need help from people who have been before

[tlaw66]

Hi,

We are a famile of 4, wife son 14 daughter 8 and myself. We have never been to univerisial or island we have only been to Disney about 7 years ago.
The thing i am wondering is do you think staying at the universial hotels is worth it to get the line skipping thing they offer. The prices are about the same and we want to visit both staying at both places univerisial for 4 days and 7 at disney. Any help you can give me would be great

Thanks

 

[damo]

I think it really makes the vacation all that much better.

 

[vakamalua]

We ALWAYS stay at Royal Pacific when we go to Universal. It is so worth it for the location--easy walk to both parks and CityWalk with shops and restaurants. They have a great pool with a little beach (no swimming). And, above all, the express access to the rides (except Harry Potter but you get early admission to that to beat the crowds) makes all the difference; imagine having a Disney fast pass on every attraction.

We will have three days at Royal Pacifiv in November and are really looking forward to it. Enjoy!

 

[Metro West]

Hi,

We are a famile of 4, wife son 14 daughter 8 and myself. We have never been to univerisial or island we have only been to Disney about 7 years ago.
The thing i am wondering is do you think staying at the universial hotels is worth it to get the line skipping thing they offer. The prices are about the same and we want to visit both staying at both places univerisial for 4 days and 7 at disney. Any help you can give me would be great

Thanks

It's time to try something new and if you decide to stay onsite your vacation will be one you'll never forget. Unlimited Express access is worth it to stay onsite as well as early entry for HP.

Give Universal a chance...you might just love it!

 

[Planogirl]

Onsite is great. You can pool hop by the way and all three hotels have amazing pools where you can spend a lot of time.

 

[Moon Child]

So worth it!! The on site hotels are amazing and like the others have said, you can walk or take the boats to the parks, and the front of the line access is a slice of heaven on earth
You will be spoiled

 

[McClane713]

Only stayed on site once in all the times I've gone. Stayed at Hard Rock Hotel (Royal Pacific wasn't even open yet). It was expensive, but worth every penny, and I recommend it to everyone if they ask.

 

[Fantasmic23]

Give Universal a chance...you might just love it!

 

[macraven]

Hi,

We are a famile of 4, wife son 14 daughter 8 and myself. We have never been to univerisial or island we have only been to Disney about 7 years ago.
The thing i am wondering is do you think staying at the universial hotels is worth it to get the line skipping thing they offer. The prices are about the same and we want to visit both staying at both places univerisial for 4 days and 7 at disney. Any help you can give me would be great

Thanks

make it a full and relaxing vacation and stay on site.

it is more than just getting the perk of using the express lines that makes many stay on site.

you can spend time at the pool at any of the 3 hotels, you have onsite restaurants, no need for transportation to go anywhere as when at the hotel you are close to the park, city walk and hotels, business centers available at the hotels, shops/stores....

start your vacation at the motherland.
then switch resorts to the darkside at the end of your trip.

 

[tlaw66]

thanks for all the replys i loved all of thrm and will take the 3 days staying there. one last question for those of you who have stayed at both park do you think it is beter and univ or disney? I still have the ability to change the amount of days at both parks i have a son 14 and daughter 7 really tall she is 56 inches now so hight not a concern

Thanks

 

[macraven]

Hi,

We are a famile of 4, wife son 14 daughter 8 and myself. We have never been to univerisial or island we have only been to Disney about 7 years ago.
The thing i am wondering is do you think staying at the universial hotels is worth it to get the line skipping thing they offer. The prices are about the same and we want to visit both staying at both places univerisial for 4 days and 7 at disney. Any help you can give me would be great

Thanks

4 days would be sweet!
so much you can do without having to rush and only see the highlights of everything.

you can make it a great vacation and sleep in a few days without having to rush to the park at the crack of dawn.

you can pool hop and check out the lobbies and eateries at the other hotels without fretting of losing 'park time'.

you won't be leaving universal feeling worn out and needing a vacation in order to recover from this vacation.


i stay 8 days and go solo.

 

[macraven]

to answer your other question, i enjoy them both.

i do split stays for a 16 day time period.


i do not like all the down time at disney in transferring from one place to another.

i do not like having to plan a 'tour' for the disney portion.

i make adr's 180 days out without knowing which park i really want to be at that day.

even if i rented a car instead of taking a bus, i am still worn out from being at a park from opening until emh is over.
try driving back to your resort hotel at midnight.....

i don't like having to wait 3 hours with a fast pass to ride tsm.
i have to choose do i want to stick around in that park and lose my Le Cellier adr due to that.....

the motherland is big and spread out.
i have to plan ahead of time in order to know which day to hit dtd, or certain parks aranging around certain events at specific parks.

i do not have the flexibility at disney as i do at universal.

once i leave the motherland for the darkside, i can unwind and take my time.
then it becomes a relaxing vacation for me.

i enjoy the smaller set up of the two parks, and city walk at the darkside hotels.

i have options of visiting seaworld, wet and wild or aquatica with free transportation from my UO hotel.

or, i can pay $10 and get rt transportation to Busch Gardens on a supreme travel bus.

i can find places to eat at city walk late in the evening or up to midnight.

i can get a full service room service at the hotel from a full menu.

i can pool hop and get towels from any hotel pool by showing my room key.
i don't have to carry money on me and just use the room key to charge everything.

i don't have to go to the lobby to pick up my merch i bought in the parks.

it is sent, by my request, straight to my room.
or, the merch can be set up, wrapped and mailed directly to my home.

i enjoy the beds and bedding, the keurig in the room, lobby sitting area, etc at the hotels.


i do go to both parks and have annually since 1993.

i do the motherland first and then transfer to the darkside.
i get spoiled at the darkside and couldn't do it any other way.


you don't have to choose which place is better.
they both have issues that will happen along the way.

it will be like that at any vacation destination for a family.

some will have perks you can not live without. some are your memories.

go into the darkside adventure with a clear mind without comparing the two.
that will help you enjoy this stay at Universal.

you will have fun and a great time at both places.
you are going to be with your family and that alone makes it thrilling.

 

[damo]

thanks for all the replys i loved all of thrm and will take the 3 days staying there. one last question for those of you who have stayed at both park do you think it is beter and univ or disney? I still have the ability to change the amount of days at both parks i have a son 14 and daughter 7 really tall she is 56 inches now so hight not a concern

Thanks

I prefer Universal too. I find that there is just so much time wasted at Disney and that the rides are so much more fun and reridable at Universal. I think you get a lot bigger bang for your buck at Universal too. You don't have to micromanage every second and being able to just walk everywhere is heaven!

 

[keishashadow]

thanks for all the replys i loved all of thrm and will take the 3 days staying there. one last question for those of you who have stayed at both park do you think it is beter and univ or disney? I still have the ability to change the amount of days at both parks i have a son 14 and daughter 7 really tall she is 56 inches now so hight not a concern

Thanks

that's a hot topic

they're so different, each special in their own way

do the split trip you need at least 3 full days for 1st trip to U but the hotels are truly deluxe, i'd add another night (or 2) & work in some pool time.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that doing a split stay is a great idea. It's very possible (and a lot of fun) to love both WDW and Universal. (Even if Universal is a bit better. )

 

[Metro West]

thanks for all the replys i loved all of thrm and will take the 3 days staying there. one last question for those of you who have stayed at both park do you think it is beter and univ or disney? I still have the ability to change the amount of days at both parks i have a son 14 and daughter 7 really tall she is 56 inches now so hight not a concern

Thanks

Speaking as someone who lives in the area and has visited both resorts regularly for the past eight years, I enjoy all the parks...except AK. Disney and Universal are completely different experiences. If you keep that in mind and don't compare everything, you should enjoy going to any of the parks at either resort.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

I went to US for the first time in many years last year. We stayed at Royal Pacific. I love it. I have been to Disney many times going again in Oct. I love it.

Why choose when you can do both Like with anything there are some things that Disney does better (shows and fireworks) and there are things that Universal does better (thrill rides).

If i were you I would do a split stay. It's worth staying on property at Universal. Next time we go that is what I plan on doing. Staying 4 days at Hard rock and then 5 or six at Disney.

 

[momabaarjo]

After doing a split stay last summer between USO and WDW...guess which resort I preferred...the Royal Pacific!

OMG...the hotel is beautiful the rooms are so comfortable and nicely furnished...but the best part was the EXPRESS PASS inside the parks. While you miss some of the theming of the ride, we NEVER waited more than 10 minutes for anyride other than Rip Rocket and Forbidden Journey! Even better was the early entry into HP...we could do Hogwarts before anyone else...get in and get out for the day (come back later in the evening). I felt so bad for all the people lined up just to get into HP which at times the wait was over 3 hours to GET INTO WWofHP...and that did not include times waiting for rides inside the area!

I am taking my family with me this time (1st time I was on a working vacation...did USO before my conference and then WDW afterwards). We are doing 5 nights at the RPR, then transferring to WDW and staying at the BWV for 8 nights! The best of all the sides of Orlando...AND I LOVE THE DARK SIDE!

 

[macraven]

i do it in reverse.
i start with the motherland resorts and then switch to the darkside resorts.


i rush at disney but at universal, i relax more.......sometimes sleep in ...

i've been doing split stays for years.

 

[cuches]

I haven't been to UO in many years....so long that the last time I went IoA didn't even exist so take this with a grain of salt. I consider myself a Disney SNOB and would never stay off site again (there) The ease of the WDW transportation and the choice of great hotels and meal plans is why we always stay on site there. We needed a break from Disney but still wanted to visit a great amusement park so Universal, here we come. We chose to stay at HRH for our upcoming October trip, the biggest perk is walking to the parks (not even having to deal with buses) and the FOTL access sounds AMAZING. I love that we can pool hop and since we are staying for a full week and not planning on going to the parks everyday the pool hoping is a perk as well.

I want to thank everyone on this list for helping us plan our trip, the veterans here really know what they are talking about. Good luck to the OP and I hope the folks here are as helpful to you as they were for us.

Tina