Need advice, first timer

[beldred]

Please don't hate me for asking these questions! LOL I would normally dive eagerly into all these threads and read them for days and days until I learned everything there was to know. But I just don't have the time on this one. I have spent most of today trying to research various things and skim through as many threads as possible. It's just not enough.

We are having to reschedule our fall Disney trip to February. We are now also considering adding on a few extra days for Universal, since none of our travel group has been before. We'd be a group of 9 people - 4 adults, 3 teens (19,17,16) and 2 kids (11,8). My SIL asked me to gather all the info and we have to make a decision THIS WEEK so people can get vacation leave rescheduled.

Here's the crux of what I have to decide by Sunday night:

1) How many extra days will we need for Universal? (we usually do 7n at Disney - park days as follows: MK 3 days (or 2d + 1 waterpark day), EP 2 days, AK 1 day, HS 1 day) We have discussed getting the extra days by dropping 1 MK day and by combining AK & HS into 1 day. We can add only 1 day to our trip length.

2)My SIL thinks we should stay at Disney (we always stay on site at Disney) and taxi to UO each day we go. I was thinking of staying on site at UO. I know on site at UO includes the Express Pass. How important is the EP in February? (probably the week of the 27th). How should I best compare these two options to present to our group so we can decide what's best? Does UO offer "package deals" or other things I should look at besides a straight price check of tickets & hotel on their website?

3) IF we do UO and IF we stay onsite, I would want to do it at the end of the trip I think. I've read here most prefer that. But that would mean all the UO days would be weekend (we travel Saturday to Saturday usually). Would that be a problem? And what's the best way from UO to airport since we always use ME? Taxi I assume? Can a van sized taxi take 9 people and luggage?

4) Cheaper to buy park tickets in advance?

5) What else should I know to make this decision? This has all happened rather suddenly and my OCD planning gene is freaking out!!

 

[macraven]

1. i would aim for at least 2 days. you said you can take one day from the motherland portion and an add on day to the length or your trip.
if you plan for all to stay together in the parks, check out what rides everyone will do together.

i would think that the teens would handle the parks on their own and hit the rides/shows that appeals to them more.
they could easily use the single rider lines and get more done during the day. they are old enough to handle riding without fear of not being able to connect once they were off a ride.
the younger two kids might have different ideas of what rides appeals to them.

when you have a large group of 9 wanting to do the park, usually more ground can be covered by breaking up to smaller groups. meet up at different times of the day for group rides or shows together and eating times.

2. you are going the week of feb 27th, you'll see more activity there on the weekends. mardi gras will have the concerts in the park on the weekends. some of the music groups will bring in more crowds.
you will run into a few days in early march when it will be spring break, which always increases crowds.
one of my son's has his college spring break the first week of march, crazy isn't that.......but he is out of school first week of May. staying on site will be a great convenience for your group. early entry and the free unlimited express pass is a hotel perk if you stay on one of the 3 deluxe hotes. stay at the value resort, cabana bay and only recieve the early entry bonus. avoid packages for the most part. they have penalties which you don't want to have to deal with. pay up front and in full by a number of days out, $50 penalty fee if any changes are made to the reservation. if you buy a 3 day pass, much cheaper through buying with a 3rd party vendor. park to park passes for 2 days are usually a bit cheaper by a few dollars with any seller of tickets.
book a package means room plus tickets.
could be that a few in your group would prefer only a short time in the park and the rest of the time enjoying the hotel and city walk. if that is the case, a package would be a waste of money.
why buy a 2 day or 3 day park to park ticket when they won't be used.

i mention the 3 day multi tickets in case those in your group do want to hit the parks for a short time before you leave the grounds.
if i had an afternoon flight, i would be doing a last walk thru in the parks on my last day.

if you stay onsite, you could get more of the park done in that time period. easy for limited down time in the mornings. no rushing for a drive from a motherland resort to the darkside in the morning, no traffic to deal with, no parking of a car in the garage.
you also wouldn't have the morning rush of all in your room of getting ready for the day, tie up the bathroom, and corrordinating schedules so you could all leave together.

for me, i always say if you have a short stay for UO, take advantage and stay onsite.
no wasted time for travel to get to the parks.

the deluxe standard rooms allow 5 in a room.
the one teen, 19 yo, would be considered an adult. 2 adults in the room and 3 kids, not a problem.
if you have 3 adults and 2 kids would ensure an additional $25 per night additional charge.

3. each trip i make to orlando, i do split stays.
first stay is at the motherland then i switch to the darkside resorts. i find i am more relaxed and no rushing for the second portion of my trip. no busses to take as the UO set up is walkable.
the layout makes everything close together, city walk, parks, etc.
if you stay onsite and hit the weekend period, the express lines in the parks alleviate long waits for rides/shows.

star shuttle is available but they do stop at various hotels on the way to the airport.
mears has the vans that you could use but not sure if it is cost effective
the hotels have the sedans that cost $50 to go from the onsite hotels to MCO. do not know the number they will carry.
private car service is another choice. the one i use does have a van that allows 10 passengers.

4. buy the tickets in advance so you save time buying them at the parks.
if you go with a 3rd party vendor, order them weeks out so they are delivered before you leave on vacation.
if you buy park tickets thru universal, you can pick them up at the kiosk in the hotels or by the guest services outside of the park entrance.
no charge for kiosk pick up of tickets.

5. i'll stop here as you don't want more of an essay from me.......lol

 

[Darcy03231]

1. I like a minimum of 3 days for Universal. One day for each park and then an extra day to go back and hit anything we missed or want to see/do again.

2. The week of February 27th is a school vacation week in the Northeast and a lot of people like to head to the Orlando area to get away from the snow and cold for a while. If it's in your budget I would definitely stay on-site. The unlimited express pass is a huge timesaver. Having said that, we've stayed off-site before during a busy time of year (summer) and found that if we got to the parks for opening we could get quite a bit accomplished before the crowds/lines started forming.

3. If you're going to stay on-site I would definitely do Universal at the end of the trip. We did at the beginning the first time and then swapped over to WDW. My kids kept complaining that the rides at Disney were "lame" after US/IOA and they hated waiting in line (something they didn't have to do at US/IOA with the express pass). You can take a taxi van from WDW to US/IOA and then another one to the airport.

4. We always buy our tickets in advance. We get them through Undercover Tourist using Mousesavers for a discount.

 

[Grumpy92]

1. 2-3 days at US
2. I was always a stay at a Disney Resort fan, wouldn't stay any where else. We felt our last Disney visits were not up to par. The US TMs are what Disney CMs used to be like, the US resorts are great not overpriced and worn out, no teeny tour groups. Lots of restaurant options and you are a very short boat ride or bus ride away from everything(10 mins tops)!! Over all we found the cost vs quality better at US. I still cant believe I say that. But I have converted, the US resorts are better!

Stayed at HRH, RPR and CBBR. We love Cabana Bay and the pools are incredible. You might look at the Family Suites. I would suggest moving over and why not take a day to just relax, stay at the resort, let everyone just do what they want to do. Don't expect the group to do everything together, let the teens take off and do their own thing. Relax by the pool, float in the lazy river or go bowling. Another benefit no matter what resort you stay at is you can resort pool hop. Cant do that at WDW.

My fave benefit is far less planning none of this 60 days in advance reservations for attractions and dining or planning every minute of our vacation. We did not need or feel the loss of this. Frankly it is too much at WDW now for us.

The deluxe resorts do have the EP passes and all get the early entry to DA. We went in Sept and the EE was plenty, no loss without the EP. The weekends are busier and I would suggest it then. If you decide to purchase the EE do it in advance as I believe it is cheaper or stay at a deluxe. Feb will be a mixed bag on crowd.
3. Your only options to OIA would be Uber, Mears or a Limo/Taxi.
4. Yes for advance purchasing. Check out sites like AAA, TicketsAtWork, or Undercover Tourist. I suggest one person get an AP because it offers you resort, merchandise and restaurant discounts property wide. I was never turned down. Mousesavers is a great up to date website for specials and discounts. The US site also is good at listing discounted rates. For the most part I find packages overpriced.
5. I am going to plug TA Dreams Unlimited, they run this site. I have used them a several times and they will look for the best rate, book it and then watch for rate drops and then rebook you at the lower rate should one become available after you make your reservation. Just saves a lot of research, they are also very knowledgeable and can help with any planning. Listen to their podcast. Finally don't hesitate to ask questions on these boards.

 

[AthenaBolina]

Why not take out your extra EP day, the water park or extra MK day, and then you have one extra day. There's your three days at UO/IOA. you will probably feel rushed with just 2 days. Definitely stay onsite as the traveling alone will drive you nuts, parking, getting out the door on time etc etc. UT is an amazing place to buy tickets, definitely buy ahead. And if you can stay at a deluxe, you'll get EP which are sooooo helpful.

 

[tesslor]

I agree that you should stay on site at a deluxe if possible and after Disney. The Express is totally worth it. We booked our rooms at Royal Pacific thru AAA online and got a great deal and purchased our tickets thru Undercover Tourist. The packages thru the Universal website are in general not a great deal.
I would allow 3 days to get everything done even if one day is only a partial day. It also shouldn't matter if it is the weekend if you have Express.

I can't help you with the question about a van for transportation. We used Uber XL on our last trip. Both times were were picked up in an SUV with 3rd row seating and plenty of room for our luggage. We used a promotion code from our Capital one card that gave us $30 off 2 rides, so it cost us like $8 from Disney to Universal and $6 from Universal to the airport.

 

[macraven]

i forgot to list the private car service in my first post.
Tony Hinds has a 10 passenger van he can use for larger groups.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

stay on site. Much closer and the express pass makes it more than worth it. I think 3 days would be sufficient, a 4th would be even better.

 

[Monykalyn]

The only thing not mentioned is to leave room in the budget for souvenirs (Harry potter area is amazing) and butter beers. Definitely save money for the butter beers. I refuse to disclose how much we spent on those...

With EP you can do nearly everything in 2 days. We had 3 day passes- used our first day from offsite to scope the parks, ride single rider or things with low waits, activated our star card, and explored city walk. Then up early to check in for onsite part (just one night but 2 days of express pass). The beauty of onsite is ability to split up and regroup as needed/desired. And yeah- after the ability to basically walk on anything as many times as you want when you want you will be spoiled. We did Men in Black 3-4x times each day & I started to feel guilty for using it when the line was 45 minutes long...and we walked on. That never happens at TSMM...