Parents with little ones, can you skip Disney and just do Universal?

[johde]

I would consider adding Seaworld and Busch Gardens to your Non-Disney Trip. Right now, you can get a 14 Consecutive day Seaworld and Busch Gardens for $89.95. You can do Sea World, Busch Gardens and Aquatica for $124.95. Both parks have Shows that the little one will enjoy and Thrill rides the teenager will like.

 

[The Masked Maniac]

Hi all,

Here's the plan; we have 2 kids, 14 and 3.5. We're planning an April vacation next year. The little one and I went to Disney with my mom last October, so he's been to each park except the animal one. He had a good time but he's not a 'ride' kid; loved the pool at the resort more than anything. The older one is almost out of the 'will travel with parents on vacation' stage and we'd like to Universal, mostly for him.

I was thinking of renting off-site at Windsor Hills or somewhere similar, getting passes for all 4 of us for the week to Universal (via the $99 special right now) and skipping the Disney parks all together. We (or at least I) will take the little one back to Disney a year or two after this trip. I thought that I'd make reservations for breakfast or lunch at Chef Mickey's or another non-park character meal for all of us, maybe do a monorail ride, and/or a boat ride at one of the Disney resorts. And perhaps Downtown Disney. I think that will be plenty of 'Mickey' for ds. He IS excited about Universal, he likes the Simpsons (because big brother does) and thought the MIB ride (the alien shooting one) looked 'so cool'! Is there enough for a 4.5 (over 40 in by that time, he's 39.5" now) to do at Universal and IOA?

Am I just being cheap, because I really don't want to buy Disney park tickets for just one or two days? Is that ok you think? Or am I being a really mean mommy as my dh thinks by depriving my little one of the Disney parks on this trip?

Help!

Ehhhh while my kids love Barney....and Suessland.......thats really only a few hrs and thats if you wait on lines.........even if you toss a few other kids things in youll be bored sooner then later............

 

[dr&momto2boys]

We do Universal vacations and Disney vacations but usually not both at the same time. So, yeah, skip Disney this time and go there in a couple years. There is plenty to do at Universal. (We have three little kids--so we know.)

When we do Universal, we usually also go to Seaworld for a couple days, but we don't do the Mouse at all.

Have fun!

 

[tinkerbellmichelle]

Great post. We're hoping to be back in January and after immersing ourselves in Mickey and the game last Jan. my dh wants to try something new. Originally we were going to do Seaworld for two days and 1 day at a Disney Park but my little ones love Shrek, my 4 yo loves the superheros, and my 14 yo SS would love US and IA so I'm thinking 2 days at universal and one day at Seaworld.
I, too, was wondering if I was depriving the kids of Mickey and the gang. But hey, the little ones might not even realize we are near WDW and if they do, we could always go to DD for Disney overload (my 4 yo son went craaazy there in Jan. Shopping overload. He wanted everything, including a USB chord that he didn't even know what it was).

 

[LisaNJ25]

OP I am thinking about doing the same thing this year. I have a 10 night disney trip booked but having to book 2 rooms killed my budget. I am still up up in the air on what to do but I think it may come down to universal.

We did do universal a few years back when my older 2 were 3 and 10. They had a good time. We now that they are older and we have the little ones we can split up. I just to find a cheap hotel for the 6 of us.