several years but dropped it when we had a new baby 4 years ago, since it isn't a particularly infant-friendly set of parks. Yes, they do have a great baby-swap option, but I just don't like having to swap nearly every ride.) Of course the price of admission went WAY up when WWOHP opened, so we put it off until the worst of the excitement had died down, and until DD made 40 inches. As it happened, my DS14, who is a HUGE HP fan, did not actually care for FJ; he thought it was a disjointed mess of a ride, and was not interested in riding it again after his first try. (Though he did like the Hogsmead area.) So staying on site was still the very best perk b/c we used the FOTL option to ride our favorites again and again. (Remember, FOTL access is NOT valid for FJ.)

 

[torinsmom]

We stayed offsite at the Holiday Inn Maingate to Universal last month for $45/night(Priceline) Did not have Express or early entry, but we got there early and didn't wait long for anything(30 min. for Shrek was our longest) We used the single rider lines when we could. Since it looks like you are going back to Orlando again in June, you might get at least one AP if you do want to stay onsite. You can get some good deals at the on site hotels that way.

If you're talking about March, couldn't airfare rates go down by then?