One week at Universal too long?

[macraven]

The longest trip to Universal for us has been 5 days but I could do two weeks, easily. We love going to Universal so much, I've actually joked that it would be neat to own a "Condo" at the Portofino or Royal Pacific. Of course, Universal doesn't have any condos...

i do two weeks at rpr and hate to leave.....
it feels so much like home to me

check out day is a downer for me........
i have to go back to reality

 

[Catvondita]

I love Universal but that seems like way too much time for me. There isn't that much to do there for us and we feel like we can do the parks in less than 2 days.

 

[TommyJK]

As other's have noted above there can sometimes be a difficulty of doing things at a different pace when doing a universal vacation.

If you're typical pace is "go-go-go" from one attraction to the next, from one park to the next, then yes a week might seem like too much to spend at Universal.

There's also another consideration that I didn't see talked about that can factor in.

Are you happy to just get to each main attraction once? Or would you like the opportunity to do the attractions many times?

Spending a more extended trip, not only allows for a more spread out and slower pace, it also allows for hitting up the best attractions many times over. On my last week long trip, we rode our favorite attractions many times over, and probably would have felt disappointed if we couldn't. Sure you could cram and do most/best attractions likely in 2 days, or all attractions in 3 days, but that's not a pace I particularly like.

Our Last trip to Universal was a 7 night stay (5 at CB and 2 at RPR), and we had 4 day P2P tickets. Generally this is how it played out for us:

• 7 nights really isn't 7 full days. Had to wake up super early to catch 6:30 am flights, landing in Orlando at 9:30. By the time we got off the plane, got our luggage, rental car and made it to the resort it was Noon-ish. Being super tired etc. this day couldn't be much more than just relaxing at the resort, napping etc.
• Our 4 park days consisted of going for Early Entry, then around Noon we'd head back to the resort for some relaxing (swimming, snacking etc.) and then head back to the parks after an early dinner for the remainder of the evening.
  • With this we kept a relaxed pace, got to explore casually without having to rush from place to place to fit everything in, hit every attraction at least once, but every day got to do the best ones over again or even more than once each day (Forbidden Journey, Gringotts, Hulk, Kong, RRR, Spiderman, Transformers, Mummy etc.)
• A couple of non park days of relaxing, swimming, resort hopping/exploration, CitiWalk, etc.

Really I could have used one extra non-park day for relaxing, and if on our next trip we try to do Volcano Bay would perhaps deem it necessary (or cut to 3 park days and 1 day VB)

 

[cruiser21]

I like to cruise and there is usually at least a couple sea days of doing a whole lot of nothing. Vacations don't have to be go go go all the time. You're not supposed to come home needing a vacation. I could do a week at Universal. The resorts are nice. There's plenty of good restaurants. I would probably rent a car and head to Disney springs for a day, maybe a day at Blizzard Beach or even Sea World if you need to fill a day.

 

[Alexsandra]

We are here now at Universal, doing 4 nights at RPR, then 5 at BW, and 7 day DIS western cruise. I have to say, of the 3 hotels (we've done PF 3 nights and HR 9 nights in club) I'm really liking everything about the Royal Pacific. I think it could be our favourite.

Had a fabulous meal at Toothsome last night - awesome quality food and atmosphere.


A few things to point out:

1. If you haven't seen Diagon Alley and (obviously) haven't done Volcano Bay, then yes I really think you can fill a week at a very leisurely pace. Please check out Diagon Alley at night-my personal favourite... with some ice cream in hand taking it all in.

2. If you can swing it, stay at a hotel that offers EP. I suggest RP - been here 2 days - have NO IDEA why it's the least expensive of the 3 Loews??? Love it so far. Will likely come back given the choice of the 3 EP offering hotels.

3. We love Disney too - if you want to save money... do what I do ... rent points from a DVC member. It's cheaper than nights at any onsight at both Uni and certainly Disney.

4. Book early- we plan 10-12 months ahead of time to get the best savings. Even the cruise- got something like a 20% discount via putting a deposit down last time we cruised - provided we cruised within 2 years. Will likely do it again this time.

5. Universal is way more relaxed than Disney-but even Disney can be relaxing if you prepare yourself with the fact that .... "you won't see and do everything ... so get over it." For example - we did Volcano Bay yesterday am. We were there at the open 7:30 am - followed some great advice from other DIS members - did most everything by 1pm (BUT NOT EVERYTHING) ... left before real chaos ensued ... hung out at the RP pool in the afternoon (took advantage of the Hurricane Glass specialty drink discount ) ... and survived ... hehe! First world problems.

.... on a side note ... the Jimmy Fallon ride was great... the pre-show (although long) had us in stitches. The Panda hung out with me and the family...loved that... it was hilarious.

On vacation now, so I won't be lurking on the boards too much (insomnia can be a good thing - hence I'm here) but I think that sums it up for me.

Cheers & happy planning.

Wow! Thanks for the quick trip report and the great tips.
We've been to Universal twice already. Stayed once at HRH and the other trip at RPR. We liked both resorts. Liked the grounds better at RPR but the rooms were bigger and nicer at HRH but this is before the renovations.
We also went before Diagon Alley was built but did visit Hogsmead.
Never been to Volcano Bay!

 

[Alexsandra]

As other's have noted above there can sometimes be a difficulty of doing things at a different pace when doing a universal vacation.

If you're typical pace is "go-go-go" from one attraction to the next, from one park to the next, then yes a week might seem like too much to spend at Universal.

We are early risers and do get to the parks for opening but we do like to take our time and visit at our own leisure. No sense in tiring ourselves out on vacation. We often like to take afternoon breaks and come back later.

There's also another consideration that I didn't see talked about that can factor in.

Are you happy to just get to each main attraction once? Or would you like the opportunity to do the attractions many times?
Depends on the attraction. We forgo all the heavy roller coaster rides but have risen Transformers and Forbidden Journey more than once on the same day.

Spending a more extended trip, not only allows for a more spread out and slower pace, it also allows for hitting up the best attractions many times over. On my last week long trip, we rode our favorite attractions many times over, and probably would have felt disappointed if we couldn't. Sure you could cram and do most/best attractions likely in 2 days, or all attractions in 3 days, but that's not a pace I particularly like.

Your right of course but since I,ve been to Universal twice before I feel like I'll get bored seeing the same stuff over, especially since we don't like intense thrill rides. It cuts out a lot of attractions like RRR, Hulk, Mummy, etc. I could however spend a full day just visiting Harry Potter World and fitting in Transformers and a visit to Moes Bar in the Simpsons Land.

Our Last trip to Universal was a 7 night stay (5 at CB and 2 at RPR), and we had 4 day P2P tickets. Generally this is how it played out for us:

• 7 nights really isn't 7 full days. Had to wake up super early to catch 6:30 am flights, landing in Orlando at 9:30. By the time we got off the plane, got our luggage, rental car and made it to the resort it was Noon-ish. Being super tired etc. this day couldn't be much more than just relaxing at the resort, napping etc.
• Our 4 park days consisted of going for Early Entry, then around Noon we'd head back to the resort for some relaxing (swimming, snacking etc.) and then head back to the parks after an early dinner for the remainder of the evening.
  • With this we kept a relaxed pace, got to explore casually without having to rush from place to place to fit everything in, hit every attraction at least once, but every day got to do the best ones over again or even more than once each day (Forbidden Journey, Gringotts, Hulk, Kong, RRR, Spiderman, Transformers, Mummy etc.)
• A couple of non park days of relaxing, swimming, resort hopping/exploration, CitiWalk, etc.

Sounds like a great trip!

Really I could have used one extra non-park day for relaxing, and if on our next trip we try to do Volcano Bay would perhaps deem it necessary (or cut to 3 park days and 1 day VB)

Volcano Bay in March is always a gamble. It can sometimes be downright cold if there is no sun.

 

[Alexsandra]

Quick update. This is what we decided to finally do:

Since we've been to Universal before we finally decided on a split stay. I was able to nab an amazing deal on the Disney part of our vacation so it kind of made up my mind. We are going to do Universal 3 nights and Disney World 4 nights in that order.

Our main goal is to concentrate our visit on Harry Potter World. Since we'll be staying onsite at US we will have early morning access to the parks. I really want to stay at RPR or HRH but the prices are so high during March, I think we might end up at Cabana Bay. If they release APH discounts for that time of year, we might just purchase one to take advantage and stay at one of the three resorts that offer the EP. We are getting a 3 day park to park ticket so I think it will give us enough time to visit what we need to visit while going at a slower pace.

As for our Disney portion of the trip. We are staying at Disney's Polynesian with 3 day park tickets. We also got a free water park ticket with the promo which we will use at Typhoon Lagoon if the weather permits. Since we are doing a water park at Disney, we decided to skip Volcano Bay at Universal.

Thanks everyone for you help and input. It is always helpful to get some feedback!

 

[robl45]

Volcano Bay in March is always a gamble. It can sometimes be downright cold if there is no sun.

Sun or no sun, it still is typically cold. Depends where you are from. I live in south florida and swimming in March is tough. Even with the warm water at Disney pools, I'm not overly comfortable. I was thinking of getting a thin wetsuit for when the kids want me to swim with them in March.

 

[EveDallas]

We do 18 nights usually, doing 19 this year.

We don't do the parks all day every day, but usually go in for at least a few hours most days.

We spend time at the resort, go to other hotels to eat dinner and we do spend time driving around Orlando for restaurants and generally passing time. Citywalk is fun for dinner and entertainment, and even at night is family orientated.

There's a fabulous pair of mini golf courses........alien on one side and haunted on the other.......the haunted side is really nice at night.

We never do Disney and haven't done since 09. Never felt the need to go back. Maybe not everyone's idea of a vacation, but suits us.

We never get bored. We like to repeat rides and shows and never ever have to rush around......we totally take our time and enjoy every second of our time at Universal.

So, no I don't think a week is too long.

Exactly. There is just SO MUCH to do there. My son and I were there for 8 days in April and wished we had longer.

 

[Annchristine65]

Too long? It could never be too long for me! I wish I could stay for a month!! lol

 

[chmurf]

I'm just back from 3 weeks onsite at Universal, and I'm going back for 5 weeks next year.

Does that answer the question ?

 

[glocon]

A PP mentioned maybe not having enough food options....
Remember that food options are not limited to parks- there is CityWalk and all the restaurants at all the resorts...
There really are many food options!

 

[Dockrock]

We discovered that we can definitely entertain ourselves for a full week at Universal! We took a more relaxed approach to the trip, didn't worry about getting there at rope drop, slept in a bit, took our time checking things out. If your idea of a theme park vacation is to run from one ride to the next until you are finished, then a week would be too long. But if you take it easy, realize you are not under the gun to get everything done in 3 days, it's a whole different experience. We did spend one day at Disney (Magic Kingdom) to shake things up a bit, just in case we would be bored... that was not the experience we expected. Hadn't been to Disney before and found the place to be over-crowded, filthy (all the bathrooms were nasty like gas station bathrooms!), and you could not find a place to eat there unless you made reservations. When we finally did find a place that didn't serve just fries and chicken nuggets, we waited in a long line to purchase an ok burger and then had to fight our way to a dirty table that had the only empty chairs around it. The D in Disney stood for Disappointment. I had thought we might spend the week at Disney next year... but at the end of the day, the family wanted nothing to do with that. So I've already booked Hard Rock Hotel for next August. We'll be back again. We may spend another day at Disney but the thought of a whole week there was distasteful.