Seeking disney vs.universal opinions

[braddillman]

We've booked our timeshare and flights for April 11-21 2008. We have been to MK for 1 day in 1999, and been to universal 3 times, about 5 days each. We find 3-4 days is enough to do both universal parks.

We had originally planned 9 days at WDW w/hopper & water parks. But now universal is dropped to $86 for both parks 7 days. We absolutely must do a minimum of 1 day at MK for the girls. Our kids are boy 5, girl 7, girl 10. Girl 10 loves universal a lot.

We're having trouble deciding how to split our time - how many days universal vs. disney. Also I don't know much about using a park hopper (it always seems to take a loooong time to transit into/out of any park). Wife and kids want universal because they love it, but have only MK to compare against. I'd like to concentrate on Disney this trip, and come back to universal after they build Harry Potter land.

Some (subjective) questions (seeking opinions):

Is 9 days too much for WDW? e.g. would you be returning to the same rides & shows often?

Would a 5-day without hopper be too rushed to enjoy WDW?

What is the best use of hopper in a case like this (and is it worth it)?

Thanks in advance.

Oh, and GO LOONIE! Next milestone: Euro parity!

 

[michelle1]

We have done WDW 4 times and Universal 3 times and while we love them both, my kids (12 &10) prefer Disney even though they love thrill rides and there are more of them at Universal. Our last trip to Universal we had the $86 7 day pass and found after a couple days we were kind of sick of the parks. We stayed on site so we went to the parks for a few hours a day instead of whole days there. Because we stayed onsite we had the expresspass included but since you are at a timeshare you would have to purchase it separately. You have 11 days which is a nice amt of time because you can do everything at Disney and pace yourselves. When we go we don't go to parks everyday because we go to the waterparks and spend time at our resort. If you haven't been to the waterparks you should...they are awesome! My kids also like Disneyquest which is included in the water park and more option of the ticket. With 11 days you could do WDW and Universal (we have done both on 2 different trips) but to answer your question about 9 days being too many for disney...never...between 4 parks, 2 waterparks, downtown disney there is so much to see. We usually buy the hopper but in all honesty, we don't actually hop from 1 park to another very often. If we do it is to go to one park in the am, hotel pool for the afternoon and then a different park for the evening but if you pretty much plan to do a different park per day than it might not be worth spending the money. IMO if you have already done Universal a few times but haven't really done WDW than I agree with you and skip Universal this time and just enjoy Disney!

 

[yxe dad]

I don't think 9 days is too much disney for 1 trip. In Jan 06 we spent 18 days in WDW with a 3 night Disney Cruise in the middle. Of that we spent 2 - 3/4 days at universal. My boys were 9 and 7 at the time and loved AK the most followed by Epcot, then MK and MGM. There are enough thrill rides at each disney park to keep the "older" kids happy but way more attractions to keep the family together and happy then at Universal. JMHO
That being said I'm going back down tommorrow and have 8 nights booked, of that we are spending 2 days at US/IOA. I love the rides there, but don't feel relaxed like I do at WDW .
I would buy a pass with park hopping and TGM. His planning services are amazing! I've used him 3 times and have purchased again for my trip tommorrow(can you tell I'm excited) and have had max 15 min waits!!!
The reason you need park hoppers is the best advice he will give you is which parks are the best to go to on which day and which night. They can be the same but often you need to hop to another park to avoid crowds.

 

[damo]

Our family much prefers Universal for many reasons. We feel that the rides are superior and it is much more geared toward boys. It is also a lot cheaper if you are doing more than one day or are planning for the future (7 day tickets for $89 and two years for one annual passes for $189). If you stay onsite, you get unlimited express access which can be invaluable depending on when you go. We also like that everything is in one place and you don't waste your time travelling from park to park.

You have a much, much more relaxing vacation at Universal if you stay onsite. There is no preplanning necessary and you really don't even have to get to the parks before opening like you do at Disney.

We also prefer the hotels. We like that you can walk to the parks from all of their onsite hotels and that you can get great discounts with CAA and annual pass. We also like their preferred customer program. Last year, we stayed in a two bedroom suite on club level at Portofino for $229 because we have platinum status now with Loews Hotels. They also encourage you to pool hop, so you can enjoy three afternoons at different pools if you are tired of doing the parks.

Little girls should definitely get their Disney time but little boys deserve Universal! So a split between the two parks sounds like a wonderful idea. I would probably do 6 at Disney and 3 at USO because your kids are still very young. Either way, at that time of year, the parks will be packed!!!

I could never do 9 days at Disney but have done 7 days at Universal, with a Pirates and Princess Party thrown in. Remember, every day doesn't need to be a park day.

 

[braddillman]

So far we'd really like to do both - like a cook-off or a taste test comparison. I'm also looking forward to jedi academy for my 5 yr. boy... but more vicariously for me!

But since we'd be so busy, we'd drop the park hopper and save $45 toward the universal ticket. I don't think we'd need it, since we'd have access to both uni and wdw (we could 'sort-of' hop between those). It should just take a little planning, which should be no problem for us.

The next question is, with so many WDW and uni days... do we need water parks & more? I think it would be slightly cheaper to buy a 1-day pass to a single water park; we have little or no interest in disneyquest or PI.

 

[yxe dad]

Get it only if you will go to the water parks more than once. The one day price is 39.99 plus tax where as the water parks and more is 50.
I've never been to the water parks, the kids like the pools at the resorts.

 

[braddillman]

More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work.

 

[braddillman]

More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work. More problems from work.

 

[braddillman]

Just add som epunctguation $ ! `heelo 'mate'.

 

[braddillman]

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[braddillman]

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