Leaving Property for a night between a split stay

[mcgraws]

We will be going to WDW in late August and since I couldn't decide which property to stay at, I booked a split stay beginning at Beach Club and ending at Polynesian.

We've been talking as a family and decided that for the first time we'd like to visit Universal Studios.

We have 2 scenarios of how to do this

#1 just take a cab or Mears to US for a day or 2 and stay on property

#2 drop one night from our BC reservation and stay on property at US for that night so that we'd have the front of the line access they grant to hotel guests. We'd then visit 2 straight days at US, our check in day and our check out day.

- If we go with option #2 do you think that the Polynesian would hold our bags overnight for us so that we didn't have to bring all our luggage to US with us?
- our family is not huge on big scary rides, will we need 1 day or 2 at US?

Is there another option I'm not thinking about?

 

[mareemouse]

Maybe you could think about doing US at the beginning or the end of your Disney stay. That way, no need for holding bags ! Have fun !

 

[mcgraws]

I thought about that but it seems complicated too because we couldn't do ME. But I suppose we could rent a car for our arrival and US time. Does anyone know if we'd have to drop off the rental back at the airport or could we do it somewhere closer?

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, when I was at BWV in Dec, my friend and I trekkd over to US/IoA and spent a night at the RPR. Got a nice AP rate since we both have APs there. But, we never checked out of our BWV studios...just didn't sleep there. It was really nice to have that FoTL ability for 2 days.
But, if you're not really into those 'big' rides, you may be able to get away with just a day....early to late. I know that if I hadn't done the various rollercoasters at IoA, I could have spent much less time in there. I would try to book the earliest Mears shuttle, about 7:30 and then spend the day and leave early evening, going back to your second resort. You can hand off your bags first thing in the morning, before you head to US/IoA and then they'll be at the next resort when you get back there. You should be able to book a ride from one resort (Beach Club) and then go back to the next (Polynesian) at the end of the day.

 

[Lynne M]

I'd say it really depends how many days you plan to spend at US/IoA. I did both parks in a day, and that was including several of the big scary rides. If you're not going to do any of the big coasters at all, you should be fine with one day there.

For just one day, I don't think I'd bother moving to another hotel. I paid for the FoTL pass at the gate, and that worked out fine.

 

[ElizabethB]

It all depends on how much you care about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Having done it both ways -- as an on-site hotel guest utilizing early entry and as a day guest arriving later -- the only successful way to do it, IMO, is to stay on-site and utilize early entry.

When we did that in August, it was great. We were on the 7 am boat, we waited about 1/2 hour for the 8 am early opening, we rode Forbidden Journey a couple of times, did the wand show, shopped in all of the shops and were pretty much done and out of there by the time the non-hotel guests showed up.

We also loved the unlimited front of the line access with our hotel key for the rest of the rides in both parks. We don't do the roller coasters, either, but we did the rides we like many times and had a ball.

When we went in October as a day guest, the HP area was so packed that there were long lines even to get into the stores. We just gave up and went to Emeril's for lunch.

If you don't care about Harry Potter and you don't like the big scary rides, you can manage to do both parks in one day as a day guest.

As for the luggage, I don't know if they will hold your luggage overnight. If you can manage it, I'd do as another poster suggested -- keep your Poly room and book a second room at a Universal Hotel for one night and get two days of front of the line access plus early entry on your second day.

 

[mcgraws]

Thanks ElizabethB, that's an angle I wasn't thinking about, we won't have the early morning access until our 2nd day, that's going to be torture for my HP addicted child! Tell her yah that's the HP ride over there but we won't go there until tomorrow!

I am thinking that maybe one day will be enough so maybe we can head over late in the evening, check in and do the parks the next day.

I really can't justify paying for a Beach Club room and not staying there. I will check out, if I have to drag my bags with me, I will. Then check back into the Poly the day after.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

We have done Univ/IOA twice now and just love it BUT having FOTL access is key to maximizing your time in the parks. Also--the hotels there are wonderful. This would be my suggestion.

Reduce the BC reservastion by 2 days, move up your Poly revervation by 2 days, remove the last 2 days at Poly, and spend the last 2 nights of your vacay at PBH or HRH. Hire a car service for a 2 legged trip. First leg from Poly to PBH or HRH and the 2nd leg is from your Univ hotel to the airport. A car service is not expensive(you can do both legs for less than $100) and you can schedule the car service on your schedule and it won't cost more if you are stuck in traffic.(mears runs on their schedule and a taxi could cost more if you get stuck in traffic) There are several great car services. We use MH Transportation.

Having the Univ leg at the end of your trip allows you FOTL access that minimizes waits, EASY, quick transportation to the parks/CityWalk, extra downtime at the hotels to relax. The reason I suggest Portofino Bay or Hard Rock is theming. Since you are already staying at Poly, Royal Pacific will be too much of the same thing. Also--Portofino Bay is a beautiful resort and has great pools. It will spoil you at the end of your trip

Also--with Harry Potter at Uni now, you can expect longer lines so FOTL access and 2 days for the parks will ensure you get the whole experience without feeling rushed or frustrated. This is vacation not a race.

 

[mcgraws]

That idea might work but I don't want to drop too much off my disney vacation, it really is still where my heart lies but who knows once I've seen Universal what I will think.

Maybe I will tact on the front of the vacation. Arrive at MCO, rent a car, stay somewhere cheap for the night, head to US to check in early in the morning, do the parks, spend the night at US and do the next day early admission (even if I check in really early, I can't get the early admission on day 1???) and then head to Beach Club to start my disney vacation.

The question with that is, do I have to go back to the airport to return the car or can I drop it in the city somewhere without paying huge drop-off fees?

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

I was worried about our first stay at Univ but we love it. It is NOT Disney--you just have to remember that...it is a different kind of wonderful.

The reason most people add Uni to the end of their WDW stay is simple. You do ALOT of walking at Disney. It is good to go-in to Disney fresh with all the energy of arrival into Florida. At the end of your vacation...you need a vacation from your vacation so to speak. Uni is much less walking as the parks are more compact and by having FOTL, you have very little wait time. You can spend all day in the park, come back to the hotel and swim around 3 or 4 pm, then eat at the resort or venture to Citywalk.

If you have the ability to add days to your vacay, it would be ideal to add 2 nights for Uni at the end of WDW. Don't bother renting a car. Too frustrating. Just hire a car service. Venture over to the Universal boards if you haven't already. Very friendly crowd over there to answer your questions about Uni.

 

[bumbershoot]

(even if I check in really early, I can't get the early admission on day 1???)

I'm certain you could. Just check in well before the hour it opens to hotel guests and get on over there.


I wouldn't put Univ at the front of your trip for one reason. You will HATE fastpass after getting the sort-of "front of the line" access that your keycards will get you. We did Univ about 3/4 into our trip, and FP felt so pathetic when we went back to WDW...

No one in our group did BIG coasters, and I'm the only one who went on Forbidden Journey, but we spent four happy days in the parks. So I would definitely do the 2 solid days!

Something we LOVED about Universal is that it's just so "themed". I never really understood what that meant until we got to Universal, actually. And just standing in Hogsmeade, for a HP fan, is AMAZING. So don't wait to go in there; even if you can't ride Forbidden Journey b/c the line is long (and since you don't do big coasters you won't do the big one in there), and maybe ride Flight of the Hippogriff (small coaster about 30 seconds long) to get the experience of bowing to Buckbeak and having him bow back...but just BE there. It's pretty cool.

And budget some souvenir money... around 30 for a wand, 34ish for the simple (but longer) scarves, 10 or so for a souvenir butterbeer mug with butterbeer in it.... It added up there, LOL.

 

[mjp12831]

Put US at the end of your trip to avoid luggage storing or excessive moving and packing time.

Take ME back to the airport after checking out at WDW, but dont use RAC - just bring luggage with you to ME and the driver will load it on the bus for you (used to have to do this when you flew SWA and it was not a participating airline).

At the airport, get your bags from ME - proceed to car rental or cab area to cab to your US hotel.

 

[CLR4321]

The resort will hold your bags at bell services. Just take them to your 2nd resort before you go to US and ask to have them hold them there for you until you check in. People have packages shipped to their resorts all the time before they actually arrive, so they have the stuff there when they show up to check in. Orlando Stroller Rentals does the same thing...they just drop the stroller off at bell services at the customer's resort. We just walked up and gave our name and said we had a stroller there, and they came right out with it.