Last minute in late June worth it?

[tlendway]

I'm planning a last-minute trip to Orlando/WDW for late June as a surprise for my wife's bday (she won't expect this since she knows we're going to WDW in Oct). So I want to do a few different things other than our usual WDW parks. We've never been to US/IOA, but after looking into this, it looks like a weekend in late June will be crowded, so the best way to avoid lines is to stay on-site (to get the "front-of-line" pass), but for a weekend at the end of June it does not look like "discount season" - looks like nearly $300/night on-site, a bit steep for my budget, especially since that does not even include the park tickets!

So the questions is, am I missing something or is it looking like ~$800 for the four of us for a weekend on-site!?!? How bad are the crowds if I stay "off-site" and stand in lines? We're taking our kids, ages 8 & 11. The alternative would be to just do WDW, since we have annual passes for that and I doubt there's such a thing as overexposure!?! Or maybe just do a day-trip to KSC or SeaWorld?

 

[orlandonyc]

if u go for four days u will get two 7 days tickets for free if u stay onsite

 

[Metro West]

ANY trip to Universal is worth it!

 

[dsmom]

We were there twice in June last year and it was not bad at all. If you are used to disney crowds the ones at Universal are not bad at all. We are headed back down in the middle of June again for my birthday!

 

[Darcy03231]

We were there in August when it was really busy and stayed offsite. If you get there when the park opens it really doesn't start to get busy until between noon and 1 pm. We got a lot done before then. Around noon lines were forming for the more popular rides (20-30 min) and by 2 pm lines for Hulk, Spiderman, Dueling Dragons, etc. were 60-90 min. We went back to our rental house around that time, had something to eat, a swim, and then went back at night. There were still lines but not as bad as mid-afternoon.

We stayed at the Sheraton Studio City which I got on Hotwire for $52/night. I limited my search to Universal area and picked a 3*. It was half a mile from US/IOA.