Need help with Universal Plans!!

[OrangeCat04]

We started planning our trip for May 2011. We want to go at the end of May and plan on staying at Disney for a week, but want to spend two days at Universal. We don't want to check out and leave Disney to stay at a Universal hotel because we like using the Magical Express among a few other reasons. But.. we want to take a Mears bus two different days to Universal. I have a few Questions that i would LOVE if some experienced Uni people could answer!!

1. Is the easiest way to get to Universal to use the Mears shuttle both days? What is the earliest and latest times you can get to/stay at the park til? And how much does it cost, and how do you book it.

2. Are we at a huge disadvantage if we don't stay on property and can't use the FOTL pass? We also want to see Harry Potter and don't know if we will have enough time to see both parks in two days. Is that enough time or would 3 days be better? I plan on going on a weekday hoping that the parks will be less crowded!

Any other thoughts/input is very appreciated!! Thank you all in advance!!

 

[Jonny_Duck]

We started planning our trip for May 2011. We want to go at the end of May and plan on staying at Disney for a week, but want to spend two days at Universal. We don't want to check out and leave Disney to stay at a Universal hotel because we like using the Magical Express among a few other reasons. But.. we want to take a Mears bus two different days to Universal. I have a few Questions that i would LOVE if some experienced Uni people could answer!!

1. Is the easiest way to get to Universal to use the Mears shuttle both days? What is the earliest and latest times you can get to/stay at the park til? And how much does it cost, and how do you book it.

2. Are we at a huge disadvantage if we don't stay on property and can't use the FOTL pass? We also want to see Harry Potter and don't know if we will have enough time to see both parks in two days. Is that enough time or would 3 days be better? I plan on going on a weekday hoping that the parks will be less crowded!

Any other thoughts/input is very appreciated!! Thank you all in advance!!

1. I am not certain on but I think the "easiest" way would be a taxi. Mears may be cheaper though. I believe below is the site you could look to check price/times.

http://www.mearstransportation.com/

2. I think onsite would obviously be the best way to do it. On the other hand I also think you technically could get everything done in two days. But you are possibly going during a time that would be somewhat busy. Three days would def be better though.

Edit: Another way would possibly to get the one park express for one of the days to get through Potter and all the rides at IoA but thats an extra charge that may not be worth it to you. Getting there early should be able to get through some quick rides before crowds show up.

 

[OrangeCat04]

1. I am not certain on but I think the "easiest" way would be a taxi. Mears may be cheaper though. I believe below is the site you could look to check price/times.

http://www.mearstransportation.com/

2. I think onsite would obviously be the best way to do it. On the other hand I also think you technically could get everything done in two days. But you are possibly going during a time that would be somewhat busy. Three days would def be better though.

Edit: Another way would possibly to get the one park express for one of the days to get through Potter and all the rides at IoA but thats an extra charge that may not be worth it to you. Getting there early should be able to get through some quick rides before crowds show up.

Thank youuuuuu!!!! Anyone else???

 

[sicjoy]

Here is a link for the park hours; you can't see 2011, but can compare May 2010...may be similar (?). http://www.universalorlando.com/Resort_Information/theme_park_hours.aspx

 

[derekburgan]

I would say not staying on site is a huge disadvantage that is almost impossible to understand if you've never done it. If you are a regular Disney guest, imagine how it would affect your planning if you knew you could just about immediately get on any ride you wanted at any time of the day. I think whatever extra cost it adds is completely countered by how much stress and planning it eliminates.

 

[Metro West]

I would say not staying on site is a huge disadvantage that is almost impossible to understand if you've never done it. If you are a regular Disney guest, imagine how it would affect your planning if you knew you could just about immediately get on any ride you wanted at any time of the day. I think whatever extra cost it adds is completely countered by how much stress and planning it eliminates.

 

[OrangeCat04]

I would say not staying on site is a huge disadvantage that is almost impossible to understand if you've never done it. If you are a regular Disney guest, imagine how it would affect your planning if you knew you could just about immediately get on any ride you wanted at any time of the day. I think whatever extra cost it adds is completely countered by how much stress and planning it eliminates.

We may decide to do this, because it seems to be the best option for getting on Universal rides. What is the best way to transfer all of our luggage from Disney to Universal on the day of the move? and what about getting to the airport from Universal??


ETA: I forgot to mention that we don't go on rollercoasters.. we definitely won't be waiting to get on ANY of the big rides, such as the hulk, rip ride rocket (forget the name)... will this help us in being able to see all of the other attractions? We won't be spending any time trying to get on the big rollercoasters (which i am assuming are the most popular rides)

 

[Jonny_Duck]

We may decide to do this, because it seems to be the best option for getting on Universal rides. What is the best way to transfer all of our luggage from Disney to Universal on the day of the move? and what about getting to the airport from Universal??


ETA: I forgot to mention that we don't go on rollercoasters.. we definitely won't be waiting to get on ANY of the big rides, such as the hulk, rip ride rocket (forget the name)... will this help us in being able to see all of the other attractions? We won't be spending any time trying to get on the big rollercoasters (which i am assuming are the most popular rides)

Just curious why you don't do coasters? If its the drop then you may have a prob with JP and Dudley also. If thats the case you are left with Spiderman, One HP ride, and Suess land. May not be worth it.

I think it will help with lines because Hulk does tend to get kinda long. But I think the biggest ride is the new FJ and will be when you go also. Plus the water rides in summer tend to get long.

I would say plan this for either the first or last day so you don't need to move luggage twice. I don't deal with luggage because I drive so I can't rly help you too much. Either a cab or possibly even Hotwire'ing a rental car for a day could help.(Cab prob cheaper not having to pay for parking?)

Imo if you take his advice and stay onsite then just get the two day two park ticket and do everything. Express will help that much and will be fairly laid back environment.(Sans Potter) One night at the hotel will give you Express for both days.

 

[OrangeCat04]

Just curious why you don't do coasters? If its the drop then you may have a prob with JP and Dudley also. If thats the case you are left with Spiderman, One HP ride, and Suess land. May not be worth it.

I think it will help with lines because Hulk does tend to get kinda long. But I think the biggest ride is the new FJ and will be when you go also. Plus the water rides in summer tend to get long.

I would say plan this for either the first or last day so you don't need to move luggage twice. I don't deal with luggage because I drive so I can't rly help you too much. Either a cab or possibly even Hotwire'ing a rental car for a day could help.(Cab prob cheaper not having to pay for parking?)

Imo if you take his advice and stay onsite then just get the two day two park ticket and do everything. Express will help that much and will be fairly laid back environment.(Sans Potter) One night at the hotel will give you Express for both days.

Yeah, it is the drops, which is why we haven't visited US yet. We really want to checkout the new HP area though, and want to see what it is like at US. I hope we can find rides we will go on, but not sure if we will get to many of them.


We won't do anything with a big drop but were hoping to try a few rides such as Simpsons and the Mummy, friends of ours told us that they don't have large drops.

 

[Jonny_Duck]

Yeah, it is the drops, which is why we haven't visited US yet. We really want to checkout the new HP area though, and want to see what it is like at US. I hope we can find rides we will go on, but not sure if we will get to many of them.


We won't do anything with a big drop but were hoping to try a few rides such as Simpsons and the Mummy, friends of ours told us that they don't have large drops.

Ah...Yea you may want to avoid JP and Dudley, JP has 85 ft drop and idk about Dudley but its prob close to that. If you can work a night onsite in then thats what I personally would do. Esp going that time of yr.

I would say though since you will have 2 days it is def not necessary but I think you will enjoy it more to do so. My other suggestion would be to do it at the end of the vacation. Nothing like having nearly 0 wait times after spending all those days waiting in line at Disney.

 

[Lou Holtz]

Hulk doesn't have any drops. Yes, it moves downward, but it's not a "drop" at all.

 

[DCTooTall]

One possibility for moving your stuff if you are going to transfer to an onsite hotel at Universal from Disney would be to rent a car from the car center at Disney and then just returning it at the airport when your flight leaves. I believe most rental agencies in the Orlando area don't charge any surcharges for returning a car at a different location than the one it was rented from.

Having the car for a couple days could also help if you wanted to check out some other stuff in the area, or go off-site to eat since the variety of on-site food at the Universal Resort isn't as varied as what you can find around the Disney resort.